Arrow New Episode Review: 'Nanda Parbat' Twist Leaves Cliffhanger

The CW's Arrow returned Wednesday night with a new episode entitled "Nanda Parbat." The episode ended with a twist ending and a cliffhanger that is sure to have fans buzzing until the next installment in a few weeks.

Before we discuss the ending, let's talk about how we got there. Much of the episode focused on Oliver's attempts to save Thea's soul. The theme of Season 3 has focused on Oliver's identity and whether or not the Arrow can exist without Oliver Queen and vice versa. So with such a focus on human nature, "Nanda Parbat" shined the spotlight on Thea.

Is she a killer? Was she always a killer and Malcolm Merlyn just brought it out? Or did her own father truly poison and corrupt her? Slade Wilson touched on this last week, so I appreciated that this episode followed through on this theme.

But for all of Oliver's talk about saving his sister from taking a life, he admitted that he wanted to face Ra's al Ghul one more time because he couldn't live with the fact that the leader of the League of Assassins bested him in combat. We saw a glimpse of this in Season 1 when the Dark Archer demolished Ollie, and the Arrow became obsessed with stopping him.

Only this time, the show threw a curveball at us. After Oliver and Diggle got captured in Nanda Parbat, the League brought Ollie before Ra's al Ghul. All Oliver asked was that Ra's spare Diggle's life before he killed the Arrow. But Ra's had no intention of killing Oliver. Instead, he was impressed with Ollie's strength and character. And he wants Ollie to succeed him, to take his place at the head of the League of Assassins.

He wants Oliver Queen to become the new Ra's al Ghul.

This opens up a host of fascinating possibilities for the rest of the season. Why does Ra's not want to live and/or rule the League anymore? Why would he choose Oliver instead of his own daughter, or another League member? Would Oliver ever consider such an offer? And if he declines, then does he essentially declare war on Ra's and the League? The rest of Season 3 likely hinges on these questions.

Elsewhere in the episode, Felicity and Ray took a major step forward as they finally slept together after months of flirtation. This happened around the same time that Ray was prepared to take his ATOM suit on its first test flight. And it was pretty amazing when Ray took flight. Yes, it felt ripped out of Iron Man, but consider that Arrow is not a show that deals with these kinds of effects. This isn't The Flash. We don't have speedsters and fire-powered creatures running around in Starling City. So to see ATOM take flight was something special.

And lest we forget, we had a second cliffhanger courtesy of Thea and Nyssa. Thea, still fraught with guilt over firing the arrows that killed Sara, told Nyssa that she killed her beloved. And then she let her out of the cage, handed her a knife, and offered her a chance to take her revenge. If Nyssa were going to cut down Thea, we likely would have seen it in this episode. It's also possible that Nyssa realizes Malcolm is the true mastermind behind all this and spares Thea.

If Malcolm is dead, or at least out of the picture, then the conflict for Season 3 completely changes. Instead of Ra's serving as the enemy, we'd have Oliver struggling with the conflict of taking over the League. It's an exciting prospect, and one that should fuel the remainder of this season.

Notes:

- Diggle got more screen time in this episode than he's had in weeks, and he even got to go out into the field. As always, his sage advice to Oliver was welcome, and the moment he asked Ollie to be his best man was sweet.

- Malcolm said this was a trap, so is that why Oliver and Diggle were able to Call of Duty their way into Nanda Parbat so easily?

- LOL at Laurel trying to fight Malcolm.

- It was pretty hilarious that Ray had his "eureka" moment right after he slept with Felicity.

- Also, good for the two of them. Felicity has had to endure so much misery this season, and it was nice to see her happy.

- Did Nyssa take down Malcolm a little too easily?

What did you think of "Nanda Parbat"? Let us know in the comments section.