It’s an All-Out Ninja War in Our Arrow Episode 4.13 Recap

Picking up where last week left off, Oliver tells Nyssa if she actually cared about Thea’s life she wouldn’t present conditions for her cure. He tells her to handle Malcolm Merlyn herself, but she can’t do it on her own. Meanwhile, Felicity has coffee with her father where he drops a bomb, he knows exactly who she is and what she does in her spare time. Though she tries to flee, he hands over a file to her, a record of his hacks, which she can verify to see they’re actually on the same side. Oliver concocts a plan to try and please everyone, his go to really, wherein Merlyn can just hand over the ring and they’ll get the cure. It’s so simple! Ha! The first island flashback picks up where those left off too, with Taiana still grappling with the fact Oliver killed her brother. He goes on to show her the little stone that hallucination Shado gave him, and Taiana takes it, hoping to hand it over to Reiter.

Oliver meets with Merlyn and reveals the terms of Nyssa’s deal, but Merlyn doesn’t believe in this cure for the bloodlust. Even though Oliver cited his sources and triple checked, he still doesn’t believe it. Laurel goes to see Nyssa and presents her with the idea for the deal. Nyssa agrees to the terms but says Merlyn will not, and when he doesn’t there will be a war in the streets. The team assembles in the Arrow Cave where Felicity joins them and reveals her father is not only back, but he is The Calculator. She talks about wanting to test him to see if he’s changed, sparking an idea for Oliver as well. Back on the island Reiter comes to the prison and snatches the stone from Taiana, leaving her in the cage. He tells her if she doesn’t continue to treat Oliver’s wounds, she’ll suffer the same fate he does.

Nyssa spars with some of her subordinates when Oliver pops by, it’s what you can do when you’re married under the terms of a ninja death cult. You just pop by. He asks her for a sample of the Lotus, as proof, and she agrees but reminds him he’s foolish for thinking this can end with no bloodshed. Oliver has Thea moved out of the hospital and into the Arrow Cave where he and Merlyn observe the Lotus temporarily fix Thea’s wounds. Merlyn asks for the terms of the deal and when they plan to meet. Meanwhile in the loft, Mama Smoak comes to see Felicity and when she reveals her Dad is in town, the typically-bubbly Mama Smoak turns into “no one is having anymore fun here” Mama Smoak. She tells Felicity that he only tells people what they want to hear, and that people just don’t change.

Time for the big meeting, but just when Merlyn wiggles his ring off his finger all of his ninjas show up and we have a big ninja fight party. Nyssa and her forces retreat but Oliver stops Merlyn from giving chase. He backs down. Oliver and the team regroup where he has a great idea, ready for this? Since they can’t take on two armies, take out the generals. Man, he’s on a roll tonight. Once more to the island, Taiana tens to Oliver’s wounds and he opens up to her, revealing his father’s suicide right next to him and that he’s lost so many people he loved over the past few years. She says when she first saw him that she could see how broken he was and that times like this are when he will become the man his father wanted him to be.

Oliver and Diggle walk through a crime scene in the street, caused by another big ninja fight party. Diggle tries to talk sense into Oliver and gives him the ultimatum, you can end this by ending Merlyn. On the other side of town, Papa Smoak comes to see Felicity at Palmer Tech. She gives him a brief tour, setting the bait for her own test. Laurel tracks down Nyssa and stalls her from attacking Merlyn, but his forces have already arrived and they engage each other. The tussle spills out into the streets where Oliver and Diggle join in, and once Merlyn’s soldiers retreat, Oliver subdues Nyssa and they take her to the Arrow Cave. Laurel tries to talk sense into Nyssa and tells her that she’s not acting like herself, but her father. A major sticking point, because every female character in Arrow is defined by their relationship with their dads, so this episode is an angry volcano about to erupt.

Felicity and Oliver meet up, both frustrated that the subjects of their tests failed. Her father left behind a device to suck out the data from a room and Malcolm Merlyn didn’t go with his plan. Oliver reveals that John thinks he should just kill Merlyn and Felicity agrees. Oliver holds out hope Merlyn can be changed, despite the fact that Felicity just told him her own father didn’t change. Conveniently Merlyn broke into the Arrow Cave to see Thea, giving Oliver a chance to speak with him. He tells Oliver why he won’t agree to the terms, that he won’t put a global power like the League of Assassins in the hands of Nyssa al Ghul. He also reveals the ace up his sleeve, he knows everything about Oliver, including his son’s name. Oliver manages to convince Merlyn to challenge Nyssa to a trial by combat.

Since there’s no snowy peaks in Star City, the trial is set for a rooftop and just as Nyssa prepares to engage Merlyn, Oliver steps forward. As her husband, he asks to take her place in the fight and see justice done. Ollie and Merlyn have a shouting match which turns into a fun sword fight. Oliver keeps him on the ropes but won’t kill him, despite Merlyn’s insistence. Instead, Oliver takes his sword and slices Merlyn’s hand off. He plucks the ring from his finger and trades it with Nyssa for the Lotus. She slides it on her finger and all of the ninjas bow. Later, they give the Lotus to Thea and she wakes up, fit as a fiddle albeit a little tired.

Felicity’s father comes to see her at Palmer Tech where she says all she ever wanted to know her entire life was what was so wrong with her that she wasn’t worth his love. Papa Smoak takes full responsibility, keeping his “I’ve changed” charade going, but the police have arrived and arrest him. He did hand over a file full of his own hacks after all. That night, Laurel and Oliver meet up with Nyssa who admits that both of them were right. Another guest joins them, the one-handed Malcolm Merlyn. Nyssa takes off the ring of Ra’s al Ghul and toses it in a fire where it promptly melts. She reveals that she disbanded the league earlier that day and no one will be held prisoner by her father anymore. Merlyn takes this as a personal insult and threatens to ruin Oliver’s life, in such a way that only Merlyn can.

In our final island flashback, Reiter reveals the stone was the final piece of the puzzle he needed for whatever he’s after, and to get at it they’re going to have to dig. In the loft, Oliver and Felicity talk, having basically not seen each other this entire episode, and they both agree that the type of closure she and Thea have gone through isn’t easy. Oliver shifts gears and asks why they haven’t gotten married yet, things are quiet… so why not now? Felicity agrees to plan a small ceremony to get it done. Meanwhile in a smokey part of town, Merlyn meets with Damien Darhk and offers up the person that Oliver Queen loves more than anything else. Darhk waves it off, they already did a number on Felicity Smoak, but Merlyn means someone else. Oliver’s son, William. Does this mean the unmarked grave is for Oliver’s son? That the person Oliver vowed to kill in the flash-forward wasn’t in fact Damien Darhk but Malcolm Merlyn, setting up the events of the show’s fifth season? Maybe!

You can watch a preview for the next episode, titled “Code of Silence,” using the player below!