tv echo

I don't know why people watch or don't watch from week to week. I can only relate a personal anecdote. I have a friend who's a hardcore comic book guy, so I sometimes try to get his thoughts about Arrow. He liked S1 and S2, but hated S3 (not for the reason you think). While he would've preferred the Black Canary with the Green Arrow, he doesn't like Laurel and prefers Sara as the (Black) Canary. He just thinks that Laurel has the wrong origin story for the Black Canary and that her hero journey in S3 just wasn't believable. He also finds her irritating. In his words, "they killed the wrong sister." He's mostly okay with Olicity because he can see how that relationship developed on the show, but he didn't like their contrived romance angst in S3. He's okay with a happy Olicity couple as part of the team and not involved in big personal drama. He did love Ray and the Atom suit. His biggest complaint about S3 involved the whole Ra's al Ghul story arc. He has always loved Ra's and the League of Assassins (League of Shadows), and is very bitter about how Arrow diminished Ra's and made the League out to be so easily beaten by amateurs and almost a laughable non-threat. In his words, "their version of the League made them look obsolete and incompetent." So he quit watching Arrow after S3. Last fall, he watched the Flash/Arrow crossovers (208, 408), and I convinced him to also watch 409 after I told him about Damian Darhk and HIVE. He liked 409 so much that he also watched 410 and 411. However, as soon as he tuned in to 412, which opened with Nanda Parbat and Nyssa's escape, he went 'nope' and changed the channel. And honestly, I don't think I'm going to be able to convince him to give Arrow another try.

Arrow Season 4: 13 Big Questions After ‘Sins Of The Father’ James Hunt 11 Feb 2016 http://whatculture.com/tv/arrow-season-4-13-big-questions-after-sins-of-the-father.php

LAST NIGHT ON TV: ARROW WORKED OUT SOME DADDY ISSUES By Neil Miller @rejects February 11, 2016 http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/last-night-on-tv-february-11.php

Forbes reviewer thought that 413 was a "strong" episode, despite some "weird decision-making on Oliver's part" (also, he's leaning towards William being in the grave)... 'Arrow' Season 4, Episode 13 Review: Sins Of The Father Erik Kain FEB 11, 2016 http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/02/11/arrow-season-4-episode-13-review-sins-of-the-father/#4e3474671306

Another reviewer has moved Donna to the top of the grave list... 'Arrow': Is Oliver's Son Going to Die? Derek Stauffer Thursday, February 11, 2016 http://www.buddytv.com/articles/arrow/arrow-is-olivers-son-going-to-58841.aspx

Robert Dougherty's critical review of 413 (scored it 5 out of 10)... Arrow 'Sins of the Father' Review By Robert Dougherty February 11, 2016 03:22PM EST http://www.themovienetwork.com/review/arrow-sins-father-review

Only Arrow-related portions of this interview with CL are quoted below... "LEGENDS OF TOMORROW'S" CAITY LOTZ SAYS WHITE CANARY'S LIFE HASN'T LIGHTENED UP Posted: 1 hour ago Scott Huver http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/legends-tomorrows-caity-lotz-says-white-canarys-life-hasnt-lightened-up

413 ranked #3 on Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings 2/10/2016 - Daily Top Five: http://www.nielsensocial.com/nielsentwittertvratings/daily/

Here's the weird blocking that I was talking about in my above-posted review, beginning at the 1:05 mark - Laurel walks all the way around Nyssa while she's talking, then Nyssa turns around, why? (tbc, I consider this as a director fail)...

Six Important Moments From Arrow – Sins Of The Father Posted February 11, 2016 by Dan Wickline http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/02/11/six-important-moments-from-arrow-sins-of-the-father/

Olicity takes the #1 spot (although I wouldn't describe this moment as a 'date')... The 16 Most Romantic Dates to Ever Happen on TV By Kartik Chainani on Thursday, February 11, 2016 http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/arrow/15-most-romantic-dates-to-happen-on-tv-96139.aspx

'Arrow' Recap: Who Survives the Civil War Between the League of Assassins? Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Derek Stauffer http://www.buddytv.com/articles/arrow/arrow-recap-who-survives-the-c-58829.aspx

In celebration of Valentine's Day, IBT highlights TV's most shipped couples... Valentine's Day 2016: Olicity, Destiel and other most shipped couples of TV February 11, 2016 15:30 IST By Mangala Dilip http://www.ibtimes.co.in/valentines-day-2016-olicity-destiel-other-most-shipped-couples-tv-666591

JB posts video clip of him and KL dancing: https://www.facebook.com/JohnBarrowmanOfficial/videos/1117937301550024/ JB responds to fan complaint: https://twitter.com/Team_Barrowman/status/697656690510950400

Sleepy Hollow - Episode 3.13 - Dark Mirror - Press Release Posted by SpoilerTV at Thursday, February 11, 2016 http://www.spoilertv.com/2016/02/sleepy-hollow-episode-313-dark-mirror.html

This Yahoo guy's reviews are pretty entertaining... 'Arrow' Recap: Felicity Loses a Dad, and Someone Loses a Hand Robert Chan February 11, 2016 https://www.yahoo.com/tv/arrow-recap-felicity-father-malcolm-merlyn-hand-052124560.html

TV.com's mostly negative review of 413... Arrow "Sins of the Father" Review: Different but Dumb By Noel Kirkpatrick 9 hours ago http://www.tv.com/shows/arrow/community/post/arrrow-season-4-episode-13-sins-of-the-father-review-145489481582/

