After a hit episode of Flash, my only hope was that this episode of Arrow could back up and make a CW combo. Starting with the title of the episode, it got me excited that we finally get more information on Darhk's evil plan we only know as Genesis. The start to this episode was pretty awesome I'll admit. It was a proper May the 4th Star Wars scene with Darhk using his force to send a bullet speeding back before cracking the spine of another. That was really some evil stuff right there. This seems like the first time in a while we've seen Darhk really do stuff magic and its been a bit of a shame. The first have of this season was extremely Darhk heavy and it was pretty fantastic.
After having a couple of solid episodes in the past few weeks I feel like they really fell back into that Arrow slump that we are use to. As someone who actually really enjoyed season 3, I was a little surprised when many people have said how Arrow has been going down hill. I simple didn't see it. Until this episode. I feel like they are really starting to continue the same feel of each episode and even though the plot of each episode is really different, it still has that same Arrow feel. I think part of this is because of how amazing the Flash has been lately and I wonder if we would have a different view of the show if Flash wasn't around.
Something I really liked though was how they tied Constantine back into the main story line for this episode. As someone who really liked the Constantine episode I really liked how they used him as a catalysis that the plot was based from. I thought this arc started really well but in the end fell pretty flat. I liked how they were training in the cave and I thought Gabriella Wright who played Esrin did a fantastic job. I really loved the flashback like scene we got with Oliver where we saw all the deaths the made Oliver who he was. I also really like how we saw Oliver getting beaten around past villains. It is always is great to Deathstroke in action.
I also really liked the Diggle and Andy part of the episode. I really like how since the death of Laurel we are getting a really physical and emotional Diggle. I thought this was really the main and most interesting part of this episode and I really liked it. It started a bit flat but I like how it built as it went on until it actually became the main story that brought the team together.
I thought the ending of it was really emotional and it was great. I like how we get to see this new side of Diggle with his emotions playing out to his actions. I didn't really see the death of Andy coming but I thought it was well deserved. They set it up fantastically with Andy egging him on and I really bought the emotion around it.
I'm not to sure how the feel about the Thea part of this episode. I went from really hating the generic, "someone is in the house but it turns out to be someone making food for them" , to liking how we got to see uptight Thea was and how sensitive she is to her surroundings and how she struggles to relax. But then that flipped and when we found out her surroundings were actually staged and she wasn't overacting at all. I thought they missed a bit of an opportunity to give Thea more character development and really explore and see Thea struggle with everyday life.
Overall I actually really liked this episode. Even though we didn't learn a whole lot much about Genesis and Oliver's training wrapped up a bit flat, there were still so much to like about this episode. I really loved everything with Diggle, I thought his scenes were outstanding and I really loved how well they used the flashback scene while Oliver was training. Of course Darhk was back to his deadly best which is always a great sign for Arrow.
8/10
After having a couple of solid episodes in the past few weeks I feel like they really fell back into that Arrow slump that we are use to. As someone who actually really enjoyed season 3, I was a little surprised when many people have said how Arrow has been going down hill. I simple didn't see it. Until this episode. I feel like they are really starting to continue the same feel of each episode and even though the plot of each episode is really different, it still has that same Arrow feel. I think part of this is because of how amazing the Flash has been lately and I wonder if we would have a different view of the show if Flash wasn't around.
Something I really liked though was how they tied Constantine back into the main story line for this episode. As someone who really liked the Constantine episode I really liked how they used him as a catalysis that the plot was based from. I thought this arc started really well but in the end fell pretty flat. I liked how they were training in the cave and I thought Gabriella Wright who played Esrin did a fantastic job. I really loved the flashback like scene we got with Oliver where we saw all the deaths the made Oliver who he was. I also really like how we saw Oliver getting beaten around past villains. It is always is great to Deathstroke in action.
I also really liked the Diggle and Andy part of the episode. I really like how since the death of Laurel we are getting a really physical and emotional Diggle. I thought this was really the main and most interesting part of this episode and I really liked it. It started a bit flat but I like how it built as it went on until it actually became the main story that brought the team together.
I thought the ending of it was really emotional and it was great. I like how we get to see this new side of Diggle with his emotions playing out to his actions. I didn't really see the death of Andy coming but I thought it was well deserved. They set it up fantastically with Andy egging him on and I really bought the emotion around it.
I'm not to sure how the feel about the Thea part of this episode. I went from really hating the generic, "someone is in the house but it turns out to be someone making food for them" , to liking how we got to see uptight Thea was and how sensitive she is to her surroundings and how she struggles to relax. But then that flipped and when we found out her surroundings were actually staged and she wasn't overacting at all. I thought they missed a bit of an opportunity to give Thea more character development and really explore and see Thea struggle with everyday life.
Overall I actually really liked this episode. Even though we didn't learn a whole lot much about Genesis and Oliver's training wrapped up a bit flat, there were still so much to like about this episode. I really loved everything with Diggle, I thought his scenes were outstanding and I really loved how well they used the flashback scene while Oliver was training. Of course Darhk was back to his deadly best which is always a great sign for Arrow.
8/10