The Starling City Times: News and Media about Arrow

[Sakura12]

7 hours ago, kismet said:

Isn't iZombie being held until the winter?

Also didn't need to see Jimmy/Kara kiss, was really hoping they would drop both that relationship & Jimmy.

Surprised to see Killer Frost in there, I wonder if that is an accidental spoiler by the editing dept?

I do enjoy that they had Arrow & Hero on the same part. Felt appropriate and fitting. For me there was enough Arrow in this promo, but then again at this point I think I'm just happy when the CW remembers it has Arrow on its schedule.

That's all old footage. Killer Frost was from Flash's Earth 2 ep. Don't know why they put her in when Flash killed her off though. 

I'm happy that there was lots of Sara kicking ass. 

[kismet]

34 minutes ago, Starfish35 said:

No, that was from the Flash Earth-2 episodes.

Yes but the preview said for the fall and she died as @Sakura12 mentioned, that's why I thought maybe the promo people know something we dont know about killer frost. she's an upgrade from caitlin, so Im for It 

[FurryFury]

She seems to be well-received, I wonder if it influences the plans for E1 Caitlyn.

[lemotomato]

1 hour ago, kismet said:

Yes but the preview said for the fall and she died as @Sakura12 mentioned, that's why I thought maybe the promo people know something we dont know about killer frost. she's an upgrade from caitlin, so Im for It 

"In the fall" as in those shows will be back in the fall, not the characters in the footage. The people that cut the promos don't know anything about the shows' actual content, they're probably told "include footage from these shows" and they pick whatever fits.

[wonderwall]

I love Sky1 even more now

[Guest]

Sky 1 twitter is the CW account we all deserve.

[catrox14]

32 minutes ago, wonderwall said:

I love Sky1 even more now

HAHAHAHAHAH I'm dead. That's hilarious

[Morrigan2575]

is that a BTS vid? that wasn't her trying to pass out on screen was it?

[Guest]

Sky 1 only ever post gifs from the actual episode so yeah...that actually happened on screen. LOL.

It reminds me of her passing out when she got her ass kicked in her apartment hallway. I think it was when she had Sara chained in her basement? I just remember she passed out in a way so her hair perfectly fell away from her face before she remembered she should have her eyes closed. Haha.

[dtissagirl]

9 minutes ago, Angel12d said:

It reminds me of her passing out when she got her ass kicked in her apartment hallway. I think it was when she had Sara chained in her basement? I just remember she passed out in a way so her hair perfectly fell away from her face before she remembered she should have her eyes closed. Haha.

L'Oreal!



Close-up of hilarity:

[Morrigan2575]

14 minutes ago, Angel12d said:

Sky 1 only ever post gifs from the actual episode so yeah...that actually happened on screen. LOL.

It reminds me of her passing out when she got her ass kicked in her apartment hallway. I think it was when she had Sara chained in her basement? I just remember she passed out in a way so her hair perfectly fell away from her face before she remembered she should have her eyes closed. Haha.

 

4 minutes ago, dtissagirl said:

L'Oreal!



Close-up of hilarity:

You're killing me here LOL

[Guest]

LMAO that's the moment. I'm sorry but that was just bad, IMO.

L'Oreal though. Haha. That's pretty funny. 

[lemotomato]

You can see her going through the process in her head:

"Ok, Ok... look shocked that I'm being tazed. Haha... shocked. Next, make sure hair is not covering face so everyone can see I'm surprised. Time to fall down now, gotta get my hair out of the way again. Oh good, I landed on my arm, the floor is kinda gross and I don't want my face on it... wait, did I forget to close my eyes? Ok, totally unconscious now. Yep. Aaaand scene."

Edited May 24, 2016 by lemotomato

[kismet]

7 hours ago, lemotomato said:

"In the fall" as in those shows will be back in the fall, not the characters in the footage. The people that cut the promos don't know anything about the shows' actual content, they're probably told "include footage from these shows" and they pick whatever fits.

Probably right, just a little bummed I guess :(

[kismet]

2 hours ago, dtissagirl said:

L'Oreal!



Close-up of hilarity:

Her Hair was a phenomenal actor, it's probably why they dropped the wig to really let her hair get all the attention and recognition it deserves. If the car shows run out, she really should call L'Oreal. :)

[Delphi]

4 hours ago, dtissagirl said:

L'Oreal!



Close-up of hilarity:

Okay,  playing KC defense squad for a second because I have to.  It honestly bothers me that I can tell that the gun isn't connecting close enough to shock her into unconsciousness.   But being shocked with a taser or stun gun doesn't usually knock you out immediately, unless it's several long lasting shocks.   More so it's just disrupting her control of her body so it's hypothetically more likely that Laurel was just straining her body to its limits while being shocked and eventually her body have up and she got knocked out after hitting the floor, not before she collapsed. 

[looptab]

11 hours ago, dtissagirl said:

L'Oreal!



Close-up of hilarity:

I just remembered how she fell "Snow White Style", but not the hair flip. How could I forget?? Hahah.

[tv echo]

Vulture interview with EK...

Arrow’s Echo Kellum on Becoming Mr. Terrific, Snapchat, and the ‘Revenge of the Black Nerd’ Lifestyle
By Jenny Raftery  May 25, 2016 .
http://www.vulture.com/2016/05/arrow-echo-kellum-mr-terrific.html?mid=twitter_vulture

Quote

When Curtis first helped out Team Arrow, Oliver wasn’t too thrilled. Will we see more tension between those two characters?
There is definitely room for some of that tension to be delved deeper into in season five. As far as the finale goes,

 

they do have some moments where they have to talk brass tacks to each other to help figure out the situation. At one point, Curtis and Oliver have a heart-to-heart while things around them are spiraling.

*  *  *
Did they have you do a chemistry test with Emily Bett Rickards? Her character, Felicity, is an important person in Curtis’s life and an entry point for him into Team Arrow.
When I went in to the audition room for the first time with [casting director] David [Rapaport], he was like “Oh my God, you and Emily would be perfect for each other.” I think they just really trust their gut because they didn’t have us test or chemistry read or anything. They can just feel different energies. I love working with Emily. We’re similar in a lot of ways, and we both really respect each other and have the same sense of humor and sensibilities. It’s amazing that David saw that from the jump. 

Do you have any special memory of working with Emily from this past season?
So many special memories, but I want to say my first day working there. I was nervous to come onto a hit show. I just wanted to play a part to help in any way to maintain the quality of the show. It was so great how Emily was open and accepting and silly and professional. And what was really cool is that her best friend, Fanta [Sesay], who I’m now really good friends with, it was her first time working on the show. So we all kind of bonded and connected on that first day. That really stood out for me because that set the precedent for the rest of the season. That was definitely a big part of me wanting to come on as a series regular [for season five] — the people there. Everyone is so nice and down to earth and silly, but they get their work done. It’s a special place to work. They really got something cooking there. 
*  *  *
Is it accurate to say that you were Snapchat patient zero for the Arrow cast?
Yeah, I guess everyone on the [Arrow] cast pretty much has it now. But I’m going to break the news to you guys: Emily Bett Rickards has Snapchat. 

A secret Snapchat?
She does. [Laughs.] But it’s up to her to share what [her username] is.

Arrow fans are sleuths. They might be able to figure out.
Oh yeah, they will. They find everything. She had it before I did, years ago. We always talk about what should be her first snap, like, “What should she choose?!?” [Laughs.] I feel like any day now she’s going to do it. 

Did you have a favorite scene or moment from filming this season?
There’s a moment in the finale where we were shooting late — it’s embarrassing to me, but whatever — and I’m laying down in the scene, and I went to sleep for real. I started snoring over people’s dialogue in the middle of a scene. [Laughs.] So that was a fun moment. It was just so comfortable. I was like, “Oh my God, I want to just sleep.” They got it on camera. I was like, “Please, let that get into the bloopers.” 

Edited May 25, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

10 Times Arrow’s Felicity Smoak Was Unintentionally Dirty
Posted on May 25, 2016 by Brittany Goldfield Rodrigues
http://www.andpop.com/2016/05/25/10-times-arrows-felicity-smoak-unintentionally-dirty/?utm_content=bufferea3d1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer 

Edited May 25, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

This is an interesting series of Arrow episode reviews with a psychological perspective...

