I disagree with it being a fantastic episode, and I'm not enjoying the current direction of the story. Love the show itself, but wish the writers would take a different twist. I can think of a few that I'd find more entertaining.
Here's what I would love to see. Have the truth about Sara's death come out, and have Thea learn about how Merlyn blackmailed Ollie into fighting Ras. An angry Thea takes off for NandaParbat in defiance of Merlyn. Once there, instead of killing her for "justice", Ras sees potential in her and brings her into the League of Assassins. She agrees on the condition that he not kill Ollie, to which he agrees. An angry Nyssa, unable to accept Sara's killer into the LoA, even though Thea was mind-controlled by Malcolm, leaves. Not knowing where to go, she flees to Starling City and Team Arrow. Now you have a real teacher for Black Canary in the form of Nyssa. Nyssa can teach her far more than boxing and turn her into a truly formidable fighter. Nyssa can also reach out to Sin, and bridge a gap that lets Laurel and Sin form a relationship. If you've read the comics, you know Sin is like Canary's adopted daughter, something they played off of with Sara, but they could continue with Laurel.
So, you wrap up the scenario of Ollie against Ras himself without Ollie having to win a fight he shouldn't be able to win, but you still leave Ras and the LoA in play as antagonists. You also give Canary a proper teacher. But wait, there's more. Ras isn't going to be happy about Nyssa leaving, so he'll send someone after her. Enter Lady Shiva. One possible story arc. Ollie isn't going to be content with Thea being part of the LoA and will try to get her back. What if Thea doesn't want to go? And Ras may have promised that he wouldn't kill Ollie, but he won't have promised that one of the LoA wouldn't kill Ollie. That's two possible story arcs. Also, since Arrow loves introducing new heroes, travelling to NandaParbat to see Thea could introduce a couple. My top choice would be Boston Brand, aka Deadman, but there are other heroes tied to the city. That's three possible story arcs. And finally, Nyssa is going to want to kill Merlyn for Sara's death. Merlyn isn't a character that should be killed, at least not yet, but they could have some epic fights. That's a fourth story arc.
I could come up with more, but those are just some possible ideas that would remain some what true to what the source material is based off of, which I would like to see. You have to allow for some bending because it's TV, I get that, but some of your biggest fans are comic fanboys that know the history and want to see at least a parallel. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it could be better than what they're currently doing. And no, I'm not going to say my ideas are better. Everything is about opinion, and some of you may think, "that idea sucks", which is fine. But my opinion is it would make for a better overall story by getting rid of some inconsistencies.(The biggest one being Laurel can take a few boxing lessons and then suddenly she's ready to be a vigilante.)
