S07.E10: My Name Is Emiko Queen

[BkWurm1]

1 hour ago, TrueMyth said:

Did we get a name for the other assistant guy who was blithely claiming to have taken care of Felicity Smoak at the end? Because I will look forward to Oliver murdering the hell out of that one, even though my money is totally on Felicity faking her death.

 

I want to say but am not 100% positive that his name was Kevin and we didn’t get a last name.  

[Cthulhudrew]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!

THAT HAIR!!!!

HAHAHAHA!!

Oh, geez. Rene got hit by the Wigmaster, and it's probably the worst one yet. OMG. I'm dying here.

[BkWurm1]

12 minutes ago, Trini said:

I get that it was Oliver 'lite' because of crossover filming, but it was weird that Felicity was confined to one set. But then again, I don't know how they could have involved her in the other stories.
 

If Oliver was just going to be confined to the one set (mostly) I’m just glad the writers gave us all that time interacting with Felicity.  I wouldn’t have wanted her anywhere but at his side during this crisis.  I may always want more but I really loved how he was opening up to her and talking to her about his pain and fears and she was there listening and helping and asking what he wanted and finally giving him a little nudge in the direction he wanted and needed to go.  He needs her love and faith so much.  I’ll give the episode lots of credit for just letting us see how well they function together and for knowing how watchable those scenes would be. No gimmicks, just Olicity in their own little spotlight.   

[Mary0360]

36 minutes ago, Trini said:

I get that it was Oliver 'lite' because of crossover filming, but it was weird that Felicity was confined to one set. But then again, I don't know how they could have involved her in the other stories.
 

This also seemed a huge plot hole. She's been here the whole time?? There better be more to that backstory.

Is it weird though?

The episode was from a brand new characters perspective. It was essentially Emikos big coming out party. Hence Felicity AND Oliver taking a back seat. 

Doesnt mean it wasn't a shit show, but it's a shit show with an intended purpose that has nothing to do with Felicity nor an indictment on her.

As for the flash forwards the only redeeming quality so far is, if you watch the show, they are all about Felicity- is Felicity dead? Is she evil? Is she a hero? Why is she sending messages or people on a clue hunting journey? How does she know BlackStar/Maya? Why are they working together? It seems the whole flash forward is Felicitys back story. 

Edited January 22, 2019 by Mary0360

[Cthulhudrew]

5 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This just looked like another back door pilot for a new Arrow should Amell decide to leave. Like others above stated: I have no desire to see this because I’ve already seen season one. 

This is really how the whole show feels to me. I really hope SA and EB aren't planning on leaving the show so that NGA and NTA take over. Ugh.

And add me in with everyone wondering why NGA keeps taking her mask off all the time. Also, did she change her costume from the first half of S1?

[Mary0360]

5 minutes ago, Cthulhudrew said:

This is really how the whole show feels to me. I really hope SA and EB aren't planning on leaving the show so that NGA and NTA take over. Ugh.

See if that were to happen it would just make it easier for me to stop being so invested lol. 

[Mellowyellow]

2 minutes ago, Mary0360 said:

See if that were to happen it would just make it easier for me to stop being so invested lol. 

I know! I feel like I'm being held hostage cuz EBR is still working on this show. 

Is she quits......freedom, sweet freedom! 

[JamieLynn832002]

I don't think Emiko understands how a mask works (of course, since there's apparently no record of her despite being born and raised in Star City maybe she doesn't need to worry about being identified.) She changed the mask in 708, before it covered the lower half of her face so we wouldn't realize she was a woman, but I don't know about the rest of the costume.

[Cthulhudrew]

Holy poop- the actor playing Rene's future partner (or whatever) Raj Paul- looks like the long lost twin of a guy I went high school with. Uncanny. I thought it was him at first, and that he'd discovered the fountain of youth (it was many years ago).

ETA: Let's hope the revival of the Suicide Squad ends with Diaz' head getting blown off. I know the odds are pretty slim we'll get Michael Rowe's Deadshot back (sigh), but Diaz dying would be some comfort.

(BTW, why did they change the official name from Task Force X to "Ghost Initiative" or whatever name Diggle gave it?)

Edited January 22, 2019 by Cthulhudrew

[TwistedandBored]

What a boring episode. I still don't care about Emiko. Olicity was just there to tell us some information. 

 

By the way, when Rene was whining about not having anything going for him while the rest of his friends moved on with their lives. I almost wanted to through the TV and slap him. NTA are so selfish. It's like they forget what Felicity and William had to go through. What Oliver went through. I am glad Oliver sacrificing himself so Rene can be with his daughter is being taken seriously by Rene though. 

[Trini]

1 hour ago, Mary0360 said:

Is it weird though?

