So the show opens up with a re-shot scene from season 1 set in the past. Sara and Ollie sneaking away on the boat, the Queen’s Gambit, before the island except this scene adds more to Sara’s character. It shows her very flirty with Ollie and deceiving her Dad. I wonder how this scene holds up next to the one that was in the pilot. It seems like it is chock full of inconsistencies. But basically the same thing happens: boat sinks. But the next time we see Sara she is waking up half naked (HELLS YEAH CW) in the ocean looking at a yellow canary floating on driftwood. That seems like a pretty crappy place for a canary. I think that bird doesn’t have long to live. I mean I get it. The Black Seagull would be a worse name for a superhero. Sound more like a plague.  But then the ship named Amazo appears in the distance (remember this is the ship we last left Ollie in flashbacks where he is being tortured with his cellmate the KGBeast). Looks like she is in for a rough time until Doctor Anthony Ivo saves her. He is a scientist and he is using all the people held captive. His objective is to save the human race.

Okay then we switch over to Moira’s pre-trial meeting in Iron Heights. Not really sure what those things are called. I haven’t been keeping up with my Law & Order: CSIVU. I haven’t really been paying too much attention to this in my comments because it seems slightly boring. But this scene is pretty amazing and not in a good way. Laurel, who is now working for the D.A.’s office is on the prosecution team on Moira Queen’s case. Hold the fucking phone. She is prosecuting her ex-boyfriends mom who she has a pretty great relationship with? How corrupt is Starling City’s court system that this can happen? Oh, and not to mention that she gives them a sweetheart deal that Moira’s one would expect expensive lawyer scoffs at and also says that this is conflict of interest having Laurel on the case. Laurel is the best thing you’ve got going here. AND Ollie is pissed too? Come on she helped kill over 500 people! COME ON CW?!?!?! Then by the end of the episode they decide to reject the offer?!??!? WHAT?

In the present we find out that Sara is living at Queen Manor. Conveniently Thea is staying with Roy most nights. They say a lot of CW relationshipy stuff to each other and then BAM, a dude dressed like Malcom Merlyn in his Dark Archer costume breaks in the fucking window in the middle of the fucking day! He’s obviously trying to kill Sara. This prompts Ollie to take her to the Arrowcave to see Diggle and Smoak. Sara confesses it is Al Owal, who is a member of the League of Assassins who rescued her after the shipwreck and took her to Nanda Parabat (hey Malcom has been there) and she joined their ranks after being rescued. Al Owal tells her the child of Ra’s al Ghul awaits her return. She left because one mission went to far and she quit but you can only leave the League of Assassins by death. Ollie and Sara escape alive but the League is will kill the whole Lance family if Sara doesn’t go back with them. This puts team Arrow into action and Sara into contact with her dad. He figures out she is the Canary. Then they end up back at the Watchtower where Arrow, Canary, and Quentin fight off Al Owal. HOLD the phone. Former DETECTIVE Lance sees Arrow and his daughter, the Canary, fight together. He also knows they both were shipwrecked on the same island. HOW DOES HE NOT KNOW OLLIE IS ARROW?!?!??!

This was a great episode. Lots of secrets uncovered. Great action. Bad acting. Silly relationship stuff. And it ends with Ollie telling Dig that the whole five years he was gone he was not only on the Island. It’s revealed that he found out Sara was alive way back when he was a prisoner on the Amazo! Can’t wait for the next episode. But until then check the out my theories and notes below.

Theories: 
So Al Owal, which is Arabic for the first, comes and attacks Canary. He has trained her and Merlyn. He is pretty high up there in the League of Assassins. Now let’s remember the first of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, which Arrow takes a lot of cues from. Liam Neeson’s character trains Bruce Wayne the whole movie to become part of the League of Shadows. The writers changed the name of League of Assassins in the comic books to League of Shadows for the movie. It is then revealed at the end that Ra’s al Ghul was not the bald headed silent man but actually Neeson’s character. With a heavy handed hint like the guy’s name being “The First” really points to Al Owal actually being Ra’s al Ghul.

An aspect of Ra’s al Ghul’s character that is not used in Batman Begins is that he has found a fountain of youth he calls the Lazarus Pit. It makes him pretty  much eternal and heals most wounds. There is more than one of these pits scattered around the globe that he uses. Now let’s think about all the people who should have died on the island, Lian Yu. I wonder if the island holds a Lazurus Pit that  Ra’s is using or trying to find and the waters around the island have special healing powers.

Notes:

The Child of Ra’s al Ghul: Ra’s al Ghul has three known children in the comic books. He has a son Dusan al Ghul, also known as the White Ghost. He was reject by Ra’s because he was born albino. There is Talia al Ghul, who is the most well known of his children. She has had romantic entanglements with batman and was featured in The Dark Knight Rises. The last is Nyssa Raatko. She is an illegitimate child Ra’s had when he was traveling through Russia. She tracks him down later in life and impresses him enough to gain a high ranking position in the League of Assassins. If I had to guess which one it would be, I would go with Nyssa since Talia was just used in the last Batman movie and Ollie is currently sharing a cell with the Russian KGBeast. He also says something in Russian before he drinks vodka with Dig at the end of the episode and tells him he wasn’t always on the island.

Doctor Anthony Ivo: Doctor Ivo is a mad scientist obsessed with escaping death, who first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #30 back in 1960 where he created an android Amazo (that’s the name of the boat Ollie, Sara, and Ivo are on) who fought the Justice League. I think we will see a connection made between Ra’s al Ghul’s history with the Lazarus pit and Ivo wanting to never die. In addition to Amazo, Ivo created the androids Composite Superman, Kid Amazo, Red Volcano, and Tomorrow Woman. The Tomorrow Woman story is a great one. It was a single issue story in JLA #5 back in 1997 by Grant Morrison.

Lian Yu: This is the island Ollie is shipwrecked on and where he learns his archery and fighting skills. It is first named in the television show. Lian Yu means purgatory. This looks like a nod to Lost where it seems to be where they got there flashback inspiration from. Lian is the first name of Roy Harper’s daughter who he had with the international criminal Cheshire.

Nanda Parbat: This place has been mentioned before in the television show. We know Malcolm Merlyn spent some time there. It first appeared in the comic books in October 1967 in Strange Adventures #205. Time passes in the city differently than the outside world. Many who enter the city retain their youth for a longer time. It is a hidden city in the mountains of Tibet. It is a place of healing and enlightenment watched over by the goddess Rama Kushna and the monks who worship her. The city is most associated with the hero Deadman who received his powers from Rama Kushna. Other characters closely associated with the city are Judomaster, Crimson Avenger, The Question, and Richard Dragon. Deadman had a nicely updated origin by Paul Jenkins in 2011 in DC Universe Presents.

Iron Heights: Is the prison that Moira is held in. It is a fictional penitentiary that first appeared in Flash: Iron Heights by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. Johns is going to be penning the episode that introduces Barry Allen, the Flash. Iron Heights Penitentiary is known for its vicious and brutal treatment of its prisoners. It  houses many of the Flash’s super villains.