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Don't You Have Any Happy Stories : Your Favorite Things About Arrow


Luckylyn
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I started with the lone gunman and everyone makes a big deal of the red pen but character wise that episode did good for everyone's character. Felicity is awesome. Moira and Thea were great. Walter, I kinda love him. Even Laurel had her moments.

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One of my favorite things in season three is Lyla. I was kind of like whatever in her season one and early season two appearances. But then she and Diggle actually got together and she got to be a fierce, rocket launcher-wielding badass in her own right. I think she got some nice character depth this season, maintaining the person who takes extreme measures when necessary persona she has while working for ARGUS and also adding more of the nurturing, caring aspect we see with Sara and John. 

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Here's my list of some positive things that I liked about S3 (temporarily suspending my disbelief about some of its WTF moments) - in no particular order:

 

  • SA's and EBR's layered portrayals of Oliver and Felicity, respectively. SA showed even more depth as an actor, and EBR got to show her impressive dramatic chops.

 

  • Some of the fight sequences were just stunning.  For example, the mountaintop duel between Oliver and Ra's was cinematically and beautifully shot. And the TA v. LOA fight was well-choreographed.

 

  • We finally got a little more back story on Felicity, with her flashback episode and the introduction of her mother.

 

  • Diggle and Lyla continued to demonstrate what a stable couple looks like and even got married - and we got introduced to the adorably cute baby Sara.  I also agree that it was great to see more of Lyla.

 

  • Diggle got to demonstrate his leadership skills in Oliver's absence and with the Suicide Squad.

 

  • The crossover episodes with The Flash worked surprisingly well, despite the different tones of the two shows. Oliver's experience complemented Barry's flash (pun intended). 

 

  • Oliver was openly, steadfastly and vulnerably in love with Felicity throughout this entire season, even though he felt that he couldn't be with her.  And eventually they got their happy ending. (*)  

 

(* Incidentally, the Olicity story in S3 was less soap opera and more romantic cliche - two people in love with each other are not together because the guy feels that he can't be with the girl for some self-imposed reason, but ultimately they overcome that and get a happy ending.  Real soap opera involves the sibling back-stabbing, infidelity, lover returning from the dead, and love triangle with best friend of S1 - ahem, sorry, temporary rant.)

Edited by tv echo
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I'm still astounded not just by mini Sara's adorable cuteness, but that they used her in an acting moment, giving out the stink eye. That was gold and we know a happy accident the director captured and the editor capitalized on, so good on them for not letting the opportunity slip by.

(* Incidentally, the Olicity story in S3 was less soap opera and more romantic cliche - two people in love with each other are not together because the guy feels that he can't be with the girl for some self-imposed reason, but ultimately they overcome that and get a happy ending. Real soap opera involves the sibling back-stabbing, infidelity, lover returning from the dead, and love triangle with best friend of S1 - ahem, sorry, temporary rant.)

Call it "Romance Novel" maybe? Nothing says romance novel like riding off into the sunset.

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Felicity and Olicity were what drew me to the show, so I was really happy to see them finally smiling and happy. 

 

And I can't get enough of the Diggle family scenes. DR and AMA have such great chemistry, and I hope the show's new tone means we'll get to see more of them being sweet with each other and adorable Sara. (I wouldn't complain if Digg and Lyla had more scenes of being badass together too. In sort, more Digg! More Lyla!)

Edited by lemotomato
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I wanted to express gratitude to the Arrow production team and the companies that own the copyright for their support of fanmade art.  SA is constantly promoting the work of fans.  I so appreciate that fans aren't blocked from making videos and art that shows their support for the show.

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Moments I loved in Season 4A:

 

  • Oliver/Felicity's argument about her helping the team while they're away
  • Oliver packing Felicity's lunch
  • Diggle/Oliver bromantic bonding moment over whiskey in episode 6
  • Thea Vs Andy
  • OTA drinks after mission in episode 3
  • Felicity putting Diggle/Oliver in their place after nearly getting killed by not having each other's backs
  • Married Olicity in episode 208 of the Flash
  • Felicity w/ Machine gun
  • Donna/Felicity talk in her room after Felicity's fight with Oliver
  • Oliver confronting Quentin
  • Every moment we've had with Damien Darhk so far
  • Diggle talking to Laurel about Andy, that was such an emotional scene and well done by DR
  • Oliver/Felicity talk about marriage in that cell
  • Oliver proposing to Felicity and they drive off into the sunset (shhh)

 

What are your favorite moments?

