S03.E12: Uprising

[Meredith Quill]

Episode Synopsis:

 

Still operating without Oliver and desperate to stop Brick, Team Arrow is forced to consider Malcolm’s offer to help shut Brick down as Malcolm has a personal score to settle with the felon. Roy and Laurel point out that the team could use some help to save the innocents of The Glades, but Felicity is adamantly against it. They look to Diggle to make the final decision. Meanwhile, the flashbacks chronicle Malcolm’s descent from kind-hearted father and husband to cold-blooded killer after the murder of his wife.

[apinknightmare]

R.I.P. Ted Grant. 

 

Oliver, you fucking moron. 

 

That last scene was sad, gah. But not as bad as I thought it would be. And now "a woman you love" makes complete sense. DAMN YOU AND YOUR STUPID CHOICES, OLIVER

 

Even though Felicity still hasn't told him how she feels, I guess we know since she TOLD HIM SHE FANTASIZED ABOUT HIM DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY IF HE CAME BACK.

 

DAMN YOU AND YOUR STUPID CHOICES OLIVER. AGAIN.

Edited February 5, 2015 by apinknightmare

[SonofaBiscuit]

I'm typing this as I watch, so I'll put the stuff about Oliver's return right here at the start of my post.  There's a giant fight between Brick and his peeps vs. Team Arrow/The people of the Glades and Oliver shows up in his Arrow gear to stop Merlyn from killing Brick.  He then gives an inspirational speech on top of a van (or something), and Diggle and Felicity are back in the Arrow Lair watching this happen on the news.  After the fight, Oliver shows up at Thea's apartment and tells her he spent the last few weeks in jail.  The Team Arrow reunion is kind of underwhelming.  Felicity hugs Oliver but later gets angry when she finds out that he wants to work with Malcolm.  She "needs some air" and leaves, but Oliver follows her to the alley.  She's upset with him, and here's where we get the "I don't want to be a woman you love" line (see my post further down for the exact quote).  Eh, I don't think people are going to be that angry about this, really.  I'm not raging, anyways.  Now on to the start of the episode. 

 

The episode opens with Oliver leaving Tatsu's cabin in the woods.  Elsewhere, Laurel and Roy show up in The Glades to beat some people up, and all I see is a lot of canary blonde hair flying around.  Diggle has stayed behind in the Arrow lair once again because...reasons.

 

Ahh hahaha.  Captain Lance totally calls out The Arsenal and lets him know that he knows it's Roy Harper under the hood.  Hilarious.

 

Meanwhile, Oliver is hiking home really slowly.  Tatsu is following him, so he gets her to show herself and they have a nice conversation.  I'm liking this Oliver.  Like SA said, he's more soft-spoken and humble.  He knows that Ra's will likely come for him when he learns that Oliver is not dead, and he seems to want Tatsu's help training with swords, but she mentions that Maseo is better at that sort of thing, and only the student can beat the master.  So I'm assuming Maseo will be showing up in a future episode to train Oliver in sword usage.

 

Malcolm shows up and saves Laurel/Roy, who are trying to take on Brick.  Back in the Arrow cave, Laurel is saying that they should use Merlyn as a weapon against Brick, but Felicity says no.  Laurel seems slightly annoyed here, and then Roy comes in (fresh from drinking some Malcolm kool-aid), and agrees with Laurel.  Diggle is the deciding vote and he says NO! 

 

Very ominous discussion between Tatsu and Oliver where she bids him farewell and tells him that he will have to sacrifice whatever he holds most precious in order to beat Ra's al Ghul.  Not liking the sound of that at all.

 

Oops, looks like I was wrong about Maseo training Oliver.  Oliver shows up at Thea's apartment and asks Merlyn to train him.

 

After the Team Arrow reunion, Felicity mentions that Oliver has been gone a month.  I didn't realize it was that long...I thought it was like a week or two based on what people who watched the episodes had said.

Edited February 5, 2015 by SonofaBiscuit

[RandomWatcher]

Awesome:

Wildcat kicking butt

Arrow giving an Independence Day like speech

The team getting the Glade to fight back

 

Not awesome

Wildcat getting his butt handed to him

No one filling in Sin on what happened to the first Canary, but at least Detective Lance knows someone else is the Canary

 

Guess the Arrowverse has the same fast jets as the Nolan Batmanverse.

