In the lair, Felicity finds the reports of the dead figures,
recognizing them as heads of HIVE. Oliver deduces that Dahrk is taking his
revenge on the members of HIVE who abandoned him in prison. Diggle believes
that now is the perfect time to attack Dahrk, but Oliver reminds him that Dahrk
is too powerful. Oliver then reveals that, through his connection to
Constantine, he may have found someone who could train him in magic. Thea
wonders why they can’t all train in magic, but Oliver says that the process is
said to be dangerous. He will only allow himself to be subjected to it, though
Felicity looks on questioningly. With this mission at hand, Thea asks Oliver if
she can go with Alex for a weekend vacation after her offered. Oliver agrees
and also suggests the rest of the team to take a break as well.
Diggle returns to Argus to see Lyla, who is still not
entirely happy about being trapped in a bunker. Diggle reminds her that Andy
has been through their home and knows about Argus, so they need to be
protected. Lyla understands for her part, at least for the sake of their
daughter Sara. Diggle, nevertheless, plans to continue his search for Andy in
the city. While the protection continues, Lyla asks Diggle to pick up some
diapers on the way.
Felicity finds Oliver living in the basement of the lair. He
begins packing his things for his trip to Hub City to meet with a shaman.
Felicity questions Oliver’s journey, but Oliver states that he has seen this
power turn some men dark and would do anything to avenge Laurel’s death.
Understanding this, Felicity announces that she will accompany him as she has
already booked the rooms for the both of them. Oliver recognizes that he cannot
talk Felicity out of this and allows her to come.
When Diggle begins returning to Argus, he finds an alert on
his phone sensing Andy’s presence. He quickly runs into an abandoned building,
only to trade shooting blows with Andy himself. Diggle tries to avoid blows
when he receives a call from Lyla. She informs him about Andy in the middle of
the attack. She advises him to stand down and wait for backup, but Diggle is
insistent on going after his brother. Lyla orders him to wait, but Diggle
instead hangs up and follows Andy.
Oliver and Felicity arrive in an underground casino in Hub
City. According to Oliver, Constantine told him there was a shaman who would be
willing to train him near the blackjack table. Felicity, an expert in counting
cards, does her part to wait and play on the table. Meanwhile, Thea wakes up in
an empty bed in a quaint house. She calls for Alex but doesn’t get an answer.
She then finds him making eggs in the kitchen. He remarks how she must have
been tired since she slept through the whole trip. Thea doesn’t recall what
happened, but she’s still happy to see Alex. After playing a little blackjack,
Felicity gives a woman next to her a stack of chips to encourage her to keep
playing, and the woman reveals herself to be the shaman Ersin Fortuna.
Felicity: It's not gambling if I'm playing.
Diggle continues chasing Andy in the building. However, he’s
stopped and knocked off-guard by additional ghosts. Andy then knocks him out to
hold him up for torture. He warns Diggle that Dahrk is coming for him. Diggle
rebukes Dahrk’s threat, though Andy still regard him as a savior. Diggle then
brings up that by working for Dahrk, Andy is foregoing his old life, the one
with his wife and child. Andy responds by stabbing his brother, claiming that
HIVE is family now.
Fortuna explains her position as an immortal shaman and
guides Oliver and Felicity to the backroom which connects to a Nexus portal.
She explains that Hub City as well as Star City and Lian Yu contain Nexus
portals to magical realms, something people like Dahrk have already used to
their advantage. Being a shaman, she usually stays out of the affairs of men,
unless they owe her money. Fortuna reveals an idol similar to Dahrk’s but
reveals that he does not gain his power from it. Instead, Dahrk gains his power
from the dark by killing others. With every death, Dahrk grows more powerful.
For Oliver to win, he must harness the light. If not, he will only fuel Dahrk’s
power.
Thea walks with Alex down a neighborhood. While Alex is at
peace, Thea is on edge, feeling that the city is too perfect, especially since
she can’t get any signal on her phone. Alex simply believes that Thea is
stressed from her time in the city, but Thea then claims that the background
noises of birds and dogs barking are on a loop. When this sounds paranoid, she decides
to forego her nerves and follow Alex.
With Diggle apparently unconscious, Andy and the ghosts
proceed to take Diggle down from his restraints. Diggle, however, fights back
against his captors and manages to handcuff Andy to a post while aiming a gun
at his face. Andy goads him to shoot, but Diggle refuses, stating that one of
them can still be human. Diggle quickly escapes.
Fortuna begins to start the training. Felicity asks about
what kind of totem Oliver can use, but Fortuna states that the tattoo given to
him by Constantine will be fine. She sends Oliver a taste of dark magic which
Oliver manages to resist decently. She then furthers the push, sending Oliver
on a path in the darkest parts of his mind. He sees visions of Malcolm,
Deathstroke, and Dahrk beating him in the room as well as visions of his past.
