S04.E14: Code Of Silence

[benteen]

You know, Thea had a great episode here outside of telling Oliver that he should lie to Felicity.  She knows better than anyone how destructive Oliver's lies are.  How about this...tell Felicity about William and ask her not to say anything.  Problem solved!

 

Still not buying that Moira didn't know Oliver's baby mamma didn't cancel the check.  It would have made more sense is Samantha had cashed the check but never spent it, saving it for the kid when he got older.  This whole kid storyline is annoying and aggravating. 

 

I did love Felicity trying to hack the fire alarm and Thea simply doing it, telling her she learned it in 9th grade.  Very funny little moment.

 

Speaking of funny, Felicity talking about the first time she met Oliver.  Laurel seemed to have an annoyed reaction but that just might have been my imagination.

 

Donna has become a fun addition to this cast.

 

Oliver's burns at Mrs. Dhark were funny.

 

More Lance so that's a good thing.

 

This was a good episode outside of all the lying nonsense.

[dtissagirl]

Poor Laurel is never invited to parties, is she.

[wonderwall]

Poor Laurel is never invited to parties, is she.

tbh how many times does the team have to tell her that she can't sit with them? At least she finally got the message and didn't crash like she constantly did in S3 when she just walked into the Arrow Cave all.the.time uninvited. 

[spartan]

she saved me, lol

[KenyaJ]

I was disappointed in Thea okaying the lie of omission, but I get her POV.

 

I don't. Now that Thea knows, how can she rationalize why Felicity shouldn't know? It's not like her knowing will put the kid in any more danger than he's already in. Ugh. Oliver's rationalizations don't make sense and neither do Thea's. But check out the family resemblance!

 

Also, Felicity is my fave, but I don't understand why people would expect her to create the tech that would allow her to walk instead of Curtis. She's a hacker and a computer whiz, but she's not an engineer. Am I missing something?

[Primal Slayer]

tbh how many times does the team have to tell her that she can't sit with them? At least she finally got the message and didn't crash like she constantly did in S3 when she just walked into the Arrow Cave all.the.time uninvited. 

She didn't have to be invited by then. She was clearly working with them.

[Starfish35]

Also, Felicity is my fave, but I don't understand why people would expect her to create the tech that would allow her to walk instead of Curtis. She's a hacker and a computer whiz, but she's not an engineer. Am I missing something?

She did quite a bit of work on Ray's suit last year, didn't she?

Edited February 18, 2016 by Starfish35

[TwistedandBored]

I didn't think they could dumb down Oliver anymore than they have in season 3 and then this second half of the season happen. The stupidest superhero on TV right now. That is all. 

[apinknightmare]

Poor Laurel is never invited to parties, is she.

 

She'll probably run in next week saying, "Oliver, it's William!"

[wonderwall]

Good thing about the night: Felicity and Mama Smoak both trended :)

[jmonique]

My problem with Arrow and Flash this season are the completely, improbably overpowered villains. Damian Darhk can just look through a screen and kill someone? For real?

 

I need a little give and take. Not just the heroes getting their asses spanked every time.

[dtissagirl]

Also, Felicity is my fave, but I don't understand why people would expect her to create the tech that would allow her to walk instead of Curtis. She's a hacker and a computer whiz, but she's not an engineer. Am I missing something?

The part that bugged me was Felicity taking the laptop to Curtis so he could recover the blueprints. ESPECIALLY after she reminded Oliver -- and the audience -- that this was the first thing she ever did on the show.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I'm a little confused about the Hive Demolition crew -- when Team Arrow caught them in the factory, the Hive Demo crew grabbed what was available nearby because they were in a what appeared to be a tool crib so they grabbed the nail gun and a sledge hammer.  But then later at the hotel, the Hive Demo crew is still using the same nail gun and sledge hammer EVEN THOUGH they had plenty of time between those two scenes to re-arm with .... you know ... guns and other actual weapons. That just seemed incredibly stupid.

 

The fight scenes seemed really overacted this episode -- plus you could easily see numerous gaps betweens fists and people reacting.

Edited February 18, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[KenyaJ]

She did quite a bit of work on Ray's suit last year, didn't she?