Processing Fictional Trauma: Lost in the Flood Edition
BY DR. FANGIRL, PHD  MAY 23, 2016 // 10:51 AM
http://fanfest.com/2016/05/23/pft-flood/

Processing Fictional Trauma: Monument Point Edition
BY DR. FANGIRL, PHD  MAY 17, 2016 // 10:32 AM
http://fanfest.com/2016/05/17/pft-mpe/

Processing Fictional Trauma: Genesis Edition
BY DR. FANGIRL, PHD  MAY 9, 2016 // 1:25 PM
http://fanfest.com/2016/05/09/pft-genesis/

Processing Fictional Trauma: 11:59 Edition
BY DR. FANGIRL, PHD  APRIL 12, 2016 // 1:05 PM
http://fanfest.com/2016/04/12/pft-1159/

Processing Fictional Trauma: Ship Wars Edition
BY DR. FANGIRL, PHD  APRIL 1, 2016 // 12:40 PM
http://fanfest.com/2016/04/01/pft-ship-wars-edition/

Processing Fictional Trauma: Broken Hearts Edition
BY DR. FANGIRL, PHD MARCH 25, 2016 // 12:57 PM
http://fanfest.com/2016/03/25/processing-fictional-trauma-broken-hearts-edition/

Processing Fictional Trauma: March Hiatus Edition
BY DR. FANGIRL, PHD MARCH 15, 2016 // 12:21 PM
http://fanfest.com/2016/03/15/processing-fictional-trauma-march-hiatus-edition/

[wonderwall]

LOL IGN gave the episode a 3.8 :p

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/26/arrow-schism-review

[Guest]

The IGN comment section legit scares me. 

A 3.8 is harsh though. It wasn't the best episode but it wasn't the worst either.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Guest

[apinknightmare]

1 minute ago, Angel12d said:

The IGN comment section legit scares me. 

The first comment I read was about a guy wanting to have "no condom sex with Felicity" so I immediately x-ed out. Total cesspool.

[jay741982]

6 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

The first comment I read was about a guy wanting to have "no condom sex with Felicity" so I immediately x-ed out. Total cesspool.

oh boy! Well at least he was saying he'd screw her instead of kill her? Unless he was really gross and said something like raping her or giving her a disease. I'm sure his comment was gross though 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

The first comment I read was about a guy wanting to have "no condom sex with Felicity" so I immediately x-ed out. Total cesspool.

It's disgusting. And really not a safe environment for women. It actually worries me. I've been there a few times and my heart just sank for humanity.

Sorry, fan talk, I know. But I just feel like people should be warned if they give that review a read.

[jay741982]

9 minutes ago, Angel12d said:

It's disgusting. And really not a safe environment for women. It actually worries me. I've been there a few times and my heart just sank for humanity.

Sorry, fan talk, I know. But I just feel like people should be warned if they give that review a read.

Yeah i ventured in there and it's disgusting the calls for Donna and Felicity but not that POS Malcolm. It's fucking distributing wanting two decent people dead but not a POS Murderer who's Pyschotic 

[EmeraldArcher]

34 minutes ago, Angel12d said:

The IGN comment section legit scares me. 

A 3.8 is harsh though. It wasn't the best episode but it wasn't the worst either.

I feel like any reviewer who uses "Ollie" instead of "Oliver" really doesn't pay attention to the show. At all. Reviewers who use "Ollie" simply have different expectations from the show and will never be happy with it because that's not who Oliver is in this version.

[thegirlsleuth]

9 minutes ago, EmeraldArcher said:

I feel like any reviewer who uses "Ollie" instead of "Oliver" really doesn't pay attention to the show. At all. Reviewers who use "Ollie" simply have different expectations from the show and will never be happy with it because that's not who Oliver is in this version.

I follow the "Ollie" rule as well, but the IGN reviewer tends to be fair edging towards positive--he doesn't get too caught up in canon and takes the show as it is.  This was a surprise to me.  It wasn't strong, but it wasn't that bad.

[looptab]

From the interview with EK above:

Quote

 I think they just really trust their gut because they didn’t have us test or chemistry read or anything. They can just feel different energies. 

Well, sometimes - like in this case - it works, sometimes it doesn't.  :D

The ign review - well, I can see where he is coming from, and I agree with some of his complaints. I was expecting more from the final battle as well, and that final confrontation with Darhk and Oliver was endless and boring. It's like every year they try to reproduce the height of the Oliver/Slade showdown, but they fail everytime. It's just not in the same field, that was truly awesome.

Plus I also wanted more from Felicity and the consequences of what happened, but I wouldn't say she was that chipper. All in all, I feel like he has valid complaints, but I don't think they warranted that harsh a grade. There certainly were worse episodes than this one. Though, who even cares about the grades!

Edited May 26, 2016 by looptab

[looptab]

Tv.com's review 

Quote

Season 4 of Arrow ended up reminding me a lot of Season 1. Both seasons had great premieres with very solid concepts propelling the show forward. Season's 1 arc of the Undertaking ended up a bit more solid than Darhk's endlessly impending nuclear apocalypse, and so Season 1 had a more satisfying conclusion than what "Schism" ultimately offered to wrap up Season 4. The primary reason that Season 4 remind me a lot of Season 1, however, was that both seasons had thematic concerns that both seasons never fleshed out in satisfactory ways.

[...] Season 3 was very clear regarding Oliver's struggle to figure out the best way to save the city and how that affected him. That he never did anything but mope about it made the season a mess of dumb plot developments, but Season 3 never let up on the idea.

[...]That being said, Oliver delivering a somewhat hackneyed speech to a rioting crowd—who does he think he is? Dana Scully?—while an ICBM zoomed toward the city wasn't exactly what I had in mind. It was supposed to show Oliver at his best, to demonstrate the power of fighting in the light, but the entire scene was sort of difficult to buy into since, well, people were looting while a nuclear missile was heading right toward the city. No one is going to have time to enjoy that stolen TV, show. But Arrow needed Oliver to inspire the city and his team enough so that it could then sacrifice some continuity so Oliver's speech could be in the daytime while fighting (and killing) Darhk happened at night. In the darkness. It was a nice visual representation of the season's central tensions, but between the repetitiveness of another nuclear threat and that darkness embroidered with a bit of hope was more powerful than just hope outright, it wasn't as inspiring or as sweeping a moment as I think the show wanted it to be.

Even on a team-scale, the darkness became overwhelming, likely so the season could reach this particular conclusion of Diggle and Thea leaving the team, if not the city, to grapple with their inner-demons. I liked the acknowledgement that both these characters were self-aware enough to realize they needed a break and they needed to sort through things after what they did this season. Unlike Oliver's dealing with his own trauma by putting arrows into criminals in Season 1, Thea and Diggle needed to deal with their pain in a way that didn't involve violence. Which, considering Thea's bloodlust and Diggle's guilt regarding killing Andy, is super-healthy.

Which leaves us with the one person who stuck by Oliver at the end. I don't legitimately know what Felicity is about any longer, and I'm not sure if it's character development or the show just shifting her around as needed to make a point. It was just hard to see her be stoic about the idea that being a hero means taking on a little darkness when she's a woman who basically told Cooper Seldon to allow himself to die so she could save the world and then sort of needled Oliver for killing Darhk (she used the phrase "in cold blood"), even though it's exactly what she told him he needed to do. This is to say nothing about having to nuke a random city to save a different random city, something this episode, naturally, did not address.

I've contested that Felicity has basically been willing to accept whatever Oliver needs to do while he has the hood on. However, it's become increasingly difficult to buy her as Oliver's personal symbol of hope and lightness when she's clearly willing and able to make the sort of darkly pragmatic decisions that Oliver has wanted to avoid making since Season 2, and especially wanted to avoid in Season 4. Perhaps there is something to Oliver infecting everyone around him with his darkness, but I'm not exactly sure I want to watch three characters go through the same journey Oliver's gone through for four seasons now.

