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Arrow "S4E13 Sins of the Father" - Review: The civil war of the ring


Arrow "S4E13 Sins of the Father" - Review: The civil war of the ring
8 out of 10

Sins of the Father – After Nyssa offers a cure for Thea in exchange for Merlyn’s death Oliver desperately tries to find an alternative solution but the divide in the League of Assassins proves too vast to bridge. Felicity’s father confesses to being The Calculator leaving her conflicted over whether or not she can trust him.

This episode takes a very surprising approach to concluding the events of Unchained as despite setting up several story lines, it discards or diminishes most in favour of bringing one into central focus. That would be a problem if that one thing wasn’t a League of Assassins power struggle/civil war! The events set the dramatic stakes up well as Team Arrow becomes unwillingly tangled within the conflict between Nyssa and Merlyn. The character history is utilized effectively to give grounds for allegiance on either side. Despite recent events, Nyssa and Laurel still have their friendship, Nyssa’s love for Sara still connects her to the group, and she’s technically still Oliver’s wide. Whereas Merlyn, despite having many horrible acts on his record, is still Thea’s father, helped Oliver defeat Ra’s al Ghul and even saved all their lives from the Alpha-Omega virus last season. Their actions also help to level their characters out to be viewed more equally in terms of morality. Nyssa is typically the more likeable of the pair but ransoming Thea’s life pulls her down while Merlyn’s desires to maintain League leadership to protect the world from the atrocities Nyssa would use it for raises him up. There’s no clear favourite allowing the outcome to feel more uncertain and enjoyable. There’s an excellent slow build to the conflict the first act takes the route of diplomacy. It avoids the typical cliché of characters running straight towards a fight with each other, feels very in keeping with Oliver’s character and allows for some great exchanges the negotiations are made. There are some smart similarities between Nyssa and Merlyn as both are quick to accept their role in the proposed compromise of Merlyn surrendering League leadership rather than his life, but both simultaneously believe that the other will be too stubborn to agree to it.

Yet this is not Arrow doingthe Oprah Winfrey Show, and of course both sides have to fight it out in the end, but simply delaying it a good 10 minutes makes its arrival more rewarding, and as we’ve come to expect from League episodes, it’s bloody-good action! The episode delivers several fast and frantic large scale sword fights as the factions square off. There’s also a good feeling of collateral damage and wider impact the conflict spills onto the streets of Star City, making the team’s objective containment rather than conquest. There’s some great one-on-ones too from the key players including a rooftop based revisiting the League’s single combat ritual from last season. Everything plays out with meaningful and genuinely surprising consequences. This is a terrific season shake-up episode and particularly effective in the way breaks the ties between Team Arrow and the League of Assassins ahead of their escalating showdown with Damien Darhk. Up until now, having Merlyn on at least amicable terms has positioned the League as their ally or backup if required, like Leia’s Resistance in The Force Awakens being supported by the Republic fleet. And just like The First Order blasting the Republic planets, severing the team’s ties to the League places them in a weaker and more vulnerable position going into the fight against HIVE. Though the biggest blessing by far, is that it finally gives us Malcolm Merlyn in pure outright evil mode once more, “Death would be a mercy compared to the debt I now owe you!”. While seeing Merlyn explore, his odd father relationship with Thea has been interesting, this is the Merlyn we want to see as John Barrowman unleashes his theatrical side on screen. He is outstanding in this episode and if he stays on this vengeance-driven arc for remainder of the season, then we have an ace couple months in store (give him a hand, he deserves it).

The play out of Felicity and her father, The Calculator, is much more of an anti-climax than expected last week but actually has a fascinating feel of realism to it. The secret identities of Overwatch and Calculator are ditched within minutes and the focus quickly becomes instead on whether or not Noah is genuine in wanting to re-connect as a father rather than if or how he’ll be looting Palmer Tech. This also sees Charlotte Ross get her best moments to date as Felicity’s mother when her regular comic relief persona is ditched for serious concern over Noah’s intentions. The episode creates a superb feel of ambiguity over Noah’s character as his past criminal activities are revealed as more hactivist than terrorist and not overly different from college emo-Felcity’s endeavours back in the day. It places us well within the mindset of Felicity’s difficult decision. The flashbacks, however, are not so enjoyable. While there is some good present day echoing as Oliver talks about his father’s actions, they are nothing but fallout and recovery of Oliver’s confession last episode. The island story needs to hurry up and do something because right now it’s in the wrong kind of purgatory.

There’s no shortage of bad fathers and daddy issues within the Arrow family, but this episode makes the right choice by keeping many of them on the bench and drilling down harder on those it does feature. It’s worth noting that this time last season is where Arrow started to slip into difficulties but this year its position so much stronger. Certain events add to the “grave speculation” well without overly pushing it (just bluffs though, there’s still no clear indication who it will be). Sins of the Father is a blessed episode.

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