The episode was from a brand new characters perspective. It was essentially Emikos big coming out party. Hence Felicity AND Oliver taking a back seat. 

I don't know, is Felicity usually in one place only? Even Oliver got to be in several locations; that's what made it weird to me. Do they still have a lair/HQ for vigilante stuff? I only watched this episode to see what the fuss about Emiko was about.

[JamieLynn832002]

The bunker was blown up at the end of last season. This season they've operated mostly out of ARGUS but couldn't be there now or they'd see the shady crap Dig is pulling with Diaz.

[Mary0360]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

I don't know, is Felicity usually in one place only? Even Oliver got to be in several locations; that's what made it weird to me. Do they still have a lair/HQ for vigilante stuff? I only watched this episode to see what the fuss about Emiko was about.

Yes Felicity is generally more then not in one place.  She's usually operating out of the bunker but as there is no bunker she's now operating out of home. I don't want to make assumptions of shows I haven't watched but isn't it the same with a lot of the Flash cast primarily having scenes at Star Labs?

[bijoux]

8 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

Another pet peeve.  Emiko says again at the end to Rene she's not looking for a team.  So Rene says, how about a partner instead.  It's so incredibly unearned and such a pale copy of how it went down the first time.  

The whole thing was a fast forward of the first 13 episodes of season 1 to get to OTA. Except that

1. Oliver was stuck in hell for five years and suffering from PTSD and still kind of felt like less of an asshole than Emiko
2. he did his due dilligence on both Dig and Felicity before bringing them in
3. found Felicity’s car in the garage of Queen Consolidated (?) where he was actually shot so badly he flatlined. Meanwhile Emiko didn’t seem that badly off and mosied off to find Rene. 

All this seems senseless. I’m puzzled as to who her mother was if this many people were involved in her murder. Also, is she the one who trained Emiko to be an archer and close combat fighter with Oliver? Why? I was told my questions about her would be answered in this episode and they’re really not.

I’m taking Curtis not being included in the tattoo talk as indication that he’s out after this season (present time). Either he bites it or relocates. I don’t care.

Here’s my theory about Diggle this season. He’s the Big Bad, most likely in the future timeline. I’m not even being facetious here. We have him being a complete asshole to not only his friends but now his wife as well. Really, Lyla should have stuck him in the pipeline for that stunt he pulled. And him drinking the Argus kool aid, while Lyla is distancing herself is actually something that has been consistent since he joined. Then we also have the parallels to S1. Which, as has been reported, should have started Tommy’s rise as Oliver’s nemesis. This is just putting Dig into that role six years down the line. I am willing to allow for the possibility of the real Dig being locked up somewhere, or stuck on a different earth with Sara, but this character that I’m watching this season is a villain, it’s just that nobody is ready to see that yet.

[Mellowyellow]

Why did they change the angle on the kiss from the promo.

Damn bastards.

He had a wondeful set of adoring heart eyes. Sometimes I feel like this show is resorting to obvious bait and switch these days. 

[Trisha]

I just read two episode reviews and they were both ... weirdly positive? IGN usually says the opposite of what I think so that’s not a shock, but come on A.V. Club. You’re better than this! 

https://tv.avclub.com/emiko-introduces-herself-on-a-universe-expanding-arrow-1831940804

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 hours ago, catrox14 said:

I actually didn't mind Future!Dinah in this episode.  What is wrong with me?

Everything out of her mouth in the future is full of HYPOCRISY. She's the one in present time giving shit to everyone not an employee of the police department, of what criminals they are. She's all nice-nice with Oliver because, GAH- he's actually an employee of the shit police department? This show has stolen so much history/rogues/stories from Bats, they couldn't have kept Oliver as Vigilante Oliver Queen with her smug ass nowhere near close to the awesomeness of Commissioner Gordon. But the show could have attempted to have that relationship--where Dinah would give/provide Oliver with evidence or what have you when she needed help to solve cases. I wanted to reach into my teevee and snatch that snotty CSI's hair bald for acting as if Oliver was contaminating the scene. All he'd done was crouch down to look at the blood.

And yeah, where did this Emiko get her training? And since it's OBVIOUS that Queen didn't give two shits about her or her mom, except for the few times he would come and visit, why would she even CARE about him or do his bidding by crossing off names in that book? Oh wait. Those are names she crossed off to get to the person who she thought was responsible for killing her mom. Well, that's what she said. See? Plot hole.

And the actress playing Emiko is doing the same thing Rose who plays Batmwoman/Kane and Cassidy do: In close ups. Stops. Poses. Looks up. Looks Down. Draws Bow. Fires. And she's got a flat affect as well.