 

That's true. I guess I just don't mind Curtis creating things like the stimulator and I don't think it takes anything away from Felicity when he does -- as opposed to when they have Felicity go to him for computer help, which is nonsensical.

[hogwash]

Honestly, my reaction to Thea was "Oh, thank everything it's not Diggle saying this bullshit." Their choice of Thea was still funny. Thea gungho about lies for someone's protection. That makes sense. 

[Morrigan2575]

Also, Felicity is my fave, but I don't understand why people would expect her to create the tech that would allow her to walk instead of Curtis. She's a hacker and a computer whiz, but she's not an engineer. Am I missing something?

I didn't need her to create the tech but i wanted her to be involved. Maybe come up with the idea and work on it with Curtis. Maybe he does the hardware and she does the software, which is how the Ray/Felicity stuff worked for the ATOM suit.

[Primal Slayer]

Where was Thea's boyfriend this episode? Seems like it would be pretty important for Olivers campaign manager or whatever he is to be there.

[wonderwall]

She didn't have to be invited by then. She was clearly working with them.

Don't mind me, sometimes I like to make petty comments, it helps soothe my soul from all the stupid :p

[hogwash]

Where was Thea's boyfriend this episode? Seems like it would be pretty important for Olivers campaign manager or whatever he is to be there.

 

Thea mentioned his mom having surgery. Idk about that though...

[SleepDeprived]

I don't really hate this episode, tbh. I was way too busy laughing and making fun of it. Drinking while watching this show works wonders for me.

 

Lyla's the head of ARGUS! Most of us already figured that would happen but still YAY! Possibly more Lyla in the future! Felicity and Donna's scenes together (all of them) were actually great, despite the anvils. Except for the knowing Oliver "in her bones" line from Felicity. Please, for the love of good writing, put that cheesy catchphrase to rest, writers. I bought Quentin's dilemma about lying to Donna FAR MORE than I bought Oliver's dilemma lying about BM to Felicity. Because Quentin made sense. Everything about BM does not.

 

I guess the writers really did forget it was 2 million dollars though.

 

I'm of the opinion that the writers are determined to retcon that $2M payoff to BM as just that one un-cashed $1M check. It's their attempt to make Samantha seem more sympathetic, I guess? That she didn't care about the money and such and such. Whatever. This whole storyline is dumb. The only kid named William that I care about is Mulder and Scully's alien baby (and I only care because of how Mulder and Scully feel about him and not because he exists).

 

So, 3 people know about the kid now. What's the point of keeping it from Felicity? 

 

Drama! Also, plot.

 

Alex will probably turn out to be evil. It's really suspicious how his mom's surgery just happened to be the same night that the debate with Ruve was happening in a theater that was set to be blown up. And one more for set re-use/re-design--HIVE's Madrid offices looks a lot like Palmer Tech's executive offices.

 

Oblig FB sucks comment. Now even made worse by killing off Conklin, the only FB actor with some modicum of charisma.

[Guest]

I never expected Felicity to create the tech to make herself walk again because she's not allowed to do that apparently. I'm just expressing my confusion that she was paralyzed in the first place. I'm not sure what that storyline even achieved tbh. Oh well. At least it'll be over soon. Hopefully.

[statsgirl]

Felicity taking the laptop to Curtis bugged me although at least they gave it an in-show reason, that more server power than the lair had was needed.  (Plot-wise, they needed Felicity to be at the debate and not in the lair trying to make the laptop work.)  Curtis coming up with the tech to make her walk again makes sense to me since he is an engineer.  Felicity solved computing problems with Ray's suit but here real engineering was required.

 

On the other hand, Thea's rationalizations not only don't make sense, it's the complete opposite of her feelings less than two seasons ago.  If they needed the person telling Oliver he's doing the right thing to be Thea (although Diggle would have been more logical), then they needed to address her 180 turnaround.

 

 

I a little confused about the Hive Demolition crew -- when Team Arrow caught them in the factory, the Hive Demo crew grabbed what was available nearby because they were in a what appeared to be a tool crib so they grabbed the nail gun and a sledge hammer.  But then later at the hotel, the Hive Demo crew is still using the same nail gun and sledge hammer EVEN THOUGH they had plenty of time between those two scenes to re-arm with .... you know ... guns and other actual weapons. That just seemed incredibly stupid.

