TV Review: ARROW: Season 4, Episode 10: Blood Debts [The CW]

The CW‘s Arrow Blood Debts TV Show Review. Arrow: Season 4, Episode 10: Blood Debts was a brutal and emotional midseason premiere. A couple of strange and exciting things happened in Blood Debts. Oliver’s (Stephen Amell) tattoo glowed and we found out who is not in the grave.

The episode opened as Oliver searched relentlessly for Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) leaving broken bones in his wake while Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) recovered from multiple surgeries. The team was mostly solid but Oliver’s decisions were questionable. He was throwing his weight around and getting nowhere. He was indeed back to old Oliver for a moment, barking orders and taking unnecessary risks.

Oliver released Lonnie Machin aka Anarky (Alexander Calvert) from police custody just to track him to Darhk. The issue: Anarky is insane and Calvert plays the desensitized weirdo so well. Oliver did not seem to care about the consequences. He broke Machin out of custody so that Machin could assassinate Darhk. That is cold. The real issue was that Oliver was not thinking straight due to his grief over Felicity. Once he learned that Felicity was paralyzed by the gunshot that struck her, he was even more driven to try any means necessary to get to Darhk.

Meanwhile, Machin is obsessed with Thea (Willa Holland) after she burned him earlier in the season. That whole story line was creepy. What was really disappointing was how fragile they made Thea in this episode. She was almost a liability in a fight when she is supposed to be one of the most skilled fighters. In fact, almost all of the fight scenes left much to be desired. They were too stylized. The fight scenes in the first half of the season were much better. Hope we get back to that quickly.

When Laurel (Katie Cassidy) tried to talk to Oliver about his behavior, Oliver reminded her she did the same thing when she released a deranged Sara (Caity Lotz). It was interesting to watch those two trading verbal jabs again. They really know how to get under each other’s skin. Diggle (David Ramsey), on the other hand, tried helping Oliver by beating his own brother Andy (Eugene Byrd) to a pulp for information. It was another rare display of rage from the sol of the team.

They ended up finding Darhk’s true home, his family. Team Arrow stopped Machin from torturing Darhk’s family just to have Darhk threaten to murder of Oliver’s whole family “in a few weeks.” I do not understand though how the entire episode was spent searching for Darhk with vengeance in mind only to let him leave peacefully with his family. Oliver was face to face with Darhk and just let him walk away. Of course, there was a fight but Darhk always resorts to magic to win. So, it made the search for him nearly pointless. At least they know that Darhk has a family, so maybe, he has a heart? Ok, doubtful since Darhk’s wife is the driving force behind his quest for world annihilation.

There was more magic exhibited in this episode. During the flashbacks, Oliver’s tattoo glowed as he was being whipped by Conklin (Ryan Robbins) for seemingly betraying Baron Reiter (Jimmy Akingbola). Apparently, that tattoo is an indication of what Reiter is there on the island to seek. We still have no idea what that is.

The big reveal came at the end. Yes folks, Felicity is not in the grave. Yey! Unfortunately, that means someone equally as important to the team will die and it will shatter the group. I have my ideas.

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