Arrow, S4 Ep10 – Blood Debts

The one big question Arrow has us asking this season is: Who the heck is going to die? The mid-season finale concluded with Felicity getting shot while under attack from Damien Darhk’s Ghosts. “Blood Debts” begins with us still contemplating the possibility of Felicity’s demise. As the episode progresses we can begin to breathe a little easier as Felicity is alive, but unfortunately not well. That being said, Felicity’s recent hospitalization has made Ollie hellbent on finally finding Damien Darhk and taking him down once and for all.

Team Arrow out for vengeance

“Blood Debts” sees Ollie in one of his angriest states yet as he powers through Ghost after Ghost attempting to gather whatever information on Darhk’s whereabouts he can. For the most part he goes out on his own, but doesn’t avoid the help of his team when needed. The old Ollie would take it upon himself to take Darhk down, so it’s good to see he’s accepting help from Speedy, Laurel, and Diggle. He’s still a bit uncontrolled and unfocused, though. He spends so much time out in the field beating down bad guys he forgets to take care of what’s really important, and that is visiting his injured fiancé in the hospital.

Ollie’s vendetta eventually leads him to Lonnie Machin, a former associate of Darhk’s we can now refer to as Anarky. Machin is still appropriately resentful towards Darhk, and Ollie attempts to use this towards his advantage.  Anarky is definitely a little crazier than the last time we saw him, having suffered multiple burns at the hands of Speedy. When initially faced with Team Arrow, Anarky prevents himself from harming Speedy, seeing her as his savior. This development with the character is a little strange and out of left field, but it allows for some exploration of Speedy’s character. Still constantly fighting her blood lust, Speedy is given multiple chances to relieve it on Anarky, but opts out of taking him down. This definitely shows some improvement to her state of mind.

In his rage, Ollie does something a bit dumb when he lets Anarky go free in order for him to take down Damien Darhk. Ollie wants Darhk to die so badly that he’s willing to unleash a deadly criminal to do so. Of course Ollie gets some appropriate feedback and criticism from Laurel. Laurel is right in her criticism, but Ollie’s snap about Laurel’s actions with Sara were uncalled for. He deserved a slap for that.

After finding out information on Darhk’s whereabouts thanks to some intel from Diggle’s brother, Team Arrow sees that Anarky has taken Darhk’s wife and daughter hostage in their own home and plans on burning them alive. Thankfully Team Arrow gets there in time and stops him, saving Darhk’s family from imminent death. Afterwards Ollie runs into Darhk and after a brief and unmemorable fight, the two cease their battle. Ollie knows he can’t take down Darhk, and Darhk promises Ollie a few safe weeks as a thank you for saving his family. Just a bit anti-climatic.

Introduce a little Anarky

Overall, this week’s episode wasn’t the most thrilling and wasn’t a great return for the series, but there were definitely some good moments. While Anarky’s chaotic shift in character was strange, he still came off as a compelling villain with an appearance comparable to his look in the comics. Speedy’s arc was sweet and simple, but I’m still not feeling her relationship with Ollie’s campaign manager, whose name I haven’t even bothered to remember. Diggle had some interesting moments with his brother, first attempting to beat information out of him and then later sparing the rod and trying to rekindle a relationship. Ollie does finally go to see Felicity in the hospital and their reunion is sweet and heartwarming. While she hasn’t been killed off, Arrow is still throwing in the possibility of her becoming a paraplegic. As usual the worst parts of this week’s episode were the flashback scenes. Honestly, I don’t even care anymore about what happened on Lian Yu five years ago.

The final scene of “Blood Debts” takes us back to that grave site months in the future. Ollie walks away from the grave to a limo with Felicity already sitting inside. Phew! We can rest assured that Felicity is not dead. I have to say, I’m definitely glad that Felicity wasn’t killed off. Now it’s back to square one. Who is going to be killed off this season? Considering Ollie is the last one to leave the grave site I’m guessing it’s someone extremely close to him. After seeing Felicity’s heartbroken reaction I would think it’s someone extremely close to her as well. If I had to guess, the person in the grave is not Laurel or Speedy, and I don’t think Captain Lance is as important compared to the other characters to make a real impact on the show if he died. As of right now I am predicting that Diggle gets killed off before the end of season four. As much as I would hate to see him go, this is where I see the series going.

In next week’s episode Team Arrow will go up against a criminal organization known as Shadowspire. Check out The CW’s official promo for “A.W.O.L.” below and feel free to let us know what you thought of “Blood Debts” in the comments.