Arrow Review: Al Sah-Him (Season 3 Episode 21)

Last night’s shaky episode of Arrow was a disappointing change up from the thrilling streak of episodes we’ve had lately.

But everyone has to have a dud now and then, I guess.

My major complaint about “Al Sah-Him” is surprisingly not the brainwashing storyline. It is dark, clever, and a believable obstacle to tackle for the last few episodes of the season. Amnesia and brainwashing subplots get tedious if you drag them out for an entire season, so kudos to Arrow for setting this one up to be solved by the finale.

My problem stems from the fact that we barely get Oliver’s side of the story at all in this episode.

Actually, you start to genuinely believe that Oliver is NOT in fact brainwashed, and he’s about to turn on the League at the last minute. 

And then… nothing.

I get that Oliver is a hollowed out shell of a guy at this point, but I can’t be the only one who thought they were purposefully leading us away from screen time with him in order to make his sudden flip more believable. Right? I guess filming those crossovers is more time consuming than we guessed!

Unfortunately,  Al Sah-Him seems to be in full control, meaning that Oliver Queen is (for all intents and purposes) dead. Bummer.

Thea steps up in a big way in this episode, and we see a glimmer of the old Ollie when she does.

I’m actually beyond grateful that they’re making Oliver’s connection with Thea the main focus of this League business. The romance has been heavy this season, and they all too easily could have had Felicity be the one to bring him back. This way, the family ties between Thea and Oliver get some much needed attention, and Arrow stays out of melodrama land, without True Love’s Kiss breaking the mind-control.

We’ll leave that to Once Upon a Time, thanks.

On the flip side of that, Thea has shown no symptoms from the Lazarus Pit yet. None.

That’s… disappointing. Using something so mystical and suggesting so many hidden pitfalls (pun intended) that go along with it is the first interesting thing to happen to Thea in a while. Where is her memory loss? Where is her dark soul? Why isn’t she totally insane?

These are things I had hoped to see Thea battle with in this last run of episodes — and beyond — but it seems she’s back to normal already, which is a serious misuse of resources if you ask me.

And now on to the BIG NEWS that ends the episode.

We’ve heard rumors of another wedding on Arrow for months, and now we know why. Nyssa, daughter of the demon, and Oliver, brainwashed nutcase, are now set to be married to unite their families.

I’ll just let that sink in.

Now, I understand that we’ve reached sweeps month, and these kind of rabbits get pulled out of hats a lot. But I just can’t get on board with this one. Spending an entire episode trying to kill Nyssa, only to spare her at the last minute and put a ring on it? That seems a tad over-dramatic even for this show. Plus, I’m not sure Oliver is exactly “of sound mind” right now, so will this thing even hold up?

Then there’s the matter of the Alpha-Omega bio-weapon that just so happens to pop up in present day. What? How? I’m confused. And not in the good way — in the ‘what the holy hell is even going on?’ way.

It all just seems a little weak to me, which is not what you want to see as you enter your penultimate episode.

Was Al Sah-Him as wobbly for you as it was for me? Let me know your thoughts in comments below, and be sure to give the episode your own rating!

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Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.