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Felicity's 'escape plan' was out of desperation - she knew that it had almost no chance of success. Also, Diggle and Malcolm could've stopped her by simply refusing to go along. It's not like she could carry Oliver's body by herself. So they were all doing a Hail Mary. Another thing that recently occurred to me - how do we know that Ra's even planned to let them go at all? He could've had Oliver say good-bye to them and then secretly had his assassins kill Diggle, Felicity, Thea and Malcolm once they were outside, and Oliver might've never known. So it's possible that the ill-conceived escape attempt ended up saving their lives, since Oliver personally escorted them out.

I don't think that Damien Dahrk is Felicity's father. We now know that Damien is a contemporary of Ra's, who was a rival for the title of Ra's al Ghul but lost to the current Ra's, that he stole some water from the LP to prolong his life, and that he left the LOA to form HIVE. So by the time he could've possibly met Donna Smoak, he would already have been hundreds of years old, fully evil, and the head of HIVE. Yet from the way Donna and Felicity talked about her father, he seems like basically a decent man who cared about people but had a problem staying on the right side of the law - probably because he was so smart, he probably got arrogant or thought he could get away with a lot, like a hacker or someone just really good with electronics. He doesn't sound like the Damien Dahrk described by Ra's. Felicity's father also spent enough time living with Donna and Felicity that Felicity has early memories of him. What would the head of HIVE be doing living in Vegas, romancing Donna, and being a father to a young child? So I suspect that Felicity's father has a connection to HIVE, but not as Damien Dahrk.

SoundOnSight's review of 3x21 (another unhappy critic)... Arrow Ep. 3.21 “Al Sah-him” can’t seem to learn from old mistakes Posted on April 30, 2015By Randy Dankievitch http://www.soundonsight.org/arrow-season-3-episode-21-al-sah-him/

I know that jbuffyangel's reviews are controversial. I don't agree with everything she says (her O/F wedding theory and her Sara-was-the-love-of-Laurel's-life theory come to mind), but I think she sometimes makes good points (which, again, we can disagree about). More significantly, for me, she always takes the time to write thoughtful analyses. Plus, lots of animated gifs! At this point, I've read more Arrow episode reviews than I can remember -- many of them I don't post, usually because they're either straight recaps or cursory reviews by writers who are clearly too busy to be bothered to think about the show or too lazy to fact-check what they're saying. So agree or disagree, here's her 3x21 review... THE STRANGER - AL SA-HIM ARROW 3X21 REVIEW http://jbuffyangel.tumblr.com/post/117844788663/the-stranger-al-sa-him-arrow-3x21-review

#Arrow 3×21 Review: Is There Still Hope for Oliver Queen? http://fangirlish.com/arrow-3x21-review-is-there-still-hope-for-oliver-queen/

I know fans disagree about EBR's acting on Arrow, but for me, she always sells what Felicity's feeling at any point in time in the series...

This reviewer thought 3x21 was a "pretty fantastic" episode (has an interesting theory about Akio)... TV Recap: ‘Arrow: Al Sah-Him’ (Season 3 Episode 21) Posted about 18 hours ago by Nicholas Graff http://sciencefiction.com/2015/04/30/tv-recap-arrow-al-sah-season-3-episode-21/

See, now you have me thinking Princess Bride, where Wesley defeats Vizzini in a battle of wits by poisoning both cups with locaine powder - to which Wesley had built up an immunity by taking it for years. So maybe Oliver started building up an immunity to the LOA's magic herbs back when he was recovering from the sword wound with Maseo and Tatsu. Now if only Arrow would use the line "As you wish" at some point in this series...

Jessica Breaux's review of 3x21 (she really didn't like Laurel in this episode and hates this Ra's storyline)... Arrow “Al Sah-Him” Review (Season 3, Episode 21) http://www.tvequals.com/2015/04/30/arrow-al-sah-review-season-3-episode-21/

Mordechai and Corrina both loved Nyssa and Laurel (Canary Cry and all) in this episode, but they both hate this Ra's... Same Geek Channel: ‘Arrow’ Episode 321 “Al Sah-him” Posted on 1 May, 2015 by Mordechai Luchins http://geekdad.com/2015/05/arrow321/

Whoa... in the new promo, a crazy-looking Barbara threatens Leslie with a knife! Gotham - New Promo - Destiny + Finale Cast Preview Featurette Posted by Robert Fruin at Friday, May 01, 2015 http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/05/gotham-new-promo-destiny.html Raina Reveals: Exclusive Spoilers and Teasers - Gotham, New Girl, Orphan Black, Younger & More Posted by Raina at Thursday, April 30, 2015 http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/04/raina-reveals-exclusive-spoilers-and_30.html

I'm hoping that Ray's jacket has some secret technological gadget embedded in it and isn't just a fancy jacket...

https://twitter.com/amellywood https://twitter.com/ArrowProdOffice https://twitter.com/JamesBamford

