Arrow season 3, episode 20, “The Fallen,” aired tonight. Read our recap and discuss the episode with fellow fans.
Helpless and hopeless
Thea, bleeding out, crawls across the floor for her phone. Oliver finds her, calls an ambulance, and carries her out.
At the hospital, Oliver watches helplessly as Thea flatlines before the doctors get her heart beating again. Eventually, a doctor tells him that Thea will likely never wake up. In her room, Oliver breaks down. Malcolm shows up and also cries.
When Felicity and Diggle arrive, Oliver fills them in. He sees smoke rising in summons. so he meets Maseo and punches him. Maseo replies that Oliver can save Thea by becoming Heir to the Demon.
To Nanda Parbat
Felicity, Diggle, and Malcolm interrupt Oliver’s packing. Malcolm does the Lazarus Pit exposition, and Oliver confirms that it’s real. Malcolm warns that the Pit alters the soul of those it revives; he doesn’t want that for Thea, but Oliver calls him out on putting events into motion. Felicity says she’s coming along.
Felicity asks Ray to borrow his jet. She tries to reassure Ray that it’s not how it sounds, but Ray recognizes that Felicity can’t return his love because she loves Oliver. She says she never wanted to hurt him, and he tells her to take the jet.
At the airstrip, Oliver and Malcolm follow Thea being wheeled to the jet. The hospital believes they’re taking her to Central City, and Malcolm thinks they should go to S.T.A.R. Labs. Oliver, though, won’t hear it.
On the jet, Oliver reveals to Felicity that in the five years he was gone, he returned to Starling once. He tells her about killing Thea’s drug dealer; all he’s ever wanted to do is protect her.
Resurrection
Nanda Parbat: The group is met by the entire League. Ra’s welcomes Oliver, calling him Ah Sah-Him. Inside, Maseo takes Thea to prepare her for the ceremony, promising to take care of her as if she were his family.
Later, Maseo shows Diggle to his room. Diggle realizes who he is, but Maseo rejects his old name. Diggle calls the members of the League weak, saying they are running from their lives. Maseo takes offense, indicating that he held his son as he died. Diggle apologizes and asks if Maseo’s son would be proud of him now.
In the temple, Thea has been dressed in white and placed on a platform. While the Priestess leads a prayer, Oliver, Diggle, Malcolm, and Maseo lower Thea into the Lazarus Pit. Moments later, Thea springs out, hissing. She attacks but is quickly sedated. Ra’s says that he has made good on his part of their bargain, so it’s time Oliver made peace with his.
Passion ignited
Thea later wakes up and only recognizes Malcolm as her father. He gets her back to sleep, and Oliver says that the confusion should pass. Malcolm, though, is furious.
Felicity, also furious, confronts Ra’s. She says they will go to war to save Oliver and accuses Ra’s of not knowing what love is. Ra’s tells her that once he was in love and had two children. One day a man gave him a choice between leaving his family without a word and watching them die, so he left. Ra’s encourages her to do what he was not allowed to.
Felicity finds Oliver in his room. Oliver reflects on how much he’s changed since the Queen’s Gambit went down. Felicity says that Oliver has saved a lot of people and changed a lot of lives, including hers. She says she loves him, and Oliver removes her glasses. More clothes come off and they end up on the bed in a steamy, loving scene.
Later, Felicity brings them a pitcher and two cups, and Oliver toasts to them. But when Oliver downs his drink, Felicity apologizes; Oliver, drugged, drops to the floor.
Attempted escape
Felicity brings Diggle and Malcolm in. Malcolm says they’ll all be killed if they’re discovered. Felicity doesn’t care, and Malcolm reluctantly suggests the catacombs. He gets Thea while Diggle carries Oliver. While fighting off guards, they get help from Maseo, who says Diggle was right.
The group stops for Thea and are confronted by more guards. Oliver wakes up, declares himself Heir to the Demon, and orders the guards to stand down. He’ll return shortly. Once they leave, Oliver thanks his friends for trying.
Oliver brings the group outside. He bids farewell to everyone, hugging Thea and telling her to never forget he loves her, calling Diggle the best man he knows and his brother, and asking Felicity to go on with her life and be happy. They kiss and don’t say goodbye.
Ah Sah-Him
Thea wakes up in her apartment and sees Malcolm. She’s much more herself, but she doesn’t remember what happened after Ra’s’ attack. Malcolm tells her and offers to take care of her now that he’s free.
Felicity, meanwhile, visits Laurel, telling her what happened and breaking down while Laurel holds her.
In Nanda Parbat Ra’s threatens to hunt down Oliver’s friends, but Oliver reminds him that he returned. Ra’s then asks who helped them, and Maseo confesses. He offers Ra’s his life, but Ra’s says it was Maseo who acted, so he won’t punish Sarab. Like Sarab and Maseo, Ra’s says, Oliver Queen must become Ah Sah-Him.
Oliver is branded with an arrow, and he dons the suit of the League of Assassins. He is now Ah Sah-Him.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong…
Oliver, Maseo, and Tatsu watch General Shrieve combine the Alpha and Omega viruses. Realizing the army will go somewhere public to release it, the trio follows the transport. A shoot-out ensues, and Oliver jumps into the truck. He and Tatsu take on the men but discover that the case with the vial is empty.
Tatsu gets a wounded soldier to admit that the virus will be released from a food cart. They head into town. Maseo isn’t convinced this is the best idea, but Tatsu argues that if they don’t help these people, they are nothing but shells.
Oliver eventually finds the cart, and he grapples with a soldier for the vial, but it hits the ground and shatters.
Watch a promo for the next episode
