The midseason finale of Arrow's fourth season left viewers to worry for weeks on end about the well-being of one Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards). To be fair, that apprehension has been around since the beginning of this season when the premiere revealed that someone close to Oliver (Stephen Amell) would, in fact, die. At this point in the season, we still don't know who's in the ground, but by the end of this midseason premiere episode at least we know who's not in it. (If you voted in the "Who's in the Grave?" poll, it's probably time to rethink your vote.)

The cold open of "Blood Debts" occurs four months from now at the very familiar gravesite, set in the exact same scene in which Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) showed up in the Season 4 premiere. However, it's an extended version in which Oliver addresses his responsibility to end things, to kill Damien Darhk. This moment is completed in the episode's closing stinger scene, so we'll get to that by the end of the recap since it opens up a lot of room for new questions. For now, let's go back in time to Ollie's Island Adventure.

When last we left Oliver and Taiana, they had just discovered a veritable treasure trove of maps submerged in a shipwreck, but had also been discovered in turn by Conklin. Tonight's flashback sequence sees the suspicious soldier herding Oliver and Taiana back towards camp where he hands over the maps and reveals to Baron Reiter that Oliver is a traitor. Conklin gets to take his aggressions out on Oliver with a few cracks of the whip, but when Ollie's protective tattoo flares up, Reiter sees it. The orb he's holding glows in response, which also gets Reiter's attention. Oliver uses the distraction to draw Conklin's gun and threatens to kill himself with it unless Reiter agrees to Oliver's offer to help him find whatever he's looking for in exchange for Taiana's safety. He does, despite Conklin's protest. Now imprisoned together, Taiana patches up Oliver's wounds, but she not-so-subtly reminds us that Oliver also killed her brother. They presumably eat fish biscuits to pass the time until we get to see them again.

Now for the main storyline of tonight's episode. There's quite a bit going on here. The main arc for the remainder of this season is likely Team Arrow's pursuit of Damien Darhk, but don't expect to get that done in just a few episodes. Tonight's portion of that pursuit centers on the return of the villainous Lonnie Machin, aka Anarky (Alexander Calvert), who's just as eager to take down Darhk as Oliver is. However, this guy is the very definition of a loose cannon, so Oliver also spends his time beating up Ghosts in the hope that he'll get some intel on Darhk. When that fails, he resorts to setting Anarky free (after capturing him once already) in order to lead him to the elusive supervillain.

Meanwhile, Oliver's teammates also have a part to play in this whole ordeal. John Diggle still has his little brother Andy caged up, at least until he coughs up some information on Darhk. Under pressure from Oliver to get results, Diggle roughs up his little brother, but to no avail. It's on the advice of his wife Lyla that he tries approaching Andy as his brother instead of his jailer. After some hemming and hawing, it seems to work, though at first Andy's intel leads nowhere. There's another card that Oliver & Co. have been reluctant to play, that of Quentin Lance's cooperation with Darhk while actually acting as a spy for Oliver. They decide to blow their own cover as Lance gives Oliver the address of his regular meeting sites with Darhk; too bad Anarky beat them to it. It's this wrench in the gears that actually works to Team Arrow's advantage as they eventually track the villain to the home where Darhk's wife and daughter are staying.

While the masked crimefighters do manage to keep the Darhks from dying at the hands of the clearly insane Anarky (who has great flamethrower and three-section-staff skills), Green Arrow soon runs smack into Damien Darhk himself. Their fight ends as previous skirmishes have, with Darhk getting soundly beaten in physical combat and resorting to magical trickery in order to gain victory over Green Arrow. After getting a couple of quick stabs in (using Oliver's own arrows, no less), Darhk realizes that the hooded heroes have saved his wife and daughter, and so grants Oliver a few weeks to spend time with his own family before Hive burns the city to the ground. So those of you who were waiting for an ultimate showdown between these two will likely have to wait until much closer to the end of the season.

