Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 16 "Broken Hearts"

Arrow Season 4 Episode 16

“Broken Hearts”

Synopsis:

Following the events of William’s kidnapping, Darhk has become less powerful, but carrie Cutter, A.K.A Cupid, has emerged into Star City to cause chaos on the city and the Green Arrow.

Review:

The engagement is off between Oliver and Felicity, Damien Darhk is on trial and Cupid is back in town. The only way to take Darhk down, Captain Lance will need to incriminate himself, he confesses to helping Darhk due to threats to Laurel’s life.

Meanwhile Cupid is going on a rampage, first killing a celebrity couple and than kidnapping another. This is all due to being heartbroken over the death of Deadshot, the teams only way to stop her is an uncomfortable fake wedding between Felicity and Oliver.

The end of the episode we see Felicity walk away from the team telling Oliver she is already gone, than we see Darhk in prison. Lights flickering while he puts on what looks to be a wedding band.

Final Thoughts:

These are the episodes of Arrow which really are frustrating. I am not against relationship drama, but its frustrating that this storyline has been going on for the better part of three seasons. Its time for the creators of Arrow to ask themselves the question, are they writing a show which is based off Comicbooks Characters or do they continue to want to write for “Friends”. 

I guess i am just surprised at the ability of Arrow to be such a great show and at the same time have some horrible episodes. Cupid has the ability to be a great villain but again it gets lost in the drama of Felicity and Oliver. The only way I can see them working this issue out is have Felicity have a very limited appearance in the next few episodes. Lets get back to the Arrow we all know. The only interesting take away from this episode has to be does Darhk have his powers back? The final scene somewhat suggests as much. Only time will tell.

I give this episode only One Thumbs Up, Obviously this is generous and only due to the fact that show still is Arrow. Let us know you thoughts of the episode and leave your comments below.

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Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 14 "Code of Silence"

Arrow Season 4 Episode 14

“Code of Silence”

Synopsis:

Team Arrow uncovers HIVE’s plan to take them out for good, Leading Lance to wonder if Donna is better off without him and Oliver to consider telling Felicity about his son.

Review:

With Oliver preparing for his first Debate for Mayor against Ruve Adams, Lance is attacked by members of HIVE who specialize in demolition. Team Arrow takes the fight to the demolition team, after the first two encounters with the team ending with the failure. Oliver and team learn that the next attack will be at the big debate. 

Final Thoughts:

An interesting episode of Arrow, the demolition seemed to be only place in order for the creators of Arrow to have an excuse to suite up Oliver and to provide some foreshadowing. Obviously with issues arising between Donna and Lance due to lies is directly tied to Felicity and Oliver and the fact that he has yet to tell Felicity about his son William. 

With an interesting twist for the show, it seems like the creators gave Oliver a win finally in his personal life with his debate victory of the wife of Darhk. It will be an interesting season 5 if Oliver become Mayor. 

I loved the nice little nod to Curtis Holts super hero personality of Mr Terrific when Oliver called him Terrific after coming up with some tech that may ultimately help Felicity walk again. Although i am not to sure how I feel about this possibility, it seem so soon for them to come up with a way to have her walk again.

Finally the ending, its seems now that Darhk has William, who he says they will be watch while his mother is busy. Does this ultimately mean she is in the grave? No one will truly know until we get to that episode. But it seems like all signs are pointing in that way.

Another solid episode, but ultimately only gets One Thumbs Up, as this is two episodes in a row which have had very limited Green Arrow scenes. What did you think of Episode 14? Leave your comments below.

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Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 7 "Brotherhood"

Arrow Season 4 Episode 7

“Brotherhood”

Synopsis:

Team Green Arrow’s ongoing battle with Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) is complicated by a shocking revelation. Thea’s (Willa Holland) bloodlust returns and she loses control in front of Alex (guest star Parker Young)

Review:

Arrow continues with the fast pace beginnings, the episode starts with Team Arrow fighting HIVE’s army of Ghost. As soon as we get back to the Arrow Cave 3.0, Diggle decides to fill Oliver in on the information that he received from Captain Lance on his brother Andy. When the team goes after Darhk again Diggle learns his brother is still alive and working with HIVE. Diggle is having issues with Andy being alive, battling with thoughts of betrayal. This causes Oliver to want to rescue Andy, giving him the benefit go the doubt that he is being mind controlled the same way the rest of the Army of Ghost are as we learned from the Docks. 

Not only did we get more of Ray Palmer in this Episode, but we also got the ATOM helping the team out at the end of the episode. It seems Ray is struggle with the impact that he has left on Star City. By the end of Episode 7, Ray decides he needs to go search for his meaning in this world. As he said coming back to do the hero stuff will still happen…….Cough** Cough** Legends of Tomorrow.

What can make this episode better? The return of Malcom Merlin. Love the character, I am more than happy that he has been a reoccurring character. Malcolm is back due to the effects of Thea Killing members of the league will be wearing off. Marlin decides that the best course of action is to feed the blood lust with criminals who have gotten away with horrific crimes……Does anyone else feel a Dexter vibe at all?

