‘Arrow’ Episode 3.22 “This Is Your Sword” (8 out of 10) Starring Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Paul Blackthorne. Guest Starring Katrina Law, Matt Nable, Colton Haynes, Rila Fukushima. First aired May 6, 2015.
“It’s like super, super hard to get to Nanda Parbat, you guys. Let’s go there ten times this season.” That’s the thing that bugs me most about this storyline. And it shouldn’t, because there’s some cool stuff happening. “This Is Your Sword” starts out in Starling City, where Diggle and Black Canary are beating up on meth gangs. She uses the Canary Cry, which shatters windshields and eardrums, and is pretty much everything I wanted it to be. You may be wondering why she doesn’t use it later in the episode when dozens of League of Assassins…assassins are attacking them. That’s a good wonder to wonder. In any case, it worked well in Starling City, and Diggle, Black Canary, and Felicity are doing pretty okay at holding their own.
Felicity heads back over to her day job, vice president of Palmer Technologies. Where her previous boyfriend/boss/third superhero she’s had a thing for has her sign some paperwork…without her reading that it’s a Transfer of Ownership. So yeah, she just became a billionaire, and didn’t realize it. It makes me wonder, with all the things I sign without reading, if I’m actually the owner of say, Apple or sumpin. I’ll look into that.
Felicity just became a billionaire
Diggle’s still pissed at Oliver Queen for kidnapping his wife, leaving his infant daughter alone, and basically destroying what was left of their loyalty and friendship and bro-ness. So when Malcolm Merlyn shows up telling Team Arrow to “trust me this time you guys, really, let’s go to Nanda Parbat and save Oliver from Ra’s Al Ghul”…they’re pretty indifferent. And then Merlyn brings out Tatsu as a special witness to testify that Merlyn’s legit…but they don’t know who she is. Eventually they’re convinced to board a plane (again) and go to Nanda Parbat (again) to try and spring Ollie from Ra’s evil clutches. Part of me likes the Nanda Parbat thing–if nothing else, it gives Starling City and the SCPD a breather. I mean, it’s not Gotham.
We get a pretty sweet battle as Diggle, Black Canary, Merlyn, Felicity, Atom (he flew over on his own, Iron Man-style) and the newly masked Katana take on the League of Assassins, this time in broad daylight. some good swordplay, lots of arrows, guns, and at least one iPad are in the melee. The key figure for me in this one was Katana, as she (Tatsu) and her former husband Maseo fight to the death. There’s some good heartbreaking dialogue here, and the actors both sell it. When Tatsu takes Maseo’s life with her katana, it’s the final piece to transforming her into the comic book character she’s based on. In the comics, the soul of her husband inhabits the sword–but “Arrow” makes Katana the one who wielded it. Brutal. And kind of poetic and lovely. I mean, when my wife offs me, I’m gonna haunt the shit out of her. Anyway. Loved seeing Katana in action. If she becomes a recurring character we see now and then in CW’s DC Universe, I’m down with it.
Oliver (or Al Sah-him) and Ra’s Al Ghul are victorious, capturing the six heroes and bringing them into the palace dungeon in chains. This is only a slight distraction for the preparation for the wedding of Oliver and Nyssa Al Ghul, which will complete his ascension to become the Heir to the Demon. Oh yeah, and he has to destroy Starling City.
Do you feel like there’s a lot going on in this episode? Because in addition to all that, you’ve got Thea heading to Bludhaven (I think that’s where it was) to visit the recently not-dead Roy Harper, and bring him his red Arsenal suit. They have some good talk and good lovin, and pretty much get to say their goodbyes, before he goes back to Abercrombie and Fitch or whatever. He also leaves her the Arsenal gear, saying “red was always more your color”…even though he’s pretty much worn a red hoodie every time we’ve ever seen him. But hey. She inherits the Speedy. We’ll see her sidekicking some ass soon.
Even with all of…this going on, this episode came together better than most of the recent “Arrow” episodes. We don’t spend much time with Oliver at all, and it lets us catch up on some of the other stories. Even though characters like Black Canary and Atom are pretty much set dressing, the characters are still there for the fight, and won’t have to get caught up in expositions later. This episode finished putting the pieces in place for a finale that looks like it will need every minute to wrap up storylines and characters and probably leave some cliffhangers–a fitting way to end season three of “Arrow.”