S07.E01: Inmate 4587

[catrox14]

I REALLLLY REALLLY REALLLLY liked it!

At first I thought it was Slade's son....Then right before the reveal I realized it was a flashforward.

I AM SO HAPPY to see Roy again!  YASSSS!!!!

I don't hate Rene as much.  Dinah and Curtis can STFU

SHE IS NOT LAUREL.  Also, shut up, NotLaurel.  (some things never change LOL for me)

I am happy with that premier.

[lemotomato]

I felt a bit mixed about the episode. The good stuff was very good, and the bad stuff was very bad. 

The bad stuff: waaaay too much screentime for the newbies. They're still terrible and I spent too much time yelling "Shut up, shut up, shut uuuuuup" at the TV. Mostly I'm angry that all of them are living normal lives while Oliver, Felicity, and William are miserable. And the less said about Diaz/KA's acting-is-standing-around-sneering-right? performance, the better. 

The good stuff:  I liked all the Felicity and William scenes. It's clear that she's been holding it together for his sake and I wish we'd seen more of Felicity as a mom.

I'm really glad that the parallel fights SA had teased actually turned out to be Oliver and Felicity's. Even though the shower fight was as brutal as hyped, Felicity beating the snot out of Diaz with a fireplace poker has a bigger rewatch factor for me. Her preference for long blunt objects as weapons continues. And I love that Felicity snarked about Diaz's penchant for monologue, because he's the cheesiest, most cliche villain in the history of the show. 

The Olicity scene was wonderfully done by SA and EBR. Oliver's hunched posture, the dead look in his eyes, waiting to get confirmation of his worst nightmare, and then how he instantly tears up when he sees Felicity and tries to put on a brave face for her. While she lets all her emotions go and holds nothing back. 

I think they did a good setup for the season's mysteries-- who is the fake GA and what's happening in the flashforwards. They did such a good job casting older William that I called it from the first scene on the boat. And then I remembered that SA had said in an interview that William has a big storyline this year. Very sneaky.

I was tired of the prison scenes halfway through the episode and couldn't fathom getting dragged through them for however much longer they last, but the last scene in the yard gave me hope. Beaten down and defeated Oliver is unwatchable, but an Oliver that picks a fight with the biggest guy in the yard and uses his copy of "The Count of Monte Cristo" to throat chop him? And the beatdown he gives to Diaz's stooge? I don't mind seeing more of that. (And more shirtless workout scenes, while we're at it.) 

2 hours ago, mxc90 said:

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.

He was basically benefiting from illegal arms sales when he kept that money. New season, same hypocritical Rene. It cannot be said often enough how the newbies are the worst.

Edited October 16, 2018 by lemotomato

[Angel12d]

I'm bitter that we didn't get more Felicity/William scenes or even a Felicity and Diggle talk/hug/reunion but instead we had tons of Rene and Dinah having what felt like the same conversation. 

I am really never gonna like NTA and the more they show them being totally fine and happy and having promotions, the more I hate them. 

[Cthulhudrew]

40 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

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.  

At this point, I prefer to believe Diaz has the Psycho Pirate locked up in a basement somewhere and he's feeding him info about Arrowverse scripts in advance.

[KillahBee007]

So, it wasn’t bad but I was actually annoyed with all of the n00bs scenes. Last season really burned them for me. It took a little too long to get to the good stuff and that’s something that I hope isn’t going to be an issue going forward. 

 

The prison fight was great and it was awesome to see EBR get involved in the stunts. It’s been way too long. I thought SA was really great in all the prison scenes and it didn’t bother me at all. This episode needs 100% more of Diggle. I still don’t like the kid no matter what. Overall, decent premiere but I want better going forward. 

 

Edited to add: Diaz is the weakest villain they’ve EVER had on this show. Terrible. Completely terrible. I had hoped that Felicity would’ve put a poker through him. *sheds a tear for Prometheus*

Edited October 16, 2018 by KillahBee007
Added comments about Diaz

[JamieLynn832002]

I could have done with less Dinah but I liked it. Loved Olicity's reunion and paralell fight scenes. I'm not wild about sending William away as that's never worked but it almost seemed like Diaz was after Felicity more than William (both he and the prison guy referred only to killing Oliver's wife) so maybe it will be safer. I'm kind of ambivalent on the flashforward, I'm glad they didn't immediately nullify Roy and Thea's happy ending and it could be interesting but I'm just not sure.