Edited February 5, 2015 by RandomWatcher

[janeta]

Very good, Sin. Someone had to point out the obvious. Guess we'll see a lot more Malcolm now-- goodie. :-)

[Shanna]

So, that happened. I thought Felicitys turn was a big fast. Can they not let anything breathe? Sheesh.

I love Merlin's crazy ass and Tatsu so I liked most of this.

Oh! Also sin! wtf was that business with her telling Quentin. With her noticing when Quentin can't. I fucking hate this story.

Was Ted actually dead? I guess I thought he was just knocked out.

[wonderwall]

This gif makes so much more sense now:

 

[Jediknight]

Oliver's an idiot.  Yes, by all means get in bed with Malcolm Merlyn.  He knows Malcolm brainwashed Thea, causing the death of Sara, and he wants to work with Malcolm, there's no way that can backfire.

 

Nice to see that Quentin knows Sara isn't back, thanks to Sin.  Come on, Sin is the one to begin to tell Quentin the truth?  Loved seeing Sin back though, hopefully she pops up a few more times.

 

Laurel and Roy need to never say that line ever again.  Only Oliver can deliver the "You have failed this city" line correctly.

[apinknightmare]

Oliver's an idiot.  Yes, by all means get in bed with Malcolm Merlyn.  He knows Malcolm brainwashed Thea, causing the death of Sara, and he wants to work with Malcolm, there's no way that can backfire.

 

ONLY THE STUDENT CAN DEFEAT THE TEACHER THO

 

I love that Quentin knew Roy was Arsenal right away. And that Sin called him out on not realizing that the BC isn't Sara.

[Lantern7]

Ollie getting into bed with Malcolm? Not only not smart, but it also gives slash writers material to work with.

 

Damn, I hate seeing Felicity like that. She has a point, though, even with the grim reality in front of her. Oliver is supposed to be better than this.

 

And it's nice to have Sin back, even if she's merely there to provide plot advancement. Also, it's amazing how much scenery John Barrowman chews without getting fat. It must be something he was born with, as opposed to learning.

[benteen]

What the hell is wrong with these people?!  That's the first thing I thought when Roy gave his "Malcolm really cares about Thea and the Glades speech" and they start debating about working with him.  Seriously?  Let's ignore the inane hypnotizing Thea to kill Sara storyline?  It's made 100 times worse by Oliver's alliance with Malcolm.  Don't get me wrong, I understand working Malcolm in the fight for the Glades and in taking down Ra's.  But Oliver is going to continue to allow Malcolm to be a factor in Thea's life DESPITE what he did to her?  Not that I can let Thea off the hook, she knows the monster that Malcolm is and blindly ignores it.  But the lying and manipulation of both Thea and Lance (who is destined to have a massive heart attack when he learns the truth) is just plain disgusting.  I wanted to knock all their heads together except for Felicity, the voice of reason in this episode.  It's about time she realized she doesn't want to be the kind of woman that Oliver loves.  She's 100% right.  Of course if she hooks up with her stalker Ray, that won't help her argument.

 

Looks like they ripped off The Dark Knight again with the battle for the Glades.  I couldn't get over how ridiculous it was that they abandoned it to Brick when they could have called the National Guard.  Even if the Mayor didn't want to do that, she would have been overruled by the governor.  Or you know, Team Arrow could have put in a phone call to Barry.

 

The writers have really made a mess of things with this episode.

[strikera0]

Let me see if I get this right. Quentin was able to figure out that Sara was the Canary just by seeing her grab a knife and go into an attacking position in a Chinese restaurant. He was also able to figure out that Ray Harper is Arsenal by looking at his costume and seeing him shoot some arrows. And yet, he can't seem to figure out that Oliver is the Arrow and even worse, that Laurel is pretending to be Sara. Ridiculous...

[wonderwall]

IS ANYONE ELSE EXCITED ABOUT OLIVER TELLING THEA?!??! FINALLY

God dammit it was from the promo

Edited February 5, 2015 by wonderwall

[blixie]

 

So, that happened. I thought Felicitys turn was a big fast. Can they not let anything breathe? Sheesh.

 

For fucking real. I felt zero during that Olicity reunion. ZERO. Plus I'm on Oliver's side, I think I'm the only person who doesn't give a ripe frilly fuck if he colludes with Malcolm, Team Roy and Oliver.

