On Season 4 Episode 7 of Arrow it is time to save Diggle’s brother! Check out Josh’s recap on this episode of Arrow, titled Brotherhood, along with our thoughts! after the jump!
Don’t need the Arrow episode recap for Brotherhood? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
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Episode Recap of Arrow, Season 4 Episode 7: Brotherhood
This episode of Arrow has the Ghosts returning to their “roots” with them attacking an armored car. Arrow and the team show up and stop them, but the Ghosts manage to get away with some stolen cash. But what they do with it is odd–the Ghosts burn it. Oliver realizes that it was burned to hurt the bank.
At the Arrow Cave, Oliver seems to think the moves made by Hive is to help Star City be established as a base of operations. Diggle talks with Oliver privately about his brother, and Oliver doesn’t seem to believe it. Diggle seems surprised that Oliver is taking his brother’s side.
Felicity, meanwhile, meets up with Ray Palmer, and Ray seems set on remaining “dead” for now despite Felicity’s pleas for him to come back to work. Felicity has other fish to fry for now though, trying to figure out how DNA is erased from one of the Ghost’s cyanide tooth. Ray finds a chemical that is patented which seems to scramble DNA.
Back over to Oliver, his campaign manager is going over strategy for Oliver. Oliver wants to clean up the bay, but Alex seems to think this is not worth the effort. Oliver gets a call though, and has to take a break. Leaving Alex and Thea alone, Alex seems concerned that Oliver is “on to them.” but Thea assures him Oliver is not. Oliver returns hinting at Thea they have to move out. The mission takes Team Arrow to look for this mysterious chemical that erases DNA. Laurel finds it, and the Team works to evacuate. Diggle pulls the mask from one Ghost, and it turns out to be his brother. Diggle is so shocked that his brother, Andy, makes an escape.
Back at base, Diggle is pretty upset about this news. Oliver wants to get Andy out of Hive, and Diggle is still not thinking Andy is worth the effort.
Over to Lance, he has a meeting with Darhk. He informs Lance that his colleagues are suspicious of Lance ratting out information. Darhk tells him to be careful. Lance, meanwhile, spots a post-it referencing a meeting at the docks…
Thea then gets a visit from her father, Malcolm Merlyn. He is concerned her bloodlust will return soon. He has a solution–having her kill a pedophile he feels is not worth being alive. Thea is appalled, and tells him to get lost.
At the police rally meeting thing, Oliver gives a speech thanking the police for what they are doing. He walks off the stage with Lance, and Oliver asks Lance to get info about Darhk’s soldiers. Lance says it will be tough given his current relationship with Darhk, but tells Oliver about the note he saw. Diggle and Laurel have a moment talking about their life issues. Diggle is still not really wanting to deal with his brother. Oliver is mingling, but he is interrupted by a surprising guest–Darhk himself. Darhk wants to work with Oliver, and has some threatening overtones if Oliver decides to remodel the bay…
Back at Arrow Cave, Oliver is apparently wanting to go undercover with Darhk. Felicity hates this idea.
Thea, meanwhile, is out for a drink with her new friend Alex. Alex has to take a call, and some drunkard comes up and hits on Thea. Thea loses her cool and pummels the guy. Alex shows up and has to calm her down.
At home, Diggle is still mulling over what to do. His wife tries to convince him to do the right thing. They get a visitor though–Oliver. Oliver and Diggle talk, and Oliver wants to check it out for Andy. Diggle wants to have just them two handle it, and Oliver agrees. At the docks, Darhk is on site as well. He has some new recruits he is issuing the chemical we’ve seen earlier this episode to the new soldiers. This chemical seems to not only wipe DNA, but also makes the subjects more complacent with orders. Diggle and Oliver are watching from a rooftop, and they are spotted. The Ghosts move in on the two, and they have to fight their way out. Oliver is injured pretty badly by a grenade. Diggle gets him and they make their escape.
Back at the Arrow Cave, Diggle is upset they even made this attempt, and wants Oliver to let Andy go. Oliver refuses though, as he doesn’t want to let hope go for him. Diggle then tells Oliver he knows about Darhk, and doesn’t think that plan will work.
Ray, meanwhile, is still working on the DNA tooth project. Felicity still wants Ray to “come back from the dead,” and Ray tells Felicity that he doesn’t think anyone actually cares about him. He tells her that he wants to have a reason to “come back to life.” But back to his project, Ray finds out where the tooth might have come from due to some residue found–a psychiatric facility.
At the Arrow Cave, the Team gets ready to suit up and go after Andy. Diggle refuses to go, despite the rest of them going. The rest head out, and they are outfitted with some cams that can recognize Andy even if he has a hood on. The girls end up in trouble early on, having to fight their way in. Thea manages to find Andy, and after some pretty intense fighting, gets him tranqed with an arrow. But she gets a new visitor–Darhk. He tries his power on Thea, but it backfires, seemingly hurting him instead.
Outside, Oliver has been dealing with a good number of soldiers, and Ray shows up for back up. Laurel is trying to get Andy out, and Ray heads in to help. Diggle decides to show up and provide backup.
