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“Arrow” recap (3.21): The Canary Cries

Previously on Arrow, Roy pretended to be The Arrow, then Roy pretended to be dead, Ra’s pretended to let Oliver reject his offer to become the next Demon’s Head, then Ra’s pretended to kill Thea, Laurel pretended she just wanted Nyssa to train her when probably she didn’t hate the wrestling matches or the post-training massages, and Oliver pretended to embrace his new place within the League of Assassins.

But the days of pretending are over. Oliver’s head is shaved, and that’s how you know he means business. He spends three weeks being tortured and tormented and trained, and when those three weeks are up, he is Al Sah-him and Oliver Queen is in the past.

While Ra’s is complimenting his skills, a few assassins present the Demon and his Heir with an intruder. When Ra’s asks why the intruder lives, they lift his hood to reveal that it is Diggle. Diggle cries out, swearing he’s been kept prisoner here this whole time, that they never really escaped, but Al Sah-him demands Diggle be given a sword and they fight, resulting in Diggle getting a sword through the chest. But when the assassins roll him over, it’s not Diggle at all; Oliver had been given a drug that causes hallucination, and everyone sees someone different during this test.

Ra’s tells Al that he was trained side by side with another warrior named Damian who both thought they were to be heirs of the demon. Ra’s hesitated in killing his opponent, so Damian got away with his life, some Lazarus water, a band of merry men, and has been wreaking havoc ever since. To prevent something like this from happening again, his own Heir is going to eliminate anyone who believes themselves to be heir to the demon. Ra’s gave a list of things Damian has been up to that made me feel like I should have been able to deduce who this man was, but I’m just here for the ladies of Arrow.

Speaking of which, Starling City is keeping the Black Canary busy.

She’s kicking a hooligan’s ass when he whips out a knife and the tables start to turn. Nyssa steps out from the shadow and ties the man up with those badass throwing ropes and gives Laurel some tips.

She’s ready for more training, but Laurel says they’ve earned themselves some noms. Nyssa knows not what this means but can’t resist the glitter in Laurel’s eyes that are like a distant reflection of her beloved’s.

When their food comes, Nyssa is thinking maybe they should be called fried fries until Laurel makes her dip it in her milkshake (not a euphemism) and Nyssa thinks maybe they should be called little heaven sticks. It’s really quite adorable and if I didn’t know any better, I would say this is a lovely date.

Laurel tells Nyssa that she likes seeing her like this, eating normal food and wearing normal clothes and SMILING for once. Nyssa nearly giggles – giggles! – and says she’s totally normal. Doesn’t everyone like totally shoot arrows at people with their girlfriends just for funsies? No?

Nyssa grows serious and thanks Laurel for being so kind to her during her darkest time. Laurel could have pushed her away for being part of the League of Assassins, the organization that lead to the ultimate demise of her sister, but instead she chose to feed off their mutual love for Sara. Laurel is so like her father in so many ways, but so unlike him on this front.

Laurel says it’s the least she can do, after Nyssa saved her sister on the island, but Nyssa knows it’s different. Sara was in a literally dark place, she needed physical care, and it grew from there. Laurel saw a hurting soul and took it under her Black Canary wing. Not wanting to ruin the moment, but also not wanting to tarnish it later by making it be a chance she didn’t take, Laurel chooses now to tell Nyssa that Oliver accepted Ra’s al Ghul’s offer to be his heir. Nyssa is like, “Oh that sucks but I have three weeks before I have to worry about anything.” and Laurel is like “About that…” so Nyssa storms out angrily.

Meanwhile at the Diggle residence, Thea and Felicity are feeding little baby Sara and it is almost as cute as the Laurel/Nyssa date.

Diggle comes home and everyone sits down for dinner. Felicity wants to give Diggle a vigilante uniform, Thea feels pretty good for the undead but misses her big brother, and Diggle toasts to Oliver Queen, gone but never forgotten.

Laurel catches up to Nyssa and apologizes again, and Nyssa says she doesn’t have time to lecture Laurel about her tendency to keep Really Important Information to herself because she thinks it’s helping when really it’s not because Nyssa has got to get the hell out of dodge. But Laurel will not stand for this; Nyssa is her friend, and Laurel will not abandon her. Nyssa says that’s sweet and all but Oliver is probably on his way right now with a billion men since he knows that’s how many it would take to kill her.

Laurel takes Nyssa to Team Arrow (which is now down two Arrows…) and they give them the low-down. Felicity is sure Oliver would never kill Nyssa, but Nyssa says that the Oliver Queen they knew is dead. Felicity is sure Oliver is too strong to be brainwashed, but as bad as Nyssa feels about saying it, it’s true. One of my favorite things about this scene was that Nyssa had no intention of telling anyone but Laurel any of this, but the only reason Nyssa isn’t halfway to Antarctica right now is because “Laurel insisted.” I can count on two fingers how many people could “insist” Nyssa do something and have her comply. Less if you only count living people.

Nyssa isn’t interested in hiding, though, and it’s far too late to run away, so she’s going to go face her destiny head on.

