Allison Brennan and Lavinia Kent on 'Arrow': Fallen hero

Paste BN and New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan and bestselling author Lavinia Kent dish about Arrow as season three nears the end.

AB: If anything, this episode has taken us back to the beginning of the show, season one, starting with the opening voice-over. In season one, Oliver Queen voices that he'd been on an island for five years and he had to become "something else" to save his city. Oliver transforms through three seasons to be better than that, to save the people he loves and honor the memory of his best friend. In this week's episode, No. 21 of season three, Oliver voices over that he must become "something else" to save the people he loves. The parallel is clear, as well as the slight shift in focus — from city to people.

And finally! This episode more than anything explains the importance of the flashbacks in Hong Kong. For the second half of season three, the flashbacks just weren't cutting it for either of us, but in this episode it all comes together not only in the past but also in how the past affects the present. While I think they could have done the flashbacks a little smoother ... or skipped them in a couple of episodes when they really weren't necessary ... here, they were brilliantly incorporated with purpose and suspense. I was reading a review where the author felt that the flashbacks were "padded" in this episode, but I really think they worked here ... what felt "padded" was everything in Hong Kong leading up to this episode.

At the beginning, we see Oliver being broken (and drugged) by Ra's al Ghul in order to leave Oliver Queen in the past so he becomes fully Al Sah-Him. He fights, is chained, and is essentially treated as a prisoner of war. The drugs affect his perception of reality so when Ra's brings him a man to fight, Oliver pictures Diggle. He kills him without remorse, without hesitation.

LK: Yes, I, too, was happy to finally have some payoff in the flashbacks — and I agree that this episode's flashback scenes were very necessary, if a tad predictable with the line of blood on Akio's mouth at the end. I would have liked more of a surprise, but then we did get the surprise in real time. One I did not quite see coming.

And the beginning of this episode was very powerful, Oliver being drugged, chained and tortured and slowly losing who he is, who he has fought to become. You can see his face grow blanker and blanker with each scene until he becomes the man who can kill his best friend without remorse or expression. (I almost wish that I thought Oliver was going to stay Al Sah-Him longer so that we could see how his personality would develop, watch him grow less blank — and yet still not be Oliver anymore.) I was quite sure that it was not actually Diggle being killed from the start, but I didn't feel this was a weakness, more that the writers have really made us understand their world and its rules.

This new Oliver/Al Sah-Him was more than ready to be taken to the village of the dead, the place that Ra's had once called home. It was here that Oliver learned his first task, to find the other potential heir to the demon, Nyssa, and bring her back for vengeance/justice. We learn that Ra's had failed when this task was given to him, that he allowed his rival to escape (along with water from the Lazarus Pit) and that rival Damian Darhk may be the man behind much of the trouble Starling City has faced. I think they are setting Darhk up to be the Big Bad next year, a twist I love. My only question is, will he somehow be Felicity's father?

AB: Oh!! I hadn't thought of that!! What I thought was so, so, so amazing of the writers was the words they used to give viewers more information than the characters. Ra's refers to Darhk and his people as a "hive" ... and remember when the woman came to Deadshot in prison and hired him to kill Andy Diggle? She called herself a "bee." And then ... moving to Starling City, Laurel is fighting a mugger who says, "Master Hornet is in charge." I think they are setting up the story arc for season four — and it promises to be exciting.

LK: And don't forget the Bug-Eyed Bandit on The Flash. She "is the Queen Bee of this hive." They are definitely giving us plenty of clues.

And then we shift to the lighter scene of Laurel and Nyssa sharing milkshakes and fries. Nyssa has a brief moment of being a "normal person" even as Oliver is losing himself. I love this juxtaposition, Oliver and Nyssa as reverse reflections. However, once Laurel shares what has happened to Oliver, everything changes. Nyssa is instantly aware of what this will mean for her. She knows that Oliver/Al Sah-Him will be coming for her, that they must meet again and fight again — and that she will probably die.

