Arrow - Recap: More Venomous: Tibetan Pit Viper or Moira Queen?
Which has more venom: a Tibetan pit viper or Moira Queen? You be the judge! Arrow continued with a new episode tonight!
Episode 13 opened with our introduction to Nyssa al Ghul, who carefully and quietly made her way through airport customs by demolishing the entire security team without even flinching. As Nyssa plunged into the dark depths of Starling City, Laurel awoke from her “overdose” in the hospital seeming pretty refreshed. After all, she did see a strikingly realistic hallucination of Sara just before slipping and banging her head on her coffee table. Just like an angel! Only, Officer Lance (Paul Blackthrone) has known the truth about Sara’s war with the League of Assassins, and it wasn’t long before he was giving the Arrow a buzz. Sara, for what it's worth, spent the opening scenes of Episode 13 on Ollie’s pull-up latter contraption, and she can give Oliver a run for his money on that thing! She allegedly did it for an hour straight! I was slightly unclear as to how exactly Sara managed to save her sister’s life, and how Ollie managed to phone Sara in the first place, but I’ll chalk it up to typical vigilante magical mystery.
Before long, Ollie was watching from the shadows as Nyssa al Ghul approached Sara for the first time. Sara was unarmed, while Nyssa certainly came prepared. Knife in hand, was it time for Sara Lance to bite the dust? Surprise! Nyssa and Sara had a super passionate lesbian love that we weren’t privy to prior to tonight! *KISSING* Ollie was certainly shocked and probably slightly jealous. Honestly, he was probably envious of both of these women. It’s been a while since Oliver has gotten laid. Nyssa, who called Oliver’s clumsy self out, was aware of his presence the whole time, it seemed. What was Sara Lance to do? Nyssa refused to leave the city without Sara, who’d sworn her life away to this League yet realized about a moment too late that assassinating people, guilty or innocent, isn’t really her deal. Yeah, that’s a difficult situation to be in. Still, even considering the fact that the League rescued her starving body years back, doesn’t one normally think twice about signing on the dotted line when it comes to ominous ancient organizations of ninja warriors? I enjoyed the chemistry between these two, though, and I felt more for Nyssa when Sara basically admitted to no longer being interested. Nyssa, on the other hand, was heartbroken.
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Felicity, meanwhile, had done her digging after Moira Queen revealed her intentions to run against Sebastian Blood. If you recall, Walter (Colin Salmon) had previously had Felicity research a bank account labeled Tempest, the account from which Moira withdrew her dirty Malcolm Merlyn money during her days as one of our favorite Arrow villains. Felicity, who placed trackers on the account, was made aware of a massive recent transfer that ended up in the hands of Moira Queen’s doctor. It wasn’t long before Felicity put the pieces together, and in what was probably one of the most uncomfortable scenes during Season 2, she confronted Oliver’s mother privately in the living room of Queen Manor. Moira, who kept her icy composure even after learning of Felicity's intentions, refused to even acknowledge Miss Smoak's request that she confess her secret to her son. Oliver and Thea were never to discover that Malcolm Merlyn is Thea’s biological father, and Moira sure as hell wasn’t about to let Felicity Smoak blow her cover. Yep, scary viper Moira has made her grand return, everybody. Somebody else who should be slightly concerned about this is Sebastian, her political opponent. The two had a fantastic bitch-out moment this week in the offices of Queen Consolidated, and Moira proved that even as an alleged accomplice to a mass murder, she can still kick his ass in the race to become mayor.
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Later, Moira was set to officially announce her candidacy to the public, but Felicity was so shaken up by the concept of harboring this massive lie that she drew much of Oliver’s attention away from the event. We’ve never heard Felicity mention her family. Her father is absent, her mother is a disaster, and she’s desperate to keep what she has going for her now. Moira had previously planted seeds that Oliver would partly blame Felicity for this awful secret regarding the paternity of Thea’s father, but Felicity is not selfish. Crippled by the guilt, she officially let the cat out of the bag just before Oliver took the podium to make a speech. He composed himself well enough, but made sure to tip his mother off to the truth in the aftermath. The speech was super tough to sit through, but I guess we always knew that Oliver wouldn’t ever humiliate Thea on television or ever, for that matter.