He sees Tommy’s death, Moira’s death, his death, a vision of Taiana, and,
finally, Felicity’s leaving before returning to the present. Fortuna states
that he is unable to face his own darkness, and she sends him off, unable to
teach him any further.
Thea finally confronts Alex on the town. She doesn’t
remember how she got there, and he hasn’t said where they are. Furthermore, she
can prove the sounds are on a loop as she perfectly predicts the cycle. In his
nervousness, Alex begins to take a bottle of pills. Thea takes the bottle, only
to recognize the pills as the ones from HIVE. Realization sets in as she bolts
from the house.
Diggle returns to the Argus bunker to Lyla. While she’s glad
to see him okay, she rebukes him for not following orders. Diggle insists that
he had to stop Andy after what happened to Laurel, but Lyla states that he
isn’t acting like the man she married but the man she divorced. The best way to
deal with Andy is through justice, and Lyla advises Diggle to keep things
together.
Lyla: “You are not acting like the man I married. You’re the man I divorced.”
At the casino, Oliver mourns the fact that he could not
succeed. Felicity reminds him that Fortuna would not offer to teach him if she
didn’t think he could succeed, but Oliver simply states that Felicity is the
one who brings his light, just as she brought Fortuna to him through her
actions. Felicity advises against him pitying himself, but he just accepts that
he always reverts to the man on the island, just as Felicity said. She responds
that she only said that since she was hurt. While none of them are perfect,
they can continue to make themselves better.
Dahrk arrives to release Andy and reveals that the attack
was a trick to track Diggle to Argus. Diggle realizes the plan since they let
him live and finds the bunker under attack. The Argus bunker is revealed to be
a mobile safe on a truck, continuously moving to avoid detection. Now, they are
being shot at by Andy and other ghosts. Lyla realizes that they are after Argus
materials from her by tracking Diggle. While the truck stands the attack from
the ghosts, it stops at the hands of Damian Dahrk himself. With Diggle and Sara
in danger, she fears that she will give in to Dahrk’s demands. Diggle changes
tactics by escaping the truck on a motorcycle. Dahrk easily incapacitates Lyla
but finds himself outwitted when he sees that Diggle has also taken Sara in his
escape.
Diggle deals with another chase by Andy and some ghosts
while trying to protect Sara. Just when his cornered by some guards, a van
careens down the alley, knocking them down. Felicity arrives to tell Diggle
that Oliver is on his way. She takes baby Sara while Diggle deals with his
brother.
Dahrk tortures Lyla until Oliver manages to arrive with an
arrow to his back. However, he still falls to Dahrk’s magic as he fights back.
Diggle fights Andy and once again ends with a gun pointed at his brother’s
head. When Dahrk proceeds attack Oliver with his magic, however, Oliver resists
and breaks free. To his surprise, he sees that Dahrk has escaped and then tends
to Lyla. Andy meanwhile taunts Diggle, stating that Dahrk has escaped just as
he had. He further states that Lyla and Sara can’t be protected forever as
Genesis is coming. With that threat, Diggle finally shoots and kills his
brother point blank. Oliver arrives to tell him that Lyla is safe as Diggle
admits that he murdered his brother.
Back at the lair, Felicity talks to Oliver about what
happened. Oliver reveals that he fought off Dahrk by recalling her voice. He
then heard Diggle, Thea, and Laurel telling him not to give up hope. Diggle
then takes care of Lyla as she comforts him on Andy’s death. However, he claims
that Andy reached for his gun before he was shot. Lyla nevertheless says that
Andy was not his brother when he threatened friends and family. Suddenly, Lyla
looks to her wrist to find a scar, realizing that Rubicon has been stolen.
Lyla fills in the team that since the last attack on Argus,
she had Rubicon inserted inside her skin to protect it from HIVE. Rubicon turns
out to be a program allowing the user to prevent nuclear missile fire. However,
in HIVE’s hands, the program can be corrupted, leaving Dahrk with the control
over nuclear missiles. Genesis, they believe, will be Dahrk’s attempt to
destroy the world and recreate it in his image.
Thea, in her escape, finds herself confronted with ghosts.
When she tries to run away, she runs into a dome wall, revealing the city to be
a base underneath Star City.
Arrow Notes
- Hub City may not be a Nexus portal in the comics, but it is the home to the infamous character The Question.
- Multiversal Nexus is more commonly known as the center of the DC Multiverse. Looks like the Arrowverse might be bigger than we thought!
- Apparently, Felicity is a big Phil Collins fan. I wish Genesis would reunite too!
- That was a pretty dead-on impression of John Constantine by Oliver Queen, don't you think?
- We get a brief glimpse into the possible fate of Taiana on the island. Could she be what Oliver referred to as "turning good people dark"?
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