We all knew Ollie would have to face off against Ra’s al Ghul eventually, but thanks to Thea their reunion happens sooner rather than later. As Ollie and Diggle head to Nanda Parbat to retrieve Malcolm Merlyn after Thea gives him up to The League of Assassins, their confrontation with the Head of the Demon turns out differently than we’d have expected.

Thea tell Laurel the truth

On Arrow, characters are constantly keeping secrets from each other. It continues to be the driving force behind why their relationships become so strained. In “Nanda Parbat” there’s only one real secret still floating around and that is the fact that Thea killed Sara while under Merlyn’s influence. We finally get that secret out of the way as Thea opens up to Laurel about what she did. Laurel becomes appropriately upset at Merlyn leading to her blowing up at Ollie for still working with him after he killed her sister. While this new information may put a strain on the relationship between Laurel and Ollie it seems the relationships between other characters are coming out stronger because of it.

While Roy and Thea have grown apart since Slade Wilson tried to take over Starling City, their new found commonality brings them closer together. Both Roy and Thea share the grief of killing someone while not in control. It’s nice to see the two relate and come closer together whether it just be as friends. Finding out that Roy has been keeping tabs on the family of the police officer he killed, helping them with money and groceries, is also nice to see and adds a little more to Roy’s character.

Another relationship to blossom in “Nanda Parbat” is that of Felicity and Ray Palmer’s. I was happy to see the two go as far as they did as the tension between them has been around for a while now. Also, Felicity deserves someone who can treat her right – not Ollie. Hopefully, their relationship continues to grow and it won’t be too bogged down by his super heroics as The Atom. Speaking of which, we finally got to see Ray Palmer in his A.T.O.M. suit and it looked pretty awesome. I’m hoping we get to see his shrinking ability come into play like it does in the comics and he’s not just a DC version of Iron Man.

Ollie and Diggle had some nice moments together as Diggle accompanies Ollie to Nanda Parbat to retrieve Merlyn. Ollie opens up to Diggle about the real reason he wanted to go to Nanda Parbat. Originally he states that he wants to save Merlyn as a way of sparing Thea from the grief she would feel from having her father killed. The real reason Ollie wanted to go was to have a rematch with the man who nearly killed him – Ra’s al Ghul. This seemed a bit out of character for Ollie, but I accepted it. After getting caught by Ra’s Diggle opens up to Ollie further, requesting that he be his best man in his wedding. The way “Nanda Parbat” was building up Diggle I began to get worried that he was going to get killed off, but by the time Ollie meets with Ra’s an unexpected outcome occurs.

Palmer puts on his A.T.O.M. suit

Instead of trying to kill Ollie, Ra’s asks Ollie if he wants to take his place as the next Ra’s al Ghul. As much as I enjoyed this twist, the reason why Ra’s wants Ollie to be his heir is still unclear to me. I am wondering how this Nyssa will react when she realizes she may no longer be the heir and if Ollie would even consider committing to that. If he had control of The League of Assassins it could greatly benefit his crusade in saving Starling City and he may be able to expand his operation. We’ll have to wait and see.

Overall “Nanda Parbat” was one of this season’s better episodes. In addition to what was stated before I enjoyed seeing Laurel tell off Ollie after she found out he knew Merlyn killed her sister. That line about her not remembering how she could have ever loved him had to hit Ollie pretty hard, but let’s face it, he deserves it. We also found out that Ra’s has been alive since at least the 1800s which fits in with his immortal persona from the comics. We even got to see him bathe in what is most likely a Lazarus Pit, which is what helps him remain immortal in the comics.

Laurel didn’t exactly think clearly in this episode thinking she could take down Merlyn and finally have her revenge. Fortunately Nyssa was there to put an end to that fight and capture Merlyn herself, but then Nyssa gets captured and detained by Ollie. In addition to Ollie having to decide if he’s going to be Ra’s al Ghul’s heir, the other plot line left dangling is in regards to Thea opening Nyssa’s prison cell and telling her she killed Sara. Will Nyssa attempt to kill Thea to have her revenge for the death of Sara or will she see that there’s more to Thea’s story and accept that Merlyn is the sole person who needs to be taken down?

Arrow won’t return with new episodes until Wednesday, March 18. Until then check out The CW’s official promo for the next episode “The Offer” below and feel free to let us know what you thought about “Nanda Parbat” in the comments.