We then flash to dinner at Lyla and Diggle's with Thea and Felicity — another moment of normal life before the breaking of the storm. They joke about house rules, "no Glocks on the dinner table," and discuss how the new normal will work, Diggle refusing to even think about a costume. But they also express their pain at Oliver's loss and their disbelief that Oliver can really be changed. They work together to get through this pain and to figure out the next steps.

AB: I really love how the characters have grown closer and more committed to each other. It shows the depth of their devotion to not only each other, but to the city and Oliver's mission. Diggle's homage of Oliver as a soldier who gives the ultimate sacrifice, "Gone but not forgotten," reflects not only on Oliver's transformation into Ra's but every other major storyline ... and in light of the information about the "bee" and "Master Hornet" I think it reflects on Andy Diggle as well.

This episode moved at a quick pace but covered a lot of ground, and it was over before I was ready! We see Al Sah-Him in Nanda Parbat and then Ra's tells him he must bring back Nyssa to the League because she is the only thing standing in the way of his ascension to be Heir to the Demon. I was thinking because she might be the only one who can challenge him, but then twist! But first, what did you think of Laurel's new talent? The Flash crossover episode with Cisco really makes sense now!

LK: Finally, a true canary cry! I wish they'd taken a moment more to explain how the Canary necklace works, but I loved it. And yes, it helped set the crossover in place. Cisco can upgrade any piece of equipment and make it cooler. The fashion in which they've woven the two shows together has been almost perfect. Each show has its own atmosphere, but the characters crossover so effortlessly.

I have to admit that I really like Laurel/Black Canary this episode — and I've been among those who've been slow to warm up to her. She seemed to take on Felicity's role of being the conscience of the show. Some of this was because she is the one who has become friends with Nyssa and understands that Nyssa is not truly a villain, that she saved Sara's life and gave her a home, but I think it was also because the other characters are still recovering from Oliver's loss. Laurel is the one who understands what the costs to all of them will be if they don't help Nyssa. Laurel also took on Felicity's role in being the one to plant the tracking device on Nyssa so that they could sweep in and rescue her from Oliver/Al Sah-Him.

This first confrontation between Nyssa and Al Sah-Him was powerful. You could see that he truly had adopted Nyssa's view that "vengeance was justice." Watching Felicity watch him on the monitors was heartbreaking. In a single moment, she knew the Oliver she had loved was not the man she was watching.

I was slower to be convinced, holding on to hope that everything was part of a plan — and then Oliver kidnapped Lyla, leaving baby Sara home alone. I am not sure if it's strange or not that it was this last that really convinced me. I could see kidnapping Lyla as part of the plan, but my every mothering instinct cried out at leaving the baby unattended.

AB: We really want to believe that Oliver is fooling everyone, from Ra's to Diggle to Felicity. But kidnapping Lyla and leaving baby Sara alone seems to truly make Oliver/Al Sah-Him a fallen hero. At the end of the second fight, when Diggle, et al, attempts to get Nyssa back from the League, Oliver looked like he will kill Diggle ... he's bested him in a fight and brings his sword up to kill him (just like he killed the fake Diggle at the beginning of the episode) when Thea (love her outfit!) shoots an arrow into his wrist and stops him. She says, "The next one will go through your eye." Talk about a transformation!

LK: I am still waiting to see if there are any further effects on Thea from the Lazarus Pit, but I am liking this new stronger Thea, one who is unwilling to be sidelined. You can see the writers starting to transform her into the Speedy character — including that great outfit. She made you believe that the next arrow truly would have been aimed to kill.

And yes, I did believe that Oliver might have killed Diggle if Thea hadn't forced him to stop — even though the League of Assassins had already captured Nyssa. He was ready to deliver that same killing stroke he used to kill "Diggle" at the beginning of the episode.

I think it was this moment that made it possible for everyone to really believe Oliver was never coming back. Diggle summed it up, "There is only one thing left of him now — us." Team Arrow has given up.

This makes it all the more powerful when Felicity finally remembers to tell Thea that Roy is still alive.

