Jessie Robertson reviews the twenty-first episode of Arrow season 4…
We are certainly a long way from earthquake machines!
Well, Genesis is real; I thought it was either latent memories from that horribly written Superman Returns movie; or perhaps a food-induced hallucinogenic dream from the massive Chinese lunch I had that day; nope, it really happened. Luckily, most of tonight’s episode focused on the father-daughter relationship of Felicity and Kuttler and how they’re hacking skills were severely needed to take down Genesis’ plan of launching nuclear missiles, well everywhere. There was a lot of dialogue between those two characters, Felicity being the equivalent of a tennis ball shooter with quips and sarcastic replies and Kuttler trying to somehow figure out why he can’t just stop burglaring? It was amusing. Felicity was also fired from Palmer Tech, you know, to give those people some significance and to let Team Arrow break into Palmer Tech for like the 5th time or something.
Hey Lonnie Machin’s back! Don’t know if that warranted an exclamation point. Also, one step closer to him wearing his comic book costume; as he was sporting the puffy jacket. Getting past the fact Darhk built a nuclear bunker under Star City and no one noticed a thing, now Anarky found it somehow and wants to destroy it. Good plan. Please, just blow it all to hell so this plotline will end with it. Nope. Best we get is he kills Alex (Thea’s boyfriend, Ollie’s former campaign manager; I know, it’s easy to forget characters with as much charisma as a sheet of blank paper) and a quick fight scene between her and Machin. He did have a good point about her letting men control what she does; she likes the boys an awful lot and they tend to always get her into weird situations; of course, dear old Dad is there because if anyone can try and wrap this steaming turd and make it enjoyable, it’s John Barrowman (Malcolm). But, no he just comes off crazy explaining the plan. Thea literally tells him “You just sound crazy.” There, eat it Dad. I miss just a week ago when he and Darhk were throwing out one-liners, probably trying to break each other on set.
So, can I just comment on what Arrow does here: They actually nuked a city in America. Felicity worked her magic and averted the nuke from Monument Point, where millions lived to a city farther off, where only tens of thousands lived. It was a heavy moment; they did let it breath for a second as Felicity, Lyla and Kutter stood there realizing a nuke just hit America. This show used to be about cleaning up Starling City; but, as I quoted John at the top of the article, we’re a long way from Earthquake machines. Holy Shit. Where do you go from here? It’s one thing to tease a nuke than to actually have it occur in your universe. Honestly, I just need to end this review here; Arrow is about to jump over a whole herd of sharks and fall off a cliff.
6.5/ 10 – slow build, entertaining until everything Genesis and that ending
Other Notes
– Flashbacks returned: they got the idol from Reither but we learned the Idol somehow can corrupt on its own; it nabs Taiana right in front of Oliver; that’s not good.
– We end with them finding Darhk’s magic chamber and evil energy swirling all around him; presumably the souls of those people just killed.
– Anyone else laugh out loud at the fight in the stairwell of Palmer Tech, when random security dude did a double flip down the stairs??? Also, Brick’s stunt double was so clearly visible in his second fight with Oliver, I could see the rubber bald cap line on his head.
– I liked Felicity’s line about last year’s greatest hits talking about the gaggle of goons featured in season 3.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published May 12, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
