Arrow: “The Fallen” – Review
By Afolabi Thomas
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Following the very climactic departure of Roy Harper, and the final fight between Ra’s and Thea, we are placed in medias res with Thea being rushed to the hospital. During a frightning rehabilitation and visit to the defibrilator she is revived, but surviving on life support. R’as has played his gambit; that one occurrence that would tip Oliver over the edge happened, and now he was left with no choice.
The thought of Oliver joining the League is completely repelled by Felicity, who we see shows a true love later in the episode, but we begin to revist Nanda Parbat. Remember that one scene when R’as placed his hands into this sauna and his cuts healed? Yeah, the Lazzarus Pit! Malcolm Merlin informs Oliver that those waters can save Thea, however they don’t bring her back as the same person and that the waters can alter its user’s soul. Before leaving, Felicity meets with Ray asking to use his private jet. Unfortunately, for the fans that loved the little romance between the two of them, Ray opens up to felicity about the fact that he loves her but she’s in love with Oliver. He noticed during Roy’s exit in the previous episode.
Accompanied with Diggle, Felicity and Malcolm, Oliver enters Nanda Parbat to make the deal with R’as. Ever hear of the prase, “stuck between a rock and a hard place”? This situation is worse, its like choosing to sell your soul, over choosing to sell your soul; not many options. The League, lead by some woman, perform a ritual before dropping Thea’s body into the Lazzarus Pit. A pause occurs and all of a sudden Thea jumps out of the water with a killer instinct for Oliver. She is quickly put down with some type of tranquilizer, and as soon as she wakes up she has some quick amnesia and can remember everyone, except Oliver. R’as says that the effects will were only temporary, but I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of the effects those waters have.
This episode covers a lot on the League and their origins, and most of the time it trends around the same concept. Men and women who are trying to escape from their pasts by appointing themselves a new name, and living for a new purpose. During a deep conversation between Diggle and Maseo, we learn that Maseo’s son, Akio, died in his hands before he was a part of the League. This flashback scene we may see in the next episode. It is John that explains to Maseo that his son would not want to see his father turn out the way he already has, and that running from his past cannot heal what has happened. We later learn that R’as has also suffered the same circumstance centuries ago. That’s right, that Lazzarus Pit allowed him to live for centuries, I found it quite epic when I first heard it. He was a man married with a son and daughter before the League came to him and gave him a choice. He could choose to stay with and watch his family suffer torture and death, or he could leave them without saying a word and join the League. He chose to leave, revealing that he couldn’t bare to watch his loved ones suffer.
Felicity tries so much this episode to save her beloved Oliver but all her attempts are shattered by the end of the episode. First, lets just point out that the two of them slept together while at Nanda Parbat in a very sensual scene, which was quite new coming from Arrow directors. Later on, Felicity offers a drink to Oliver which is spiked with some kind of “roofie” to knock him out and quickly escape with the rest of the team without Olivers resistance. The plan looks like it’s going well and even Maseo offeres to help the team escape through the catacombs, but obviously it couldn’t have been so easy for a group of individuals to escape the lair of highly trained assassins. Oliver, after waking up from his temporary sleep, leads the rest of the group to the edge of Nanda Parbat to bid his farewell.
When Oliver confronts R’as, the Demon asks him who was it that let him escape. Obviously not wanting to oust Maseo he lies and says he doesn’t remember, but Maseo interrupts and admits to his ‘crime’ and asks of R’as to take his life as punishment. R’as lets him live saying that it was his past that got in his way, not his present person. In Starling City, Thea wakes up to Malcolm telling her that Oliver has joined the League, and that he will do everything to make this up to Thea now that he is free from the League.
The grand finale ends with Oliver going through his preperations of joining the League of Assassins. He is given a permanent marking on his back which symbolizes his membership (it is ironically in the shape of the Hozen that he found on Lian Yu), and he rises in his Assassin gear as Al Sah-him: The Arrow. Oliver Queen, is dead.