Edited by wonderwall
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Started to list every moment that I liked, then went back and tried for only favorites, in order:

 

401

  • Everything Domestic Olicity (Honorable Mention: Proposal Attempt #1)
  • Diggle, Laurel, and Thea's mission with the Kord Industries truck (Honorable Mention: "I told you guys to call me Red Arrow!")
  • Oliver and Felicity's "fight"
  • First intro to DD and his powers
  • Honestly, the grave scene (I thought it was an interesting initial twist before all the speculation mess around it)

 

402

  • Opening team mission (Honorable Mention: "I want a codename")
  • Oliver and Thea's fight
  • Shot with all 4 of them crashing from the ceiling
  • Thea vs. Anarky

 

403

  • Any scene that had Oliver in it, honestly, with mostly the OTA scenes
  • Dodger reference, OG reference
  • Felicity being a badass and saving Curtis

 

404

  • New lair intro
  • All of Lance's scenes, honestly (honorable mention: Lance and Oliver's scene at Lance's place)
  • Oliver's mayor speech 

 

405

  • All of Constantine's scenes (honorable mention: First scene with him in the flashbacks
  • THIS IS YOUR OVERLORD, FELICITY SMOAK

 

406

  • Team rescuing Ray (honorable mention: "All right, Spartan, let's do this")
  • Diggle and Oliver's talk
  • Mama Smoak and Felicity's talk
  • Oliver and Felicity's talk at the end
  • DD in general in this episode, he managed to threaten Felicity and make a pun within 30 seconds

 

407

  • Thea vs. Andy
  • Oliver and Diggle's talk (honorable mention: Oliver's speech about not giving up and Diggle telling Oliver to fight DD in the light)
  • One of the best jokes in the entire season, if not series
  • Diggle's talk with Laurel

 

208

  • The entire first scene with the Arrow cast, just all of it

 

408

  • Oliver's scene with his son
  • "We're not leaving each other!!!" the Oliver/Barry bromance was strong in this one

 

409

  • Ugh, just all of it, ignoring the flashbacks
  • The entire scene with DD putting the team in the gas chamber and Malcolm and Laurel coming to save them
  • The entire last five minutes, proposal and shooting and all.
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Episodes I would rewatch and still be entertained: 401, 402, 403, 406, 409, 411, and hopefully 412/413 can be added to the list before the whole mama drama begins! 

 

8/13 is not bad for season 4 considering season 3 had considerably less episodes I'd rewatch. 

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Not sure if its a happy thing or not... but trying to stay spoiler free & I wasn't able to watch 414 due to traveling & family commitments :( However, I came to check in on the board and noticed that 2 pages filled quickly and there was a bitterness post just before 11p EST. So I now I am looking fwd to seeing what the ep is all about, whereas before I was kinda blase about watching it.

 

Also every time I see the 414 episode title "Code of Silence" ~ it makes me think of Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence". Ironically - "hello, darkness my old friend" feels like an appropriate tune to be humming if our predictions and the spoilers hold true for where the season is heading.

 

It's not that I'm looking fwd to some of the upcoming episodes.... but I am HAPPY that we have this forum to post, vent & console each other while we wait for ARROW to get through its annual dusky period...

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You know why I think Arrow works on a level beyond most superhero stories? Because for all of Oliver’s insistence every week that the show is about him saving the city, the show has only ever really been about saving him.

This is so true, and explains perfectly why I’m so much more invested in this particular superhero show than others, even when I’m not necessarily a fan of the writing. The core premise of Arrow has me invested in the characters and their journey in a way I’m not with other shows. So no matter how ridiculous the antics of the villain of the week are, I’m in it for the long haul, as long as those key relationships remain intact.

 

X

 

 

I feel like this might be the best explanation why I'm so involved and invested in Arrow and its characters as opposed to other shows and why I haven't dropped it despite bad writing... Hmm This gives me more to ponder about

Edited by wonderwall
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I really love how this show writes friendships, especially Oliver's. His friendship with Dig, his friendship with Barry, his friendship with Tommy, even his friendship with laurel (they always made more sense to me as friends) are all so different from each other, and have such different dynamics, but I find them all to be really compelling, and really fun to watch.   

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I think that this season is such an improvement from season 3. I'd rewatch a lot of it...

If the last 3 episodes follow 420's suit and are awesome then I see myself rewatching episodes:

1-7, 9, 11-13, 16,17, 20-23

That's 17/23 episodes! That's 74% of the season!

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3 minutes ago, wonderwall said:

I think that this season is such an improvement from season 3. I'd rewatch a lot of it...

If the last 3 episodes follow 420's suit and are awesome then I see myself rewatching episodes:

1-7, 9, 11-13, 16,17, 20-23

That's 17/23 episodes! That's 74% of the season!

