writersblock51

I would have LOVED him as Shadow in American Gods (I liked Ricky Whittle very well too, so a win-win for casting in that role, IMO). I'm going to check out his IG bio and try to keep up with what he may be working on next. Thanks.

I hadn't heard of this - thanks for sharing it here. I thoroughly enjoyed his work on the show and hadn't heard him showing up on any other projects, so I also assumed he had stuck to stage productions.

I haven't posted here since sometime late last season. I was displeased with much of Season 4, starting with the BMD and Barry messing with timelines on shows that aren't his... I had stopped watching the Flash by the time Shark-Man showed up so now that the Flash is still affecting Arrow (and erasing a child). The summer hiatus did absolutely nothing to draw me into the premiere. But Arrow has been a Must See TV for me since the pilot and, with many bumps along the way and a few episodes where I Fast Forwarded through more scenes than I actually watched, I wanted to watch the start of S5. Was it as problematic as I had expected to be? Yes and no. I knew Diggle wasn't going to be on it for more than a few seconds. Had I been a casual viewer, though, I think I would have been disappointed. My spouse, Mr Casual Viewer/Has No Idea About The Comics, was baffled by Diggle's lack of screen time. So that was one notch against the show for me/us. We both loved LOVED the Bravta scenes and were very happy that the Flashbacks held promise for the season. It has been a few years since either of us have felt that way about Flashbacks. So that was a big positive. Then came Oliver as Mayor. Fine. No complaints there. Thea helping run things in the Mayor's office. Um, ok but certainly no less feasible than her running a nightclub at the age of 19 so sure... Tobias Church. Excellent introduction!!! Nothing but thumbs up about him and that story potential. Then... Lance. Anything Lance, actually. Paul B can act his way through the crappiest of dialogue and stories, so my beef is NOT with him. I was not happy about him drinking himself into a stinking pile of mess again. And the Laurel love was .... totally unrelated to anything we'd seen on screen for that character in 4 years. It was 100% retcon and I was offended. I've watched since the pilot and heavens, it was as if I had watched about 90 episodes of an entirely different show. Had I FFd through that many of her scenes in previous seasons that I was now hearing about a character that I somehow had misinterpreted for so long? I don't think so. Add that to the notches against, then. Curtis - I like him in small doses. And if he's going to siphon much of Felicity's skills and dialog, I could do with seeing him once every 5 episodes. The newbies/n00bs. How many viewers were asking for more masks? Especially newbies that need a LOT of training? (Meanwhile, Felicity gets none) That leaves Felicity. And, of course, she has also been retconned because why not? Can we blame it on Barry? She's just a hacker now. Gone are the tech gadgets and inventive skills she had for so long. Those now belong solely to Curtis (or shared, off screen, with Cisco). She's been a CEO but nah, she's just a hacker. Oh, and she's Pep Talk and Flirty IT Girl again. Because, sure, being CEO and engaged to and living with Oliver seem to have been arcs that are largely forgotten in this new season. I'd read about the ambiguous Olicity by the time the premiere aired. Wendy's comments came shortly after the premiere, I think? It was obvious that the show was going in that direction. The problem is, and this is just my opinion, that SA and EBR's chemistry will NEVER play off as "just flirty." And writing them as they were in S1 - S3 also offends me. I know what I watched in S4. To try to have these 2 specific actors in scenes where much of S4 is apparently verboten to reference is just silly. By the end of the premiere when the detective showed up, I was already breaking up with the show. My spouse is no longer watching. The premiere was enough for him. When I told him about Flash causing changes on Arrow for the rest of the season, he was done. And disgusted. Comic book canon and references mean nothing to him. There is also more competition on Wed nights at 8pm for us (Lethal Weapon and Blindspot, plus baseball playoffs). I have yet to watch all of 502 and 503. I've seen some clips. I believe the folks that are telling me that the episodes do NOT match the interviews given by MG and WM (so far). That they don't even match the previews and clips. My plan at this point is to catch up down the road (the show is still on the DVR) if I feel that there's enough to enjoy. I want to love the show again but I also realize that perhaps my enjoyment has been lessening over the past 2 seasons. I was engaged in discussions, buying Arrow merchandise (own S1 - S3, for example), going to a few cons... I used to recommend this show to anyone I knew who liked action, (b)romance, humor and heart in a show. And the stunt work had been pretty compelling for a while there. S4 changed things, though. The flashbacks took up precious screen time that, in retrospect, could have gone to better develop other (especially the core 3) characters and their stories. Yet again, I found the villain lacking. How you screw up Neal McDonough is beyond me. Adding magic was a risk that, IMO, did not work as well as intended. And I think Malcolm has been a caricature. I remember how menacing he was in S1 and want to cry. One last point - Arrow is celebrating 100 episodes very soon (the party is this weekend, I think) and has a 5th season. This is fantastic! If anyone had told me in 2011 that the show would be at this point, I would have said they were crazy and just wishful thinking. Green Arrow was known as Batman Lite and the Poor Man's Batman. His comic book history was decades old (I first read them in the 70s when I was a kid) yet he was NOT recognizable. There was no merchandise in stores for him; the Flash and Green Lantern were far better known in the DC world. So where is the promotion for this? Why aren't DC/WB/CW promoting the hell out of this show, this season? Celebrating? If not for the success of Arrow, the Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and, quite possibly, Supergirl, would not have made it onto TV when they did. It boggles my mind, and irks me greatly, that the promotion has been so non-existent. Perhaps that will change in the coming weeks as the 100th episode draws closer. And I hope Arrow climbs up in ratings this season, too. I think the cast works extremely hard to put on a great show.

