Arrow - Heir to the Demon

As Moira's (Susanna Thompson) mayoral campaign begins, and the Lance family continues to deal with Laurel's (Katie Cassidy) substance abuse, Starling City gets a host of interesting visitors including Laurel's sister Sara (Caity Lotz), her mother Dinah (Alex Kingston), and Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law) who arrives to return her former lover to the League of Assassins - whether she wants to come back or not. I had doubts about the show's plan to introduce Nyssa, but Law proves to be a terrific choice balancing both the emotional dramatic moments and action sequences to deliver a passionate and deadly version of Ra's al Ghul's daughter, and the surprise twist behind her motives for hunting Sara are a nice touch.

When an emotional plea from Nyssa isn't enough to convince Sara to return to the League she turns to more dramatic alternative methods by kidnapping Dinah to further motivate Sara to reconsider her decision. Unwilling to return or harm Nyssa, and unable to keep her family safe from the constant danger of the League, Sara comes up with her own solution to the problem by ingesting the poison meant for her sister. However, it's not a plan anyone (particularly Sara) can live with. Aside from causing Oliver and Nyssa to almost kill each other, Sara's plan works (in a fashion) as she earns her freedom.

Along with delivering some pretty cool arrow-on-arrow action in one of the season's best action sequences pitting Green Arrow vs. Nyssa, "Heir to the Demon" lays important ground work for the rest of the season. Slade Wilson's (Manu Bennett) reaction to Moria's campaign suggests Deathstroke may take a far more personal interest in his revenge against Oliver. Oliver's discover of Thea's (Willa Holland) true parentage causes a rift inside the Queen clan. The happy reunion of the Lance family is short lived as a bitter Laurel blames Sara for everything wrong in her life. And Sara's hard-won freedom from the League means her return from the dead to Starling City (at least for now) and the resumption of her partnership with Ollie (apparently both on the streets and between the sheets).