'Arrow' Recap: 'Schism' Season 4 Finale Episode 23, Arrow V.S. Damien Darhk

The big season four finale of CWTV's Arrow is here and with it is some explosive action.

In "Schism," episode 23 and the season four finale, Oliver has to find a way to get the city behind the idea that they can take charge and help destroy Damien Darhk and his plan.

Oliver, Spartan, Thea and Lance have to find a way to help stop Damien Darhk who was last seen in the presence of Felicity, Curtis and Donna.

The visit did not seem like promising one at all and became more telling as this episode commenced.

Oliver has to dig deep within himself and also team up with an unexpected force to try and earn the upper-hand against Darhk. Darhk is set on destroying the city as a means of starting over, however, Oliver believes he can get the city on his side and together they will help him fight back agains Darhk and the H.I.V.E. forces under his command. Will this plan work to defeat Damien Darhk?

The episode kicks off where it left off last week. Darhk tosses Curtis to the side and takes Donna by the throat, threatening Felicity to help him destroy the world.

His grip tightens but before she could answer, Arrow and Spartan come in to save the day.

Darhk says there is nothing they can do to stop him and he has an army of ghosts come in and engage in a shootout with Arrow and Spartan.

They win the shootout but Darhk takes Arrow by the throat. Thea comes in threatening to kill Darhk's daughter.

He asks for them to hand his daughter over and vanishes with her in a flash.

Meanwhile, Curtis is hurt pretty bad and Felicity realizes that Darhk took the control to access Rubicon. They head to the table and place Curtis there, Oliver tells Felicity she needs to help them find Darhk.

In a flashback, Oliver remembers being shot. Taiana is there and says she will destroy Reiter, however, Reiter is not afraid and the two of them clash.

In present day, Oliver tells Felicity he couldn't stop Darhk's powers because is magic is too strong and his belief in her is not enough.

Felicity starts working on locating the laptop when Lyla comes in to find out why Darhk is moving forward with Genesis.

No one understands why Darhk is doing what he is doing and when Felicity finds his location, Arrow, Thea and Spartan head out to find him.

Spartan finds the GPS signal but there is no sight of Darhk. The room begins to light up and they see that thousands of missiles have been launched and they only have two hours to stop them.

Lyla phones the launch in and Felicity gets cracking on trying to stop the missiles. In a flashback, Reiter and Taiana are fighting and he almost gets the upper-hand but she fights back.

Oliver throws a spike at Reiter taking him down, however, Taiana is having some sort of strange effect from trying to drain Reiter.

In present day, Felicity tells Lance to take her mother away from Star City. Lyla and Diggle say goodbye to their daughter for now as she is being taken to a safer city.

Lyla and Diggle are losing hope and Oliver comes in to urge Lyla to pull her team back from City Hall because they will all die if they go in.

Lyla is reluctant and says it's not Oliver's call, it's hers.

Darhk's daughter is scared of where they are and he tells her it won't be much longer. She says she misses her mother and Darhk says he does too but they will see her soon.

Lyla's forces come in but Darhk takes them all out with ease as team Arrow hears the entire attack. Lyla asks for them to turn it off and exits the room, Diggle follows her.

Felicity is trying to shut down program when ghosts storm into the lair and start firing. The team takes cover at first then starts fighting back. Oliver makes it over to his bow and arrows and everyone seems to be fighting with purpose.

Diggle hesitates to shoot a ghost and before he is shot his wife helps out. Even Felicity knocks a ghost out.

In a flashback, Oliver is trying to get Taiana to control the enormous power she absorbed. She tries to kill him but he talks her down. She lets go and apologizes.

Taiana says the only way to end it is for Oliver to kill her.

The team survives the present day attack and there is only 27 minutes until the missile hits Star City. They start to think what Laurel would have thought if she was there.

Felicity says Oliver has lost hope and she sees it in his eyes. He said he was arrogant to believe he could unite the city to fight Darhk.

He says it was foolish and he blamed himself when Laurel died. He said he tried to do things differently, but ended up there. He wants to know if Laurel would have still been alive if he hadn't come back.

Curtis is up and walking and he is trying to inspire Oliver to get his hope back.

Curtis says he and his husband were close to leaving Star City but the night before they did, the Green Arrow popped up on the TV and reminded him that the city was worth saving and their home was worth fighting for.

He urges Oliver to give the city hope again.

Oliver makes his way to the middle of the city and delivers a speech to the crowd. He says he knows they are feeling senselessness and hopelessness. He says he knows that the city has been through tough times before and they have pulled through.

He says somehow, someway, they will survive this. He even quotes Curtis and says that it takes tenacity to live there.

He says this is their home, friends, family and lives. Oliver says they will not throw it away by descending into chaos. He says they can all stand there united, no matter what.

The missile is getting close and that's good news for Curtis and Felicity who are going to try to disable it.

They manage to send the missile off of its course and the city rejoices as Oliver has a huge look of relief.

