'Arrow' Finale Recap: Two Merlyn's Die

Arrow left off last week with Digg (David Ramsey), Arrow’s sidekick, searching for an earthquake device that Merlyn planted in The Glades. Meanwhile, Arrow (Stephen Arnell) learns that Merlyn (John Barrowman) is the Dark Archer, which leads to a fight that not only knocks him out, but also reveals him as Oliver.

Last night, Arrow picked up with Oliver strung up with cuffs around his risks in a vacuous dimly lit room. Oliver unleashes some pent up vitriol at Meryln, who takes it all in the calm stride of a sociopath. “No one can stop what is about to come,” he sneers, after expressing doubt that Oliver could ever defeat him. Oliver then seems to have a flashback to the island where he frees Shado and Slade as Fyers attempts to have a passenger plane shot down.

Back in the present, Oliver outmuscles the chains that are binding him, pulling them out of the ceiling. He then uses the chains to neutralize all of the guards except for one. Just as it seems that Oliver will be defeated, the faithful Diggs rushes into the room and takes out the final guard. He’d found Oliver via the tracking device in his boot.

Det. Lance (Paul Blackthorne) is questioning Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), as he’s suspicious about her activities with The Hood. However, when Arrow/Oliver calls and fills him in on Merlyn’s plan to demolish The Glades, Lance leaves her to go inform his bosses. The police Lieutenant doesn’t believe his improbable story and suspends him indefinitely.

After an angry Tommy (Colin Donnell), who’s upset about Oliver and Laurel (Katie Cassidy) kissing, confronts him, Oliver tells him about his father’s plans. Tommy, disbelieving of the accusations, says, “I wish you would have died on that island.” Speaking of the island, there’s another flashback where Oliver manages to re-direct the missle, which ends up destroying most of Fyers camp.

After Oliver tries to guilt Moira (Susanna Thompson) into helping him stop Merlyn, she gets a call from the villain himself who informs her that The Undertaking is getting sped up to that night. Then Oliver gets a visit from Laurel, who wants to know why he’s being distant. They kiss and make up before he tells her he has to leave and instructs her to leave The Glades.

Chaos ensues when Moira announces Merlyn’s plan on TV. She ends up arrested for being a part of the plot, and when police attempt to arrest Merlyn, he takes them all out with a sword. Tommy, now without a choice but to believe the things Arrow/Oliver said about his father, tries to stop him from escaping with a gun, but Merlyn easily evades him. When Oliver and Diggs arrive at Merlyn’s office, they find him in his Dark Archer room. Oliver and Merlyn continue to fight as Oliver fires a bolt that Merlyn catches and has explode in his hand.

As their fighting continues, Det. Lance finds the earthquake device and Felicity attempts to talk him through disarming it – an attempt that’s ultimately unsuccessful. It seems as though Oliver will also be unsuccessful, as Merlyn is dangerously close to choking him to death. But when he mentions his plans to kill Oliver’s mother and sister, Oliver rams an arrow through his chest. Thankfully, Lance figures out how to disarm the device on his own just in time – but another device planted elsewhere goes off.

When the other device goes off, it leaves Laurel in a pile of rubble. Tommy rescues her and tells her he loves her as she escapes while the building collapses, leaving Merlyn’s son with a steel pole in his chest. Before he dies in Oliver’s arms he says, “I’m sorry.”

Arrow, which has been renewed for a second season, will pick up again in the fall.

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