S05.E08: Invasion!

[Angel12d]

3 minutes ago, HighHopes said:

I'm pretty sure Smoak Tech wasn't real. Ray commented that the building appeared out of nowhere, and that Alien Reality Felicity never owned or created or thought of Smoak Technologies. 

It's still linked to Felicity though because it's called Smoak Tech. So I'm choosing to believe that was because Felicity always guides them or whatever. Haha. 

And I still want it to happen. Felicity doesn't even have a job anymore and I want more for her.

[HighHopes]

Just now, Angel12d said:

It's still linked to Felicity though because it's called Smoak Tech. So I'm choosing to believe that was because Felicity always guides them or whatever. Haha. 

And I still want it to happen. Felicity doesn't even have a job anymore and I want more for her.

Oh same. I wish they let it be real in that world though. I just fear we are in for another man telling the woman what they should do with their lives thing. Like in GG, where Jess and to tell Rory that she should write a book. I don't want Oliver telling Felicity she should start her own company. Let the women realize their careers on their own please. Especially with how this show is having Curtis mansplain for Felicity like in this episode. Ugh.

[catrox14]

7 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

That's because Mick giving somebody a nickname is like a badge of honor.  He calls Ray "haircut", and Ray's his closest friend since Snart died

I shit you not, I totally read that as Ray's his closet friend and I was like wait, what??? /smdh at self

[calliope1975]

7 minutes ago, HighHopes said:

I'm pretty sure Smoak Tech wasn't real. Ray commented that the building appeared out of nowhere, and that Alien Reality Felicity never owned or created or thought of Smoak Technologies. 

Wouldn't Sara be the only one in this group that knows of ST from LOT's trip to the future? Wait, Ray would, too, I suppose.

Regardless, I'm head canoning that Olicity spent many a lazy Sunday in bed discussing Felicity's plans for her own awesomesauce company and ST came straight out of Oliver's brain. See how easy I can make this show work for me?

[apinknightmare]

10 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

Ray was taken because he was the smartest person there.  Remember they were probing their minds and looking for intel, and at the end had built a weapon.  They'd need to look into Ray's mind.  The technology he used to make the ATOM suit is also similar to the technology the Dominators used.

Right - but didn't he say that they were all taken because they weren't metahumans? 

[statsgirl]

I thought it was interesting that we got four different Felicitys in this episode -- Oliver and Diggle's Felicity in the lair, Ray's Felicity in the blue dress at the party, and the real Felicity working with the noobs to try to save the gang. Unfortunately, all three of these Felicitys were dumbed down, the Real Felicity most of all as she squealed to Curtis that they couldn't handle all the tech. The only smart Felicity was the one we didn't actually see, the one who owned Smoak Technologies.

[quarks]

Loved it, even with the boring aliens and Wild Dog.

Good things:

1. Moira Queen!  

2. Ok, the Chicago hospital line was incredibly cheesy, and the CGI for the Important People in Oliver's Life was, er, questionable, to put it kindly, but also YAY for seeing Tommy Merlyn again.  

Also, yes, ok, Roy. You too. And shoutout to Walter Steele. Ok, shoutouts to everyone. YAY!

3. Ok, yes, technically this scene made no sense whatsoever, but Oliver, Thea, Sara, Diggle and Ray teaming up against Malcolm, Deathstroke, Damien and Various Ghosts? AWESOME. Sara getting to kill Damien? ALSO AWESOME. 

4. Awwwwww. Diggle's happy place is with Team Arrow. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww.  

5. I gotta admit, I got a bit choked up when Oliver said goodbye to his parents, and in his scene with Thea. Well done work from everyone there.

6. The mansion looked great. As did that bathtub.  Barry, when you inevitably change time yet again, make sure that you make Oliver a billionaire again.

7. The bar scene with random, wait, was that That Guy again was a lot of fun and will probably be fun in a rewatch.

8. I don't know if this counts as a good thing, but Oliver failing to show up at his rehearsal dinner, proving that he's a terrible boyfriend for Laurel in any universe, did crack me up.

9. The way back to reality is through Smoak Technologies. Ok, I laughed. I also laughed that in Diggle and Oliver's dream version of the Arrow Cave, the fern has a prominent place. (Does Arrow have a contract out with a florist to keep living ferns around? Just curious.)

And aww, back in the real world Felicity knew exactly where Oliver's old bow was and that it would be the way to find him.

10. Ragman's varying expressions of disbelief were great.  I'm with you Rory. I totally am.

11. Speaking of great expressions, the way nearly all of the fake/alien wedding guests were all just, yeah, Oliver's here at the wedding in a leather coat instead of his tux, we'll just float around, whatever...Heh.  And EBR's spinning in the background after the others pulled Ray away from her.

12. And all of our heroes agreed to go back and be heroes. All together now, AWWWWWW.

13. Thea and not expecting to be on two spaceships. I'm with you, Thea. I'm with you.  Even though I should note that just last night, you were all like ALIENS so maybe you should have expected the spaceships? I mean, just because you THOUGHT you were on a vigilante show....

14. Unpopular opinion, it seems, but I really liked the repeats of significant things said to Oliver just before he took off.  Nice homage to the show. 

Questionable things:

1. Sigh. I suppose that it's impossible to have an episode of Arrow without someone going into a warehouse - it's almost a homage to the show at this point -  but honestly, if this warehouse tour continues for a FOURTH NIGHT IN A ROW I am going to scream.

2. Two nights into this, and I gotta say, I am still at a loss to understand a) what the Dominators are doing, b) why the Dominators are doing it, c) why they are wasting time setting up fights between Oliver and his greatest enemies, framed by a nice mansion. Are they Arrow fans? Did they just desperately want to see Oliver shoot Deathstroke in the eye again?  Or show us, once again, just how terrible Oliver and Laurel are for each other?  We already knew that, Dominators! No need to repeat it!

3. My sure to be unpopular opinion on the episode: since we got Malcolm, Deathstroke and Damien Darhk, I gotta say that I'm kinda sad that we didn't get Ra's Al Ghul - it seemed kinda odd to leave him out but include more minor goons instead, even if those goons were the ones who targeted Ray's fiancee.

4. I honestly figured we'd get more Laurel/Sara scenes - and that Sara would get more time to say goodbye to Laurel. 

5. Diggle's happy place includes the Arrow Cave, but not Lyla or his kid? GULP. GULP. GULP.  Shout out to Diggle finding out over on Flash that Lyla kinda failed to tell him about aliens and that Barry switched the timeline around, erasing his daughter from existence but giving him a son, or a hint of troubles ahead for about the only stable couple in the Arrowverse, OR scheduling conflicts with Audrey Marie Anderson? You decide. I'll be over here, gulping. 

