Line #49 Recap/ArrowS4E21MonumentPoint


1	As Team Arrow scrambles to stop Hive from destroying the world, they form a tenuous alliance with Felicity's father, the Calculator. Meanwhile, Thea has to stop Anarky from blowing up the HIVE Ark.
2	----
3	* AGodAmI: Damien Darhk draws his power from death. Ergo, killing the entire world's population will effectively lead to this. By the end of the episode, tens of thousands of people have died and it appears to already be starting.
4	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Malcolm's response to his daughter's snark, as both parties have given up trying to sway the other to their point of view.
5	* AdaptationNameChange: In the DCU, Haven''croft'' is a suburb of Monument Point, whereas here it's called Haven''rock''.
6	* AnnoyingArrows: Brick more or less ignores one stuck in his arm and Anarky survives one in the ''chest''.
7	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Even if the Palmer Tech Board did vote to remove Felicity as CEO, Ray still left her with a majority of the shares so they shouldn't be able to kick her out the building of a business she still has claims of ownership of.
8	* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Aside from the fact nuclear weapon launch facilities are intentionally airgapped and don't have any external connections a virus (or a control program) could use to get into the system, the control systems and computers are so ancient that it's unlikely modern software would even ''work'' trying to talk to them.
9	* TheBadGuyWins: A missile taking out one small town is enough to make Darhk all powerful.
10	* BrokenRecord: While Thea is trapped in her "new home" watched by armed soldiers, all she can do is [[SomethingThatBeginsWithBoring amuse herself imitating the endless loop of fake chirps and dog barks]]. In comes Malcolm, who gives the "Woof".
11	-->'''Malcolm:''' I know. The predictability was a terrible flaw in the design.
12	* TheBusCameBack:
13	** Anarky managed to sneak his way into the Genesis Ark.
14	** Noah Smoak aka The Calculator returns as well.
15	** Both Murmur and Brick now act as TheHeavy for H.I.V.E. in Star City while the leadership has presumably retreated to the Ark.
16	* CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: As required for any brainwashing-enforced utopia.
17	* CaptainObvious
18	-->'''Oliver:''' You need to divert that missile.
19	-->'''Felicity:''' [[SarcasmMode You are lucky I'm too busy to come up with a witty response to that right now.]]
20	* CharacterDeath: Alex Davis is killed by Anarky.
21	* CoDragons: Murmur and Brick are this to H.I.V.E. and Darhk.
22	* ColdEquation: The only way Felicity can prevent the final missile from striking the city of Monument Point (which has millions of citizens) is to direct it toward its suburb of Havenrock (which has tens of thousands). Lyla tries to console her by pointing this out, but it doesn't seem to help much.
23	* ContinuityNod:
24	** Brick is still playing the game with the gun.
25	** Anarky points out this is the second time Thea has foiled his plan for revenge on Darhk.
26	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Subverted with the Palmer Tech board of directors. They dislike Felicity's charitable use of company resources, but they actually want to have a proper board meeting to discuss this with her. Only after Felicity keeps making decisions of her own without bothering to contact the board do they throw her out, which is a perfectly valid reason in real-life.
27	* TheCorrupter:
28	** The Khushu idol takes control of Taiana against her will.
29	** Anarky tries to do this to Thea.
30	* CurbStompBattle: Mirroring Darhk, Reiter takes down Oliver pretty easily when he attempts to fight him directly.
31	* DeathBySecretIdentity: Alex watches dumbfounded as his girlfriend spars with Anarky, right before he's killed by Anarky.
32	* DemotedToDragon: Lampshaded by Brick himself, previously an ArcVillain and wannabe ruler of The Glades, now an enforcer for H.I.V.E.
33	* DownerEnding: Although Team Arrow manages to stop most of the deaths Genesis could have caused, they do so at the cost of destroying a town, leaving thousands of innocence dead. Furthermore Damien Darhk only needed to destroy that one city in order to [[TheBadGuyWins become all powerful.]]
34	* EnemyMine: Both Felicity and Thea team up with their respective villainous dads in order to take down a bigger threat. Thea attempts this with Anarky, suggesting they team up to take down Darhk, but fails.
35	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Noah is firmly against H.I.V.E.'s apocalyptic plans and actively seeks to prevent it.
36	* EvilPlan: H.I.V.E. plans to hide out in the underground bunker while the world is destroyed in the nuclear holocaust they've created, then they'll recreate the world InTheirOwnImage using the BlackMagic created from billions of deaths.
37	* FoeRomanceSubtext: Lampshaded by Malcolm sardonically referring to Lonnie Machin as Thea's "kind of ex-boyfriend". Turns out he actually [[CreateYourOwnVillain thinks of Thea as his mother]].
38	* FromBadToWorse: Just as Ollie finally found a way to barely stand up to Damien Darhk, he gets orders of magnitude more powerful by drawing upon the deaths of everyone killed in Havenrock.