[tennisgurl]

So sad I had to miss watching live, but Arrow is back, and I am happy to see it again, which is certainly more than I could say for some parts of last season! We had some good stuff, and some bad stuff, but nothing that made me actually want to break things, so, again, better than last season!

Oh, that Olicity goodness! William and Felicity were adorable in their domesticated bliss, and that Olicity scene! Oh, the tears! The hand pressing against the glass! The declarations of love! I missed them so very much! Now, can we just get that wall between them out of here, so we can get to real Olicity time. I love how much Oliver/SA lights up when he sees Felicity, its so sweet, and even with his face looking like he got into a fight with a whole boxing league, he still has the heart eyes. I am sad that William is leaving, and depriving us of Queen family time.

The Oliver in prison stuff was alright, it was cool seeing some past bad guys, and we get to see SA in all states of undress, and being sad and stoic, so those are certainly good things. I do really want to see this wrap up as soon as we can, I already miss Oliver interacting with the rest of the cast. His scenes with Dig and Felicity were really good, but I want him to actually be around people more. People I give a crap about!

How did we spend so much time with the freaking Newbies? I dont care that the show wants us to forget that NTA caused this whole situation to begin with by being the worst people ever, I sure as hell haven't forgotten! I just hate seeing them getting promotions and spending time with their families and being all happy, while the Queens are all miserable and beaten and broken because of them and their selfish bullshit that they have never bothered to really apologize for. I guess this season will try to bring them back to pre Civil War where they were harmless if pointless, but as of now, I just want them off my screen. They take up time for characters I dont want to see punched several times in the face. 

Speaking of, why again is Diaz still a thing? The only good thing he has now ever done is give us that Olicity fight scene, which was freaking awesome. Felicity was seriously fighting him, it was awesome! That was fierce as hell, give him hell Felicity! 

Wow, older William, and old man Roy! Its sad that apparently Roy wont be interacting with the rest of the cast, but its awesome to see him! I guess the show missed having time changes, so since they cant get away with flashbacks anymore, they have to do flash forwards. Not sure how I feel about this, and this seems like it could end in some weird continuity stuff, but I am at least interested. 

A good start to the season (minus the bad leftovers from last season), and while I am wary, I am at least cautiously optimistic, and its good to have the show back.

[Trini]

Well, I got one prediction right: William sent away. No family unit for you, Oliver! I hope that boarding school has a therapist.

 

4 hours ago, quarks said:

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?

LOL. There is exactly one island is the world of Arrow!

[thuganomics85]

Well, I guess Oliver's opening dream sequence will have to quench the Felicity's haters thirst for now, especially since nothing like that will ever actually happen now.  Of course, I saw that Kirk Acevedo is a regular now, so I guess Diaz is here to stay.  I really wish I could understand why the writers seem to think he is the one that should a long-term villain, while the likes of Chase get bounced after one season.

Question: was there something wrong with my streaming service (on the CW app), because I didn't actually see Argus come in and help Felicity during her fight.  I saw Diaz getting the upper hand and smirking, the one prisoner giving Oliver the message, goes to commercial, and when it comes back, they're already at the Oliver/Felicity scene.

Overall, solid enough return, but I'll continue to remain cautious, since it seems like the DC shows have a bad habit of starting off with potential, but then tripping over their own feet when they get to the finish line (except the Legends!  Because they apparently just turn into a giant Beebo and jump over the line!)  But I enjoyed them bringing some old-school villains like Brick and Bronze Tiger into Oliver's storyline, Felicity preparing to fight back is awesome, and all of the scenes involving Oliver and Felicity (separate and together) where well-acted as always.

