tv echo

Even though I really missed Rick & the gang, I found this Beth episode surprisingly watchable and suspenseful. It was interesting to see the different group dynamic of this other bunch of survivors (but one episode was enough of them - maybe one more just to finish them off). Beth was unfazed and a bit creepy at times. She smiled when they handcuffed her on the ground as she watched Noah get away. And there was that nice surprise with Carol at the end. The core of the hospital group was in the hospital when the walkers overran the city and stayed there out of necessity and fear. The cops were there because the hospital was in the process of being evacuated. Then they had to go out to get more supplies. I think they started out saving people they found when they were out on their foraging missions, which ended up having to be farther and farther away from the city. They originally saved people out of good intentions. However, once Dawn took over, in her attempt to retain power over the group, she got it all twisted so that they only saved 'weaker' people that she could control and she let the guards get away with rape for the 'greater good'. She probably thought she was preserving as much of the human population as she could in anticipation of an eventual rescue. The people saved had to earn their keep, hence the working at various jobs. I found Dawn to be a different kind of bad 'leader' from Gareth or the Governor. I think the point was to show what happened to a group that didn't have a strong leader. Beth doesn't bother me as much anymore. I don't want every female character on the show to act or react the same way. So what if she likes to sing? The point of the Caravaggio painting is to show that maybe just surviving is not enough - you still need to keep your soul, which to some people means appreciating stuff like good art and music. Of course, the doctor then turned out to be a selfish coward. But at least Beth showed spine and smarts in this episode. I don't think she intended to kill the doctor. After he tricked her, she knew that she couldn't trust him anymore and armed herself just in case. Maybe the point of Beth is to show that you can't judge a book by its cover. In any event, I have a feeling that she's doomed anyway. Like others here, I'm also hoping Carol and Darryl ran into Noah and came up with a plan where Carol would get inside as a Trojan Horse and Darryl would go get Rick & the gang. Unfortunately, we have to sit through an episode of Abraham, Eugene and the bus tour first. I still like Glenn & Maggie as a couple. Too many TV shows put a couple together and then split them apart to create drama, either through a love triangle or by killing off one of them. I like that this couple is still a solid couple - of course, TWD will likely succumb to the easy out of killing off one of them for the dramatic effect. Also, Glenn is the only Asian character on the show. I can't believe that, with all that traveling about over the past four seasons, our survivors are still in the Atlanta area. It'll be a nice change to leave the State of Georgia finally and go somewhere else, even if it's to Washington, D.C.

Present day Belle looked about 10 years older than usual with that pulled up hair and frumpy clothes. Maybe being married to Gold has aged her. Unfortunately, she still acted immaturely. Even though Gold lied about the dagger and pretended to be compelled, it was still an abuse of trust for Belle to use that dagger to 'force' Gold to do something he didn't want to do. I did like the character consistency of Belle still looking to books for answers. Inconsistency? Flashback Elsa has white hair while present day Elsa has blonde hair. The difference was noticeable. I guess Anna's 'magical power' is the ability to tell if someone is good or evil. How else to explain her immediate negative suspicion of Aunt Ingrid. Elizabeth Mitchell is much better at portraying a villain than a hero. Her Snow Queen is perfect... except for her motivation. So the big reveal is that the Snow Queen plans to have the Storybrooke residents wipe each other out, leaving her with Elsa and Emma as her new family? Well, that's... anti-climactic. I guess the three of them can then become the new Charmed Ones - oops, wrong show.

Smoak and Arrow is hoping to Twitter trend Who Is Felicity Smoak on Wednesday, November 5th: http://smoakandarrow.tumblr.com/post/101423209489/come-join-us-for-our-felicity-smoak-twitter-trend

The similarities to Smallville are the things that I don't like about The Flash (although I still enjoy the show overall): - Referring to the mysterious hero as the red blur or red streak. - Having the hero's love object be the girl he grew up with and also a reporter type (basically, Lana and Lois combined in one person, Iris). Plus she friendzones the regular guy but falls for the super alter ego. - The fact that Barry seems to have not only super speed but super strength like Superman. He can lift and carry away people heavier than him (example, that train rescue). - Having a freak of the week who got his/her powers from the same event that's tied to the superhero (kryptonite strike, Star Labs explosion). Arrow may remind me of Batman Begins at times, but it doesn't remind me of Smallville.

I guess "The Magician" refers to this episode's writer who magically made Oliver a selective amnesiac, Nyssa a gullible fool, Laurel an IT-savvy and bulked up boxer, Diggle an unnecessary extra, and Felicity a disappearing act.

