Arrow Season Four: Brotherhood

As Team Arrow continues to battle HIVE Diggle makes a shocking discovery and Thea's bloodlust returns.

Wow just wow! After the episode last week that I considered to be the worst of Season Four they now gave us one that is probably the best of the season. You already know of course that this was Diggle focused ep but what I liked about it from the start is that this showed he has completely gotten over what Oliver did in Season Three and he has got this new character arc for him. Even with the events of last season Diggle has always been the rock of the team but this one showed his real vulnerable side probably for the first time in the show as he deals with the return of his brother as a HIVE Ghost. I mean Diggle had some truly emotional moments where he was fighting back tears with what his brother has become and deciding in the end to choose his new family of Team Arrow rather than Andy who did some horrible things e.g. the cool moment where he saved his "green brother". Since Andy is captured this will probably be something Diggle has to deal with for a while but I wonder what they are going to do with him now? Continuing on with this subplot we also learn more about HIVE and the fact that the Ghost are all under the influence of a drug which makes them follow orders and breaks down their DNA. It might be the drug in the Flashbacks so I'll guess we'll wait for that conformation but I wonder if Team Arrow will focus their effects on destroying the supply after the crossover episodes? As for Damien he had some really awesome and threatening scenes such as the one his one with Quentin about Laurel and when he met Oliver during his campaign speech. Then of course there was the ending where Oliver chose to confront Damien in the light rather than infiltrate HIVE like he did with the League in Season Three and while I commend Oliver for this I wonder if it is a good idea. The look on Damien's face during the speech makes me think he really suspects Oliver is the Green Arrow now and he could either target his family or run for mayor himself, now that could be interesting to see.

As for everything else finally, finally Thea's bloodlust subplot is getting interesting because before her confrontation with Damien I didn't care but afterwards it got good. Her making Damien's powers backfire on him (probably because of the Pit) was a development I have been waiting for; finally a relevant twist to the bloodlust that doesn't feel like a waste of time. Now Thea can be useful and I am looking forward to seeing what she and Malcolm are going to come up with to exploit it. Then there was Ray's subplot which was really good where he had to struggle with finding his place in the world and that's not running his company. Of course this is all set up for LOT but it gave him a small little character arc and then there was him suiting up as ATOM to kick some ass at the end which is what I wanted to see! Finally the Flashbacks look like they good be getting more interesting because Oliver now has a real mission and I liked the mysterious twig magic Reiter did; makes me think we can see more magic out of him like Damien and Constantine. Before I finish I got to say that the fights scenes in this episode where some of the best ever! I heard they got the stunt coordinator James Bamford to direct and he did an awesome job, the fight scenes weren't just a butch of quick cuts they stayed on the action. For example they really showed Black Canary kicking ass in the beginning after her scream and then there was Thea's super, damn, awesome fight with Andy in the elevator, that was edge of you seat stuff.

Overall this was just a perfect episode in my opinion, maybe Oliver as Green Arrow took a backseat but it didn't suffer for it because it was supposed to be more about Diggle anyway.

SCORE: 10/10

Highlights: A strong Diggle episode
                   Great subplots for Thea and Ray
                   Damien and more info on HIVE
                   They truly epic fight scenes


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The Arrow Season Four: Green Arrow

New season, new threads

Oliver and Felicity have been living a quiet life after leaving Starling City however Laurel and Thea arrive to ask for Oliver's help when a former League member Damien Darhk (Neal Mcdonough) shows up with his own HIVE forces.

 

I said that in my Flash review that while it's first episode of the new season was great it didn't have much of an impact however Arrow.......just WOW, it nailed it completely! I wondered how Oliver and Felicity where going to go back to the vigilante lifestyle after we spend the first five minutes with them in suburban paradise and I was surprised that it was mainly due to Felicity who has been secretly helping Team Arrow because she was bored. I liked that they didn't waste too much time bringing them back it was just like; "The city is worse than we thought and we miss the thrill, so lets get back into it.". It was enjoyable to see them come back where we see more of Felicity back to her old positive self and Oliver himself seems a lot more open and light - hearted which is a great change from the depressive tone of Season Three so good job to Amell. As for the rest of Team Arrow Diggle was a definite standout because after three seasons of being Oliver right hand man he is the most reluctant to accept him back because of how Oliver betrayed him; the bromance isn't completely back yet but we still see them working together (plus I like his costume and I don't care what anyone else says). The weak point with Team Arrow however was with Laurel and Thea and while I do really love seeing Laurel as Black Canary and Thea impressed me with her kicking ass during the truck chase they didn't leave much of an impression and felt like they where just there. We get only a one minute snippet of Thea losing control because of the Lazarus Pit but honestly I would have preferred for them to save it until it is the focus of a whole episode and not have been shoved into this one. I'm sure these two will be better when they both get an episode dedicated more to them but there just wasn't much for them in this premiere.

 



The Force is strong with this one

As for everything else the biggest standout was the introduction of Damien Darhk who was just perfectly, and I mean perfectly, cast. He had such a creepy and intimidating presence when he was on screen like his first scene where he comes out and says he is the bad guy and he wants Star City to die. Quickly want to mention Star City and they did an awesome job of making it seem worse than ever like the abandoned buildings, empty streets, the murders of leaders and the fact people just want to leave. This is of course helped by Damien and his HIVE forces who seem unstoppable and even the grunts put up a hell of a fight; they are like a high tech version of the League. Back to Damien his fight scene on the train was so damn cool and when he used his powers to catch arrows and kill with a touch it was just WTF! This is kind of explained with Damien performing a ritual near the end and I really don't know what it means yet but this is what I wanted in Arrow; more powers either through Meta Humans or the supernatural and I can't wait for more. Finally I will talk about the two biggest twists of the episode with the first one being Quentin working with Damien which is something I did not see coming. I liked Quentin in this even before that reveal because while he still doesn't support vigilantes he doesn't go overboard, its like he's "I'll do my thing, you'll do yours" but I think I am going to really like him working for Damien because this will give his character something completely new to work with than just being the cop (though I don't think he is evil or anything). Then there is the reveal that someone will die in six months which is more than a compelling reason to keep on watching. As for who it could be Felicity might seem too obvious and since Thea already died I think it could either be Quentin, Diggle or maybe even Felicity's mom? I know I haven't mentioned the Flashbacks yet but they didn't seem worth mentioning; His back on the island but we get no information as to why, I still don't like Waller and I hated she had to come back so soon and I would have preferred seeing a few episodes where the Flashbacks focus on Oliver being a rookie vigilante chasing criminals in Coast City like we saw for a bit.

 

"It's Team Diggle now, anyone have a problem with that?"

Overall Arrow was a far more impressive first episode than Flash for the new season by delivering lots of action, character development, introducing it's impressive new villain already and giving us two big twists that just hooks us into this new season straight away.            

 

 

SCORE: 9/10

 

Highlights: Oliver and Felicity's return to Team Arrow/Diggle and Oliver conflict

                   Neal Mcdonough as Damien and his mysterious powers

                   Two really big twists/Quentin was really good in this

 

Let - Downs: Laurel and Thea where the weak points in Team Arrow

                      The Flashbacks

 

The great screenshots of these episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





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