TrueMyth

I'd quibble with the "as much" qualifier, but both genders are objectified, certainly. It is still much easier for "unattractive" male actors to find work (or even headline) than it is for females. And THAT is where objectification and sexism intersect. I do think Kit has a bit of a rep for shallow thought and fine abs. He no doubt faces more objectification than Peter Dinklage, for example. However, let's count the number of GoT stars who get glam photo shoots. Practically 100% of the women, and I'm sure less than half the men. Now count the female T&A on the actual show vs the male. Each is objectified, and Kit likely bares the brunt of the male share, but there is still imbalance. You know nothing Jon Snow.

I do like that they had nods to Felicity training in self-defense during season one and two, but I adore that she is a strong female character without taking on the masculine traits of aggressive fighting. Now I would dearly love to see some more episodes where Felicity must MacGyver her way out of a situation or use long-term defensive strategies. The Die Hard moments in Beacon of Hope were okay, but lacked something because of how silly that whole episode was. I'd also adore a training scene between Felicity and Oliver, especially in their current state of sexual tension.

I felt that Oliver was fixated on Laurel during season one. He made overtures towards her throughout season one, but was either rebuffed by her anger and bitterness, or trying to respect Tommy's feelings. I don't think he actually loved her any more, but he did think that he did. He had/has a lot of self-loathing, so her aggression towards him was what he thought he deserved, which is why he tried to move on with Helena and McKenna. It wasn't until season two, when he'd already had her again and was starting to wake up to his feelings for Felicity that he realized that he wasn't into Laurel. I think Stephen Amell has grown as an actor over the course of the series, but his portrayal of Oliver's feelings for Laurel in season one are probably his worst work. He smiles at her, but it never really reaches his eyes. Cassidy on the other hand went so fully into the hatred and disgust in the early episodes, that the "softer" feelings she tried to bring out in later episodes in season one felt very flat to me. With the character revelations in Canary Cry, it does make a lot of KC's choices make more sense, particularly in seasons two and three, but I still feel her harshness with Oliver in early season one made it hard to root for them as a couple from the start.

I really enjoyed this episode, as much as I dislike the choices that Ethan is making. I also thought that part of the plan of calling the snakes on the marshals was to steal their supplies. None of them seemed to be suffering from dehydration yet and there were a lot of them, so they would have had enough canteens to easily get Ethan and Hecate through the desert. I'm also not sure why Malcolm didn't catch up to them the next day. They were VERY close together that night, and they still had two horses. I was fine with Ethan taking some kind of revenge on his father before I had the whole story. Now I'm just in shock, and I really don't want him to open himself to Lucifer, but I feel like either way will make for some interesting stories!

I haven't seen the Flash finale yet, but your descriptions are making me think of Witchblade. Season one ended with Sarah rewinding time, and I was super excited, but season two was horrible because it retread the past season but worse. And that show didn't even have three other shows working in its universe.

2 or 3 - Pointless Parkouring (fun, but a a bit WTF and needless)

Just your standard episode of Felicity and Friends?

May I ask what you are reacting to? Who said Paul what?

I like LoT's philosophy on killing best, too (Though I would have liked some sort of acknowledgement from Ray about FLYING THROUGH A GUY, since he always held himself up as being better than the Hood). I think killing is necessary at times in fiction. As long as characters aren't taking life lightly, it's no problem to me. However, the Flash made such a big deal about how Barry is 'better' than Oliver... while not addressing how horrible the treatment of the pipelined baddies is. Hypocrisy is aggravating, particularly in heroes. On the other hand, the Flash's villain pipeline cells with no comforts makes me think of the monster cubes from "Cabin in the Woods." If they keep going this way, I want a season five episode where someone gets trapped in a cube and has to be filed past the greatest hits of villains.

