Discussion Recap / ArrowS4E13SinsOfTheFather

Can we fix the page title?

An Aesop: Some people won't change no matter how badly you hope they will. Though there is still the chance that others will. An Arm and a Leg: Downplayed Trope. Malcolm has his hand cut off. Arch-Enemy: This episode fully establishes Malcolm Merlyn as Oliver's. Oliver admits that he hates Merlyn like no one else for all of his crimes, even if he's unwilling to kill him for the distant hope of Thea having a decent father-daughter relationship. After losing his hand, Malcolm swears a terrible revenge, which he starts setting into motion by betraying the location of Oliver's son to Damien Darhk. Bait and Switch: It looks like the show is going to play a while with Noah and Felicity going at it without either knowing the other's identity...then Noah reveals he knows Felicity is Overwatch and he's the Calculator. Given that the whole episode is about saving Thea, it looks like Malcolm is going to make the ultimate Heel turn and sell out his own daughter just to hurt Oliver. Then he manages to do one even worse by telling Darhk about William. Being Good Sucks: Oliver wants to do the best thing and his efforts mean that Malcolm lives and Nyssa grows enough to disband the League. But Malcolm doesn't see Oliver's action as a favor, so he cuts a deal with Darhk to really hurt Oliver. The Bus Came Back: Damian Darhk returns in the last scene after his notable two episode absence. Continuity Nod: References are made to several of Merlyn's crimes throughout the series, such as the Undertaking, causing Tommy's death, brainwashing Thea to kill Sara, etc. Robert Queen's sacrifice on the raft is mentioned, as well as his past association with Merlyn. Laurel and Nyssa talk about Sara's resurrection and the fact that she was "made whole again" by John Constantine. Felicity's "hacktivist" days back at MIT are mentioned again. Cruel Mercy: Oliver doesn't kill Merlyn, but he does slice off his hand to take away the ring. Curb-Stomp Battle: Oliver's plan hinges on him being able to defeat Merlyn — which he does quite easily, a far cry from the last time they fought. Debt Detester: Malcolm is pissed that he owes his life to Oliver now. Enemy Civil War: The one brewing since last episode breaks out and spills into the streets of Star City. End of an Era: This episode marks the end of the League of Assassins, an organization that has been a presence on the show, in some form or the other, since early Season Two. Evil Is Petty: Merlyn, furious over losing control of the League and being reduced to a petty thug thanks to Oliver, sells out Team Arrow to HIVE. Foil: Nyssa and Merlyn are shown to be this throughout the episode; they both want to be the Demon's Head and will stop at nothing to attain that power, and they both have a long list of excuses for their actions. The key difference is that Nyssa is willing to allow diplomacy to win the day, while Malcolm is only interested in complete victory. At the very end, we see that ultimately they are motivated by very different concerns: Malcolm by personal power and Nyssa by the desire for change. Genre Savvy: In order to test her father, Felicity gives him the biggest, juiciest target possible, knowing that if he wasn't serious about trying to do right by her, he wouldn't be able to resist it. Get It Over With: After being disarmed, Merlyn wants Oliver to finish him off. Oliver refuses and gives him a more literal disarmament. Handicapped Badass: Merlyn now that he's lost his hand. Hate Sink: Merlyn's done plenty of horrible things over the course of the show, but telling Darhk about Oliver's son out of spite is the lowest thing he's ever done. Heel–Face Door-Slam: After losing control of the League, Merlyn ends his status as Team Arrow's Token Evil Teammate and strikes up an alliance with Darhk out of pure spite. Heel–Face Turn: At the end of the episode, Nyssa has come to see how much like her father she was acting; thus, she disbands the League, then proceeds to destroy the Demon's Ring in front of Oliver, Laurel, and a shocked Malcolm. She even sincerely thanks the first two for showing her the error of her ways. Humiliation Conga: Merlyn loses both control of the League and his hand. He doesn't take this well. I Am Not My Father: Aside from Felicity having to deal with her issues with her dad the Calculator, Nyssa is forced to face the fact that she's become just like Ra's. In the end, she dismantles the League, destroying her father's legacy rather than follow it. It's All About Me: Nyssa and Malcolm display this throughout the episode, trying to justify their war to Team Arrow with their own brand of Insane Troll Logic. However, Nyssa eventually realizes what she's become and dissolves the League for good, while Malcolm proves himself to be the same selfish bastard he's always been. Internal Reveal: Noah, having deduced Felicity's identity as Overwatch, reveals to her both that and the fact that he's the Calculator. Meanwhile, Malcolm reveals to Oliver that he knows about William, and later gives this information to Darhk. Jerkass Has a Point: Nyssa is incredibly callous about whether Thea lives or dies, but she does remind Oliver that she's in her current situation because Malcolm ultimately caused a chain of events that led to it. Karma Houdini: Finally subverted to some extent with Malcolm, as he loses his hand and control of the League, which Nyssa then disbands, ensuring neither he nor anyone else can use it to cause further harm. Unfortunately, he takes advantage of the fact that Oliver let him live and betrays Team Arrow by revealing William's existence to Darhk. Kick the Dog: Merlyn's lowest, cruelest act of spite in the series so far: revealing the existence of Oliver's son to Damien Darhk. Kick the Son of a Bitch: Oliver chops off Merlyn's left hand, both ending their duel without killing Merlyn and giving his Arch-Enemy a nasty bit of pain of suffering. Never My Fault: Merlyn seems to be treating Thea's impending death as an unavoidable tragedy. Ignoring that he's a major part of the reason for her original injury (Ra's al Ghul might never have given Star City a second thought if he hadn't forced Thea to kill Sara), he's totally disregarding that it is, in no small part, his own selfish refusal to surrender the League to Nyssa that's put Thea's life in danger. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Oliver not killing Malcolm led to Malcolm betraying him to Darhk. In the flashbacks, Taiana takes the artifact Reiter wants from Oliver in a fit of anger after she finds out that Oliver killed her brother, then tries to buy her own freedom. Reiter just takes the artifact from her and leaves her imprisoned. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Oliver sparing Malcolm's life finally comes to bite him in the butt, since Malcolm is petty enough to betray Team Arrow to Darhk. Not So Different: Felicity's dad Noah claims this about the two of them. In response, she has him arrested, while denying it. Nyssa was turning into her father, until Laurel called her out on it. Malcolm tries to invoke this trope while justifying his actions, stating that Oliver wouldn't end his career as the Green Arrow if his son would be in danger. Oliver quickly rebukes this. Oh Crap!: Noah, when he realizes that Felicity's sold him out to the cops. OOC Is Serious Business: When Felicity brings up the subject of her father to Donna, the latter drops her usual cheerful demeanor. Plot Parallel: Felicity's story with her father Noah echoes Thea's relationship with Merlyn. Reality Ensues: Noah Kuttler and Malcolm Merlyn are horrible people who have always put themselves before their children, and are not going to change. Riches to Rags: Merlyn when he loses control of the League. "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Essentially the entire episode is one long one with pretty much every (conscious) present-day character stating why, exactly, Malcolm Merlyn is a horrible excuse for a human being, including pointing out that pretty much everything bad that has happened to Oliver, his family, his friends, and his city except for HIVE's ongoing activities is all directly due to Merlyn. Then Merlyn goes to Darhk with the information about William, so he gets to share blame for that as well. Revenge by Proxy: Merlyn decides to get revenge on Oliver by getting H.I.V.E. to target his young son. Secret Test of Character: Felicity sets one up for her father by giving him a tour of Palmer Tech's lab, which he promptly fails by trying to steal from it. Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Nyssa and Merlyn both believe there will be no end to their feud without one of them dying, while Oliver insists on looking for another way. In the end, idealism seems to win the day (Nyssa and Merlyn both survive and the League of Assassins is disbanded), but not without a cost (Merlyn betrays Oliver to Darhk). Take a Third Option: Oliver simply cuts off the hand that Merlyn wears the Demon's Ring on rather than kill him or Nyssa. Merlyn tries to find a way to both keep his power and get the cure for Thea. He doesn't succeed. Took a Level in Badass: In the first season Oliver was defeated by Merlyn twice and barely won his last battle, and at cost to himself. Here, he easily and very quickly defeats Malcolm in combat. Ungrateful Bastard: Despite having his life spared and owing him a debt, Merlyn reveals Oliver's son to Darhk. The Unreveal: Despite claiming that he wasn't actually trying to destroy Star City and that he was hired to do the job, Noah does not reveal who hired him for the previous episode's plot, or for what ends. Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Malcolm used to kick Oliver's ass at will, but after three years of fighting top echelon threats including Ra's Al-Ghul, Oliver is in another league while Malcolm hasn't improved any. Well-Intentioned Extremist: How Merlyn tries to present himself as Ra's Al-Ghul, a Necessary Evil that secretly keeps the world safe from much larger threats. Nobody buys it, least of all Oliver. Also, Noah trying to explain to Felicity that's he as much a vigilante as she is, not seeing how vastly different their methods are. What You Are in the Dark: Merlyn's shocked gaze at the fire into which Nyssa threw the Demon's Ring proves all he truly cared about was the power. Wham Episode: Nyssa dissolves the League and ends her feud with Malcolm, who in turn betrays Team Arrow by telling Darhk about the existence of Oliver's son William in Central City. Would Hurt a Child: Both Merlyn and Darhk are all too eager to strike back at Oliver by targeting his son.

saving just in case.