6. Exactly what was alien universe Oliver doing to make everyone except for alien universe Diggle and Felicity so proud of him?  I mean, he wasn't running Queen Consolidated, he wasn't fighting anyone, or, as far as I could tell, doing much of anything besides jogging and taking showers and being moderately ungrateful for gifts. Not getting into fights with paparazzi and not cheating on your girlfriend with her sister are not THAT huge of accomplishments, everyone! No wonder real Oliver figured out that things were fake.

7. It was bad of me, but I did end up laughing when the Evil Music started to play right after the Oliver/Laurel hug. 

8. For a crossover episode supposedly featuring Supergirl, she....really wasn't in it very much, was she? It felt like Nate Heywood had about the same amount of screentime. 

9. I find it very difficult to believe that Oliver "I would do anything, anything to save my sister, including not getting laid right now and falling off a cliff instead" Queen would leave his sister behind in the alien world. Granted, he probably figured that he could save her once he escaped and it wasn't worth fighting further, especially since they were presumably running out of time, but still.

10. Arrow writers, over the summer: THIS SEASON OUR VIGILANTE SHOW RETURNS TO ITS ROOTS! REALISM! GRITTINESS! REALLY GRIM THINGS!

Arrow writers, this episode: You know what would make a GREAT ENDING to our 100th GRITTY VIGILANTE SHOW EPISODE?  HUGE ALIEN SPACESHIPS!

Oh, Arrow.  I know that wasn't your choice, exactly, but, oh Arrow. Good thing that the aliens were so interested in properly celebrating four and a half seasons of this show by showing us an alternative version of it. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Note: I haven't read all of the comments and won't because I stopped watching this show back in its first season and have only tuned in for the crossovers.

That said, all I can say about this episode (other than seeing ❤️❤️Jamey Sheridan❤️❤️) is that Berlanti, who wrote it, TOTALLY stole the plot of this dreamverse from Batman: The Animated Series-"Perchance to Dream" except that B:TAS had the Mad Hatter, putting Bruce in that dream, and they did it much much much better. They really are hellbent in usurping all of Batman's plots and history and to use it for their version of the Green Arrow, aren't they?

Oh and one more thing: the Rene dude gave me visions of Jason wearing that hockey mask, and other geek guy just annoyed. And clearly Cisco needs to join this show since he's sooooo much happier and geekier here and since Barry is the worst person ever! (That last sentence was sarcasm if it wasn't clear.) 

[Hiveminder]

I was underwhelmed. 

[quarks]

Bad things:

1. For the love of television, Berlanti, look, I know you wanted to work in that shot of the Smoak Technology building, and I know you wanted to give us a Diggle as Green Arrow moment and give us a Batman feel here, and I appreciate the attempt to give us a nod to one of Arrow's favorite alleys, but NOBODY, and I do mean NOBODY, discusses the takeover of a multimillion company IN AN ALLEYWAY. WHAT WAS THAT?  

2. I was kinda hoping for more from the alien ship than just poorly redressed sets from Legends of Tomorrow and Flash's favorite hallway only partly redressed with what I sincerely hope was not props/false walls from The 100.

3. Speaking of which, what sort of aliens just leave flameflowers lying around casually in their spaceships like that? Bad aliens, bad. Do you have no sense of fire safety/standards.

4. Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, you introduced Sara Lance as bisexual, not lesbian. I'm fine with her bedhopping various women through history - that's in character - but the "mostly into girls" line, not so much. She should be into both.

5. Wild Dog. My reaction to him has varied from liking to tolerating all season, but tonight, he felt like a major distraction/intrusion into the rest of the episode. Oddly, this was most notable during his speech to Barry and Kara about metahuman/alien superiority - something that should have flowed well into an episode otherwise about choices and heroism, and an episode where five superheroes had been targeted specifically for not having superpowers - leaving the superpowered characters free.  Instead, the whole thing felt like a waste of time better spent on other characters (including, to be fair, Barry and Kara) and something specifically set up so that just a few minutes later, Wild Dog could realize that he'd been Wrong About Metahumans and Yes They Could Be Good. Which, ok, an important lesson, I guess, but a) this wasn't the best episode to feature it, given everything else that was going on, b) Wild Dog, unlike other characters, hasn't actually been directly hurt all that badly by metahumans/magical people (that speech would have worked much better from Evelyn, for instance) c) Wild Dog's initial speech might have come off better if he'd actually known anything about them - especially since most of the superpowered people we've seen actually don't think they're improving the world by putting on a costume - they're villains.

So, wrong character, wrong moment, wrong speech - it was just wrong. And annoying.

6. As was Bionic Woman or whatever they were calling her. I get that the B group needed something as an obstacle but really she was not it.

7. In fact, pretty much the entire B plot felt flat - which is odd, since the B plot should have been tense and dramatic. Part of this, of course, was the contrast with all of the heavy emotional stuff in the A plot, but part of it was also everyone's attitudes in the B plot. I mean, come on! Oliver, Diggle, Thea, Sara and Ray have been CAPTURED BY DEADLY ALIENS that can control minds, and you're.....basically treating it like a party. I agree that Felicity was surprisingly carefree about the whole situation - in fact, I think that's the first time she's ever been carefree when Oliver is in danger - but it really wasn't just her, but a lack of urgency from virtually everyone except, kinda, Cisco, and that's arguable.

8. But that brings me back to the worst part of these crossover episodes: the aliens.  Superhero stories depend upon their villains and conflicts. The A plot here worked partly because we got to see some of Arrow's greatest villains, but also because the conflict was strong: stay where you are loved and cherished (or in Diggle's case, get to be the main hero), and where the woman you care for is happy with a well to do, stable guy - or return to your responsibilities. That was great. But the B plot was all, oh, yeah, aliens are here, and this is kinda cool even if they're mean, and, you know, NO HURRY OR ANYTHING EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE FIVE OF OUR FRIENDS, and in the meantime, SURE, ALIENS ARE HERE, BUT IT'S PRETTY EASY TO JUMP INTO A GETAWAY SPACE SHIP AND ZOOM OFF and then get a timely rescue, leaving the present day, real threat plot with virtually no suspense or stakes whatsoever.  Because these are really boring, lame villains. I mean, they couldn't even get their fake universe to hold the five characters for more than a day. 

Come to think of it, maybe it was ok for Team Baby Arrows and Supergirl and Barry to be all chill about things. 

