[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWJds685rcE]

Arrow: League of Assassins (2×05)

Synopsis: Oliver and Sarah have to take down a member of the league of assassins when he threatens the life of her family.

Rating: ★★☆☆

In the Queen’ mansion Sarah wakes from a dream of the stormy night the Gambit went down. In this scene she’s so carefree and much different from the haunted fighter she is today but I guess being supposedly dead for 5 years will do that to a person. Though why she’s still pretending to be dead is still a mystery and Oliver can’t get her to explain her reason behind not wanting to tell her family she’s alive when he asks her. Instead she moves the conversation on to him, Laurel and the mess that was the romantic relationship they tried and failed to have after he came back from the island.

In the morning Oliver is startled to see Laurel and the meeting between the Queens and Adam, who offers Moira a plea bargain; life in prison in place of the death penalty. After the meeting Oliver talks to Laurel about her involvement in the prosecution of his mom but as this is her new job Laurel is in no position to step down from her assignment. She did try to help the Queens as she had been the one to suggest the plea bargain but Oliver and Thea don’t see it as much of a generous offer.

arrow league of assassins pic 2

Oliver goes back home where he’s able to get a little more information out of Sarah about why she won’t let her family know that she’s not dead. Then a masked man dressed like Malcolm Merlyn crashes through a window (just another typical day at the Queen residents). The two of them fight him and Oliver manages to de-mask him but the intruder gets away before Oliver can find out who sent him.

Not one to be deterred Oliver takes Sarah to Team Arrow HQ so that Diggle and Felicity can help track down who the masked stranger was. But Sarah tells Oliver not to bother looking for the man, who’s named Al-Owal, because he was looking for her. Turns out that there was one tiny detail she hasn’t mentioned: the fact that she was a part of a secret group of killers called a league of assassins. Good news: she’s left now, bad news: the league isn’t too happy about that so they sent Al-Owal after her. At least Oliver finally got his answer to why she doesn’t want to see her family. Well that and because she’s a murderer (but sweetie, so is Oliver and he still gets to come home).

Back to the Queens’ family drama Thea and Oliver are distraught when Moira tells them that she wants to accept the plea bargain. Though she says it’s because she’s tired of fighting Oliver detects that there’s more to it than that but she won’t tell him what she’s hiding (you’d think by now she’d learn that keeping secrets will only spell trouble).

In T.A HQ Felicity and Sarah share a nice moment and I really hope we can see more of this relationship because how awesome would it be to see these two being friends? (Maybe even something more? Sarah did call Felicity cute). Seriously that’d be a fun dynamic to watch.

The Hood and Black Canary pay Al-Owal a visit but he’s prepared for them. Whilst they all fight Sarah is hurt pretty badly and Al-Owal manages to get away but not before her threatens her family.

Be afraid, be very afraid because Black Canary's come to kick some ass
Be afraid, be very afraid because Black Canary’s come to kick some ass

As Sarah’s too hurt to do much Oliver goes to protect Laurel while Felicity goes to warn Quentin that he’s in danger. He doesn’t listen when she tries to tell him he’s being targeted so Sarah decides to go protect him herself although that means letting her know she’s alive.

In flashbacks we see Sarah adrift at sea until she’s picked up by a large ship. Unfortunately they’re the mean men who shot Oliver (but this happens later in the timeline). They lock her up in a cage until she’s dragged out of her cell by her captives and it doesn’t look good for her until they’re stopped by a man named Dr Ivo. He takes her away to his own private room and just when it looks like he may be okay he says something weird about saving the human race, which just goes to show you can’t trust anyone on this show.

Oliver takes Laurel out to dinner in order to stay by her side and keep her safe (yeah right like that’s the only reason why). Things between them are going well until he walks her to her apartment and she goes in for a kiss he backs away from. This triggers Laurel to let out some of her fears of abandonment that she’s obviously been holding back and seriously can someone give this poor girl a hug and a kiss on the forehead? Although I’m sure Oliver would love to be the person to fill this role he gets side-tracked when he realises that someone’s been inside her home. When Oliver goes to check it out all there’s left is a knife stabbed into a wall.

Understandably Quentin is shocked and overjoyed to see his daughter alive but they don’t have much time to bond seeing as both their lives are in danger. Sarah takes him to the tower she’s settled in and it isn’t long before Al-Owal and another assassin find them. But it’s all okay because Sarah’s ready for them and The Hood even flies in to give her a little assistance. Quentin’s pretty chilled with seeing Sarah kill but she still has to go away to keep them safe and she asks him to tell Laurel or her mom that she’s alive. So when he goes to visit Laurel and they reconcile after not speaking for a while he doesn’t say anything about Sarah.

With the power of love Oliver and Thea manage to convince Moira to reject the DA’s plea bargain. While over a drink at T.A HQ Oliver finally tells Diggle everything about his time on the island.

Diggle it looks a bit creepy with you in the background just watching Oliver
Diggle it looks a bit creepy with you in the background just watching Oliver

I feel a little bad because this is the lowest rating I’ve ever given this show. It’s not because I didn’t enjoy this episode I definitely did- I just feel that compared to the other episodes this episode didn’t progress the bigger plot of this season. In addition this episode is centred mostly on Sarah, who I do like as a character but I have yet to have personal connection with which isn’t surprising since we don’t know much about her. But this meant that I wasn’t as engaged with the episode as I have been in previous episodes. Also this episode didn’t have any of those funny one-liners that I do so enjoy but that’s a minor, practically insubstantial point.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq6FYQ8Rr-k]

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