Arrow 'The Magician' Review: Heir to The Demon

Arrow has been hitting some important plot beats lately, and has been able to slowly start integrating them into the show beat by beat. This week Oliver Queen and company felt the presence of the League of Assassins in a greater conflict that will likely stretch out towards the end of the season. Here is a breakdown and reflection of beats from Arrow’s ‘The Magician’ that has hinted at the big conflict between Ra’s and Ollie:

Malcolm’s lies are bubbling to the surface.

Malcolm is lingering in the background, and at one point in the middle of the episode finally has another moment with Malcolm, who instantly fleas when Oliver tries to find him. He organizes a public meeting with Ollie including no costumes, and wisely decides to create distance between him and a few others. When he finally meets Malcolm, he tells him the truth about Thea, even though he isn’t ready to hear it quite yet. The scene illustrates how Merlyn is a dangerous force.

Laurel is on the up-and-up.

Detective Lance seems to know something about somebody named Janson. It was one of the pieces that was left behind by Sarah in a note with invisible ink. The Detective has an amusing line about Nyssa’s so-called Halloween costume. Laurel is still illustrating extremely brash behavior, growing angry that Oliver doesn’t plan on killing Sara’s murderer. There is confirmation that Laurel is still training at the gym--learning how to fight. It would be great if the show could let her breathe while she starts training with Ted Grant. Team Arrow needs to be careful with their further treatment of her, but this far, I approve of her storyline.

Nyssa’s master is the man-of-the-hour.

The episode kicks off right where the last episode concluded. Nyssa believes Oliver instantly, and already seems to be aware of the person that murdered Thea. Nyssa has a surprise run in with Laurel, who is at the grave site of Sarah. Laurel shows anger at her that seems justified. She admitted to having healed her at one point in time, and identifies that Sarah’s jacket belongs to Nyssa in the first place. As soon as she starts crying Oliver gives the cold shoulder, going straight into detective mode. She reveals to Ollie that Malcolm is alive and in the League. Merlyn revealed that he faked his own demise. Sarah left leaving clues behind and a piece of paper with invisible ink. The plot is a little bit still, but in all the right ways.

Thea is lying.

Thea is thinking about reopening the club. This is the one thing that sort of pioneered her into the responsible human that the first season didn’t allude to. It’s great that they are going to let Thea be responsible for something else. Harper’s efforts are still rejected by Thea, which is slightly disheartening to view at this point. He is attempting to make the best out of a troubling situation. Oliver learns that Merlyn was with Thea all that time. When she learns of his deceit, she is alarmed. This leads to both surviving members of the Queen family lying to each other. Nyssa stuns Harper with a sleep arrow as Malcolm forces Nyssa to kidnap Thea. It’s refreshing to have Thea more integral to the plot now so she isn’t just another obstacle in the plight of the hero.

Oliver learns how to be a badass in his flashbacks.

Oliver is still in China working as an assassin. The subplot with Thea was significantly more interesting. His work as a hired gun is starting to get to him, and the audience has been shows one of his first big hits. He has a hard time getting his hands on a computer, and uses a child to do it. This is something that he would not have done before. Waller finally meets Oliver, and notes that she orchestrated a lot of material in the middle of the island. He finally learns how to step up and go toe-to-toe with her. She gives him a mission to go assassinate a prominent force.

Then finally, he arrives.

At the tail end of the episode there is an important battle with the face-off of Nyssa, Malcolm, and Ollie. Oliver proves to be successful, and it all of the sudden seems clear that Ra’s is going to make an entrance by killing off Malcolm one final time. Lance is starting to get suspicious about where Sara is and calls some sort of secret number. Nyssa fleas to Nanda Parbat and has a conversation with Ra’s. This scene was a little clumsy, as it was only a slight reveal of the villain.

What we thought.

This was a strong episode. Arrow is slowly gearing up for the end of the season, and from here on out they have a slow burn in the middle to get to some of the last moments.