S07.E01: Inmate 4587

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

LOCKED UP — Following Oliver’s (Stephen Amell) shocking decision to turn himself over to the FBI and reveal his identity as the Green Arrow to the public, Oliver has spent the past five months in Slabside Maximum Security Prison. Determined to keep a low profile to shorten his sentence for the sake of his family, Oliver is tested when he runs into old foes. Meanwhile, Diggle (David Ramsey) and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) have taken on new jobs and left their costumes behind but not everyone is following suit. With her focus on William (guest star Jack Moore), Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) tries to start over but when someone from her past resurfaces, things become complicated. James Bamford directed the episode written by Beth Schwartz & Oscar Balderrama (#701). Original airdate 10/15/2018

[Primal Slayer]

mmm, not that exciting of a premiere. They put to much Dinah/Rene in there when it should've been given to other scenes like seeing Argus save Felicity from Diaz. 

The prison scenes were enjoyable.

Roy is now Green Arrow....again.....and on Lian Yu....just like Oliver....with grown up William. Not sure why we are jumping so far into the future, it has to be what? 5 years at least? Unless we are going to get some time travel shenanigans going on. But it is funny that we get both future versions of Barry/Olivers kids. 

But yeah....thats all I got to say because it didnt really leave me yearning for anything.

[BkWurm1]

Well, they got me to cry during Felicity and Oliver's scene so mission accomplished.  

Not loving it was a flash forward since I think that usually presents too many issues but at least it's well into the future.  What would you guys say, 10 or 15 years?

The Olicity fight in parallel was just excellent.  Felicity did NOT hold back.  I will have to rewatch. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by BkWurm1

[Lady Calypso]

This was vastly better than anything from last season.

Also, I cannot believe James Bamford directed this episode. The fight scenes weren't nauseating! What did Beth do to BamBam?!?!

So, we get flashforwards now. Like This Is Us, I don't care because, unless we're time traveling into the future, it doesn't matter since we'll never see the pay-off to whatever they're leading to. 

Felicity fight scene! Woohoo! And it was awesome! Witness Protection Felicity is great, and I liked the William stuff. 

The NTA stuff was...meh. I'm surprised that I wasn't actively yelling at the Rene scenes with the kids at the gym. The Dinah stuff was annoying to watch and I can't stand anything Curtis now.

I didn't mind the prison stuff. It was boring and a bit slow until the end, but still watchable.

Overall, very impressed. 

Plus, the Olicity scene made it all worth it. SA seemed to have Oliver come to life when he got to see her.

[cambridgeguy]

So Oliver totally killed that guy at the end, right?  Because taking multiple hits from a 40(?) pound weight and being pummeled by a pissed off Ollie isn't something you can just shake off.

Safer places for William and Felicity to hang out - Argus HQ, Earth 2, Earth 38, even Earth X.  And I guess Diaz was somehow able to escape those Argus agents who saved Felicity? 

[mxc90]

In 5 months, Laurel is the DA and Dinah is the police captain? Did the FBI arrest every high ranking officer and these clowns were left?

Agent Watson could have done Oliver one tiny little favor and put him away from general population.

After Dinah told Stent there isn’t a Green Arrow or vigilante, he should have showed her his hand and ask how did an arrow get there you fool?

It‘s bad enough Oliver walked away from his new friend and let those guys beat up but there’s about 5 guards standing around not breaking it up. Every TV show has the worse prison guards.

Felicity is surprise she still got “it”?

Did the the Flash or Nora bring future William back to the present?

Edited October 16, 2018 by mxc90

[UNOSEZ]

Hooray Williams gone... Just something about that kid always rubbed me the wrong way... Did love the flash forward... Mainly because I was never a huge fan of Roy.. I mean I didn't dislike him just didn't care for him... So the idea that he'd be back as part of the team was kinda bleh to me.... I was impressed with how Renee was inspiring and mentoring the kids.. Bit then he went and helped the vigilante... And while it makes sense.. He's got his lil girl and everyone else's immunity on the line and he's putting Dinah in a tuff spot... Overall I'm good with the premiere and looking fwd to the upcoming weeks 

[Guest]

I didn't think this episode was all that great until the parallel Olicity fight scene. 

