Arrow: Season 3, Episode 21: Al Sah-him
I have to say that I loved the new intro, changing everything he says in the beginning was an awesome way to start the party. I have to say, I’ve never really seen a show where the protagonist goes full antagonist and has to be stopped. Oliver, who is now Al Sah-him A.K.A. Wareed Al Ghúl was just as fierce as any other opponent Team Arrow has faced. Some of his loved ones had a hard time getting with the program, but once they saw what he had become they lost all faith.
Oliver has been mentor and friend to everyone else they show and is definitely the most highly trained fighter in the group. None of them stood a chance against him and even when they came together with a plan, they failed just the same. Rā’s is not one to be trifled with and his methods are tried and true, so his brainwashing worked perfectly. Oliver didn’t care about his former comrades and they barely recognized the person they were facing. They do it all the time in comics, superheroes need excuses to fight each other after all, but it was a very unique experience in terms of television.
Nyssa is turning out to be quite the interesting character. Being dropped into the normal world after being raised by a cult of killers should probably have that effect to be honest. She’s kind of fish out of water, but adjusting well with Laurel as her host. It makes you wonder if she’ll stick around when this arc is over. I am confused as to why she can’t beat Oliver though. She’s been trained extensively at birth and he started his training as a grown man on Lian Yu. I assume Rā’s will die or something and she’ll probably become the leader of the League of Assassins. The whole marriage thing is an interesting angle though.
Diggle has been surprising quick to turn his anger toward his former best friend, but I suppose it makes a degree of sense. He’s a soldier and it’s his duty to identify and eliminate his enemies. The rest of the team was different though, Laurel and Felicity in particular were slow to the trigger. They’ve both been in love with the man he once was and needed to be shown the monster he’s been turned into. It made for some really interesting storytelling. The biggest surprise was Thea’s ability to hop right in and oppose her brother. She’s a really messed up kid at this point. They still haven’t revealed the long term effects of the Lazarus Pit on her though. Let’s see where that goes.
I think I’ve finally come to terms with how Batmancentric this show is and I’m just enjoying the show as it is now. The mention of Titan’s villain Damien Darhk seems to be a hint as to next season’s big bad. I hope he’s not as similar to Rā’s as the villain described, that seems like it may be a bit redundant, but it would be pretty cool if he was a tech villain like he is in the comics. The episodes are getting more and more intense and I’m definitely looking forward to more. Oliver has certainly been through the ringer this season.
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