[...]But I'm also looking forward to Arrow functioning better than it typically does. Season 2 is increasingly looking like a happy accident, and the series' primary gear is one of decent action and occasional quips, but also getting distracted from its seasonal ideas and thus never allowing them to truly flourish. Arrow should flourish, but I'm not convinced it's really capable of that any longer.

What do you guys think about what he said about Felicity? (the parts in italics). I think he kinda has a point. Looking forward to discuss this. :)

[Ceylon5]

She specifically said that what he was feeling wasn't darkness, but rather a war between different parts of himself.  I don't think Felicity has ever had a problem with them killing certain people who needed it.  She was against him killing random douches in season 1, but was fine with him killing Malcolm (oh, if only that had stuck!).  In season 2, she was only against Oliver killing because it was something he didn't want, not because she personally disagreed with it as a blanket rule.  That's why when Slade had Thea and Oliver wanted to kill him, she told him "Do what you have to do", but at the end of the season, she risked her life so that Oliver could have a choice about whether to kill Slade or not (and he chose not).  In season 3, when Oliver went off to fight R'as, she told him to kill him too (which he ultimately did, and didn't seem too upset about it).  So it's nothing new or different for Felicity to think that in certain circumstances, killing an otherwise unstoppable serial killer is the only option.  If that's "darkly pragmatic", then she's always been darkly pragmatic.  But I don't think making those kinds of decisions automatically makes you dark.

I'm just tired of them going round in circles with this dark/light and kill/don't kill thing for Oliver.  They've done it to death at this point (excuse the pun!), and he never seems to make any progress.  Bored now.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Ceylon5

[looptab]

^I agree that she has always been in the "do what you have to do" camp and wasn't so much against killing as she was supporting Oliver's resolve. And I also get how sometimes people forget all the examples you brought up, given that she is the one who brings light to Oliver's life. The part that gives me pause and makes me think the reviewer is not that far off in thinking they shift her as they see fit, though, it's that bit about taking on a little darkness. I didn't think they would go with that, especially not with her. 

Though I guess the final lesson of the season was in finding a balance and not letting the darkness overcome you, and maybe she had to come to terms with it as well? She was the one who told Oliver that Lance was wrong about the darkness in the premiere, and now has come to the conclusion that she can't speak in absolutes anymore. That's the only way I can make sense of it.

I also agree about the fact that they've been going on and on about this duality since forever now, and the takeaway from this struggle seems to be different each time.

Edited May 26, 2016 by looptab

[tv echo]

A.V. Club review of 423...

Another Arrow season just sort of ends
By Alasdair Wilkins May 25, 2016  11:00 PM
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/another-arrow-season-just-sort-ends-237351

Quote

I won’t rehash the critiques I already raised in my review of “Monument Point,” but I’m now more certain than ever that the nukes were a terrible idea. In fairness, they actually work really well if we strictly consider Damien Dahrk. As a catalyst for expanding his death-fueled magic and for creating genesis, they make plenty of sense. Revealing Damien Dahrk is prepared to burn the entire world not just out of vengeance for his wife’s death but as the ultimately twisted way of sparing his surviving daughter from life’s grim torments is its own special kind of demented brilliance. The trouble is that, perfect as the nukes might be for the show’s villain, they represent an impossible challenge for the show’s heroes. As the previous season finales have indicated, Oliver really only has three finishing moves. One, he can inspire the kind of hope necessary for people—be they just Team Arrow or the entire population of Star City—to fight and risk their lives alongside him. Two, he can dig into previously untapped reserves and just kind of fight harder than he ever has before, which generally means proving himself willing to cross some line his adversary assumes Oliver won’t be able to do.

And it’s not as though “Schism” doesn’t understand that on a pretty deep level. After all, the episode’s very title is in reference to the contradictions inherent in those two abilities. But neither of them is even remotely up to the task of dealing with more than 15,000 nuclear missiles—that’s the kind of conundrum for which it might be useful to, I don’t know, run really fast, or something. (The “or something” in this case turns out to be Felicity and Curtis’ magical hacking skills, which are so drenched in technobabble at this stage that they’re basically just one big techie deus ex machina.) When Oliver gets up on the roof of that car and challenges his fellow citizens to come together as a city just as they did during all those previous season-ending crises, the rhetoric is plenty inspirational, but it still seems kind of irrelevant when faced with the specter of nuclear annihilation. How exactly is people putting aside their differences going to protect against the fallout of a damn mushroom cloud? Stephen Amell does his best to put over the speech, but it’s too preposterously askew from the actual circumstances of the threat for it to work as intended.

Which is a little odd, considering that, once you subtract out the warheads, a lot of this episode’s main plot works just fine....

The breakup of Team Arrow at episode’s end, with Lance and Donna, Thea, and Diggle all electing to move on, is also a tricky proposition. It’s certainly possible to wring huge emotional and dramatic stakes from an unexpected—and, let’s be real, only temporary—parting of the ways like this. I know this, because once upon a time in the glorious past (and maybe, just maybe, someday again!), I reviewed Farscape, and that show excelled at detailing the slow accumulation of damage and distrust that made such mass departures as brutal as they were inevitable. In Arrow’s case, it’s harder to distinguish between characters announcing their departures as an intended recognition of their unbearable collective pain or a desperate admission that, for all this season’s improvements over last year on an episode-by-episode basis, the premise and these characters all pretty desperately need a reset....

For all that, I don’t mind “Schism,” though that’s a pretty damn underwhelming response to the season finale of a show once capable of the heights glimpsed in things like the Mirakuru arc. I respect the show’s efforts to offer some tangible payoff to Oliver’s efforts to find the more hopeful version of himself, even if all the discussion of his big inspiring speech and his season-ending installation as mayor do drag on a bit. In isolation, this is a perfectly decent end to a perfectly decent season, but a show this far into its run can’t really be expected to be judged in isolation. The fourth season recognized some of the flaws of the previous year—a weak central villain, for one—and solved at least that particular one by throwing Neal McDonough at it, which is always a fine solution. But too many other problems went unaddressed or were even elevated to still greater prominence, most infamously with all the romance business between Oliver and Felicity that I don’t think was nearly as bad as its reputation suggests but, yeah, still absolutely threw the rest of the season off-kilter with its outsize importance.

At the end of it all, with an episode like “Schism” that feels more like the culmination of storytelling strands already set in motion than the introduction of any real game-changing twists, it’s hard not to shrug at it all. I’m not necessarily advocating for something as messy and weird as last night’s Flash season finale, but that one at least keeps you guessing in a way tonight’s Arrow finale doesn’t manage to. The show has gotten back on track to the extent that everything here feels competent, and Damien Dahrk remains a hoot to watch to the bitter end—hell, he even gets a quick moment of genuine pathos with the daughter he soon intends to sacrifice in the cleansing fire of the nuclear holocaust—and the cast is experienced enough to make this kind of material work. But this show has been capable, and I really hope still is capable of something more than that. This season was a step in the right direction, but a proper return to past glory still feels awfully far away.

Well, unless they bring in John Constantine fulltime. Then I’d be prepared to reconsider. I’m just saying!
*  *  *
-There was a whole lot of reflecting on Laurel’s legacy and what she would have stood for and whatnot, and… man, I don’t know. I do think Willa Holland and Paul Blackthorne were able to communicate some sense of why Laurel mattered so much to them—not too surprising in the latter’s case, given she was Lance’s daughter—but this idea that Laurel was the conscience of the group and the one who challenged people to be better… well, I don’t think it’s wrong, exactly, but it just feels like the show way exaggerating its own past storytelling and characterization. Basically, this all would have had so much more impact here if, say, the show had actually known Laurel was going to be in that grave from the beginning of the season and made a concerted effort to define her role as clearly as possible so that her loss would register properly when the time came. As is, it all feels a bit slapdash.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

EW recap/review of 423...

