Previously on Arrow, Thea found out she killed Sara and told Laurel, who understood and blamed Merlyn, in fact everyone and their mom (or lack thereof) hates Merlyn, Thea so much so that she sold him out to Nyssa, but Oliver captured the beautiful assassin and went to save his sister’s father.
Ra’s al Ghul captures Oliver and he pleads for Diggle’s life, but Ra’s isn’t in a murdering mood today. Instead, he wants to offer Oliver the role of Demon’s Head. Oliver is rather confused but Ra’s shows him around Nanda Parbat and all the fancy things he has, but Oliver is not impressed and still just wants answers. Ra’s tells him that being the Arrow isn’t enough, that in order to make a real difference, you need a league of people who will do anything you ask. He tells Oliver that someday the city he fights to protect will turn on him, hunt him, and eventually kill him.
Back at the Arrow cave, Thea hands Nyssa a sword, but Nyssa just takes it and storms out of her cage. Nyssa doesn’t believe Thea’s confession until she explains about Merlyn and the drugs. Nyssa tells her that killing her even though she had no free will wouldn’t be justice, Merlyn is the only one who has to pay for this crime.
Laurel enters at this moment and misreads the situation and swoops in to save Thea. Nyssa almost bests them but Roy shoots her with a tranq before she can escape. Laurel asks how Nyssa got out and Thea shrugs and says they must cover lock picking in assassin school.
At Nanda Parbat, Ra’s shows Oliver his fountain of youth, and explains that he’s becoming immune to the water and his immortality is reaching an end. He tells Oliver that he can dream bigger than Starling City, that he can have a massive army that fights for his cause, for him. Oliver points out that it’s not called the League of Hugs and Puppies but Ra’s says he can make it whatever he wants. Oliver asks what happens if he refuses, and Ras’ says he will be free to go, debts forgiven, blood oaths waved, and probably not any further trouble caused but don’t quote him on that one. Oliver thinks this sounds legit so he takes Diggle and Merlyn and goes home.
Thea comes home to find Oliver waiting for her and they exchange their traditional glad-you’re-not-dead hug. Thea is surprised he doesn’t look like he was used as a human punching bag, and Oliver points to the unconscious Merlyn on her couch. Thea is not pleased, but Oliver tells her to just let him heal and maybe make sure he stays alive.
When Diggle and Oliver are alone in Arrow HQ, he asks Oliver what exactly happened back in Nanda Parbat but Oliver tells him not look a gift life in the mouth. But when Felicity and Laurel see him, they don’t let him off so easily and give him hell for running off like that. Again. Felicity specifically wants to know how on earth he’s still breathing.
Oliver lets Nyssa out of her cage and she’s suspicious because she knows her father didn’t trade anyone’s life for his daughter’s, but Oliver is like “Jeez why is no one just taking their freedom and running with it?” and sends her away. Oliver turns to his team and says that Starling City needs a reminder that Team Arrow has its back. Felicity finds them a robbery in progress and they suit up to save the day.
The robbery is being committed by a band of thieves being led by a man with his mouth sewn shut, because no one in Starling City is ever just a run-of-the-mill bad guy.Team Arrow shows up and shuts things down but a few of the baddies got away with crates full of loot. Instead of passing out ‘good jobs’ for the guys they did manage to take down, Oliver tells Laurel she needs more training, to which she rolls her eyes and hard.
Captain Lance comes out into the alley of the police station to find four of the robbers wrapped and left on his doorstep. The Arrow tells him about the robbery but Lance is pissed. He’s 1000% done working with the Arrow, because he let himself be convinced that vigilantism was okay, but then he was lied to about the life status of his own daughter. So he will do it no more. Sad Oliver is sad about it.
Meanwhile, in Ray’s office, Felicity is busy being all smart and gorgeous.
They’re flirting when Oliver stops by and sort of awkwardly interrupts to ask Felicity for her help finding the lead robber, trying to ignore the crack beginning to form on his heart. Felicity finds out the man goes by Murmur and he got his mouth sewn shut to heighten his other senses and focus the mind like meditation. (I’ve heard incense works just fine, sir.) Oliver confesses about the Captain Lance fallout, and hates that he lied to him about Sara for so long. Felicity asks if he’s sure he’s okay, and reaches out to touch his arm, but that just makes the crack on his heart spread and threaten to break him in half, so he excuses himself immediately.
Laurel stops by Thea’s apartment and feigns interest in her well-being, but Thea knows she’s only here to see Malcolm.
But honestly Laurel is worried about Thea, because trying to have your own father killed doesn’t exactly scream mental stability. Thea wishes she never found out that Merlyn was her father and that she’s jealous of Laurel and her normal, loving, alive father who loves her and shows it without weapons.
Merlyn starts to stir so Laurel scoots and Thea goes over to tell him that she’s sorry not sorry about selling him out to the League. She’s messed up and it’s all his fault. She just begged her brother’s ex-girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend to kill her for crying out loud! He was supposed to make her stronger, to protect her from hurt, but instead he made everything worse. He knows how much she wants to kill him, so he tells her to do it, and to make it swift.
But she’s not him, so she walks away instead.