That said, not enough Diggle for me, and too much Noobs.  They weren't as unbearable as they normally are (no Hoss heard!), but I am so not interested in Dinah and Rene's stupid bickering over going after or helping vigilantes, or Curtis becoming another long line of motormouth tech whiz who works for a shady company, only nowhere near as likable.  Hell, I enjoyed Felicity's coffee customer more then that lot, which means he's totally going to be evil.  Bring back Ragman, dammit!  He was a Noob I actually kind of liked!

So, the flashbacks are actually flash-forwards this time, and it's back in Lian Yu, and involves an older William and.... old man Roy?!

Hopefully they don't drag out the Green Arrow 2.0. reveal for too long.  Don't want another "Whose in the grave, damnit?!" or another variation of all the freaking times that shit happens on The Flash.

Hey, someone actually told James Bamford to keep the camera steady at least half of time during the fight scenes.  Yay!  

Welcome back, Arrow!  Even when you falter, I always respect the O.G.!

[lemotomato]

23 minutes ago, Trini said:

Well, I got one prediction right: William sent away. No family unit for you, Oliver! 

He's only going to boarding school until Diaz is caught. And it looks like the show is going to treat Oliver in jail like a serious, extended storyline instead of miraculously setting him free in the next episode, so he doesn't get to see his family unit anyway.

[Trini]

Quote

He's only going to boarding school until Diaz is caught.

Acevedo is a regular this season, so how long do we think that will take?

[JamieLynn832002]

4 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Question: was there something wrong with my streaming service (on the CW app), because I didn't actually see Argus come in and help Felicity during her fight.  I saw Diaz getting the upper hand and smirking, the one prisoner giving Oliver the message, goes to commercial, and when it comes back, they're already at the Oliver/Felicity scene

No, they just opted not to show it. Possibly to avoid having to show/explain how Diaz escaped again.

[Mary0360]

40 minutes ago, Trini said:

Well, I got one prediction right: William sent away. No family unit for you, Oliver! I hope that boarding school has a therapist.

 

LOL. There is exactly one island is the world of Arrow!

Wherever William is being sent and for however long, at least he loves his father and step mother, including in the future. So Oliver is all good. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Mary0360

[Mellowyellow]

11 minutes ago, Mary0360 said:

Wherever William is being sent and for however long, at least he loves his father and step mother, including in the future. So Oliver is all good. 

 

You're making me all emotional when I think of what a nice guy Big William seems to be. He's adorably snarky too. And successful (says the Tiger Mom in me)

Edited October 16, 2018 by Mellowyellow

[Trini]

9 minutes ago, Mary0360 said:

Wherever William is being sent and for however long, at least he loves his father and step mother, including in the future. So Oliver is all good. 

 

Well, of course. It's just sad that that all of his family members keep disappearing one way or another. But the show's been around for a while, so cast changes are expected. Maybe they'll introduce another secret relative to make up for it.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Trini

[Featherhat]

46 minutes ago, Trini said:

Well, of course. It's just sad that that all of his family members keep disappearing one way or another. But the show's been around for a while, so cast changes are expected. Maybe they'll introduce another secret relative to make up for it.

 

Probably "Cousin Mia". Or Robert's secret lovechild.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Featherhat

[BkWurm1]

47 minutes ago, Trini said:

Well, of course. It's just sad that that all of his family members keep disappearing one way or another. But the show's been around for a while, so cast changes are expected. Maybe they'll introduce another secret relative to make up for it.

I’m sure we’ll see William again before Oliver gets out of Jail.  And then as needed after that.  Offscreen kid and relationship still counts. 

[Check Sanity]

6 hours ago, Trisha said:

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.

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.

 

I think he will be interacting with some of the cast, just future versions of them. Well, the ones that are still alive at least. There will likely be someone who doesn't survive. 

As for the prison scenes, I liked them. I am aware though that I don't watch tv like a normal person. The guy that Oliver left to get beaten is played by Brendan Fletcher who I've been happy to see pop up in many different shows through the years (since his runs in a couple of my favourite Canadian shows I watched growing up). I'm used to him playing at dick/bully/creep, so it's interesting to see him playing a good guy in a bad situation.

Spoiler

He is supposed to be a voice of hope for Oliver in prison. According to the interview debrief of the premiere here .