[El Seed]

Of course Quentin recognizes that Arsenal is Roy. The man arrested him enough times, he'd obviously know that ex-delinquent on sight.

 

It's kind of sad that Malcolm Merlyn has to drive it home for Thea that he's not a good person. When a mass murdering psychopath has more sense than you, there's a problem.

 

So it comes down to Sin telling Quentin that "Sara" isn't actually Sara. Jeebus. Ditch Starling and get yourself some Mama Smoak lovin', Quentin!

 

Little Nyssa! So adorably threatening! I want to hug her, beg for my life, and promise to buy her ice cream.

[dtissagirl]

If this were a Friends episode it would have been called The One With All the Stupid.

Stay whelming, Arrow.

[wonderwall]

Eh between Oliver and Felicity I can't take sides because I understand where they're both coming from. 

[Hook75]

As soon as Tatsu mentioned the student/teacher thing and giving up the most important thing I knew he would team up with MM and I knew they'd use it as a reason for Felicity to run to Ray.

 

Plus I'm on Oliver's side, I think I'm the only person who doesn't give a ripe frilly fuck if he colludes with Malcolm, Team Roy and Oliver.

 

 

 

Me too.

 

And tonight we got more hints that Thea is going to kill MM, he'd be her "first" kill.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Hook75

[SonofaBiscuit]

Here's what Felicity says to Oliver:  "Before you left, the last thing you said to me was that you love me.  Now you're back, and the first thing you tell me is that you're working with the man who turned your sister, a woman you're supposed to love, into a killer who killed a woman you used to love.  I don't want to be a woman that you love."  Follow all that?!

Edited February 5, 2015 by SonofaBiscuit

[apinknightmare]

How much is Malcolm drugging Thea anyway? I can't tell if she was for real or not, and I just really can't buy all these people thinking he's an okay guy because he saved Thea the night of the siege. When Oliver walked into the loft and was all, "Hey dude, it's okay just chill there on the couch," I was thinking....IS THIS FOR REAL? And then when Felicity lost her shit (even though we knew she would because the anvils were particularly heavy with the "on no plane of existence would he ever," and "you're going to have to lose whatever's most precious to you to beat him"), and I was like THIS IDIOT IS FOR REAL DOING THIS

 

Thank you, Felicity, for reminding him that Malcolm drugged Thea, a woman Oliver loved to kill Sara, another woman Oliver loved. GOOD CALL, GIRL

[Jediknight]

And yet, he can't seem to figure out that Oliver is the Arrow and even worse, that Laurel is pretending to be Sara. Ridiculous...

I think he knows Oliver is Arrow, but is just playing stupid.

[apinknightmare]

Let me see if I get this right. Quentin was able to figure out that Sara was the Canary just by seeing her grab a knife and go into an attacking position in a Chinese restaurant. He was also able to figure out that Ray Harper is Arsenal by looking at his costume and seeing him shoot some arrows. And yet, he can't seem to figure out that Oliver is the Arrow and even worse, that Laurel is pretending to be Sara. Ridiculous...

 

He knows Oliver is the Arrow.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I can't believe that Felicity couldn't detect the remote control software that Merlyn installed on her workstation.

[AyChihuahua]

 

"Before you left, the last thing you said to me was that you love me.  Now you're back, and the first thing you tell me is that you're working with the man who turned your sister, a woman you're supposed to love, into a killer, who killed a woman you used to love.  I don't want to be a woman that you love."

So wait, you mean it wasn't the most EPIC scene EVAH?!?!?!

[blixie]

 

Thank you, Felicity, for reminding him that Malcolm drugged Thea, a woman Oliver loved to kill Sara,

 

Whereas I was like Thank You writers for reminding me why Thea had to kill Sara, so we could arrive HERE.

[apinknightmare]

I can't believe that Felicity couldn't detect the remote control software that Merlyn installed on her workstation.

 

 

Or notice the HUGE CAMERA right in front of her face. Laurel is a common sense vacuum, I swear.

 

Side note:

I can't wait for next week. THEA FINALLY FINDS OUT WHERE THAT LOCKED DOOR IN HER CLUB LEADS, YAY

Edited February 5, 2015 by stacey
Spoiler tag

[wonderwall]

I can't believe that Felicity couldn't detect the remote control software that Merlyn installed on her workstation.

Arrow's classic dumbing down of a character/ making them incompetent so they can push the plot along/ prop weaker characters

[wingster55]

Totally on Oliver's side. 