Arrow finale recap: 'Schism'
BY JONATHON DORNBUSH Posted May 25 2016 — 11:38 PM EDT
http://www.ew.com/recap/arrow-season-4-finale

Quote

Yes, Oliver tried to inspire while as the Green Arrow and as Oliver during the failed mayoral campaign, but so often he came up against the debilitating power of Damien Darhk. He lost a public seat of power, he lost his engagement, and he lost a beloved friend. So with not just Star City but the entire world on the brink of nuclear Armageddon, Oliver makes one last stand in the hopes of inspiring Star City.
*  *  *
Does it work? Yes, but not without some major fallout that scatters the members of Team Arrow to the wind ahead of the next season.
*  *  *
While she figures out a plan to stop the missiles and send them into space, Oliver and Darhk continue to duke it out. But they’re not alone. Darhk has his ghosts, while Oliver has Diggle, Lyla, and the people of Star City. They erupt into all-out battle, invoking The Dark Knight Rises in a handful of ways, and not even an arrow to the chest can stop Oliver. He’s helped up by Quentin, who’s returned after dropping Donna off to help save his city. That Oliver Queen fella inspired him, after all.
*  *  *
... So it looks like Oliver’s heading off to Russia in season 5’s flashbacks, which will hopefully find some more thematic and narrative resonance than the disappointing flashbacks did this season.

While that trajectory to Russia seems quite obvious in the flashbacks, things are less unclear in the present day. The fracturing of Team Arrow, at least for the moment, leaves Oliver in a puzzled state himself. While visiting Laurel’s grave, Felicity helps him to see that he’s at war with himself — he’s having trouble reconciling the man who killed Damien Darhk and the man who stood among the people and offered them hope.
*  *  *
He returns to base, ready to protect Star City seemingly on his own. He’s not alone, though. Felicity returns to stand with him amid the rubble of the Arrow homebase and, really, the rubble of Star City in the wake of Darhk.
*  *  *
And so ends Arrow’s fourth season, one that at times hinted at the promise of the show’s glory days but often was almost as at odds with itself as Oliver is with himself. The show seemed as unengaged with the flashbacks as viewers, the season-long arc dipped in and out of properly building up Darhk’s presence and his plans, and the many dour notes the season hit felt at odds with Oliver’s personal endeavors to provide hope.

Still, the finale seems aimed at addressing that last point, of not just instilling hope again in the people of Star City but in the viewers as well. It certainly sets up the possibility of a back-to-basics approach in season 5 that could harken back to the highpoints of the series. Star City can rebuild, and hopefully watching it do so will be worth the wait when Arrow returns in the fall. 

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Collider review of 423...

‘Arrow’ Season 4 Finale Recap: “Schism” – Let the Nukes Fall Where They May
BY DAVE TRUMBORE      May 25, 2016
http://collider.com/arrow-season-4-finale-recap-schism/

Quote

For better or worse, season four of The CW’s Arrow chose to introduce magical abilities into a mythology that has been largely practical, grounded, and hard-hitting. The decision to do so was likely done in light of the more super-powered series out there like fellow DC Comics shows The Flash, Supergirl, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. How could Arrow be expected to not only partially help set up these new series but also co-exist alongside them without diluting the core team with new superhero sidekicks? The answer: magic!

In theory, this probably sounded like a good idea. The Lazarus pit had already introduced magical concepts into the world, wicked sorcerer Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) proved to be an inspired bit of casting, and the door was now open to bringing in Constantine (Matt Ryan). But somewhere along the way, in this season and the last, Arrow lost its identity and forgot that it’s supposed to be the dark, gritty, grounded superhero show in a world of over-powered heroes and villains. (Imagine if Batman suddenly had magic that enabled him to deal with his problems; it’s that level of sea change.) The bad news is that the season four finale ran out of magical mojo rather than ending with a bang; the good news is that the whole Arrow-verse might be reset next season, whether thanks to time-traveling shenanigans or more organic means.
*  *  *
I’m torn on this outlook. In real life, sure, often times the good guys have to kill the bad guys for the greater good, but this is a superhero show we’re talking about, one with a staff of writers tasked with getting the hero out of sticky situations in interesting ways. Did Damien Darhk deserve to die at Oliver’s hands? Absolutely. Could Ollie have used his super-powered contacts to find another way to neutralize him? Definitely. With Constantine’s conjurings and knowledge of the arcane, S.T.A.R. Labs’ technology and fairly effective imprisonment system, or even A.R.G.U.S. super-max facilities, there were other choices. Oliver wasn’t being completely honest when he said he didn’t have a choice; he just chose execution.

... Darhk himself, previously powered by the souls of tens of thousands of sacrificial lambs, then inexplicably lost all that power. Why? Because the citizens of Star City stood up to his tyranny, like New Yorkers rooting for Spider-Man or the Ghostbusters. Oh, and because Oliver’s ever-so-brief moment of mystical training and Constantine’s runic ward tattoos were enough to tip the balance in the favor of the light side, apparently.
*  *  *
After an all-out brawl between Oliver, Team Arrow, and the citizens of Star City against Darhk and the Ghosts, and some quick hacking from Felicity, nuclear winter is averted. Time to celebrate! Oh, wait, everyone is quitting Team Arrow except for the one person who really should retire from the group: fickle Felicity herself. Thea needs some time away to think, and Diggle is reeling from (justifiably) murdering of his brother. But it’s fine because Oliver is Mayor now! Yes, Thomas Kent was so impressed with Oliver’s impromptu taxi-rooftop speech to the city that he’s been made mayor after some positive poll responses. Sure, why not.
*  *  *
...  I’d love to see a fifth season go back to their grounded and gritty roots with an overhaul on how they approach fight scenes (see: Marvel’s Daredevil) and with an emphasis on cutting-edge technology to level the playing field against those with superpowers. I’d also be thrilled if The CW superhero showrunners envisioned each season as two smaller seasons of 11-12 episodes each so that they’d have a more focused approach. Is that too much to ask?

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

ScreenCrush review of 423...

‘Arrow’ Finale Review: ‘Schism’ Snoozes Through Darhk Ending, Mayoral Twist
Kevin Fitzpatrick | May 25, 2016
http://screencrush.com/arrow-season-4-finale-review-schism/

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Oh, man. Threat of a nuclear apocalypse was just not the best conflict for Arrow to hinge its fourth season finale on. It seemed tremendous enough an overreach in the prior two episodes, to ignore the global ramifications of Felicity directing a foreign warhead into a small American town, that “Schism” returning immediately to that threat (x 15,000) in a 45-minute window seems almost laughable. Worst of all, slapdashing technobabble does nothing to treat the seasonal arc of Oliver finding his ability to inspire the people, itself already an on-the-nose metaphor of defeating Damien’s Darhk-ness.

Problem is, “Schism” never really found anything to say on that front either, as even with the team at its lowest; the lair practically destroyed from a time-consuming excursion with Darhk’s endless supply of Ghosts; it took the span of Curtis reminding Oliver “no, optimism = good” to turn things around. That’s apparently enough cue for Oliver to pick a random street in a major American city, hop atop a random cab, and hope like hell panicked civilians cease their rioting long enough for an inspirational pep talk.

You know, before they’ve actually come up with a plan to stop the imminent nuclear explosion.
*  *  *
Worse, even if we accept Star City feeling sufficiently jazzed by the speech, and subsequent dissolution of one (of 15,000) nuclear missiles, their willingness to fight with Oliver (or the Green Arrow, who they don’t know is the same person) ends up culminating in the same street brawl we’ve seen practically once a season. That kind of knock-down drag-out fight adds absolutely nothing to the internal “schism” Felicity references Oliver to embrace after the fact, and more baffling still, culminates in Oliver arbitrarily deciding it’s morally acceptable to kill his battered opponent. Nevermind the three seasons we’ve spent pushing Oliver closer to the light; the math of Darhk’s murders apparently trumps the philosophy of Oliver’s heroism altogether, and no one seems to argue.
*  *  *
... Still, when you’re trafficking in narrative concepts so vague as magic, it helps to focus all your specificity into emotional arcsand some firm rule sets. In that regard, the final showdown with Darhk never felt like any kind of clear test for Oliver, regardless of spectacle, and breaking his own rules to kill Darhk felt wildly out of line with any message of optimism.

I’m about ready to abandon my own hope of Season 5 turning things around, so if anyone wants to get on top of a cab and yell at me about it, now would be the time.
*  *  *
Thought for sure Oliver and Felicity would at least hold hands in that last shot.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

TV Fanatic review of 423 -- c'mon, all these snarky comments about Felicity are so unnecessary and unwarranted (I'm dropping TV Fanatic from my media list)...