And now, Laurel:

It is astonishing that even in an episode designed to put her in a perfect, flattering light, as Oliver's dream come true, an episode, moreover, where she only appeared for seven or so minutes, Laurel still managed to fail.  

On the bright side, her clothing was ON POINT this episode and she looked great.  And Laurel had a nice moment or two with Sara and occasionally Oliver, even if Oliver's dream mind had Laurel repeating Felicity's dialogue. 

On the side of everything else:

Number of ways Laurel failed as a human being: 1) Your boyfriend vanishes the day after he's been mugged. Do you a) content yourself with texts and phone calls or b) CALL THE POLICE, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THAT YOU NOTICED THAT HE WAS ACTING STRANGE AND MIGHT HAVE A HEAD INJURY? 2) Your boyfriend then shows up and says that he really needs to marry you right then. You can tell he's upset. Do you a) remind him about the feelings of your wedding guests, or b) try to comfort him? 3) Your upset boyfriend WHO IS ACTING STRANGE AND MIGHT HAVE A HEAD INJURY then runs off with someone you have NEVER MET BEFORE. Do you go back to focusing on your hair, or do you TRY TO MAKE SURE YOUR BOYFRIEND IS OK? 

Number of ways Laurel failed as a vigilante: This is a bit unfair, granted, since Perfect Alien Laurel apparently never trained as one. Still, that didn't stop alternate Sara from helping to take down Deathstroke, so I'm going to call Laurel on this one: 1) Your boyfriend and sister are fighting Arrow's greatest villains. Do you come out to help, or do you make sure that your wedding dress doesn't get wet in the rain?

Number of ways Laurel failed as a alien: Just one, but it's HUGE. 

Laurel, as an alien, you had ONE JOB: KEEP OLIVER DISTRACTED FOR LONG ENOUGH TO LET THE ALIENS DOWNLOAD WHATEVER THEY WERE DOWNLOADING. Ok. Two jobs: MAKE SURE THAT OLIVER AND SARA DIDN'T NOTICE ANYTHING WAS WRONG.  1) Do you a) wear jewelry that can't possibly trigger memories in your assassin sister or b) wear a CANARY necklace.  2) Do you a) act like your normal self, or b) all sweet and concerned, something that's certain to set Oliver off? 3) When you see that Oliver is about to TAKE OFF and leave the alien universe, do you a) immediately strip and beg him to stay, or b) just stand around crying?

When the Dominators are inevitably blown to bits tomorrow night, alien Laurel, I hope you realize that this is MOSTLY YOUR FAULT.  Or, perhaps more fairly, the fault of the Dominators that thought that using Laurel to keep Sara and Oliver in an alien universe was a good idea. I mean, based on the rest of the episode, the Dominators seemed to be really into the show. How did they miss this bit?

I remain amused, however, at the ongoing lack of subtlety with this show: Oliver/Laurel staying together LEADS TO THE WORLD GETTING DESTROYED BY ALIENS. Oliver leaving Laurel leads to TEAM CROSSOVERS SAVING THE WORLD FROM ALIENS.  

And to think, for a moment there back in the first season, we thought this show might be choosing that subtle route, and that it might head back there in the fifth season.

[way2interested]

10 minutes ago, quarks said:

Unpopular opinion, it seems, but I really liked the repeats of significant things said to Oliver just before he took off.  Nice homage to the show

Is it an unpopular opinion? I thought the quotes in the background were the only things that saved the random figures Oliver was looking at for me. Of course, it helped that there were a bunch that I loved in there, but still.

[Trini]

22 minutes ago, quarks said:

1. Sigh. I suppose that it's impossible to have an episode of Arrow without someone going into a warehouse - it's almost a homage to the show at this point -  but honestly, if this warehouse tour continues for a FOURTH NIGHT IN A ROW I am going to scream.

I look forward to your screaming, quarks.  ;-)

[Hiveminder]

17 minutes ago, Hiveminder said:

I was underwhelmed. 

Let me elaborate. I was underwhelmed by everything except that bathroom. Oliver needs to be rich again so he can buy back the mansion and move the salmon ladder into that bathroom. And then just be in there shirtless all the time. Sure, it might make crime fighting difficult, but we all make sacrifices. 

Edited December 1, 2016 by Hiveminder

[BkWurm1]

Quote

That said, this was the first time in...well, ever I suppose, that I wasn't bothered by Laurel. 

 I did well through their first scene in the dream shower (even Queen Manor never had such opulence - it's fitting that this was all fantasy) but then after he got home from the mugging when she came running over to see him, all the things I disliked about Laurel flooded back just in the tone of her voice and the look on her face.  

I did like that at the end, Oliver made it clear that he was not the guy that Laurel loved and that even the version of him that she had loved shouldn't have had her love.  It felt to me like an answer back to her love of her life declaration.  He firmly dismissed that he was that guy or had been for the last ten years.    

[futurechemist]

Maybe it's because I don't really watch Arrow.  Maybe it's because this was the middle of a trilogy.  But I thought this episode sucked.  It didn't really advance the alien plot.  And most of it was meaningless since it was a foregone conclusion that they would leave the hallucination.

Really it seemed like a waste of a crossover to not have characters from the different shows interacting.

[Lantern7]

Bright side: no mandatory Five Years Ago flashbacks. Better than last year, but it boils down to this these days: "Bratva Bratva." "Bratva?" "Bratva Bratva. Bratva Bratva!! Bratva!" "I will break you."

At least any Wild Dog fans out there have Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye.

[BkWurm1]

4 minutes ago, futurechemist said:

Maybe it's because I don't really watch Arrow.  Maybe it's because this was the middle of a trilogy.  But I thought this episode sucked.  It didn't really advance the alien plot.  And most of it was meaningless since it was a foregone conclusion that they would leave the hallucination.

Really it seemed like a waste of a crossover to not have characters from the different shows interacting.

From the crossover standpoint, it was a lame episode where we learned very little about the Dominators and yeah, it felt more like a special visit from Cisco with a couple cameo's from Barry and Kara.  I mean, technically Sara and Ray were guest stars too, but they feel like they belonged first to Arrow so I don't think of them like that.

This is the problem with mixing the Arrow 100th and the crossover.  I think this time it was the crossover that got kind of shafted but I'm willing to shrug my shoulders because Arrow is my priority.  

[catrox14]

I was mostly whelmed but man, it did my heart good to see Moira back. I LOVE HER SO MUCH.  And Oliver's goodbyes really did make me cry.  The end did not match with the rest of the episode. They should have ended the episode with Oliver waking up in the alien ship. YMMV

[ComicFan777]

As serious and emotional towards the end of this episode was, I couldn't help but burst out laughing when hologram Laurel said to Oliver "I know you in your bones.."  I don't know, of all the lines they could pick for her to say...I just found that ridiculously funny.