So I'm interested in seeing this prison plotline. As nice as it is to see Oliver interact with people he cares about, seeing the list of who he cares about grow is also nice. Especially when it's an actor I like. It actually hurt my heart more to see Stanley consider his hero is a coward, than the Olicity scene which as emotional as that is, it's kind of the norm.

 

6 hours ago, Angel12d said:

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. 

That's the thing about a flash forward, we see that William seems hopeful or at least not angry. How he interacts with couple people we see him with, he seems pretty well adjusted actually, considering the type of stuff he's bound to have had to deal with in the 20 years gap.

Also, I've seen complaints of Diaz as a villain. Just from a storytelling standpoint, does anyone think Diaz is going to survive past this season, again? I don't. 
 

[BkWurm1]

I agree, Diaz isn’t going to last past this season.  Last year it was a worry they’d keep him around since he was so underdeveloped but then he was so terrible it seemed like, naw, they couldn’t really want to keep him but if he connects to the other villains then he may be useful with other stuff without us having to deal with him one on one with the characters we like all the time at least.   

Mumbly Joe was on too much as far as I’m concerned since the right amount would have been zero but really, he barely had any screen time and most of it was taken up by a nightmare that didn’t happen.  

Can I take just a horrible moment to revisit that Oliver has a reoccurring nightmare every night that Felicity is killed protecting William?  Ack my heart ♥️ 

 

i would have preferred seeing ARGUS swoop in and save her rather than more Noobs yakking but I guess they wanted to pretend there was a chance Felicity really didn’t make it so they kept to Oliver’s POV.   If they hadn’t included the shot of Oliver and Felicity in prison talking in  the promos, I might have actually been a scosh concerned. As it was, I was kind of annoyed they skipped an important scene.  

Edited October 16, 2018 by BkWurm1

[Mellowyellow]

13 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

Can I take just a horrible moment to revisit that Oliver has a reoccurring nightmare every night that Felicity is killed protecting William?  Ack my heart ♥️ 

I totes disagree with this! He's subconsciously dreaming of Felicity's death so he can get together with his true love BS! Clearly that is what was conveyed onscreen! 

13 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

i would have preferred seeing ARGUS swoop in and save her rather than more Noobs yakking but I guess they wanted to pretend there was a chance Felicity really didn’t make it so they kept to Oliver’s POV.   If they hadn’t included the shot of Oliver and Felicity in prison talking in  the promos, I might have actually been a scosh concerned. As it was, I was kind of annoyed they skipped an important scene.

Ok enough kidding around with you! Back to serious business! 

I'm glad you mentioned this bit because my first thought was the idiot writers didn't know how to write the scene so hand waved it. Them pretending Felicity might have died makes me think slightly more of them! I really thought they pulled what my amateur self pulls sometimes. Too hard to write the scene so I'll skip the scene! 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Mellowyellow

[BkWurm1]

33 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

I totes disagree with this! He's subconsciously dreaming of Felicity's death so he can get together with his true love BS! Clearly that is what was conveyed onscreen! 

The fact that I know this notion is out there makes the joke even better.  Also per a peek into Reddit, pity us for thinking this was a positive episode for Olicity.  Can’t we see how cruel and hypocritical Felicity was when she showed up to taunt Oliver over what she was going to decide unilaterally about William and how Oliver was just done with her when he said “ok” at the end?

Edited October 16, 2018 by BkWurm1

[Featherhat]

34 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

I totes disagree with this! He's subconsciously dreaming of Felicity's death so he can get together with his true love BS! Clearly that is what was conveyed onscreen! 

Well obviously. I am a little concerned that it eventually comes true to prove how awesome a villain 3D is but trying not to worry about it now.

Really? @BkWurm1 I can't seem to access reddit right now to look. But then they'd make anything a negative for Olicity.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Featherhat

[Mary0360]

9 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

The fact that I know this notion is out there makes the joke even better.  Also per a peek into Reddit, pity us for thinking this was a positive episode for Olicity.  Can’t we see how cruel and hypocritical Felicity was when she showed up to taunt Oliver over what she was going to decide unilaterally about William and how Oliver was just done with her when he said “ok” at the end?