Arrow Season 4 Episode 23 Review: Schism
Lisa Babick at May 26, 2016 12:41 am. 
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2016/05/arrow-season-4-episode-23-review-schism/

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The urgency of the situation was lacking. We're talking the end of the world here, and all we got was conversations about hope and inspiration pep talks. At least we didn't have any Donna drama this time. So that's a plus. Unfortunately, we had to endure another hour of the gratingly optimistic and giddy, no matter how dire the situation, Felicity.

Will she ever stop? Apparently not, because while the rest of Team Arrow decided to go their separate ways when it was all over, Felicity made sure to let Oliver know she wasn't going anywhere.

Despite all that, I do have to give Felicity props for taking down one of the ghosts when they attacked the bunker. It's good to know she's willing to get her hands dirty when it matters.

And it was sort of amusing watching her whack that guy with the Billy club while she was all dressed up in heels. She certainly is the epitome of perfection, isn't she?
*  *  *
Does Felicity have a special tracking device on Oliver because it seems kind of odd that she is always showing up wherever Oliver is. Is she stalking him?
*  *  *
Did anyone else think Oliver was sort of deflated when Felicity was the one who saved the day as he was giving his inspirational speech to the people of Star City? She sort of ruined the moment.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[apinknightmare]

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Did anyone else think Oliver was sort of deflated when Felicity was the one who saved the day as he was giving his inspirational speech to the people of Star City? She sort of ruined the moment.

...

By diverting the nuke that was going to kill them all? Such a deflating moment.

[looptab]

1) Why is Felicity the one who should really go?

2) When did she appear where Oliver was, apart from last night at the cemetery? (Which, I think she was there to begin with).

[Midnight Lullaby]

9 minutes ago, tv echo said:

TV Fanatic review of 423 -- c'mon, all these snarky comments about Felicity are so unnecessary and unwarranted (I'm dropping TV Fanatic from my media list)...

Arrow Season 4 Episode 23 Review: Schism
Lisa Babick at May 26, 2016 12:41 am. 
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2016/05/arrow-season-4-episode-23-review-schism/

LOL, how dared she save the city? So rude to ruin Oliver's big moment saving all their lives.

Also if she leave she isn't a hero, if she stays it's not good anyway because....she is too positive? Also stalking Oliver.......oh boy, hating for the sake of it sure makes people look ridiculous.

[tv echo]

Flickering Myth review of 423 (this somewhat more upbeat review was a relief to read)...

Arrow Season 4 Episode 23 Review – ‘Schism’
MAY 26, 2016 BY JESSIE ROBERTSON
http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2016/05/arrow-season-4-episode-23-review-schism/

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This season on Arrow, we’ve seen a lot happen. Now that we’re at the season finale, it seems like familiar territory:
– Final showdown between Oliver and big bad of the season- Check
– Cataclysmic event transpiring in Star City- check
– Merlyn inexplicably shows up – check

Okay, enough of that; it doesn’t mean it’s stale; but it just feels like it’s happened before and that’s because it has. But, let’s look at the elements that go into shows in the Berlanti-verse; a season long villain. This year, Arrow got the upper hand; Damien Darhk (I’ve spelled this differently every single week I think) was a quip machine who showed up episode one and put fear and sometimes belly chuckling humor into our bellies. Whether politically, physically or magically, Darhk was more than capable of being the showpiece of this season. And his goal? to Nuke the whole world and start over. A lofty goal, one I bashed several weeks ago when Genesis was unveiled. But, I have to hand it to the acting (and writing) of this character; he fully believed in what he was doing. Even now that his wife is gone and it’s just him and his daughter, and he released the nukes himself, he had no qualms about them both perishing in the nuclear holocaust together and why? Because that’s what he believed was right. In many of the ways I would call Ra’s al Ghul a failure last season, Darhk is a wild success as a villain. He upped the stakes by killing Laurel, he faced defeat and spit in its face by recruiting various baddies including Merlyn and he created a following, he got people to believe in him, something Oliver was abashed about since he had such a hard time believing anyone would listen to him. To Neal McDonough, a tip of the hat, and you will be missed sir.
*  *  *
As much praise as The Flash gets for its cast, Arrow also has some gems; Felicity and Curtis being two of them; so, apparently there’s been a huge backlash against Felicity now that she’s gotten so popular, which I don’t understand. Yes, the show may push her on you a lot, but she’s almost (arguably) gotten more character development than most any other character but Oliver, so we are so completely invested in her. It’s weird that her and her ex-fiancée are like just close friends now, but it feels like everyone wanted “Ollicity” so bad, that once it happened, it was like, okay now what? Felicity was given a lot to do this season from being paralyzed to running a corporation to getting engaged then dis-engaged to stopping a massive nuclear attack that would have effectively ended the world. When newly appointed Mayor Queen and Felicity are standing in the wreckage of the “Arrow-cave” at the closing moments of this season, Oliver says he thought she’d be gone; her response “not a chance.” That’s for the haters.
*  *  *
Arrow had its share of problems this season, but one thing that really worked was the story structure of presenting a problem, either major or small and solving it or getting to its core by episode’s end; the formula really seemed to help slow Arrow down and not throw too many things at the wall at once; although, being a total hypocrite, I missed the non-stop energy and plot season two provided when it was dropping bombs and character appearances left and right. I mean, again, they dropped a nuke and built an underground world this year! I hope we get even more of a slow down next season, maybe take it back to street level stuff instead of magic and ending the world. This season didn’t feel as clichéd and full of twists and fake outs like last year, but it really delivered some nonsensical items for digestion.
*  *  *
And finally, has Oliver Queen changed at all? At the beginning of the season, he was cooking dinner for his neighbors and by the end , he’s Mayor of Star City. I think in the middle, he was rediscovering his darkness and with Felicity in his life, and discovering he had a son, he wasn’t sure how to process both of those lives together; with the title Schism, it’s really highlighting the balance Oliver found between those two men, the murderer whose willing to do whatever it takes to survive and the light of Star City, both in a hood and in a suit, a man on top of a car speaking about the love he has for his city, his people, his friends. They are one and the same but they are completely different people. Felicity has intimately learned to love both men, and knows that Oliver can learn to live between them as well, or at least learn to balance them to do the most good. She ultimately still does believe in him but it does feel weird for them to both be around but not be together.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[quarks]

Oliver appeared where Felicity was, when Damien attacked the loft.

After that, Felicity appeared where Oliver was - in the Arrow Cave. I'm shocked.  She and Curtis then appeared right above where Oliver was - on the rooftop right above the Starling City crowd and Oliver.  She then once again - shockingly - appeared where Oliver was in the Arrow Cave, and then - the shocks are never going to end, are they? - by the gravestone of their mutual friend, and down in the Arrow Cave again.

So very valid complaint.

What bugs me much more about this is that this complaint isn't getting made about Curtis, who has a husband in the city I assume he's worried about, and who was physically attacked, needling medical attention (and, erk, why didn't Team Arrow take him to the hospital? The other shows weren't using the single hospital room this episode. Does Team Arrow just no longer trust Star City hospitals after Laurel's death?). And yet Curtis remained brightly optimistic enough to cheer on Star City and give Oliver an inspirational speech.  So why aren't we jumping on Curtis for being giddily optimistic?

[tv echo]

JoBlo review of 423...

