This week, the mid-season premiere episode of Arrow aired after a horrible cliffhanger that had sown fear in all the minds of fans. For the record, the first half of the 4th season ended with a most disturbing scene: Oliver was paying his respects in front of a grave shortly after a shooting that had hit Felicity. In the same episode, Oliver had finally asked Felicity to marry him a few minutes before the shooting. An episode full of emotions then!
Episode summary
The mid-season premiere picks up exactly where the mid-season finale left off. In the first scene, Oliver is found in front of a grave. Then we leave 4 months before this moment to find the Arrow team. Félicity is in the hospital and has a series of operations because her situation is critical. Meanwhile, Oliver tries to find Damien Darkh who is the cause of his fiancée's injuries and to do this, The Green Arrow crosses some limits. Team Arrow then realizes that they are not the only ones looking for Darkh: indeed Lonnie Machin, the one that Thea had set on fire, is also looking for Darkh. His path then crosses that of Team Arrow several times, which causes several problems. When they're not on the field, Oliver is with Felicity (although it took time) and Diggle with his brother Andy. Diggle is still trying to extract information from his brother and, on the advice of his wife, he decides to change tactics and talk to him as a brother and no longer see him as a criminal. Against all odds, this method works since Andy will eventually give Darkh's rental. Obviously, the flashbacks are also back. Oliver's blanket has exploded, and now that the soldiers in the camp know he's not who he claims to be, he's getting whipped (literally) as a result. However, one of his tattoos lights up under the blows and for some reason, the leader of the soldiers decides to spare him. Finally, at the end of the episode, we find Oliver in front of the grave and then he joins Felicity in the car. The tension is palpable while Felicity (who no longer wears her ring) orders him to find the person responsible… 
As you can see, it was an episode rich in storylines!
Strengths:
The best part of this episode was, without hesitation, the relationship between Oliver and Felicity. The latter exchange superb scenes where the chemistry of the actors is clearly present.Even if Oliver takes a long time to go see his betrothed, we completely understand his reasons and Felicity understands them too.Even if Felicity is seriously affected and may not walk again, we still feel that their relationship can survive. Especially when Oliver puts the joke on his finger saying "For Better or for worse". The couple is clearly taking things to the next level and showing their unity in the face of this tragic incident… The fact that Felicity no longer wears the ring at the end doesn't worry us that much. Admittedly, this means that there was a problem somewhere and therefore their relationship is not that strong… or at least, that's what they want us to think. Indeed, it looks a lot like the cliffhanger of the mid-season where we wanted to believe that Oliver was standing in front of Felicity's grave (which would have been suicidal if we take into account the ratings). Not too much reason to worry about this side because "drama makes live". 
The relationship between Diggle and his brother was also a nice novelty.Indeed, for several episodes this storyline dragged on and did not seem to improve. This change is therefore welcome all the more as it was surprising: The episode began with Diggle hitting his brother and ends with Diggle… playing cards with Andy!
Negatives
The big negative point of this episode is the multitude of storylines. If in general this is well accepted, in this case there was a little too much. We quickly feel lost with everything that happens and since no storyline goes all the way, a feeling of frustration quickly sets in. We fully understand the need to keep mysteries but it becomes rather detrimental. What happens between Thea and Lonnie Machin? Why does Machin want to kill Darkh? Why didn't Oliver attack Darkh more when he had the chance? Who is Darkh's wife? Who died? In addition, it is difficult to see the relationship between the current story and flashbacks, but the latter take up a lot of space… Finally, the storyline about Thea's thirst for blood seems to drag on. If it was interesting at first, we do not really understand the point of talking about it so much… 
In summary, it was a good episode but could have been better if there hadn't been so many storylines!
