Non Spoiler Review- A much improved episode from last week's which was somewhat of a disappointment given how consistent the quality of the season has been as opposed to previous seasons. This episode is directed by James Bamford, who is one of the stunt coordinators for the show, and I really liked what he did with this episode as it was very action packed and the fight scenes were among the best of the season so far. The episode also shifted focus to John Diggle for the most part with a few subplots around the other members of Team Arrow but David Ramsey was really given an opportunity to shine in the spotlight thanks to his emotional scenes this episode. Overall, I can say this was a very solid episode of 'Arrow' and I'm very psyched for the two part Flash/Arrow crossover next week as well as each show's respective mid season finales.
*******There will be Spoilers from this point on*******
Highlights of the episode
1. Oliver to take on Darhk in he light of day- One big part of the episode was a conflict within Oliver when an opportunity arises for him to work with Darhk as the mayoral candidate and Oliver strongly considers it since Darhk is losing trust in Lance and it would allow for another mole within HIVE. After discussing it with John Diggle, at the end of the episode he reveals he wants to fight for Star City in the light of day and not in the shadows and locks eyes with Damien Darhk. I like that Oliver will be fighting Darhk on two fronts as the Green Arrow and Oliver Queen. I'm very excited see how this fight will go and curious what the consequences for Oliver will be since we saw someone will be in a grave by the end of the season.
2. Diggle struggling with his brother's return- At the beginning of the episode when Team Arrow is trying to retrieve a compound that will help them learn more about HIVE and the ghosts, Diggle fights with one of the ghosts and manages to unmask him revealing his brother, Andrew Diggle. Throughout the episode John struggles with this news as he is frustrated that Andrew's been alive all this time and hasn't told his family and isn't the strong moral person he thought he knew and so Oliver tries to convince him of otherwise when they learn HIVE has been controlling the ghosts with some sort of drug that makes them susceptible to suggestion. Oliver then plans an assault to save Andrew from HIVE and it is successful. John then confronts his brother towards the end of the episode in the cage in the Arrow Cave and Andy tells him everything in the files is true. I'm curious to see if Team Arrow can undo the brainwashing done by HIVE later this season as a way to possibly stop HIVE.
3. Possible cure for the "Blood Lust"- In this episode Thea's bloodlust comes back and she as the urge to kill throughout but manages to somewhat resist it. Merlin makes a brief appearance visiting Thea to help her with her bloodlust, as he estimated the effects are coming back. He then provides her with information of a man Merlin believes deserves to die and she refuses. She almost falls into it when a guy confronts her on a date and she almost kills him but she manages to stop herself. Larter in the episode she comes across Darhk, who recognizes her as having had training from Malcolm and tries to use his powers but has some side effect and is slightly immobilized being slightly injured likely due to the blood lust in her system. Thea invites Merlin back and tells him that Dahrk's powers didn't work on her and her blood lust was gone. She wants him to help him find a way to permanently remove the blood lust and I think that Thea will be a weapon against Darhk later this season since his powers won't work on her and this could also help remove the blood lust from her system.
4. Ray's internal conflict- In this episode Ray stays hidden from the outside world, and we learn why he doesn't want to reveal himself to the world.
In the present, Ray tells Felicity that it doesn't seem like he made a positive impact on the world, so he doesn't know why he should admit he's back from the "dead." He then comes in later in the episode to help out Team Arrow as Atom and decides he will think things out but still be a superhero. I think this is setting up a character arc that will be further explored on 'Legends of Tomorrow' and I really like it as it allows for a much deeper characterization for Ray Palmer, since his character didn't really have too much depth last season.
5. Action- This episode has some of the best action scenes all season and I liked seeing Atom in action for the first time in awhile and can't wait to see if this grand team up next week which Stephen Amell has teased there will be a fight scene with nine heroes in the Flash/Arrow crossover so I'm very excited to see that since it's essentially like a Justice League but on television.
Promo
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