TV REVIEW: ARROW - SEASON 4 FINALE "SCHISM"
by: Alex Maidy  May 26, 2016
http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/tv-review-arrow---season-4-finale-schism-937

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... The thing that hurt Arrow so much this season was the banality of it all. The Flash managed to balance darkness with a light-hearted nature which still drove home the drama and stakes of the story while not losing the elements that made that show so much fun. On the flipside, no one on Arrow seems to be having any fun and where the end of this season finale leaves everyone just proves that point. Team Arrow is scattered and fractured as each member must deal with the darkness within themselves. But, before they can do that, they must deal with the personification of that evil, Damien Darhk. By giving Darhk's master plan the kibosh in the penultimate episode, this hour loses all real sense of doom or thrills and instead ends what could have been a strong season on a whimper. Nothing truly feels resolved, it just stops.
*  *  *
... Oliver and Darhk battle in the streets and when all seems lost, the citizens of Star City come to Oliver's defense. That's right, the hope of the people restores our hero's immunity to Darhk's power. What follows is a small budget knock off of the city battle in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES as the people fight Darhk's HIVE forces while our main characters duke it out in the middle of it all. The fighting just doesn't make sense but it gives the impression of a massive showdown despite no real stakes....
*  *  *
Well, last season, Oliver and Felicity headed off on their own to try and find happiness. This season, everyone else leaves while the two of them stay. Oliver is elected interim Mayor of Star City and Felicity stays by his side. Diggle decides to re-enlist and leaves his wife and child behind. Why he does this is never explained but it doesn't make a lick of sense. Thea decides she needs to have time to herself to try and find her path outside of being a vigilante. Quentin Lance decides not to return to the SCPD and takes a break, leaving the city with Donna Smoak. With the Arrow Cave decimated and Oliver now the Mayor, what need will there be for a Green Arrow any longer? Oliver is still distraught by the death of Laurel and feels he owes her some sort of resolution in the form of fixing the city the right way, but we are left with a very limp ending that is a low point for this series and doesn't give much of a reason to come back in the Fall.

Overall, this season didn't do much for me at all. There were some good episodes in the mix, but the majority of this season was mediocre at best. There was no excitement and no impact to Damien Darhk as a villain. As much as I loved Neal McDonough's sense of humor in the role, it detracted from taking him seriously as an arch-nemesis or supervillain. Each of the foes that came before him was a better match for Oliver Queen while Darhk's powers should have easily outmatched the mysticism on display here. By embracing the supernatural side of things, Arrow may have jumped the shark and that is a shame after three enjoyable seasons that came before. You can blame it on the forced Legends of Tomorrow episodes earlier in the season or the painfully boring and useless flashbacks, but this season just did not work. 

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Blastr review of 423 (another nice read, if you want a change of pace from the negativity)...

It's Oliver vs. Darhk with nuclear armageddon on the line in the Arrow season finale
Trent Moore  Thu, May 26, 2016 12:20am
http://www.blastr.com/2016-5-25/its-oliver-vs-darhk-nuclear-armageddon-line-arrow-season-finale

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The final moment between Oliver and Darhk also exemplified just how different a hero he is when compared to his fellow DC and CW pal The Flash. When push comes to shove, Oliver Queen will jam an arrow through your heart if he feels it’s what needs to be done. Never forget this is your grown-up superhero show, people. It came around a bit clunky, but Felicity summed it up perfectly: Oliver is dealing with a schism within himself, as he tries to reconcile the darkness required to be the Green Arrow, with the true hope he has for Star City’s future. As we learned tonight, he’s not alone
*  *  *
Though Oliver typically corners the market on inner-darkness, this season really spread it around the core cast in a great way. Diggle had one of the best arcs of the season, as he had to deal with the betrayal (and murder) of his brother, and the death of Laurel. Diggle has always seen the good in people, but this season that trait truly came back to bite him. This was a messy story (in a good way), and it's not something he’ll easily be able to get over. As Diggle prepares to take some time off, it really feels earned. The guy needs to decompress and process what has happened.

The same goes for Thea: From post-Lazarus Pit bloodlust, to the fact that she’s the love child of Malcolm Merlyn, Thea has a truly tough road to travel. You could feel the turn when she puts an arrow to the neck of Darhk’s daughter as a bargaining chip, and she circled back to that decision later on, pointing out she really needs to hang up the bow and figure out who she is. Here’s hoping this is the start of some real growth for Thea, who has spent most of the series just being manipulated by Merlyn.
*  *  *
So, that leaves… Oliver and Felicity. Not together, but closer than they’ve been since the break-up. The episode ended on a hopefully note for Olicity fans, with the two standing side-by-side ready to take on whatever insanity Season 5 brings.
*  *  *
Up next: A really long off-season, as we wait to see exactly which catastrophe might bring the team back together for Season 5. 

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Two Examiner reviews of 423 (these are more hopeful and positive)...

'Arrow' season 4 finale recap: Finding hope 
Meredith Jacobs  May 25, 2016 8:52 PM MST
http://www.examiner.com/article/arrow-season-4-finale-recap-finding-hope

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Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow both have to be symbols of hope, and they are in the "Arrow" finale, without Oliver having to announce that he's the Green Arrow. Though, really, that's just down to good luck with his hood not falling down during the final fight and that no one's questioning why Oliver Queen would stand up and be a symbol of hope and sounding mighty hero-ish, especially given his speech as the Green Arrow at the beginning of the season. (But these are also people who still live in Star City after the past three Mays have been awful, so maybe they're not the smartest?)
*  *  *
That's just what Oliver does, changing into regular clothes, running out into the street in the middle of the rioting citizens of the city and delivering a rousing speech of hope: "I know what you're feeling right now! I'm feeling it too. It's a sense of helplessness, of hopelessness. I don't know how we even begin to process what might happen to us right now. But there are a few things that I do know. I know that this city has been through tough times before and we have pulled through. We survived the Undertaking. We survived the siege. We survived the outbreak, and somehow, someway, we will survive this! A friend of mine told me that living in Star City takes a special kind of tenacity, but we do live here. Because this is our home. …We will look to each other for hope. We will cling to each other for strength. If we do that, no matter what happens, we can all stand here, united." As he finishes the speech, Felicity and Curtis manage to find a way to direct the missile away from the city, but there are still over 15,000 missiles out there, heading for their own targets to do the same thing with.
*  *  *
When he returns to the destroyed bunker and stands in front of the costumed mannequins, he's surprised to have Felicity join him. He thought she was leaving too? "Not a chance," she tells him. So Oliver and Felicity aren't back together (though it really is just a matter of time), but they are the ones left in Star City to fight for it while the opposite was true at the beginning of the season. (Will they get back together off-screen in the months between seasons as they work together or be close to a reunion when season 5 begins?)

So there's hope everywhere. There's hope for Star City, despite the fourth attack in as many years in May. There's hope for Oliver, as mayor now, as a person and as the Green Arrow. There's hope for Oliver and Felicity's relationship. There's hope for Diggle to find what he's looking for in his decision to reenlist. There's hope for Thea to find who she is post-Lazarus Pit without being Speedy. There's hope for Lance, away from Star City as he struggles in dealing with Laurel's death when he doesn't also have to deal with the stress of living there.

As for the flashbacks, there's hope – in that, they're over, Reiter and Taiana are dead and Oliver has to be heading to Russia next. Yes, it's to fulfill the promise he made to Taiana, but more importantly, it's time to explain his Bratva connection.

'Arrow' 4x23 'Schism' Review: Restoring hope 
Allison Nichols  May 25, 2016 8:04 PM MST
http://www.examiner.com/review/arrow-4x23-schism-review-restoring-hope

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As far as finales go, this one was all right. There wasn’t any real momentum leading up to the big showdown between Oliver and Darhk (and a good bit of Star City). There even wasn’t much of any concern that we would all somehow survive this. Yeah, okay, there were a bunch of nuclear missiles that were launched, but was anyone actually concerned? The finale lacked thrill, excitement, and fear as to how everything would turn out.

One thing that it did well was restore hope to Oliver and to Star City. Curtis was an amazing source of inspiration for Oliver, and it was nice to touch on the fact that for some reason, people still live in Star City. Would you stick around after everything that has happened in that city?

A definite slow point in the finale was the flashbacks. The island took up a good bit of time. We were constantly cutting back and forth between the present and the past. Diana (finally learned her name) died, more specifically she asked Oliver to kill her. Were we supposed to care about her? There weren’t tears shed, and there really wasn’t a desire to do anything other than to be thankful that this flashback storyline was over.
*  *  *
Everyone leaving Team Arrow/Star City at the end made sense, well with the exception of Thea. The points she made in her speech were valid, but they came out of nowhere....

In the end, it was just Oliver and Felicity standing in the lair. It’s beyond amazing that Felicity stays. She’s there for Oliver as a partner, as support. This is a great place for their relationship to be in after the events of this season. We, as Olicity shippers, have hope.

