Loved it? Hated it? What did you think of the Climb?

[superhippie2000]

What did you think?

[ClarkyBoy14]

Wow. Those Arrow and Flash writers know how to do finales.

[vantheman77]

That was shocking. The producers were not kidding when they said the show won't be the same after this. Loved the sword fight between Katana and China White.

[Halberdier17]

I loved it. I liked that Ray told Felicity about his plans with the O.M.A.C./A.T.O.M. suit. Liked that they revealed who killed Sara. China White was in the flashbacks and she took Tatsu. Maseo joined the League of Assassins. Seems that everyone but Quentin knows Sara is dead. The fight between Ra's al Ghul and Oliver was awesome.

[super_j_man]

I want to give this episode a 10....but I have nitpick I need to get out there. This episode was very rushed. This should have been a two-parter. In one episode we learn that Ras is giving Ollie an ultimatum to find Sara's killer,Felicity learns that Ollies DNA is on the Arrows, to which leads them to Thea and we learn that she was mind controlled and then have Ollie duel with Ras....and that's not everything that happened. It would have been nice to have time to process Thea as Sara's killer (which I still don't care about even if she was mind controlled) before ending the episode on that cliff hanger. Other than that I loved this episode. But yeah too rushed.

How bout Lazarus Pit (though it was not mentioned by name it's pretty obvious that's what they're going for) and the ATOM suit. So I thought the producers said they were done with the "powers" and stuff on Arrow but fraid not I guess! Lol I ain't even mad though. :P

[President_Luthor]

It was a solid mid-season finale and those last ten minutes were cinematically riveting.

Since it was Ra's Al Ghul, I wasn't really surprised by the outcome. At this point in the Arrow universe, Ollie is a good fighter, he's proven that he can hold his own in most battles -- but Ra's would be a great fighter, and would have been a great fighter for some time. As in, long before Ollie took up the vigilante side job. (It was also a cool nod/homage to a Batman v. Ra's battle scene in the comics). Ra's earlier duel and the final minutes established that Ra's is going to be a formidable foe -- and nothing like some of those Starling City yahoos Ollie's been practising on. I'm cautiously optimistic that China White's story arc will be better than in previous seasons.

The secrets-and-lies angle continues with keeping Quentin out of the loop about Sara's death -- and now Thea along with Laurel's mom are in on it. It looks like Dinah all but gave Laurel her blessing to seek retribution on Sara's killer. I'd prefer that Quentin finds out soon, but it looks increasingly likely that this will be drawn out and his finding out this particular secret will cost him dearly.

Unintentionally amusing moment: Thea and the Arrow's brief fisticuffs ... and Thea leaping out into the SC night, in December, in that Xmas party cropped top, with not even a jacket or sweater. Would have been more acceptable if Ollie had said: "Where is Malcolm Merlyn -- and aren't you a little cold? It's, like, December!" and Thea said: "Leave me and my father alone -- and NO, it's still warm enough to go out without a sweater!"

The Ray - Felicity story arc with A.T.O.M. looks promising and Felicity's remark about being drawn into the confidences of billonnaires on a mission was funny.

SHIELD came close this time with its own mid-season finale, but I'd still give Arrow's the edge with its movie-quality final minutes. Ra's owned (pwned!) Ollie the moment Ollie landed in the League's home turf, and rightly so, if Ra's is to be seen and believed as the Arrow's most dangerous opponent. This is a man that makes Batman, even the Justice League, pause for thought. Any concerns fans may have that Ra's might not be shown the respect due his legacy can be put to rest.

Was there really any doubt any initial Ollie vs. Ra's duel would end the way it did?

I'm not even worried about Ollie's fate, because anything involving Ra's means life and death aren't necessarily opposites. A cool, thrilling mid-season finale.

[Carmine-Infantino]

So, when Oliver climbs out of the Lazarus Pit will Sara be standing there to hand him a towel???