Nyssa goes to see her father, demanding to know why Malcolm Merlyn lives and breathes. Ra’s explains the offer he made to Oliver and Nyssa’s anger level goes off the charts. Why in seven hells would he pick an outsider to succeed him instead of his own flesh and blood? She asks – no, tells him that it’s because of Sara, and he once again explains: It wasn’t because she loved another woman, it wasn’t because she loved Sara in particular, it was because she loved. She had feelings and it made her weak, that even now her devotion to Sara is clouding her judgement. Nyssa tells her father that she does not plan on sticking around and watching all this nonsense unfold.
The men on Team Arrow try to figure out what the bad guys could want to do with the stolen diamonds, but they’re useless without Felicity. Oliver says Felicity is busy and they can figure it out on their own.
Oliver tells Diggle that he’s freaking out a little because everything Ra’s told him would happen is starting to unfold, but Diggle stops him in his tracks when he realizes that the end of this sentence is going to be that he’s considering becoming the Demon’s Head. But Oliver is worried that being a vigilante in a Robin Hood costume might not be enough for this crime-ridden city, not anymore.
When Oliver goes to Thea’s, he’s surprised to see Merlyn with all his limbs intact. Thea is drinking alone and wallowing, contemplating the life she once led, the girl she once was. She didn’t kill Merlyn because she doesn’t want to be like him, but she is like him, because she too is a little broken. But she’s not so broken that her soul has fallen out, so she heads out to buy her villainous father some soup.
Oliver tells Merlyn about Ra’s offer and he is not surprised; it has been foretold. He also tells Oliver that despite what he thinks, he was not offered a choice. It was an order in disguise.
Back in the Arrow cave, Felicity tells Oliver that just because she’s dating Ray doesn’t mean she’s not committed to Team Arrow. Diggle told her about Ra’s al Ghul’s offer and that he’s considering it, so she’s just here to make sure his brain is still inside his skull, because it doesn’t sound like it. Oliver says he doesn’t know what he’s accomplished, what he’s fighting for if he keeps losing everything he loves. She tells him that if he quits now, their deaths will be in vain and that Lance shutting him down is just a grieving father lashing out and that them not being together is just Oliver making poor life choices but that doesn’t mean he should just give up. When he was dying on the mountain, they all had to figure out why they were on Team Arrow, and now it’s his turn.
Diggle managed to find out that the stolen diamonds are for diamond-tipped bullets that can rip through body armor, so Felicity calls Lance to warn him, but the captain rejects her call. Laurel comes by to give him lunch, but he rejects that, too. Laurel tells him that he can give her the cold shoulder or yell at her or whatever all he wants but she’s not giving up on their relationship. But he tells her that this is the one thing she can’t save, no matter how hard he tries, he can’t forgive her. So instead of pulling the one daughter he does have left closer, he pushes her away and tells her he will never forgive her for lying about Sara. He’s about to kick her out when Murmur and his crew show up and open fire.
Felicity gets the alert and sends the boys over to help, and Lance tries to cover Laurel so she can get out, but she gets cornered. Nyssa shows up just in time and saves Laurel from certain death.
Laurel tells Nyssa that Lance is in the back but before Nyssa can do anything the hooded vigilantes, red and green, drop in and save the Captain. They chase some baddies out into the alley and when it’s just Lance and the Arrow, Lance growls that he’s not about to thank him, but the Arrow growls right back and says that’s not why he does this.
When the team gets back, Felicity congratulates them on a job well done, and Oliver thanks her for reminding him of what’s really important. When he was fighting Murmur and his men, all he could think about were the families of the officers he was fighting to save, and about how they expect him to get their loved ones home safe. That’s why he does this. That’s why he wears the hood. Felicity tells him that he always told her that all he wants is for her to be happy and this right here is what makes her happy. Just before her smile can heal the crack in his heart, her phone rings and Ray’s face pops up and the wound opens all over again.
Outside, Nyssa finds Laurel and asks if she’s alright. Laurel asks what she’s doing here and Nyssa says she misses Sara and liked that one time they sat together and shared stories about her. Nyssa tells her that she, too, has daddy issues and maybe Laurel wants to talk about hers? Laurel realizes that actually talking to someone whose father is Ra’s al Ghul actually might make her feel better and so would talking about Sara, so she says yes, and that dinner’s on her.
On the way, Nyssa tells Laurel that she looks like she could use some training, and Laurel asks if that was an offer, and Nyssa says why not because otherwise she’d have to leave Starling City and literally nobody wants that.
Oliver meets up with Maseo and tells him that he’s not accepting Ra’s offer. Maseo says there will be consequences for refusing Ra’s al Ghul, but Oliver is all, “Oh someone’s threatening my life? Must be Tuesday.”
Across town, Roy hears a knock on his door and is surprised to find a hyperventilating Thea on the other side. She asks if she can stay with him, and when he says yes, she kisses him. Perhaps to remind herself of who she once was.
Meanwhile, Ra’s decides to pay Oliver back for saying ‘no’ to him by putting on a costume identical to the Green Arrow’s and killing people all ruthless-like, letting one man free with a snarl to tell the city what he saw.
What did you think of “The Offer”?
