It all comes down to lists within the Arrow-verse. The likes of Greg Berlanti and Kreisberg have them all over their offices and desks, and must strictly abide to them: lists of characters they may feature on their shows and characters they may certainly not use. DC exercise very strict control over how and where their characters are featured both in their film and television adaptations (the advantages of having the rights to all your characters, eh Marvel?). That’s why we’ll never see someone like Batman showing up on Arrow while they have very large Ben Affleck-shaped plans for him elsewhere. In some ways, that helps the show by forcing them to be more creative with how and who they adapt but sometimes, it slams the door firmly in the place of their fans. The developments of our beloved Felicity Smoak will send many viewers thinking in a particular direction, but calm your wild imaginations (well... not too much). The showrunners have officially confirmed that will definitely not happen as plans have been made for that character elsewhere. So don’t take it as a hint or a call you should answer this time at least. Thankfully, we do have an otherwise great Arrow episode to take our mind off it.
Blood Debts – With Felicity hospitalised in critical condition, Oliver’s only waking thought becomes killing Damien Darhk no matter what it takes, and Anarchy comes back into town also to get Darhk along with anyone else that takes this fancy. Diggle takes a new approach with his brother and in the flashbacks, Oliver finds himself rumbled by Reiter.
So after the shocking mid-season climax and Damien Darhk performing a drive by on Oliver and Felicity’s limo, the main theme of the episode is revenge. Or to be more precise, it's the dark path that can send you down with many different characters getting their own parallel arc. The most obvious is Oliver being driven to not just apprehend but kill Damien Darhk. The opening montage sequence is outstanding as it thrusts us right into his mindset, cutting between a devastated Oliver Queen watching as Felicity is stretchered into hospital and a possessed Green Arrow interrogating and even killing Ghosts. Much of the episode revolves around Oliver sacrificing his humanity and disregarding the ideals he’s worked towards in the hope of finally finding and defeating Darhk. His self-awarded guilt over failing to protect his now fiancé driving him to obsession. This is shown well through his interactions with the returning Anarchy (it’s about time!) as rather than just handing him over to the police, he unleashes him against Darhk regardless of the collateral damage, like throwing a mad dog in a chicken coup just to kill the rooster. Anarchy makes for a really enjoyable rogue 3rd party element to the episode. Not to mention being brilliantly fun as Alexander Calvert has really stepped up the madness in his character post creation. He also proves he can handle himself in the fight choreography with Thea and Oliver as he kicks some serious arse with that three section staff. He can swing into town whenever he fancies.
Naturally, such dramatic changes in characters provide great opportunities to focus on the bonds between the team. Arrow sometimes tries to force these kind of moments, making them less effective but this episode is a great example of doing it well. The cause of their changes is clear and understandable yet so is how and why they pull each back again. When Diggle and Oli have their expected bro down, it isn’t a Dig monologue about Oli acting like a crazy fool. By contrast he does nothing but support Oliver’s objectives but instead reminds of what he’s sacrificing to rush their accomplishment: that his recovery from being a killer to a hero has been a long, grueling and he shouldn’t be so quick to throw that away for the sake of vengeance. Thea’s bloodlust also rears its head again but the episode approaches it in rather more interesting way. Rather than just giving us deja-Thea as she struggles to control it, we have Anarchy actively trying to draw it out of affection and admiration for Thea. Rather than seeking vengeance on Thea for his mutilation, he actually sees the darkness inside her as being akin to himself before his transformation. He’s almost like a Joker trying to draw out his own Harley and it’s great to watch as Thea fights against her will and his taunting; seeing her battle to not become the monster she created. The events of the episode nicely help Thea see that she’s not like him, just a hero with minor anger management issues.
Another really enjoyable part of the episode is that it finally does something significant between Diggle and his brother Andrew. It links in well to the episode as Dig’s feelings over seeing Felicity motivate him to more extreme measures of physicality that turn out surprisingly effective not as an interrogation tool but in restoring their relationship as brothers. As Dig beats the crap out of Andrew, he immediately regresses to the little brother again and Dig’s many educational beat downs in their youth. It’s a nice representation of family that sometimes, really having it out is the only way to make things better. The direction of Andrew’s character still feels unclear other than his eventual retribution being fulfillment for Dig but at least we’re finally getting progress on that after weeks of uninspiring stalemate.
After being teased about them across the season our bout of “Meet the Darhks” proves very interesting. It exposes a clear weakness in Damien that despite appearing generally amoral, he actually cares for his wife and daughter like any father would (maybe that’s why he threatened Captain Lance over his family.... because he recognized his own level maternal compassion within Quentin). He even offers Oliver a period of respite for saving them but the real fire comes in closing limo exchange between Mr and Mrs Darhk as she certainly isn’t the innocent party we’d expect. The showrunners have confirmed that she will continue to feature through the series in a very interesting role. No spoilers but Oliver Queen will be seeing a lot of her. The flashbacks are primarily setup but they do offer some delights as Oliver’s Constantine given tattoo comes into play and we get our first glimpse of the island’s Chinese prison before its ARGUS over hall.
Arrow’s back, lively and kicking. The episode is a good balance of action and character development with Anarchy alone being worth the price of admission. If forms a point of change in the season’s direction, while still covering plenty of ground in process and really feels much more structured than this time last season.