Episode seven of The CW’s Arrow season four delved further into what actually happened to John Diggle’s brother, Andy, and how he was connected to HIVE. The seventh episode also found Ray attempting to figure out what to do with his life now that he’s back from the dead, Thea discovering a possible cure for her blood lust, and Oliver committed to ridding the city of Damien Darhk.
Recap of Arrow Season 4 Episode 7:
An armored car carrying cash is attacked by armed men on motorcycles when Black Canary (Katie Cassidy) shows up and uses her Canary Cry to stop the driver from being shot. Team Arrow’s on the scene, taking on the Ghosts who’ve returned to knocking over armored cars. Thea’s a little out of control but she manages to stop herself from killing one of them. Then the armored car explodes, burning most of the cash. Arrow (Stephen Amell) says HIVE did it because the cash was meant to prop up Star City’s economy and HIVE wanted to stop that from happening.
Back at the lair, the team is trying to figure out why Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) and HIVE are set on ruining Star City. Oliver suggests it’s because they want the city to die so they can completely take it over. Diggle (David Ramsey) sticks around after the meeting breaks up to show Oliver his brother’s file. HIVE had Andy (Eugene Byrd) killed because his criminal activity rivaled theirs. Diggle doesn’t get it and it doesn’t match his memories, but the facts are the facts. But Oliver reminds him things aren’t always as they seem.
Back on the island, Oliver learns the prisoner he killed is the brother of Diana, the woman he’s hiding in the cave.
Ray (Brandon Routh) is bored and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) suggests he take his company back. He doesn’t want to, so she wants him to spend his free time trying to figure out the DNA from the tooth they pulled off a Ghost. Half the genetic markers are missing, but Ray will look at it. Felicity wants to know why he won’t come back, which Ray doesn’t answer. He does however lock down part of the answer to why the DNA is degraded (what he finds is patented by a local company).
At Oliver’s campaign headquarters, Alex (Parker Young) tells Oliver he needs to wear a tux for a black tie gala for the police. And, he tells Oliver he needs to attend the police event and get their support without tossing them under the bus. Felicity calls and breaks up the meeting, and Alex tells Thea (Willa Holland) he thinks Oliver’s onto them. Oliver comes back and tells Thea that Felicity has a ‘tooth’ issue that needs looking into.
Arrow, Diggle, Black Canary, and Speedy take on the Ghosts at the lab that holds the answer to the tooth DNA question. Diggle stops a Ghost from shooting Black Canary while she grabs what they need, and then Diggle stops to try and find an ID on the Ghost. He lifts the mask and it’s his brother! Andy flees and Diggle is left completely confused.
Back at the Arrow lair, Diggle says nothing makes sense anymore. They don’t know why HIVE faked Andy’s death. Oliver’s giving Andy the benefit of the doubt even though Diggle thinks the worst of him. Felicity reminds him of the Ghost who didn’t shoot him last month and thinks that might have been Andy. Diggle says the HIVE member wasn’t like his brother, and he says his brother is dead.
Back on the island, Oliver argues the prisoner was put up to attacking him while Conklin tells Reiter (Jimmy Akingbola) that’s a lie. The boss believes Oliver who stealthily takes some paperwork before exiting the hut.
Lance (Paul Blackthorne) visits with Darhk and Darhk tells him that he thinks Lance set him up. He doesn’t trust him completely anymore and warns Lance to tread carefully.
Thea’s been avoiding Malcolm (John Barrowman) but finally picks up the phone. He’s actually just in the other room, and Thea’s not happy to see him. Malcolm asks her about the blood lust and she says she’s fine, but he knows better. He gives her a folder with info on a pedophile who lives close by and suggests she should kill him to satisfy the blood lust. It will give her a month of peace. She tells him she’s heading out and he has to leave or else she’ll call the police.
Oliver and Felicity look gorgeous at the Star City Police gala, and Oliver takes the stage and applauds the work of the police department. Lance and Oliver walk away from the stage together and Lance explains Darhk is now suspicious of him. He also tells Oliver that he saw a note on Darhk’s desk that said something about slip 52 at the docks. Maybe the Ghosts – including Andy – will be there.
Diggle, also handsome in a tux, and Laurel are at the bar at the gala and Laurel tries to make Diggle see that it’s a good thing Andy is alive. She reminds him now is his chance to heal. Diggle tears up while recalling the memory of telling Andy’s son his father was dead. He would have sacrificed his life to have his brother back then.
At the gala, Damien Darhk introduces himself to Oliver and tells him he wants to help his campaign. Oliver says he’s running unopposed so he’s not sure how Darhk will help him win, and Darhk says it’s about accomplishing big things by working together. Darhk wants him to halt his plans to restore the bay or else he won’t be running unopposed.
At Team Arrow’s lair, Felicity is listing all of Oliver’s terrible ideas. She thinks working with Damien Darhk is actually Oliver’s worst idea. He says he needs to because Lance has lost Darhk’s trust and this could get him info on HIVE. They argue about it and Felicity tells him he did this campaign to give the city hope, not to take down Darhk.
On the island, Reiter allows Oliver to punish Conklin (Ryan Robbins). Conklin begs for mercy and Oliver starts whipping him under Reiter’s instructions.