[Starsaber]

How bout Lazarus Pit (though it was not mentioned by name it's pretty obvious that's what they're going for) and the ATOM suit. So I thought the producers said they were done with the "powers" and stuff on Arrow but fraid not I guess! Lol I ain't even mad though. :P

They brought powers back to Arrow last week when Barry showed up. And technically neither of those is an inherent power.

[Austin 3:16]

I actually thought Ollie was gonna pull Ra's down with him. Man that was a good finale.

[thatoneguy]

I liked it, the atom mention was cool. I would have gave it a 10 but the final fight scene seemed too short and weak. I would have liked to see it go a tad longer.

I also thought Oliver was going to take the sword from ra's and stab him and they would both be presumed dead.

I like the Lazarus pit idea, they obviously aren't going to kill Oliver off. I do think however that this leaves the second half of season 3 open to develop other characters stories like laurel, Thea, and maybe Roy.

[Koldazice]

This was great. Right before the final scene I figured that much like his first encounter with Merlyn in season 1, that Oliver would get throughly outclassed, and be left for dead...but I had no idea that he would be LEFT DEAD. Now obviously, you figure that he'll come back, but it was quite the shocking moment to see those final images. This is just me, but the fact that they had no music added so much more to that final fight as well. Finally, I thought that they couldnt make anybody look as formidable as they made Slade look in season 2....but in the course of a couple of episodes(and some mentions here and there), they've made RA look as good as any foil that Oliver has had and rightfully so. They somehow managed to top the GREAT mid-season finales of the flash and A.O.S

[Haggard01]

Yikes. A lot happened which I think super J man was right this needed to be a two partner but oh well. That ending surprised me. So a lot of things were good about this episode which I'm not going to go into all of them. I will say the few nitpicks I have is Oliver having flashbacks to his family right before his snow coma should have also included Diggle, Roy and Felicity. There his family also I don't really count Laurel yet because she seams to be focused on going at her eventually Black Canary role by herself.

The Hong Kong stuff was a little slowish but after what was going in the present and the advancements last night episode made I'm cutting them break. We also know from a conversation between Maseo and Oliver that something or "it' happened. Besides a few things I really enjoyed this episode so bring on January 21.

[Arrowaddict22]

I can't breathe

[Quark]

Looks like Oliver will have a tad more scars the next time we see him .

Great episode though even if the moral of the story is never trust what the actors on the show say...

I loved the look of awe on Oliver's face after fighting Thea. It was amazing. Also the scene between Thea and Laurel was great. It's always nice to see characters that don't usually interact have scenes together. Was also nice to see Laurel's Mum.

It was also interesting that Ra's didn't think much of Oliver Queen. With all the other big bads and villains we have had, it always seemed like they were on an equal footing with Oliver or there main aim was "Oliver". Here, its like, "oh, just another unimportant person I'm going to kill." I wonder how this will fit in with the rest of the season and what Ra's goal is. Also makes me wonder how they can go beyond Ra's in the next few seasons unless taking down Ra's is now the overall series arc.

I'm curious, who in the comics, besides Batman, is "on par" with Ra's in a a physical sense?

I'm intrigued by the gold mask Maseo wore and what it signified. Also looks like Oliver didn't have a clue that he joined the League so can't have heard anything about the League from Maseo.

I think Malcolm is eventually going to meet his maker by Laurel.

Speaking of Malcolm, did he actually think that Oliver could possibly beat Ra's al Ghul? Oliver didn't know what the guy was capable of but Malcolm must of done. Malcolm just wanted Oliver dead. So much for the actor saying Malcolm "cared" about Oliver like he was family.

So Thea killed Sara and it was mind control. Didn't Stephen Amell say it wasn't Thea or something to that effect? Granted he wasn't going to say that she killed Sara but he shouldn't really have said anything at all.

Also wasn't Malcom supposed to show up at that mountaintop? I think one of the actors said that. Unless it was supposed to be a different episode but I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be this one.

I think I should probably avoid spoilers from now on .

