The ending of last episode was pretty much spoilt within a minute or two, with Darhk absorbing the kind of power that should in theory make him an invincible God but instead choosing to knock Oliver and John over and escape, leaving them to die in the delayed nuclear onslaught. He literally draining the oxygen out of their bodies on a molecular level, but chose to monologue and walk out the room without finishing the job. Thank God for the egos of super villains eh?
Oliver and Diggle returned to base to lick their wounds and try and find Thea, who hilariously up until this point they still thought was on vacation. Thankfully however, Thea managed to text Felicity from her captivity, the most logical choice as she uses her mad computer skills ™ to trace the point of origin of the message, right back to the Glades. Remember in season one when the Glades were so important? Remember what happened to it? Well keep ‘em peeled because the Glades is about to get run through the mill again. Following Felicity’s trace, Oliver and John find an access tunnel leading them straight down, under the Glades to HIVE’s fake town, named Tavet Noah. Throwing that into Google Translate gives you… Tavet Noah. The Noah part I get, Rubicon being Damien Dahrk’s biblical flood, the Tavet, not so much. Once in Tavet Noah, Oliver and John’s comms cut out and both groups, both stories have to play independently from one another, which worked in favour for this episode. No whining, pining or petty squabbling over the radio mid-mission, just action! Of the old school and hacker variety.
Seeing Green Arrow and Spartan running around and kicking ass in the Town from Edward Scissorhands was awesome. In fact, seeing them in the light of day in a different environment was just plain refreshing. They go gunning for Thea only to find she’s been turned by those damn little yellow pills, a plot twist about as obvious as they come. I mean, Oliver had to fight someone this week right? Instead the bigger twist was when encountering one of the happy families of Pseudo- Stepford, they don’t find the brain fired pill poppers you expect but instead a family who was left in despair at the state of their city. A father willing to do anything to protect his daughter. He even asks if the Green Arrow really thinks he can save Star City (and the world). It was amazing to see the hero of this show be confronted on his failure to do any real long term good. It was also a slight meta nod to how for the last four years, Star City has always had to face some kind of catastrophe in May.
Oliver talks Thea round because of all the people forced to take Darhk’s mind controlling drugs, Thea was the only one with plot armour immunity and the team heads to the main control centre, where Lonnie Machin is still alive and kicking and willing to bring all of Tavet Noah down around him. A literal stray arrow from, I think Thea, causes a chain reaction that brings Tavet Noah down, literally. The Glades too. All of it lost into a pit several square blocks across. The death toll should be huge but I guarantee you, other than Ruvé Adams who Machin offed himself, everyone else got out alive, Machin included — the CW seem to have a soft spot for this guy, who managed to hold off Green Arrow, Spartan and Speedy with a stick! Oliver even managed to save Darhk’s daughter, which I bet will come into play in the finale.
On the island, Taiana very quickly becomes addicted to the power given to her by the idol. When some of Reiter’s men fill her with bullets I expected that to be it but no. She lived, absorbing more life force from the idol. She told Oliver about how she could go home to her village in Russia and free her people from the will of some cruel oligarch, neatly drawing us a map to where Oliver’s travels will take him in Season 5.
All that’s left in next week’s finale is to see Taiana’s final fate and if Darhk, fearing he’s lost his wife and daughter, is really going to “Burn it all down!”
Written by Nick Whitney, ARROW Beat Writer -- Click here to read Nick's posts
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