Now that last week’s episode
dealt with the team’s respective reactions to the death of their team
member, the time was finally ripe for the cast of the CW’s “Arrow”
to go on the offensive and seek vengeance against their greatest
villain yet. The team continued its battle to save Star City and
themselves in Season 4, episode 20, titled “Genesis.”
The episode opens with Damien Darhk’s (Neal
McDonough) benefactors at H.I.V.E. figuring out what to do now that the
villain has not only escaped jail, but gotten his powers back. When he
lost them and got locked up, they’d resigned to leave him in prison to
rot, but Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) agreed to break him out.
He shows up and thanks H.I.V.E. for continuing his master Genesis plan
while he was away, but claims that the events of prison taught him that
he’s capable of doing impressive things without the help of the evil
organization. He uses his powers to kill a few of them before making his
point that he’s now in charge of the future of Genesis.
From there, the episode cuts to the Arrow Lair
where Oliver (Stephen Amell) is trying to coach the team on their
strategy going forward now that avenging the death of Laurel Lance
(Katie Cassidy) is their top priority. He mentions that he finally got
in contact with their ally John Constantine
(Matt Ryan) who was previously unable to help due to the fact that he
was in hell. The supernatural mystic told him that he could counteract
Darhk’s magical powers by traveling to Hub City and meeting a new
friend. He makes it clear to everyone that he doesn’t want to risk
another attack on Darhk until they’ve got a surefire way to go up
against his powers.
This rubs John Diggle (David Ramsey) the wrong
way since this fight is deeply personal to him. It was previously
revealed that his brother, Andy (Eugene Byrd), had been playing the team
for months and was actually working for Darhk. Now, his whole family
has to go into hiding until they shut down Darhk, Andy and Genesis.
At first, John believes that he can follow
Oliver’s orders, but when he gets a lead on Andy’s location, he can’t
resist going after him. However, somewhat obviously, it turns out to be a
trap. The Diggles exchange bullets, blows and insults ultimately
leading to John’s capture. He chats with Andy just long enough to
discover that he looks at Damien Darhk as his personal Jesus. Andy
initially tortures his brother, but John eventually escapes and gets the
chance to take Andy out once and for all. However, in an effort to
honor Laurel, he refuses to take the shot and escapes before Darhk can
arrive to finish him off.
Meanwhile, Oliver made it to Hub City to meet
with Constantine’s contact with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) in tow.
Although they’re no longer dating, Oliver previously mentioned that
he was willing to lose his humanity in order to learn the magic
necessary to stop Darhk. To make sure that didn’t happen, she insisted
on joining him. Together, they find Esrin Fortuna (Gabriella Wright).
She introduces herself as an immortal shaman, someone more powerful than
Darhk but who operates under a strict policy of not interfering with
the world of men. She explains that there is a way to stop the villain’s
magic, but it’s not something Oliver is capable of.
Darhk gets his power from fear and death,
which means Oliver will have to channel the light within him to stop the
villain and his plan. However, for a man as broken and damaged as
Oliver Queen, focusing on the light isn’t easy. This proves problematic
since Fortuna explains that if Oliver’s inner darkness doesn’t outweigh
his light, he’ll only succeed in making Darhk more powerful.
“Arrow”
Season 4, episode 20 saw Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) seek the help of
the mystic known as Esrin Fortuna (Gabriella Wright) to stop his magical
villain. Photo: The CW
While this is happening, Darhk arrives to find
Andy alive and handcuffed to a pipe. They share a laugh and it’s
revealed that they allowed John Diggle to escape. The real goal was to
plant a tracker on him so that they could find where he’s hiding his
wife and baby. Later that night, the family’s moving safe room on the
back of a truck gets attacked by Andy and H.I.V.E. They’re unsuccessful
in breaching the safe room until Darhk shows up and uses his magic to
stop them. Diggle’s wife, Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson), who is the
leader of the government organization A.R.G.U.S., figures out that Darhk
means to use her family against her to get access to government
resources. Reluctantly, John agrees to leave her behind while he escapes
with their baby.
Sadly, H.I.V.E. and Andy catch up, but
Felicity arrives just in time to run them all over with her van. As Andy
gets away, Diggle drops off his baby with his friend, who mentioned
that The Green Arrow is rescuing his wife as they speak, and gives
chase. He gets ahold of Andy and beats him to a pulp. However, the
crazed soldier explains that the last time he was in jail he got out. He
reminds him that the last time they captured Damien Darhk, he got out.
He makes the mistake of telling John that he doesn’t have the guts to do
what’s necessary to save his family and that he’ll continue to go after
them unless he kills him. In a moment of weakness, John pulls the
trigger, ending his brother’s life.
Meanwhile, Oliver rescues Lyla, who was in the
middle of having an implant ripped from her skin by the villain. Darhk
attempts to use his dark magic on The Green Arrow, but he uses his new
trick and repels the attack for the first time ever. Realizing that the
fight isn’t going his way, Darhk retreats with what he came for.
After some hugging and kind words for John,
the team realizes that Darhk was after an implant in Lyla’s skin that
gave him free access to an A.R.G.U.S. initiative known as Rubicon. She
reveals that it’s a classified system that allows the person controlling
it to prevent any nuke from being launched. Obviously, with the right
tampering, it can be used to simultaneously launch any nuke in the
world. That’s when Felicity asks the reasonable question of what Darhk
plans to do with a destroyed planet Earth.
From there, the episode cuts to Thea (Willa
Holland) who went on a getaway with her boyfriend Alex (Parker Young),
but quickly discovered that things were a little weird. It turns out
that Alex’s boss, who happens to be Darhk’s wife, suggested the trip.
The episode ends as she runs through the picturesque town only to be
chased by two H.I.V.E. soldiers into a hologram wall. Whatever Darhk has
planned, it’s got something to do with a big virtual reality safe haven
that Thea is now trapped in.
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