[Lipzo]

Looks like Oliver will have a tad more scars the next time we see him [IMG]file:///CUsers\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\cli p_image001.gif[/IMG].

Given that he is almost certainly going to have to come back through the Lazarus Pit, he could easily not have any scars or at least not one from this episode. It depends on how effective they feel like they should make the pit.

It was also interesting that Ra's didn't think much of Oliver Queen. With all the other big bads and villains we have had, it always seemed like they were on an equal footing with Oliver or there main aim was "Oliver". Here, its like, "oh, just another unimportant person I'm going to kill." I wonder how this will fit in with the rest of the season and what Ra's goal is. Also makes me wonder how they can go beyond Ra's in the next few seasons unless taking down Ra's is now the overall series arc.

I don’t think it will be an overall series arc, taking down the League and Ra’s is something that no one person can ever do. He makes the Justice League stop and think by himself so I can’t see it being a thing. I could see Oliver and Ra’s being chaotic partners at times, should the future main villains start to take place on a more global scale rather than just in Starling.

I'm curious, who in the comics, besides Batman, is "on par" with Ra's in a a physical sense?

There is no one without superpowers who would be able to stand toe-to-toe with him.

I think Malcolm is eventually going to meet his maker by Laurel.

That is something I really hope doesn’t happen. If Laurel defeats him then they are essentially saying she is a better fighter then Oliver was in season 1. Maybe if the show gets to Season 7 or 8 and Laurel has been training that entire time I could believe it, but it can’t happen until then. Unless of course they decide to give her the Canary cry then maybe I could believe it by late Season 5 maybe 6.

Speaking of Malcolm, did he actually think that Oliver could possibly beat Ra's al Ghul? Oliver didn't know what the guy was capable of but Malcolm must of done. Malcolm just wanted Oliver dead. So much for the actor saying Malcolm "cared" about Oliver like he was family.

I think Malcolm knew that he had no chance to defeat Ra’s, he only said that to try and motivate him. I do think that Malcolm will be the one to take Oliver to the pit and bring him back to life as typically every member of the League knows where the pit is they just don’t dare to go there as not incur the wrath of Ra’s. They also made mention during this episode that the spot where the fight took place was one that was a standard ritual site, not just a random spot so it is within reason that Malcolm would know where that is and he could then save Oliver.

anything at all.

Also wasn't Malcom supposed to show up at that mountaintop? I think one of the actors said that. Unless it was supposed to be a different episode but I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be this one.

I can’t recall that being said, but if that is the case then it certainly does fit in with what I just said before.



11/10 for this episode. It was the best of the series for me in pretty much every possible aspect.
Nable portrayed Ra’s pretty much perfectly, the way he looked down upon Oliver and commanded respect by all those around him was excellent as was the pride in his voice when he spoke about the people he had killed. Even through the fight the way he came across as being nothing but calm and knowing that he would win was great.

The Oliver/Ra’s fight scene was by far the best fight scene we have seen and I dare say it is the best that we will see, major props to the writers for giving Ra’s the respect he was due for that as well as the Batman reference to a topless sword fight.

Thea being the one that killed her annoyed me at first, but the inclusion of a drug to make you forget what you did and essentially be mind controlled was a good enough explanation for me. What I didn’t like was how it just had to be linked back to Oliver’s past, I don’t think they needed to explain how Oliver knew about it. Granted they needed to give Maseo some back story for joining the league (Not sure if this is a rip off from Katana in Beware the Batman joining the League for a bit).
Speaking of Maseo, I’m still curious how he managed to escape A.R.G.U.S. and get to the League or how he even knew of the League’s existence.

Palmer and his reason for buying out QC and creating the suit made perfect sense and I like how they are really linking him into Starling. My only problem with that is that he was never mentioned or even teased before, yes I know that they were planning on having Ted Kord and that got rejected but I think it would have been better off if they decided to make it as someone who didn’t originate from Starling but purely came to Starling to help re-build it.