Arrow: 2×13 “Heir to the Demon” (EPISODE REVIEW)

Heir to the Demon – 5/10

Heir to the Demon, aka the Lance family reunion. I had a real struggle with this episode. Not only was Sara’s relationship with Nyssa al Ghul just a bit too unrealistic, the drama too potent, and the fight scenes too lackluster, but the story sucked. The writing was all around terrible, and neither the actress who plays Sara, nor the actress who plays Nyssa actually make sense on the show. Isn’t the CW known for strictly choosing the most beautiful actors? Why would they choose the channel’s most ugly signed females to make out on camera? Why did that storyline with Felicity even happen? That was such terrible writing, and came out of nowhere. The only purpose it served was to create friction (drama) between herself and Oliver for a few episodes so as to pique the interest of watchers at a pinnacle moment in her storyline, but isa storyline that will be forgotten. And who is Oliver to call anyone a liar, let alone his own mother? He IS a lie. IS ANYONE GOING TO BUY LAUREL A SANDWICH?!?!?! In the real world Oliver Queen’s extremely awkward press statement would go down as the worst speech ever. It took him two minutes to say roughly three sentences: “You don’t know Moira Queen like I do. You don’t know what she is capable of… when she tries to help. My mother, Moira Queen!” And then everyone clapped like nothing was awkward at all. Was that whole last scene with Sara and Oliver at all necessary? You know how unromantic that scene was? Imagine it without the music that played over the track in the background. That had to be the most forced makeout scene in the entire history of the show.

That’s not to say this episode was completely terrible, and I apologize for the rant. Despite my opinions on the episode as a whole, we were introduced to the next closest thing to Ra’s al Ghul – his daughter (and apparent lover of Sara Lance…whatever). She made a pretty strong entrance, but accomplished nothing more than to prove she doesn’t get over heartbreak easily. I did think, although annoying, the scene where Laurel digs into Sara was particularly well written, and Detective Lance as a character is far more likable now than in episodes past. I still don’t know how I feel about Alex Kingston playing mother Lance yet either. It does seem like an extremely left-field choice in casting (I personally am under the assumption that the creators of the show are fans of Doctor Who and wanted to incorporate Jack Harkness and River Song).

Overall, a lot happened in Heir to the Demon, a lot of good plot points introduced (Nyssa al Ghul, Sara’s reemergence, Moira’s campaign beginning), but unfortunately those points weren’t introduced particularly well.

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