Arrow: 10 best episodes, ranked

5. “Sacrifice” (Season 1, Episode 23)

In any show, the first and last seasons are going to generally hold the best overall episodes. The first season being because you can literally create the best storylines for the characters in the show due to the fact there are no previous ideas written. The last season because you can tie them all together. In this case, we are going to put the finale of Arrow season 1 here at No. 5.

“Sacrifice” was a very gut-wrenching episode. Not really knowing what all is going to happen, we all were on the edge of our seats. The episode allowed us to see Malcolm Merlyn at his worst hour, and the type of person he’d go onto be throughout the whole of Arrow‘s run. He was a maniac who always did what he had to do (or so he says). But more than that, he mentioned where he learned to fight (Nanda Parbat), which opened up the storyline for the League of Assassins’ arrival which turned out to be a huge part of the show.

Moreover, as we all remember, there was a lot of tension between Oliver and Tommy due to their love triangle with Laurel. More so than that, when Oliver told Tommy about him being The Arrow, he resented him for his choice of life. The scene where Tommy was dying, we got to see Tommy forgive Oliver for his life and the choices he’s made. It was one of the most powerful moments of the whole series.

But the ending was the best part of the show, the destruction of the Glades. Just when we thought that they had won, we realize there were two Earthquake machines and part of the Glades were leveled.