Oliver makes a bold move against HIVE when the city is attacked. Meanwhile, Malcolm checks in on Thea and leaves her with a warning; and things take a horrible turn when Damien Darhk retaliates in a brutal manner at Oliver’s mayoral holiday party.

Arrow has an interesting mid-season finale that has everything amped up a lot as Oliver is attacked at a political event. This creates a back and forth between Oliver and Damien that puts his friends, and innocents, in danger.

I’m still not 100% sure what Damien’s plan is, but there seems to be something similar about destroying and rebuilding the city, but I’m not quite sure. It’s interesting nonetheless and Neal McDonough as Damien is at least entertaining to watch.

Of note this episode, the fight scenes are a bit better with less stupid posing and awkward movement, so there’s that.

The episode ends with a one two punch that’s a bit too predictable, and also shows a stupidity of attackers that I never quite understand. What’s more interesting is a look into Damien’s life.

The ending was predictable in so many ways, but at least part of it was interesting. A mixed episode that was an improvement over last week’s ending of the two-part event, but not as good as previous episodes have been.

Overall rating: 6.9

A shocking revelation complicates the battle between Team Arrow and Damien Darhk; Thea loses control in front of Alex.

Arrow is building towards something that feels bigger than Darhk, and this episode is a lot of that as there’s lots of revelations and lots of rather silly moments taken on their own.

The episode circles a lot around Diggle and Oliver after a revelation that I don’t want to spoil. It’s hard to go into more detail without really giving away the best part of the episode.

But, most of the episode is the team going after Darhk and Hive. It’s a bunch of action sequences or individuals giving speeches about things. All of it is very so-so, especially after some solid previous episodes.

All of it is building though towards what should be an epic showdown eventually as well as a new spin-off series.

The series does show some strength in the Oliver for Mayor storyline which shows Oliver in the more liberal perspective the character has had in the past. I’d love for the series to focus much more on this storyline, taking Oliver into a more socially conscious character and Arrow a more aware show.

The end of the episode has an interesting moment, one that makes me wonder if we’ll see more of the above as far as the Mayor race and more action during the day.

Not a bad episode, just not a great one, but it does a good job touching on numerous plotlines.

Overall rating: 7

Felicity is frantic when she learns that Ray is alive and being held by Damien Darhk. Felicity’s guilt over not finding Ray sooner causes tension between her and Oliver.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, the return of Ray Palmer was a matter of time, just like Sarah. Both will be a part of the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow television series that brings together various characters from the Arrow/The Flash universe.

This latest episode of Arrow gets us to Palmer’s part of the story, since Sarah’s return has been told already. We learned in the previous episode that Palmer hadn’t died in a blast. Though we don’t get tons of details on he survived, there’s an issue of his being captured.

In one episode the team finds out the problem, puts together a plan, and launches an assault to rescue Palmer. It’s a hell of a lot to fit into one episode, and they do that and more.

Even while all of the action is going on, Arrow also manages to focus on Felicity, who is dealing with the revelation that Ray is alive. Of course that impacts her relationship with Oliver. Yes, it’s all explored and done so in a solid way.

Then there’s Sarah’s blood lust, that too is touched upon with some pretty big movement dealing with that.

This episode of Arrow is probably one of the best of the season mixing action, character development, just tons in the hour. Impressively packed episode, full of entertainment. It shows how to do this type of show right.

Overall rating: 8.75

Oliver calls in a favor from old friend John Constantine when things with Sara take a turn for the worse.

I feel like this episode could also be called “Proof NBC are idiots for not renewing Constantine, and others are dumb for not picking it up.”

Arrow has fun tonight with an interesting addition that adds John Constantine to the Flash/Arrow universe. The episode works in a bunch of ways.

One, it deals with Sarah and her currently coming back from the dead. She’s running around like a maniac and to me that felt a little humorous. But, when you need someone to help bring back someone’s soul, Constantine works!

The other part of the episode is how Oliver knows Constantine. What’s really interesting is they use the opportunity to not only set up how he can be called in the present, but also sets a little up in how Oliver can take on Darhk. There’s a bit of foreshadowing there.

I think the episode is really smart in not only how it brings in Constantine, but how they use him now and in the future. If nothing else, it reminds me, I really love Matthew Smith’s depiction of the character and hope we see him more. So talented and clearly needs to be used.

Overall, a nice episode that helps resolves some issues, and helps propel us ahead.

Overall rating: 7.75

Laurel must deal with the repercussions of taking Sara to Nanda Parbat. Meanwhile, Oliver asks Captain Lance for a favor and while he’s not surprised at the response, he is surprised at what he finds out next.

Arrow is all over the place in this episode which really gets the ball rolling for what will likely be the conflict for the rest of the season.

With a new Green Arrow persona, and the city falling apart, Oliver has decided he wants to be a bit more altruistic and hands on, and is going to run for Mayor. It’s an interesting plot twist and where it goes can be really entertaining. The Green Arrow I know is a left leaning social justice warrior, so hopefully this is steps towards that.

The rest of the episode has to deal with corrupted cops. It’s a nice change from the super powered individuals and really nails down how corrupt and broken the city is. I’d have supported playing out that plotline a lot longer, as it could have been interesting to string out who’s good and who’s corrupt and keep us wondering.

As a whole though, the first three episodes were a slow beginning, this is where I think the season really begins.

Overall rating: 7.75

The growing tension between Oliver and Diggle puts both their lives at risk when they go after Damien Darhk and a H.I.V.E. deployed meta-human. Meanwhile, Laurel talks Thea into returning to Nanda Parbat to ask her father to put Sara into the Lazarus Pit. However, Laurel is surprised when Nyssa refuses to do it.

Arrow has a lot for us in this third episode, as team Arrow has to deal with a metahuman in their city hired by Darhk and then there’s the whole resurrecting Sara part.

Lets start with the obvious. We know Sara was coming back. We know she’s a part of the new spin-off series, the only question was when and how. The Lazarus Pit was the logical reason, and we also know there’s some nasty side effects because of it. We see that in full force and also learn a lot about this version of the Lazarus Pit. It’s solid for folks who might not know about it all.

Back with the main group on team Arrow, they have to deal with a metahuman, which provides a way for Oliver and Diggle to mend their wounds. It’s a nice way to go about it, and makes sense logically. What’s also nice is to see Curtis Holt brought further into the fold, and I’d expect we’ll see his alter-ego at some point either this or next season.

Overall, a solid episode that moves along not just this series, but a spin-off too!

Overall rating: 7.5

A new enemy lures Oliver Queen back to Starling City and forces him to put on the hood once more.

Arrow kicks off its fourth season with an action packed episode… sort of. Ollie and Felicity have moved on and are living in suburbia together. But is the mundane enough for them? Over in Starling City, there’s a new gang stealing stuff and causing general chaos, though I’m not quite sure why.

Starling City has gone to crap, and Diggle, Speedy, and Black Canary have been doing what they can to keep the city safe, but it looks like a bombed out city. It’s not long before Ollie is back in action.

The gang is back, but there’s lots of distrust since the last season ended. Ollie burnt some bridges, especially with Diggle, and that is what most of the episode is about. Ollie has been a lot of things in the previous three seasons, but it’s clear this season is about who he’s going to be in the future. Welcome to Ollie in a bit of an identity crisis. But, by the end of the episode he has a much better idea….

Forget Arrow…. welcome Green Arrow.

And that was an interesting twist at the end. The episode is an action packed episode, but can’t say it was all that deep. Compared to other comic based television shows Arrow was early, but it also is showing its age a bit.

Overall rating: 7.5