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Arrow Review, Season 3, Episode 9 – The Climb

By Nick Tylwalk

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It’s time for a duel with the demon.

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Or rather, the Demon’s Head, as Ra’s al Ghul is known in the comics. So far, the head of the League of Assassins has been a force in the shadows, but events in tonight’s midseason finale of Arrow, titled “The Climb,” will force Oliver Queen to confront him face to face.

How is this confrontation connected to the death of Sara Lance? That’s what we’re here to find out. Let’s nock an arrow and see what we hit!

To You, It’s a Recap, to Us, It’s Something Else: Baby it’s cold outside. At least it is where Oliver Queen is climbing a mountain.

Prior to that, Arrow leaves a holiday present for Captain Lance: a wrapped up criminal. Quentin muses that the Arrow is the closest thing to a partner he’s got these days. Right after he leaves, someone fires an arrow at our hero. He thinks it’s Merlyn from the outfit, but that’s not Malcolm unless he’s cloned himself. Worn down by the numbers game, Arrow is knocked unconscious by his attackers.

And it turns out they were members of the League of Assassins, led by Nyssa al Ghul. As she’s wont to do, Nyssa demands why Oliver hasn’t found Sara’s killer yet, accusing him of getting distracted by protecting the city. She goes on to deliver an ultimatum. Namely, Team Arrow has 48 hours to produce Sara’s murderer or the League is going to kill 50 innocents, just like they did in the old days. The “cleansing” will be performed by an old friend, too. It’s Maseo, though he now calls himself … Sarab, I guess?

Laurel Lance is visiting her sister’s grave when Thea Queen wanders by, as she was dropping flowers at her mother’s grave. She seems genuinely surprised to learn that Sara is dead, and Laurel makes her promise to keep it a secret.

At Palmer Technologies, Ray Palmer attempts to apolgoize to #Olicity shippers for kissing Felicity Smoak. Just kidding, he only tries to say he’s sorry to Felicity herself. It doesn’t go well, and she has to leave anyway when she receives and SOS from Oliver.

That’s because he wants to give the rest of Team Arrow the 411 on the League’s ultimatum. If they can’t come up with the killer, Diggle says they need a contingency plan, but Oliver admits he has none. Felicity check in with Caitlin Snow at S.T.A.R. Labs, who’s been working on DNA from one of the arrows used to kill Sara. When the results come back, it looks like the killer is … Oliver?

We see the snowy mountain again. Oliver is still climbing.

I mean, Oliver didn’t kill Sara, so how did his DNA get on the arrow? Always one for jumping to a dramatic conclusion, Ollie says it must have been Malcolm Merlyn. He has the resources and smarts to set Oliver up.

Laurel receives an unexpected Christmas surprise when she visits the police station and finds not just her dad, but her mother, Dinah. Mom asks about Sara, and both the Lances say she’s off on a hiking trip, which is, of course, a lie. Lot of those going around tonight.

Felicity manages to find a suspicious flight from Corto Maltese that made several stops before landing in Starling City the night before Sara’s murder. Arrow and Arsenal manage to “persuade” the pilot into giving up the security footage, which shows both Malcolm and Thea were on that plane, much to Oliver’s surprise/dismay.

Still climbing …

Because he’s not afraid to suggest unpopular theories, Diggle suggests that Thea was the killer — and Roy and Felicity at least are open to that possibility. Oliver, as you might expect, isn’t trying to hear it. Felicity is called out of that tense conversation by Ray, who’s upstairs in Verdant. He isn’t actually sorry about kissing Felicity, and we finally hear his tragic story. His fiancée was killed during Deathstroke’s siege of the city, and he wasn’t strong enough to stop it from happening. Meanwhile, Oliver goes home to talk to his sister, and she lies about returning to Starling with Malcolm.

One lie, at least, is about to end. That’s because Laurel and her mom have a meal together, and Dinah already suspects the truth. A mother’s intuition is powerful.

Ra’s al Ghul finishes some, um, training with some of the assassins, though they won’t be telling any stories about it, if you catch my drift. Informed that the deadline has come and gone, he informs Nyssa and Sarab to return to Starling and prove their threats weren’t empty.

Oliver and Diggle are having one of their classic arguments, but Felicity actually takes John’s side. It’s simply that Oliver doesn’t want to believe that his sister did it. Maybe Oliver isn’t the one that should be asking Thea the questions … Arrow tries crashing through the apartment window to do it instead, but Thea puts up a heck of a fight before leaping off the balcony. Surprising, isn’t it Oliver?