According to Bamford, that was the specialized weapon of the Demolition crew.

[SmallScreenDiva]

I think I may have a concussion from all the falling anvils, *rolling my eyes* OK, let's get the Thea being a damn hypocrite for the sake of plot out of the way. It was awful but that's what these writers apparently have to do because the lying just doesn't make any damn sense. Moving on ...

 

Some really adorable Olicity moments (which, even though I wanted to smack Oliver, I still swooned at because Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards play these two idiots in love beautifully):

The glitter bomb moment

When they walk into the loft and find it transformed. Chuckled at how Oliver Oliver squeezed Felicity's shoulder when she said they should have hired Slade Wilson as decorator. That whole exchange with Donna is cute and funny. Charlotte Ross sure can sell ditzy very well.

Felicity reminiscing about how she and Oliver met. Oliver's smile is too cute.

 

 

 

"Oliver, I need you." The authoritative way Felicity said this made me shiver.

The way Felicity says, "Meeee" referring to definitely 1 voter in Oliver's camp.

The gratitude on Oliver's face when Curtis presents the wedding gift. I still wish either Felicity figured out how to make herself walk again or that Oliver found something but now I'm just happy Felicity will be walking again soon.

 

As for the rest, there was less shakiness in the camera work this time, so thank Bam-Bam for that. 

[hogwash]

Thea: We should lose our billions (that's not how finances work, show) because you and mom are lying liars who lieeeeeee

Also Thea: It's a promise not a lie

[Guest]

Guys do you remember when Thea was so totally okay with the truth of her paternity being hidden from her? ME. NEITHER.

Miss Thea 'why is it so hard for everyone to tell the truth' Queen. LMAO.

Sorry, I'm still not over the dumb of using Thea as a stand-in for MG to explain his dumb crap storyline.

[wonderwall]

I'm going to handwave all the dumbness because the writers needed it to make the plot happen. I blame the plot not the characters. When it's over I'm just going to pretend it didn't happen. 

 

Ignorance is bliss :')

[NoWayOut]

Oliver knows that Malcolm knows about William's existence yet he continues to not tell anyone because....? Does Oliver think good boy Malcolm won't blab the secret to anyone who'll listen? I would say Oliver's dumber than a box of rocks but even rocks are smarter than him at this point. Plus, it's one thing for Thea to think that keeping this secret will keep William safe but I was hoping she'd be smart enough to realize that telling Felicity would not make a difference in his safety. Alas...

[benteen]

This show has a bad tendency to change the characters to fit the plots instead of the other way around.  Remember last season when Roy joined the "I Love Malcolm Meryln" bandwagon?  They've done that sort of thing with Diggle at times too.

[catrox14]

I sure wish I understood why Bamford is supposed to be such a god amongst action directors. His stunts are too quick cut and the fights are bad now. The stage fighting is laughable compared to s1 and I hate that because I have sung the praises of the stunt fighting until this season.

 

The motorcycle jump was cool.  But I swear I really don't remember all "HIIYA grunting in early season fights" I swear they do it to count the choreographed movements. I should not be able to analyze the stuntwork to this level.

 

I hate the BMD more than I have ever hated anything related to Laurel that's how much I hate it.

 

Sigh...

[tennisgurl]

Felicity's little Meeeeeeee was seriously the cutest thing ever. I just love Olicity, WHY must they screw with it? 

[Chaser]

I thought the opening stunt sequence was actually cool. Tho there was a lot of stupid with it. Was that suppose to be stealth? Laurel standing on a well lit platform. Thea right behind them. Olivers bike jump.

[thuganomics85]

The hell just happened?  I mean, did I actually see what I just saw?  Oliver admitting that he feels guilt over keeping William from Felicity and even showing minor signs he might do something about it, only for Thea to suddenly say he should keep hiding it?  And she even defending Samantha for it?  Seriously, this isn't real, right?  This was a vision.  Or someone actually kidnapped the real Thea, and this is an imposter.  Either way, that whole scene might go down as the worst in this show's history (nah, nothing will ever top Oliver leaving a lifeless, freshly electrocuted Roy behind).  I can't even work myself up to getting mad at the actual characters, because this is just such an epic writing fail, that it transcends any potential hatred to them, and dumps it all on the writers.  Because it wasn't Thea: it was just the writers using her because they need to make this stupid plot work.  But it doesn't.  Because, in this case, the writers are blowing it.  Big time.

