The Arrow season 3 finale, “My Name Is Oliver Queen,” aired tonight. Read our recap and discuss the episode with fellow fans.
‘My name is Oliver Queen’
Oliver, Ra’s, and League members, including Nyssa, fly to Starling City to use the bioweapon.
Meanwhile, in Nanda Parbat, Team Arrow regains consciousness and wonder why they’re not dead. Malcolm says that he secretly vaccinated them all and is looking for thanks as though it wasn’t his fault they were in this situation in the first place. They still need to escape, though, so it’s a good thing Oliver called in a favor with Barry; the Flash speeds into Nanda Parbat, takes care of the guards, frees Tatsu, and lets them out of the dungeon.
Felicity asks Barry to help, but Barry has his own Big Bad to deal with in Central City, so while the team retrieves their gear, Barry encourages them to trust Oliver then speeds off. Tatsu also declines to join the fight, preferring to return to her solitude.
Teamwork
The League’s plane starts malfunctioning, and Ra’s believes Nyssa tampered with it. Oliver, though, takes the blame and reclaims his name. Ra’s is furious, and a fight ensues as Oliver and Nyssa work together to take down League lackeys.
Ra’s, after taking Oliver and Nyssa down, grabs the last parachute and the bioweapon. Before jumping, he promises that he will continue hunting them if they survive the crash. Once Ra’s jumps, Oliver and Nyssa manage to land the plane.
Team Arrow arrives in Ray’s lab. Malcolm tries to give orders, but no one listens. Oliver and Nyssa then burst through the ceiling. Diggle decks Oliver, and Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity are given privacy. Oliver reveals that he’s kept Malcolm close because he had inside information about the League. Oliver intended to crash the plane to kill Ra’s and destroy the bioweapon in one fell swoop. Felicity is horrified to realize it was a suicide mission.
When Oliver apologizes, Diggle doesn’t accept. However, Diggle recognizes that personal feelings don’t matter when the city is in danger. Felicity, in looking for abnormalities around the city, finds that the top floor of a hotel has been closed for Damien Darhk, and both Nyssa and Oliver realize Ra’s planned to use the bioweapon for both Oliver’s ascension and for revenge.
Team Arrow clears the way for Oliver to enter the floor, and Oliver confronts a man he believes to be Darhk, but it is only one of his employees. Darhk left Starling hours earlier. The employee gets a call before being shot through the window. The call is from Ra’s, who declares the virus will be released from four points across Starling City.
Someone else, something else
Laurel, meanwhile, approaches her father at SCPD. Lance, though, isn’t interested in hearing about Oliver’s intel. Laurel calls her father out on drinking, and she tells him that he has every right to be angry with her and Oliver, but falling off the wagon is on him.
Back at Palmer Technologies, the team makes a plan of attack. Felicity brings Oliver some coffee, and the two talk. Oliver tells Felicity about a recurring dream he’s had since the mountain about running away with Felicity rather than facing Ra’s. Oliver knows he can’t beat Ra’s. Felicity replies that while Oliver Queen and the Arrow can’t defeat Ra’s, those men are gone. She tells him that someone else, something else can. She tells Oliver to fight to live.
Captain Lance takes Laurel’s advice and assembles his officers to help against the attack. He gives his officers orders. Meanwhile, Team Arrow splits up across the city. Oliver, from his vantage point, is confronted by a League member, who delivers Ra’s’ summons. They will have a final showdown at the dam.
Difficult choices
Diggle catches sight of a man with a briefcase and gives chase. He and the man fight, and Diggle goes down but is rescued by Thea, dressed in Roy’s costume, shooting his attacker with red arrows. However, the briefcase is empty and they realize the League members themselves are the carriers. The assassin slits his own throat, and the virus goes airborne.
Meanwhile, Oliver and Ra’s face off at the dam. Ra’s will get his way no matter the outcome of this fight, and they clash with swords. Police offers catch sight of the two and are ready to shoot, despite Lance’s orders not to, so Lance warns Felicity.
At Palmer Technologies, Ray has created a antidote and is making it airborne via nanotech. However, he can’t leave the computer terminal to help Oliver and finish the antidote.
Ra’s disarms Oliver and is about to kill him when Oliver takes advantage of the monologuing and fatally stabs Ra’s. Ra’s gives his ring to Oliver and says he chose well. Ra’s falls over, dead, and moments later, Oliver is shot by the police and tumbles over the railing into the dam. However, he’s rescued mid-air by —
Felicity in the Atom suit.
Closure
With the airborne antidote and the work of Team Arrow, Starling City is saved. Everyone reconvenes at Palmer Technologies, and Oliver thanks everyone — even Malcolm. He says that the city has plenty of heroes to look after it. However, he can’t be the Arrow again, so he plans to quit and be Oliver Queen with Felicity.
Diggle storms off, and Oliver follows. Diggle’s happy for Oliver and Felicity, but he can’t move past what’s between them. Oliver’s not asking him to, but if Diggle decides to keep going out with the others, he should conceal his identity. The two shake hands, and Diggle leaves.
Later, Malcolm arrives at the Queen sibling loft. Like Oliver, Malcolm will be leaving Starling. Thea doesn’t want anything to do with him, despite Malcolm saying he will always be there for her, but she does thank him for keeping his promise to teach her to be strong.
Oliver comes down then and says goodbye to Thea. She suggests she go by the name Red Arrow, but Oliver told everyone to call her Speedy. Oliver then gives Malcolm Ra’s’ ring and declares that he’ll never forgive him for what he did to Sara or Thea. Malcolm believes this makes them enemies again, but Oliver replies that it depends on what he does next.
Back at Palmer Technologies, Ray works on shrinking his suit. His first test doesn’t work, though, and the suit explodes. Considering he’s on the spinoff, though, we’re not too worried.
In Nanda Parbat, Malcolm reveals that the prophecy could also apply to him as he survived Ra’s’ torture those months ago. Nyssa swears to avenge Sara, but for the time being, she kneels along with the rest of the League.
We close with Oliver and Felicity driving into the sunset as Oliver admits that he’s finally happy.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong…
Oliver, Maseo, and Tatsu subdue Shrieve and his men. Three days after the virus outbreak, Tatsu and Maseo receive Akio’s ashes in three small urns. Tatsu gives one to Maseo and one to Oliver. Tatsu prays for Akio, and Oliver heads back to the store where Shrieve is tied to a chair. He plans to use the special skills Amanda Waller believed him to have.
Later, Tatsu and Maseo find Oliver and Shrieve’s mutilated body. Shrieve is still alive, though, so Maseo shoots him. Maseo walks away and Tatsu follows. Maseo believes he’s become a monster and must leave. Tatsu tries to convince him to stay, but he leaves anyway.
Oliver and Tatsu later part ways. Tatsu plans to go to a shrine in Japan while Oliver boards a ship for his own adventures. Russia, anyone?