Edited December 1, 2016 by ComicFan777

[catrox14]

1 minute ago, ComicFan777 said:

As serious and emotional towards the end of this episode was, I couldn't help but burst out laughing when hologram Laurel said to Oliver "I know you in your bones.."  I don't know, of all the lines they could pick for her to say...I just found that ridiculously funny.

I laughed at that as well.  And every line Oliver said to Laurel, my head!canon is that he was actually picturing Felicity.

[BkWurm1]

3 minutes ago, ComicFan777 said:

As serious and emotional towards the end of this episode was, I couldn't help but burst out laughing when hologram Laurel said to Oliver "I know you in your bones.."  I don't know, of all the lines they could pick for her to say...I just found that ridiculously funny.

Fitting last words for her character.  Her most mocked line.  Ha,ha,ha,ha 

[Lantern7]

It could have been worse. The holograms could have been joined by Malcolm imploring Oliver to die. Then he'd wake up looking like Colin Baker.

[tennisgurl]

There was a lot to like in this episode, and I will get to that later, but, can I just say, Rene is a HUGE asshole? I am just sick of the guy. Every week he has to learn not to be an asshole, and every week he totally forgets it by the next week. This week its "people with powers are bad guys because...because". He learned his millionth lesson about not being a meta/alien racist or about being an idiot or listening to people who arent morons or whatever, but by next week he will probably be back to his asshole ways. Have I mentioned the guy is an asshole? If the Arrow verse really needs him that much, can they send him over to Legends? They have done a good job of taking characters I didn't like or felt indifferent to, and making them likable and sympathetic. 

[Tazmania]

1 hour ago, quarks said:

Bad things:

1. For the love of television, Berlanti, look, I know you wanted to work in that shot of the Smoak Technology building, and I know you wanted to give us a Diggle as Green Arrow moment and give us a Batman feel here, and I appreciate the attempt to give us a nod to one of Arrow's favorite alleys, but NOBODY, and I do mean NOBODY, discusses the takeover of a multimillion company IN AN ALLEYWAY. WHAT WAS THAT?  

2. I was kinda hoping for more from the alien ship than just poorly redressed sets from Legends of Tomorrow and Flash's favorite hallway only partly redressed with what I sincerely hope was not props/false walls from The 100.

3. Speaking of which, what sort of aliens just leave flameflowers lying around casually in their spaceships like that? Bad aliens, bad. Do you have no sense of fire safety/standards.

4. Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, you introduced Sara Lance as bisexual, not lesbian. I'm fine with her bedhopping various women through history - that's in character - but the "mostly into girls" line, not so much. She should be into both.

5. Wild Dog. My reaction to him has varied from liking to tolerating all season, but tonight, he felt like a major distraction/intrusion into the rest of the episode. Oddly, this was most notable during his speech to Barry and Kara about metahuman/alien superiority - something that should have flowed well into an episode otherwise about choices and heroism, and an episode where five superheroes had been targeted specifically for not having superpowers - leaving the superpowered characters free.  Instead, the whole thing felt like a waste of time better spent on other characters (including, to be fair, Barry and Kara) and something specifically set up so that just a few minutes later, Wild Dog could realize that he'd been Wrong About Metahumans and Yes They Could Be Good. Which, ok, an important lesson, I guess, but a) this wasn't the best episode to feature it, given everything else that was going on, b) Wild Dog, unlike other characters, hasn't actually been directly hurt all that badly by metahumans/magical people (that speech would have worked much better from Evelyn, for instance) c) Wild Dog's initial speech might have come off better if he'd actually known anything about them - especially since most of the superpowered people we've seen actually don't think they're improving the world by putting on a costume - they're villains.

So, wrong character, wrong moment, wrong speech - it was just wrong. And annoying.

6. As was Bionic Woman or whatever they were calling her. I get that the B group needed something as an obstacle but really she was not it.

7. In fact, pretty much the entire B plot felt flat - which is odd, since the B plot should have been tense and dramatic. Part of this, of course, was the contrast with all of the heavy emotional stuff in the A plot, but part of it was also everyone's attitudes in the B plot. I mean, come on! Oliver, Diggle, Thea, Sara and Ray have been CAPTURED BY DEADLY ALIENS that can control minds, and you're.....basically treating it like a party. I agree that Felicity was surprisingly carefree about the whole situation - in fact, I think that's the first time she's ever been carefree when Oliver is in danger - but it really wasn't just her, but a lack of urgency from virtually everyone except, kinda, Cisco, and that's arguable.

8. But that brings me back to the worst part of these crossover episodes: the aliens.  Superhero stories depend upon their villains and conflicts. The A plot here worked partly because we got to see some of Arrow's greatest villains, but also because the conflict was strong: stay where you are loved and cherished (or in Diggle's case, get to be the main hero), and where the woman you care for is happy with a well to do, stable guy - or return to your responsibilities. That was great. But the B plot was all, oh, yeah, aliens are here, and this is kinda cool even if they're mean, and, you know, NO HURRY OR ANYTHING EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE FIVE OF OUR FRIENDS, and in the meantime, SURE, ALIENS ARE HERE, BUT IT'S PRETTY EASY TO JUMP INTO A GETAWAY SPACE SHIP AND ZOOM OFF and then get a timely rescue, leaving the present day, real threat plot with virtually no suspense or stakes whatsoever.  Because these are really boring, lame villains. I mean, they couldn't even get their fake universe to hold the five characters for more than a day. 

Come to think of it, maybe it was ok for Team Baby Arrows and Supergirl and Barry to be all chill about things. 

And now, Laurel:

It is astonishing that even in an episode designed to put her in a perfect, flattering light, as Oliver's dream come true, an episode, moreover, where she only appeared for seven or so minutes, Laurel still managed to fail.  

On the bright side, her clothing was ON POINT this episode and she looked great.  And Laurel had a nice moment or two with Sara and occasionally Oliver, even if Oliver's dream mind had Laurel repeating Felicity's dialogue. 

On the side of everything else:

Number of ways Laurel failed as a human being: 1) Your boyfriend vanishes the day after he's been mugged. Do you a) content yourself with texts and phone calls or b) CALL THE POLICE, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THAT YOU NOTICED THAT HE WAS ACTING STRANGE AND MIGHT HAVE A HEAD INJURY? 2) Your boyfriend then shows up and says that he really needs to marry you right then. You can tell he's upset. Do you a) remind him about the feelings of your wedding guests, or b) try to comfort him? 3) Your upset boyfriend WHO IS ACTING STRANGE AND MIGHT HAVE A HEAD INJURY then runs off with someone you have NEVER MET BEFORE. Do you go back to focusing on your hair, or do you TRY TO MAKE SURE YOUR BOYFRIEND IS OK? 

