Arrow "The Climb" (Mid-Season Finale RECAP REVIEW)

written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)

This is way late... blame Christmas festivities and getting busy, but it dawns on me that in less than 24 hours the mid-season premier of Arrow is hitting the airwaves! This won't be that spoiler free of a review, mostly since most folks would have already seen it.

Merry Christmas from Starling's vigilante

It's Christmas and Ra's al Ghul has issued a stern ultimatum to Oliver Queen. Ollie has to deliver to the League Sara's killer or they will enact righteous judgement on Starling City... in the form of killing citizens for every moment that Sara's killer is still at large. From Malcolm Merlyn's destruction of the Glades to Slade Wilson's "mirakuru" fueled attack, Ollie and team Arrow always had  a contingency plan. For the first time in his two-plus-year run as the hooded vigilante turned city protector... Ollie's at a loss for how he plans to face this.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Oliver Queen tries his hand once again at interrogation while China White pays Tatsu a visit while Oliver and Haseo are away. Tatsu shows off her impressive skills with a sword while fending off China White's attack. When Oliver and Haseo return, Tatsu's missing while Haseo's son exclaims that the lady with the white hair took her.

interrogation at the tip of an arrow

Back in the present day, Oliver and company search for leads via Malcolm Merlyn, this of course reveals the most major story development of this entire season... WHO KILLED SARA! I won't spoil that much, but this of course leads Ollie to his fight with Ra's al Ghul. Malcolm Merlyn convinces Oliver to tell the League that he killed Sara, allowing Ollie to a trial by shirtless combat. The end of the episode was hands down a "drop-ya-jaw" moment, leaving me asking myself "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?"

The whole shirtless combat bit rang so "Batman" to me, part of me wishes that Ollie fought him wearing the hood... but that would have been ridiculous yeah? The mid-season finale was the perfect way to go on break, a (literal) cliffhanger with the perfect way to have the Arrow face off with the Head of the Demon.

Personally, I still wish that more traditional Green Arrow villains would be the center piece villain. Slade Wilson was primarily a Teen Titans villain though he's been known to tangle with Batman from time to time, while Ra's as Ghul is so connected to Batman that his ultimate goal is to have Bruce take his place as the Head of the Demon. Green Arrow has some fantastic enemies, aside from Malcolm Merlyn they could utilize Brick or even Constantine Drakon.

outmatched

I'm as excited as any Arrow fan for the mid-season premiere, and after the intense reveals plus the way the episode ended... yeah I'm excited.