Arrow "Genesis" and "Monument Point" (DOUBLE REVIEW)
written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)
It’s been a while since we’ve done a double Arrow review… mostly because I’ve been busy, but let’s review the last two episodes “Genesis” and “Monument Point”.
Both of which play well into eachother, and as we get closer to the finale. Team Arrow is against the ropes dealing with H.I.V.E. and Darhk is as deadly as ever. After taking some time to mourn Laurel’s untimely demise, Team Arrow takes a step back to regroup. Ollie urges Diggle to take a break on his hunt for Andy, Thea takes some much needed R&R wth Alex, and Ollie heads off to meet a contact of John Constantine in hopes to better arm himself against Darhk’s magic.
Of course nothing goes according to plan during the events of “Genesis.” One key point that I want to make was the lack of flashback scenes in this episode, which as anyone who has been following my Arrow reviews knows… I have grown tired of the flashbacks. To be fair though, there is alot going on this episode that including the flashbacks would have been counter productive.
Oliver and Felicity end up meeting Constantine’s contact Fortuna, Diggle ignores his gut and decides to hunt down Andy, and Thea goes away with her political advisor boyfriend. Nothing seems to go right for Team Arrow during this episode.
On the Ollie and Felicity front, Fortuna advises that for Oliver to truly be able to combat Darhk’s magic he needs to let go of every bit of darkness in his heart… and darkness is something Ollie has in spades. The tale of the Diggle Bros doesn’t turn out so hot, John is forced to kill Andy after everything is said and done. As far as Thea goes, Alex turns out to be controlled by Ruvé and co thanks to a little yellow pill and Thea finds herself in Darhk’s underground arc.
The nature of Genesis is further explained when Darhk steals the Rubicon from Layla. Rubicon is a device developed by the dearly departed Amanda Waller as a contingency plan for nuclear warfare. This allows someone to hijack any nuclear missile the world over, giving control to whoever controls Rubicon. Darhk’s plan closely mirrors that of the Book of Genesis from the bible.
In the Book of Genesis, God grows weary of the disobedience of man and purges the world with a planet-wide flood while Noah saving a select few along with a bunch of animals. For Darhk, he wishes to flood the world with firey-nuclear destruction… his underground compound is his arc, meant as salvation for those he deems worthy to inherit the new world. This leads directly into the next episode “Monument Point” as Darhk hijacks a Russian missile with plans to hijack the world.
Darhk employs the services of one Danny Brickwell, who you’ll remember as the villain during the first half of Season 3. Realizing that Noah “the Calculator” Kuttler is the one man who can hack the Rubicon, Darhk sends his baddies to kill Felicity’s estranged father. Of course, Team Arrow realizes the same fact and acts to secure Kuttler before Brick and put a bullet in his brain.
On the Thea front, while dealing with her being “saved” by her coward of a father, the residents of Darhk’s little underground arc are infiltrated by a certain mad man with a penchant for anarchy. Lonnie “Anarky” Machin returns, still hell bent of getting revenge on Darhk. He still regards Thea as his “mother” and even goes so far as to attack Alex in hopes to free Thea from the shackles of someone weaker than her.
Attempting to execute the final step in Genesis, Darhk hijacks the world’s nuclear missile silos and attempts to launch every single one. As Kuttler and Felicity attempt to hack into ever single one, they are able to stop Darhk’s plan save for one missile bound for Star City. In a damned if you do, damned if you don’t moment… Felicity is forced to change the GPS location of Star City to the aptly named Monument Point… sending the missile to detonate in this small town. Thousands die so millions can live, while Darhk is truly the one at fault here, you can see it on Felicity’s face that she blames herself.
Overall, these two episodes fit well together and bring a level of understanding to what Darhk has been plotting all along. Being lighter on the fashbacks is a major plus, but the smaller Team Arrow does hurt… I’m still feeling the loss of Black Canary.
