It's funny to think about how much sh*t has been caused by Malcom Merlyn and ultimately, he'll never stop until Oliver kills him. After watching this episode, it almost seems set in stone that Merlyn will be the season 5 villain, assuming the show gets renewed. The conversation between Oliver and Nyssa to open the episode said it all. Sure, a lot of the horrific events that have occurred on the show have been a result of Ras Al Ghul, but really it can all be traced back to Malcom, so I was thrilled that we got an episode that centered upon that.
'Sins of the Father' turned out to be pretty much what I expected, but it absolutely delivered on the Malcom/Oliver scenes we have been missing and the few twists the episode had promised. Beginning with the flashbacks, I'm still not entirely sure what the ultimatum will be with Reiter and his gang but I wasn't annoyed with those scenes like I usually am. It's just hard to watch them knowing the material going on in the present day is far more interesting and satisfying, so they always seem like an unfortunate necessity.
The episode dealt with the father issues on both Felicity and Thea's front quite well. I've enjoyed Noah Amandes' performance as the Calculator thus far and tonight was no different. His story served as a good parallel for Felicity and Oliver to feed off each other's ideas on how to take down their respected father figures. Every scene with John Barrowman and Stephen Amell delivered. I think we were all expecting Malcom to come back and be the big bad at some point, but with his role as Ras taken from him, along with his hand, I think season 5 is inevitably where he'll fit back in. That is, after Oliver finishes dealing with Darhk as he now looks to go after Oliver's son, William.
It would be rather dark for the show to kill off two significant adolescent boys in subsequent seasons, but I wouldn't put it past the show's writers. But I also think the idea of William being in the grave maybe too easy. I'm still willing to say that a member of Team Arrow may bite it by season's end. Now that Thea is back healthy I hardly believe they would put her through the dead/not dead story line and Felicity is off the table so that really leaves Diggle, Laurel, and maybe Lance. As much as I'd be fine with Laurel taking one for the team, I don't think they will remove both Canaries from the show. Lance is an interesting possibility as he was my guess all along, but again, he hasn't been in the show all that much so they would need to bring him back into the fold for the latter half of the season. It's honestly a complete toss up.
Not that she was ever a regular on the show, but Nyssa's presence has always been welcomed and for awhile I thought Malcom may put an end to her memorable run on the show, especially because of Stephen Amell's tweet earlier today, alas, I was wrong. It was funny watching Nyssa constantly bring up the fact that her and Oliver are still 'technically' married. But one of the best parts about this episode was the ideologies of both sides of the coin. I understand where Malcom and Nyssa were coming from, which made the trial by combat on a Star City roof top all the more intense. So in all, 'Sins of the Father' continued the great week the CW is having and sets the table for an intriguing final 10 episodes.
+Malcom takes center stage
+Malcom gets incentive for being the big bad once again
+Nyssa
+Trial by combat
+New fold in the "who's in the grave?" story line
9.3/10
'Sins of the Father' turned out to be pretty much what I expected, but it absolutely delivered on the Malcom/Oliver scenes we have been missing and the few twists the episode had promised. Beginning with the flashbacks, I'm still not entirely sure what the ultimatum will be with Reiter and his gang but I wasn't annoyed with those scenes like I usually am. It's just hard to watch them knowing the material going on in the present day is far more interesting and satisfying, so they always seem like an unfortunate necessity.
The episode dealt with the father issues on both Felicity and Thea's front quite well. I've enjoyed Noah Amandes' performance as the Calculator thus far and tonight was no different. His story served as a good parallel for Felicity and Oliver to feed off each other's ideas on how to take down their respected father figures. Every scene with John Barrowman and Stephen Amell delivered. I think we were all expecting Malcom to come back and be the big bad at some point, but with his role as Ras taken from him, along with his hand, I think season 5 is inevitably where he'll fit back in. That is, after Oliver finishes dealing with Darhk as he now looks to go after Oliver's son, William.
It would be rather dark for the show to kill off two significant adolescent boys in subsequent seasons, but I wouldn't put it past the show's writers. But I also think the idea of William being in the grave maybe too easy. I'm still willing to say that a member of Team Arrow may bite it by season's end. Now that Thea is back healthy I hardly believe they would put her through the dead/not dead story line and Felicity is off the table so that really leaves Diggle, Laurel, and maybe Lance. As much as I'd be fine with Laurel taking one for the team, I don't think they will remove both Canaries from the show. Lance is an interesting possibility as he was my guess all along, but again, he hasn't been in the show all that much so they would need to bring him back into the fold for the latter half of the season. It's honestly a complete toss up.
Not that she was ever a regular on the show, but Nyssa's presence has always been welcomed and for awhile I thought Malcom may put an end to her memorable run on the show, especially because of Stephen Amell's tweet earlier today, alas, I was wrong. It was funny watching Nyssa constantly bring up the fact that her and Oliver are still 'technically' married. But one of the best parts about this episode was the ideologies of both sides of the coin. I understand where Malcom and Nyssa were coming from, which made the trial by combat on a Star City roof top all the more intense. So in all, 'Sins of the Father' continued the great week the CW is having and sets the table for an intriguing final 10 episodes.
+Malcom takes center stage
+Malcom gets incentive for being the big bad once again
+Nyssa
+Trial by combat
+New fold in the "who's in the grave?" story line
9.3/10