Felicity says they took down one nuke but they still have 15,000 to go. Malcolm joins the team to try and help back up Curtis and Felicity. Oliver plans on going to City Hall to fight Darhk and the entire team feels inspired.

In a flashback, Taiana begs Oliver to kills her before she kills him. She says if he ever cared for her, then he would do it.

She also tells him not to forget his promise and he says he won't, before taking her life. The villagers on their side see what happened and accuse Oliver of killing Taiana, without knowing why. In present day, Lyla addresses why Diggle froze when it came to taking out the ghost.

Diggle said he did kill Andy and it wasn't self-defense. He thinks Lyla thinks he is a monster but she says he did what he had to do, it's that simple.

Oliver visits Darhk who tells his daughter that the Green Arrow came there to die. Oliver is being thrown around the city with ease by Darhk. Meanwhile, Thea and Malcolm are providing Curtis and Felicity with cover.

Darhk tells Arrow that even if he stops him, the missiles are still going to find their targets. He says he is sparing everyone the pain of living without people he loves.

Just then, an angry mob shows up and starts ordering Darhk to get out of the town. He knocks them all down with his power and says he is trying to cleanse humanity. Arrow says Darhk will not do it and he says it won't just be him who stops him.

The people of the city rise up again and Arrow manages to slice Darhk. Darhk tries to use his magic however, Arrow has gotten the best of him.

They are forced to fight in hand-to-hand combat and the crowd is cheering for Arrow. Meanwhile, Felicity and the rest of the team meet up with Brother Eye. She asks for a moment alone with Cooper to convince him that he is better than working for Darhk.

She says he can still be the man that she loved. He says he hasn't been that man in a long time. Felicity tells him now is his chance to save the world.

Cooper stopped Rubicon and Darhk sensed it. He kills Cooper by letting the bullet inside of him hit his heart. Felicity tells Cooper she is sorry and runs off.

Arrow is getting beat but Lyla and Spartan show up to help. Darhk calls out his ghosts and the people of Star City go into battle.

There is still work for Felicity and Curtis to do. Darhk shoots Oliver with an Arrow but he bounces back up.

He is greeted by his friends and Lance. He tells them to take out the ghosts and keep the people safe. He and Darhk get involved in a punching match.

Darhk is down and says Oliver won't kill him. He says with Slade Wilson he had a choice, this time, he does not. He takes an arrow and drives it into Darhk, killing him.

Felicity tells the team it will take forever to clean the lair up. Lance says he is leaving town with Donna for a while. He is no longer suspended from the force.

He tells Oliver that he got him closure and got justice for Laurel. Thea says she is wondering if this is who she really is because she threatened to kill a little girl.

Thea wants to get out of the team before she loses too much of herself.

She apologizes to Oliver and Oliver says she doesn't ever have to apologize to him. Felicity says it's just the three of them, team Arrow. She leaves and Oliver asks Diggle if he is okay.

Diggle says he isn't because he told Lyla the truth. He says Lyla is a soldier and understood but he doesn't think he will ever understand. He wants to take some time away from the team and city.

Oliver says Diggle is the one that keeps him in line but Diggle says it has been the other way around. They end things with a handshake. In a flashback Oliver tells the villagers that Taiana begged him to die.

He tells them that Taiana was succumbing to the darkness. The villagers say that the plane has been destroyed, however, there is another way off the island.

Oliver buries Taiana and is approached by Waller who picks him up after a mission accomplished. Waller says it was never about expunging his darkness, it was to show him that justice requires killing.

Waller has the idol air-lifted and she presents him with his suit and gives him two options. Go back to being a vigilante or fight for her. Oliver says he has a promise to fulfill.

Felicity approaches Oliver at Laurel's grave and tells Oliver he was able to give the city hope by defeating Darhk. She says what he is feeling isn't darkness, it's a schism because he is at war with two sides of himself.

Oliver gets a call from the city councilman who says there is something he would like to talk to him about. Oliver is appointed Mayor of Star City for the time being until a formal election.

Oliver says he is ready for this and makes his way to the podium to be sworn in.

He recites the oath and is formally appointed as mayor.

Lance is getting out of the city, Thea is left alone to think in the loft, Diggle looks to be returning to his duty as a soldier and says goodbye to Lyla and his daughter and Oliver walks into the old lair staring at the uniforms he and the team once wore.

Felicity walks up and he says he didn't know she would be there. Felicity says there is no chance she was going to leave. So, what's next?

"Schism" brings season four of CWTV's Arrow to a pretty intense close.

Only time will tell what the Arrow writers have planned for season five. Fans who want more Arrow extras can head over to The CW to find out updates as season four continues to progress.

Photos that sum up tonights episode.

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: Arrow Season 6 Episode 4 Review: Reversal (more); Arrow Season 6 Episode 3 Review/Recap: Next of Kin (more); Arrow Season 6 Episode 2 Review/Recap: Tribute (more); Arrow Season 5 Episode 1 Review/Recap: Fallout (more).

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