It's been quite a long time since I've posted in the Arrow forum and I'll give my thoughts in the Bitterness thread, per Morrigan's request. That being said, I cannot like/upvote @SmoaknArrow 's post enough. From the interviews, pictures (thanks for the DR one, @bijoux - I agree, seeing him in the bunker is nice!), and clips, I think Diggle's arc will be very interesting. I also think having "Lethal Weapon" on a break for a few weeks could help Arrow with some viewers.

Interesting read - it's too bad that the series ended when there may have been interest by many to keep it going for another season. I'm in the US and didn't have to deal with the BBC's scheduling decisions - it's hard to shake the sense that the decision was made long before the scripts were finished that this would be the last and that the BBC wasn't going to try hard to promote it. If the showrunners knew that there was a chance that it would have been picked up by HULU before the final scripts were written, we can only speculate on what would have been done differently this season. Overall, I think the 3rd and final season had a lot of high points. I have purchased the first 2 seasons and will happily buy the 3rd once it's available. Each season has its strengths and weaknesses, IMO, much like every series I've watched. Of the issues I had with Season 3, none of them are enough to turn me away from watching and enjoying it.

Is discussion on this episode done here or in the All Episode thread? I've watched the finale a few times and felt that it could have used another 20 minutes or so to flesh out some parts that felt rushed: - Porthos & Elodie's reunion - sweet but simply rushed. Did they actually get married? I think so? - some explanation as how Grimaud can be stabbed in the gut & shoulder yet get up and walk around Paris. He's been shot, stabbed multiple times but still walks around nearly unseen. Completely implausible... - some kind of moment between D'Artagnan and Constance about having a family or not - especially after she almost died & he was devastated. The family-issue was alluded to during the season but then dropped entirely. Seems odd to have it then not. And the 3 other musketeers are fathers (or will be soon) - a bit more insight into how many people survived the bombing of the tavern and the garrison. It looked like only the 4 musketeers survived the tavern's bombing... but there were more people the next day. Plus there were other guards at the cathedral. Just seemed a bit clunky there... Overall, I enjoyed it a lot and think it was a fitting end on nearly all accounts. Only Milady seemed to have a sour ending and I realize the actress's availability may have been a reason. That being said, I also would have loved to see what they could do with a 4th season. I've resorted to checking out some fanfic to see what other creative minds came up with.

Hopefully someone else - perhaps more familiar with how titled land worked back in 17th century France - can answer as to how it should have worked. I can only answer about what was shown on the series. Porthos' father was the scoundrel that had made Treville and De Foix promise to keep his secret. Treville was the father figure Porthos needed and deserved, IMO. We don't know what happened to his estate or to his father, for that matter. If his father was arrested (along with his half sister), the show made no mention of it that I'm aware of. So we can assume that he inherited it all upon his father's death or imprisonment? Athos - this one is confusing because he gave up his title and lands in spirit but I don't know if that was legally binding. There wasn't anything left of the house but the land was still his when he was there last. How he passed it on to the village people is another matter. I don't think the show explained it well.