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Nyssa was enraged and devastated following Sara’s adamant plea for a release from Ra’s al Ghul’s contract. Thus, she kidnapped her mother, Dinah (Alex Kingston), and threw her in the back of a van, all unbeknownst to Sara. Luckily, Black Canary has her buddy the Arrow to help, and the two were able to tail the getaway vehicle in an effort to eliminate the looming threat on Sara’s life. Sara, however, was not prepared to catch a glimpse of her apprehended mom unconscious in the back of the van before it inevitably sped away. While this was obviously heart-stopping news, Diggle (David Ramsey) looked into Laurel’s blood work from her trip to the hospital and was shocked to find traces of viper venom in her system. She didn’t overdose after all! She was simply poisoned! Phew! What a relief to Laurel who is seemingly allergic to rehab. Though, I’ll admit that Officer Lance’s incessant pressure is just as annoying to watch. Basically, the viper venom was stolen from the zoo and essentially allowed the team to track the League’s movement in The Glades. Still, there efforts were futile. Officer Lance, Sara, and the Arrow only managed to corner one assassin, who killed himself with another dose of venom before they could squeeze information on Dinah Lance’s whereabouts out of him. More importantly, Sara acquired the rest of the venom. More on that later!
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I totally enjoyed watching Sara come to the decision to commit suicide while she was at her own gravesite. I didn’t like the result, of course, but I thought that the setting was a nice touch. She made the decision to meet with Nyssa, who seemed equal parts touched and hurt by Sara’s shared love with her mother. I also really liked the way Officer Lance handled his daughter’s former love for another woman. Sara’s had a rough couple of years, everybody. In the end, she swallowed the venom and kept her composure long enough for her mother to be led to safety, though her father did call for emergency assistance. Nyssa, furious that Sara would make such a decision, nearly offed the entire Lance clan sans Laurel, but Ollie lept in just in the nick of time to stop her. The two had another great fight sequence, and we expect nothing less from the stunt team at Arrow by now. I was certain that Sara was actually floating up to the big golden birdcage in the sky this week, if only to start Laurel on the path to becoming her successor, but Oliver managed to slip her the antidote in time! She lives! Nyssa, who realized what it was like to nearly lose Sara, released her in her father’s name. By the time the police arrived, Laurel was there to witness the official return of her sister.
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Episode 13 of Arrow ended with two massive family shakeups and breakups. First, it’s important to note that we spent our time in the past this week on Arrow not on the island, but in the home of the Lance family. We watched from the perspective of both Laurel and Sara as the former’s relationship and the latter's affair with Ollie developed. We then witnessed Laurel and her father learning the news of the shipwreck, and Moira arriving to deliver the news of Sara’s fate as well. In the present, Laurel popped open a bottle of red and began chugging. She was not happy in the slightest to see Sara again. In fact, she blames Sara for “stealing her life.” I think the scariest scene of Episode 13 was probably, “GET OOOOOUT!!!”
Oliver, meanwhile, met with his mother and proclaimed her dead to him. He will continue to keep up the guise of a relationship with her to protect Thea and the family name. For what it’s worth, Moira’s return to the dark side this week certainly shook Slade up. From afar, he promised to “take care of it” while Sebastian sat by idly.
To close the Recap, Sara journeyed over to the Arrow Cave where Ollie was busy taking out his frustrations on a workout dummy. Sara, realizing that she is finally home, found a bit of satisfaction in the arms of Oliver Queen. The two closed out Episode 13 by getting quite steamy. *KISSING* Boy, Sara Lance got a lot of action this week!
What did you think of Arrow Season 2 Episode 13, “Heir to the Demon”? Are you looking forward to possibly getting some more Nyssa? Will Laurel warm up to the idea of having Sara back? Will Thea learn the truth? What will come of the tension between Felicity and Moira now that Oliver has cut his mother out of his life?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Arrow Season 2 Episode 13, “Heir to the Demon”!