I don't think the EPs have decided on the identity of Felicity's father. They're likely just saving that mystery for a future season.

http://tvline.com/2014/10/31/arrow-season-3-photos-felicitys-mother-charlotte-ross/ I'm still uncertain as to why Thea is protecting Malcolm. Has she been brainwashed by Malcolm or does she feel some loyalty to her father, the mass murderer? Or has Thea just turned into a selfish, calculating person, who is using Malcolm for his protection and money? It still irks me that Thea refused to sign those papers last season, bankrupting her family, and then moved from the Queen mansion directly to Malcolm's mansion on Corto Maltese.

To my surprise, this was the first episode since "Time Heist" that I liked this season - and I even liked Peter Capaldi's Doctor for a change, esp. when he was figuratively slapping Clara to get her head straight and concentrate on the mission. The premise was intriguing and disturbing. I didn't even mind Danny Pink. The Missy reveal was a bit obvious but interesting. For the first time this season, I'm looking forward to next week's episode.

I'm leaning toward the theory that Nyssa was Sara's killer. It would be the Big Shocking Twist that producers love. How would that work? We know from the spoilers that there will be Sara flashbacks this season. What's the point of having those flashbacks when Sara's dead? At first I thought they wanted to show side-by-side training sessions of Sara in flashback and Laurel in present. Now, I think it could be to show motive - how Sara and Nyssa's relationship developed 5 years ago and also what happened during the 5-month hiatus after Season 2. It could be that the flashbacks will show that Sara became dissatisfied and wanted to leave the LOA again, or that Sara planned to betray the LOA for some reason, or some other reason that led to Ra's al Ghul deciding to terminate Sara. Ra's could be furious with Nyssa for releasing Sara last season without his permission and wanted to punish Nyssa - or test Nyssa's loyalties. Nyssa could have been ordered to kill Sara - then Nyssa would be torn between her love for Sara and her love for her father/loyalty to the LOA (works even better if Sara betrayed Nyssa and the LOA in some way). Nyssa could also have been ordered to frame Malcolm; hence, her appearance in the Arrowcave and pretend surprise at the news of Sara's death. I've always wondered how Oliver could possibly defeat Ra's and the LOA in order to protect his people and Starling City. The answer is that he can't realistically defeat Ra's, who is too powerful to kill or imprison. (The show recently made a point of saying that no prison can hold a LOA member.) Ra's is a huge figure in the DC universe so he can't be killed off. The only possible solution is for Ra's and Oliver to reach some kind of stalemate or agreement at the end of the Ra's story arc - perhaps Ra's agrees to leave Starling City alone in return for something or someone, or decides to let Oliver keep Starling City to repay a debt owed to Oliver by the LOA. However, there needs to be closure to the 'who killed Sara' storyline, so someone needs to be punished. I can see Ra's making Oliver believe that Nyssa was acting on her own to kill Sara, even though Ra's secretly ordered the kill. Perhaps Ra's demands that Nyssa and Malcolm be turned over to him, promising that Nyssa will be duly punished for Sara's death, in return for leaving Starling City to Oliver. As I said, if Oliver knew that Ra's was responsible for Sara's death, then Sara's murderer would have to go unpunished because Oliver can't defeat Ra's. (I'm not even going to go into the ridiculous possibility that Laurel could be the one to catch/defeat Sara's murderer.) Ra's is both powerful and devious. I can see him trying to manipulate Oliver, while also manipulating his daughter. His end goal being to kill Sara, punish Nyssa, and keep Oliver in line. Having Nyssa be Sara's killer could be the culmination of a heartbreaking love story between Nyssa and Sara, involving betrayal and conflict - with Nyssa's loyalty to the LOA & her father ultimately outweighing her love for Sara. I liken it to the classic mob story when a member of the mob is ordered to kill his disloyal wife (who's gone to the FBI) to prove his loyalty, even though he loves her.

I have no idea what the EPs are doing with Laurel. I just wish they would get rid of her character at the end of Season 3 - let Greg Berlanti cast KC as Veronica on his new Archie show.

More spoilers and speculation... Why Is [spoilers] in the Woods With Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead Season 5? October 30, 2014 at 05:43PM EDT by Gina Carbone http://www.wetpaint.com/walking-dead/articles/2014-10-30-why-spoilers-woods-daryl-dixon

I don't like the idea of Oliver being missing for any amount of time. I'm afraid that drspaceman10 may be right - in Oliver's absence, Laurel is going to take over the Arrowcave and start bossing everyone around. The EPs will probably have her take the leadership position in Team Arrow (further cementing her future Black Canary role) in spearheading the search for Oliver. Then after he is successfully rescued, everyone will love Laurel. (sarcasm) I'm also tired of the Goth girl computer geek stereotype (Abby on NCIS is a prime example). But I can accept it for Arrow because they wanted to go the opposite look of present-day Felicity. If current Felicity was a brunette, then flashback Felicity would probably have been a blonde.