Nice to see Oliver have great reunions with Diggle and Roy and paying respect to those character and not immediately have that scene be about Oliver/Felicity angst.

 

...oh wait.

[wonderwall]

Thinking about it. I change my mind. I'm totally on Felicity's side. That's a lot of common sense she used. Felicity and Diggle clearly are the only ones who haven't lost their minds in trusting or teaming up with Malcolm. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by wonderwall

[Shanna]

I can't believe that Felicity couldn't detect the remote control software that Merlyn installed on her workstation.

That pissed me off too, since there was basically no discussion.

Also I missed last week ( I did watch the Oliver scenes) so the whole crazy we just gave up half the town to this criminal for some reason thing made no damn sense. And then, how many of these giant everybody fights scenes does this show need? Once you are on the fifth or sixth one they start to lose their impact.

Felicity was totally right about Malcolm, that scene was just all way too soon. Also Oliver was an ass to go mosey around town without even calling the team. The whole thing was sort of lacking in proper emotional beats because they don't give it enough time...

Edited February 5, 2015 by Shanna

[bluebonnet]

For some reason, I started to laugh uncontrollably when Arrow stands atop a van telling the city he will never leave them again and then immediately ropes away from the scene.  

[Shriekingeel]

Ah, the dialogue on this show.

"No more death".

"Easy for you to say, you just came out of the grave."

Sigh.

[KenyaJ]

It so ridiculous that Thea and now Quentin recognize Roy in his costume, but no one can recognize Oliver? Really, show? You never tire of being ridiculous.

 

How is this show ridiculous? Let me count the ways:

 

Diggle being stuck in the Arrowcave while newbie Laurel goes out on all the missions. Because why would you want to have special ops military training on your side when you could have a few boxing lessons instead?

 

I’ve been enjoying Roy more than I expected to this season, but god, is he ever stupid. That speech about how much Malcolm cares made me want to tell him to go take a time out in the playpen.

 

Et tu, Oliver? Oliver trusting Malcolm for any reason stretches all credulity.

 

This show makes me sad.

Edited February 5, 2015 by KenyaJ

[formerlyfreedom]

Folks, out of consideration for other posters who don't want to know what's in the promo(s), please spoiler tag that information. Thanks!

[popgoesculture]

This show is just the dumbest. I keep trying to give it the benefit of the doubt, but this was just infuriating. I must be the idiot they think I am, since I keep trying to watch the show. 

 

Suddenly Laurel is super good at fighting? And Wildcat is beaten by Brick? (Is he dead?)

 

And the sheer stupidity of trying to redeem Malcolm is insane. If the student can only defeat the teacher (SO DUMB), then WHY DOESN'T MALCOLM FIGHT RA'S HIMSELF? Did none of the writers sitting in a room think "Hey, it might be totally unnecessary to use one woman to kill another woman to spur another woman's transformation into a vigilante, and to of course redeem our favorite sociopath who has killed over 500 people"? This is the most convoluted and ridiculous storytelling I've ever heard.

 

And where is ARGUS? And the National Guard? I understand we're dealing with comics world, but that doesn't mean logic has to leave completely! ARGUS only cares about Mirakuru? Call Barry! You cannot keep expanding Arrow's world and then fail to utilize that when convenient. And you can't make characters scarily competent for them to fail in blatant ways (repeatedly) for the sake of the story -- like with Felicity first not noticing Slade, now Merlyn. I find that hard to believe. 

 

Meanwhile, points to Sin and Felicity for being the only two rational people on this show (and that's a sliding scale, really). Thanks to Sin for pointing it all out to Lance (and the heart pills show up again conveniently... not when he's in the middle of a car chase, but just sitting around). 

 

And the way Felicity broke it all down was chilling and totally a valid point. Why WOULD you want to be a woman Oliver loves? He lies to them, he's overbearingly protective of them, he's basically a mess. Also the rushed nature of this entire ep was the usual Arrow specialty.

 

Finally, the directing wasn't great in that last scene. I kept getting distracted by the lights reflecting off of Felicity's glasses, and I wanted to see EBR's face more. 

[strikera0]

He knows Oliver is the Arrow.

 

Even if he does know that Oliver is the Arrow, it does not explain why he doesn't recognize his own children.

