Recap: ARROW Crosses Dark Waters

Episode 409 “Dark Waters”

[photos: Diyah Pera/The CW]

Over the past four seasons, Oliver Queen has been trying to take back his hometown, Star City, from the forces of darkness as his alter-ego: The Arrow.

After intense, life-changing duels with Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson and Ra’s Al Ghul, Oliver decided to relinquish his secret identity and move on with his life with his true love, Felicity Smoak.

However, Team Arrow failed to keep Star City safe from evil as H.I.V.E. leader Damien Darhk set his sights on Oliver’s hometown.  Forcing the artist formerly known as Arrow to come out of retirement, Oliver created a new identity (Green Arrow) and decided to take his fight to Darhk public, when he declared his candidacy to be the new Star City Mayor.

Tonight, Oliver and Darhk squared off in the public arena for the first time! Who won? Read on to find out…

 

Using Alex’s advice, Oliver staged a public clean-up that attracted attention from Star City’s media elite. While Alex and Thea flirted, Oliver made a vow to Diggle that they would save Andrew from Darhk’s corrupting influence. However, things became deadly as a drone attacked the clean-up. Thanks to Felicity’s hacking skills, the drone stopped its attack and crashed into the river.

 

Team Arrow realized that Darhk sent the drone and Oliver became hell-bent on capturing and defeating the H.I.V.E. leader.  As Diggle confronted his brother about his involvement with Darhk with no luck, Felicity reunited with her mother…who found Oliver’s engagement ring in the Christmas decorations.

While Felicity’s mom was jumping for joy by the potential engagement, Oliver openly declared war on Damien Darhk and H.I.V.E. using the power of the press!

Darhk retaliated in a big way when he made a grand entrance at the Queen Holiday Party. As Oliver and Felicity bickered over the engagement ring, Darhk and his assassins stormed into the party.  Darhk gloated to Oliver about the double cross and used his powers to knock out Oliver, while he kidnapped the people he cared about the most: Thea, Felicity and Diggle.

As Oliver looked for answers, Laurel confronted her father about his involvement with Darhk. Captain Lance spilled the beans to his daughter about his involvement with Darhk’s campaign. The Lances and Malcolm met with Oliver to discuss his plan to surrender himself over Darhk.

While the villain brought the Star City mayoral candidate into his evil headquarters, he threatened Oliver with H.I.V.E.’s new weapon: a gas chamber. As Darhk left Oliver alone, fans everywhere were brokenhearted when Felicity told Green Arrow that she would have said: “Yes” to his proposal. However, their reunion was cut short when Dahrk double-crossed Oliver and forced Felicity into the chamber with Thea and Diggle.

Team Arrow received a lucky break when Black Canary and “Green Arrow” (aka Malcolm Merlyn) rescued them from Darhk. Just before the H.I.V.E. leader knocked Oliver six feet under, another “Green Arrow” promptly shot the villain with an exploding arrow and it caused a major explosion.

While Darhk did survive the explosion, this season’s antagonist revealed to his H.I.V.E. supervisors his progress and declared it was time to begin Phase Four. As the villains plotted what to do with Oliver Queen, the Star City Mayoral Candidate proposed in front of the thousands gathered at a Queen for Mayor holiday celebration.

Unfortunately, their engagement was ruined by the Ghosts’ gunfire, perhaps mortally wounding Felicity.

With Felicity near death’s door, will Oliver go rogue and kill Darhk? Find out when Arrow returns January 20!

My thoughts on “Dark Waters” & 4A: I will be honest! Before I recapped the show, I was not a frequent visitor to Star City. However, thanks to TV Line’s impeccable recaps, I became interested in taking a train from Kansas City to the fictional town of Star City.  Stephen Amell continues to be not only one of DC Entertainment’s go-to leading men, but also a future A-lister that is destined for great things.  Arrow’s ensemble: Emily Bett Rickards, David Ramsey, Katie Cassidy, Willa Holland, John Barrowman and Paul Blackthorne never disappoint when they make presences known in scenery-chewing moments.

However, the best scene stealer of the season is Neal McDonough! The actor brilliantly portrayed Damien Darhk and became of the best villains in prime time (right behind Once Upon A Time’s Robert Carlyle’s Rumple and Rebecca Mader’s Zelena, plus Empire’s Lucious Lyon, played by the incredible Terence Howard).

“Dark Waters” was an impeccable way to end the first half of the season. Between Darhk and Oliver finally squaring off, Malcolm revealing himself to Captain Lance and the brief confrontation between father-daughter over his involvement with the H.I.V.E. leader, this episode packed huge punches.

The biggest punch came at the end of the episode where Darhk and H.I.V.E. got their revenge on Oliver with the limo attack.  If they killed off Felicity, the Arrow Powers-That-Be should expect some kind of fan backlash…which could possibly lead to an exodus. Felicity is the heart of the show and she has made the titular character a better person.

Now, before all the Olicity fans start dabbling their eyes with Kleenex, there is still hope. My friends at Rogues Gallery have discussed the possibility of Felicity becoming the Arrowverse’s Oracle. That’s right…Felicity Smoak might be taking on Barbara Gordon’s most beloved alias. This tragic tale could set the stage for not only her rebirth, but the introduction of the Calculator (who might just be the future Mrs. Oliver Queen’s daddy).

On a brighter note, I loved that Felicity saw her mom making out with Captain Lance! We need to have some happy moments like that make out session in the future.

Make sure that you tune into Rogues Gallery as we discuss “Dark Waters,” Felicity’s fate and every DC Entertainment show!