Way too much focus on Dinah and Rene. Dinah remains the worst, constantly smug and has a promotion she didn't deserve or earn. Rene wasn't as annoying but I didn't appreciate the amount of screentime he got. Thankfully not much Curtis but even he seems to be running a department. Yeah, just what I wanted to see after S6. NTA living their best lives and getting promotions! GO AWAY.

Great Olicity scenes though. The fight was great and I'm almost surprised Shaky Cam directed it because I didn't feel sick. LOL. The Olicity scene through the glass was heartbreaking. 

I'm bummed William is being sent away but I also get it and think it's probably for the best. Felicity can't protect him by herself and they've already proven Witsec isn't safe. It makes sense right now. Hopefully it won't go on too long. 

[Mellowyellow]

So I've only watched one scene (the Olicity one because priorities) and the acting from SA and EBR is spot on.

I went from being teary at all the emotion to laughing on the rewatch when Felicity says "I love you and I will always wait for you."

Emotional scene but it kinda also read like: This is the show's OTP, accept it and move on. We put this line for all you delusional folks out there who are hoping for an Olicity break up from this jailbird storyline.

[insomniadreams88]

I wasn't really impressed.

Loved the Oliver/Felicity scene, of course. 

The problem? That and Felicity/William were the only scenes that had any real emotional impact.

Loved the parallel fight scene. 

If the new GA in Star City isn't Roy, then whoever it is trained with him and lesson 1 was "unnecessary flips are necessary." 

Diaz is still awful. 

BS' speech made me want her, Rene, Dinah and Curtis to suit up and be caught and for Felicity to make a deal with Watson: "4 vigilantes in prison for the price of Oliver's freedom!" 

I'm not even surprised we only got a brief Felicity/Diggle scene. That's the norm now. 

Oh, and don't even get me started on Curtis and his job.

[BkWurm1]

3 minutes ago, Angel12d said:

I'm bummed William is being sent away but I also get it and think it's probably for the best. Felicity can't protect him by herself and they've already proven Witsec isn't safe. It makes sense right now. Hopefully it won't go on too long.

I'm already worried though that he sending him away is one person too many that he loses.  She now made him a promise too.  Which is ripe then for breaking it.  

There was too much Rene and Dinah (though only barely too much BS) but I get why they got so much time since they are setting up the modern day narrative.  

If Roy is in the flash forwards though, I'm guessing he is NOT in the current green suit.  

[Lantern7]

Diaz is still around. Greeeeeeeeeeeat. And he's still overpowered as a villain, in the sense that he can easily track down Felicity and try to murder her, all to give Oliver the message that life isn't supposed to be fair. Ollie has been in the slammer for five months, he gets the crap beat out of him . . . I think he knows life isn't fair.

And we got an adult William running around. Greeeeeeeeeat x 2. I know, "Arrowverse," but Arrow is supposed to be where time travel and paradoxes aren't supposed to happen. Well, until a major crossover happens. We have enough troubles dealing with Laurel-2 still existing, Rene being stubborn (did he "Hoss" once?), Curtis being shoehorned into ARGUS, and Cap'n Mumblegrowl basically being a dick. Seriously, any prior Big Bad is better . . . and that includes Malcolm Merlyn, who is basically the worst. Diaz is worse than that.

[calliope1975]

It really felt like NTA was suffering. /s

[opus]

No one said “Hoss”

I’m good.

[scarynikki12]

15 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

This was vastly better than anything from last season.

Also, I cannot believe James Bamford directed this episode. The fight scenes weren't nauseating! What did Beth do to BamBam?!?!

If Beth is the reason that Bamboozle did a good job directing than I want her around forever.

[KenyaJ]

Indeed. Now I see why he was so into it.

Everything involving Oliver, Felicity and William was great. Oliver and Felicity came for my life in that prison scene. And I loved the Diggle/Oliver scene. Despite last season's nonsense, it's believable to me that they're back to acting like none of that happened because they love each other and they're brothers and I have no problem believing they've moved past it.

But NTA? I couldn't give less of a damn about any of them, and I was shocked how much of the episode was Dinah and Rene having their stupid debate. So fucking boring! Who thought any of us would care about that?

