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There are so many good episodes of Arrow that it’s difficult to decide which should be considered the “best.” However, just like when Slade Wilson forces Oliver to pick between his mother and sister, there’s no way to get out of this situation without making some tough choices.
10) Season 8, Episode 10, “Fadeout”
The final episode of Arrow is a rough one because Oliver isn’t around. He dies during the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, and his friends gather to remember him in “Fadeout.” Unfortunately, a villain with connections to Oliver’s past ruins the reunion when he kidnaps William, the Green Arrow’s son.
The present storyline, despite its major cameos and emotional moments, can’t hold a candle to the flashback one. Oliver and Diggle team up one more time in “Fadeout,” and the former takes on a warehouse full of goons one last time. The action sequence is one of the best in Arrow‘s history, ensuring that the show goes out with a bang.
9) Season 7, Episode 7, “The Slabside Redemption”
Throughout Arrow Season 6, Oliver can’t get the better of Ricardo Diaz, who sets up a drug operation in Star City. It gets so bad that even Diggle finds himself buying from Diaz’s guys to get an edge out in the field. Without any other options, Oliver teams up with the FBI to take down his enemy.
Oliver’s plan works, but he has to go to prison for his past crimes. “The Slabside Redemption” sees Diaz attempt to get revenge by entering Oliver’s new home and causing trouble. The Green Arrow spends the entire episode fighting his way out of the prison with some unlikely allies before finally reuniting with his friends and family on the outside.
8) Season 2, Episode 20, “Seeing Red”
Slade Wilson shows up in Star City in Arrow Season 2 with bad intentions. He holds a grudge against Oliver because of the death of his beloved, Shado, on Lian Yu. Well, Slade finally gets his revenge in “The Promise.”
The majority of the episode features Team Arrow deciding what to do about Roy Harper, who has Mirakuru in his system. Oliver isn’t able to focus, though, because his mother is running for mayor and throwing rallies. After the event in “Seeing Red,” he gets into a car with his mother and sister, and they get into an accident. He comes to and has to watch as Slade plunges a sword through his mother’s heart in one of the show’s most shocking scenes.
7) Season 3, Episode 9, “The Climb”
Like Slade before him, Ra’s al Ghul goes after Oliver’s family. He wants to catch Sara Lance’s killer, and he knows that Oliver knows who it is. Thea is the culprit, as her father, Malcolm Merlyn, brainwashed her into doing it, but Oliver won’t let his sister die.
To avoid any further bloodshed, Oliver meets the Demon’s Head on top of a snowy mountain and fights him. It’s one of the more tense moments in the Arrowverse, and it’s hard to watch when Oliver loses and falls down the side of the cliff. It’s not a factor during a binge-watch, but “The Climb” was the midseason finale of Season 3, meaning there was a significant break after it, which only adds to the episode’s allure.
6) Season 1, Episode 23, “Sacrifice”
Oliver draws the short end of the stick when he has to go up against his best friend’s dad in Season 1. Malcolm blames the Glades, a rundown part of Star City, for the death of his wife, so he’s going to level the entire place with an earthquake machine. Oliver has no choice but to fight him, and things get pretty messy.
While Oliver stops the machine before it does too much damage, Tommy Merlyn dies after rubble falls on him. “Sacrifice” sees Oliver spend his friend’s last few moments with him. It’s a loss that the hero never really recovers from, which makes the Season 1 finale as important as almost any episode.
