Arrow 4.13 “Sins of the Father”

“Sins of the Father” finds Oliver Queen between a rock and a hard place as Nyssa (Katrina Law), the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, offers the Green Arrow the Lotus, the one thing that will not only save Thea’s life, but also cure her of her bloodlust once and for all. But the Lotus comes with a price. Oliver will only get the cure if he kills Malcolm Merlyn, allowing Nyssa to regain control of the League of Assassins. Problem is, that’s not going to go down easily. Merlyn is determined to maintain power, even if it means his daughter’s life. Indeed, an arranged meeting where Merlyn need simply turn over the Demon’s Ring and control of the League leads to a surprise attack on Nyssa’s forces and a civil war erupts on the streets of Star City.

Oliver arranges a challenge by combat between Nyssa and Merlyn, with the winner taking the leadership of the League of Assassins. But there is a twist no one sees coming. Since the marriage between Nyssa and Oliver is still binding according to the League, he will fight in place of his wife. Whereas Nyssa would have killed Merlyn, Oliver disarms him by cutting off his hand. Merlyn is defeated, Thea is saved and Nyssa gets what she wants without anyone dying. It’s the perfect solution, right? Wrong. At a later meeting, Nyssa destroys the Demon’s Ring and tells Oliver and Merlyn that she has disbanded the League. This is her way of trying to amend the crimes done by her father. Merlyn is furious that he has lost the League, lost his hand and all so Nyssa could throw the power that he feels was rightfully his away.

In the episode’s secondary story, Felicity is taken aback when her father, Noah Kuttler, aka the Calculator (Tom Amandes), tells her that he knows she is Overwatch. She is also concerned when he expresses how much he and his daughter have in common. He compares what he does to the hacktivism she engaged in while in college. Felicity is cautious about trusting the man who abandoned her and her mother and she tests him. She gives him a tour of Paler Technologies (where he and the audience get the first look at one of Curtis Holt’s T-Spheres) and he fails miserably when he plants a device that is programmed to suck all the data out of a room. In the end, Felicity turns her father over to the police, proclaiming she is nothing like him, and in the process she gets the closure she has needed for many years.

Overall, “Sins of the Father” is a needed episode that really helps right Arrow further. The whole Ra’s al Ghul storyline from Season Three really caused the show to go off course and the aftereffects of it have hung over Season Four. Finally, the League is off the table and Thea’s bloodlust is cured. What’s more though, Malcolm Merlyn is back to being the total bastard, and threat, he was back in the show’s first season.

The whole “Ollie and Malcolm are chummy” just never felt right. These are two men who should have never formed an alliance except in the most desperate of situations. This season especially, with Malcolm popping up to lend a hand to Team Arrow now and then, coming off as the sleazy, yet lovable uncle, just never felt right. But now that Oliver has cost Merlyn his source of power and his hand, the gloves are coming off and we finally get Merlyn back where he belongs: as the ultimate foe Oliver deserves.

John Barrowman is in full menace mode in his last scene with Oliver and he is great to watch.  “I thought of you as a son once, Oliver,” Merlyn tells Queen. “I had more in common with you than my own blood, but that’s not the reason why I’m not going to kill you. Neither the fact that you are my daughter’s brother. The reason you get to live is because death would be a mercy compared to the debt I now owe you.” After this parting threat, Merlyn meets with Damian Darhk (Neal McDonough) and reveals to the H.I.V.E. agent the one thing Queen loves most in this world, his son, William. And with that, I’m pretty sure the match is lit and Merlyn burns his bridge with Green Arrow and his associates.

I’d say this episode pretty much belongs to Barrowman as he slips back into full-blown bad guy mode again. It is his performance that really makes this episode a delight to watch. I liked the storyline with Felicity and her dad, but wish we could have seen a bit more of it. I think it could have been played out for another episode at least. We also get a few more scenes on the island, but outside of Oliver working to regain the trust of Taiana (Elysia Rotaru), that storyline doesn’t really progress this week.

Again, Barrowman is the reason to catch this one, hands down! Uh, that is to say he really has the audience eating out of his hand! Well, I know you’ll love him so much, you’ll want to give him a hand! Ah, screw it. Barrowman rocks in this episode, and if Malcolm Merlyn still had his hand and his fingers, he could easily count to 3, which is the rating I’m giving this episode.