Well holy crow! That was quite the episode. Let me start off by saying the Roy story was super weak tonight. It was kinda been there done that. Plus I am just tired of seeing mad Roy. He never adds anything to the episode when he is mad. I did mildly enjoy the Sara and Ollie story, but I knew something bad was gonna happen as soon as Ollie brought up living together. And sure enough Ollie and Sara are no more, although I think the reasoning was a tad weak. It does bring up some interesting questions with Sara's brief departure though, such as who is she going to visit (Malcom Merlyn? Ra's Al Ghul?). Now for the meat and potatoes. Moira was actually brought back to the forefront this week. We see her struggling with family and campaign issues. She originally chooses family, but with some coaxing from Oliver goes with her campaign. It brought up an interesting moment when Moira revealed that she knew Ollie is the Arrow for a while now. I was surprised that she was cool with it and was actually proud, but it was still a sweet moment. After Roy crashes their party and they contain him, it seems like the Queen family may finally be working towards a resolution to their conflict, which I was excited for, especially if it means no more butthole Thea (she has reverted back to perpetually mad and annoying season 1 Thea the past few episodes). And it got more interesting wwhen Moira started to reveal a secret about Malcolm Merlyn until bam car crash, and they wake up in the forest with Slade. This is one of the best and most beautifully acted scenes of the whole series. Slade recreates the Shado/Sara event and Moira protects her kids. The emotion in everyone was intense and just for a brief second I thought Slade wouldn't kill Moira, but boy was I wrong. I thought Slade's tears were a nice touch as he seemed really conflicted with his decision for a second. The flashbacks also tied in nicely to the Moira story, with her protecting Ollie from being a father to save him a couple years of growing up. I really loved the very obvious conflict Stephen Amell showed us. He did a great job this week. I am curious about his child noow.
Even though this episode dragged at times and started to lose me, it grabbed my attention back with all these gigantic reveals and story events. Moira is gone, Ollie has a kid, and may we see the return of Malcolm to avenge Moira's death? And could we see him team up with Arrow to take Slade down? Ollie finally has his motivation to go after Slade, and these last three episodes are shaping up to be great.
Highlights:
- Slade's big move
- Flashbacks tied in nicely
- Repercussions!
9 out of 10 Stars