 

Me thinks they didn't like seeing Felicity kick the shit out of their bff Dragon/Kid Vicious and generally have more initiative, purpose and awesomeness then BS. And that prison hasn't irreparably damaged Olicity but instead reaffirmed and strengthened their love for one another. 

[Morrigan2575]

2 hours ago, JamieLynn832002 said:

No, they just opted not to show it. Possibly to avoid having to show/explain how Diaz escaped again.

I think it was more about getting the emotional reunion for Olicity and put Oliver in a different headspace. Ultimately they wanted the surprise she survived aspect over showing how she survived.

[Quark]

Pretty average premier. Nothing particularly twist worthy until the end with old man Roy and William. Can't say I particularly care about flash forwards.

He wasn't in it much, but goodness me Curtis just gets more annoying by the season.

Would have liked to have seen more Black Siren.

The only nitpick I have is for a guy that is impervious to bullets, Brick went down awfully quickly.

[Mellowyellow]

46 minutes ago, Featherhat said:

Well obviously. I am a little concerned that it eventually comes true to prove how awesome a villain 3D is but trying not to worry about it now.

 

I'm hoping that the repeated scene and the establishment of Felicity fighting back in this episode will lead to her killing Diaz by the end of the season. 

I do wonder if they'll leave him for Oliver or let her kill him. It would be interesting to see Felicity kill someone point blank if they go there as she's never actively killed. 

[Soulfire]

[kes0704]

Post premiere and I’m cautiously optimistic.  Oliver and Felicity’s reunion at the prison was emotional and everything I would have expected. Stephen and Emily rarely, if ever, disappoint in those types of scenes. 

It continues to surprise me how much I enjoy Felicity and William together because I never would’ve thought that at the beginning of S6. 

They’re trying to fix the wreckage left behind by Dinah, Rene and Curtis but unfortunately I just don’t care about them. Dinah is still hypocritical and Curtis, even in his brief scene, is still annoying and all of them continue to prosper.

They’re taking a much softer approach with Rene but when I saw him with Zoe it just reminded me that he got his daughter back while Oliver lost contact with his son and couldn’t even be sure he was safe. 

It felt like every Dinah/Rene conversation was a variation of the same disagreement and I didn’t really need to see it on repeat. I would have preferred some of that time being spent on setting up Diggle in ARGUS or Diggle/Felicity scenes.

Future William / Future Roy could be interesting and I’m happy to see where they go with it.  The prison scenes were good but I’m a little worried it will become tedious if they drag on for too long. 

Overall, a pretty good start to the season. 

[bijoux]

This felt like vintage Arrow to me, in that there was plenty that annoyed me, yet overall I enjoyed it immensely.

I had forgotten Bamford had directed this until I read it here. It didn't feel like his episode at all. And the fights actually were pretty damn impressive this time. I bet EBR had a lot of fun. And Oliver's fights were brutal and unexpectedly funny. I cracked up when he cut off Brick's airway with his Dumas and the guy who delivered 3D's false message was really good at looking zonked out.

LOOK AT THAT POOR SHAKING HAND!!! Really, that right there is the pinnacle of this scene to me. Though I clearly don't love the fact that they're physically separated, I appreciate how much they were shown to be in sync this episode. Not just the parallel fights (which, yes, please, can I have some more), but also the shots of them dealing with the everyday drudgery of being separated and having to put one foot in front of the other another day. I just wish we see them in sync when they're together and happy. After Felicity has killed 3D, obvs. Felicity, are you okay? -Oh, I broke a nail. 

Also on my kill list - that fucking guard. I hope he gets done in in a prisor riot. One person I'm hoping makes it out okay is the GA fanboy. Oliver, you were totally screwed once this cute, little person sat down with you, you dummy. He's like a Felicity avatar.

Does Lian Yu regenerate on its own? Because there didn't seem to be a trace of the explosion. What is wrong with you, middle age Roy, to have gone there? The scruff looks good on him, though.

