Arrow Season 5 Episode 4 Recap: The Return of John Diggle — Popcorn Time

Okay, so Arrow Season 5, Episode 4. Still liking how this series is going more than I do The Flash. Let’s see what Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and the new Team Arrow have in store for us. Also side note, I wasn’t able to do any recap for episode 3. Though to be honest, when I did watch it, it seemed pretty bland in comparison to the rest of the season thus far. Now not that it wasn’t good. Cody Rhodes did a pretty good job as Stardust, and Felicity’s (Emily Bett Rickards) side plot with Rory Regan (Joe Dinicol) – aka Ragman – pulled on the right emotional strings for just the right amount of time. I guess it just contained less than I expected.

Anyway, here we go. Spoiler alert.

Ragman Leaves Team Arrow

Episode 4 jumps right into the action with Oliver and the new team set up to ambush one of Tobias Church’s (Chad L. Coleman) men. The team is a hand short however, as Ragman is nowhere to be found. Anyway, they manage to take down Chuch’s henchman and recover a strongbox containing some stolen tech. Unfortunately, Wild Dog chokes (Rick Gonzales) on his sniper rifle’s trigger which directly leads to Mr. Terrific (Echo Kellum) getting beaten up pretty badly.

Green Arrow scolds his team… again… before giving them a few days off. When he arrives home, Ragman shows up to let him know that he can’t work with the team anymore. He still feels hurt about Felicity’s involvement in the Havenrock nuclear strike.

Oliver breaks Diggle out; Tobias Church Strikes Again

Looks like we’ve got a clear-cut picture of the story arcs for this episode. On one hand, Oliver plans on taking up Lyla Michael’s (Audrey Marie Anderson) request to break her husband John Diggle (David Ramsey) out of prison. This leaves his team alone to deal with Tobias Church on their own. Apparently, Church wanted his henchman to get caught, and for the strongbox to be captured. Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) and DA Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) escort the strongbox to the evidence room, when Tobias Church detonates the strongbox, allowing him and his men to break into the evidence room and steal the military-grade weapons he had intended to purchase back in Episode 2.

Personally, I strongly disagree with Oliver’s decision to break John Diggle out. But then again, he wouldn’t be Oliver if he wasn’t this arrogant. Mr. Terrific, Artemis (Madison McLaughlin), and Wild Dog show up to try and stop him, only to discover that Oliver had been going easy on them for the entirety of their training sessions.

Church takes out Anti Crime Unit; Diggle re-joins Team Arrow

Diggle makes it out of prison in one piece after a pretty badass infiltration sequence courtesy of Oliver Queen. By the looks of things, Spartan is going to be back to join Team Arrow. Excellent. For now however, he’s holding up at HIVE HQ while he waits for heat on his tracks to die down.

Meanwhile, Ragman and Felicity come to some closure, and the team gets ready to fight back against Tobias Church. Not a moment too soon as well. Church uses his newly-procured weapons to bust into the ACU, almost taking out the last few good cops in Star City. We get to see what Ragman is truly capable of here. His possessed suit effortlessly shrugs off the blast of a C4 charge planted on a wall, and catches bullets in midair. I swear, I’m liking Ragman more and more.

Arrow Season 5, Episode 4 ends in a cliffhanger: Wild Dog Captured By Church

Either way, Team Arrow rescues the cops of the ACU, but at the cost of Wild Dog getting captured. This looks like the perfect cliffhanger ending to set up the next episode. Last we see of Wild Dog, Tobias Church is having him tortured with a stun gun. Church promises him that if he’s still alive by the end of everything, there will be too little for the Green Arrow to work with. Scary. I like it.

Well that’s the end of the episode. This is actually a pretty good episode in my opinion. I’m still not emotionally invested in Oliver’s new team, save for Ragman. Still, with Spartan back in play, I think this is going to be taking a turn for the better soon.

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