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This was a powerful and gripping episode. They are setting the stage for an amazing season finale.
Slade essentially said what he was going to do weeks ago: he was going to take everything Ollie holds dear before he kills him. And forcing Ollie into a situation that mirrors his live-or-die choice with Sara and Shado is something Slade's warped mind would see as justifiable. The question we've all been asking is which member of Ollie's inner circle would be expected to pay the ultimate price.
How Moira exited made her death more "meaningful" (defiantly on her feet, instead of begging for her life) in the larger context of Ollie's journey on the show. She was prepared to sacrifice everything -- her scruples, the Queen reputation and now, her life -- to protect her children, with the flashback reinforcing this. Moira has been my primary candidate for making this sacrifice since Slade showed up in the Queen mansion. Back then was the time Ollie should have come clean to his family about the risk re: Slade.
What was surprising was how rapidly things went very bad for Ollie. One moment he's having a family moment with his family, the next he's begging for their lives.
[What Slade doesn't know is that telling Laurel about The Secret will likely backfire on him.]
Between the Roy drama and the secrets and lies from her own family, Thea has been traumatized to the limit. With Moira's death, I can't see how Ollie will mend his relationship with her. Too many lost opportunities to come clean with her. I'm guessing Ollie somehow saving Roy from Slade's fate will play some part in fixing it, but I can't see this moment arriving (believably) until well into S3. And we can't forget that Thea is now one of the few people in Ollie's inner circle who do not know the Arrow's identity. If/when she learns of this, it's yet another secret he kept from her. (Quentin must know, I cannot accept that he doesn't at this point.) It's going to take more than a party at the Verdant to rebuild trust between Ollie and Thea.
If there was a weak spot in the ep., it was Sara's rushed exit. I'm guessing the writers want to keep their creative gunpowder dry and have a reason (League of Assassins story, etc.) for pulling out Sara at this critical point. It could also be as simple as just wanting to keep Sara far away from the orbit of Slade's reckoning with Queen and family. On the surface, it makes sense that she would pull away because of the "kill / don't kill" dilemma. But this is not a new revelation -- Ollie knows that Sara's time with the League would have skewered her moral compass.
It would have been easier to accept as a viewer if there were previous, recent moments when Ollie was having doubts about Sara/Canary out in the field, maybe over a few ep. eg. "Hey, Diggle, I'm worried about Sara. She almost killed that henchman last night," etc. Until this ep., Ollie hasn't been seen second-guessing Sara's reliability in the field lately (I'm pretty sure he did when Sara first arrived in Starling City). Having mirakuru'd Roy go ballistic was just the avenue they used to quickly break up or at least press the pause button on Ollie/Sara.
Ollie feels a responsibility to protect Roy from going down the road Slade is on, but his track record as a "wise mentor" isn't that great. Keeping Roy in a medicated/League venom coma is a stop-gap solution, with risks that we've already seen in this ep. In hindsight, keeping Roy at the Arrow den while the cure is in development wasn't the wisest Team Arrow decision.
Slade essentially said what he was going to do weeks ago: he was going to take everything Ollie holds dear before he kills him. And forcing Ollie into a situation that mirrors his live-or-die choice with Sara and Shado is something Slade's warped mind would see as justifiable. The question we've all been asking is which member of Ollie's inner circle would be expected to pay the ultimate price.
How Moira exited made her death more "meaningful" (defiantly on her feet, instead of begging for her life) in the larger context of Ollie's journey on the show. She was prepared to sacrifice everything -- her scruples, the Queen reputation and now, her life -- to protect her children, with the flashback reinforcing this. Moira has been my primary candidate for making this sacrifice since Slade showed up in the Queen mansion. Back then was the time Ollie should have come clean to his family about the risk re: Slade.
What was surprising was how rapidly things went very bad for Ollie. One moment he's having a family moment with his family, the next he's begging for their lives.
[What Slade doesn't know is that telling Laurel about The Secret will likely backfire on him.]
Between the Roy drama and the secrets and lies from her own family, Thea has been traumatized to the limit. With Moira's death, I can't see how Ollie will mend his relationship with her. Too many lost opportunities to come clean with her. I'm guessing Ollie somehow saving Roy from Slade's fate will play some part in fixing it, but I can't see this moment arriving (believably) until well into S3. And we can't forget that Thea is now one of the few people in Ollie's inner circle who do not know the Arrow's identity. If/when she learns of this, it's yet another secret he kept from her. (Quentin must know, I cannot accept that he doesn't at this point.) It's going to take more than a party at the Verdant to rebuild trust between Ollie and Thea.
If there was a weak spot in the ep., it was Sara's rushed exit. I'm guessing the writers want to keep their creative gunpowder dry and have a reason (League of Assassins story, etc.) for pulling out Sara at this critical point. It could also be as simple as just wanting to keep Sara far away from the orbit of Slade's reckoning with Queen and family. On the surface, it makes sense that she would pull away because of the "kill / don't kill" dilemma. But this is not a new revelation -- Ollie knows that Sara's time with the League would have skewered her moral compass.
It would have been easier to accept as a viewer if there were previous, recent moments when Ollie was having doubts about Sara/Canary out in the field, maybe over a few ep. eg. "Hey, Diggle, I'm worried about Sara. She almost killed that henchman last night," etc. Until this ep., Ollie hasn't been seen second-guessing Sara's reliability in the field lately (I'm pretty sure he did when Sara first arrived in Starling City). Having mirakuru'd Roy go ballistic was just the avenue they used to quickly break up or at least press the pause button on Ollie/Sara.
Ollie feels a responsibility to protect Roy from going down the road Slade is on, but his track record as a "wise mentor" isn't that great. Keeping Roy in a medicated/League venom coma is a stop-gap solution, with risks that we've already seen in this ep. In hindsight, keeping Roy at the Arrow den while the cure is in development wasn't the wisest Team Arrow decision.
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