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 3“Restoration”

Arrow Season 4 Episode 3
“Restoration”

Synopsis:
The growing tension between Oliver and Diggle puts both their lives at risk when they go after Damien Darhk and a H.I.V.E. deployed meta-human. Meanwhile, Laurel talks Thea into returning to Nanda Parbat to ask her father to put Sara into the Lazarus Pit. However, Laurel is surprised when Nyssa refuses to do it.

Review:
Episode 3 starts the same way as every episode this season with action. We are treated to the Original Team Arrow working together again while Laurel and Thea take the body of Sarah to Nanda Parbat. In many ways this episode was to get everything back on track between Oliver and Diggle. In my opinion this was very necessary as each week that passed made the fans of the show begin and distance themselves from Diggle. This episode also dug deeper into the story of Diggle’s brothers death and the connection with H.I.V.E, we also are treated to the second minor crossover with The Flash as a Meta-Human (Double Down) from central city shows up and joins forces with Damien Darhk. I am loving the tie in with season 2, the writers for Arrow have done a great job with connecting all the season while tying up all loose story lines. And tell me who isn’t excited that Oliver is finally back on the island, it seems to have made the flash back more interesting again.

While Diggle and Oliver worked to fix there relationship (It only took Oliver taking three playing cards to the chest) Felicity is working with Curtis Holt, we see that he has the same creative mind that we saw last season with Ray Palmer. Is this the slow burn before we are introduce to Mr. Terrific? I believe it is and its definitely exciting to see the potential of another DC hero being introduce. Also during this episode Curtis learns that Felicity is working with the Green Arrow and is taking to the “Arrow Lair” while trying to escape Double Down. This will be intriguing to see how this will play out through out the remainder of the season. During the episode we also see that Felicity is having issue with her Phone which concludes with her name showing up on the screen……This can only be leading to the return of The Atom AKA Ray Palmer, what happened after the explosion? My guess is Palmer shrunk.

Finally we have the Resurrection of Sarah Lance, Thea and Laurel go to Nanda Parbat to ask Malcom to help with resurrecting Sarah with the powers of the Lazarus Pit. We also are treated to the return of Nyssa who disagrees with the plan and after they bring Sarah back decides to destroy the Lazarus Pit. This may be the most interesting storyline in the early part of the season, Obviously we know that Sarah will be the reason for Oliver’s need to reach out for help from John Constatine (My most anticipated episode of the season). How does Oliver know Constantine? Only time will tell and i am all for this flash back. We also know this will be the start of Sarah’s journey to becoming the White Canary and joining the Legends of Tomorrow team. But the most intriguing part of this maybe what role Malcom plays through the season and his potential tie to Damien Darhk.

Once again Arrow is hitting on all cylinders and I give this episode TWO THUMBS UP. Make sure to Leave comments below and let us know what your opinions are of the season thus far and your predictions

Arrow Review: Season 4 Episode 2 "The Candidate"

Arrow Season 4 Episode 2
“The Candidate” 

Synopsis:
The Green Arrow and Speedy try to protect an old Queen family friend, Jessica Danforth, when she decides to run for mayor. Meanwhile, Thea begins to exhibit effects from the Lazarus Pit; and Felicity faces a tough business decision and looks to one of her employees, Curtis Holt, for help.

Review:
Episode 2 starts off with Team Arrow battling Damien Darhk’s army of ghost. This is a nice change of pace for the show, it seems like we will get a lot more than the usual half of a season with the main villain. As the title of the episode state we are introduce to Jessica Danforth who declares she is running for mayor, Due to her choice to run for Mayor we are introduced for the first time to Anarky who was hired by Darhk to prevent Danforth from becoming Mayor of Star City. I’m personally excited to see that the creators of Arrow have brought a villain who isn’t tied to the main storyline, we haven’t had this since season two with Vertigo.

Obviously this wouldn’t be an episode of arrow without multiple storylines being played out through out every show, Which brings us to Diggle who seems to have taken the mantle of moody hero that Oliver left behind after last season, he decides to share with Laurel that he has spent the better part of the last two years searching for his brother’s killer in secret and it might be tied to Damien Darhk’s H.I.V.E. Back at Palmer Technologies Felicity is introduce to Curtis Holt AKA Mr. Terrific, its exciting to see the writer’s of Arrow get the chance to bring to life more of the DC Universe’s heroes I just wonder when or if we will get to see Mr. Terrific in action. I know with every new character who is brought into the show the writers seem to introduce them without any issue, even Ray Palmer was done in such a terrific way it allowed me to forget they casted “The Show Killer” Brandon Routh.

Finally Oliver has to address the issue with Thea and her rage which stems from the effect of being brought back to life from the Lazarus Pit. This obviously causes Laurel to come to the conclusion the pit can be beneficial to her as well, and with the final scene of Episode two we see that Thea and Laurel have dug up the grave belonging to Sarah Lance…….Who is ready for “Legends of Tomorrow”?

Arrow is finally back to making me wish this was a Netflix show, I am left wondering why DC would make us actually wait another week. There is so much going on and so much anticipation for each character new and old, We see that Oliver will be running for Mayor, this will definitely have an impact on Team Arrow as will the actions of Thea and Laurel. We know that Sarah will be back but how will this affect the team? We were introduce to Mr. Terrific aka Curtis Holt, will we see him in action or will he just be a supporting character for Felicity? The one thing we can be assured of is this season will be based in the mystical realm and you all know what that means…….CONSTANTINE. This season just might be the Comicbook Nerds wet dream. 

Episode Two is a definite Two Thumbs Up.