Number of ways Laurel failed as a vigilante: This is a bit unfair, granted, since Perfect Alien Laurel apparently never trained as one. Still, that didn't stop alternate Sara from helping to take down Deathstroke, so I'm going to call Laurel on this one: 1) Your boyfriend and sister are fighting Arrow's greatest villains. Do you come out to help, or do you make sure that your wedding dress doesn't get wet in the rain?

Number of ways Laurel failed as a alien: Just one, but it's HUGE. 

Laurel, as an alien, you had ONE JOB: KEEP OLIVER DISTRACTED FOR LONG ENOUGH TO LET THE ALIENS DOWNLOAD WHATEVER THEY WERE DOWNLOADING. Ok. Two jobs: MAKE SURE THAT OLIVER AND SARA DIDN'T NOTICE ANYTHING WAS WRONG.  1) Do you a) wear jewelry that can't possibly trigger memories in your assassin sister or b) wear a CANARY necklace.  2) Do you a) act like your normal self, or b) all sweet and concerned, something that's certain to set Oliver off? 3) When you see that Oliver is about to TAKE OFF and leave the alien universe, do you a) immediately strip and beg him to stay, or b) just stand around crying?

When the Dominators are inevitably blown to bits tomorrow night, alien Laurel, I hope you realize that this is MOSTLY YOUR FAULT.  Or, perhaps more fairly, the fault of the Dominators that thought that using Laurel to keep Sara and Oliver in an alien universe was a good idea. I mean, based on the rest of the episode, the Dominators seemed to be really into the show. How did they miss this bit?

I remain amused, however, at the ongoing lack of subtlety with this show: Oliver/Laurel staying together LEADS TO THE WORLD GETTING DESTROYED BY ALIENS. Oliver leaving Laurel leads to TEAM CROSSOVERS SAVING THE WORLD FROM ALIENS.  

And to think, for a moment there back in the first season, we thought this show might be choosing that subtle route, and that it might head back there in the fifth season.

I legit died laughing at failure of Laurel as alien. I have actual tears in my eyes 

[KirkB]

44 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

I did well through their first scene in the dream shower (even Queen Manor never had such opulence - it's fitting that this was all fantasy) but then after he got home from the mugging when she came running over to see him, all the things I disliked about Laurel flooded back just in the tone of her voice and the look on her face.  

I did like that at the end, Oliver made it clear that he was not the guy that Laurel loved and that even the version of him that she had loved shouldn't have had her love.  It felt to me like an answer back to her love of her life declaration.  He firmly dismissed that he was that guy or had been for the last ten years.    

I feel like I should elaborate my own comment. I wasn't bothered by Laurel. That is to say in her living, non-hallucination days, the best reaction I ever had to Laurel on-screen was during that dinner Sara brought Oliver to, where I kind of felt bad for her briefly. Otherwise I was either apathetic to her, or when she put on the mask I felt like she was sucking energy out of scenes. But here, alien Laurel was...there. I didn't like seeing her but I didn't hate it either. It was Laurel being Laurel, just less bothersome than normal. Damning with faint praise I suppose.

[ottoDbusdriver]

4 hours ago, calliope1975 said:

The aliens DID redress our heroes. I love that so much. 

I wonder if the Dominators peeked when they redressed Speedy and Sarah.  

So what happened to Ray's new Atom suit ?  Is that gone for good ? Does he have enough dwarf star metal to make another ?

4 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

As far as the overall crossover goes, this was totally skippable. They didn't make any of the actual reality scenes important to the overall plot. I can already feel like The Dominators won't serve any important purpose or have any impact. Just around to cause some conflict for the heroes. 

This episode was a real let down after last night's The Flash -- after promoing an epic 4 night crossover event, and Monday night Supergirl having minimal contribution to the crossover plot, I thought they would do more with, you know, actually battling the Dominators versus spending most of the episode in the Matrix.  Aren't there still hundreds of Dominators on Earth ?  Plus, they just murdered the US President, why wasn't there any mention of a response by Argus or another branch of US gov't ?  How crappy are these Dominators are at basic security -- no restraints on the VR pods, no video surveillance of the VR room, no locked doors in the hallways ?  No keys to prevent people from stealing their small spaceships ?  How come there were no other abductees from Earth on the Dominators mothership ?  And what exactly were the Dominators looking for in their minds ?

I still don't get how negative latitude and negative longitude equates to outer space.

Edited December 1, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[tarotx]

I really enjoyed the episode.

Though....

-My head hurts once again. I feel this episode needed a stronger director. 

-I do hate Rene. He just has no value and they are pushing him but why??

-Curtis and Nate are cuties but Curtis took over that scene so that the pronto writers could geek out. And Nate had no place on Arrow. Nate doesn't deserve a crossover slot. I don't care if he knows Oliver. Arrow's audience doesn't know him >.<

-I have no idea why Felicity was so happy in the Arrow cave. It felt out of character for Felicity to geek out at Alien tech when Oliver&Diggle were missing. I blame Curtis and his energy. He's just all wrong for Arrow.

I love seeing Sara on Arrow again. I miss her here. I loved seeing the Canary sisters close. It's what I wanted since season 2. Instead, they killed Sara and after fixing that they killed Laurel. Which was the right decision if we can have only one Lance sister. But I really wanted to see them fix their relationship.

I loved that Smoak tech was the way Home. Felicity is Overwatch who makes sure her team has a way home. It felt right. Which is why happy Felicity in the lair felt wrong. I loved the Matrix but it was the real world that was off. 

Edited December 1, 2016 by tarotx

[MariaHill]

44 minutes ago, ComicFan777 said:

As serious and emotional towards the end of this episode was, I couldn't help but burst out laughing when hologram Laurel said to Oliver "I know you in your bones.."  I don't know, of all the lines they could pick for her to say...I just found that ridiculously funny.

I shrieked out loud at that line, and experienced something like a full-body heave. MY bones will always reject that line coming from Laurel. 

I stopped watching this season after 5.01, so this was my first viewing of an ep with the boobs (except Curtis, obvs) and I pretty much agree with the consensus here: Rory seems fine, Curtis needs to quit interrupting Felicity, and Wild Dong is an annoying asshole with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  

Edited to add: why can't we have Smoak Technologies in a non-AU timeline? I WANT IT, GIVE IT TO ME NOW. 