I'm intrigued by the William/Roy flashforward. But since so many of us in the live thread figured out that was future William after the second flashforward, I'm surprised that so many critics were so shocked by the reveal. 

Overall, I'm excited for the new season. All the non-NTA parts were good, the fights were good (!), and there were actual human emotions between the characters I care about. But I'm really sad William is going away for a while because I love him and together so much. And I'm already mourning the demise of "Erin's" pink hair. Come back, pink hair!

[JJ928]

I like the prison stuff, which was surprising. Loved Olicity reunion & Felicity's fight, I do wish we'd seen the whole fight though. How did marble mouth get away from ARGUS? The NTA stuff bored and annoyed me, they're still awful, and this episode need 100% more Diggle. That said, if going forward OTA has bigger roles, I think this could be a good season.

So the flash forward is 20 years according to Beth. I was confused if Future William said my father was or is Oliver Queen, but I watched with captions and it said is. So it seems future Oliver is alive. Honestly, I wanna see Future Felicity lol.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

I'm already worried though that he sending him away is one person too many that he loses.  She now made him a promise too.  Which is ripe then for breaking it.  

It's sad but I also feel like it's the right thing to do for now. I just hope he's not left there for too long because it might foster some bitterness but we'll see. 

[BkWurm1]

Wow.  Twenty Years.  I'm really confused how this is going to be at all relevant to the show I'm here to watch.  

[Primal Slayer]

I'm so disappointed that Felicity is going back to normal "ponytailed" Felicity so quickly.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Primal Slayer said:

I'm so disappointed that Felicity is going back to normal "ponytailed" Felicity so quickly.

Me too. I've grown to hate that ponytail because EBR's hair is too short. ?

[calliope1975]

1 minute ago, BkWurm1 said:

Wow.  Twenty Years.  I'm really confused how this is going to be at all relevant to the show I'm here to watch.  

Roy is the only current thing keeping any of my interest. If the other rumor I'm reading is true, that would also get me to care. But just William in the future, no thank you.

[JJ928]

2 minutes ago, calliope1975 said:

Roy is the only current thing keeping any of my interest. If the other rumor I'm reading is true, that would also get me to care. But just William in the future, no thank you.

What rumor? 

[UNOSEZ]

18 minutes ago, insomniadreams88 said:

Oh, and don't even get me started on Curtis and his job

 

17 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Curtis being shoehorned into ARGUS

You mean a pretty talented tech and computer guy getting a job at a government agency at the beginning of a new season of a CW DC show.. Like Winn At the DEO... Or Cisco doing work for CCPD? 

[calliope1975]

1 minute ago, JJ928 said:

What rumor? 

Spoiler

That Katherine McNamara's character is Olicity's daughter. 

[JJ928]

Ok thanks

[popgoesculture]

Ack, I thought the directing was awful. I'm so tired of Bamford's shaky cam -- there were times I couldn't tell who he was focusing on in a scene, or he got uncomfortably close, and the transitions were heavy handed. Also, I liked the parallel fight scene, but I would've liked to see Felicity get saved by Argus. Thought the other fights scenes were meh (although I actually liked the Oliver in Prison stuff more than I thought...) Lots of unnecessary Dinah and Rene time for scenes that were repetitive. I would've been interested to see Digg and Felicity reuniting more than the others. 

[Soulfire]

It's good to be back.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Taken from here. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Soulfire

[Miss Dee]

Well, if this is what Arrow's like when it's on, I am in for the rest of the season.

I liked the whole thing. I only came in on Season 5, so to me NTA is part of the gang and I thought they used them well. I liked the philosophical differences between Rene and Dinah and it helped to give a sense of oppression to the episode.

Damn, that shower scene was intense! And I winced when Diaz threw Felicity through that table. Girl took quite a punishment! And while I was glad to see her fight with everything she had, it was only too realistic that it wouldn't be enough.

I'm also the only fan alive okay with William, so I am *really* super intrigued by the ending!!

[Mellowyellow]

Welcome Back @Soulfire!!!! I HAVE MISSED YOU!!!!! *jumps on you for lots of crazy huggles*

[Lantern7]

5 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

You mean a pretty talented tech and computer guy getting a job at a government agency at the beginning of a new season of a CW DC show.. Like Winn At the DEO... Or Cisco doing work for CCPD? 