The Team gets out and back to base, and Diggle thanks the Team. Ray tells the group he is taking off to figure out what to do. Diggle heads to chat with Andy, but Oliver tells Diggle they will fight in “the light of day” like Diggle wants. When Diggle confronts his brother, he asks Andy to help him understand what is going on. Andy admits that the file on him is true.
At home, Thea invites Malcolm over. She tells him about her encounter with Darhk. Apparently this interaction reduced her bloodlust. Thea asks for help to make that feeling permanent.
At the bay, Oliver makes his announcement to a crowd for his bay improvements. On the sidelines, Alex is concerned about Thea’s actions, but Thea plays it off as something she can get over easily. Oliver gives his speech, and one person in attendance isn’t too happy–Darhk.
In the flashbacks, Conklin is giving Oliver a hard time about killing Vlad, the worker that was paid to attack him. Oliver also learns Vlad is the brother of Taiana. Back with Baron Reiter, Conklin and Oliver both argue about what happened with Vlad. Apparently Reiter can “divine” the truth, and does so, determining Conklin is lying. Apparently his punishment will be issued by the “wronged”–looks like it will be Oliver dishing it out. Oliver is given a whip, and after a brief pause, Oliver decides to move forward with the whipping.
Oliver then visits Taiana. She has some food ready for them, but Oliver has eaten already. Oliver tells Taiana about her brother. She cries, and asks what happened. Oliver tells her Conklin was the cause, and she wants to take revenge. Oliver tells Taiana the real problem is Reiter. Oliver tells her that they need a map to find what Reiter is looking for and will need help doing that.
Josh’s Thoughts: Arrow, Season 4 Episode 7: Brotherhood
This was a good episode of Arrow. I really liked the family theme running through the episode, with Oliver and Diggle being brothers, despite not being blood related, which revolved around Diggle saving his real brother from Hive. It was a bit sad to hear that the file was in fact true on Andy, and Diggle clearly was disappointed to hear it too.
As I had thought last episode, Ray is off to do whatever it is he plans on doing before he joins the “Legends of Tomorrow.” I like his character, and wish his goofy nature could stick around a little longer.
I wonder what is going on with Thea though. Something with the Lazarus Pit must have a different reaction to Darhk’s powers. But how can this be channeled to permanently save Thea? Do they lock Darhk up in a cage for Thea to touch every few days? Can his blood be circulated into Thea’s to negate the rage effects? I am curious to see how the show handles that.
Another big compliment I have to give the episode were the fight scenes. Particularly Thea’s scene saving Andy, as that choreographed work along with camera movements made the fight visceral. Those stunt doubles were doing some tough work, and that scene felt like a big budget action movie scene, rather than a “silly” TV show scene.
Up next week we start the anticipated crossover with Flash! I am really loooking forward to these as last season’s was great!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 4 Episode 7 of Arrow: Brotherhood
Does anyone ever actually die in this show? It seems like every time you think someone’s dead, they end up popping up again at some point down the road. Of course, one person that I actually cared about that died was Tommy, and it doesn’t look like he’s coming back. But you never know!
Anyway, so now it appears that Diggle was falsely led to believe that his brother had died, when in fact he hadn’t, and instead joined Hive, under the ranks of Damien Darhk. Although he admits that the file on him is true, it’s possible that he may not actually be responsible for all of those things that he did. As we saw this episode, Darmien Darhk is able to control these guys to do what he wants them to do. Either way, Diggle has his brother back now, and it shouldn’t matter what he did in the past, he should just be happy to have him back. It may take a little while for them to help him recuperate, but he could be a great asset to the team.
Once again, there were great fight scenes. Arrow doesn’t seem to get enough credit in this area, as their stunt work is always pretty awesome.
As for Thea, I thought maybe she would slip into being a Dexter-type killer, satisfying her bloodlust by killing only people that are evil. But she didn’t seem too thrilled with that idea. Besides, if she went with Malcolm Merlyn’s idea, who’s to say that these people he’s telling her to kill are really who he says they are? I suppose she could check them out and find out. But even if it’s true, then Malcolm would just be using her for his own purposes, to get people out of the way that he doesn’t want around, without having to kill them himself. I hope that they can find a way to get rid of Thea’s bloodlust before she kills innocent people. It was very interesting the effect that she had on Damien Darhk. It looks like he could be the key to curing her bloodlust, but the question is how?
So, we knew it was coming, but once again someone who has returned from the dead decides they’re going to leave town for a reason that doesn’t really make a lot of sense, except to get them lined up to join the Legends of Tomorrow. I liked Ray, but I guess he’s pretty much been replaced by Curtis anyway. And we know we’ll see him again in January when Legends of Tomorrow premieres. So, like Sara, he’s only gone temporarily.
For the immediate future, we can look forward to the Arrow/The Flash crossover episodes!
Scenes from Arrow, Season 4 Episode 8: Legends of Yesterday
Here are scenes from the next episode of Arrow, titled Legends of Yesterday:
