Violet recaps Season 4 Episode 21 of Arrow, titled Monument Point, where Felicity and her father, the Calculator, try to prevent nuclear warheads from destroying the world! Following the episode recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts about the episode.
- His thoughts on Arrow Episode 421: Monument Point
- Her thoughts on Season 4 Episode 21 of Arrow: Monument Point
Arrow Recap, Season 4 Episode 21: Monument Point
At a missile attack warning center in Russia, soldiers realize that they have been locked out of their system and the nuclear warheads are being armed.
Back in the Arrow Cave, Lyla reports all the places that Rubicon, actually Hive, has taken over. Felicity says that her father is the only one who can override the Rubicon system, so Oliver tells her to work on looking for him.
Diggle protests to Oliver about letting Cutler help, but Oliver says he trusts Felicity. In the meantime, Oliver tries to figure out where the nexus chamber is that Esrin Fortuna told him about, where Damien Darhk will employ his magic.
Lance stops by to see Donna, who shows him an Affidavit that she found at his place. She asks him about it. He tells her that Pike said if he signs it, he’ll get his badge back. Donna doesn’t like that it says he didn’t know that Laurel was the Black Canary, because it’s a lie. She had a bad experience being with Noah, who was a liar. Donna tells Lance that she loves him, and knows that he’s going to do the right thing.
Damien Darhk summons a couple of men and ask them if they’ve ever heard of the Calculator.
Felicity sends Green Arrow and Spartan to where she has tracked her father. However, it looks like he recently left in a hurry. They look at surveillance footage and see that Ghosts came after him 20 minutes ago, but he got away.
Oliver and Diggle return to the Arrow Cave, and Diggle tells Oliver that he was right, that Cutler is the only one who can stop Rubicon, and that’s why Darhk wanted him dead. Felicity was able to hack Cutler’s server and find a root directory called Ravenspur, which sounds familiar to her, but she’s not sure why. In the meantime, Felicity has located a possible magical clubhouse for Darhk, so Oliver and Diggle head out.
Later, Donna is about to head out to see Felicity, and sees that Lance is about the sign the Affidavit. He shows her that he changed it to say that he knew Laurel was the Black Canary and that what she was doing was good. Donna is proud of him, and tells him he’s doing the right thing.
Felicity goes to her office to find Mr. Dennis waiting for her. Just then, her mother comes in. Mr. Dennis tries to get Felicity to meet with the board, but Felicity says they can wait. Mr. Dennis stalks off angrily. Felicity asks if the word Ravenspur means anything to her. Donna tells her it’s a cabin in Cypress Cove that she and Felicity’s father used to go to.
When Oliver and Diggle check out the possible nexus chamber location, it doesn’t pan out. Oliver takes the opportunity to talk to Diggle about him killing Andy. Oliver advises Diggle not to lie to his wife. Just then, Oliver gets a phone call from Felicity telling him about Noah’s location.
Meanwhile, the Ghosts have already caught up to Noah at the cabin. They exchange fire, and Noah runs. Mr. Brick catches up to Noah, who is out of firepower and offers him a gun. If Noah is able to take him down, he’ll let him live. However, Green Arrow shoots an arrow through Mr. Brick’s hand, then he and Spartan move in and attack. Felicity drives up with a van and tells her father to get in. Green Arrow fires a trick explosive arrow for cover, and he and Spartan fall back.
Felicity brings her father back to her place and tells her father he has 12 hours to stop Rubicon. He immediately complies. However, he says he can’t do it with the computer setup she has – he’ll need the quantum subliminal processor that she developed at Palmer Tech.
When Felicity goes to her office to get the processor, Mr. Dennis greets her — with two security guards. It turns out that the board has voted to terminate her, effective immediately. He will not allow her to leave with anything. The security guards escort her out.
Felicity returns to the Arrow Cave and reports the bad news. Oliver heads to Palmer Tech to help Felicity sneak in with her father and steal the processor, while Diggle stays behind and directs them by watching the security feeds. When Felicity tries to enter the code to get the processor, but it turns out she’s already been locked out. Noah suggests using an electromagnetic wave generator and battery tender to force restart, so they do that, and gain access. However, just then, Diggle advises Oliver of incoming security guards in the stairwell, so Oliver goes there and takes them out. Unfortunately, they are unable to get the processor out, as an alarm has just come on and prevents them from doing so. But Noah has an idea: they can clone it. Diggle tells them to get out of there, because security is approaching. They are able to make it outside safely, where Lance is waiting for them in a getaway car.
It turns out that Noah was only able to copy 90% before they were forced to leave. Felicity gathers parts from the Arrow Cave for her father to build the other 10%. However, they’ll still have to upload the override codes to every nuke silo individually – which they can only do from a server farm.
Felicity, her father, Green Arrow, and Spartan head over to the Star City Data Center. Noah asks Green Arrow for insight about leading a dual life. Oliver tells him that it doesn’t work, and that Noah leading a dual life is why he lost Felicity.
Just then, Noah notices a problem: a tapeworm in the Rubicon code. He’s able to override it, but not before it transmitted their location. Noah tells Green Arrow they have about 90 seconds before Hive arrives. Green Arrow and Spartan meet up with Lyla, who dispatches several ARGUS agents to help guard the building. Meanwhile, Felicity and her father get to work.
Hive arrives, and the ARGUS group exchanges fire with them. Green Arrow and Mr. Brick fight, while Spartan tries to hold off the Ghosts attempting to go up the staircase.
With 3 minutes left until Rubicon launches the nukes, Oliver warns Overwatch that one of the men is heading inside. He gets in and shoots, hitting Noah, but Oliver is able to get up there in time and stop him. Felicity reports that they were able to get every nuke — except for one, which is headed straight for Monument Point. Rubicon continues to try to send launch codes to the nukes they stopped, which Noah has to override manually one by one, as Diggle tends to Noah’s gunshot wound. Meanwhile, Felicity tries to override the nuke heading to Monument Point. Lyla calls in an “End Time Event.” Felicity gets an alert that the Mayor has just evacuated City Hall due to a “gas leak.” Oliver realizes that the nexus chamber must be below City Hall, so Green Arrow and Spartan head over there.
Felicity is unsuccessful in hacking the missile, so instead she relocates a GPS satellite, in effect moving the missile’s target of Monument Point. Instead, the nuke hits the much smaller community of Havenrock. Felicity is saddened by the loss of tens of thousands of lives, but Lyla tries to comfort her by telling her that Monument Point would have been a couple million.
Green Arrow and Spartan search City Hall, and come across a random ladder in the basement. When Oliver moves the ladder, the wall moves, revealing an entrance. Green Arrow and Spartan go through – and find Damien Darhk working some magic, absorbing energy from the idol.
Underground
Meanwhile, in Damien Darhk’s underground ark, Thea is held under armed guard inside a house. Malcolm Merlyn drops by, and tells her he’s doing this to keep her safe, and explains to her about Genesis. Thea thinks he’s crazy, and insists to see Alex.
Meanwhile, Lonnie Machin, aka Anarky, has found his way down there, and injures a Ghost, asking where to find Damien Darhk.
Merlyn takes Thea to see Alex, who is supervising families moving into the various houses. He seems to think that what is happening is a good thing. Thea tries to tell him that he’s under the influence of a drug, and they need to get out of here. Just then, Merlyn walks up and tells Thea that Lonnie Machin is there, and he’s already killed 5 of Darhk’s men. Machin’s plan is to sabotage the carbon dioxide scrubbers, which will suffocate the ark inhabitants. Merlyn is aware of Thea’s special connection to Machin, and asks her to help take care of Machin, or they’re all dead.
Merlyn takes Thea to the primary location of the scrubbers, which looks like a house from the outside. Inside, Machin has two guards tied up with tape over their mouths. Thea approaches and reminds him who she is. She tells him she will help him take down Darhk, but there are innocent people here who have been brainwashed. She begs him not to do this. But just then, Merlyn shoots an arrow at Machin. Machin fires with his gun. Merlyn points out that there are explosive charges, and Machin was going to blow the scrubbers no matter what Thea said.
Thea and Merlyn are able to disable the explosives. When she goes outside, she finds Alex laying unconscious on the patio, and Lonnie Machin sitting nearby. He is upset that his plans for vengeance were screwed up again, and says he now has to wait for Darhk to arrive and go with Plan B. Thea tries to get Alex to wake up, but Machin says Alex is fine, just taking a nap. He wonders why Thea is always at the mercy of some guy, and tells her she can make her own decisions, that she’s not a pawn, she’s a Queen. Thea attacks him, and they fight. While they’re fighting, Alex wakes up. Thea tells Alex to run, as she continues to fight. But Alex doesn’t run, and Machin goes over to him and electrocutes him, telling Thea that he’s liberating her. When Thea goes to check on him, he’s dead.
Flashbacks
At Reiter’s camp, which is in chaos, Oliver says Reiter and his men got onto the island, so there has to be a way off. He looks at a map, and tells Taiana that there’s a plane on the east end of the island, and they start to head out. But some men approach them and tell them that Reiter is still alive – they heard him on the radio. Oliver tells Taiana to take the map and get these people to the plane.
That night, Reiter finds Oliver and tells him he killed a few of the stragglers, so his power has grown. He and Oliver fight, and Reiter is easily able to toss Oliver around with his powers. Oliver stabs Reiter in the gut, but it has no effect on him, and he pulls the knife out. He then grabs Oliver by the throat, and is getting ready to stab him, when Taiana returns and shoots Reiter several times. This distracts him long enough for Oliver to grab a rifle and shoot Reiter repeatedly. Oliver tells Taiana to get the idol, then throws a grenade, which explodes, setting some of the village on fire. The idol starts to glow, and they run off. Meanwhile, Reiter slowly gets back up.
As Oliver and Taiana head toward the plane, Taiana cries out. Then her eyes start glowing like Reiter’s had.
Her Thoughts on Arrow, Season 4 Episode 21: Monument Point
This was a pretty exciting episode of Arrow, as it was a race against the clock to save the world. This time, instead of Oliver being the hero, it was out of his hands, and instead, Felicity was the hero, along with her father. Felicity seems pretty good at swallowing her pride and working with or being around people she doesn’t necessarily want to be around, for the greater good. I admire that quality about Felicity. However, although she was a hero here, she might not have felt that way, having sentenced the residents of Havenrock to their deaths. She just needs to remember that ever popular mantra that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and be proud of the fact that she saved the millions of residents in Monument Point. It’s too bad that Felicity wasn’t able to get that processor they needed though. Any other time she could have easily waltzed in and got whatever she needed, but coincidentally the Board chose that exact moment to fire her. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that one or more of the Board members are under Darhk’s influence, because that’s too frustrating of a coincidence and too perfectly timed.
So the Calculator was not the only familiar face we saw again this episode. Lonnie Machin also made an appearance, trying to screw up Damien Darhk’s ark plans. That was kind of random, as I hadn’t expected much more of a conflict than just Thea trying to get out and Oliver trying to get to Thea. But now Alex is dead, courtesy of Machin. Alex never really served a purpose anyway, other than being the one to get Thea to the ark. I was disappointing in the way the show utilized his character. He could have been used a double agent to get inside info on the Darhk’s. But now he’s dead. Or is he really dead, since pretty much no one ever dies on this show? Well, no important characters anyway. And Alex was never portrayed as very important.
But anyway, now Oliver and Diggle have found their way to Darhk. Looks like it’s time for a showdown between Oliver and Darhk with their magical powers!
His Thoughts on Arrow, Season 4 Episode 21: Monument Point
I think the thing that stood out to me this episode was the decision that Felicity was forced to make. It sort of reminds me of the debate of who was write in Captain America: Civil War. Essentially Felicity made an executive call to divert this nuclear warhead from one area, into another area. She made a decision that altered the lives of millions of people–many now living due to her actions, but at the same time, many dying because of them. The question is–because she has this ability should be be the one allowed to make the decision? I think the jury is still out there. Regardless, I think she is certainly feeling the weight of her decision.
I am curious to see how Oliver and Diggle face off though. It looks like it is time. Hopefully Arrow’s training with Esrin pays off. I am kind of curious why he didn’t think about getting training earlier in the season, but then I realize the show had to fill 20 other episodes, so dragging out that plot device certainly helps with that.
Thea still seems to be stuck in “Pleasantville” and based on the previews for tonight’s episode, we can expect Thea to possibly have some brainwashing going on, giving her attacking of Oliver. It looks like some of those yellow pills might have made it into Thea’s system.
Overall I thought this was a pretty good episode. Hopefully the last two episodes can be pretty exciting, and Darhk can finally be taken down.
Scenes from Arrow, Season 4 Episode 22: Lost in the Flood
Preview of Season 4 Episode 22 of Arrow