If we're keeping track of crimefighting victories, "Blood Debts" was not really a win for our heroes. They succeeded in apprehending Anarky, but Oliver unwisely set him free again. They managed to save the Darhks, but the whole "women and children first" thing aside, Ruvé (Janet Kidder) was probably the second-worst person to save in Starling City. To top it all off, they let Anarky out of their grasp once more, an oversight that will likely come back to haunt Thea. She was not only responsible for his facial scarring and his "creation" as a named villain through his "baptism by fire", but Anarky's infatuation with Speedy is an unhealthy one by any definition. I fully expect to revisit this dysfunctional relationship in the near future; Thea's sorta boyfriend Alex should probably watch his back.

Now I can't blame Oliver for not having his "A" game in this episode; his fiancée was laid up in the hospital undergoing multiple surgeries, after all. The consensus from the doctors - even "the one who came all the way from Central City" - isn't good: Felicity has sustained substantial nerve damage that could not be repaired, meaning she'll never walk again. While I don't necessarily believe this diagnosis will stick long-term (just like I don't necessarily believe that Felicity won't take on an Oracle status in at least some sense), I'm not quite sure how they're going to get Felicity back on her feet, so to speak. What was quite touching in this episode, however, was both Diggle's endearing love for Felicity as a friend and Oliver's undying love for her as his wife-to-be. The scene of Oliver putting Felicity's engagement ring back on her finger just as she was doubting his commitment was particularly sweet.

Towards the episode's end, it seems like everyone's patching things up: Diggle's playing cards with his little brother (and cheating, which was hilarious), Thea invites Alex over for wine and kissing after an earlier pseudo-break-up, and Oliver and Felicity plan a getaway in Bali ... once Darhk is taken care of. Even the Darhk Family reunites in the back of their limo where they plot to kill the Green Arrow sooner rather than later. How sweet! But we knew the Darhks were bad news. What we didn't know was who is in that dang grave. As it turns out, it's not Felicity after all!

The end scene of tonight's episode reveals Felicity alongside Oliver in the back of the limo at the graveyard, four months from now. While it's apparent that they're both very upset, Felicity is positively adamant that Oliver must "kill the son of a bitch," presumably meaning Darhk. What's curious, however, is that neither of them appear to be wearing their engagement/wedding rings... What does it all mean? Well, other than confirming that Felicity is still alive four months from now, not much else. Literally anyone else could be six feet under, though the writers are planting doubt that either Thea or Quentin will make it to the end of the season alive. (Quentin Lance currently leads the poll after Felicity, by the way.) So while "Blood Debts" did a serviceable job of bringing viewers back into the action and teeing up where the season is going from here, it felt more like a stage-setting episode than the best the Arrow is capable of doing. Still, I'm happy to have the most action-packed hour of television back, if only so they can resume breaking all sorts of glass.

Grade: ★★★ Good

Miscellanea:

Oliver: "It's my responsibility to end it, to kill Damien Darhk."

Conklin: "Don't get too attached to him, sweetheart. His prospects don't look too good."

Lance: "So you're back to dropping bodies?"

Oliver: "Just this one."

Anarky: "Oh, did you think I was going to kill you? Why would I do such a thing? You're the one who saved me from myself."

Speedy: "Aren't we risking some crazy Bond villain stupidity here? This guy needs to be put away; far, far away."

Diggle: "It doesn't matter if Darhk wants to save the world. He crossed a line."

Diggle: "Don't lose what made her fall in love with you in the first place."

Oliver: "For better, for worse."

Baron Reiter: "Remember, Conklin, there's no part of my plan which requires you to be alive."

Darhk: "Do you remember what I promised you?"

Ruvé: "A new beginning."

Darhk: "And you will have it, once we've brought this world to it's end." Any idea who Brie Thorpe is? Maybe it's nothing, but that was a name on the one and only headstone revealed near the end of the show...