I laughed at this because I was remembering when Laurel was bitching about how, when Quentin was a stumbling alcoholic, she had to go and get him and drag him into her car. I thought at the time that her recounting that memory made it seem less like concern about her father and more like annoyance that she had to take time out of her busy schedule to help him.

Whoa - what a difference! Now I'm kinda hoping that Felicity has a separated-at-birth twin who stayed brunette and who shows up in Starling City.

Some additional thoughts. The purple smoke signal was a pretty stupid way for Nyssa to attract Malcolm. It could be seen clearly by everyone in Starling City. Police, firefighters and/or curious civilians should have gotten there long before Malcolm or Oliver. For one thing, it would have taken Laurel or Laurel's stooge some time to search through city surveillance videos before seeing the purple smoke footage. I had another WTF moment when Nyssa made that parting comment to boxing Laurel. Laurel said something like "you're not going to make another crack about the jacket, are you". Nyssa replied that she would have at the cemetery but since then, Laurel has reminded her that "the strongest metal is forged in the hottest fire". I think Nyssa was referencing both backwards to Sara and forwards to Laurel. I understand the Sara reference perfectly. But Laurel? All Nyssa knows about Laurel's 'suffering' is that Laurel lost a sister. How is that the "hottest fire"? It just seemed like Nyssa was being a mouthpiece for the EPs - you know, Laurel's crucible B.S. The dreaded League of Assassins is getting less scary and more incompetent by the minute. Last season we had their assassins failing to defeat Sara and Oliver, even though they likely had more years of training than our heroes' five years. This season? We have the ridiculous purple smoke signal . We have their failure to find Malcolm. We have their failure to suspect that Malcolm's daughter was Thea (c'mon, Malcolm has been long-time friends with Moira). We have Nyssa's sudden respect for Laurel and equating Sara's years of suffering with Laurel's losing a sibling. And we have a less than intimidating Ra's al Ghul.

I'm still bitter about that ridiculous "Sara" episode. There was no reason to keep Sara's death a secret and to bury her secretly. No. Reason. None whatsoever.

I agree with writersblock51 that the change in EPs basically left Arrow with the short end of the stick. So we have huge leaps in illogic, glaring inconsistencies, and many out of character moments. Incidentally, the EPs totally misled us during the hiatus. Remember that show description that stated that Oliver/Arrow would be helped this season by, among others, "international assassin Sara Lance"? The show is called Arrow - it should be about Oliver. Last season I thought they spent too much time on Sara as the Canary even though I really like Sara. Now we're going through Canary 2.0 with Laurel. No thanks. Incidentally, I found the scenes with both Oliver and Roy in masks and costumes (looking like twins) unintentionally hilarious. I don't know why. One costumed superhero running around the city looks cool. Two similarly dressed superheros running around the city looks like comic con. I had no problem with the costumed Oliver and Sara fighting together. There's just something about costumed Oliver and Roy together that I find funny. Maybe it's the masks. Dunno....

Regarding why the ratings held steady for Arrow this week, here's another possibility - I wasn't looking forward to episode 4 but when I saw Matt Nable's name in the opening credits, I kept watching the episode waiting for his debut. Since he appeared at the very end of the episode, I ended up watching the entire episode.

Emliy Bett Rickards talks Felicity-centric episode on 'Arrow' 29.10.2014. Shane Olga Ocampo http://www.spoilersguide.com/arrow/emliy-bett-rickards-talks-felicity-centric-episode/ This part sounds interesting:

http://tvline.com/2014/10/29/castle-ted-mcginley-season-7-episode-9-spoilers-ask-ausiello/

It certainly seems that the focus this season is more on getting as many people into costume as soon as possible and then doing cool stunt fighting, and less on developing logical, organic storytelling.

