'Arrow' Season 4 Finale Review + Season 4 Review
The episode picked up right where last week's ended, with Damien Darhk in the loft, threatening Felicity, her mother, and Curtis. As he is stealing the life force from Donna, Oliver and Diggle show up to stop him and Curtis is badly injured in the process. Also, Felicity's laptop containing the Rubicon codes is stolen, enabling Darhk to launch every nuclear missile on the planet, set to hit in 2 hours.
Time is of the essence in this episode, as the inevitability of nuclear disaster is looming. Our characters, especially Oliver, have all but given up hope in stopping annihilation. The theme of 'hope' is very present, as Oliver tells Felicity he cannot match Darhk's new power with just her hope in him alone.
Diggle is still reeling mentally from killing Andy, Thea threatens to kill Darhk's daughter, and the city is rioting due to the impending doom. A well-timed speech from Oliver to the residents of Star City brings back the 'hope' that has been missing in them all. With the city at Oliver's back, they all help to counteract Darhk's magic as Oliver is now able to defeat him and actually kills him.
Felicity and Curtis are able to stop the missiles from hitting, as Felicity finds Darhk's hacker and is able to convince him to stop what he's doing.
The end of the episode sees Diggle and Thea leave the team, as the choices they've made recently have taken serious mental tolls. Quentin also leaves the city, as he was fired from the police department. Felicity elects to stay by Oliver's side.
My rating: 7 out of 10
Season 4 of 'Arrow' was VERY up and down for me. There were numerous episodes that were not good and didn't keep my interest. I'm not sure if the use of magic in a series like this was wise, as I felt it just didn't really fit into the serious tone of the show. I was extremely glad, however, that Laurel died. She was an extremely annoying character and served no real purpose to the team. She sucked at fighting and was wholly unbelievable in any abilities that she had, considering she had like one or two episodes where she was trained by some boxer.
I feel like the main plot line was really stretched out. In a 23-episode season, one main villain tends to lose steam. Having the villain in for so long takes away that intensity and sense of invincibility. I feel like the CW shows in 'Flash' and 'Arrow' have gone away from splitting their seasons in half with 2 different main plots.
While I still really enjoy the show, this season just didn't really get me the way past seasons have. I'm getting tired of the flashbacks and how Oliver is constantly fighting the "darkness" in him (seriously, could the word "darkness" have been used more times in the finale than it was?). The finale didn't leave us on a major cliffhanger like 'The Flash' did, so I have no idea where season 5 will take us.
My season 4 rating: 7 out of 10