I liked both present day Will (Felicity actually called him that, thank you, Jesus) and grown up Will. Though I don't really get why the grown up has black hair. It's not that much work to have it lightened. But both the actors did well. Yes, even Jack hit the right notes for me this time, being just the right amount of petulant when Felicity decided to seend him away.

The thing about the n00bs, BS and Diaz that brings me hope is that having them start the season on top opens the way for them to be brought down badly before its end. Like, Dinah gets frozen as she postures and smirks and gets exhibited to future generations of SC denizens on class trips. This is Trina Blake, shortest term captain of SCPD. Curtis messes up an invention for ARGUS badly and Lyla drives him off to Kasnia. He moans about losing at love to the poor local populace. At least they don't understand English.

Edited October 16, 2018 by bijoux

[Chyromaniac]

Not gonna lie- before I realized it was a flash forward, I thought they had just aged up William soap opera style.  And as goofy as that would have been, I was okay with it- because that’s just the right kind of stupid for this show.

[lemotomato]

Nevermind.

Edited October 16, 2018 by lemotomato

[Morrigan2575]

Just checked IMDb, I knew that Inmate (the one Oliver beat with the weight at the end) was the Golem from Supernatural.  

[Angel12d]

One of the downsides to Bamford directing is he never lets certain scenes breathe and gives too much time to scenes that don't deserve or require it. 

For example, we had these quite long scenes of Rene and Dinah talking but then he cuts away from Oliver's face when he first sees Felicity way too quickly. It's like he doesn't like dwelling on the emotional stuff whereas that's the best kind. 

[catrox14]

15 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Just checked IMDb, I knew that Inmate (the one Oliver beat with the weight at the end) was the Golem from Supernatural.  

And the inmate that Oliver finally protected ws Max from "nightmare' ....and the guy meeting NotArrow's target was the art dealer guy from the Blade Runners ep. It was an SPN reunion!

[Angel12d]

I didn't catch it at first but Felicity actually said "Oh good, you're monologuing...RUN!" just before she threw the coffee on Diaz. Beautiful. ?

[SmallScreenDiva]

The bad: There was not enough Diggle and there was too much of Dinah and Rene. Dinah being police captain is eye-roll inducing. Same with BS. Harkavy still can't freakin' act. Now with added misplaced smolder, if that's possible. The way she slinked in for the interview with the douchebag was hilarious. Look at that entrance again. So laughingly bad. Curtis is still annoying. Go away. Take your cute boyfriend and just leave.

The good: Oliver, Felicity and Olicity. Hello, shirtlessness. There was one shot of Oliver from the back when he was doing pullups and the man looked like a Dorito. Felicity was adorable with her pink hair and overalls and I really enjoyed her fight scene with Diaz. I love that it was realistic. She's not a trained fighter but she used her smarts and the way she whacked him with that poker was satisfying. Knew he was going to get the upperhand but still.

Both Emily and Stephen handled the prison scene perfectly. Oliver bracing for news that his wife was dead (and probably his son, too) was heartbreaking. And the way he just kinda lights up as soon as he sees her and then grows cautious because of William and the teary "I missed you" and "I love you so much" had me tearing up, too. She was hurting for him, after seeing his injuries, but girl was just done. She was going to fight back no matter what. And I love that that kinda kicked Oliver in the butt and he finally had enough, too. Him jabbing Brick by the throat and smashing that guy's face with the weights was satisfying, too. 

13 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

And the inmate that Oliver finally protected ws Max from "nightmare' ....and the guy meeting NotArrow's target was the art dealer guy from the Blade Runners ep. It was an SPN reunion!

I thought I recognized Stanley!

[Morrigan2575]

13 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

And the inmate that Oliver finally protected ws Max from "nightmare' ....and the guy meeting NotArrow's target was the art dealer guy from the Blade Runners ep. It was an SPN reunion!

One step closer to the SPN/Arrow crossover the actors want :)

12 minutes ago, Angel12d said:

I didn't catch it at first but Felicity actually said "Oh good, you're monologuing...RUN!" just before she threw the coffee on Diaz. Beautiful. ?

yeah the sound was once again an issue, had to crank the volumn up and still missed the first part, only caught the Run Will

[SmallScreenDiva]

31 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Just checked IMDb, I knew that Inmate (the one Oliver beat with the weight at the end) was the Golem from Supernatural.  

