Arrow 4.16 “Broken Hearts”

Things are not looking good for Oliver Queen as this new episode begins. First of all, the trial of Damian Darhk (Neal McDonough) begins and it appears that it might be over before it even begins due to a lack of evidence and witnesses that can attest he is the man behind H.I.V.E. At the hearing, Darhk’s lawyer claims he was only at the site of William’s kidnapping because he was a captive himself and the lawyer also calls Diggle and Thea’s character into question when they testify about Darhk kidnapping them at Oliver’s Christmas party.  Second, Carrie Cutter, aka Cupid (Amy Gumenick) is back on the street and targeting high profile couples all because the love of her life, Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, is pushing up daisies now. And finally, to make matters worse and add friction to the mix, Oliver and Felicity are officially done, but still working together on Team Arrow.

Yeah, like working with your ex EVER works out.

To the first matter, the only way to insure Darhk goes to trial is to call a witness that can attest to his dirty deeds and whose character is above reproach. The only man who can do it is Captain Lance, who incriminates himself to see the H.I.V.E. leader taken down for good.  So, problem one solved (although the ramifications for Captain Lance do not look good since he has pretty much thrown his career away).

As for Cupid, once Team Arrow locate her hideout, a warehouse for wedding dresses, they discover a shrine to all the couples she has in her sites, including Oliver and Felicity. Using a phony wedding, Olicity draw Cupid out into the open. Felicity even delivers a heartfelt speech about love and how it makes people stronger that sways Cupid and gives us hope that she and Oliver can still make it. So, problem two is solved.

Sadly, in the end, in spite of the impassioned pleas from Oliver, Felicity realizes that she cannot be with Oliver, as his fiancé or his teammate. For now, Team Arrow is going to have to do without Overwatch.

Meanwhile, the story on the island finally makes some progress as Reiter (Jimmy Akingbola) discovers the item he has been looking for, a totem that absorbs the essence of anyone who has recently died. Oliver and Taiana (Elysia Rotaru) are able to make off with the totem before Reiter can have his entire slave labor force slaughtered and they take off into the caverns underneath the island and prepare to hold Reiter and his men off.

Man, let me tell you. Love. Hurts. This episode really brought the feels for Ollie. He’s a man who knows he has screwed up and is trying his best to repair the damage he has done to his relationship. But Felicity has been burned one too many times by Oliver. She loves him, but as she admits in this episode as they say good-bye, he is always going to revert to the loner he was on the island and who came back to wage a one-man war on the criminals of Starling City. Amell and Rickards both do a great job here and it really tears you apart to see them torn apart. I know it is just a television show, but man, I want these two back together.

It is great to see Amy Gumenick return as one of Arrow’s most delightful and funny sociopaths. She is carrying a huge torch for the dearly departed Deadshot and it just makes me wonder how much fun future Cupid appearances would have been with him. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, the Suicide Squad movie better be freaking epic since it has taken so many choice players off the board for the CW shows.

All in all, this was an above average episode for Arrow. To say it hit the bull’s eye is an understatement. I’m giving this one 4 Stars.