Arrow Season 3 has been a bit slow to build its main engine, but with only two episodes remaining, “Al Sah-Him” put the pedal to several metals. Not only did Oliver’s new League persona introduce us to a major Season 4 H.I.V.E. of villainy, but so too do we know how Season 3 will throw down in its final hours, and what new heroes will suit up for the cause.

You’re warned of all the spoilers from tonight’s “Al Sah-Him” from here on out, but where Season 3 has Leagues of work ahead in returning Oliver Queen from his Ra’s al Ghul brainwashing, we may yet know the identity of Season 4's big bad, including his connection to the elusive H.I.V.E. In between training sessions, Ra’s took Oliver to his destroyed former village, revealing that he too had once needed to fight to ascend as the Demon’s Head against fellow candidate Damien Darhk.

Ra’s’ mercy on the man vexes him to the present day, as Damien apparently went on to pilfer a few League lessons in forming his own “hive” of agents, many of whom have already crossed paths with Oliver and his teammates in the past. Still, rather than send Oliver against such a menace just yet, Ra’s tasked Oliver with returning to Starling City to eliminate his own threat to the title, none other than Ra’s’ daughter Nyssa.

Arrow Al Sah Him Review Nyssa
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Poor Nyssa was just getting to enjoy her life outside the League as well, training Laurel and sharing french-fried milkshakes afterward, something Laurel reasoned to be the same kindness Nyssa had once shown her sister. The adorable bond quickly soured however, once Laurel spilled the beans on Oliver’s new job, leading Nyssa to realize she’d soon become a target.

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Still together (and even fighting crime, sans mask for Diggle), Team Arrow reluctantly agreed to protect Nyssa from the brainwashed Oliver, hoping to appeal to his remaining humanity. The first round didn’t go so well however, even with Laurel’s newly-acquired Canary Cry, as Oliver made short work of Nyssa, and only relented once Diggle and the team outnumbered him. Say, no one left Lyla and baby Sara unguarded back at home, did they?

Arrow Al Sah Him Review Canary Cry
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Finally convinced that the Oliver they once knew had given way to the remorseless “Al Sah-Him,” the team reluctantly agreed to hand over a volunteering Nyssa in exchange for Lyla, only to once again try to get the upper hand on their former hero. In the ensuing warehouse fight, Oliver nearly struck a killing blow on Diggle (a neat complement to Ra’s making Oliver hallucinate killing the man at the top of the hour), only for Al Sah-Him to be struck through the wrist by another hooded archer: Thea!

Arrow Al Sah Him Review Thea
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Arrow Al Sah Him Review Thea
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Yes, following earlier attempts to fill in for her brother, a still-grieving Thea sought out her father Malcolm for a costume of her very own, hoping to save Oliver from a soulless fate she’d felt responsible for. Shooting an arrow through her brother wasn’t the only Thea bombshell from the hour either, as Felicity later informed her that Roy had indeed survived his stabbing, and would surely make a life with her if she sought him out. Kind of a big post-resurrection week for her, really.

But that’s not all! Team Arrow fully left in grief, Oliver dragged Nyssa back to Nanda Parbat on Ra’s’ orders, preparing to kill her as instructed, only to be stopped by Ra’s at the last moment. Deciding that Nyssa’s death would prove a “gluttonous” display of Oliver’s loyalty, Ra’s devised a better use for his daughter: marrying Al Sah-Him, and becoming the Demon’s Bride, despite her protests. Certainly didn’t see that one coming.

After the shocking arrangement, Ra’s even revealed a second secret to Oliver, concealed within the hilt of Nyssa’s blade, and one that she’d stolen some time earlier. Nyssa had apparently been carrying around a vial of the infamous Alpha-Omega virus, the very one Oliver accidentally released in flashback, which spread through Hong Kong and seemed to start affecting Maseo and Tatsu’s son Akio. You see, there was a reason Ra’s had taken Oliver to the burnt-out village with news of Damien Darhk. As part of his ascension to Ra’s al Ghul, Oliver must return to Starling and purge his past by unleashing the virus on the city.

Well, what now? Will we see H.I.V.E. or the mysterious Damien Darhk before Season 3's end, or will the remnants of Team Arrow + Thea prove too busy stopping Oliver Al Sah-Him and his super-virus? Will Nyssa really submit to marrying Sara’s former lover, or could something be happening with her and Laurel?  How in the world has no one called The Flash for help by now?

Check out the latest (spoilery!) Season 3 trailers below, and stay tuned for more on Arrow‘s latest twist in next week’s “This Is Your Sword”!

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