Edited December 1, 2016 by MariaHill

[BkWurm1]

Quote

I still don't get how negative latitude and negative longitude equates to outer space.

Yeah, just being negative does not make it space.  I mean, Brazil has both negative longitude and latitude.  Maybe it was supposed to be the specific number choices?  

[Chaser]

Just finished.

Some things I thought were done well.  All the Queen family scenes. I thought the Laurel and Sara scenes worked. Nice shout outs.

I wish more time was spent on AU OTA. I wish less time was spent on the boobies (seriously why?). I wish there was more Felicity. I just don't care for the Alien plot line at all.

I struggled with the Oliver and Laurel scenes. The first couple I didn't mind but then it got weird. We got two emotional scenes but between them there was nothing. He comes in with this big elopement speech (which I'm pretty sure was supposed to be more about Olicity) and then leaves with Diggle and completely forgets about Laurel until she tracks him down as he is leaving. The goodbye dialogue was better then I thought it would be (Basically it's what he should have told her on her not deathbed), but he never intended to tell her goodbye so I just don't understand. 

Overall, I think I'm in the whelmed category. Some parts were better than I expected but I felt there was a lot of disconnected pieces. I had trouble connecting.

On a superficial note, Felicity looked great in the OTA scene and Sara was beautiful in that bridesmaid dress.

[Chaser]

Also, the way SA said "Felicity" after the flashbacks packed a punch. I think there were even tears in his eyes.

[BkWurm1]

Quote

I struggled with the Oliver and Laurel scenes. The first couple I didn't mind but then it got weird. We got two emotional scenes but between them there was nothing. He comes in with this big elopement speech (which I'm pretty sure was supposed to be more about Olicity) and then leaves with Diggle and completely forgets about Laurel until she tracks him down as he is leaving. The goodbye dialogue was better then I thought it would be (Basically it's what he should have told her on her not deathbed), but he never intended to tell her goodbye so I just don't understand. 

They talked later in the episode how the construct of the dream world was designed to pull them back in or get in their way from resisting.  I assumed that Oliver suddenly showing up and begging Laurel to run off right then was the machine just pumping more brain manipulation his way and it took seeing Diggle again to fight off the effects again.  

And yes, the desperate need to get married before he chose to leave it all behind really played to me like Oliver's feelings for Felicity and reliving how it all slipped through his fingers.  He's never IMO had that kind of emotion with Laurel but I saw it with Felicity.  

[looptab]

So, we have to go in an alien dream world to get OTA? :D

Also, who the hell cares  about Wild Dog's stance on metas and aliens?

I wasn't bothered by Laurel, but I need them to stop having Oliver say he doesn't deserve her.

[yellowfred]

So, I felt like the AU aspect worked on the level that this is probably the life that Oliver would have imagined for himself five or ten years ago.  I think, prior to getting on the Gambit, he probably had the idea that he would get his more juvenile tendencies out of his system and then become more like the guy Laurel liked to pretend he was.  He probably hoped that he'd make his parents proud and take over the family business.  I can totally imagine pre-Island!Oliver wanting that.  I think that's what he wanted as recently as the first season, which makes it a nice reflection of his journey over the course of the show.  

I also think it was pretty close to what Thea and Sara, even now, might consider a better version of their lives, since their loved ones are alive and the main sources of potential tension (i.e. Thea's bio-dad reveal and Sara's sex cruise with Oliver) have been conveniently erased.  Plus, Diggle and Ray got... well, okay, they kind of got the shaft on this one, if I'm being honest.  Sorry, guys.

That being said, I don't think it worked as well as something an advanced alien race cooked up to keep them all in stasis for as long as possible.  Like, why would they include so many things that would trigger their real world memories?  Why would they even include a Green Arrow in a version of the world where they don't want Oliver to remember that he's the Green Arrow?  Shouldn't Diggle be happily living with his wife and child (maybe children; he could have Sara and John, Jr.; that's the beauty of alien stasis hallucination worlds)?  Why would they put all five of them in there together in the first place?  Why make the exit a giant building that everyone can easily see and instinctively know that it shouldn't be there?  I feel like the Dominators (read: episode writers) just didn't think this one through.

Moving on, I liked the different ways that the characters reacted to the glitches they were experiencing.  Oliver decided he needed to investigate them right away, Sara was sort of willfully ignoring them for as long as she could, and Thea figured them out and decided she didn't care.  I'm not sure how much I buy that Thea would be the one okay with living in a fake reality, but no one else would have held the same emotional weight for Oliver, so I'm okay with it.  I also liked that the glitches started almost immediately and that their memories seemed to start coming back almost as soon as they started talking through it.

Also, on a side note, Oliver's reaction to seeing Malcolm Merlyn, even a fake hallucinated version of him, should always be "get that man the hell away from me and everyone I care about."  So should Sara's, actually.  And Thea's.  That should just be people's general reaction to Malcolm Merlyn and I don't know why it still isn't.

My only real comment on the actual reality side of things is that Rene is still the worst and he needs to learn how causation works (amongst other things).  

[Xenith22]

Honestly a lot didn't work for me.   I mean the dream world thing had potential...and it started well enough but then it just fell flat pretty much from the police station on-wards.  Diggle as Arrow just didn't work for me at all.  I can only guess that the lack of his family was because the writers were too chicken because of the baby John/baby Sara situation.  Still I have a hard time seeing his dream life being one without Oliver in it either.

Was that mugger actually someone we should know?   I mean special 100th episode...did they actually just cast a new guy here for this part and not someone who previously appeared on the show like one of the guys Oliver killed immediately post island, or a cameo by someone either associated with the show or creating the Green Arrow comics?

The Smoak tower thing makes no sense to me.  I mean maybe if it was just Oliver trapped there then I could see where it might make sense for him to see it in his subconscious.  But how does it make sense for a shared dream world for Diggle/Thea/Ray/Sara to all be able to see it?  (Sara especially who never had that big of a connection to Felicity).

