Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Dark Waters

Note: In case you missed it, check out last night’s recap of The Flash!

Arrow‘s midseason finale was quite an episode. Along with another confrontation with Darhk, we got a lot of answers as to what Darhk’s endgame is, hints at who’s in the grave, and the overall state of Star City since Oliver basically challenged Darhk in broad daylight. So without further ado…

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Darhk and HIVE’s presence in Star City has always been a sort of a mystery until tonight. I mean sure, we need a villain for this season of Arrow, but why would a super powerful mystical being choose Star City to set up shop in? Turns out Darhk is working with or possibly for a committee of people. It’s possible that this committee is in charge of HIVE, with Darhk acting as a general. Still, with the power Darhk processes, why work for anyone? It’s a little unclear for me.

In any case, Darhk and HIVE plan to hit the “reset” button on all of humanity by gassing the population. A few episodes back, Darhk told Oliver to leave the bay alone. Oliver called him on his bluff and began cleaning the bay up. This lead to a brief terrorist attack on all of the volunteers Oliver got to the bay. The purpose of the bay, as it was revealed, was to harvest algae to produce clean air. All of this clean air was to be used in an underground bunker of sorts. As a back up plan, it would seem Darhk used a corn farm to produce clean air instead. By the end of the episode, it would seem that project Genesis is still in full swing and will be launching “phase four” very soon.

Damien Darhk

I wanted to point out three things about Darhk this episode. The first comes up after he kidnaps Team Arrow in their civilian roles. At the holiday party, Darhk walks in and looks at Thea. He scoffs, almost as if he knows that she’s working with the Green Arrow after their little fight a couple of episodes back. By now, it looks like Darhk is quite the fool by not having figured out Oliver is the Green Arrow. Between challenging him at the bay in the middle of the day and fighting the Malcolm Merlyn’s Green Arrow with sans facial hair, you’d think Darhk would begin to at least piece some of the Green Arrow’s identity together.

The second is Darhk has a family that he goes home to every night. What?! I doubt Darhk is keeping his alter-ego from his wife. He’d have to be juggling a set of pretty good lies to keep that from her. It’s possible that his family is knowledgeable in the mysticism he employs everyday. If that’s the case, the Darhk Family becomes instantly creepier.

Lastly, when Merlyn came to town again to visit Thea, he explained that Darhk is using mysticism that is unknown to the League of Assassins, making Merlyn afraid. Most of this episode was dealing with themes of father’s or significant others making decisions to protect their loved ones. In Merlyn’s case, despite being scared, he fought Darhk one-on-one and almost died doing it. Merlyn had every intent of killing Darhk during this fight, and he would’ve too if it hadn’t been for Darhk’snti-explosion spell.

Lian-Yu Flashback

In Oliver’s flashback, we continued to follow him in search of the mystic objects scattered around Lian-Yu. This lead him back to the ship that we last saw in season two. For those of you who need a refresher, Oliver once battled a crazed Slade Wilson on board this ship before it blew up and sank. In this episode, Oliver had to swim over to the ship and take out a scroll. It could be a map, or it could be a list of spells. There’s really no telling, but we know for certain the document will be important. It’s a little strange that a mystic item would be found on the Amazo to begin with.

In the comics, Amazo isn’t a ship at all. Instead, Amazo is an android that is able to duplicate powers he comes into contact with, which makes him very dangerous. At times, it’s taken the entire Justice League to stop him. But, in this Arrowverse, he’s just a ship. Who knows, maybe we’ll see an actual Amazo next season.

Lance

Lance’s association with Darhk, and Oliver’s knowledge of it finally came to light today, however, it wasn’t as big of a deal as we all though it would be. Sure, Laurel was upset for a little bit, but she came to peace with it rather quickly. She didn’t even bring it up with Oliver afterward either. On the plus side, we got past what might have been a drawn out family squabble that frankly, we’ve had enough of when it comes to the Lance family.

Who’s in the Grave?!

During the holiday party, Felicity spotted her mom getting a little touchy with Lance. Lance was introduced as her mom’s “boyfriend” and Lance told Felicity that Laurel doesn’t know. In any case, Darhk made his entrance and saw everyone in Oliver’s circle, including Felicity’s mother next to Lance. Now, I know Felicity looked to be seriously injured, or dead, in the closing minute of this episode, but I’m sure this is just a misdirect. I don’t think they’d kill off one of the main characters so soon into the season, let alone Felicity. With that said, I’m standing by my belief that Felicity’s mom is the one in the grave.

Still, don’t let this theory detract from what was otherwise a fantastic sequence that took place at the end of this episode. The sound of the bullets juxtaposed with the sounds of “The Little Drummer”‘s drums in the background was awesome. Moments like these is what every show strives for, and this particular scene will have a lasting impact on every Arrow fan’s mind for the rest of the year.

That’s all for this year! Thanks for reading up until this point. It’s been a great nine episodes for The Flash and Arrow. When the two series return in January with Legends of Tomorrow, you can expect three recaps a week! As for any news on DC TV, look for it here on Geekscape, or follow me on Twitter! Again, thank you all and happy holidays!