That's where I've seen him. He looked really familiar. (I also thought maybe he was one of the cast of the Hugh Jackman circus movie.)

[KenyaJ]

2 hours ago, bijoux said:

This felt like vintage Arrow to me, in that there was plenty that annoyed me, yet overall I enjoyed it immensely.

. . .

I liked both present day Will (Felicity actually called him that, thank you, Jesus)

LOL. So true. Arrow is my favorite show, but half of it is unwatchable to me because I don't care about half the characters.

Felicity aclled William "Will" in 611 too, and I was surprised that didn't become a permanent thing in the rest of the season. But I hope it will this season.

This entire recap is great, but this guy's reactions to watching the Olicity scene is surely the best thing I'll see all day.

[Chaser]

My thoughts while watching the episode:

I have the same shoes Felicity does in the dream sequence. Good shoes.

Felicity’s hair is the best fake hair they’ve done.

Dinahs dramatic Captain intro made me roll my eyes. She looks so smug.

CR is not good. There’s some scenes he just looks really confused, like he’s trying to figure out how he’s suppose to do this ‘acting’ thing.

The stunt double for mystery GA seems smaller. Could be Roy, could be a woman.

EBR looks like she got in even better shape. Was she sick? Her voice sounds kind of gravelly. 

BS playing DA is stupid. I can’t believe anyone would buy the character from the last two seasons would play this role. It would have made more sense to have her try to be the BC side (there’s law breaking and violence and leather there). 

How did Stanley ever get to Slabside? He said he was falsely accused of murder but must have been convicted of being a serial killer to get to that prison. I wonder if we are going to find out he’s a total psycho. 

I like Furture Will. 

JH should never get dramatic close ups.

Head down Oliver is super boring.

Why is Roy running around the island in full Arsenal gear?

So far not much to say about Diggle. 

Curtis has no point. 

Dinah is annoying me a whole lot more than Rene at the moment. RG at least looks like he’s trying to tone Rene down, JH not so much.

My favorite shot so far is Diaz trying not to get hit with Felicity’s firepoker. Hehehe. It’s a good look on him. 

The Olicity reunion. This is Arrow. EBR and SA killed this scene. So many little moments in the scene that just hurt. So happy Felicity took the narrative from Oliver and then he took her lead.

Prisoners don’t go after other prisoners family’s on the outside. It’s a rule. 

I don’t know why but I really think something is up Stanley. 

[tv echo]

I really liked this episode...

The prison scenes with Oliver were well-done. Though, if you have a life sentence, how early could you possibly get paroled for good behavior, really? 25 years? SA did a great job in all his scenes.

The one Oliciity scene in the prison was so heart-breaking. Excellent acting by both EBR and SA. Oliver & Felicity don't do so well when they're separated. They're stronger together.

I loved all of the Felicity scenes, especially the way she held her own and almost beat Diaz in their physical, one-on-one fight. Tell me again, is Diaz supposed to be one of the best fighters in the world? I also loved how her fight was intercut with Oliver's carefully choreographed prison shower fight scene.

As others have said above, if ARGUS was able to save Felicity from being killed by Diaz, then why didn't they manage to capture Diaz at the same time? I guess that's why they didn't bother to show a scene of ARGUS saving Felicity, because it would've been too ludicrous to somehow show Diaz escaping.

Too much Dinah and Rene. Not enough Diggle.

I eye-rolled that two well-known vigilantes, both Black Canaries, are now the D.A. and Police Captain, and in charge of enforcing the city's anti-vigilante law. Big eye-roll that the D.A. is now someone who never went to law school and who has no experience either as a lawyer or as a prosecutor.

So Curtis sabotaged Diggle's chip and hurt Diggle last season, but Diggle gets Curtis a job at ARGUS this season?

As advertised, the ending scene was mind-blowing. But if this is a flashforward, wasn't Lian Yu blown up by Chase at the end of S5? Yet somehow the four graves survived. I'm completely intrigued by future William.

Edited October 16, 2018 by tv echo

[way2interested]

11 minutes ago, Chaser said:

EBR looks like she got in even better shape. Was she sick? Her voice sounds kind of gravelly. 

The scene where she sees the newscast at the coffee shop was filmed right after SDCC where she said she lost her voice.

[apinknightmare]

8 hours ago, Trini said:

Well, I got one prediction right: William sent away. No family unit for you, Oliver! I hope that boarding school has a therapist.

William wasn't able to see Oliver in prison anyway - given that he and Felicity were in witness protection - and he can be pulled out of boarding school and come home to his family once his father is out of prison and the guy trying to kill him isn't trying to kill him anymore. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by apinknightmare

[jay741982]

40 minutes ago, SmallScreenDiva said:

The bad: There was not enough Diggle and there was too much of Dinah and Rene. Dinah being police captain is eye-roll inducing. Same with BS. Harkavy still can't freakin' act. Now with added misplaced smolder, if that's possible. The way she slinked in for the interview with the douchebag was hilarious. Look at that entrance again. So laughingly bad. Curtis is still annoying. Go away. Take your cute boyfriend and just leave.

The good: Oliver, Felicity and Olicity. Hello, shirtlessness. There was one shot of Oliver from the back when he was doing pullups and the man looked like a Dorito. Felicity was adorable with her pink hair and overalls and I really enjoyed her fight scene with Diaz. I love that it was realistic. She's not a trained fighter but she used her smarts and the way she whacked him with that poker was satisfying. Knew he was going to get the upperhand but still.

Both Emily and Stephen handled the prison scene perfectly. Oliver bracing for news that his wife was dead (and probably his son, too) was heartbreaking. And the way he just kinda lights up as soon as he sees her and then grows cautious because of William and the teary "I missed you" and "I love you so much" had me tearing up, too. She was hurting for him, after seeing his injuries, but girl was just done. She was going to fight back no matter what. And I love that that kinda kicked Oliver in the butt and he finally had enough, too. Him jabbing Brick by the throat and smashing that guy's face with the weights was satisfying, too. 

I thought I recognized Stanley!

Stanley was also in Freddy vs Jason. Played the best friend of Jason Ritter's character

[Cekrypton1]

How is it possible that SA has gotten even bigger? There were some prisons scenes where he seemed to be looming over some of the other inmates, none of whom were small. Good on him for his off-season training. 

[KenyaJ]

The one definite upside of the prison storyline is that his body is on point. I think I salivated a little during the workout montage. If this show were at all realistic, I feel like he and Felicity wouldn't resurface for a month after he gets home.

I've seen a lot of confusion on Twitter and in reviews about how Lian Yu could still be intact, but it's not all that improbable. Blowing up the island didn't make it blow apart and sink into the ocean. At most, it just burned a lot of trees and a forest could certainly regenerate in 20 years' time. Also, IIRC from the map on Felicity's tablet, the locations of the bombs were spaced out, so there would be plenty of areas that were unaffected, including Robert's grave, apparently. It was nice of Chase to be respectful of the dead.

[bijoux]

28 minutes ago, Cekrypton1 said:

How is it possible that SA has gotten even bigger? There were some prisons scenes where he seemed to be looming over some of the other inmates, none of whom were small. Good on him for his off-season training. 

I particularly enjoyed that physicality in his last fight scene. Especially with all the guards just standing around until he stopped throwing punches. He probably could have beaten through the walls at that moment.

[tennisgurl]

Has anyone told Dinah that she is allowed to have more than once facial expression? Because I’m actually starting to get concerned that her face is stuck like that. 

[Angel12d]

3 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Has anyone told Dinah that she is allowed to have more than once facial expression? Because I’m actually starting to get concerned that her face is stuck like that. 

Someone needs to have a word with JH. She either comes across as smug or like she's trying to smoulder and none of the scenes even required that. I do not understand her acting decisions but they suck. 

[mrspidey]

So how long will we have to endure Olliver not doing his Green Arrow thing again? 

Ugh, i just hate prison storylines. Never understood what's so interesting about benching your main character for long periods of time....