Alex and Thea are out having drinks when Alex’s phone rings and he has to take it. A man wanders over and hits on Thea, which is a horrible idea. She beats him senseless, with Alex coming back to see Thea attacking the guy.
The Diggles are home and John wants to know how he’ll tell Andy’s wife her husband is alive. John says he used to daydream about his brother being back. Oliver stops over to check on Diggle and to tell him about the docks. Oliver thinks the Ghosts – and Andy – will be there and Diggle doesn’t want to risk any of the team on Andy, but Oliver insists. Diggle okays it as long as Thea and Laurel sit it out.
At the dock, Darhk talks to new recruits, dispensing yellow pills that will make them cooperative as part of HIVE. He tells them to kneel after they take the pill and they do it immediately. The Ghosts spot Arrow and Diggle, and Andy commands them to “kill the green one.” Darhk smiles as Arrow and Diggle are fired upon. They attack the Ghosts and Arrow’s disabled by an explosion. Diggle is able to rescue him and they escape.
Back at the lair, Felicity tends to Oliver’s wounds and then Diggle asks her to leave so they can talk about Andy. Diggle says Andy chose HIVE but Oliver says he’s under the influence of that yellow pillow. Diggle says there’s no excuse for Andy letting his wife and son think he was dead for eight years, but Oliver is asking Diggle to hold out hope for Andy because he needs to believe that whatever happens we can come back from it. Diggle says that thinking led him to the League last year, and it’s why he wants to fight Darhk from the inside this year. Diggle says, “Let’s take this son of a bitch down in the light of day.”
Back on the island, Oliver visits the cave to tell Diana about her brother’s death.
Ray’s busy working on the tooth on Felicity’s dinner table but she says that’s okay because Oliver’s busy fighting with Diggle over Andy. Ray doesn’t have the market cornered on being dead apparently, and Felicity tells him he’s stalling by not seeing anyone and announcing he’s alive. Ray reveals he’s been catching up on the last six months and he doesn’t think anyone cared he was gone. Felicity says his company needs him to revive it, and he says he needs to figure out what he’s living for. He played around with the tooth and there’s no way to put the DNA back together but he did notice high levels of sodium fluoride. That led him to discovering the location of Darhk’s headquarters: a psychiatric facility closed down for high levels of sodium fluoride.
Team Arrow assembles and prepares to go to the psychiatric facility. Diggle arrives and Oliver tells him they’re not taking down the Ghosts, they’re going after Andy. Diggle doesn’t want them to, but Laurel and Thea say they need to do this. Felicity sums it up: Andy’s under Dahrk’s influence and they need to get him out. The team won’t change their minds and they head out.
Felicity says there’s at least 50 or so Ghosts all wearing masks, but Curtis has created infrared cameras that will virtually unmask them so they can find Andy. Arrow figures out it’s not just a base of operations; it’s actually a staging area. He reads off what it says on the crates and Felicity looks it up. Meanwhile, Speedy and Black Canary are spotted and have to take on Ghosts. Andy actually has Speedy but he won’t stop fighting. They enter an elevator, fighting, exit the elevator, fighting. Speedy shots him with an arrow but can’t lift him. Team Arrow’s outnumbered and then Ray flies in to help them out!
Speedy encounters Darhk in the halls and he calls her Merida (from Brave, because of the arrows). He also knows she was trained by Ra’s al Ghul and asks her how Malcolm’s doing these days. His power doesn’t work on Speedy and she escapes. Felicity updates them that Black Canary has Andy but she needs help reaching the exit. Arrow sends Ray to help her out, taking out the remaining Ghosts with the help of Diggle who just showed up. “My brother needed me – the green one,” says Diggle after Arrow thanks him for being there.
Back at the lair, Ray looks happy to have been part of the team and Diggle thanks everyone, including Ray. Felicity asks if this means Ray’s coming back to work but he says no. He needs to take time to figure out what he should be doing, but will show up for the occasional superhero work when they need him. Diggle’s ready for a long overdue chat with his brother. And, Oliver’s going to take Diggle’s advice and fight Darhk in the light of day.
Back on the island, Diana’s crying over her brother’s death. Oliver says Conklin was responsible but the real bad guy is Reiter. He needs her help to figure out what Reiter is looking for.
Thea invites Malcolm over which surprises him, of course. She says she’s found a different way to control the blood lust: Damien Darhk. She tells Malcolm Darhk’s powers didn’t work on her and her blood lust was gone after he tried to use them. She wants Malcolm to figure out how to make that permanent. He shakes his head in agreement.
Diggle visits Andy who’s locked up in a cage. He wants to know if the file is true and Andy picks it up, looks through it, and says it’s all true. Diggle breaks into tears.
The media is gathered at the bay to hear Oliver discuss his restoration program. Alex isn’t happy to see Thea and he thinks Thea would have killed that guy if he hadn’t stopped him. She asks him to be patient with her.
Oliver says his campaign advisor doesn’t think saving the bay is the right thing to do right now because of the horrible state of the city, but he’s there because he’s confident this program could help solve the city’s problems. Darhk listens from the back of the crowd as Oliver says the bay is out in the open for everyone to see, just like the fight to save Star City. Locking eyes with Darhk, Oliver promises that he will never stop fighting to save the city.
