Review: Arrow ‘Heir to the Demon’

With a long break coming up for the Winter Olympics (stupid sports), Arrow needed tonight’s episode, ‘Heir to the Demon’ to be one that would draw people in and leave them eagerly awaiting the series’ return. And while the episode certainly set up plenty of tense moments that fans will beg to see resolved, it ultimately suffered from information overload. For while much happened, it happened so fast that I was left a bit dizzy.

We begin with the addition of a new character, Nyssa al Ghul. She is the daughter of the League of Assassins’ leader, Ra’s al Ghul and she’s come to StarlingCity to track down Sara, aka Canary, and bring her back into the fold. But Sara is only in town to help out with her sister Laurel and a return to the killing ways of the League isn’t something she’s happy to consider.

So in order to convince Sara to change her mind, Nyssa sets out on a campaign of terrorizing her family. Sara was right when she decided to leave the city in order to protect her family and coming back makes things very dangerous for anyone connected to her. So with Arrow’s help, she attempts to retaliate. Unfortunately, the kidnapping of her mother means that Sara has to make a crucial decision - return to the League or her mother dies.

In the meanwhile, Felicity has been tracking certain financial movements concerning Moira. She stumbles upon the secret that Thea is actually Malcolm Merlyn’s daughter and has to decide whether or not to tell Oliver. Moira isn’t too happy about the situation and tries to warn Felicity off, but our favorite computer tech isn’t the best of liars. The secret comes out and Oliver has words with his mother about her continual stream of lies.

This episode brought us many complex twists and turns where it comes to the development of many characters. My biggest praise goes to Katrina Law, who took on the role of Nyssa. Opposite Caity Lotz (aka Sara/Canary), she brings some of the most intriguing acting of Arrow thus far. I really, really, really hope that we see more of her. She is, in my opinion, the best villain the show has produced thus far. And the love affair between her and Sara worked well within the context of the story, particularly because of Sara’s involvement with Oliver.

We also get to see Felicity taking her role of chief Arrow-brain a bit further. While usually we end up seeing poor Felicity getting herself into situations where she needs to be rescued, this time around she was just plain awesome, doing what she does best without throwing herself in front of the bad guys. More of this, please, oh great Arrow writers!

In general, there were all-around great performances from every actor involved. My biggest issue was that the episode felt really rushed. The editing yanked us violently from one scene to the next, attempting to cram a ton of information into the 42 allotted minutes. If this episode had another 10 minutes of transition added to it, it would have been one of the best (perhaps the best) episode of Arrow yet. Unfortunately, those limited time constraints meant that while we were busy refocusing on the screen, the story jumped yet again to another plot point.

So now all I and my fellow Arrowheads can do is sit and wait for the next few weeks until Arrow returns with ‘Time of Death’. And even though this wasn’t the best episode ever, I am still eagerly awaiting each and every installment. For a sneak peek at the next episode, head to this site. And then wait until February 26^th until you can watch it. Stupid Olympics!

Photo Credits -           

Nyssa al Ghul courtesy of blog.zap2it.com