Best Line of the Night - Nyssa to Laurel: "That jacket? I gave it to Sara as a gift. You're not fit to wear it." (audience cheers) But then the EPs had to go and spoil it with that ending scene in the boxing gym where Nyssa strongly implies that she's changed her mind and thinks Laurel might be worthy of the jacket after all. WTF?! Nice that KC bulked up, but Laurel becoming a boxer does not equal her becoming a trained martial artist/fighter on par with Sara. Second Best Line of the Night Felicity had part in one of the best lines of the night even though she's absent. - Oliver: "She [Felicity] told me an idiot could run it." - Diggle: "I'll try very hard not to take that personally." Felicity's Absence --> Contrived Plot Devices Felicity's absence from the Arrowcave left a really big hole and led to the use of some pretty contrived plot devices to get the information the team needed. - How convenient that pics of Malcolm were left behind on a disc by Sara for Oliver and Nyssa to find. - How convenient that Felicity left an easy-to-use tracking program for Oliver and Diggle to use. - How convenient that Laurel(!) was able to pull up city surveillance video of the purple smoke so that Oliver could track down where Nyssa was holding Thea. Incidentally, it seemed Sara spent more time with Oliver last season than she did with Laurel. So why would Sara tell Laurel about the LOA's old fashioned communication methods and not Oliver? It just sounds like more retconning to show the close sisterly relationship(!) and to give Laurel more lines. Most Difficult to Believe - The League of Assassins searched for Malcolm Merlyn all over the globe and couldn't find him on Corto Maltese. - Sara knew Malcolm was alive and didn't tell Oliver or her father in "The Calm" episode. Laurel's Personality Whiplash... Again - Kill, kill, kill Malcolm Merlyn! (hostile and angry) - "It's my fault, Oliver. I know you're not a killer." (subdued and cooperative) I swear, every time Laurel opened her mouth to speak in this episode, I just wanted someone to say "shut up, Laurel". Incidentally, she was wearing her lawyer suit so presumably she's been working as an ADA again, prosecuting criminals for breaking the law. At the same time, she's urging Oliver and Nyssa to kill Malcolm, a suspect in Sara's murder, without evidence or any due process of law. Malcolm may be innocent of Sara's murder and, while he is guilty of causing the deaths of 500 people in the Glades, he's still entitled to his day in court to present mitigating factors that could spare him the death penalty. I'm surprised Laurel doesn't choke on her own hypocrisy, considering she's a sworn officer of the court and her day job. In the past 2+ years, there should've been at least one moment shown of Laurel showing some mental or emotional struggle before she crosses the line - but no, she's just been shown ignoring or breaking the law, violating her lawyer obligations, and abusing her power whenever it suited her, with no signs of conscience or remorse. Thea, Thea, Thea - I'm still not sure why Thea is still lying to Oliver and protecting Malcolm, a mass murderer. Her only motive seems to be self-interest -- Malcolm is the one keeping her safe and presumably supplying her with the money to buy the foundry and Verdant. Incidentally, last season, we had to handwave the fact that Thea, an 18-year-old with no work experience and no business experience, could successfully run a nightclub. This season, I guess we're supposed to continue handwaving that, plus her ownership of Verdant due to the generosity of "investors". - I was really starting to like the new Thea, but now I'm starting to dislike her again because her motivation just seems purely selfish. I don't even care anymore that Oliver is still lying to Thea because I no longer trust Thea - and Oliver shouldn't either. - I am curious as to why Thea didn't attempt to use her new fighting skills to get away from Nyssa when Nyssa kidnapped her. Oliver, the Dummy I hate how the EPs have dumbed down Oliver even more this season in order to support the story arcs (and other characters?). - He believes without question that investors are willing to fund the ownership and management of a nightclub by a teenager. And if Thea owns Verdant, she'll inevitably discover the Arrowcave, so why hasn't Oliver moved it? - His failure to know the blank piece of paper had invisible writing just seemed out of character (considering his father's book) and just a way to give that role to Nyssa. - Even knowing Nyssa's ruthlessness, he readily tells her that Thea is Malcolm's daughter. He then tells Laurel that Thea is Malcolm's daughter. Moira kept this big secret for so many years, while Oliver is just telling people left and right - he might as well take out an ad in the Starling City Times. - He rejects a relationship with Felicity because he feels he can't be both Oliver and the Arrow. Yet he apparently has no problem being Oliver with his sister Thea. - He's now protecting Malcolm Merlyn, thereby endangering not just his team but the whole city. Why? Just because Malcolm is Thea's father? Or because Oliver doesn't like the League telling him what to do? - Incidentally, this episode made a big deal out of his new "no kill" rule. But didn't he kill the new Count Vertigo with arrows? ARGUS... or AARGH! Amanda Waller's murderous and evil actions have me wondering if ARGUS was also infiltrated by HYDRA. (Oops! Crossed DC and Marvel comic universes!) Ra's al Ghul Debuts Matt Nable's first appearance as Ra's was a bit... underwhelming. I was mostly surprised by how much he looks like Don Swayze (Patrick Swayze's less talented acting brother). So points deducted right there.

Perhaps Felicity paid for her MIT education partly through a scholarship or work program or internshp set up by QC? Or perhaps Walter recruited her or was an old friend of her mother's? And yeah, it was so great learning so much about Felicity's background credentials - on another show! (sarcasm)

If Felicity was ranked second, then who was ranked first? And will that person show up on Arrow? Perhaps her college boyfriend - or someone else?

When I was watching Agents of SHIELD this week, there was a scene with Mockingbird (Agent Morse) fighting - she had long wavy blonde hair, wore an all black leather suit, and had weapons in two hands. It was so reminiscent of Sara's Canary fighting on Arrow that I was taken aback.