popgoesculture

This says it so perfectly. I'm glad it's over, although I miss the glimpses of the show it once was (like the best spot for me was the second half of season 1 into the first half of season 2). Each season I optimistically thought they could fix it, but I was always wrong... and the series finale proved that. It was a mess in the way that only Arrow can be. I wonder what the show would've been like without the spinoffs; if they hadn't had to incorporate these other universes and characters. That said, part of me kept thinking they'd do a surprise twist, that Oliver would actually be alive and get to see at least one of his children grow up. But instead, we don't get any of that... I was honestly surprised that they went through with the whole "you'll die during the Crisis" (which was its own special mess).

Sounds like Glow, but concentrating on dudes. I'm glad he's found work that also lets him use his physicality. I'm interested to see where the other cast members go after the show.

Oh my god, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what SA was saying. I replayed it so many times. Thank you! The last 15 minutes was basically the whole season? I feel like everything else didn't matter. And EBR and SA were so sad in those last scenes, and SA was falling apart more than I had ever seen him (and it felt more like SA falling apart than Oliver at times). I have to say that the fight scenes were awful in this ep. I definitely saw CH's stunt double not connect with one of the bad guys when he kicked him, and it was just terrible and obvious. I'm sad it ended Arrow way. Part of me was always hoping snarky older William and Mia time traveling back (I know this isn't Flash) and finally hanging out with their dad and driving him nuts. I miss the idea of all four of them as a family, although I wouldn't want kid William back. I am surprised by how much I enjoyed Mia and William this season. Between them and the brief glimpses of Oliver and Felicity, I feel like that's the only part I enjoyed about this uneven, messy, and repetitive season.

This was such a bad episode. What was even the point???

So I actually didn't mind this episode? I mean, sure, if I concentrate on the Dinah of it all, and the Laurel logistics, I'll get annoyed... but instead I enjoyed the amazing Sara/Felicity scene (WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL!) and the cute Oliver and Felicity bits, and even some of Laurel's exasperation with Felicity's persistence cracked me up. And Mia being just like her parents! So those bits made me happy, while the terrible direction and sound mixing didn't. Once again, I could barely hear half of what SA and EBR were saying. There's still one line that CL said that I have no idea what it was. But also, yes to Dinah being the worst (she actually bugged me more than Laurel, which is nuts, bc I never thought anyone would replace KC for me), with her dumb plan to bring Felicity -- a noncombatant -- to capture two bad guys and JH's acting which isn't great. (And also her terrible blazer with the buttons but I guess that's beyond her control.)

EBR was definitely giving me ST vibes, down to the hair styling. I actually found her voice kind of stilted at times and it was bugging me a bit. I know this Felicity is different, but I missed effusive, warm Felicity. Makes me think that Oliver is definitely dead in this future. Her voice seemed demonstrably restrained and clipped. I really love the Mia and William dynamic, and then the incorporation of Felicity was great. I wish the whole ep was about this fam, but instead, we had the jarring scenes with Zoe/Rene/Dinah which REALLY were stilted (and the bad dialogue was noticeable). Was anyone else sad that we didn't get to see Felicity and Roy hug? I thought that was a weird choice, particularly since Felicity didn't seem that enthused to see Dinah. But I loved all the Wizard of Oz mentions, bc I think the only time we've gotten Wizard of Oz references before was when Felicity said goodbye to Roy and called him her Scarecrow.

Random question: I follow SA on Instagram (and I def need to stop) but what's up with having his daughter pull out heart shaped papers out of a glass and read them on Instagram stories? What's the reason behind it? I'm a little confused... does anyone know?

Reading the transcript... it makes sense that SA wants to leave although I always thought he wanted to compete with Supernatural in a way. That said, I'm really curious about where the cast goes from here, particularly EBR. This seems odd... it feels like most of SA's interests include hanging out with friends (who seem to come from the cast, thinking about EBR)/his wine company/and his family. I know his family lives in LA, but it doesn't feel like SA has a lot of stuff going on otherwise, minus the cons and the wine? I guess this gives him the time and space to figure it out, but I'm curious because he seemed a lot more interested in doing other projects and capitalizing on his position early on in Arrow.

I hope the crossover is the premiere, and not the ending. While I'm relieved/sad/etc. about Arrow ending, I don't want the finale of the series to be concentrating on Team Flash/Team Supergirl, etc. Also I admit to being curious what everyone else does next after Arrow.