Point taken. And totally logical. Apologies.

I like Felcity's WPP hair. She can pull off pink in her hair.

[Mellowyellow]

2 minutes ago, Miss Dee said:

I'm also the only fan alive okay with William, so I am *really* super intrigued by the ending!!

hahah noooo you've missed a lot! William has LOTS of fans now!!!! He even stars in my fanfics!!!! I LOVES William! 

[MissL]

I haven't seen this mentioned yet but...isn't it kinda unbelievable that the man who put most of these guys in prison and even more so used to be the the sorta rich mayor is in GENERAL POPULATION? I mean come on. I'll handwave it because it leads to cool fight scenes with a mostly naked SA but....

 

YAY on anything Felicity, Digg or Oliver.  Boo on Diaz and all the newbies and seriously Curtis' lines except when he mentions Felicity sounded exactly like Felicity, complete with babbling. He's so unnecessary.

 

I figured out flash forward Will as soon as the boat landed and he found the Robert Queen sign. Very surprised to read upthread that critics were surprised. 

 

Anyway. I liked it. More OTA and I'm in.

[statsgirl]

It was better than I thought it would be.  I"m already bored with the prison stuff though.

What I liked best was the parallels between Oliver and Felicity

The guy on the boat looked to be in his early 20s. How can it be a 20 year flash forward if it's William?

Question 1:  Is it really Roy on the island?  Why would he need the hozen to recognize William?  He should have met William when he returned for Thea, and if it is Roy in the GA suit, he will probably meet William this season.

10 minutes ago, JJ928 said:

I like the prison stuff, which was surprising. Loved Olicity reunion & Felicity's fight, I do wish we'd seen the whole fight though. How did marble mouth get away from ARGUS?

Question 2:  If Diaz was just about kill Felicity and ARGUS got there in time to prevent it, how is it that ARGUS didn't capture Diaz?  How could they be that incompetent?

7 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

You mean a pretty talented tech and computer guy getting a job at a government agency at the beginning of a new season of a CW DC show.. Like Winn At the DEO... Or Cisco doing work for CCPD? 

Dinah got promoted the police chief, Rene got his own gym, Curtis is running his own department, and Black Siren, who dropped out of high school, is the DA.  Everyone got huge promotions and the only ones suffering are Oliver, Felicity and William.  It's not fair that engineer (not an IT specialist) Curtis, who was a traitor last season, is running IT at ARGUS and Felicity who is the real IT programmer, is  picking up snotty paper napkins as a barista.

[jay741982]

4 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

It was better than I thought it would be.  I"m already bored with the prison stuff though.

What I liked best was the parallels between Oliver and Felicity

The guy on the boat looked to be in his early 20s. How can it be a 20 year flash forward if it's William?

Question 1:  Is it really Roy on the island?  Why would he need the hozen to recognize William?  He should have met William when he returned for Thea, and if it is Roy in the GA suit, he will probably meet William this season.

Question 2:  If Diaz was just about kill Felicity and ARGUS got there in time to prevent it, how is it that ARGUS didn't capture Diaz?  How could they be that incompetent?

Dinah got promoted the police chief, Rene got his own gym, Curtis is running his own department, and Black Siren, who dropped out of high school, is the DA.  Everyone got huge promotions and the only ones suffering are Oliver, Felicity and William.  It's not fair that engineer (not an IT specialist) Curtis, who was a traitor last season, is running IT at ARGUS and Felicity who is the real IT programmer, is  picking up snotty paper napkins as a barista.

It's not fair but that's this show' s MO. Oliver and The two people who never left his side that are still living suffer while BS gets to be The DA after basically helping Diaz get away, Diaz is Still Breathing and Shitty NTA get to basically live Peacefully. 

[Trisha]

Man, I forgot how bad the sound mixing is on this show. The dialogue was so garbled. It wasn’t until I rewatched the fight scene with closed captioning on that I realized that Felicity said “Oh thank god you’re monologuing. Run, William!” I totally missed that the first time around.