 

Anyway, another episode, another failed HIVE plan.  The Demolition crew was no threat at all and there was no suspense at all.  Only reason Damien Dahrk probably hasn't gotten his termination papers yet is because he can force choke people through video telecasts now.  I was hoping he'd toss in a "I find your lack of faith rather disturbing!" line, since he's basically Darth Vader with pale-blue eyes.  Also, why is Malcolm still just caring his severed arm around in a sling?  Come on, man!  You need to a badass robotic arm or something, stat!

 

So, it looks like Felicity will be eventually be cured by a microchip Curtis created with Palmer Tec.  If things go to hell here, he should jet over to Central City and join STAR Labs, because he's rivaling Cisco over who can pull out impressive feats of technology out of their asses.

 

Sorry, but I was bored with the Quentin/Donna stuff, even though I like both of the characters.

 

Not enough Diggle, although is reaction to Donna's invitation cards was one of the best things about this episode.

 

Fuck these stupid flashbacks!  Did Ryder really think he could leave Oliver and Ryan Robbins character; two guys who clearly can't stand one another; and nothing was going to happen?!  Seriously?!!  Everyone is an idiot in this damn story-line!

 

William has now somehow been taken by Damien and has joined the family now.  Whatever, Damien might be an evil psychopath, but at this point, I'd almost trust him to be a better parent then either Oliver or Samantha.  But when he tells Oliver the truth, I so want him to camp it up to the extreme.  I'm talking full-blown, cartoony "I have your son!  MWAAAAH!", complete with pointing at Oliver and laughing!  Because someone needs to laugh at that knucklehead.

[nksarmi]

This show has a bad tendency to change the characters to fit the plots instead of the other way around.  Remember last season when Roy joined the "I Love Malcolm Meryln" bandwagon?  They've done that sort of thing with Diggle at times too.

 

In Roy's case - he was totally being written as skitzo but they at least tried to justify it as his opinion changing with the circumstances.  So it was almost plausible. 

 

Diggle has said some really awful seemingly out of character lines like when he told Oliver if he told Thea the truth now (about being the Arrow), he'd lose her forever. Or when he told Oliver he was incapable of love (trust? sure. but love? no, the man can love).  So Diggle might havle almost worked here but it would have been a huge stretch for Diggle not to point out that Felicity would a) keep his secret and b) might be able to help hide the secret better. 

 

Using Thea fit because she's Oliver's sister and the most likely to just side with him and she did take his last lie rather well (about being the Arrow).  BUT she's the wrong choice because of her reaction about being lied to about her dad (even though Oliver only found out about 2 episodes before she did) but I don't think the writers remember that far back.

[Xenith22]

 

Okay...so help me out here I'm not sure which was worse that in attempting to tail Mrs. Adams....Laurel was standing in front of the giant lighted marquee on the building where she could not be more visible if anyone happened to look in their rearview mirror (are those not a thing in star city?  Did she think she could pass for a gargoyle?) or Oliver jumping his freaking motorcycle over her car.  Because people jumping motorcycles over my car at stop lights is a regular occurrence and so I never pay any attention to it.   I mean SERIOUSLY...that is their idea of stealthily tailing someone.

 

How great were the special FX during the building implosion that Laurel and Quentin were caught in?   I mean even Laurel and Quentin could not help themselves as they just had to stop MULTIPLE TIMES to turn around and admire the implosion effects before jogging to the next room.  It was awfully nice of the professional demolition team to put such a nice delay in between each explosion so that they could escape easily enough.

 

Also since when is killing the police captain too public?  Did Darkh's ghosts not execute every other city official?  Why would killing one more be a problem for him?

 

Soooo much hate for Quentin unnecessarily lying to Donna.  I mean there is zero logical reason that he could not have told her HIVE was trying to kill him for interfering in their operations...how is that any worse than a made-up gambling debt?

 

Part of me now wishes it was Thea inside that future grave.  That's all I'm going to say about that conversation.

