It feels like forever since we last checked in with our favorite Star City residents, but now that the Arrow Season 5 premiere is on the horizon, it's more important than ever to refresh our memories of everything that happened last season. Because let's be honest, there was a lot that went down for Team Arrow this year. And given that my memory isn't like it used to be (What? I'm almost 30, you guys!), I thought it would be a good idea to recap the biggest moments from Arrow Season 4, so we aren't completely thrown off base when the show returns.
From Oliver and Felicity's engagement cancellation to a certain team member's death, the show's fourth season was pretty much comprised of equal parts action and emotional turmoil. But hey, isn't that one of the reasons we love it so much? And let's not forget how the team has decided to go their separate ways, which means Team Arrow is no more... at least for the time being. Something tells me they won't be able to resist the call of vigilante justice for too long into the new season. But until that time, let's look back on some of Season 4's most prominent plot twists so we can be ready for whatever Season 5 sends our way.
The Darhk Days
Damien Darhk was revealed to be the leader of H.I.V.E. and responsible for the Ghosts who attempt to take over Star City, which eventually forces Oliver to return and help Thea, Diggle, and Laurel fight them off. (With a little coaxing from Felicity, of course.) But the team soon realizes that Darhk possesses powers that not even Oliver's fancy arrows can fight against, thereby making him a real threat. He even blackmailed Lance into working for him temporarily by threatening to kill Laurel if he didn't do as instructed.
It's eventually discovered that Darhk's long-term plan was to detonate all of the world's nuclear weapons by using Rubicon so that he could create a new world in the aftermath by keeping the "worthy" humans safe in a place called "Genesis" until after the explosion. Luckily, Felicity was able to hack into the system and stop all of the missiles except for one, which hit the city of Havenrock. Knowing that Darhk would never stop trying to destroy everything, Oliver decided to break his No. 1 rule and killed Darhk in the season finale, thus ending his reign of terror.
The Rise & Fall Of Canaries
When Thea's bloodlust started becoming a real issue, Laurel brought her back to Nanda Parbat to see if Malcolm could help. However, it turned out that Laurel had another reason for wanting to go there. Still hurting over Sara's death, Laurel placed her sister's body in the Lazarus Pit, hoping it would bring her back to life. It did, though, the initial side effects left Sara different and much more violent than she used to be. With the help of special guest star John Constantine, Sara's soul was able to be restored, but she still suffers from the same bloodlust as Thea and opted to leave Star City to try and work things out (aka head over to her own spin-off, Legends of Tomorrow).
Unfortunately, our other vigilante Canary didn't have as hopeful of an ending. After Lance testified against him in court, Darhk was sent to prison, unable to use his powers since Oliver had stolen his idol. As you can imagine, he was none too happy about that and decided to get revenge on Lance after his eventual breakout (with the help of Diggle's brother, Andy) by killing Laurel. She died later on in the hospital due to severe internal injuries.
The Return Of Ray
Remember that big explosion that happened at Palmer Tech at the end of Season 3? Well, if you thought Ray Palmer had met his demise in that moment you were proven dead wrong. (Pun intended. Sorry not sorry.) Thankfully, he managed to accidentally shrink himself down to, you guessed it, an A.T.O.M. and was able to avoid getting injured. The problem was, though, that he soon became one of Darhk's prisoners. But given that he's a genius, he was able to communicate his whereabouts to Felicity so that Team Arrow could rescue him and help set him up for his own Legends of Tomorrow spin-off story.
The End Of Olicity
Fans of these two lovebirds were overjoyed to see Oliver propose to Felicity by the middle of the season. However, horror struck soon thereafter when a car accident made Felicity temporarily paraplegic. Luckily, her colleague Curtis was able to create a cure for her paralysis, but nothing could be created to fix Oliver and Felicity's relationship once she found out that he had been keeping his son, Will, a secret from her this entire time. She called off the engagement and made us believe that love is dead.
And now, here we are in the present day — Oliver is the interim mayor of Star City and the rest of the team opted to go their separate ways. But like I said, I doubt this divide will last very long because if there's one thing these beloved characters can't resist, it's coming to one another's aid when they need it most. We'll discover how it all plays out soon enough.
Images: Bettina Strauss/The CW (2); Dean Buscher/The CW; Cate Cameron/The CW; Katie Yu/The CW