Only two things I really, really loved. Lyla going "Boom" in her soft yet steely voice to MarbleMushmouth as the bomb was being injected into him; and her putting Deputy Director in his fucking place. He's SOOOOO gonna screw Lyla over. I just know it.

[way2interested]

12 minutes ago, Trisha said:

I just read two episode reviews and they were both ... weirdly positive? IGN usually says the opposite of what I think so that’s not a shock, but come on A.V. Club. You’re better than this! 

https://tv.avclub.com/emiko-introduces-herself-on-a-universe-expanding-arrow-1831940804

Chris's review was pretty much on the mark, imo 

https://www.tvovermind.com/arrow-season-7-episode-10-review-my-name-emiko-queen/

[MissLucas]

Well, I'm glad to see that Arrow's grand tradition of horrible wigs lives on proudly.

[BkWurm1]

24 minutes ago, Trisha said:

I just read two episode reviews and they were both ... weirdly positive? IGN usually says the opposite of what I think so that’s not a shock, but come on A.V. Club. You’re better than this! 

https://tv.avclub.com/emiko-introduces-herself-on-a-universe-expanding-arrow-1831940804

Doesn't shock me.  There were some really glowing reviews of The Dragon last year as well and I stand by that being the worst episode of the season.  This one was not good enough in my opinion to reach levels of "the worst".  I assume I'm saving that honor for an episode yet to come.  Lol.  Maybe the 16th one.  

[bijoux]

Robert’s level of fatherly concern is really touching. Leaves instructions to Walter to take care of his kid after his death, does shit all for said kid while he’s alive. Father of the year, really. At least it will give Oliver and Walter something to talk about. This is my regularly scheduled please bring Walter back post.

I’ll give the episode this, that exchange about Oliver’s drawing was pretty cute. What excatly did he draw though for them to comment that he wasn’t thrilled about Thea’s birth?

[way2interested]

13 minutes ago, bijoux said:

I’ll give the episode this, that exchange about Oliver’s drawing was pretty cute. What excatly did he draw though for them to comment that he wasn’t thrilled about Thea’s birth?

It was a drawing of the Queen family with baby Thea scratched out

Edited January 22, 2019 by way2interested

[bijoux]

3 minutes ago, way2interested said:

It was a drawing of the Queen family with baby Thea scratched out

😂 That’s a great moment of levity for this episode. I’ll have to rewind that scene.

[BkWurm1]

17 minutes ago, way2interested said:

It was a drawing of the Queen family with baby Thea scratched out

Thanks!  I couldn't tell what I was supposed to be looking at.  Oliver would have been 8 or 9 when she was born, right?   His ability to draw greatly improved later in life.  (Or am I imagining that we've seen him draw very well after the Gambit went down?  Too much fan fic?)

[bijoux]

There’s a 10 year age difference between Oliver and Thea. I can’t remember him drawing on the show. Seeing the drawing actually made me think of William in S4 and how he probably inherited Oliver’s lack of artistic talent.

[quarks]

10 hours ago, catrox14 said:

Is this show still about Oliver Queen as in he's still in it and still the main character? Right?

And I'm sorry, but the actress playing Emiko is...limited aside from stunt work.

I'll give the episode a bit of a pass on this one since Amell was presumably filming two other shows during this episode, and I don't think Berlanti/the Arrowverse wanted yet another year of Arrow/Flash actors lining up to complain of exhaustion. Thus his general absence. 

In terms of Emiko - it's one episode, and I suspect that what limited direction she was given, if any, was "be as closed off and unapproachable and angry as Oliver was in the first season." The major problem, of course, is that the pilot episode immediately showed us why Oliver had emotional issues - physically covered with scars suggesting physical torture plus his father's suicide from just a few feet away suggesting emotional torture. Dude was messed up. We got it. And we got to meet that father in at least one prior scene, so we could understand just why Oliver was messed up.

Emiko didn't get that same sort of introduction here. Her mother never appeared on screen, and although her mother was brutally murdered, the situation is somewhat similar to what went wrong with "oh poor me" Laurel in the second season - literally every other character in this episode except, I guess, for the CSI person in that one scene, has gone through similar or worse trauma. I mean, it's kinda great that Arrow has been so consistent about this - with great trauma comes great vigilantism - but it also makes it a bit difficult to feel overly sympathetic to a traumatized character, especially in an episode that featured another character getting a bomb put in his head. 

Add in the whole "I failed my mission!" Emiko, you're in the mission. Identifying the wrong bad guy once doesn't end the mission. What sort of vigilante are you?

Anyway, I guess my rambling point here is that I'm willing to see if the actress improves, but this wasn't a great foundation for her.