It’s also better that they are working their way back to being a couple. If they got back together, it would have been too soon. None of their issues would be resolved. As partners, Felicity and Oliver can work on rebuilding their trust and working on honest communication.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Den of Geek review of 423...

Arrow Season 4 Finale Review: Schism
Kayti Burt 5/25/2016 at 10:13PM
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/arrow/255725/arrow-season-4-finale-review-schism

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The stakes were high in the Arrow season 4 finale and, though this show was never quite able to sell the urgency of a nuclear apocalypse (would people really be looting TVs when the world is about to end?), it tried so damn hard — and there was something successful about that earnestness. There was something distracting about Team Arrow's banter and the episode's impressive action sequences that distracted from the larger absurdity of this plot.

Unfortunately, that earnestness could not overcome the larger unevenness of this entire season. Like The Flash, Arrow suffered from an underdeveloped villain this season — one whose motivations were never outlined past a general desire to see the world burn. It was never clear why Damien Darhk hated humanity so much. He seemed to have a nice enough life. A lovely wife with similar interests (villainous scheming), a daughter who seemed pleasant enough, and enough money to buy a nice house (albeit one in the crumbling ruins of Star City).

Ultimately, Darhk's role in this season was to die by Oliver's hand. You might not have guessed this from the thematic inconsistencies of this season, but season 4 was, apparently, all about getting Oliver (and the audience) to a point where we understood that, sometimes, you have to take a life. Sometimes, it's the only way.
*  *  *
Like last night's finale of The Flash, Arrow's best moments came in its set-up for next season — probably because it is much easier to set up a premise than it is to follow-through with it. Arrow has always been pretty good at beginnings. It's the middles and endings it tends to have trouble with. But there's much to potentially look forward to about next season. Oliver is interim mayor of Star City, a move this show has been flirting with the entire season.
*  *  *
Ultimately, "Schism" was a fitting end for a season that never quite knew what it wanted to be. When season 4 started, it was all about Oliver trying to stay grounded and happy while also fighting the dar(h)kness of the world. It was about Oliver's secret child, a corporeal representation of his inability to be honest with the people he loved. And, least effectively, it was about the intangible power of magic in a world that was once all about grit and sweat and salmon ladders.

That last theme was where Arrow season 4 went wrong, especially because it tied us to nonsensical flashbacks where the stakes couldn't have been lower. We knew Oliver would survive and we cared nothing for any one else stuck on Lian Yu this time. I'm not sure how Taiana became such a void of a character, but not once did she ever seem human or relatable. This is probably why, when she turned into a zombie, it wasn't too much of a change.
*  *  *
Well, that's all they wrote (about season 4), folks. Ultimately, I think this season was better than the last, but only barely. I would love to see Arrow return to its focus on class dynamics, character-driven villains, and the failure of institutions in season 5 on a more tangible level. I'm not ready to give up on this show, the episode's ending gave me hope for a return to simpler vigilante times, but I'm sad to see a show that was once so good descend into this nonsense.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

411mania review of 423 (yay! another mostly positive review, graded "Very Good")...

Arrow 4.23 Review – ‘Schism’
May 25, 2016 | Posted by Anthony Falco
http://411mania.com/movies/arrow-4-23-review-schism/

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So Schism is actually a fairly decent season finale, which is surprising considering that Arrow limped to its conclusion. Its main problem is that the entire story is lumped into an hour package, when in reality this would have been a great two-parter. The character moments are touching and the action is above average, but if this had more time to really flesh out the personal aspects – the reasons why we care about the fate of Starling – then it could have been one of the better episodes of the year. Instead, it is just solid, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
*  *  *
At the same time, Holt is severely injured: he is taken back to the hideout and given a 50/50 chance – but this is quickly ignored, as he is up and giving motivational speeches moments later. Still, Felicity is able to track her laptop to the hive offices, yet it is too late: Darhk ditched the GPS and unleashes 15,000 warheads on the world, giving the heroes only two hours to live. On top of this, the one that is supposed to hit Starling is going to kill everyone in 45 minutes: this is when the true drama of the show begins. The moment where Felicity makes Quentin take her mother out of the city as well as Diggle and Lyla talking to their daughter is heartbreaking: the main theme of tonight is hope – the only thing that can defeat Darhk, which is thoroughly cheesy – but putting a human face to the despair is what makes it work. This is something later confirmed by Arrow, who is quietly accepting defeat.
*  *  *
Yet suddenly, Holt wakes up and delivers a speech to Oliver, which turns the tides. He tells them about the time he almost moved away from Starling, but the Arrow’s television appearance was what gave him hope again. Queen then basically repackages the speech and gives it to a crowd of rioting residents: it is even televised, resulting in the city changing their tone from despair to, you guessed it, hope. For such a cheesy monologue, it actually works: once you forget how childish this all is, it is very easy to get lost in this moment.
*  *  *
At the same time, Felicity is able to disarm the nuke – in fact, the way they disarm all the nuclear devices is very anti-climactic, as if the city regaining their hope is more important than the apocalypse. So when Oliver gets back to the base, it turns out that he also inspired his team: he sends Thea, Felicity, Merlyn and Holt to find the hacker Cooper, and decides to head to City Hall by himself. But before the action begins, Diggle finally talks with Lyla about what actually happened: this is probably David Ramsey’s best performance of the show, as the viewer can clearly see the pain in his eyes. Lyla’s reaction, calling it the fog of war, is the perfect response, yet it cannot comfort him.
*  *  *
Back on the streets, Oliver is getting whooped: but then Diggle and Lyla come to help. Both sides reveal that they have reinforcements, and then Arrow proceeds to have its Dark Knight Rises moment, as the two warring parties – one has guns – run at each other for no other reason than it looks cool. In the end, this is a surprisingly epic scene for the show, despite the clearly visible stunt double for Neal McDonough. The finale has the Green Arrow getting shot, yet then he fights through it and decides to kill Damien because “he doesn’t have a choice.” The episode wraps up with Diggle, Thea and Quentin walking away for now – basically tearing the group a part – and Oliver being named the interim mayor. Unlike last season, which felt like a series finale, this year leaves a lot of open questions for the gang heading into the fall: however, all of these threads feel rushed and forced into the conclusion.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Robert Dougherty's review of 423...

Arrow S4: E23 – 'Schism'
By Robert Dougherty May 26, 2016 08:44AM EDT
http://www.themovienetwork.com/review/arrow-s4-e23-schism

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The very final salvo of the 2015-16 CW superhero season comes from Arrow, in the final battle between Oliver and Damien Darhk. Of course, it is actually the "final" battle between hope and despair, as stated even more than usual in this finale. In a season where Oliver has had extreme bouts of both, not to mention the show as a whole, naturally it all ends in a Schism.

This is a season that started with such promise, then utterly collapsed starting at a certain event in early December, then still had massive problems it couldn't or wouldn't fix no matter how many hope speeches it had. Now the end of it all finally comes after most of the angry or hopeful emotions have already been drained out, at least in this viewer. Maybe not feeling optimism or misery is all too fitting considering the final message, although feeling something a little bit more than that might have been better.
*  *  *
Oliver is the last to join them, questioning the very idea of coming back to Star City in the first place. But when he wonders if Laurel would still be alive if he didn't, that overlooks a few things. Considering that Laurel was already fighting the Ghosts in a losing battle, Quentin was helping them and Damien's apocalyptic plans were already under way, Laurel probably would have died much sooner if Oliver never returned. Maybe it is the whole point that Oliver can't see that, although hopefully the writers really weren't meaning for us to take his question too seriously.
*  *  *
In about two minutes of screen time, Oliver wonders if his return caused Laurel's death and pretty much gives up, then listens to a big speech from Curtis about the hope the Green Arrow's arrival gave him, and then goes out and gives a massive hopeful speech to all of Star City. That kind of whiplash may have been necessary for screen time purposes, yet it goes way too fast to make it a truly convincing character turnaround.
*  *  *
It would have been so perfect if this was a speech where Oliver pulled an Iron Man, and revealed to a desperate Star City that he was the Green Arrow. Legality aside, it would have been a moment that not only would have been enough to restore hope, it would have proven that Oliver was done living duel lives in the light and dark once and for all, and was embracing hope and change by stepping out into the light completely and utterly.