39	* GodzillaThreshold: Why Felicity brings the Calculator in to help crack Rubicon.
40	* TheGlomp: Felicity does this to her mother to Donna's surprise, having just discovered the world may come to an end.
41	* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Taiana gets those after carrying the idol for too long.
42	* GonnaNeedMoreX: In the {{cliffhanger}} ending, Oliver and Diggle enter the Nexus Chamber to find Damien Darhk surrounded by the vast swirling magic forces that he's been able to summon from the nuclear destruction of Havenrock.
43	-->'''Darhk:''' Hello, Oliver. Nice timing. I think you're gonna need much bigger arrows.
44	* HonorBeforeReason
45	** Brick gives his gun to Noah and gives him the chance to kill him and go free. Noah is even aware of his reputation for doing this.
46	** Quentin can get his badge back if he just signs a false statement that he had no idea his daughter was the Black Canary, as it's less plausible he was forced to work for HIVE to protect his daughter if she was a superhero. Donna convinces him to sign a more accurate statement.
47	* HopeSpot: When Felicity has the EurekaMoment to hack the GPS satellite to tamper with the missile's coordinates, you think they can just redirect it to the ocean, right? Unfortunately, it's too far on its descent by that point, and Monument Point isn't near the coast....
48	** Though, on the other hand, directing to the ocean could possibly have killed ''more'' people. While no one lives in the ocean, it's possible a tsunami could be created that could devastate all nearby land.
49	* IronicName:
50	** A town with the word "Haven" in its name is completely destroyed.
51	** Anarky says that Thea shouldn't be taking anybody's orders, as she is a Queen.
52	** Noah is trying to stop the Flood instead of getting on the Ark.
53	* {{Irony}}: Noah notes how after being arrested by Quentin for trying to steal secrets from Felicity's company, they're all working together to steal secrets from Palmer Tech.
54	* ItIsBeyondSaving: How Malcolm rationalises his alliance with HIVE's goals. It sounds better than "I just want to save my life and the only other person I care about."
55	* {{Jerkass}}: Although he is very polite about it and even tells Felicity he had hoped things would end differently, Mr. Dennis is all too glad to finally oust Felicity from the company. Although seeing how he doesn't know the world is facing Nuclear Armageddon and Felicity can't tell him ''what'' is so important that she is neglecting the company, it's actually less a case of him being a flat-out Jerkass and more a case of...
56	* JerkassHasAPoint: While he's glad to be rid of Felicity, he ''does'' raise a valid point stating that Felicity's neglect of her duties as a CEO gives him a valid reason to. He even tries to politely tell Felicity he isn't meant to be running her company early in the episode, and it's only after Felicity tells him that the board "can wait" that he throws her out. ''With the support of the board'', mind you.
57	* KickTheSonOfABitch: Although Machin is far worse than her, it's hard to feel bad when he brutally stabs [[AssholeVictim Ruve Adams]] to death.
58	* LamePunReaction: Anarky tells Thea she's not a pawn--she's a queen.
59	-->'''Anarky:''' ...Get it?\
60	'''Thea Queen:''' [[SarcasmMode Yeah, I get it.]]
61	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Felicity refers to Murmur and Brick -- a Season 3 VillainOfTheWeek and mid-season ArcVillain, respectively-- as "last year's greatest hits."
62	* MythologyGag: The city of Monument Point and its suburb of Havencroft/[[AdaptationNameChange Havenrock]] are from ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'' comics.
63	* NiceJobBreakingItHero
64	** To save a city, Felicity ends up killing thousands of people in a nearby town, fuelling Darhk's power for his confrontation with Oliver and Diggle.
65	** There's also Lyla for failing to destroy Rubicon once she took over A.R.G.U.S. from Waller (though that may not have been up to her).
66	** There's also Thea for 'creating' Anarky, and Oliver for setting him free from that prison van so he'd kill Darhk, resulting in the death of Thea's boyfriend instead.
67	* NoSell: Reiter shrugs off a knife to the chest and [[ImmuneToBullets several shots]], though he gets temporarily knocked down by salvo of automatic fire.
68	* ParentalSexualitySquick: When Felicity asks her mom about her dad's cabin, her mom goes on a rant about how the two of them would go up there to make love.
69	-->'''Donna:''' You know, your father could go all night long.
70	-->'''Felicity:''' Okay. That's enough. I don't--
71	-->'''Donna:''' You know what? Actually, I think you were conceived in Ravenspur.
72	-->'''Felicity:''' Ohhh, please make it stop. ''Please''.
73	* PityTheKidnapper: Cited by Thea when she demands to see Alex, saying she can either play along with her confinement or be a pain in Malcolm's ass.
74	* PlotInducedStupidity:
75	** Felicity decides to break in to Palmer Tech to get the computer component, instead of just asking Curtis, her most loyal employee, to get it for her. Although he simply may not have been available when they called him, this is not brought up.
76	** It's not said why the soldiers manning the silos don't deactivate the missiles by manual means, given that they have a 21 hours to do so.
