Arrow Season 3 Episode 15 - Nanda Parbat Review

Arrow Season 3 Episode 15 - Nanda Parbat Review

Damn Arrow and its dumb cliff-hangers right before it goes on a break.

 

Okay these cliff-hangers are great once they’re resolved but I can’t help but sit here and wait in anticipation. Yes reader your right I should go and get some friends.

 

This brings me to the positives of the episode where I’ll start with Diggle or ‘Dig’ as I think I should call him. One of my biggest issues with season 3 is that Diggle has taken a bit of a back seat. That’s not to say the show has been bad, far from it but one of the things that made the show so good was the interactions between Diggle and Oliver. Those conversations they have where Diggle acts as the voice of reason are highlights of the show and we got an abundance of them here. The scene that summed this up was the one when they were in the prison in Nanda Parbat. Diggle calls Oliver a Brother. Diggle was the one who went with Oliver as despite how great the other characters are Diggle is the one he can rely on the most.

 

Diggle getting more time in the spotlight was great. We saw Lyla and his baby again for the first time in a long while. The strongest core of the show I find is the original trifecta of Oliver, Diggle and Felicity. Felicity has also been missing for a while. We haven’t had the funny and slightly awkward Felicity with her tension with Oliver. Fortunately for us she was back to her old bubbly self. Her banter with Ray was admittedly a bit of a contrast with the rest of the episode and seemed more like it belonged on The Flash but I thought it was an enjoyable contrast.

 

I was wondering where Ray had gone recently and it gave a suitable answer. Apparently there are a lot of fans for the whole Oliver and Felicity romance thing but I think she is necessary for the Ray Palmer character to work. I did find it funny how sex gave Ray the inspiration to complete the problem to finish his suit. I also found it funny how he nearly blew up the building. It was a little out of place but I enjoyed the slightly lighter tone of these scenes.

 

The other biggest positive is Ras al Ghul. After the return of Manu Bennet as Slade Wilson last week I wondered if he was going to be a little underwhelming but this certainly was not the case. He is incredibly menacing and powerful. I loved the part where he has Malcom Merlin begging for mercy. Merlin is a powerful character, we saw him as the villain in series 1. He can kill without remorse and even earlier in the episode took out Laurel with ease. Since he became an assassin we haven’t seen him in any kind of vulnerability but Ras al Ghul had him begging for mercy. He commands such authority and power and I think the actor did an excellent job in portraying this.

 

We also see how intelligent he is in how easily he tricked Oliver and Diggle and trapped them. I love the dynamic between Oliver and Ras al Ghul. There is clearly a respect between them as shown by the ending. However Oliver fears Ras as Ghul as he’s the one opponent he cannot defeat.

 

I like the consistency in Laurel’s character. Yes she makes some irrational decisions such as taking on Merlin but it does highlight how inexperienced and how much of a novice she is. We saw this when Nyssa walk past and tells her to stand aside. She’s not as ridiculous in her actions as before though. I was glad she didn’t blame Thea and I like her scenes with Nyssa. It was a heart-warming scene when they talked about Sara and I really enjoyed the scene where Laurel talked to Thea. She’s like a younger sister to Laurel and the conflict it sets off is hard for the both of them. I have been critical of Laurel but every episode makes me like her more. I just wish she had a cool weapon and not just a stick.

 

Thea is an interesting point. I wouldn’t call her a negative per say but there were more issues with her than anyone else. She is getting very dark and while I like it  as she is going through a lot, the problem I had was she did play the victim a bit. When talking to Roy especially she acted like she was in a fa worst place than anyone else. Yes it is very hard for her, but it is for Roy too and I felt quite bad for him when he was trying to help Thea. I am interested to see what happens between her and Nyssa though. Obviously Nyssa won’t kill her, she too important a character but Nyssa doesn’t strike me as the understanding type and it’ll be interesting to see how she escapes.

 

The other negative was the flashbacks. They weren’t terrible, it was just nothing really happened. They need to expand on them next episode since as really all that happened was they hid for cover from machine gun fire for a while.

 

Now it’s time to discuss the ending. I think we all know Oliver won’t become the next Ras al Ghul but I do wonder if he’ll at least consider it. I doubt Ras will simply let him think about it without trying to be persuasive. Ras truly believes in any means being necessary after all to purge the world of evil. I wouldn’t be surprised if Oliver seriously thinks about it, especially considering the cracks starting to appear in team Arrow. With Thea so guilty, Felicity moving to Ray Palmer and Laurel so conflicted since Oliver came back he hasn’t been the leader as he was before. Things have changed, even Roy stood up to him and really only Diggle is actually at his side as he was before. Diggle is still a brother to him and I think there will be a huge internal conflict within Oliver. The series has been about identity and he may think becoming Ras al Ghul is the best way to save his city.

 

I really enjoyed Nanda Parbat. It did start a little slowly but I felt the build-up was necessary for the overarching story of the episode. I can’t wait to see what happens when the show returns, in particular I’m interested in how team Arrow seems to be fracturing. I also have to mention that we saw the Lazarus Pit. Thinking back to series 1 who ever though immortality would be a thing in Arrow. Episode 15 was definitely great and I’m excited to see where the show is going.