‘Arrow’ season 4, episode 20 review: John Diggle battles Andy with epic David Ramsey performance

There’s no question in our mind that the second half of “Arrow” season 4 has probably been the best arc for David Ramsey to date on the show. Diggle started to seemingly win his brother Andy over to fighting for the good side, only to realize not too long afterwards that he had been the victim of a rather elaborate ruse. Andy had been playing him the whole time, and was actually still very much on Damien Darhk’s side.

Much of this episode (entitled “Genesis”) was all about an epic back-and-forth battle between John and Andy as the two battled in a series of different locales. First, John tried to go it alone, and in the process really disregarded his own safety, and that of his wife and child. As Lyla told him, this was more of the man she divorced. Eventually the two worked together to form a stronger plan, but the issue remained the same: John couldn’t kill his own brother. Blood could not wash away blood. Therefore, we were looking at a cycle in which Andy would escape, get captured, and then escape again, and like Darhk, he had no problem with killing.

To see John pull the trigger eventually was devastating. Was there another way? Maybe, but in the moment he was provoked beyond reproach, and determined to save Lyla and Sara. Just the lingering shot on Andy after this could with Diggle’s face may be the biggest tear-jerker on the show since Laurel was first impaled.

In the aftermath of all of this, we learned that during their battle, Lyla had the Rubicon project stolen from within her skin. This was a way to ensure that he could destroy as much of the earth as possible via nuclear annihilation.

Elsewhere, Oliver learning a thing or two about magic, and then using a little of it against Darhk, was interesting in that it’s a side of Oliver we never expected to see. He’s free for the time being, but who knows how long that will last?

Also, Alex and Thea went on what seemed on the surface to be a normal vacation … but was it? She was convinced that the other shoe was going to drop. That shoe seemed to be that she was trapped in the deadliest version of the Truman Show possible, and Alex was far from who we thought he was.

Just for Diggle alone, doesn’t it feel like a no-brainer that this was one of the best “Arrow” episodes this season? We think so. Grade: A-.

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