TV Review: Arrow (3×16) “The Offer”

“You have shown tremendous strength, fortitude, power. No, Mr. Queen. I don’t want to kill you. I want you to take my place. I want you to become the next Ra’s al Ghul.”

The bulk of the third season was building up to the final showdown between Oliver, Thea, Malcolm, and Ra’s al Ghul. However, it seemed the aforementioned showdown was quickly over before it even began. After gearing up for a fierce battle, Oliver was met with an offer: to become the next Ra’s al Ghul.

At first take, Oliver easily turned down al Ghul’s request and moved on back to Starling, but it all seemed too easy. al Ghul has a plan in mind: a retirement of his position and the start of a new era—and Oliver is a huge piece of it. When Oliver turned down the leadership of Assassins, al Ghul put his second plan into motion: to force Oliver’s reconsideration by way of ruining his life as the Arrow.

“John, tell me honestly: what have we accomplished?”

Perhaps Oliver’s tenure as Arrow is, in fact, coming to a close. When he came back to Starling City, he was met with less than fanfare. Captain Lance, overcome with grief after the truth of Sara came out, is no longer pro-Arrow. No big surprise there. And It is no secret that it is incredibly difficult to be Oliver Queen—so maybe this is his time to move on? Perhaps Oliver could actually do some good with the League of Assassins. The Offer may have skimped over the al Ghul story a little more than I would have hoped, but it brought on some much-needed deep reflection and thought for Oliver.

Meanwhile, in Starling City, the typical bad guy-criminal, Murmur, is wreaking all kinds of havoc for Team Arrow. Maybe it’s just me (and it might just be), but I can’t help but feel like the side-storylines about the standard criminals in Staling City are severely starting to lack. The focus of this episode was Ra’s al Ghul—not the mouth-sewn ex-con. The story did add-in a certain level of depth while re-introducing Nyssa, and also gave something for Team Arrow to distract themselves with.

If the faux Arrow or Murmur didn’t scare you out of this episode, then you were delighted to see that Thea and Roy just might have rekindled their relationship. Roy has always been a kind of scapegoat for Thea to run to when she was feeling down or upset, and I think it is about time their relationship was renewed.

The flashbacks in this week’s episode seem to be getting more cryptic and scrupulous than ever. For the large part of the time, Oliver was fleeing armed men, but at the last moment, a distinct person from his past reappeared: Shado. Without any further explanation, the episode ended and frustrated fans all over. If Shado really is alive, then Moira Queen’s death was, seemingly, for nothing.

In the end, The Offer was a buffer episode. Ra’s al Ghul’s story isn’t completely over yet, but there was a certain level of expectation for this episode and I don’t feel as though it was rightfully fulfilled. If the point of the episode was to have Oliver battle it out with his inner demons, then the writers were spot on.