Final Thoughts, there seemed to be a lot going on in this episode. Damien Darhk finally introduced himself to Oliver, as he wanted to “request” that Oliver drop his plans to redevelop the bay. When Oliver asked what he would do if he said No Darhk informed Oliver he would no longer run Unopposed for Mayor. It’s nice to see that Oliver has grown a lot from last season and is listening to his friends as he has decided to “Fight Darhk in the light of Day”. Which means we might see more of a battle for Mayor between the two.

We also learned that Thea has some ability to defend herself from the affects of Darhk, when Darhk touched her it also seemed to fend off her blood lust. I am guessing this has something to do with the Lazarus Pit. She also asks that Malcom helps to create a way to make this permeant. I am waiting to see how Malcom ultimately learns how to use this power to his advantage, got to love villains. 

I personally enjoying that Oliver has become the voice of reason this season. Its been long time coming, but its a nice switch from when Diggle was always that voice for Oliver. I am intrigued to find out what affect Andy will have on Diggle going forward. Is he really Diggle’s actual brother? If he is, Is he truly part of HIVE, I am wondering if there is some type of twist in the works where Andy is actually undercover with the organization. This was definitely 4 years in the making, I love that the creative team has kept strong with stories they started in the early seasons.

Did anyone else absolutely love the fight sequence at the docks? It was done using one straight shot multiple times, reminding me of season ones episode when Oliver rescues his Step dad. This was a great episode and it seems like the creative team is hitting on all cylinders this season. Its early but this might be the best season yet. I give this episode Two Thumbs Up.

Let us know what your opinion of Episode 7 “Brotherhood” was. Leave your comment below.

Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 6 "Lost Souls"

Arrow Season 4 Episode 6
“Lost Souls”

Synopsis:

Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) is frantic when she learns that Ray (guest star Brandon Routh) is alive and being held by Damien Darhk (guest star Neal McDonough). Felicity’s guilt over not finding Ray sooner causes tension between her and Oliver (Stephen Amell). Meanwhile, Sara (guest star Caity Lotz) joins Laurel (Katie Cassidy), Thea (Willa Holland) and the team on a rescue mission for Ray. However, the effects of the Lazarus Pit take over and threaten to jeopardize the entire operation. Donna Smoak (guest star Charlotte Ross) returns to Star City.

Review:

Welcome Back Ray Palmer. Episode 6 starts with a little flash back to season 3 when Ray’s Tech causes an explosion at Palmer Technologies. During the explosion ray shrinks and is then captured by Damien Darhk. We are finally introduced to The ATOMS Shrinking ability and we find that Darhk wants the ATOMS suite for some plan which obviously  involves the entire city. We also learn Ray has been sending messages to Felicity , which causes Felicity to question everything about her relationship with Oliver. Hopefully this will be the last time this season we will have to deal with the overly emotional Felicity. I am not a fan, I haven’t been a fan since the second episode of season 3. I think we all would really appreciate the return of the nerdy tech girl from season 1. Though the best part of the overly emotional Felicity was when her mom visits and the scolding she gives Oliver over the comms. Hey I am ok with the new code name Chatty Cathy.

We also get the return of the Canary in this episode, and while Sarah is helping the team rescue Ray we see she is dealing with some of the same issue that Thea has with coming back to life through the Lazarus Pit. Sarah had difficulty with dealing with those affects which caused her taking the life of a one of Darhk’s Ghost Army. Due to this she decides she needs some time to find herself and learn how to deal with this in her own way. So she is on her way to Central City.....Look out Flash. Hopefully when she returns, its as the White Canary. I couldn’t imagine a better way for this new character to be introduced to the DC Universe.

Final Thoughts, this was a nice episode to bring back Ray Palmer. I could have done with out the Felicity breakdown, but the team did a great job of moving through the emotions of Rays return. As of right now this doesn’t seem like it will be a multiple episode thing. If anything good came of this it would be the hilarious interaction between Felicity and Oliver about Felicity’s mom. And now we know Oliver makes a killer Chicken Cordon Bleu. We learned going forward there is a possibility that Felicity might be a target of Darhk when he learned of her relationship with Ray. This keeps brining me back to that Grave scene at the end of the first episode. Are they foreshadowing or is it just a curve ball being thrown? By the way, did anyone else enjoy the return of Diggle as Olivers confidant? it really was a return to those first few seasons. They even brought back some of the music from those first few seasons, I loved it. The very end of the episode we see that Felicitys mom meet Captain Lance……Hmmm wonder what will happen there? and we also learned Darhk was able to get enough of Palmers Tech to move forward with his plan. 

This was definitely a nice episode, we get Ray Palmer back and it tied up some loose ends. There was a lot of Character development (if you can call it that after 4 season). And finally we have an episode where a person doesn’t learn of someones Secret Identity. we didn’t get Berlanti-ed again. I give this One Thumbs Up.

Leave your Comments Below, Let us know what you thought of the Episode.

Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 5 "Haunted"

Arrow Season 4 Episode 5

“Haunted”

Synopsis:

When things take a turn for the worse with Sara (guest star Caity Lotz), Oliver (Stephen Amell) calls in a favor from an old friend who deals in the mystical, John Constantine (guest star Matt Ryan). John Badham directed the episode written by Brian Ford Sullivan & Oscar Balderrama.

