Arrow Recap With Spoilers: Genesis

The episode opens with two H.I.V.E. agents arguing about the degree to which they should be afraid of Darhk.

Darhk enters, with Andy Diggle, Merlyn, and Murmur in tow. After confirming that the rest of H.I.V.E. kept Genesis on track without him, he kills the two people who were waiting for him and then intimidates the rest of H.I.V.E., attending virtually by videoconference.

At the lair, Oliver finds out that these two agents have been killed, and reveals that he's heading to Hub City to meet with a friend of Constantine's to train in defense against magic. The trip is apparently quite dangerous, so he's going alone, and the rest of the team is going to take the weekend to rest up. Thea, in particular, is going to go out of town with Alex.

At A.R.G.U.S., Lyla greets John, who has come to visit her. She's not thrilled about being in protective custody with Sara, but Diggle reiterates it's necessary since everywhere else they might go is compromised by his brother. He heads out to run errands and get diapers.

Felicity comes to visit Oliver in a basement room, where he's preparing for his trip. He tells her that he doesn't know where his path will lead, because there's no length he won't go to to avenge Laurel. Felicity has fueled up the company jet and is planning on coming with him.

After pucking up his diapers, Diggle gets a text saying that facial recognition software has picked up a hit on his brother. Instead of calling for backup, he heads to a tenement building where Andy tries to gun him down, distracting him by invoking Laurel, and then runs away.

When Diggle gets pinned down near a power plant, he calls for backup from A.R.G.U.S., over objections from Lyla.

In Hub City, Oliver heads to an underground casino with Felicity, who takes up residence at the blackjack table where Constantine told Oliver to wait for him.

On their vacation weekend, Thea wakes up to discover Alex is missing. She's worried, but he's just downstairs making breakfast. The two kiss.

At the casino, Felicity is on a winning streak, and loans some money to a woman two seats down, who identifies herself as the woman Oliver is looking for.

Diggle finds his brother, but gets knocked out and taken prisoner by Andy and his hidden reinforcements.

Diggle wakes up chained to a ceiling in a basement, with Andy telling him that Darhk is on the way. He says he's meant to "prep" John and reveals an array of torture tools.

After John starts yelling at him, Andy stabs him.

Esrin Fortuna, at the casino, reveals that she's an immortal shaman. She brings Oliver through a door, and they arrive in a cavernous chamber where there's lots of candles and an idol like Darhk's.

Fortuna reveals that there is a way for Oliver to channel the power of light and hope in order to repel Darhk's death-fueled magic. Oliver says he's there to learn that, but Fortuna says that if the darkness inside him overpowers the light, he'll fuel Darhk's magic instead of repelling it.

On their vacation, Thea is unable to get a cell signal. Alex is pleased that they're isolated, but Thea can't shake the feeling that the place where they are is too perfect. She hears a sound, and gets worried, confusing Alex. She says she feels like the nature sounds around them are on a loop, but Alex is trying to talk her down, and convince her to just be happy. He kisses her.

Elsewhere, two Ghosts pull Diggle down from his chains, but he manages to use one of the blades from the torture table to kill them and then chain his brother to a door. He takes Andy's gun and holds it on him, but doesn't pull the trigger, saying that he's still human.

In the underground chamber, Fortuna is planning to hit Oliver with a low dose of Darhk's power. Oliver wonders if he needs a totem or idol or something, but she tells him that the tattoo Constantine gave him will suffice. She hits him with a low dose of power and he's able to repel it by focusing on the light within himself, but when she hits him with a higher dose, he goes inside his mind and sees himself fighting a League of Assassins member, then Deathstroke, then Darhk. He flashes through all the terrible things that have happened to him since the island, and when he comes out of the trance he's knocked over. Fortuna says he's got too much darkness within him to succeed, and she asks what she could possibly teach Oliver that would change what he saw. She says there's nothing she can do for him.

Thea realizes that she doesn't even know where Alex said they were going for vacation. She goes all Truman Show on him, revealing that she knows the pattern of the noises outside. When Alex takes out some "vitamins," she recognizes them as the drugs Merlyn used to keep her complacent, panics, and leaves.

At the holding area where Lyla is staying with Sara, she screams at Diggle when he comes back. She warns him that he's not acting like the man she married, but the man she divorced. She tells him to bring Andy to justice the right way, and Diggle says he will.

At the casino, Oliver says Fortuna is right: the problem is with him, not with the magic. He realizes that he's always going to revert back to the person he became on the island, just like Felicity said when she dumped him. Felicity tells him he's wrong and that she was wrong when she said that, that everyone can change.

Back in the basement where Andy is chained up, Darhk arrives and unlocks him, revealing that this was the plan all along and they're tracking Diggle.

In the tractor trailer where Lyla is being held, Diggle realizes there's something wrong just moments before Andy and a H.I.V.E. truck launches a missile at them.

The missile doesn't stop the truck, but Andy continues to fire away at the vehicle, flanked by ghosts, while Lyla calls for backup.

Diggle can't get hold of Team Arrow and H.I.V.E. has attacked A.R.G.U.S. headquarters and has them engaged there, but the truck rumbles to a stop when Darhk stands in front of them in the street. Lyla is convinced that she's his target, not Diggle, and that he needs to take the baby and run.

Diggle does so, tearing off on a motorcycle and drawing away the Ghosts, while Darhk himself stays behind. Lyla kills all the Ghosts left with him, but Darhk takes her hostage.

He heads for the baby's playpen and goes to grab Sara, but she's already gone with Diggle and all Darhk reveals is a stash of weapons.

In the streets of the city, Ghosts on motorcycles and an armored truck chase Diggle, but are taken out when Felicity shows up in the van, saying that Oliver is dealing with Lyla and Darhk. The sole remaining Ghost is Andy, and Diggle steals a motorcycle to go after him.

On the truck, Darhk is about to kill Lyla until Oliver arrives to take him down. Darhk turns him away with magic, but Oliver doesn't take long to get up.

Diggle finds Andy, beating him down and holding a gun on him, then holding off on killing him.

On the truck, Darhk almost has Oliver beat when Oliver manages to repel his magic. Both of them fall to the ground, and Darhk escapes before Ollie can get up.

Elsewhere, Andy tells Diggle that whatever happens, he'll keep getting out of jail and will terrorize Diggle's family forever. Ultimately, after enough goading, Diggle shoots Andy.

Closing Andy's eyes, Diggle is filled with regret when Oliver arrives, telling him that Lyla is fine but unconscious.

Diggle tells Oliver that he did what he had to do to keep Lyla and Sara safe.

At the lair, Oliver is brooding when Felicity comes in. He's worried about Thea. He tells Felicity about repelling Darhk, saying he was able to do it because he heard Felicity's voice in his head reminding him of all the good things he has in life, and that he heard the rest of team Arrow, including Laurel, telling him to have hope and keep fighting.

When Lyla wakes up, Diggle tells her that Sara is fine, but that he had to kill Andy. He tells her that Andy reached for his gun, so that the doesn't have to tell her it was her and Sara that motivated him to kill.

Lyla panics, revealing a scar on her arm; she had been storing the Rubicon program in a drive under her skin, which Darhk had torn out.

She tells them that it's a ballistic launch override protocol designed to prevent any country from launching a nuclear attack. Darhk, meanwhile, wants to use it to launch missiles instead. Rubicon, they realize, is Darhk's version of the Biblical flood. Felicity wonders what Darhk is planning on using as his ark — the answer, of course, is the creepy Stepford town where Alex and Thea are. She realizes that she's trapped when she sees some Ghosts, tries to run from them, and bounces off an invisible wall.