[dtissagirl]

For some reason, I started to laugh uncontrollably when Arrow stands atop a van telling the city he will never leave them again and then immediately ropes away from the scene.

All of Brick's dudes the with machine guns were so polite to not, you know, shoot him.

[wonderwall]

moving to the bitterness thread

Edited February 5, 2015 by wonderwall

[wingster55]

It so ridiculous that Thea and now Quentin recognize Roy in his costume, but no one can recognize Oliver?

 

When did Thea recognize him?

 

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or tentative ally in this case

 

I'm confused...when did the promo even show Thea?

[BkWurm1]

That was...underwhelming.

[apinknightmare]

When did Thea recognize him?

 

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or tentative ally in this case

 

I'm confused...when did the promo even show Thea?

 

Last week - she told Roy she knew he was the guy in red working with the Arrow. 

 

And the Canadian promo showed her in the lair. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by apinknightmare

[blixie]

 

I’ve been enjoying Roy more than I expected to this season, but god, is he ever stupid.

 

Again that wasn't Roy that was Guggenheim, having everyone act a stupid as possible, all while reminding everyone Malcolm not only killed five hundred AND thirty one people in the Glades (really that was my favorite part OLIVER I'm a mass murder) but Malcolm you loved your wife and you were a good dad! Do it for THEA. See audience there are two sides TWO SIDES. The mind boggles at the moral complexity and nuance.

 

JHC on hockey stick.

[Lila82]

Not that I had much hope for Brick's minions, but reading about the Streak on tv is just sad.  Still, I like how well these 'verses intersect.

Lance just revealed himself to be be a secret Stevie Nicks fan!  I look forward to his revenge.  We can set the action sequence to "Tusk".

 

I have to believe Oliver isn't really working with Merlyn, but training under him to learn what he needs to defeat him.  That, or the entire season is leading up to Nyssa's death and BOTH scenarios will make me seethe with rage. 

 

And speaking of red things, I do laugh every time someone calls Roy "the red one."  I usually wince at whatever comes out of his mouth.

 

Ugh, Felicity.  Belly shirts are bad enough, but your issues with Oliver are not about love!  They're about his seeming lack of integrity, but really, she doesn't have a leg to stand on considering she's actively keeping Sara's death from Quentin.  Ugh to all of it.  This show used to have great character moments and now it's little more than hair flipping and stunt fighting.

 

Which brings me too: the Battle for the Glades reminded me of the fight scene at the end of "Gangs of New York," which makes sense because both times I rooted for the villains to win.  And Ted Grant.  Somehow he's the only non-asshole on the streets.  Sin will always win at life.

[wingster55]

Last week - she told Roy she knew he was the guy in red working with the Arrow. 

 

And the Canadian promo showed her in the lair. 

Ahh..not really the same thing as recognizing him..as she knows only because of the arrows under Roy's bed.

 

Oh ok...thanks

[Artsda]

Oliver's stupid and when/if he loses Felicity to Ray. It'll be nobody's fault other than his own.

Glad Sin was able to enlighten Quintin, since Laurel is playing him for a fool. She disgusts me.

The Arrow returns and Oliver returns at the exact same time and Thea didn't think anything of that?

Edited February 5, 2015 by Artsda

[apinknightmare]

Ahh..not really the same thing as recognizing him..as she knows only because of the arrows under Roy's bed.

 

Oh ok...thanks

 

I didn't say she recognized him, just that she knew who he was.

 

That promo is up in the spoiler thread.

[KenyaJ]

Also, the biggest indictment of this show right now is that it's totally boring. At this point, I'm going to drop it out of boredom, rather than rage.

[ban1o]

This forced redemption of Malcol is absolutely ridiculous. Does Roy really think that Malcolm is a loving father. SERIOUSLY> Thea, the girl who is clueless and seriously deranged was able to convinve him that he is a loving father? And Laurel, seriously he killed your boyfriend!!!!  AND OLIVER what the hell? The story was crap imo. Team Felicity.

Edited February 5, 2015 by ban1o

[wingster55]

I didn't say she recognized him, just that she knew who he was.

 

That promo is up in the spoiler thread.

No but someone up thread said it. 

[ban1o]

The writing is just so dumb. It makes no sense. And Oliver just shook Malcolm's hand like he did nothing and is still letting him around Thea when he brainwashed her to kill Sara. What the hell. I'm so pissed off.

Edited February 5, 2015 by ban1o