apinknightmare

I hope it's actually Lyla who says it, displaying some parental, maternal sense about bringing a baby down there.

Yeah, I think so too. He should be, considering everyone and their mother probably knows about the place by now.

Yes, they're using the basement of the club that Oliver doesn't own, which several people (both friendly and unfriendly) know about as their base of operations. Oliver did have a secondary facility in case the foundry was compromised, but his definition of compromised must be different from, well, the actual definition of compromised. Kind of like his definition of dead.

Last night Ra's just said he was courting war (IIRC). Didn't one of the EPs say that Ra's was going to try to recruit Oliver and that Ra's is going to tell Oliver he's not willing to do what it takes (cut ties to his friends) to be a warrior or something, or am I making that up? SA's been doing a lot of weightlifting lately, so I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up going off with Ra's to train or something. It would make sense why SA's shooting schedule has been light lately.

What are the odds that Oliver gets to Felicity's office right as Ray asks her to be his date?

Are they tied up? I can't tell.

I don't know what tone I was expecting, but I thought her mother would be in it.

That's because it IS the old lair.

It is somewhat annoying that after her realization that she almost killed an "innocent" man in Komodo because she was all bloodthirsty and hell-bent on revenge, Laurel goes all gung-ho on Oliver to murder Merlyn when she thinks he's the killer without having any real evidence. Although I'll handwave that since Merlyn is a terrible person and was responsible for the earthquake that took all those lives, and it probably is a bit more personal for her not only because Tommy died (was that mentioned tonight? I can't remember), but because she failed to prosecute Moira for her hand in the very same crime that Malcolm was actually the mastermind of. So, it was inconsistent, but understandable in this case. Although I would like to see her go after him as the DA - is that too much to ask?!

I'd like the whodunit better if they were following leads that weaved from episode to episode instead of following one trail and having it go cold, then following another and ruling them out. Everyone should be a suspect (and additional suspects should be added as they come about) until the team figures it out, otherwise it just seems choppy and kind of nonsensical. Like how this one seems to me right now.

Narratively speaking, that was the PERFECT time, and I think that as much as Quentin could've been understanding about her keeping that secret from him, he would've been understanding then. She obviously wasn't herself and he was concerned about her frame of mind and her safety, and ugh. Missed opportunity.

I'm angry she hasn't told him because it's a shitty thing to keep from him (and her mother, we're always forgetting her mother). His heart condition isn't going to go away, and it's not like his reaction to Sara's death is going to be better or easier on his heart the longer she waits. Then he'll be dealing with the SECOND death of his daughter and the fact that his other daughter lied about it, and he didn't get to properly grieve her AGAIN. I can MAYBE accept Laurel not realizing this at first and keeping it from him for a little while, but it's been almost a month and that's just way too damn long. I'm also angry about it because it's part of a larger storyline that I hate: that Laurel, a successful DA, who was perfectly happy with the law and the way it worked didn't pursue justice for Sara's killer through legal means. If she'd been disillusioned with the law previously, I'd get it. But just earlier in that very episode, she and Oliver had a nice system going (you catch 'em, I cook 'em) and she couldn't have been happier. So, since they want Laurel to be motivated through vengeance and work with Team Arrow to get it (even though she could've just as easily been involved in the search for Sara's killer as DA, since the Arrow could've gotten her evidence to use legally), they have to keep the death a secret, and they can't tell Quentin about it in order to keep the law out of it, and it's just a circle jerk of bad writing when they could've been laying the groundwork for it over the course of the past two seasons. Is Laurel going to bother going after Merlyn now that she knows he's alive, or is she abandoning the law altogether?

Also, let's talk about how Oliver actually has been keeping his souper-seekrit superhero lair IN A BUILDING THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN OWN. GAHHHHH I had fooled myself into thinking he'd somehow managed to get it back.

I don't really think he did, but the way Oliver's eliminating suspects is just so half-assed to me that I'm just waiting for it to come back and bite him. It's not the League because they don't go after their own! It's not Merlyn because he totes swore he didn't! I want him to be right, I'm just uncomfortable with his decision making.

Yeah, it was China White

Oliver was really stupid in this ep. And his protection of Merlyn is going to come back to bite him in the ass tenfold, yeah? Why is he just taking liars at their word over the murder of someone he cared about? I can't figure out what the endgame here is. Is Laurel with him, or is she going to take Nyssa's side when she inevitably comes back? She got all bloodthirsty again, but then toned it down, so...I don't know what her deal is. I don't want Oliver to be wrong because I'm really tired of watching the dude's mistakes haunt him, but on the other hand he'd deserve it for stupidly believing Merlyn. Are they setting Laurel up to go dark? This post makes no sense, I know.

I knew she was going to go back on that by the end of the episode though, unfortunately.

Yeah, it wasn't very good. Maybe the extended one will be better?

I was curious about how Felicity's past was going to come back to bite her. Guess we know now!

I wish this show would stop making Oliver stupider than he already is for plot reasons. You can't tell me he found a blank piece of paper on Sara's body, and didn't think to put a flame to it, come on. Love Nyssa, love how pissed she is at Oliver. Loved her being generally kick ass. Loved, loved, loved it. And since he's so sure Merlyn didn't kill Sara, Merlyn totally killed Sara, didn't he? Laurel got awful bulked up and somewhat good at boxing over the course of a week, didn't she? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL QUENTIN THAT HIS DAUGHTER IS DEAD? I'M BEGGING I foolishly thought we'd get more than 5 seconds of Felicity during the 50th ep, LOL @ me. Kind of meh at the Ra's reveal.

Well, I guess he's back in that he tweeted, but he tweeted that he wasn't going to be able to tweet tonight, so take that as you will.

I think it was a response Stephen made during the press interviews they did last week. Seems like it comes up in the show, it just hasn't yet.

Nah, he just got "called into work early" and tweeted a link to his FB post.

I know this is ridiculous to even THINK, and I know it won't happen, but the further we get into the season without Quentin knowing, the more I think that Laurel's going to finally buck up the courage to tell him, go in for a hug or something, and then while looking over Laurel's shoulder Quentin's going to say "Sara!" as she walks through the door.