Ok, so this week on Arrow, Laurel tones it down a little bit and she is actually tolerable. When Nyssa shows up in Starling City looking for Sara, she learns the truth. We also learn the truth about why Sara was in Starling in the first place, she was hunting Merlyn. Well he’s back and he has a big target on his back and Oliver is the only one who believes that he’s “innocent” and can/will protect him.

The Good

-Laurel is toned WAY down from last week. I don’t care about your “fire”. Go work out with Ted Grant for a few years then come talk to me. Laurel’s feelings on her sister’s killer jump all around. She doesn’t know who to blame, and when she does she wants to kill them. The writers are doing a better job at expressing her frustrations and desperation.

-Thea does a great job at keeping her own secret. Acting as if she has no idea who Merlyn really is.

-More trick arrows! Tracer arrow!

-With Felicity showing up on The Flash this week, Arrow does a nice job addressing her absence. She actually shows up at the end of the episode just in time to realize that her team did ok without her.

-Flashbacks are decent. Ollie is becoming a stone-cold killer for Waller. But he is still questioning it, and it is testing his strength of his morals. We learn that Fyres worked for Waller and that she tasked him with bringing down that jet in the previous season. Take out a whole flight to kill one target! Ollie is really questioning what he is a part of and also how everything seems to be connected.

-Thea gets her bar, the Verdant, back and is working on rebuilding it.

-Merlyn is “The Magician”. Nyssa kidnaps Thea to draw out Meryln. The Arrow goes to save Thea and stop Nyssa.

-Oliver stands against Nyssa and her killing Merlyn. She doesn’t appreciate this and tells him that he now has an enemy. I’m sure that the LOA had way more to do with the killing of Sara than anyone (on the show) knows or suspects.

-Nyssa and Laurel build a relationship of respect. At the beginning of the episode, Nyssa tells her that she is not worthy of wearing the jacket (Nyssa actually bought Sara it), but by the end she visits Laurel at Grant’s gym and make their peace.

-Ra’s Al Ghul. Listen, I’m not sure how people can be like “this guys sucks” and so on. We saw him for a matter of a minute or two. Let’s let things play out before we open our nerdy mouths. The show hasn’t let us down yet so have some faith. Oh yeah, we finally get to see Matt Nable as the famous villain and things are about to get interesting! I have a crazy theory that includes Sara and the Lazarus Pit!

The Bad

-No one wants to tell Captain Lance the truth. For a character that no one really liked in the first season, he has become an important part of this world. There is going to be a major fallout.

-Everyone is still running around with a bow.

-This storyline is pushing its limits. They need to make this episode the last of them for awhile and start a new subplot. We all know what is going on now has a lot to do with the overall arc, but we need a break from it. I’m thinking the crossover episodes with The Flash will be pretty amazing!

Next week on Arrow: “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak”