apinknightmare

She also picks up accents for no reason, like last night when she started talking to William and somehow became a bitter old Brooklyn cop.

Yep. And there's a reason why we don't know what really happened with Felicity, Oliver and Diggle (and even Laurel, too, I suppose) - and that's because they know that people who have been watching this show for years are going to be more interested in finding out where they are in the future than any of the newbies. So they use a newbie, because they need a wizened old whatever to lead William on his trek through the city to find out what's happened, and it has the added benefit of giving the veteran actors extra time off, which I'm positive at least some of them have asked for. Personally, I don't think it's the best thing for the show but despite my complaints about TOO MUCH DINAH, I'm still watching, and the numbers are going up so...there isn't any feedback suggesting it's been a bad decision thus far - or at least one that's having much impact on the audience. In fact - it's the opposite.

I'm confused - If Oliver knows he's really Oliver and Barry knows he's really Barry to the point that they try to convince the Star City team of it, why does it matter what real Barry would do? Oliver knows he's not him and wouldn't need to pretend...did I miss a spoiler? Or is this just Guggenheim nonsense?

Why don't these people do their business under Mary Smith, John Brown, and Jane Doe? C'MON

Seriously! Her obviously feeling unsafe to the point that she does is the perfect opportunity for Oliver to say, “What can I do to help you through this? How can I help you feel prepared in case __________ happens?” And she asks him to please equip her with more than the ability to grab a nearby object and wail on someone with it. Which has worked! But she needs to know what to do if she isn’t standing next to a fireplace, etc.

So, in the episode where Dinah was introduced in the flash forwards, she said that she attacked the guards at Smoak Tech because they would've killed both her and Roy for being former vigilantes. Then last night at the club the reason she gave for Roy not being there was because they would've had "big trouble" if he'd been recognized. Has Roy done something else that he'd be in trouble for, or did Arrow forget that the vigilante thing was supposed to be an issue for Dinah, too? Is it a hand wave for plot since they needed Dinah there for her (hopefully counterfeit) Mark of Four tattoo, or does it mean something? I'm guessing it's a hand wave for plot because Arrow, but god...this show is so sloppy LOL.

There’s nothing to be depressed about. At least Stephen already spoiled that they work it out.

Oh, I'm sure they considered a lot of this enough in the writers' room, and probably had what they thought were great reasons for how it all unfolded (assuming they thought about it that much, which maybe they didn't). I was just talking about what *I* would've liked to have seen from the episode's arc, because none of it really felt right to me as-is. Maybe that's why Star City went to shit, LOL.

It made me shake with anger, Matt. It definitely did that!

It's kinda hard for me to tell if the guy was going after Oliver or if he was making an attempt to escape because of the angles. The guy was in a closet that Oliver was standing in front of, but it seems like he goes to the right (away from Oliver) when he gets up - but that could just be the way it was shot. Also - because I just watched that whole fight twice, HOW did Oliver get so bad in the span of a week? He busted up a whole prison last time we saw him and now he's parkouring into air, and swinging 2 feet above someone's head? I weep.

I rewatched parts of the episode because I'm a glutton for punishment (but I avoided most of Dinah, so not THAT much of a glutton for punishment). Two things would've made the Olicity stuff much better for me: 1. I would've liked to have seen one of these many apologies Oliver gave to Felicity about his decision to go to jail for, uh, the rest of his life! I got to see him deliver apologies to three absolute assholes who didn't actually deserve them at the end of last season, and when he actually does something wrong and monumentally stupid/dangerous/hurtful (the Oliver trifecta, bless), that one happens offscreen? I wish I had chainmail curtains to protect me from Arrow because THIS FUCKING SHOW, I SWEAR. 2. Like @Mellowyellow mentioned, an "I love you" from Oliver. On first watch, I thought the "the old you was the person I fell in love with," was an indictment on "new" Felicity, but on rewatch I realize it wasn't anything other than a defense of the "old" Felicity to the person who was putting her down. But, even when Oliver was in the midst of his idiocy in prison, Felicity still told him that she loved him - it would've been nice to hear him say it, especially since they didn't shy away from him telling her he wanted to work things out between them, and she gave him such a lovely I love you during their convo. So it's not like they left it out to up the drama and make us question the state of their relationship , because Felicity's the one with misgivings, and she even managed to say it to him. Also, I would really like a director's cut of this whole season without the flash forwards so I can pretend they don't exist. What a bleak, plot over character-y mess.

They talked about seeing him over his Christmas break from school.

Oh, the one about Felicity being dead for 8 years. Okay, I thought I had missed something, haha.

Wait, when did that happen? I don't remember anyone setting an actual timetable.

Yep. I know it's fruitless to try and figure it out, because they're writing these flash forwards with surprise revelations in mind, not writing them how people would actually react to/with each other. They would put protecting the plot secret over protecting the integrity of their characters, so...it's never going to fully make sense, not even when we find out the twist that they're setting up now.

Don't do it, that's never the answer.

The only thing that gums this up for me is that if William and Maya actually do know each other, wouldn't Dinah know that they do? The future timeline is not at all clear, so I can't tell if the Glades thing happened recently or not (I've thought both at various points in time). Wouldn't she think it was weird that he didn't know his own sister? Maybe not...IDK. And another thing - didn't Zoey mention a couple of episodes that Rene wouldn't step foot in Star City again? And now he's in the Glades? I know it's walled off, but has it seceded from the city? She made it sound like he was off enjoying retirement, LOL.

I don't like this thought because Oliver's surprise sister is with a woman his dad stepped out on his mother with, LOL. If she's Oliver and Felicity's together, it seems relatively impossible that William wouldn't know about her, especially since she has to be born sometime soon, and he'd still be a minor at that point. I'm guessing maybe there's a reason they didn't actually say her name this episode, and maybe it does have something to do with William knowing he has a sister, but not knowing who it is.

One or more people are not who they claim to be - I just can't figure out who. Roy's the key to it all since they specifically had him NOT there. If she's not Olicity's kid and she is related to someone on the show, my best guess is him, given the arrow tattoo and whatnot. But I can't figure out why he wouldn't be eager to go and see her, because surely even on Lian Yu he'd know where she is? Especially if she's his with Thea and Thea isn't around anymore. Anyway, when this all gets revealed I'm betting there's at least one or more scenes that we can look back to like, "If she's __________, then how come _________?"

So...how old is Emiko? Did Robert hand her a book of names when she was 12 like, "Your brother's a dipshit, make sure this gets taken care of"?

Same. She tried to kill a villain who'd killed countless people and had terrorized her family - seems okay to me. And Felicity didn't even kill the guy she shot! And even if she had, so what! This all makes me so mad, LOL.

That's probably what they intend it, but I'm choosing to read it the other way because it makes me happy (and them happy, too).

LOL

Another thing I was thinking about - Dinah mentioning seeing the "good things" (or whatever) about Oliver in William, after she alluded to Oliver being a bad guy a couple of episodes ago - if Oliver is allegedly terrible in the future too then why am I having to sit through Felicity being evil shamed over defending herself when Oliver gets to go be a dumb cop? Ugh

Or hide and cower behind your chainmail curtains!