That would have been the daring move to prove he was ready to be the ultimate hero in the light, shed off the traits that made him lie and hold back from Felicity, kept him from providing the hope that Damien did to desperate citizens, and kept him from embracing enough light magic to negate his darkness for good. But while the show insists all that was done in this speech, it still seems like a half-measure when something really gutsy and game-changing was within reach.
*  *  *
Last year, the bone of a drive into the sunset was meant to distract us from how sudden, illogical and too late it was to repair the stupid decisions made to drive Olicity apart until the final 5 minutes. This year, the thinking seems to be that going smaller will be enough to appease us, and make us ready for a Season 5 that actually gets Olicity back together.

Of course, that still asks us to ignore how the actual issues of Oliver not letting Felicity in on everything, no matter what, were never really addressed and confronted one single solitary time after the breakup. It asks us to still believe that they will really go into those exact depths that Oliver really needs to address to be her husband for at least eight episodes to start next season, when they had eight chances to dig into them this spring and chose not to. It asks us to think that all of this wasn't really just one long stalling tactic to get to a 100th episode reunion and/or wedding, since they couldn’t actually write material that would have taken real guts and depth to pass the time instead of pointless plot lines.

In truth, this Olicity ending should have been the ending to last season, instead of the sunset drive. If we'd had that and had Olicity only slowly getting together to start this season after defeating Season Three's misery in depth, then Oliver probably wouldn't have tried to propose in the premiere. And without that, then maybe there wouldn't have been any reason to put the breaks on them so severely with the Claytons.

Then maybe any relationship drama would have actually been earned, and maybe Felicity's paralysis could have actually been a larger factor and taken seriously as a way to drive them apart for a while, or maybe her other legitimate issues and Oliver's could have done it. But then once they faced them in an actually plausible and satisfying way, maybe Oliver and Felicity could have still ended the season as the only ones left but still together.
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Since David Ramsey, Willa Holland and Paul Blackthorne are bound to come back, time will tell if letting Dig, Thea and Quentin go over the summer really amounts to anything when they return. And for the third straight summer, we have to merely imagine that Oliver and Felicity did a lot of key steps together off screen, to make up for the show not being willing to take the real time and care to show it when it had the chance.
*  *  *
The last image of Season Four and the CW’s superhero season in general is literally a ring hanging over Oliver and Felicity’s heads, as they stand together in the wrecked lair. If that is enough to go on for viewers and fanfic writers for a whole summer, and enough to lift up hope one more time that they really are about to learn better for an entire season, then that is admirable.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Vulture review of 423 (this is Jenny Raftery's last Arrow episode review!)...

Arrow Recap: Quiet Riot
By Jenny Raftery  May 26, 2016
http://www.vulture.com/2016/05/arrow-recap-season-4-episode-23.html

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In this week’s season finale, like all of the prior season finales in this series, Team Arrow must work together to stop Star City from being destroyed. But unlike in past seasons, this time I couldn’t have cared less.

It’s not the repetitive nature of the “city under attack” finale setup that bothered me in “Schism,” although I certainly understand that being a turnoff for some viewers. For me, the problem was there was nothing surprising or inspired about the execution of that “attack” arc. It felt like a pile-on of elements we’ve already seen this season — a thwarted nuclear attack, a grand politician-like speech, light-versus-darkness — elements that were better executed the first time around. Nothing felt truly heightened, and attempts to raise the stakes fell flat. (Not just one nuke, but 15,000!)
*  *  *
...  Oliver, again, questions the choices he’s made, and Felicity, again, reassures him. Usually, I eat these Olicity scenes up, but I’ve seen this one way too many times and having their discussion center on Laurel’s death seemed out of left field, considering she’s barely been mentioned.

...  In the next moment, we see Oliver jumping on top of a taxicab in broad daylight and giving a speech to freaked-out citizens, who are rioting because they know missiles are headed their way. There’s no non-cheesy, grounded way to do this scene. The world is ending within a matter of minutes, and they stop to listen to some (former) billionaire give them a speech about hope? There’s not even one heckler? It’s supposed to be uplifting and inspiring, but it felt unearned and like an attempt to shoehorn a bit of Barry Allen into Oliver Queen.

... I’m at my Malcolm limit. I can’t buy that Team Arrow would bring him into the fold without a moment’s hesitation. HE GAVE DARHK THE IDOL, LEADING TO LAUREL’S DEATH. HE HELPED ANDY BETRAY DIG. HE DRUGGED THEA ... AGAIN. I love John Barrowman, but Malcolm is such a hole in this show’s logic that it’s distracting.
*  *  *
Meanwhile, Oliver visits Laurel’s grave and does some soul-searching of his own. (Why am I not surprised that Oliver doesn’t have chemistry with Laurel’s headstone?). Felicity approaches and encourages Oliver to embrace the fact that he’s got both light and dark within him. While there, he gets a call from a city official: They want Oliver to become mayor.
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Look, did Olicity get a full resolution of their relationship? No, but it’s a work-in-progress and one of the more realistic things in this episode. Some may feel cheated, but life can’t always be tied up neatly with a drive in the sunset. Although I always love more Olicity scenes, I’m satisfied with the direction the two are headed.

Overall, Arrow’s fourth season was big, bright, and ambitious — a direct response to criticisms that the quieter and darker season three meandered too much. But the same energy and action that made this season feel more visceral and thrilling could result in chaotic pacing and unceremoniously dropped plots (e.g., Thea’s bloodlust). Of course, having to spend so much of the season’s first half setting up Legends of Tomorrow did the show no favors, in terms of rhythm and internal logic. Let’s not even mention those flashbacks.

That said, that Arrow — the grandfather of CW’s superhero lineup — is so intent on remaining ambitious going into its fifth season is one of the reasons I love this show. Viewers may not always like the show’s choices (e.g., Laurel’s death) and those choices aren’t always executed successfully (e.g., tonight’s episode), but where’s the fun in watching the exact same thing year after year? (Except, of course, when that thing is Olicity.)

On a personal note, this is my last Arrow recap for Vulture. Thank you all for joining me each week and for your continued patience with my headline puns. I wish I could continue on for season five, but other work obligations and creative projects make my weekly recap appointment difficult to keep.

But don’t ask me to say that I don’t love you, Arrow. I plan to keep watching, sharing opinions, and — of course — endlessly (and pointlessly?) waiting for Oliver to take his shirt off again. As always, you can follow my Star City musings on Twitter. Thanks for reading.

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Bustle review of 423...

Oliver Becomes Mayor Of Star City On 'Arrow' & Paves The Way For A Brighter Season 5
KELLY SCHREMPH  May 25, 2016
http://www.bustle.com/articles/163242-oliver-becomes-mayor-of-star-city-on-arrow-paves-the-way-for-a-brighter-season

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In a twist that probably everybody saw coming, Oliver became mayor of Star City in the Arrow Season 4 finale. And while I'm excited to see him balance the role of respected politician and green-clad vigilante, this surprisingly happy wrap up of the season did come with one worrisome plot development: the fact that Team Arrow has disbanded and almost completely gone their separate ways. I say "almost" because in a sweet parting shot, we saw that Oliver and Felicity are still very much together (in a professional capacity at least) and intend on continuing their crime-fighting nightly antics whether the others are around or not.
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Much like how Oliver decided to go on a Green Arrow hiatus at the end of last year, I have a sneaking suspicion that they'll be back, especially if a new Big Bad makes their presence known in Season 5 and Oliver needs their help. Because despite the many issues and feelings these characters are all dealing with, they are first and foremost heroes and can't help but save lives when the opportunity arises. It may not happen in the first episode, or even the first five episodes, but mark my words that Team Arrow will be back at it again in no time. This "Schism" can't go on forever. We Arrow fans simply won't allow it.

So in the meantime, let's all just sit back, relax, and think of the brighter future Star City has in store now that Mayor Queen is on the case. What could possibly go wrong?

Edited May 26, 2016 by tv echo