This is actually kinda despicable (Sara/Canary's death is re-created using action figures, all to promote the debut of the new Laurel/BC action figure)... what were they thinking?! https://twitter.com/CW_Arrow

I believe that the new Ra's is usually chosen by challenge duel (whoever beats Ra's becomes Ra's). Ra's beat Dahrk to become the next Ra's, but in his weakness let Dahrk live. When R'as said that he was "chosen", he could've been speaking poetically - like chosen by fate when he won his duel with Dahrk. So the usual method is for an unrelated person to become Ra's. The prophecy just existed apart from that. Ra's used it to get around the usual succession method because he wanted his bloodline to continue in the next Ra's. Or maybe Ra's really could've just picked Oliver as his successor, but wanted him to marry Nyssa to make him more acceptable to the LOA.

I'm going with partly brainwashed (due to magic herbs) and partly faking it. I'm still going with Maseo being an undercover ARGUS agent. After Akio died, Maseo became determined to wipe out the virus and volunteered for the likely suicide mission of infiltrating the LOA. Tatsu was opposed to the suicide mission, which caused problems in their relationship, but is still in contact with him. Next week's scene of Oliver saying "we need help" is a flashback to the 3 weeks before 3x21. Maybe Maseo confided his mission to Oliver then. Oliver used to be an assassin so killing is not new to him. In order to save Starling City, he was willing to kill a random LOA guy and even Nyssa. He may view all LOA members as bad guys. I don't think he would've killed Diggle. If an ARGUS agent knows how to fake-kill someone (like what happened to Roy), then I'm sure the LOA knows how as well. Maseo could've told Oliver how to fake-kill, if necessary. So if Thea hadn't stopped him, he might've fake-killed Diggle. Still he does enough bad things that the issue of whether he's still redeemable and can still be a hero becomes a legitimate question. I'm also still leaning towards the theory that Ra's deliberately didn't stab Oliver through the heart because he wanted this young healthy guy to survive, fulfill the prophecy, and be manipulated into marrying his daughter - thus preserving his bloodline in the new Ra's, rather than letting an unrelated LOA member become the new Ra's. Before, he was okay with Nyssa being his Heir because he assumed she would marry and have children. Her serious relationship with Sara threatened that plan (because the LOA is old-fashioned, patriarchal, and apparently has no modern technology).

Maggie Q is currently in the lead (KL is third, CL is not even listed)... USD POLL : Who is your favorite combat/martial arts trained actress? Posted by DarkUFO at Friday, May 01, 2015 http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/05/usd-poll-who-is-your-favorite.html

3x22 is the episode that is supposed to have "the most insane cliffhanger we've ever done". So what could that be? I was puzzled by this response as well. It's ambiguous. We know the Arrow suit was confiscated by the SCPD since Roy was wearing it when he was arrested. Oliver will probably be wearing his LOA outfit for the rest of this season, until/unless he discards it for regular clothes in 3x23. So if he returns to being the Arrow next season, maybe he'll get a brand new Arrow costume.

'Arrow': 15 Signs Oliver is Lost, But Not Entirely Gone from 'Al Sah-Him' By Carla Day on Thursday, April 30, 2015 http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/arrow/arrow-signs-oliver-is-lost-but-not-gone-from-al-sahhim-10580.aspx

IIRC, spoilers had indicated that Oliver would do something so bad that it would drive a wedge between him and Diggle, perhaps for a long time. It's got to be something more than just kidnapping Lyla. At the end of S2, Oliver used Felicity as bait and told her he loved her in that mansion fake-out to trick Slade. That was considered "unthinkable", and yet Felicity understood and forgave him for it. So shouldn't Diggle also understand and forgive Oliver for kidnapping his wife, if they end up saving Starling City (again) as the result?

Arrow s3, episode 21 recap: "My name was Oliver Queen…" By Morgan Jeffery Thursday, Apr 30 2015, 4:00pm EDT http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s206/arrow/recaps/a645028/arrow-s3-episode-21-recap-my-name-was-oliver-queen.html#~pbnkusJ1RJ4VmO

io9's interesting analysis of 3x21... On Arrow, The New Hero Is Nyssa And The Villain Is Heteronormativity Esther Inglis-Arkell 4/30/15 8:40am http://io9.com/on-arrow-the-new-hero-is-nyssa-and-the-villain-is-hete-1701160268

'Arrow' Recap: 10 Ridiculously Awesome Moments From 'Al Sah-Him' Adam Bellotto April 30th, 2015 12:12pm EDT http://www.starpulse.com/news/Adam_Bellotto/2015/04/30/arrow-recap-10-ridiculously-awesome-mo

Since someone asked...

Arrow: 3×21 Review – Al Sah-him By: Alisha Bjorklund 3 hours ago http://www.threeifbyspace.net/2015/04/arrow-3x21-review-al-sah/