This week, most of Team Arrow tries to take a little down time while Oliver and Felicity follow up on a lead that could help them stop Darhk. Unfortunately, down time isn’t always safe for our heroes. Also, the Diggle Civil War is taken to new levels.

**** Spoilers Follow****

Oliver and company have been looking for anything to level the playing field against Darhk’s magical powers.  Not much surprise that Oliver turns to Constantine, even though he did not make another appearance, Constantine did point Oliver and Felicity to an immortal, Esrin Fortuna who knows of Darhk and his power.  And, with an assist from Felicity, she was willing to train Oliver to counter Darhk’s magical powers.  The rub is the individual repels the magic with hope and light, why Ollie is training is beyond me, especially with Felicity, who radiates hope, in the same room.

With Ollie and Felicity gone, most of the episode revolves around the Diggle family.  John continues to be extremely focused on stopping his little brother, not only for Laurel’s death but also to protect his family.  From “Canary Cry” we knew that the Diggle/Andy battle would be continuing, but I didn’t realize how personal Darhk was going to get, targeting not just Team Arrow, but his entire family.  Andy would have easily killed Sara, and if he hadn’t Darhk would have, but he went to a new kind of evil this week.  We know Andy wasn’t a good person, we know that he betrayed his brother before, but last night, John had to kill him without Andy being in full control of himself, and that really was difficult to watch.  John has always been the solid rock for the Oliver and for the team, but these last couple of weeks, Laurel’s death has made him become unhinged.  His rage toward his brother has caused him make reckless choices he would normally never make. Lyla even reminds him of that when she told him this week he is seems more like the man she divorced not the man she recently married.

Unfortunately, Andy has been a pawn this whole time to throw off not just John, but also Lyla.  Using Diggle’s little brother allowed Darhk to keep one step ahead nearly the whole time, which unfortunately is where he continues to be most all season.  It is one of the reason’s Darhk reminds H.I.V.E. he is so important to GENESIS.  He brings so much to this season, so much more than last season.   He uses Andy to track Diggle to let H.I.V.E. know where to find their actual target, Lyla.  She carries within her a micro-device that can control multiple missiles, protecting the US or in Darhk’s hands, destroying the world to remake it- GENESIS.

Speaking of GENESIS, we better understand that H.I.V.E. really does plan to remake the world by using nuclear bombs while they are safe in their underground bunkers.  A place where Thea was currently taken prisoner under the false pretense of going away with her boyfriend for the weekend, funny isn’t it, that even as a heroine, she still gets kidnapped.  In Thea’s defense, we all know this was a condition Malcolm demanded, that his daughter be safe from the destruction GENESIS intends to inflict on the world.

Something different happened tonight, when Green Arrow battles Darhk, and Darhk attempts to kill Ollie, he repels Darhk.  Green Arrow also is able to shoot him, drawing blood. I think the first time this season that Arrow was able to hurt him while he had control of his magic.  Also because Darhk targeted Lyla and stole the device controlling a nuclear arsenal, our team knows the how and when H.I.V.E. intends to enact GENESIS.

H.I.V.E. has proven to Team Arrow that they need all hands on deck, but they are two people down already.  We all know freeing Thea will be a priority for Ollie, but he also knows while she is next to Malcolm, Thea is one of the safest people alive.  It would be wonderful for the team to bring in some big guns like Constantine or the Flash, or maybe even Vixen again.  Unfortunately, the timer was there to show us that our heroes was going to have to take on Darhk and H.I.V.E. themselves. Well, maybe with some help from the Flash or this will be a terrific time to bring in Curtis.

It will be Team Arrow versus H.I.V.E. and Darhk for the fate of Star City Wednesday on the CW at 8pm/7 central.