‘Arrow’ Episode 3.15 “The Offer” (6 out of 10) Starring Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes. Guest Starring Brandon Routh, Matt Nable, John Barrowman, Audrey Marie Anderson, Katrina Law, Karl Yune, Adrian Glynn McMorran. First aired March 18, 2015.
In “Batman Begins,” it takes Bruce Wayne weeks to reach Nanda Parbat, the Himalayan kingdom of Ra’s Al Ghul. In “Arrow,” it looks like we can get there pretty much every other Wednesday. Sometimes, twice in an episode. This particular episode starts out in Nanda Parbat, where Oliver Queen and John Diggle have come to retrieve Malcolm Merlyn, who’s clearly the beatass bait in Ra’s trap. Turns out the trap isn’t meant to capture or kill Oliver as much as it’s to let Ra’s Al Ghul make him an offer. One he can’t refuse. One I wouldn’t refuse, personally. That offer? To become the next Ra’s Al Ghul.
Turns out (and this is something nerds have been wondering about) Ra’s Al Ghul is more a title than a name, and the current dude, although he’s hundreds of years old, isn’t technically immortal. The rejuvenating waters that are called “Lazarus Pits” in the comic books are explained as the source of the Fountain of Youth legend inspiring Ponce de Leon and others in history. The magic waters of Nanda Parbat will heal you, they’ll sustain you, they’ll youthify you, but eventually you’re going to die. Ra’s sees his own time coming to an end, and wants Oliver Queen to replace him. There’s a prophecy — the one who survives the sword of Ra’s Al Ghul will become Ra’s Al Ghul. Or something.
Ra’s wants oliver to replace him
Oliver says “lemme think about it,” and heads back to Starling City with Diggle and Merlyn, with Ra’s Al Ghul yelling threats at him on the way out. “You’ll regret this! Nyaaaahh!” Ra’s breathes out a few more cryptic threats, but lets Oliver leave. Back home in Starling, Oliver releases Nyssa, who says she’ll chill for a while, and dumps Merlyn back on Thea’s couch. Return (almost) to the status quo. They go back to crimefighting, with Oliver and Roy taking on a new villain, Murmur — who has his mouth sewn shut. He’s a relatively new villain in the comics, and while he looks cool, sadly they didn’t do much with him in this episode.
The big events of the episode happen around the Murmur storyline, not within it. Captain Lance finds out that the Arrow lied about Sara’s death, and his heart breaks again. Where Arrow and Lance were nearing a Batman/Commissioner Gordon kind of relationship (I was hoping for an Arrow Signal, dammit!), now that’s fallen apart. Lance swears he’s done helping Arrow…just in time for Ra’s Al Ghul, dressed as Arrow, to start killing criminals in Starling City. Nyssa, missing Sara, and Laurel, missing Sara, decide that they’ll work on training Laurel to be a better Black Canary. Then I was thinking about them hooking up the way Sara and Nyssa did, and lost track of time.
This episode was sometimes confusing, sometimes dull, and didn’t have a good storyline to follow through the entire episode. Adding in flashbacks that show us Shado alive and well just muddies the waters further. It’s rare that I’ll like a flashback segment, but these were downright infuriating. Let’s put those on the back burner, and let the events of the present play out. I’m interested to see what happens with Ra’s Al Ghul in Starling City, and want to see him elevated to the level of villainy we saw in Deathstroke last season; this particular episode’s arrow missed the mark.