This goes without saying, but major spoilers follow. Proceed with caution.
1. Kudos to the Hair and Makeup Team
The flashbacks this week, presumably set 7-8 years in the past, were extraordinarily put together, visually. While Ollie’s wigs always look a little silly, both Laurel and, especially, Moira, looked significantly younger/more vibrant than they do week to week on the show. Moira had yet to lose a child (at least she thought she did for 5 years), lose a husband, become a single parent, lose her second husband, and be put on trial for killing hundreds of people – it makes sense that she would look more relaxed in the past.
2. Citizen Showing Support
A classic trope in superhero stories is the “little guy” getting behind him them; think the regular citizens standing up to Zod + co in Superman II, or any number of scenes from the Sam Raimi Spider-Man series. Well, we had our first bit of that tonight, with the ER doctor wanting to thank Ollie for getting medicine shipments up and running last year after the Triad stopped them.
This is another sign of the hero being made out of a vigilante. Oliver started out killing, not wearing a mask, not having hope or public support. All of that is changing.
3. The View From Inside the Mirakuru
We’ve seen Slade hallucinating Shado earlier this season, but the trip inside of Roy’s mind, seeing Thea telling him to kill her, was a very chilling scene. The Mirakuru, a fairly silly plot point, has become a huge part of the show, and has allowed the writers to tell some truly compelling stories. The Mirakuru also links Ollie’s island and post-island lives, and gives him a constant reminder of the cost of saving others – they may not come back as they once were.
4. What old friend is Sara going to see?
Ollie and Sara breaking up was inevitable, and her reasoning was true enough to the show’s mythos, as well as the character, to make sense. The question I am left with is who is the “old friend” she’s going to see? Is it one of the al Ghuls? It sort of has to be, right? She doesn’t have ties to the Suicide Squad, she’d refer to family as family, I don’t see why Barry would be an old friend – she has to be going to see Nyssa, or else someone we haven’t seen before. Barbara Gordon? That would be nuts.
5. A Fitting Send Off
I have been relatively vocal about how I didn’t love Moira ping-ponging between sympathetic mother and sociopath mayoral candidate, however, this episode reinforced that she really is both. Sure, she would have given up her campaign, but it took Ollie all of 25 seconds to convince her to stay the course. She wants to do what is right, but can’t really make that choice.
That is, until the last scene.
Of course, this was the only way that scene ends, and even though it was logical and almost predictable, the scene still stung. The use of Slade’s sword was a nice touch, and there was some absolutely great TV acting from all four people in the scene. The scene leaves a few questions unanswered:
a) what more will it take for Thea to figure out who Ollie is?
b) was Moira going to tell the kids that Merlyn is alive, or some other juicy tidbit? Does he have webbed feet? An evil twin brother? A baby dick?
c) will this bring Thea and Ollie closer together, or permanently drive a wedge between them?
Regardless – Moira, you will be missed.