Felicity tells Laurel she doesn’t believe Nyssa, doesn’t want to believe her, but Laurel points to the vibrating air Nyssa left in her wake and says she has never seen that woman come anywhere close to terrified until this very moment. If they needed more proof of her character that what they’ve seen with their own eyes, Sara loved Nyssa, Sara trusted her, so therefore they should, too.

That being said, Laurel put a tracker on Nyssa’s phone to help them help her.

Felicity is tracking Nyssa when Thea strolls in, asking to be part of the team. After all, she was trained by someone who was in the League of Assassins, so she’s more than qualified. Felicity isn’t sure that’s the best idea, and oh by the way your brother is back in town to kill the girlfriend of the girl your birth father drugged you into killing. And also he’s been brainwashed. Felicity promises they’ve got this 100% under control but Thea tells her she’s a terrible liar and she’s not wrong. Thea thinks she could get through to Oliver but Felicity says that people generally are supposed to wait 6-8 weeks after being resurrected before they get into their first deathmatch.

Across town, Nyssa stands on a rooftop. She hears someone join her on the roof and says aloud that she is standing where her “beloved spirit departed this world.” She is standing in the last place Sara Lance stood.

Al Sah-him is here to take Nyssa back to Nanda Parbat, but she has no intention of losing to him yet again. Alas, perhaps because her heart isn’t in it, perhaps because suddenly the thought of dying in the same place as her true love suddenly sounds appealing, or perhaps because the writers keep forgetting she was a trained assassin since birth, Oliver ends up getting her by the throat. But before he can take her or kill her, Laurel shows up and cries a Canary Cry that I promise was way more badass than the name implies.

Outnumbered, Oliver looks at them coldly and steps off the building, disappearing into the night.

Nyssa is pissed that Laurel interfered, but Laurel is absolutely sick of this lifelong cycle of losing everything and everyone she loves. It ends now, it ends with Nyssa. Nyssa wishes Laurel wanting it was enough to keep her alive, but it isn’t. Nyssa thanks her for the best three weeks she’s experienced since Sara died, and for showing her what the world looked like out from under her father’s thumb.

She enjoyed this thing they call “happiness,” however brief it was.

Laurel tells Nyssa that she has known Oliver since he was shouting YOU HAVE FAILED THIS PLAYGROUND to their classmates, but tonight the Ollie she knew was nowhere to be seen. She says that if Oliver can change, so can Nyssa, even though that feels a little like she’s saying “If Oliver can cut his wings off, surely you can grow yours back.”

Diggle and Felicity are shocked and dismayed that Nyssa was right. Felicity thought Oliver agreed to give up his life, but she didn’t anticipate him having to give up his whole self, including his soul.

Unwilling to sit on her hands, Thea invites Merlyn over to ask him for help with this whole my-brother-is-a-killer-robot thing. She knows first-hand what it’s like to be brainwashed and she doesn’t want it to happen to her brother, and he owes it to her to help in any way he can, and he agrees.

Felicity goes over Diggle’s, where she’ll be staying, but something is wrong when they get there. They search the house and find baby Sara crying in her crib, but Lyla is nowhere to be found.

She’s in Nanda Parbat, as part of Al Sah-him’s goal to draw Nyssa out by turning her new “friends” against her. Al Sah-him calls Diggle and says they’ll exchange Nyssa for Lyla in 30 minutes or else.

Diggle finds Laurel and pins Nyssa against the wall, yelling at her and accusing her of having no honor, speaking to her as if she represents the League. Nyssa is amused in the way parents sometimes are when their child’s tantrum is so absurd and dramatic you can’t help but stifle laughter.

Diggle demands Nyssa turn herself in, but Laurel says that’s not how they work here in Vigilanteville. Nyssa is fine with it, though. She knows it is her fate; she’s not allowed to be happy for long, that’s the rule of being a non-white queer female character on television.

Laurel is sure there is another way and warns Diggle that if he just hands Nyssa over without trying anything else first, he’ll be as soulless as Oliver.

But they shouldn’t worry TOO much about Lyla, because sure she’s tied up, but she’s not afraid. She sasses Oliver, then tries to appeal to any humanity still left inside him, saying he filled the void that Diggle’s brother’s death created, but Ollie isn’t moved.

Arrowless Team Arrow arrives, and Oliver sends Maseo to search them for weapons. Felicity is absolutely not having any of that though, and Oliver gives Maseo permission to not pat down the techie. Felicity tries to reach the Oliver underneath the mask that is Al Sha-him, but he remains unflinching. Oliver trades Nyssa for Lyla, and tries to make Nyssa kneel, but she will be doing no such thing. Lyla hugs Diggle and he tells her to hug Felicity and she does and when Felicity slips Lyla’s hands into her coat and Lyla’s like, “Is that gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”

It is, in fact, two guns. Lyla whips around and the fighting ensues. Despite the fighting and Laurel’s desperate attempts to prevent it, Nyssa still ends up getting taken. Because of one moment where she was more worried about Laurel than herself. Oliver gets Diggle in the same position he had hallucination Diggle in and he too tries to pull on his heartstrings. Oliver raises his sword, ready to kill his friend, but an arrow hits his arm before he can bring it down. He looks up angrily and sees Thea, dressed in a hood, ordering him to back down.

