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Arrow / Season Three

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Oliver and Team Arrow ride on their high as a seasoned and well-oiled machine slowly ridding Starling City of its criminal element. But Sara's shocking death while searching for Malcolm Merlyn brings in the wrath of the League of Assassins, and Oliver is forced to make some hard choices to protect everyone he cares for. In flashbacks, Oliver has left the island and is in the employ of Amanda Waller as an A.R.G.U.S. agent in Hong Kong, tracking a bio-agent and trying to earn a chance to go home.

Tropes in Arrow Season Three:

  • Becoming the Mask: A major component of Oliver's story arc this season, as he worries that he is becoming increasingly consumed by the 'Arrow' persona and is losing his identity as Oliver Queen. The loss of his mother, his family home and company and any semblance of a normal civilian life certainly hasn't helped matters in that regard. Is taken to an extreme by the end of the season when Oliver joins the League of Assassins, seemingly sacrificing the Oliver Queen persona and embracing his dark side as the Arrow/'Al-Sahim'. Ultimately averted, when its revealed that Oliver was just putting on an act to infiltrate the League, and by the end of the season, he abandons the Arrow identity and re-embraces his life as Oliver Queen.
  • Came Back Wrong: The Lazarus Pit will heal almost any injury but at a price. Centuries of use are what have made Ra's al Ghul the cold monster he is today.
  • Costume Copycat: Ra's al Ghul dons a green hood and kills many of Starling's public servants to frame Oliver for murder after he refuses to take over the League of Assassins. After Ra's murders the mayor with one of Oliver's arrows, Roy Harper claims to be the Arrow to take the heat off Oliver, ensuring that Oliver's down one soldier when he inevitably has to go to war against the League of Assassins.
  • End of an Era: According to Word of God, this season serves as one for the show up till this point, closing out one chapter of Oliver Queen's story. By the end of the season, Oliver's career as 'the Arrow' is over, the Foundry lair is exposed and abandoned, Roy is forced to end his relationship with Thea and leave town, Det. Lance knows Oliver's secret, and more pertinently, Oliver has decided to let go of the darkness of his past and embrace a normal life.
  • Evolving Credits: The arrowhead in the title card matches the League's arrows and the symbol that Ra's brands Oliver with.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: The Lazarus Pit firmly introduces fantasy elements into the Arrowverse, a concept which is explored in much greater detail next season.
  • Gambit Pileup: Most of the season is a series of plans, deceptions and counters to each other, many spanning multiple episodes.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: The entire season consists of events going From Bad to Worse for Team Arrow during their conflict with the League of Assassins due to the many secrets they keep (with good intentions) being forced into the light at the worst possible time.
  • Method Acting: In-Universe. Oliver was never broken and turned into Al Sah Him as Ra's al Ghul had to believe he was; every step he took was a careful deception so that even his own team believed he was committed to the League of Assassins. This includes kidnapping Lyla as a hostage exchange for Nyssa, knowing it would ruin his trust and friendship with Diggle once it was all over.
  • Retcon: Up to this point, the show has always told us that Oliver Queen spend all the 5 years he was missing on Lian Yu. Now it's shown that he has been to Hong Kong and even briefly to Starling City itself too.
    • However, previous episodes (in Season 1 and 2) had hinted at the possibility that Oliver hadn't been on the island the entire time...
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the flashbacks, after two years of harsh survival and combat training Oliver is now seasoned as a fighter and weapon specialist, capable of fighting multiple enemies at the same time.
  • Villain Episode: Deadshot's past is explored, taking the place of Oliver's Hong Kong flashbacks.

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