 

So Laurel was finally not completely useless.  I mean sure she just stood there doing absolutely nothing during the first fight (Forgot to charge the batteries on her canary cry again?)  but she saw blueprints for another building on the computer.  Impressive for how far away she was...also the only time we saw the computer it just had the demolition sequence for the current building on it.  

 

Did I fall asleep and miss the scene where Poppy actually joined Team Oliver and was totally okay with him killing her brother and bought his explanation?  Was that not completely contrary to her reaction last episode where by episodes end she was just helping him because Ryder would kill her if he died?

 

Did past Oliver really need to have the dying henchman tell him that the crazy villain was probably going to murder everyone when he got what he wanted?  Was that really not a fairly obvious possibility?

 

What the hell was Oliver thinking when he confronted Ruve before the debate?  There is no good explanation for how Oliver would know she set the bombs unless he was at the very least working with Green Arrow.  That's not a connection he should want her and her husband to be making...  Of course nearly everyone on this show is an idiot so nothing will probably come of it.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Xenith22

[Chaser]

As dipshit Thea was in that scene, she looked beautiful.

[SmallScreenDiva]

I think they might have set up Felicity being a bit more forgiving of the lie in this ep. She told her mom: "You need to return that love with a bit of trust" when talking about Quentin keeping secrets. But then again, since these writers don't remember anything their characters said in the past (e.g. Thea), it could mean nothing at all.

 

Also, did Laurel get grazed by the nails? Or did she knock her head on something. I may be kinda hoping she got a blood clot that could strike anytime soon.

Edited February 18, 2016 by SmallScreenDiva

[JenMD]

 I'm just expressing my confusion that she was paralyzed in the first place. I'm not sure what that storyline even achieved tbh. Oh well. At least it'll be over soon. Hopefully.

They got to do their "Oracle" story, with an even better codename (whatever, MG).  I'm not surprised they're rushing through it, that's how they roll (pun really not intended).

 

I'm going to handwave all the dumbness because the writers needed it to make the plot happen. I blame the plot not the characters. When it's over I'm just going to pretend it didn't happen. 

 

Ignorance is bliss :')

 

 

 I can't even work myself up to getting mad at the actual characters, because this is just such an epic writing fail, that it transcends any potential hatred to them, and dumps it all on the writers.  

 

This.  This is where I've been since the whole Baby Mama mess started (and for much of S3, as well).  My reaction jumps right over, "I hate Oliver" to "I hate that we're saddled with these idiotic writers because this is stupid and makes no sense."  Except I'm probably thinking it in all caps and with tons of exclamation points.  As one does.  I'm just so weary of all the bad writing at this point and we've got so much left of the season to get through.  I just don't get how they can be so incompetent on so many different levels.  It boggles my mind.

 

I mean, there was stuff I liked, but it's surrounded by such plotty nonsense.  Ugh, this show.

[catrox14]

I have one line that actually pissed me off.

 

I do not believe Felicity would have said to Quentin that he figured he did the wrong thing  "Because you're a man".  Wow that was unreasonable IMO

[Sasha]

Hey Thea, since you seem pretty cool now with these tiny lies of omission, I should probably tell ya I cut your Dad's hand off and he knows about William. Think you could ask him to do me a solid and keep it to himself? Thanks!

Are we sure Oliver wasn't adopted cause he is just too stupid to belong to Moria Queen.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Sasha

[Actionmage]

I was disappointed in Thea okaying the lie of omission, but I get her POV.

 

I don't.

 

As others have said, it's the plotting. Normally, Thea might take a trip to go visit her nephew and verbally burn down the idiocy Samantha is insisting on, citing Oliver being a target of a megalomaniac and how William isn't safe right now. But also, she's a doting little sister and knows Oliver thinks he's Original Sin and can never make up for any bad act.

 

So it's an EP-directed perfect storm of contrivance that got Ms. Queen to the point that she sounds like a Stepford citizen.

 

How great were the special FX during the building implosion that Laurel and Quentin were caught in?   I mean even Laurel and Quentin could not help themselves as they just had to stop MULTIPLE TIMES to turn around and admire the implosion effects before jogging to the next room.  It was awfully nice of the professional demolition team to put such a nice delay in between each explosion so that they could escape easily enough.