My take on his role (both appearances in the series) was more of a Captain Jack Sparrow thing than anything else. Why he goes so gravel-y is beyond me. It does contrast nightly when he screams, though. Haha

Saw parts of this episode again and I still enjoyed most of it. The scene of the boys with Bonnaire trying to get the horse was funny. I liked that D'Artagnan's farm background came back to help in that spot. Also liked the bit of Constance when she saw the gems, had a sweet moment with her husband then punched Bonnaire in the gut. You bring up good points here - as much as I enjoyed seeing Aramis and learned more about his (sad but explains a lot) background, the Pauline, her fiance and the stable boy stuff was ... not well constructed. The only good part of that whole thing for me, upon re-watch, was the brief but enlightening exchange between Aramis, Athos and then Porthos - Aramis is 'penance' to both. I find that to be amusing and accurate.

Point taken. I guess my not-well-worded point was that if everyone is special in their suits then that kind of diminishes the value of what 'special' means - especially for our lead and title Hero. Likewise if there are a lot of archers (good and evil) on the show. My personal opinion is that Oliver stopped being the best fighter (still vulnerable at times) on the show as more people came on board. By the time Diggle, Roy, Sarah and Laurel were part of the mix, the fight scenes seemed very crowded. And Oliver did not stand out in any way. Diggle is an elite soldier-fighter. His tactical skills seem to be better than Oliver's. When the two of them are fighting as a team, you can see how they each have their strengths and weaknesses. They can be beaten but it would not be easy to take them both down. Adding a one or 2 more team members can be effective for some scenes but I often felt that the stage was too crowded. Perhaps it was more about how those bigger scenes were filmed, I don't know. If Artemis becomes evil, that would be more interesting. There is potential for this character to go in a few different directions and it seems like there are options as to who could influence her. However, her story is not one I'm invested in. I'd much rather see more about the characters that I like to watch. For example, I'm hoping Thea gets a story in S5 that pulls her out of being under Oliver or Malcolm's shadow and more in line with what she wants for herself. I got the impression from the end of Season 4 that things may be heading that way for her. It's very nice to see positive response about the casting of the villain. I'm not familiar with him at all.

Not being all that familiar with Artemis (certainly not all the different versions), I'm disappointed in the casting and backstory. Ah, GB and his vision of diversity... More than that, however, is yet another suit. The show has not done a good job, at all, of balancing suits and non-suits when it comes to story and promotion. Of course, there's little Arrow promotion anyway. If Curtis gets his suit in Season 5, and Adrian Chase gets his, then that means Felicity and Lyla are the only ones without suits. Which is fine with me because I strongly believe they don't need them to be heroic. But the show (and the CW, the WB and DC?) loves suits and this is yet another casting that seems to directly contradict what both Stephen Amell and David Ramsey have said in public, recently. None of the new casting news brings the show 'back to basics' so any enthusiasm I had for a scaled down from S4 magic/metahuman to more grounded is GONE. Furthermore, yet another archer. Why? Last season already stretched my patience of seeing medieval weaponry used to take out a modern villain toying with nuclear weapons... Does another archer signify a return to Arrow's old school methods? How skilled will she be? Will he train her? Will she, Thea and Roy be like Young Justice/Team B? So many questions and I suppose that's a step up from being apathetic. Still waiting for Season 5 news that will move the show from my DVR to Must Watch Live. Hasn't happened yet. Don't know him (I don't watch TWD) but I hope the villain of the year is a great one to watch! I love Neal McD but felt things went off for part of last season. Not sure where to set my expectation level for this character and actor yet. Looking forward to reading other reactions here.

Did this episode air in the UK yet?

I'm actually hoping that Oliver's inevitable (and hopefully well done) Bravta flashbacks have something to do with what's happening in present day Star City. If the casting call details hadn't listed 'mob connected death' then a link to Adrian would have been a nice surprise. Now I think it's a safe assumption, much like he's going to be Vigilante or similar. I like spoilers but I wish there were some details left out. What follows is the awkward "epic, game changing, never done before" hyperbole from the EPs to explain why the audience will be blown away shocked BUT NOT REALLY with how clever the show has laid things out. UGH. Count me among those dismayed at the heavy dose of new males on the show - I suspect that a female will be added soon. I've never expected gender balance on this show but the ratio of male to female is disturbing as we head into Season 5. I think it's the most disproportionate since the series began. Why is that? I'd LOVE to have the S5 Big Bad be female - the show has had some fierce females in the past and I think could do well in the next season. Fingers crossed. I've been away from the Arrow forum for many months. S4 pretty much burned me out. I'm looking for news that will get me excited about the new season. Frankly, I'm disappointed. Not quite apathetic but almost there. As much as I've been looking forward to learning and seeing Oliver earn his Bratva Captain status, I'm wary about how it will play out. Perhaps there will be a compelling Bad Person in Russia as well? I'd like to see Anatoly again. I'm assuming he'll make a few appearances.

