i’ve thought the same thing, the writers tweeted shortly after this aired that episode 14 will be titled the return but not of oliver or slade, my guess is still tommy, similar to a red hood batman arc, im betting tommy was brought back with the lazarus pit by ra’s al ghul maybe as a way to draw out merly. maybe thats who finds oliver at the bottom of the cliff?

Its hard to think they wont use the lazarus pit its the only thing that explains Merlin’s survival for me

I think he might be ‘missing’ for an episode or 2. You might see Ray step forward with his ATOM project and I know its a little bit trope, but I could certainly see some League of Assassins brainwashing going on with Oliver perhaps ‘controlled’ to an extent and not himself. I think the thing with Felicity was a little over the top.I dont think the show is yet to the point where it has to create new things to keep Oliver and Felicity from ‘meeting’ up but I dont think there will be a Lazarus Pit connection here.