Arrow S02 E13: "Heir to the Demon"

Of all of the big bads currently circling Starling City, there are none as big nor as bad as Ras Al Ghul. The immortal enemy of Batman and the head of the League of Assassins is extremely dangerous. We have yet to see him, but the very mention of his name sent last season's main villain, Malcolm Merlyn, running for his life.

Sara Lance, known as The Canary, was trained by the League of Assassins, and after being pursued to Starling City, she left, hoping to lead her assailants away from her family. At the end of the last episode, she appeared to have returned, and based on the title of tonight's episode, she appears to have brought her enemies home.

We open this episode with the daughter of the demon, well, one of them at least, arriving at a Starling City airport and deftly taking down Homeland Security. This is Nyssa Raatko, lesser known than Talia, but very much still the daughter of Ras Al Ghul, and very dangerous herself. It would seem she's on Sara's trail. When they meet, they kiss. Soooo not what any of us suspected.

From their conversation, Nyssa saved Sara when she was shipwrecked, trained her, and they had a relationship. What is it with daughters of the demon and superheroes? When Sara won't return to the League, Nyssa decides to teach her a lesson. She kidnaps her mom, Alex (Riversong) Kingston, who's visiting supposedly overdosed Laurel. Turns out Nyssa poisoned Laurel too, talk about psycho ex-girlfriends.

The chase after Nyssa with Arrow and Canary following on an 'arrowcycle' might be one of the best fanboy superhero moments so far. Shamefully it was brief. I want more Arrow and Canary. Masked vigilantes in costumes pursuing dastardly villains is what we're here for. And the arrow duel between Arrow and Nyssa? Awesome. More please. As it looks like our black Canary will be staying, let's hope we'll get it.

Instead of Flashback Island this week, we're flashing back with Sara to when Oliver was seeing both Lance sisters. We are witness to Quentin and Laurel hearing the news about the Queen's Gambit being lost at sea. We watch the family collapse, first in the past, and then in the present day. Laurel blames everything on Sara, and she's not really completely wrong either.

Soap opera continues as Moira launches her mayoral campaign against Blood. Felicity finds out Thea is Malcolm's daughter and Moira shushes her like the villain she is. She even pulls the same stunt with Blood himself, before alienating Oliver. Yep, if I was a Starling City voter, I'd be leaning toward Blood.

And when are they going to let Diggle do something other than stand around? They even took his girlfriend away so he doesn't even have a subplot any more. The one real regret I have about this otherwise excellent episode is that Felicity and Oliver's talk about his mom happens off screen. Such a wasted opportunity.



Next: The Clock King!