I had lots of concerns that Roy returning would mean that he left Thea right after they reunited, but I guess him being in the future solves that. Still, if this means he doesn’t interact with the rest of the team in the present, that feels like a waste.

I was hoping there wouldn’t be too much NTA since they weren’t in the promos much, but there was way too many Dinah and Rene scenes, which grinds the show to a halt. I could have taken twice the Felicity/William scenes over those.

The prison scenes were better than I expected, but certainly not enough that I want to watch them for multiple episodes. Especially if this is the only Olicity scene we’re going to get when he’s in there. And if the totally reprehensible thing Oliver does that Stephen Amell was touting in interviews was just that he let Stan get beat up, then he’s forgetting the season we saw him skin a man alive.

Felicity sleeps in a bra and lipstick. Sure. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Trisha

[KenyaJ]

21 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

The guy on the boat looked to be in his early 20s. How can it be a 20 year flash forward if it's William?

Yeah, if it's 20 years in the future, he should be around 33. But I'll handwave it, because in that last scene especially, he looked so much like a grown up Jack Moore. Also, based on that scene, it appears that he didn't grow up with Uncle Roy in his recent life, which makes me sad, wondering what happened to/with Thea. Also. I'm going to assume William in rolling in Smoak Tech/Queen Inc. money if he could pay $300,00 just to go to Lian Yu. Also, instead of being 60% convinced, I'm now 100% convinced that

Maya is Olicity's daughter.

4 minutes ago, Trisha said:

Felicity sleeps in a bra and lipstick. Sure. 

Her superpower is waking up with perfect lip gloss!

[Trisha]

Nice calllback!

[way2interested]

I'll say this for Bam. The scene transitions were very on point for this episode.

[UNOSEZ]

32 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Dinah got promoted the police chief, Rene got his own gym, Curtis is running his own department, and Black Siren, who dropped out of high school, is the DA.  Everyone got huge promotions and the only ones suffering are Oliver, Felicity and William.  It's not fair that engineer (not an IT specialist) Curtis, who was a traitor last season, is running IT at ARGUS and Felicity who is the real IT programmer, is  picking up snotty paper napkins as a barista.

Dinah might have been the highest ranking member of the SPD that wasn't dirty after Diaz... Rene runs a ratty gym in the Glades.. And while Curtis 'main skill is in engineering its bee. Shown hes very good with the I.T stuff.. Is he felicity (no and he basically said as much)  also argues doesn't really care if he "betrayed " Oliver cuz they want his skill furthermore apparently Diggle and His Wife the Director of Argues are good with that... Felicity and William have an apparently impossible to catch supervillain with a hard-on for hurting Oliver via hunting and hurting them... I get ppl hate NTA on a visceral level but logically in-universe there's pretty solid reasoning for everyone being where they are when the season starts 

[quarks]

And Arrow decides that back to basics (for what, the fourth time now?) means tortured Oliver, shirtless Oliver, and ... time travel/flash forwards. 

Oh, Arrow. Let the rest of the Arrowverse focus on flash forwards and wacky timejinks. You focus on Shirtless Oliver.

Good things:

1. Felicity's hair was kinda awesome. The nose and eyebrow rings, not my thing, but the hair? Pretty awesome. 

2. Did I mention shirtless Oliver?

3. Their twin scenes - the parallel fighting and the prison scene - were also highlights. That moment when Amell portrayed Oliver bracing himself to hear about the deaths of Felicity and William - well done.

4. And some of the stunt work was definitely back on. As was the editing. I don't want to get too optimistic, but...I'm mildly optimistic for the rest of the season.

5. Have I mentioned shirtless Oliver yet?

6. Unpopular opinion here, I suspect, but I liked Rene tonight. I don't expect that to last, mind you, but I did like that he toned down the hypocrisy considerably and was focused, for once, on what might actually help people. And he was listening to people. 

7. The bit where Dinah and Rene were both "whatever" about what Laurel says. Heh.  

8. And the two season one newscasters are still with us! YAY! Though I'm kinda wondering about newscaster number one, who seems to be just at reporter level now. Will he ever anchor a Star City news report again? Let's see what season seven says!