Thea wanting to stay would have worked much better for me if she actually refused to believe the world she was in was fake....but that was not the case.  She acknowledged that her real parents were dead in the real world.  She knew she knew her mind was in an alien created dream world.  So yeah choosing to stay in a fake world with people that aren't actually your parents when who knows what was currently happening to your actual body in the real world (ie potential impending death at any moment).   Seriously why was no argument made about the danger here?  You are a prisoner somewhere...why would you be confident you would be able to live out an entire full peaceful life in this fantasy world and not be potentially killed the moment the aliens had gotten what they needed from you whatever that was?  Or that they wouldn't preform weird experiments like putting your head on a dog which you would wake up to as your new reality some day?  Sorry no....it is a just plain stupid decision and killed much of the emotion from that scene for me.  On top of that Oliver should have been the one to remind her that he (Felicity, John, Quentin, etc) is/are her REAL family that still actually care about her that she would be losing instead of her having to come to that realization herself out of nowhere off-screen seconds later...  And Oliver...okay I get that maybe he thought he could rescue Thea later...but does that not seem like it could be dangerous?  I mean to me there are a lot of bad things that could happen in the mean time....I mean you escape they could instantly see the flaw and kill her.  You trying to pull her out of the machine when she was not ready could kill her.  You shutting down the machine with her mind still inside could kill her.   Leaving her behind without more of a fight just seems like a terrible terrible idea.

Did Oliver stop to use the bathroom or get something to eat between the time he spoke with Thea and the time he showed up outside to meet the others?  I mean how else do you explain Thea having time to go upstairs and change out of her fancy dress and back into her street by the time he got a few steps outside...

The scene of Oliver saying goodbye to his parents worked for me because even knowing they aren't real it's still the idea of them he is saying goodbye to in his mind a closure of sorts that he did not get to have in real life...the Laurel goodbye on the other hand.  UGH!  Apologizing to the construct and saying he didn't deserve her love.  At this point when he 100% knows nothing is real it just makes no sense.  This isn't about any kind of internal closure it's nothing he didn't get a chance to say to the real Laurel.  It's a poor attempt at forced drama that is pure crap.

Wait...can someone explain why Diggle had the same injury in the real world after he was shot in the dream world?   That seems dumb...  I mean sure I get the trope of dying in the dream means dying in real life because your brain shuts down and all that...but bullet holes appearing on your body is a completely different matter which does not compute with me.

The Wild Dog + Kara/Barry plot was sooo soooo bad:

- Curtis says Barry carrying him was awesome....that is pretty much the total opposite of what everyone says.  I mean heck just in the last episode of the Flash it made Diggle and Oliver nauseous.  Continuity?

- WD essentially blames Kara for the Dominators showing up.  No one corrects him that he has that completely backwards that she came because of them, and that they have been here since the 40s...  Jack@$$.

- The three are in a single building.  Kara has super senses.  Kara and Barry both have super speed.  You know how long it should take them to find a person inside of a building they are standing in?  Probably under a second.  Yet not only is WD the one to find the villain first....but he has time to have a conversation and fight with her before they show up?  

- Speaking of the fight...WD is about 6 feet away from her.  She does not move one inch the entire time except to turn around (SOOOO MANY CAMERA SPINS IN THIS EPISODE)....yet somehow he completely misses her shooting six times.  Yeah....really competent this one. 

- Barry saves WD and seems to knock the villain to near unconscious against a wall with a barrage of punches.  (Wait...doesn't she have electric powers?  Aren't those large sparks each time he punches her?  Should he really be able to touch her with no ill-effects?  No anti-Livewire like strategies needed here?)  

- Kara proceeds to show up even later...and proceeds to pose?  The only people in the room are Barry, Kara, and a near unconscious villain.  WTF!  

- What follows is an severely underwhelming teamup as both Barry and Kara seemingly completely unnecessarily punch the villain who puts up no fight.  No explanation is given as to how they are going to actually get someone to perform surgery on her electrically charged body to get the unnecessary plot device out of it.

-  WD completely changes his stance on Barry and Kara despite none of this having anything to do with his chicken/egg (escalation!) reason for supposedly disliking them in the first place...  HAAAAATE!

Edited December 1, 2016 by Xenith22

[Mellowyellow]

Just finished watching it. It was ok I thought. Not a bad episode but not one I'd watch again, not even for the Felicity scenes. 

Complaints:

*Not enough Felicity for a 100th episode. As a huge fan I was hoping for more

*Wild Dong needs to die

*Curtis is the worst and needs to go away

Questions I need answered:

*We get a few versions of Felicity. Dig's Felicity, Ray’s Felicity, Real Felicity but why wasn't there Oliver’s version of Felicity at all. She is a HUGE part of his life. Why did she float around at the end like the ghost of Christmas past instead with all the others? 

*Why is the Smoak Technologies building the escape route? Did they just put it there for the fans? Felt really random. Didn't particularly care for it and I love Felicity.

*Why was Oliver suddenly totes ok with leaving Thea plugged to an Alien machine? Really? Cuz they are going to fight the bad Aliens later and if they defeat them the machine might drop out of the sky or the Aliens could just switch Thea off.

Things that made me squee:

*The way Oliver said Felicity’s name after he had the flashbacks of her.

*Ray dreaming that his faux fiance is Felicity. I liked that he remembered Anna but it fits with my head canon that Felicity was a big deal to him. Still holding a torch for her after all this time.  Squeeeeee

*Loved Dig's version of Felicity. She seemed so harassed the poor thing like her nerves were shot from working with broody angry Green Arrow Dig. It was a brief scene but I can imagine her having to calm him down and take care of him every day. I loved that Dig had his dream version of Felicity. My justification for his dream is that after the whole military business early in the season and the stuff with his brother all his guilt had led him to come up with the Green Arrow delusion as the life he should lead. 

*Liked Ray's faux Felicity twirling around and almost running into Oliver and the look he gave her like "Whose delusion are you from now?"

Random thoughts:

*I liked Laurel today and I missed her even if she scowls a lot. She was sweet here and didn't scowl in this episode. I'd rather have her back and get rid of the noobs. It also highlighted to me how I was never angry when I watched Laurel but the noobs make me rage especially Wild Dong and Curtis.

[looptab]

WTF line of the episode (I'm sure there  are a lot, but this just stood up for me)

After Oliver finds the bunker, Felicity telling to Green Diggle "He is getting  married tomorrow!'

Like, why. Were they worried  about him getting  cold feet too?

[bijoux]

This is a cool theory, I think.

Quote

 

There were two Felicity Smoaks in Bizarro World.

One was in the Bunker/ArrowCave with Oliver and Diggle.  This is Oliver’s Felicity.  Tech support, partner, take-no-shit Felicity.  

The other was at the cocktail reception.  This is Ray’s Felicity - dressed in the same blue dress she wore the night of their first kiss.  

This is why Oliver simply breezed past her and, more importantly, why the second Felicity didn’t react to Oliver.  You really think Felicity “I hate mysteries” Smoak would have allowed the man who broke into her Bunker to just waltz past her?  

These were two different manifestations of Felicity, generated by the memories of two/three different men.