AB: I'd sort of forgotten that Thea didn't know that Roy was alive! The scene worked well for me, because it was Felicity delivering the news and there was no intentional "keeping a secret" from Thea ... they really didn't have time to tell her because she was nearly killed, then resurrected, then Oliver stayed in Nanda Parbat.

Another big thing about this episode is that they showed the "black moment" for all the characters so well. Team Arrow, by the end, really believes that Oliver Queen no longer exists. They each deal with this alone, in tears or anger or hopelessness. It was truly heartbreaking, because by the end of the episode, we really don't know how Oliver is going to be reborn. And then ... plot twist! The real reason Ra's wanted Nyssa brought back to the League. She stole something from him.

LK: Shock and surprise. This was the moment that made all the looong flashbacks finally pay off, discovering that Nyssa had stolen the Alpha and Omega virus and now Oliver must use it to destroy Starling City, the final act of his ascension to Ra's. I did not see that coming — partly because I trusted Ra's to leave Oliver's friends alone once Oliver had agreed to become the heir and partly because I thought the Alpha and Omega was going to tie in with Waller or the General in present day.

Not as shocking, but still another surprise, was Ra's' announcement that Nyssa should marry Oliver and become bride of the demon. This came after a very biblical moment when Ra's first asked Oliver to kill Nyssa and then saved her, saying killing her now would be "gluttony."

I am anxious about the resolution of both these storylines. Will Oliver actually marry Nyssa? I can almost believe it could happen. We do see pieces of the wedding in the trailer for next week. And if it doesn't happen, how will it be stopped?

Will Oliver destroy Starling City? OK, I confess I am sure he won't. But will he actually try to? How will Team Arrow stop him?

And how will Al Sah-Him turn back into Oliver? Will the team do something? Will he almost kill Felicity or Thea and then snap back? Will Nyssa somehow turn the tide? Will Oliver die and be brought back and have his life as Oliver flash before his eyes? Will ... ?

And then there's Damian Darhk? Is he after Oliver because he is heir to Ra's and is taking over the League of Assassins or is it a longer-term plan?

So many questions and only two more weeks!

AB: I have a theory about this because there's one thing that just doesn't reconcile in my mind ... unless I'm right.

Maseo. Maseo knew about the Alpha and Omega that Nyssa stole ... and he was searching for it to give to Ra's. Maseo was the one who saved Oliver when Ra's nearly killed him. Maseo was the one who didn't kill Felicity when he could have ... we know Ray Palmer saved her, but at the same time, he hesitated. We knew that his son had died ... and now we know that his son died because of the Alpha and Omega. I just cannot reconcile that Maseo can be part of the mass murder of everyone in Starling City ... killing them as those people in Hong Kong, as his own son, had died.

That alone made me think that Maseo and Oliver have a plan. We know that Oliver has many immunities, that he has herbs he can take to do this and that. I think he was able to counter the effects of everything Ra's did, and that the entire plan was to not only defeat Ra's, put Nyssa in as Heir of the Demon, but destroy the virus. They've done several of those alternate storylines (such as faking Roy's death) where we see the scenes that they left out at the beginning, which when put with the whole make complete sense.

I also think that Oliver knew he could not defeat Ra's unless he could train under him. Something that Merlyn said ... I can't remember what it was ... when Oliver started training with him. And I think Merlyn is totally involved in the plan as well. Oliver would need him and his knowledge of the rituals of Nanda Parbat in order to make his deception work.

Of course, I could be wrong! The final two episodes of the season are called This Is Your Sword and My Name Is Oliver Queen. Both have double meanings, and I cannot wait to see how this all plays out!

Allison Brennan is a Paste BN and New York Times bestselling author of romantic thrillers. Her latest release is Compulsion. Lavinia Klein is a bestselling author of sexy historical romances. Her latest is Bound by Bliss. They both watch Arrow with their sons, Allison on the West Coast and Lavinia on the East Coast. And now, they enjoy recapping their favorite show together. Find out more about Allison and Lavinia and their books at www.allisonbrennan.com and www.laviniakent.com.