Oliver stares back at her, then walks away. Everyone is glad they’re all alive, but Laurel is so sad that they got Nyssa anyway, after all that.

Thea says it’s not fair; none of this is fair. How are the good guys supposed to fight the bad guys if the leader of the good guys is a bad guy now? Felicity still has hope that they can get their Oliver back, but Diggle pisses in her cornflakes, as usual, saying Oliver is gone. Gone but never forgotten, not as long as the team he left behind still stands.

Al Sah-him presents Nyssa to her father. Ra’s is impressed, he really didn’t think he’d be able to manage to get her. Ra’s says Nyssa has been hiding things, tucking them away to keep for herself, since she was a tiny assassin. But even though Ra’s is Slytherin, he’s a particularly good finder. He finds something hidden in the hilt of Nyssa’s sword. He glowers at his daughter, but she is not afraid. Not of him, not anymore.

Ra’s tells his heir to ensure his reign will be unchallenged, and Al Sah-him dutifully raises his sword. But Ra’s stops him before Nyssa can join her beloved in the afterlife. Instead, Ra’s decides he wants to be as maniacal as possible, and says his biological heir and his League heir should be married. This is the first time since being “reprogrammed” we see Oliver flinch, uncomfortable with the orders, the first hint he might be pretending to be brainwashed. But he resumes his blank stare before Ra’s notices his dissent. Nyssa says she would rather be dead please if that’s still an option but Ra’s has made his decision; she will be bride of the demon.

Okay, tangent time. Skip this paragraph if you’d like to get back to the regularly scheduled recap. THREE of the shows I recap had instances of non-consensual sexual situations this week. Orphan Black had a girl consenting to sex with one guy but then he brought his brother in without telling her. However, the show knew full well that this was rape, and turned it into a quiet-but-not-subtle side-eye to how the judicial system treats sexual assault. Once Upon A Time had a last-minute reveal that Robin Hood had been tricked into having sex with what he thought was his wife but was actually the wicked witch. Jury’s still out on how they’ll treat it, but they likely will be like ‘lol but magic?’ because it’s Once Upon A Time. But this? This is taking it a step further. Because not only is this some kind of twisted arranged marriage, but this is Ra’s al Ghul blatantly disregarding his own daughter’s rights to her own body, and potentially her sexuality. I don’t know if Nyssa identifies as a lesbian or bisexual or as Nyssa Does What Nyssa Wants, but we know Ra’s was never supportive of her relationship with Sara. He claimed it was because love is a weakness, but that felt like a cop-out. So this could be some kind of corrective rape situation. Either way, it’s twisted, and I hate it, and I’m with Nyssa in not knowing if this is better or worse than her joining the ranks of dead queer characters on television. I hope Oliver is faking his brainwashing so that instead of being forced to make a baby they can secretly plot together how to get rid of Ra’s al Ghul and turn the League of Assassins into Arrow’s Avengers.

Anyway. In Starling City, Felicity goes to see a catatonic Thea. Thea wishes her brother had let her die but Felicity says he never would have let that happen, and that’s why Felicity loved him. Thea’s confused; she thought Felicity was still hung up on Sara, but Felicity did love Oliver, in a complicated way. Both girls wonder how they could still love him as much as they do, considering, but Felicity says they’re allowed to still love the best parts of him, the best memories.

Felicity says they have to go on living. Like a wise woman once said, “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live.” Surely Oliver would have wanted them to take Buffy’s advice. A lightbulb goes off over Felicity’s head; she knows something that will help Thea regain the will to live. Somehow there never seemed to be a good time over the past THREE WEEKS to tell her this, but Roy’s alive! Surprise! Felicity gives her a slip of paper and says Roy is starting a new life, and it could include Thea if she wants it to.

Across town, Laurel sits in the diner, unable to enjoy french fries and milkshakes, because her heart is broken all over again. Nyssa and Laurel shared something special, a love wrought with transference but love nonetheless.

Felicity goes to what’s left of the old Arrow cave, crumbles into her old chair and cries, mourning Oliver. This probably hurts worse than all the times they thought he was dead.

In Nanda Parbat, Ra’s tells Al Sah-him that in order to become the Demon’s Head, one must truly erase his past. And not just metaphorically. He must literally kill everyone Oliver Queen ever knew. He holds up the thing he stole from Nyssa and Oliver recognizes it as the Alpha and Omega bioweapon from his flashbacks. Ra’s says it’s almost time to unleash it on Starling City.

There are two possible reasons Nyssa had this weapon: a) because she wanted to be Demon’s Head and would have to wipe out the League of Assassins, where she grew up, in order to do so (admittedly an unlikely option) or b) because she stole it on the way out, not wanting whoever the next heir would be to have to use it. Either way, Nyssa is a hero, and she better get set free soon. And not in the dead way.

What did you think of “Al Sah-him”?

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