Questionable things:

1. So, I get that Curtis had an impressive background prior to joining Palmer Tech, and that Diggle presumably gave him a good recommendation, but since joining Palmer Tech he was associated with the crash of a multimillion business, joined a start up that went nowhere, and was alleged to be involved in multiple felonies, so....can anyone explain what he's doing as the division head of a U.S. military group, however clandestine? No one? That's what I thought.

2. Felicity, I'm going to guess that part one of Witness Protection Rules is "Do not show off your massive computer skills to complete strangers who might just be working for Diaz."

3. Rene, uh, rather than keep making your point, go get tape and fix the bag!

4. On the one hand, giving Oliver The Count of Monte Cristo to read is on point. On the other hand, given that he's presumably going to be there for some time, maybe you should have given him the FULL version and not what was clearly an abridged one? (It's a long, long, book.) Though I can't help but feel that Dumas would have greatly approved the use of his book as a killer weapon.

5. And still comparing hands, on the one hand, I much prefer Dinah as a cop - or, rather, I should say, I prefer JH performing a focused, intelligent cop. On the other hand....this is just raising all sorts of questions. She was fired, for one thing, several people suspect or know that she's an associate of Oliver Queen, for a second thing, and for a third, most important thing - it's throwing the character right back into Hypocrite Mode, one of the chief complaints made about her last season. Dinah, you are a former vigilante who, unlike Oliver, is not in jail. This "I'm going to put the new Green Arrow in jail!" is just...not a good look, following that. 

6. And on that note, Dinah, it's all very well to want to catch the new vigilante, but in your own words, your focus is the safety of this city and cleaning it up, so....maybe arrest the bad guys and THEN worry about the vigilante?

7. All characters: This is Arrow. No place is ever safe. And definitely not boarding schools. You people have been on this show for how long now and haven't figured this out yet? 

8. We are trading flashbacks on Lian Yu for....flashforwards on Lian Yu? Oh, Arrow.

9. Who actually owns the title to this island? The Chinese government still? Argus? If so, has anyone checked to what they think about all the questionable plot uses that this island keeps getting forced into?

Bad things:

1. Arrow. Bamford. It's called "LIGHTS. CAMERA. ACTION" for a reason, and that reason is LIGHTS so that viewers can later SEE WHAT IS IN FACT HAPPENING ON THE SCREEN. I mean I get that there were a couple of dodgy bits there that you wanted to hide, but that doesn't mean you should leave viewers totally in the dark, as you kept doing.

2. Diaz. Worst villain this show has ever had, and unfortunately, the summer break has not improved him. I mean, I'm supposed to be scared of a guy who wasn't able to capture a kid and who could be held off by a largely untrained fighter until security forces arrived? Uh-huh. The fact that all of the returning villains in the jail were better actors did not help. Kill off this villain, Arrow. Please.

3. I'm resigned to seeing the same prison sets over and over and over again on three or four shows. Must I also see the same prop cars? It wasn't that dark, though, kudos, I guess, for keeping that same Chrysler going for seven seasons now even with lots of people falling on it.

And now, Black Siren:

On the one hand, I'm tempted to ask just how Black Siren - who, all else aside, is originally from another world - has managed to fake enough legal knowledge to stay the DA for this long, and on the other hand, I really want to applaud Arrow for continuity and recognizing that six straight seasons of incompetent, kidnapped, dead, and very evil DA's have left the DA's office so shattered, its staff now can't even tell that not only is their DA not a lawyer, but isn't even from this earth. On balance, I think I kinda have to say, kudos, Arrow!  Well, for the continuity, at least. 

[apinknightmare]

That reunion scene makes me so sad because Oliver was totally falling apart and probably wanted to reach out more but didn't want to show any vulnerability to that POS guard behind him. 

[way2interested]

@quarks, welcome back to your always on point breakdowns!

[Mellowyellow]

OMG that was actually good!!!!!

I was texting during the NTA scenes so they didn't bother me too much! One thing I will say though, JH needs to work on her acting. I loathe Curtis and WD with a passion but their actors can at least act which is my minimal requirement! Dinah is smouldering her way through scenes and looking like she is trying to remember her lines or instructions! Lady learn to act! It's your job!