Heck, 401, 403, 406, 409, 411, 417, and 420 already were immediate rewatches for me. And even the episodes you didn't list have moments that I had to go back and rewatch because I liked them so much (410 with the "for better for worse" scene that still gets me, 414 with the engagement party, 415 with Vixen, 418 with Laurel's scene with Darhk which I surprisingly liked, and 419 with Oliver/Felicity and Diggle/Felicity and Lance/Oliver scenes), even 408 (regardless of the episode, I really liked the first like 3-5 minutes with the whole superheroes at a farmhouse thing).

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(edited)

I definitely think s4 is a rewatch and potential buy on sale for me. Awhile back (I think in the bitterness thread) somebody asked whether you would take the angst of s3 or s4. At the time I answered s3, because it was the hay day of the spinal cord & BMD and I just can't tolerate either of those storylines, especially the SC. But I think now that they breezed through those story points and got most of the characters back on pointe rather quickly - I definitely prefer s4.

I would probably skip 408 through 411 (although I might pause & watch GothFelicity in 411) & 415, that's probably just Disk #3. Everything else if a tolerable if not enjoyable rewatch.

As long as MG & WM are in charge, I have a feeling I will never enjoy a whole season.

Edited by kismet
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I adore 4-9 too much to ever skip it but I get the sentiment.  I've already rewatched 4-20 once and the O/F stuff probably about four times.  I don't think I've done anything like that SINCE 4-9.

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15 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

I adore 4-9 too much to ever skip it but I get the sentiment.  I've already rewatched 4-20 once and the O/F stuff probably about four times.  I don't think I've done anything like that SINCE 4-9.

I debated about that one... but the gas chambers during the Holiday episode was just a little distasteful for me. Of course it does have the glitter bomb & all the O/F proposing to each other so it does have a lot of goodies. It will probably depend upon how they end O/F this season. As good as those moments were, I can't watch them knowing that the writers were intentionally giving us them while fully intending that bogus BMD. But if they put them in a good place in the finale, then I might forgive them for their emotional manipulation.

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12 hours ago, wonderwall said:

I think that this season is such an improvement from season 3. I'd rewatch a lot of it...

If the last 3 episodes follow 420's suit and are awesome then I see myself rewatching episodes:

1-7, 9, 11-13, 16,17, 20-23

That's 17/23 episodes! That's 74% of the season!

I think this is the same for me, too. 408 never happened, IMO, so I don't ever need to watch something that never even happened. :P

Not sure I'd re-watch 416 though. I loved Oliver's 'vows' but the rest was a mess.

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@wonderwall's post reminded me of a 409 gifset I saw on Tumblr recently. It's a parallel of Felicity's reaction to Oliver's, "I was going to propose", to his reaction to her, "I chose this life and I chose you". It wonderfully highlighted their sense of wonder that they got the other person. I can't find it now for the life of me, but it's excellent, so if anyone else has better luck and would bring it over, please and thank you.

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I was going through the list of episodes this season trying to sort out which ones I loved/liked/tolerated/hated, and I realized that there were only 5 that I absolutely would not watch again. Even though I had problems with season 4-- lousy stunts, BM drama, how it ended-- it was such a huge improvement over season 3, which had only 4 episodes I would ever rewatch. I'd rank 4A (except for 408) +411 and 412 as my second favorite stretch of the show after 2A. 

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I'm doing an Arrow rewatch... And by Arrow rewatch I mean:

114-123
201-210 + 222-223
401-409 minus episode 8 + 411-12+417+420

That's a good 34 episodes... Which is sad considering Arrow is nearing its 100th episode lol

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I'm at my sister's, and she and her husband are just now catching up with S4. Yesterday they watched 409, you had to see my brother-in-law's face at the end, haha. And then he was 'first Sara, then Felicity..while Laurel just stands there with her arms crossed! They can't kill Felicity! Are they insane??' (He's not spoiled). 

P.S. they mock the Canary Cry too. I feel validated!

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3 hours ago, dtissagirl said:

Favorite "season" is 114 to 209.

Coincidentally, if we're talking about best episodes, it's these two that spring to my mind immediately.

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I actually do pretend the BMD didn't happen - by replacing Arrow 4x08 with Flash  4x08 and lopping off the last few minutes. (What can I say? It works for me.) So with that in mind, I can get through 4x11 pretty happily. That's it for me though.

Edited by RandomMe
connecting verbs are important
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Factoring in BMD, 407. Pretending BMD doesn't exist, 409 and 411. After that, it was just a matter of waiting until the BMD came out and the break up happened. There are moments after that that I've enjoyed, including some from S5, but I think 411 was the last time I was looking forward to an episode.

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