Arrow Season 4: 6 Ups And 5 Downs From 'Genesis'

7. Doing What Was Necessary

Arrow Genesis
The CW

One of the biggest things to take away from Genesis, and something that Arrow must be applauded for, was how it didn’t shy away from doing what was necessary, even if that meant one of its key characters doing some truly despicable. Yes, I’m talking about John Diggle killing his brother, Andy.

With Andy having previously fired a rocket launcher at the moving safe house that contained Digg’s wife and child, it was clear that John’s younger brother was getting ever-crazier with each passing episode. Then when Andy later tells John that it won’t be long until baby Sara has to go to school, that he and H.I.V.E. will keep on coming for John and his family, and that countless other men, women and children will be slaughtered, we were all egging Big Digg on to do what he needed to do: to kill his brother.

The thing is, nobody really thought John would go through with this. It’s kind of Hero 101 that the bad guys, no matter how bad and messed up, are always locked away in the hope that they’ll be in the background or may even change their viewpoint. It’s something that Arrow itself has even been guilty of at times, a refusal to kill, but that’s one of the basic traits of most superheroes and superhero comics.

To see Arrow have the conviction to go through with having John kill his brother Andy was a bold, bold move and one that the writing team must be commended on.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.