I will say that it was good to have Glen Winter as the director. He handled the documentary style stuff really well (even the shakiest bits were easy to see... looking at you and your terrible directing, Bamford.). Otherwise, I agree with a lot of the criticism -- too much on Dinah and Wild Dog, and not enough Thea and Roy. The whole police angle is ridiculous and boring to watch. Also it was comical that in an episode debating about whether or not vigilantes were useful, it ended that the villain was just a fan of... vigilantes. So what am I supposed to take away from that other than that vigilantes cause problems and they're the only ones who can fix it? (And if it was just a matter of shooting an electrocution arrow, WHY NOT DO THAT SO MUCH SOONER? and how did the guy afford this crazy wayne enterprises suit? or how did he even steal it?) I hate everything they're doing with Felicity, and also that was some crazy terrible parenting in tonight's ep -- Oliver especially. Maybe be worried about your kid once in a while and don't dump it all on your wife? And also maybe Felicity shouldn't be glib with the kid she sent away and then refused to let come back home? (Or the show should at least tell us that they've talked with William more than once, and that he and Oliver made up after the whole prison debacle...)

Here's the issue (one of many) that I have with the writing on this show... he keeps doing this. He hasn't shown growth since they did the whole dumb secret son thing that broke them up. (And even going back to running off to fight the League, etc.) By having Oliver do the secret deal with the FBI, and THEN to again keep something like the body swap from Felicity after apparently apologizing over and over again (and being surprised that she told Iris about it and she was really upset??), at what point am I, the viewer, supposed to believe that he respects Felicity and will tell her the important things and not just keep it to himself over and over again, playing out this plot point forever? I think time only passes so that we can temporarily forget all the times Oliver has done the same thing, and are lulled into complacency, like Felicity. Why can't the show write conflict in their relationship naturally?

I couldn't handle everyone lying to Felicity, or Oliver deciding the only course of action was to keep things from her AGAIN. He is so dumb and has no ability to learn (or the show won't let him). I was actually really infuriated by it, and by Digg and Curtis backing Oliver up on this. It was insane. Felicity is also their friend, and why does it seem they never seem to consider her that way?? Instead, they all follow Oliver's lead and hide/act awkward like Felicity is going to blow up. And Iris didn't call Felicity and give her a heads up that their husbands switched? I actually almost missed Laurel. LAUREL. That's how bad it is! Her only friend is alt-Laurel! I think I'm feeling the opposite of most of everyone posting so far. I wish I could say the final scenes between Oliver and Felicity made up for it, but it didn't, not for me. Felicity only got to say one word while Oliver gave her the big declaration of love... and she's supposed to forgive him for the nine thousandth time? Felicity's question still stands: what is love without respect or trust? The kiss just didn't seem earned.

Yeah, I usually space out or even FF her scenes and now I realize that I had a good reason to do so. She's really bad. This season has definitely been dark and it's weird how each episode it feels like a lot has happened but there's no progression made whatsoever overall. The big problem with Arrow is how repetitive it is. How is this any different than when Chase tortured Oliver? Or Malcolm? Or henchman #904? Why do we have to watch over and over again the fear of Oliver losing who he "really" is and Felicity getting upset about it? Find new story lines, please. There's so much you can do about these characters that we haven't seen before, it's crazy how they retread the same beats over and over. I think Arrow needs to move away from the vigilante stuff (or at least go back to bad dude of the week). I would seriously watch a show where Digg is trying to figure out his role at Argus and balance it with his marriage with his boss (you know a lot of the Argus people were like "sure we know why you've suddenly been promoted"), while Oliver and Felicity figure out what's next now that he's no longer Mayor, and all three of them get together to have a nice meal and complain about how complicated double lives are and figuring out your future is. Just show me the characters doing something new, please! (Also, why the hell would the Glades be able to wall itself off? WHY DOES ARROW PRETEND THERE'S NO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT??? ARGUS DOESN'T COUNT.) You can't have your show flash forward to a dystopia when the present timeline of the show is a dystopia! Seriously, what's the point of anything if it's crappy now and will be crappy in the future and vigilantes will still be enemy #1?

Ack, I thought the directing was awful. I'm so tired of Bamford's shaky cam -- there were times I couldn't tell who he was focusing on in a scene, or he got uncomfortably close, and the transitions were heavy handed. Also, I liked the parallel fight scene, but I would've liked to see Felicity get saved by Argus. Thought the other fights scenes were meh (although I actually liked the Oliver in Prison stuff more than I thought...) Lots of unnecessary Dinah and Rene time for scenes that were repetitive. I would've been interested to see Digg and Felicity reuniting more than the others.

This is so petty, but I hate those glasses EBR is wearing. Like can't stand them with the fire of a thousand burning suns. (I generally don't like her glasses choices anyway, but these are the worst and totally nonsensical and just make her face look segmented and odd and between this and SA's beard... sigh.) Thank goodness for DR.