Arrow 8X3: Leap of Faith

I'm pretty sure I said it last episode, but I really mean it, I'm amazed that this show is this good still. On episode 160 something. I'm astounded.

So, Oliver heads over to Nanda Parbat to try to get answers about Monitor guy. He's not really forth coming and we've decided if we are risking so much for this mission, we should at least learn a little more about it. While he's hanging out at his campsite, he's attacked by someone who is revealed to be Thea. Yay! I missed her!

They have a quick catch up before we head off to go on some weird ass treasure hunt to try to find some answers. The next day, they head over to see Talia (she owes Oliver a favor) and she leads them to some tomb. Eventually, we find a scroll, which after set on fire, turns into a sphere, which is apparently a map. However, Athena attacks and they flee, but Talia ends up giving the sphere to Athena and disappearing herself.

Oliver and Thea climb a giant ass mountain and get to the next site right before Talia and Athena (who has been taken prisoner by Athena). They decide to use Athena, Oliver, and Thea as guinea pigs to check for booby traps along the way. At some point, I think Thea tricks them and a bunch of Athen's people die. Talia gets ahead and Thea follows her, leaving Oliver to take care of the rest of the guys.

Talia gets to the sword first and Thea challenges her as the heir to demon. Thea ends up besting her just as Oliver shows up and they finally get the info. Turns out, Monitor guy actually wants to bring about destruction, not evade it. Fun.

Elsewhere, John and Lyla are trying to save Ben Turner's wife and son. I'm not entirely sure what the tell happened here, but I don't think it matters. The important part (as far as I can tell) is that they managed to save them, which means Connor is alive is the future. Also, at the end of the mission, Lyla goes out of her way to tell John that no matter what happens in the future, he should remember the good times they had together. I feel like we are red herring-ing this to try to pretend she knows what the Monitor is doing, but I don't think she does.

In the future, we've sort of decided to take down the Deathstroke Gang once and for all. (Well Mia's decided, the rest of us are sort of just going along with it). William is hanging back trying to hack into their system so we can get video feed, once we get it, the others attack. I think they are doing pretty well, until one of them gets Mia. Thankfully, Zoe manages to save her, but immediately after, JJ kills her. Connor goes after him, and beat him (not that that stops JJ from mocking him).

And then, everything goes white and Mia, Connor, Oliver, Dig, Dinah, and Rene all end up transported to the bunker somehow. This is the first time Mia and Oliver have met, and it's been decades probably since William and Oliver have seen each other. I have no idea what happened here. I assume the Monitor is responsible somehow (he does not like when Oliver makes his own decisions), but we're leaving the future in peril.