Still climbing …

Meryln visits Oliver at Verdant, and the two men get into a bit of a scuffle. The thing is, Malcolm has video evidence on his phone that Thea DID kill Sara, mentioning a plant in Corto Maltese that could make people susceptible to suggestion. As for why he did it, Malcolm knows that Oliver could say he killed Sara instead, which would get him a trial by combat against Ra’s al Ghul. Win it and all blood debts would be wiped out, including, conveniently, Merlyn’s own debt. Pretty sneaky, you’ve got to admit.

Back at the Arrow Cave, Diggle tells Oliver none of this is his fault. Roy thinks Ollie will die if he fights Ra’s, but our hero is (for once) confident because he knows what he’s fighting for this time. He asks for and gets his audience with the League’s leader, who is surprised to find out that he’s “just a boy.” Oliver says he killed Sara because she asked for a way out of the League, though Nyssa seems skeptical. Though no one has challenged him to a trial by combat in more than six decades, Ra’s accepts.

Still climbing …

Even though his old life is behind him, Sarab has no desire to see Oliver die. He gives Ollie 12 hours to settle his affairs before he has to appear for the duel — if he survives the climb.

The Lance women visit Sara’s grave, and Laurel vows to her mom that she’ll find Sara’s killer and make her pay. Showing a vengeful side, Dinah tells her girl to make the killer suffer as well.

Oh, sorry, the lies aren’t quite over yet. Thea makes up a story about a bird to explain the broken window, now repaired. The subject of Malcolm comes up again, and Ollie says he wouldn’t ever make his sister choose between them, but also that he’d do anything to protect her. H doesn’t explain exactly what that means.

We head to Queen Consolidated, where Felicity demands to know what Ray is really up to. He won’t tell her, because he needs to show her. Spouting something about miniaturizing technology, he says he can fit all of the Applied Sciences toys in the palm of his hand thanks to what was once called OMAC, but is now known as ATOM. It’s a cool suit, and he wants to use it to protect the citizens of Starling City, asking for Felicity’s help to do it.

Ollie says his goodbyes to Diggle and Roy. The guys give him a moment alone with Felicity, who asks Oliver to find it within himself to kill Ra’s al Ghul. He’s not sure if he’s still a killer, but he does know he’d do anything it takes for Thea. In a move that threatens to melt the internet, he also tells Felicity he loves her.

We finally get to the end of the climb. Sarab says shirts need to come off, strictly for the ladies! Just kidding, it’s because it’s League tradition or something. Ra’s tells a story about how he’s killed people to make the world better off, and he’s such a badass he begins the fight with no swords to Oliver’s two. The actual fight is mostly one-sided, with Ollie getting cut up a couple times but managing one burst of offense before Ra’s has him in trouble. Reciting a prayer of sorts, Ra’s al Ghul runs Oliver through with a sword and kicks him off a cliff. Well, it was a fun show while it lasted!

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong: Back from his first torture session, Ollie needs to be convinced by Maseo to eat. At least they got some intel about a bio-weapon called Omega that China White is after. Maseo says something about one man’s agony being worth it for the lives of many.

At BTHK Biotech, the two men discover that the Omega is already gone, and that it was an inside job. They torture that poor guy too, but he remembers nothing. That makes zero sense to Oliver, but perfect sense to Maseo, who says he knows of a drug that can make one “susceptible to suggestion.” I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before …

China White, though, is looking for Maseo at home. She finds Tatsu instead, and there’s an awesome swordfight. Oliver and Maseo return to find the place trashed, and Maseo’s son says the woman with the white hair took Tatsu.

Favorite moment: The reveal of the ATOM suit was awesome. Even better was Felicity’s reaction when asked to help protect another hero’s secret ID: “Why does this keep happening to me?”

Final thought: No one really think Oliver is dead for good, so the question is going to be whether he isn’t really dead or if the Lazarus Pit is involved in some way. Could his old friend Maseo have a change of heart after the trial? Or will we be introduced to another character in the episodes after the break?

Starling City should be in good hands while Arrow is gone, perhaps aided by a new high-tech addition. How will Oliver’s “death” affect everyone mentally, though?

Oh. and what will make Arrow’s seemingly inevitable rematch with Ra’s al Ghul go differently? Hope he bones up on swordfighting while he recovers. All told, a dramatic midseason finale that I enjoyed.

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