The Real Chon

I can't shake the whole Buffy/Watcher's Council/Glory vibe here, and I keep seeing in my head Buffy's soliloquy about "dealing themselves back in to make themselves relevant." Next up: Rowena becomes a magic junkie. Not a fan of the Springfield stuntcasting. Mark Pellegrino is so much more saucy.

Is this going to make us miss Lucas Buck?

I don't think Donna knows anything. I think it's partly because Felicity keeps her emotions close to her chest but also maybe she didn't want to tell Donna that Oliver has a child because it was a secret and she was respecting that. If she had told her about Oliver lying about William, it would open up a whole world of questions about why he lied in the first place and that veers too close to telling her he's the Green Arrow. IMO, then, Felicity is OK with lies by omission when it's to her benefit? Or something? She dumped Oliver for the same thing, but she won't fess up to her mother, much less hold her mother's feet to the fire for lying about dumping daddy. Her inconsistent stance here has me puzzled.

Red may be smarter than the average bear, but the current big bad has on his payroll an insane glasses-wearing man with a chainsaw who likes to beat up on Amish people ...

All the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots in all the worlds couldn't save us from the Kendra Telenovela sappiness. Le sigh.

Maybe it's Y chromosome hairsplitting, but I find the last-straw reasoning that Felicity laid down to be disingenuous. We're talking about a life, here, and Felicity of all people should realize that a connection to someone like Oliver/Green Arrow was dangerous. I also think that keeping a secret of that magnitude isn't lying, no matter how much Felicity purses her lips in disagreement. Add to that the either/or demand of having a relationship with her, and Oliver will screw up just waking up in the morning. She should have known this guy was damaged goods, and demanding instant improvement under penalty of a ratings ploy probably won't help. It's a relationship -- messy and fraught with peril -- and requires work, not ultimatums. I mean, you don't bolo punch an alcoholic for slipping, so you?

Isn't that Thomas Jane?

With that incredibly sad choice of moving the Honkin' Hillbilly through while getting rid of five people that clearly sang much better shows why this program is in its last year. Anybody else wonder if Scotty McCreery was a hostage? His attention sure wandered ...

Sadly, due to my age, my sense of humor may have jumped the shark, but I found nothing -- not even the death of Ariana Grande -- to be enjoyable about this show.

Perhaps Sutter is striking for empathy between the audience and some of the victims; I'm not sure what we did, though, to be sentenced to the ministrations of a punisher. In the words of my ancestors, "Nem jo."

If there's this huge from-the-future computer just up the hallway, which is Barry's slave 'n' all, shouldn't they mebbe oughta pick its brains? Mighta even known what that pesky power source was, or tell Barry how he defeated RF, or something. Or is that too deus ex machina?

Inasmuch as this kind of music is perfect for doing taxes, I think that Nick had the better overall performance of the night. Being an idol is much more than singing ability, and I feel that it will take teams of people to get Clark anywhere near marketability.

While I agree with the sentiment that Iris should have been told Barry's secret, I'm not on the Iris is justified bandwagon. In fact, I think in this episode she came off as a whiny, entitled harpy. She had made it clear on numerous occasions that she was "with Eddie" and that her and Barry's relationship had changed, and by that measure, Barry owed her nothing. Pulling the friendship card was hollow, too, because what did she bring to the relationship? "Wah! You don't tell me stuff!" "Wah! You better save my dad!" "Wah! You save people all the time, why can't you save Eddie?!?" "WAH! Why won't you give me an exclusive for my job?!?" Never once showed an ounce of concern about what Barry was going through with this change, particularly with his overdeveloped sense of duty and fair play. She was selfish.

I personally dug the telestrator, and Harry should have critiqued each song with it. WTF is a Snapchat artist? More hipster excuses to keep from looking for real work? That drivel he was uploading looks like any coloring book in a pre-K class. I guess there were songs, but I was so underwhelmed I worked on late tax returns.

In wading through the comments, several very good points have been made regarding Quentin's outburst, so my redundancy should be forgiven. In short, Quentin was acting like a petulant, entitled ass, regardless of whether he meant to speak on the judging of the panel or the judging of the voters. Harry, who is a seasoned professional who has paid his dues, was right to tell him he was acting the petulant, entitled ass. Harry's position as a paid judge is even more of a reason for him to call out Quentin, not less of one. Quentin's immaturity was never more evident than when he went to square off with Harry. Friendships are nice and all, but music is a business -- albeit one that's based on subjectivity. If you piss off the fan base, you don't sell records. If you piss off the band, they'll make you look sad. If you piss off the executives and the professionals, you don't get to make music at any level, except maybe on your own Sound Cloud channel. Quentin is just a passenger on that train. When he's driving it, then he can make distinctions on what is wack.