ScreenCrush's negative review of 413... ‘Arrow’ Review: ‘Sins of the Father’ Still Can’t Solve its Malcolm Merlyn Problem Kevin Fitzpatrick | 11 hours ago http://screencrush.com/arrow-sins-of-the-father-review/

'Arrow’ 4×13 Recap: ‘Sins of the Father’ fangirlish FEBRUARY 11, 2016 http://fangirlish.com/arrow-4x13-recap-sins-of-the-father/ PENANCE: SINS OF THE FATHER 4X13 REVIEW jbuffyangel FEBRUARY 11, 2016 @ 04:28 http://jbuffyangel.tumblr.com/post/139105170248/penance-sins-of-the-father-4x13-review Arrow 4x13 "Sins of the Father" (Daddy Issues) Just About Write 7:06 PM http://www.itsjustaboutwrite.com/2016/02/arrow-4x13-sins-of-father-daddy-issues.html

Den of Geek reviewer thought that 413 was one of the best episodes of the season because it finally addressed the Malcolm problem (rated it 4/5 stars)... Arrow: Sins of the Father Review Kayti Burt 2/10/2016 at 10:00PM http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/arrow/252821/arrow-sins-of-the-father-review

Collider review of 413 (thought it was a "marginal" episode and gave it a 3-star rating)... 'Arrow’ Recap: “Sins of the Father” – Let’s Give Malcolm Merlyn a Hand BY DAVE TRUMBORE 10 HOURS AGO http://collider.com/arrow-recap-sins-of-the-father/

I thought that 413 was one of the worst episodes of this season (so far), largely due to the nonsensical A plot involving Nyssa, Malcolm and the League of Idiots. At the top of the episode, Nyssa asks Oliver to kill Malcolm for her so that she can become Ra's. At the end of the episode, when Oliver steps in to duel Malcolm in her place, Nyssa initially objects, saying, "I have never allowed anyone to fight my battles for me." Huh? Isn't that what you did about 40 tv minutes ago? And isn't Oliver just doing what you asked? Do the Arrow writers even read their own scripts?! [Others above have also noted this contradiction.] The League assassins have become the Keystone Kops of the Arrowverse. The League vs. League stunt fights looked amateurish. Bamford should be embarrassed. The blocking for the first Nyssa and Laurel conversation was really awkward. While Laurel is giving one of her speeches, she slowly and deliberately walks in a half circle around Nyssa until she ends up talking to Nyssa's back. Then Nyssa has to turn around to respond. At first I thought Laurel was setting Nyssa up for a surprise capture. But no, there was no point to it. It reminded me of my high school theatre days when the director would tell me that I had to get from point A to point B on the stage by the end of a certain line of dialogue. Once again, Oliver easily defeats Malcolm for some inexplicable reason, despite Malcolm's many years of League training. Subsequently, Nyssa becomes the new Ra's and promptly disbands the League, thus letting hundreds(?) of deadly assassins loose who are answerable to no one. I guess that's something else she learned from Laurel and Oliver - to let killers roam free. Hey, I hear that HIVE and Shadowspire recently lost a lot of minions and may be looking for new members! [This was also noted by others above.] So Malcolm tells Darhk about Oliver's son. Why didn't he also tell Darhk that Oliver was the Green Arrow? Also, now both Malcolm and Barry (and Darhk) know about Oliver's son - and yet Oliver still won't tell Felicity. WTF?! Samantha's demand for secrecy is pretty much moot at this point. The only parts of this episode that I liked and thought were well done involved the B plot of Felicity's father, whose real name is now confirmed to be Noah Kuttler - although I would've also liked to have seen a scene between Donna and Noah. Specifically, there were two little bits that I loved. One was when Felicity told her father that she hated herself as a child and thought she was broken and no one could ever love her. The second was when Oliver told Felicity that she didn't have to be funny for him. [Great moment, as others have noted above.] These two lines gave me greater insight into both Felicity and the Olicity relationship. Felicity's humor and quirky personality is her armor against the world that she adopted to protect herself and to hide her insecurities. But she doesn't need that armor when she's with Oliver because he understands her [as wonderwall also noted above]. However, once Felicity finds out that Oliver lied to her and hid a big secret from her, it's probably going to make her feel like that abandoned, broken child again and that no one could love her. Lastly, for all their worshipping of Joss Whedon, the Arrow EPs are going in a very anti-Whedon direction. Whedon is all about found or created families, made up of unrelated and disparate individuals who band together. On Arrow, blood ties apparently are paramount to everything else. Thea had two 'real' fathers, Robert and Walter, but since Malcolm is her biological father, blood is what counts the most. Oliver has known/loved Felicity for almost four years and Thea for all of her life, and he only met his son about a month ago, but now Oliver loves William more than anyone else in the world. Once again, blood is apparently what counts the most.

Also from 413... Felicity (to Noah): "When I was a girl, I hated myself. I thought I was broken, that no one could or ever would love me. It's the only way a child can grow up when their father abandons them." Oliver (to Felicity): "You don't have to be funny for me. You know that, right?"

MG responds to a Huntress fan: https://twitter.com/mguggenheim/status/697611661687914498 MG responds to a Laurel fan: https://twitter.com/mguggenheim/status/697669114643374080

Vulture's mixed review of 413 (I enjoyed reading this)... Arrow Recap: Out of Hand By Jenny Raftery February 11, 2016 2:29 a.m. http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/arrow-recap-season-4-episode-13.html