Review:

Finally the episode I have waited for since the announcement that Matt Ryan would reprise his role as John Constantine. We don’t have to wait long to find out how both Oliver and Constantine meet, which was seen in the first Flash back to the island where John had been captured looking for a mystical artifact. Back in realtime, the team finds out that Sara is back and has broken free from where Laurel was keeping her. She has been attacking muggers and street thugs while trying to feed her blood lust. As we find out Thea is who Sarah is after. Once the team captures Sarah, Oliver calls his old friend John Constantine for help to regain the soul of Sarah…… How can you not just be excited. What made this episode so great was being able to bring back Matt Ryan. Not only did the creative team capture the character of Constantine, this might have been the best performance from Ryan. 

We also get to see Captain Lance help Diggle get some answers for the death of his brother Andy. It seems the reason HIVE may have killed Andy was due to him being a Drug Lord in the middle east. This will play out through out the season, we will most likely see Diggle struggle with this news for the upcoming weeks.

Finally Felicity listen to Ray Palmers message to her, she get some help from Curtis to clean up the audio only to find out that Ray is still Alive and needs help. This may have been the second worse kept secret next to Sarah coming back to life. We know Ray will be part of Legends of Tomorrow, so from this point we just need to see where Ray might be and why he will need to be found. My prediction, Damien Darhk and HIVE are responsible for the Disappearance for Ray.

Final Thoughts on Episode 5, out side of the last two episode of season 2 we might have been treated to the best episode of Arrow. It seems with each episode this season we are getting a better and more improved Oliver. The more personal growth Oliver goes through in the season the more it seems each show gets better. It also seems the writers have really found a grove with every character this season. We were treated to the highly anticipated crossover with Constantine, (Did anyone else notice the creative team use some of the theme from the Constantine TV Show? For me this was a Nerd moment on epic proportions) Matt Ryan once again nailed his performance and gave us the Constantine we all want. The writers have left the door open for the chance of another appearance, I am just hoping that it will be this season. Here is to hoping it will come with the season finale. Maybe its just high hopes but much like the appearance of Barry Allen, I am hoping that CW take this opportunity to bring Constantine back as a series, I know Monday night would make a great place for a fourth show.

As stated earlier this was definitely one of the best shows ever for Arrow. I give this Two Thumbs Up. Please let us know what your opinions are on the show in the comments below.

Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 4 "Beyond Redemption"

Arrow Season 4 Episode 4

“Beyond Redemption”

Synopsis: 

Laurel must deal with the repercussions of taking Sara to Nanda Parbat. Meanwhile, Oliver asks Captain Lance for a favor and while he's not surprised at the response, he is surprised at what he finds out next

Review:

Much like this weeks episode of The Flash, Arrow used this show in order to advance many of the other storylines although not with the same effectiveness of The Flash. Laurel decided to let Captain Lance know Sara was alive. As much as this story should be bigger, it seems as if the creative team has decided episode 5 will be the full dive into Sara, and I know its every week I bring this up (I’m just that excited for the show) but we will finally see the appearance of Constantine to help with the these issues. In many ways this was the Captain Lance episode, he not only had to deal with the return of Sara and his issue with the choice Laurel made to resurrect her sister, but we finally got the come to Jesus talk from Oliver. (This was 3 years in the making) Did anyone else really enjoy the interaction between Oliver and Lance? It was a true moment which brought the best out in both characters. It might have been the best scene with Captain Lance since season 2’s prison hospital bed scene and finally returned Lance to the side of Team Arrow. At the end we see Oliver ask that the Captain help with the problem of Damien Darhk after learning of the Captain alliance. 

Also this week Oliver decided to reveal his plans to run for Mayor of Star City. This was obviously met with mix emotions….okay maybe more so met with a laugh. With the revelation of becoming mayor we are introduce to the new “Arrow Cave”, it seems each season we get a new upgrade to the teams hide out with this one being more in line with what we see at STAR Labs, which make sense since we learn Cisco helped put together the new hide out. Got to love those little Easter eggs.

This week also dove more into the Ray Palmer “Death” from season 3, Curtis Holt has been working on the issue Felicity has had with her phone. This reveals there is a message of some kind for Felicity. Not sure what the writers are doing with this story, as its seems to be hinting at the same love triangle from the last season. I personally hope this isn’t the case, I don’t think we need this as the first few episode have been so much better with out the constant attention to the love issues of Felicity. Hopefully for sake of Ray Palmer and his character, This is more about bring him back than anything else.

Not every week can be a home run, and this week was definitely used to help with all the other character outside of Oliver. A positive from this week is Oliver has finally turned that corner and became a leader of the team rather than the loner who just gives out orders. One minor disappointment from this episode, we learned that the creative team still can’t get the “Canary Cry” to look right. I don’t think we have seen it have any effect outside the first time Laurel used it.

For the first time this season I give Arrow a one Thumbs up. Please leave your thoughts on the episode below.