I would have really enjoyed that though; it would have had a nice parallel to the Canary collar he developed for Laurel. They'd have to explain how or why she couldn't disconnect it and it would still be rather inhumane in the long run, but it would be an excellent thing to have around if/when they have to transport her. Mark me down with those who find the unsanctioned pipeline lock-up of some (but not all) supers to be morally dubious, especially the longer it goes unaddressed. I understand that the whole "No Kill" policy in the Flarrowverse is better than out and out killing people, but there really needs to be some oversight here. Honestly, with the amount of times people can just walk into the lab, I'm surprised no one has broken any of their friends out. Zoom missed that trick when he was building his super-army, huh?

WooHoo! It happened! Can't figure out how to embed the actual video but follow the link for a good laugh!

I will legit pay someone in cookies if they edit Dig and Oliver's run through suburbia to "Robin Hood and Little John runnin' through the forest... Jump in' fences, dodgin' trees, and tryin' to get away..."

So I know I'm not the only one WTFing over the straight-up comparison between Donna and Noah and Felicity and Oliver. It really seems like the show is moving towards Felicity forgiving Oliver, when he hasn't actually apologized. But even with that, we didn't really get Felicity's reaction to the news that Donna cut off Noah, let alone how she feels that her mother asked him to take a walk at the end of this episode. I feel like it was too many beats to play out well in such a short time, and I'm left not sure what the show wants me to think about the Noah/Donna relationship. Also, I find the idea that staying with a man for at least eight years and having a child with him is rather different than breaking up after four years, before marriage or a child. As much as I enjoy Oliver and Felicity together, I feel that Felicity is doing the totally mature thing, and I hate the idea of her position being reduced to some kind of "Like mother, like daughter, can't forgive little things like lying or international cyber crime..." Because that's what I got from Curtis. I hate him being the mouthpiece for that. Ugh.

Mount Weather also shows up in The X-files. It's a fun genre factoid. I was okay with this episode, but I didn't like having Team Felicity and Team Oliver separated for so much of the episode. I'm also WTFing regarding HIVE's base of operations. I could handwave the nexus chamber under city hall being exposed to the nuclear fallout, because DD would totally be resistant to that if his plan had gone off. However, it now seems that the HIVE base is pretty far removed from the bubble and not even monitoring feeds? DD took way too look to find out his wife was in danger. Also, that place was still standing after the bubble collapsed. Both are evidence that the HIVE mission command was not attached to the bubble in any way. Why would you want to trigger a nuclear blast from a place that was totally unprotected? I mean, besides DD? I know Cooper was mostly in it to try to beat Felicity, but he's smarter than that too, right? Unless they pull an Undertaking and DD has a second bunker set up?

Yeah, I understand the line's intentional humorous derision, and enjoyed Oliver's defensiveness about the costume. I understand why others posted it to the favorite quotes thread. It didn't work for me on a gut level, which is why I posted here in the Bitterness Thread. Glad it worked for you!

If ARGUS knows Felicity's connection to Team Arrow, I think the president does, too. Do you think they redacted her name when they apparently called her an "IT girl"?

I know many liked the "The President asked me if the fate of the world is resting in the hands of an IT girl, a criminal, and two guys in Halloween costumes" line, but it actually set my teeth on edge. Felicity hasn't been an IT girl for three years! I know she was just fired, but that happened while the crisis was going on. I know "Tech CEO" doesn't hold the same level of derision as the others on the list, but that is rather the point. Maybe "failed CEO" could have worked?

With the Genesis project being compared to the Flood and references to Damian's "Arc," I wonder if they will make any hay from the fact that Felicity's father is named Noah.