I love how SA (Oliver) subtly lights up whenever he sees Felicity. Even with the jail. It's like he's dead inside and then he sees her and there is hope and light again.

I hope with the constant dream of Diaz shooting Felicity and this season ends with her being the one to put a bullet throug his brain.

Speaking of Triple D, the character has not improved! They have made him into an even more petty little man. Honestly it's not a good look if you're trying for Supervillain. This guy looks like he'd be more at home pulling Curtis's hair! 

Casting for Future William is on point!!! SO totally spot on! Kudoes!!!!! And no bad acting either! He is SOOOOOO much like Younger William in the way they've styled him and in mannerisms! LOVE LOVE LOVE. Cannot wait to see more of him! If I can't get Olicity/Felicity content I am invested in their family not some random smug a$$holes!

I kinda like that Future William is rich and not too angsty! Seems like a reasonably chill dude considering he's in Lian Yu! Doesn't seem angry either which I am thankful for! I always worry about William! Kid has been through so much!

[mxc90]

A lot of honest store owners found it necessary to report money found to the police. Not Rene, he had plans for expenditures before he told the kids.

[statsgirl]

1 hour ago, quarks said:

4. On the one hand, giving Oliver The Count of Monte Cristo to read is on point. On the other hand, given that he's presumably going to be there for some time, maybe you should have given him the FULL version and not what was clearly an abridged one? (It's a long, long, book.) Though I can't help but feel that Dumas would have greatly approved the use of his book as a killer weapon.

The original version is certainly heavy enough to be a formidable weapon.  On the other han, it's a book about a jail break and getting revenge. I wonder if Beth read that part before picking it to give to Oliver.

Also questionable,:  Oliver wanting Felicity to go back into witness protection when that's where Diaz just found her.  I'm with Felicity taking the offensive now rather trusting in the menfolk to protect her.

[Cthulhudrew]

Flashforward is 20 years in the future? The guy playing William barely looks 20 himself. 

I'm really bummed if that means that we won't get any Roy interacting with the rest of Team Arrow, then. Although I did feel bringing him back in the present would have ruined the ending they gave him and Thea's characters.

All in all, a pretty satisfying opener, except for Diaz. Remarkably, Rene and Dinah weren't the worst parts of the show tonight.

[Mellowyellow]

17 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Also questionable,:  Oliver wanting Felicity to go back into witness protection when that's where Diaz just found her.  I'm with Felicity taking the offensive now rather trusting in the menfolk to protect her.

I feel like he said it out of obligation, kinda like when you tell your kids not to eat sugar knowing it's eventually a losing battle.

He backed down pretty quickly and looked very resigned when she told him no way. Kudoes to SA for his spot on expressions. I adore his Oliver no matter how stupid Oliver can be. 

[OnceSane]

Just a reminder as we kick off the season:

This is not a fan forum, so negative opinions about a character/ship/story arc are fine.  Chastising posters is not allowed and may result in warnings or suspensions.

[BkWurm1]

2 hours ago, quarks said:

7. All characters: This is Arrow. No place is ever safe. And definitely not boarding schools. You people have been on this show for how long now and haven't figured this out yet? 

I don't disagree but I don't think at least they were as lax as just sending him to some random boarding school.  My take on it is that of course they will still give William a fake identity and then he'll be hiding among all sorts of boys his age so it's like they say, never hide a needle in a haystack but with other needles.  And that plus probably other ritzy parents wanting to keep their kids safe would make it super safe.  

I also assume that Diaz didn't find them through a leak in ARGUS when it comes to names or ID's (they managed to hide for five months) but could have tracked the movements of the 24/7 guards or even Felicity and her day job.  If that's the case, he'd be safer on his own since he completely blend in and there wouldn't be an obvious way to track him.  (Though I expect trouble to brew before long where ever Will is stashed)

All that rationalizing aside, I'd REALLY would like to know for sure how Diaz found him just like I still want to know how he took over the city and while we are at it, how Chase know where to find William when Felicity couldn't. 

Part of the reason why Diaz is so lame is he always seems to be able to pull stuff off without an even remotely reasonable explanation of how or why.  Everything about Diaz was like that.  At least MOST of what Chase pulled off was explained.  

Edited October 16, 2018 by BkWurm1