 

Source

[Mellowyellow]

35 minutes ago, looptab said:

WTF line of the episode (I'm sure there  are a lot, but this just stood up for me)

After Oliver finds the bunker, Felicity telling to Green Diggle "He is getting  married tomorrow!'

Like, why. Were they worried  about him getting  cold feet too?

I cracked up at that line! It was like Dig's Felicity probably has read the tabloids about Oliver Queen and she was all like "You dodgy bastard what are you doing here? Are you up to your old tricks again and ditching the wedding?"

[bijoux]

It could also be Oliver's Felicity calling him out on his crap.

[doesntworkonwood]

The episode definitely felt more like Arrow 100 than the crossover, which was actually what I wanted but I didn't like the execution. The dream world was a bit cloying, and the real world didn't have any sense of urgency at all. 

I've never hated Barry as much as I did when he didn't let Wild Dong die. 

I was really disappointed with the writing of Felicity this episode. She didn't get to do anything, or even say anything. I'm pretty sure Wild Dong got more lines that her (mostly because all of her lines were interrupted). Felicity is the reason that I've watched the show for 100 episodes, so whilst I really enjoyed Moira, the fact that show not only didn't celebrate Felicity, but minimised her role in the real world, means that it didn't work as a 100th episode for me. I think it focused too much on what the show had without celebrating what the show has got. I think it would have been much more interesting if Oliver actually wanted to go back to the real world, not because of obligation, but because he's actually happy there. 

[Writing Wrongs]

Wild Dog can suck it.

I really like that Kara reminds Barry that being a superhero can be fun. He's lost that on his show.

[small voice] I kinda miss Laurel.

[Spaceman Spiff]

6 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Note: I haven't read all of the comments and won't because I stopped watching this show back in its first season and have only tuned in for the crossovers.

That said, all I can say about this episode (other than seeing ❤️❤️Jamey Sheridan❤️❤️) is that Berlanti, who wrote it, TOTALLY stole the plot of this dreamverse from Batman: The Animated Series-"Perchance to Dream" except that B:TAS had the Mad Hatter, putting Bruce in that dream, and they did it much much much better. They really are hellbent in usurping all of Batman's plots and history and to use it for their version of the Green Arrow, aren't they?

Oh and one more thing: the Rene dude gave me visions of Jason wearing that hockey mask, and other geek guy just annoyed. And clearly Cisco needs to join this show since he's sooooo much happier and geekier here and since Barry is the worst person ever! (That last sentence was sarcasm if it wasn't clear.) 

Either that or "For the Man Who Has Everything", with Superman and the Black Mercy, which they already used for Supergirl (which I sort of didn't mind) but to be honest this was better than that. I stopped after S2 of Arrow, so to me I actually enjoyed this more that I thought I would. Seeing old cast members reprise their roles was fun.

Barry and Kara tag teaming and grinning while doing it was great, and hockey mask can suck it. Not sure how anyone can watch this season of Arrow if he is a regular cast member. My TV screen would be broken from objects being hurled at it.

Thea shooting an arrow while Sarah catches it and stabs Darkh was also pretty cool.

I think the show transitions are actually working too. Aliens land in Central City so it's a Flash episode, all of the Arrow cast get taken by said aliens so the next is an Arrow episode, followed by the escape from aliens in a pod to be swept up by the Wave Rider leading into a Legends episode. So on that point, well done.

[Sakura12]

Quote

The Smoak tower thing makes no sense to me.  I mean maybe if it was just Oliver trapped there then I could see where it might make sense for him to see it in his subconscious.  But how does it make sense for a shared dream world for Diggle/Thea/Ray/Sara to all be able to see it?  (Sara especially who never had that big of a connection to Felicity).

Sara and Ray actually saw a Smoak tower when they went to future Star City. So it would mean something to them. As for Diggle and Thea they know Felicity, why wouldn't they see a manifestation of their tech support team member? 

Or since it's a shared hallucination, one person sees it in the fake world they all see it.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Sakura12

[looptab]

I thought it was nice that the logo wasn't a mash-up of the shows' logos like for Flash or previous crossovers, but all the various arrows from the different seasons. :)

Edited December 1, 2016 by looptab

[AD35]

4 hours ago, Xenith22 said:

- Curtis says Barry carrying him was awesome....that is pretty much the total opposite of what everyone says.  I mean heck just in the last episode of the Flash it made Diggle and Oliver nauseous.  Continuity?

Maybe like Hartley Rathaway aka Pied Piper, Curtis has a fantasy of being carried off by a man dressed in leather from head to toe.  On a more serious note, is there a chance that maybe a deal can be struck with the Dominators that allows them to take Rene and do whatever they want to him in exchange for leaving Earth?  Because he was that annoying with his anti-metahuman talk and his overall attitude.  When the Smoak Technology sign appeared at first I thought Felicity had found a way to hack into whatever system that had Oliver and company in a hallucinatory state.  As for Barry and Kara, I enjoyed them tag-team cyborg lady. But towards the end of the ep where Oliver and the group were making their escape, I kept waiting for Kara to show up to help them escape.  Either she could take out a few Dominator ships or at least distract them long enough for the Waverider to pick up Oliver and friends.

Edited December 1, 2016 by AD35

[bijoux]

Thea wasn't affected by Barry's speeding either in the last crossover as far as I can remember. And Felicity has never been. It obiously doesn't affect everyone the same way. 

[cambridgeguy]

I'm not sure why they decided to exchange Cisco's understandable but annoying buzzkill attitude with Rene's annoying and inexplicable buzzkill attitude.  Also, is a blue hockey jersey really the best choice for outerwear?  That doesn't inspire hope, fear, or much of anything.

[Morrigan2575]

Quote

 I kept waiting for Kara to show up to help them escape.  Either she could take out a few Dominator ships or at least distract them long enough for the Waverider to pick up Oliver and friends.

One of the things I don't like about the Supes family is that they're so powerful they make other heroes kind of pointless. Yet, in a big crossover event featuring all your heroes, you can't have her do everything so they basically end up with Supergirl doing nothing special. She could/should have saved the President on Flash but they had her just stand there. She could/should have flown into outer space to help rescue the but just disappeared (along with Barry) with no explanation.

[insomniadreams88]

9 hours ago, apinknightmare said:

Right - but didn't he say that they were all taken because they weren't metahumans? 

This made me think - were Felicity and Mick the only other non-metas outside while everyone was being kidnapped? I can't help but wonder what the shared hallucination would have been like with those two taken too. Also, I feel like Felicity would have had more to do had she been taken as well.