TV – Arrow Season 4, Episode 6

Steve Taylor-Bryant returns to Star City to see how the intrepid gang are coping with this week’s Lost Souls…

You've faced down Mirakuru soldiers and the League of Assassins. Are you honestly telling me you couldn't say "No" to my mom?

A quick reminder occurs to show us all how Ray Palmer “died” in the Palmer Tech explosion and immediately sets the topic for this week – Ray Palmer. Alex asks Thea on a date at a political strategy meeting, which Felicity was supposed to be at but she has been working non-stop for days trying to get the location of Ray’s message. When Oliver turns up at Palmer Tech to take her home Curtis tries to see if he’s the Green Arrow but decides his chin is all wrong. Back on Liang Yu, Baron Reiter takes Conklin and Oliver back to the place where Constantine found the orb last week and it shows a hidden message. Reiter tasks Oliver with excavating a cove on the island to find his prize, although Conklin still doesn’t trust Oliver. Sara is looking well as she sits with Captain Lance and Laurel and speaks to her mother on the phone but, elsewhere, Felicity is not so well and is very snappy, doesn’t want to rest or take a shower as suggested by Oliver, and an alert on her phone puts her back on the computer where a video call with Ray appears. He’s alive but he’s shrunk and doesn’t know where he is although it’s in a box and he’s a prisoner. He explains that the schematics for his suit will hold the key to his freedom and Felicity pushes Oliver away and rushes to Palmer Tech to meet with Curtis. Back on the island Conklin takes one of the slaves, Vlad, to one side for a secret mission.

At Palmer Tech and an excited Curtis thinks he can build the device that he needs to save Ray but their main rivals, KORD Industries, have the exhaust manifold he would need and there is no way they would lend it out. Felicity’s mother, Donna, arrives at the invitation of Oliver which winds Felicity up that little bit more. Felicity sends TeamArrow to KORD to take the manifold whilst berating Oliver over the comms for phoning her mother, albeit on an open line so the entire team can hear. Alarms go off and violence erupts, with Sara showing signs of the blood lust as she pulverises a guard, but the team get out with the part they needed. Ray’s next video message shows Damien Darhk. Felicity is now completely wound up and panicky but Diggle and Oliver think they can use their inside man, Captain Lance, to get the whereabouts of Ray. Back on the island Oliver takes food to the lady he saved and asks her about Baron Reiter. She explains he’s interested in some strange religious things.

Darhk is talking to Ray and threatens Felicity if Ray doesn’t help him and, back at a dinner Oliver planned for Donna and Felicity, Oliver is hurting and feels he is being frozen out. Felicity blames herself and says if she hadn’t been so lost in Oliver and moving with him she would have been here to save Ray. A possible break up is on the horizon as Oliver leaves to give her space. Back in the ArrowCave Diggle opens the whisky and tells Oliver it will all be okay and that Felicity just needs time. Oliver texts Felicity and tells her that, after a meeting between Captain Lance and Darhk, Diggle now has Ray’s location. The Team construct a plan, which Sara wants in on, to storm the location. Oliver says they will need Curtis along as well. On the rooftop a Ghost knocks out Green Arrow and delivers him to Damien Darhk but the Ghost was Diggle and it was all part of the plan. Felicity and Curtis base jump from the roof and into the building whilst the two Canaries and Speedy hold off the Ghosts with guns. Curtis uses his ray gun (pun intended) to make ATOM full size and Oliver manages to escape Darhk’s clutches despite the evil man using magic to try and kill him.

Ray explains to the team back at the cave what being tiny was like and tells Felicity he’s not ready to come back from the dead just yet so she’s still CEO of Palmer Tech. His medical results are all fine though and Felicity drops him home. After snapping the neck of a Ghost in the last battle, Sara decides it’s time to leave Star City and says her goodbyes as she plans to go to Central City and see her mother whilst she fights the blood lust and seeks a normal life. Felicity and Oliver clear the air and their relationship is back on track. At a bar, still drinking Club Soda, Captain Lance is joined by Donna and the pair have a good moan about their kids, Thea agrees to the date with Alex as she too wants a normal life and Darhk wants his scientist to use the residue they found at the rescue scene to experiment on his mysterious box which opens up to reveal some kind of motherboard design.

Another great episode that could have drifted into filler but kept the balance of emotion and action that should please most fans. Darhk showed some more magic as that aspect of the story builds and I was pleased to see Ray back as I am quite the fan of Brandon Routh’s portrayal of the eccentric billionaire. Curtis got more screen time which is always welcome and of course Caity Lotz was in it which is always a beautiful thing to see. The extended team element worried me at first but each character is getting their own part of it and the final fight scene with the two Canaries and Speedy was one of the best yet with some incredible choreography and it’s a shame it wasn’t longer. All in all? Another solid episode in a very impressive season so far.

Image - IMDb