I'm trying to brainstorm a good season climax that doesn't center on the destruction of the city. I think the writers think they are being different this season since Darhk actually wants to destroy THE WORLD, but chose Star City as the star point because the crumbling social infrastructure allowed him leeway and apparently it is on a hell-mouth. The thing is, destroying the city wasn't actually the end goal for any of the villains. It was means to the end that supposedly makes for good TV because... explosions? Here's an interesting article on Good Supervillain Motivations. Using this, we've had revenge/"better" society (Merlyn), revenge (Slade), and ??? (Ra's). Okay, so Ra's was looking for an heir, but I really have no understanding of why he had to go destroy Starling after Oliver refused him. I think a nice return to the greed motivation of early season one. Maybe with a villain who is a foil to old Ollie, what Oliver could have been? Someone working to change the city in a way Oliver disapproves of? Bring back Cater Bowen! ;)

You're right, of course, that Curtis has not been directly involved with the hero game for most of the season. What I meant to say is that, as he was a full time cast member, I would have liked him and Felicity to have a bit MORE of a plot with PT. Even when they brought back EBR in season 1A they made sure that not all of her scenes were with Oliver. She got to dig into the Undertaking from a totally civilian direction with Walter. As it is, Curtis was often reduced to walking in, handing Felicity cool tech, and walking out. I wish we hadn't waited until "A Beacon of Hope" for Felicity to realize that she could help people with PT as well. I feel the seeds for that realization where planted early on, when she knew was faced with firing so many people. It be cool to see her using the company to "work in the light" just like Oliver was trying to do with the Mayor job. Maybe we are moving there for next season. I think we are saying similar things. Don't bring in new people (especially new masks or mask-destined characters) as a regular. Ideally, full stop after that. If they ARE strong-armed by the network, then do something interesting with that character that doesn't reduce or drag down the characters we are already attached to. Curtis's time has been so much better than Ray's was, but I still feel they did Barry's the best.

But they do have some control over how they springboards spin-offs, right? I though The Flash set up in season 2 was very well done. It helps that GG was well-cast in the roll, but I really enjoyed his two episode arc on Arrow. The few mentions through the rest of the season were fine with me. We learned enough about who he was and why he did things, and he helped move Arrow's plot along without making it about him. Where they stumbled with Ray was making him a series regular. He could have shown up for a small arc to introduce him, maybe buying back QC and even hiring Felicity, but I always assumed that he had his own company before that (to make the watch), so he could be absent but mentioned. In fact, end with him getting the plans from Applied Sciences with that ominous close-up... then bring him back for a SHORT arc at the end of the season where the team has to figure out who the hell is flying around in this combat suit. Even the viewers don't fully know if it's a good guy or a bad guy. When they make peace, Felicity helps him with some suit tech and Oliver helps point out the OBVIOUS COMBAT DYSFUNCTIONS of his suit. He briefly shows up again, like Barry to help with the climactic arc, and there he is, ready for spin-off, mysterious enough to be fleshed out on his own show, but with a shiny suit. As much as I love Echo and enjoy Curtis, he's been a bit wasted this season, too. I want him to have a non-hero centered plot, please. It would have been fun to have PT trying to rebuild and renew Star City and butting up against Darhk and his expansion plans.

For a different perspective, as a (not very prolific) fic writer, I would rather have a comment (Even a short, "Thanks for writing.") than a kudo. So I would say, if you have already kudoed, but really enjoy a chapter, please comment and let the writer know. While yes, people search by kudos more than comments, comments mean more to the writer and can begin to establish a dialogue with someone if you really enjoy their fic. As far as searching for fic by kudos, I personally use that to look for the top flics in fandom, meaning at least 1,000 kudos generally. With numbers like that, I don't see much reason to be stingy with kudos, though I tend to wait until the end of a story.

I'm still sad that Aldis Hodge didn't play Andy. That man can have chemistry with nearly anyone, and I'd love to see him play dark. I think he and David look a bit more like brothers, too. Ah, well.

The DARK thoughts trailer in 4x20 had several new images with villains beating up Oliver and Poppy* with glowing eyes. Full parallel would suggest Oliver's allies literally helping to fight Dahrk. * Full disclaimer, I first typed "Poopy" and then was tempted to keep it.

But the corn in 4x09 was mature and looked like a big operation. If they had just achieved breathable balance, it shouldn't have looked so lush. Unless they somehow started with high CO2, which I'm not sure how they would.