Much like 'Sara' from early on this season, 'The Fallen' was one of the darkest and morbid episodes of Arrow all time. I don't always agree with what the writers decide to do with characters, but I do love the way they write great dark character drama. The dialogue of the entire episode was really well put together. I feel like anyone who has watched the show from the beginning got the feels tonight. Whether it was Oliver grieving over Thea, the Olicity moments, Ray and Felicity, or even the Maseo-Diggle moment, it was a really well written episode.
So Thea sort of died and was taken to the Lazarus Pit. Considering since the very first time Ras was mentioned I have been waiting for the pit to make an appearance, it was nice to see a character be brought back. Though I would have rather had Sara been brought back early on this season. It begs the question as to why Ra's didn't just bring Sara back for Nyssa in the first place? I guess there's still a chance that can be the case later on this season considering Caity Lotz is confirmed for the spin off (and was apparently seen filming alongside Amell and Gustin). Becoming the White Canary does make some sense if she is a 'changed' person coming out of the pit.
Back to tonight, I was once again really impressed with Stephen Amell's acting. He has improved so much since season 1 and tonight was another great example. He plays the dark and suffering Oliver Queen incredibly well. This show is so different than Flash and it's hard to believe at times that they even exist in the same universe sometimes. Now that there is no more Oliver Queen and all we have is the new Ra's Al Ghul, I'm pretty sure that will continue. So knowing what the preview shows for next week, Oliver obviously wont kill Diggle, but how does he get out of this? How does Oliver make peace with Ra's by the end of the season? We only have 3 episodes left and there are still so many questions left unanswered.
The Maseo-Diggle confrontation was nice to see as two brother like figures in Oliver's life both shared their two cents with each other. Although, Maseo's character I feel as though has had some inconsistencies. Felicity and Ra's was just as entertaining, though it was mostly written to make us feel sympathy for what Ra's is doing. Not to compare but we got to know and love the Slade character much more before his turn, and I just don't know that I have any sympathy for what Ra's plan is. Perhaps Nyssa can just take over by the end of the year. That brings us to the biggest fan service moment in possibly Arrow's history, the Olicity scene. After almost 3 full seasons of teasing Oliver and Felicity, they finally had their real moment. Uninterrupted and very romantic I thought it was handled very well. I just hope by the time season 4 comes along, we can all just relax for awhile and let their relationship blossom. So tonight was one of the darker episodes Arrow has had but yet I really loved it. It gave us a look at just how far a man who will go to protect his loved ones. Enter Al Sah-him, heir to the demon.
+Dark, grim episode
+Olicity
+You get the feels multiple times
+The Pit finally used
+Sacrifice
-Maseo inconsistent
9.2/10