77	* PsychoExBoyFriend: Malcolm jokingly refers to Lonnie as this for Thea, much to her irritation.
78	* PyrrhicVictory: All of the nuclear warheads have been stopped...except one, which landed on Havenrock and killed tens of thousands of people. Worse yet, this was still enough to empower Darhk, and the ''other'' warheads have only been temporarily delayed.
79	* RaceAgainstTheClock: Rubicon will launch the world's nuclear arsenal in 21 hours.
80	* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: According to Lyla, the President believes the fate of the world depends on an IT Girl, a criminal, and two guys in Halloween costumes.
81	-->'''Oliver:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne They're not Halloween costumes.]]
82	* RecycledPlot: Genesis is basically the same as the Undertaking from Season 1 apart from its much larger scale and scope (nuking and then rebuilding the world, rather than levelling and rebuilding the Glades). Malcolm even comments on the similarity.
83	* RedshirtArmy: For a supposedly elite covert operations agency, ARGUS personnel don't seem to be useful for much more than cannon fodder.
84	* TheReveal: Star City's Nexus of Evil Chamber is right under City Hall, which explains why HIVE's EvilPlan involved Revue Adams becoming Mayor.
85	* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: A flashback cuts to a merc firing his assault rifle directly at the camera until Oliver shoots him InTheBack to stop him killing the audience.
86	* SecretUndergroundPassage: In a basement filing room of City Hall, Oliver sees a shelf of archive boxes. The papers on the bottom shelf are fluttering from the air passing under a hidden door, which he activates by pushing up on the vertical ladder fixed to the wall.
87	* ScoobyStack: Felicity and her father do one when peeking out of the elevator during the theft at Palmer Tech.
88	* SkewedPriorities:
89	** Noah insists on reconciling with Felicity while they are busy trying to hack Rubicon--then again he probably figures it's the only time she'll be forced to listen to him regardless.
90	--->'''Felicity:''' You clearly don't understand that now ''is not the time!''
91	** Subverted with Felicity brushes off the Palmer Tech board of directors because she's busy saving the world, only for it to backfire.
92	* SoProudOfYou: Noah takes evident pride in his daughter's vigilante hacktivism.
93	* StrawNihilist: Malcolm Merlyn. He believes the world needs to be remade, hence why he's going on along with Hive's plan, on the condition that Thea be spared as well.
94	* SwissCheeseSecurity:
95	** You would think that given the Genesis Ark is a completely sealed environment with a brainwashed populace, Anarky would find it a lot harder to get inside and remain undiscovered.
96	** Averted when Felicity tries to break into Palmer Tech to find that Mr. Dennis has already taken the precaution of removing her security clearance.
97	* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Thea reveals her SecretIdentity to Anarky and tries to convince him not to destroy the Genesis Ark. She appears to be getting through to him when Merlyn shoots Anarky with a couple of arrows, causing him to open fire. Merlyn then points out the time bombs Anarky set up, showing he was going to kill everyone regardless.
98	* TheyWereHoldingYouBack: Anarky doesn't like how Thea lets her actions be swayed by some boyfriend, so kills Alex to set her free.
99	* TimeForPlanB: Cited by Anarky when Thea foils his plan to destroy the [=CO2=] scrubbers.
100	* TitleDrop: Done courtesy of Lyla Michaels.
101	* TokenEvilTeammate: Noah joins forces with Team Arrow to stop the end of the world.
102	* TooDumbToLive: Alex doesn't run away, leading to him being killed by Anarky. To be fair, he was under H.I.V.E.'s mind control. There's little telling what was going through his head.
103	* UndergroundCity: Tevat Noah was designed by H.I.V.E. to mimic a suburban town, with the algae from Star City Bay providing oxygen to the entire facility. The facility is the only place on Earth safe from Damien Darhk's planned apocalypse.
104	* WhamEpisode: In addition to Alex being killed off by Anarky, this episode contains by far the largest body count of any individual ''Arrow'' episode to date, as tens of thousands of people are killed when the nuclear missile strikes Havenrock. To put that in perspective, in RealLife, the only time nuclear strikes have ever been deployed were in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If the same is true for the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'', then H.I.V.E. gave the world the third nuclear attack (the first by intercontinental ballistic missile), the only one in the 21st century, and the world's first use of nuclear terrorism. This could fundamentally change the world in many, many ways. [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking Oh, and Felicity is fired from Palmer Tech]].
105	* WhamShot: The ICBM landing and creating a mushroom cloud, which then destroys Havenrock. And no, even though we don't see any people, this isn't just a nuclear test site which it may appear to be at first--this is a real, populated town that was utterly annihilated, and [[Recap/ArrowS4E8LegendsOfYesterday this time The Flash isn't around to turn back time]].
106	* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: Felicity wants to know who would be dumb enough to think something like Rubicon would be a good idea. Turns out it was the late Amanda Waller.

Context Recap / ArrowS4E21MonumentPoint