 

Honestly? I was hoping for Laurel to have awful flashbacks to the Undertaking. It had to feel viscerally like that: Quentin in place of Tommy and the world caving in. It would add a needed on-screen dimension to Laurel. While they keep her, the writers seem to not want to do anything with her.

[wonderwall]

Best moments of the episode for me:

 

 

 

 

 

Even though ugh Thea... This was funny

 

 

 

 

[apinknightmare]

Best moments of the episode for me:

 

 

 

 

I struggled to pay attention to this, because I kept wondering how exactly Felicity got up to the bedroom.

[wonderwall]

I struggled to pay attention to this, because I kept wondering how exactly Felicity got up to the bedroom.

If Laurel can carry Sara across the city, Donna can carry Felicity upstairs :p

[Ann Mack]

Do people on the West Coast just not Tweet about Arrow? Most of the posts right now on Twitter are from the "Arrow Writer's Room" and I didn't watch too closely but I don't think anything trended during the West Coast airing of the episode. If it wasn't for the Arrow Writers I don't think there would be any SM traffic at all. Oh well. maybe I'm wrong and just missed it.

[HunterHunted]

Keeping William a secret from Felicity is just idiotic soap opera plotting. It's not about whether it makes sense and more about the emotional payoff when Felicity is all, "Gasp. How could you lie to me Oliver?" The payoff is already blunted because the set up comes from an artificial place.

Oliver, people always find out about secret children and secret payoffs even in real life. See Strom Thurmond and Dennis Hastert.

Donna and Quentin are perfect for each other. Quentin is a police officer in a moronically dangerous city. It's much more likely that he was injured in the line of duty, but noooooooooo. Quentin has to go tell his ludicrous gambling debt lie and Donna has to be histrionic and demand 100% honesty. There are going to be things in his job that Quentin legitimately cannot share with Donna. These two. Ugh.

Hive Demolition Crew Woman. I know Snoop. I was terrified of Snoop. You are no Snoop.

Edited February 18, 2016 by HunterHunted

[Guest]

Why was William smiling when he was taken? He was totally too chill. Did Samantha never teach him not to go with strangers? More proof she's a garbage human. LOL.

No seriously, why was he smiling?!

[catrox14]

Why was William smiling when he was taken? He was totally too chill. Did Samantha never teach him not to go with strangers? More proof she's a garbage human. LOL.

No seriously, why was he smiling?!

 

Because he's hanging out iwth a little rich girl?

[apinknightmare]

Why was William smiling when he was taken? He was totally too chill. Did Samantha never teach him not to go with strangers? More proof she's a garbage human. LOL.

No seriously, why was he smiling?!

DD probably told him he was a friend of Mommy's! He knows from experience now that those dudes are a-okay. Edited February 18, 2016 by apinknightmare

[looptab]

I was glad to get a Thea/Oliver scene, when something really weird happened and suddenly Marc Guggenheim's words started coming out of Thea's mouth. Ughhh whatever, show. You are right to keep it a secret from Felicity, Oliver. She'd call and tell DD as soon as you told her. (Also, they seem to have forgotten that Samantha doesn't know Oliver is the GA).

 

Things I noticed:

- During the collapsing building scene, Laurel just jumps to the ground, and then something explodes behind her and Quentin.

- During the party scene, when Lance enters, David Ramsey and - I think - Stephen too, couldn't keep a straight face. LOL

 

Also, here's a quote from episode 2x17: "Anyone with boobs can get a fratboy to do anything". Case in point, good manipulation, Taiana, and Oliver obliged like the good boy he is.

Edited February 18, 2016 by looptab

[jmonique]

Did I fall asleep and miss the scene where Poppy actually joined Team Oliver and was totally okay with him killing her brother and bought his explanation?  Was that not completely contrary to her reaction last episode where by episodes end she was just helping him because Ryder would kill her if he died?

 

Did past Oliver really need to have the dying henchman tell him that the crazy villain was probably going to murder everyone when he got what he wanted?  Was that really not a fairly obvious possibility?

 

I stopped paying attention to the flashbacks years ago. I give you kudos for actually knowing names. These characters in the flashbacks might as well be wearing red shirts as far as I care.