I could quote all of your Milady comments @Happy Harpy and @charis - I agree. In the end, I think Milady became what she felt Athos perceived her to be. Her choices off screen (murdering the brother of the man she'd been with - had she married him? - showed us and Treville that she was back to her 'old ways'). Was she back to that killing way of life because she felt that Athos had rejected a future with her? If he had gotten to her carriage in time at the end of S2, what would she and they have done? Was she following the destiny she felt she had no control over? We don't know really because we didn't get to see or hear much so we are left to speculate. In my opinion, her agency was formed early on by Athos' opinion of her - whoever she felt she was prior to Thomas' death, she was forever living up to the image Athos had. Only we know that he went to be with her. In the 4 plus years before they see each other again, he's been a soldier on the front (his perceived destiny) and she's been scheming and killing (her perceived destiny). The scene where she finds the glove and then talks to him about it - it was there that she was at a crossroads, again. But once again, her destiny remained based on his opinion of her - so that either confirms what she thinks about herself or she is resigned to that life. I can't tell which. In my head canon (because this is what I do, apparently), Milady becomes the Queen and young king's personal guardian - serving them both in whatever fashion is needed. Not all of her duties would necessarily be nefarious and deadly either. I never got the sense that "married with children" was what she wanted but then again, it was never discussed from what I remember. Needed, valued and trusted - that is what I think she wanted and deserved. She never got any of that from Athos, but I think it's easy to envision that she did from Anne and then young Louis. And amen to: - Treville and Constance working closely all season (and, safe to assume, the 4 years that passed between seasons) - it's a relationship that worked effortlessly and the actors did a good job together - Porthos getting a family. While it felt rushed, I liked that he had them in his life - the conversation between him and D'Artagnan in "Death of a Hero" (the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid parts) were insightful for both characters. It was the first time we saw that Porthos wanted a life beyond that of soldier and Royal protector. - Also in my head canon, D'Artagnan and Constance get the new Musketeers and garrison in top shape together. They sold me early on as a team that worked well together on many levels. Constance is probably my favorite character of the series, haha - Aramis and Anne... I still can't figure out how they can be all that happy (can't have more kids, right?) - there seems that there would always be much restraint and carefulness that tests them both. But I'm glad that he's First Minister - Athos... perhaps he and Sylvie return to Paris at some point... I can't see either of them leaving the refugees and poor for too long. Athos would be better as Minister of War than First Minister - Louis - Ryan Gage did a terrific job but I wanted to smack Louis throughout. I also think he hit the emotional beats very well, far better than I was expecting. I'd only seen him in the Hobbit and wasn't sure what to expect in this Also, @Happy Harpy - this show has been one of my Arrow Hiatus fillers. I'll be back on the Arrow forum sometime soon, I expect. S4 wore me down...

I liked Sylvie, and I liked Athos' conflict this season. I don't think I would take any of their scenes out, like I said above. But I would have added some, as I have questions. I felt that there were missing scenes - - gaps such as Porthos and Elodie (spelling?) coming together rather quickly (I like them both but it seemed very rushed) - what did Porthos do with the young king at the end of 3X09 to keep him safe? - just a few scenes of married D'Artagnan and Constance dealing with how they've both changed during the war (and their very different takes on what they want in terms of a family) - it was nice to see Constance in other arcs that didn't revolve around D'Artagnan but sometimes it was as if they weren't even together - Louis said he'd make sure Aramis never had contact with the Queen and the Dauphin (which he clearly did not do - so why bother saying it?) - empty threats of that magnitude should be followed up on - since when did Athos want a life in the country? That puzzled me a bit and so on. In the end, I think Milady suffered the most. She was on a redemption arc at the end of S2, which I'm not sure I bought but I wanted to see what happened to her next. She's a complex character and I think she was ultimately wasted on S3. She seemed to be brought in to push Athos closer to Sylvie at the risk of her own characterization. And I felt disappointment about that. It just seemed too neat of an ending between her and Athos, and they were anything but 'neat' and tidy. I know the actress' pregnancy was the biggest factor in how much she was in S3. The previous 2 seasons had focused on D'Artagnan/Constance, Aramis/Anne and Athos/Milady. Porthos really didn't have much going on romantically though his relationship with Aramis was always one of my favorites throughout the series. Season 3 seemed focused solely on Athos/Sylvie with little bits and pieces of Aramis/Anne, D'Artagnan/Constance and then Porthos/Elodie. Not quite as balanced as the other seasons, I suppose.