Arrow Season 4: 6 Ups And 5 Downs From 'Genesis'
What went right and wrong as Diggle gets pushed to his limits and Oliver begins to dabble in magic?
Following last week's faux Black Canary escapade, this latest Arrow episode saw the stakes upped for the Green Arrow and Co.
When Oliver Queen reaches out to BFF John Constantine, Hellblazer points the Emerald Archer in a direction that could well help him solve his Damien Darhk problem. The only issue is whether Ollie's soul is too shrouded in darkness to be helped.
Elsewhere, and in the most engaging element of Genesis, we got to see John Diggle do battle with his younger brother, Andy. With Andy upping the ante and proving to be even more of an utter b*stard than previously, John is tasked with the tough decision of whether or not his brother can be redeemed. Either way, the whole thing doesn't end particularly well for either Diggle brother.
With Damien Darhk back causing chaos, and with magic now back in play, Genesis most definitely served up a mixed bag in comparison to some of Arrow's more recent outings. That said, the pluses just about outweighed the negatives.
So, as Arrow's fourth season continues its march towards its close, let's take a look at what this latest episode got right and what it maybe fumbled a little. Starting with the Ups...
11. Damien Darhk’s Return
In recent weeks, we’ve not just seen Damien Darhk escape the shackles of prison life, Arrow went one further and saw the uber-rogue actually kill Laurel Lance, aka Black Canary.
Continuing the theme of making Darhk look like a total b*stard, here we see the villain reintroduced to H.I.V.E in a major way. And in a major way, I mean by killing off the two poor saps who happen to be sat in front of him.
With Murmur, Merlyn and Andy Diggle in tow, DD mercilessly kills off those at H.I.V.E. who maybe don’t give him the warm welcome that he was hoping for. Again, Arrow manages to make its Season 4 ‘big bad’ look like a huge deal, and the whole return to H.I.V.E. was made even better by Neal McDonough’s ever-charismatic performance as he quipped wise whilst causing chaos.