[way2interested]

Oliver drew a really good sketch of the evil Doctor and the Moniter during the crossover after they saw a vision of them talking

[tv echo]

Okay, for better or worse, we're stuck with 710 as part of show canon now. So what have we learned? Well, a bunch of new names for one thing...

In addition to the Mark of Four, we now have:

• The Archer Program - probably developed by Felicity.
• Kevin Dale - Glades Mayor Rene Ramirez's slimy co-conspirator in the flashforwards (full name courtesy of IMDb, played by actor Raj Paul). Incidentally, also according to IMDb, this actor is 6'5".
• Kazumi Adachi - Emiko's mom.

Also, we learn that the Mark of Four tattoo pact didn't include Curtis, but we still don't know what happened to Oliver and Diggle in the future.

Older Dinah (showing her Mark of Four tattoo to Older Rene): "We made a promise to always keep fighting, to be there for each other no matter what. All of us - you, me, Roy, Diggle, Oliver, and Felicity. We owe her this." 

In the present day, NTA 2.0 is comprised of Emiko, Rene and Curtis. My reaction ranges from 'yawn' to 'meh' with a stop in between at 'ugh.'

This episode contained dialogue lines that made no sense. For example, Robert Queen shot himself in the head so that his son would live. Yet the writers have Oliver say this about his father in this episode: "How am I supposed to believe that he's ever loved anybody but himself?" Well, Oliver, I think that sacrificing himself for you was a good sign that he loved you, at least.

Also, after finding Robert's old letter to Walter Steele, why didn't Oliver go talk to Walter? Last I heard, he is still in Star City. Even if the actor was unavailable, Oliver could've had a phone conversation with him.

The unnamed CSI tech gal who yelled at Oliver for disturbing the crime scene is played by actress Mariessa Portelance. If she was hoping to pull an EBR and parlay her one-off appearance into a regular role on Arrow, she'll be disappointed. Her character was annoying and her acting was terrible. I even wondered if maybe she was the winner of some fan contest for a speaking cameo on Arrow.

Oliver has a secret sister! Robert Queen had a second family! More Queen family secrets are revealed! Now I'm waiting to hear all the complaints that Arrow is becoming too much of a soap opera ... (*crickets*) ... Still waiting...

Edited January 22, 2019 by tv echo

[quarks]

7 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

(BTW, why did they change the official name from Task Force X to "Ghost Initiative" or whatever name Diggle gave it?)

I'm going to guess licensing/not wanting to shell out money to comics people reasons.

[insomniadreams88]

Something that confused me is I thought that the men Dinah took down in her future intro were SCPD, but didn't Zoe ask Rene to give the SCPD access to the Archer Program in this episode? So who were those men Dinah took down? Security? Or am I misremembering something? 

[bijoux]

5 minutes ago, way2interested said:

Oliver drew a really good sketch of the evil Doctor and the Moniter during the crossover after they saw a vision of them talking

Oh, I didn’t know that. I still haven’t watched this year’s crossover aside from some scenes I found on Youtube.

4 minutes ago, tv echo said:

 

Also, after finding Robert's old letter to Walter Steele, why didn't Oliver go talk to Walter? Last I heard, he is still in Star City. Even if the actor was unavailable, Oliver could've had a phone conversation with him.

While I’m all for Walter showing up, would a talk with him have made a difference? The letter was in a warehouse paid by Moira. I assumed he never got it. Moira Queen, the ultimate WASP hoarder. Get rid of the evidence, dude!

[BkWurm1]

2 minutes ago, insomniadreams88 said:

Something that confused me is I thought that the men Dinah took down in her future intro were SCPD, but didn't Zoe ask Rene to give the SCPD access to the Archer Program in this episode? So who were those men Dinah took down? Security? Or am I misremembering something? 

I don't think she wanted Rene to give SCPD access but give her access so that they could save Star City.  

Quote

Kevin Dale - Glades Mayor Rene Ramirez's slimy co-conspirator in the flashforwards 

I'm not sure why, but I find the name Kevin to be one of the least intimidating bad guy names. Oh no here comes Kevin!  Yeah, it sounds weird.  

12 minutes ago, way2interested said:

Oliver drew a really good sketch of the evil Doctor and the Moniter during the crossover after they saw a vision of them talking

I feel like we've seen evidence of this before as well but I'll still take it.  

[way2interested]

3 minutes ago, tv echo said:

This episode contained dialogue lines that made no sense. For example, Robert Queen shot himself in the head so that his son would live. Yet the writers have Oliver say this about his father in this episode: "How am I supposed to believe that he's ever loved anybody but himself?" Well, Oliver, I think that sacrificing himself for you was a good sign that he loved you, at least.

They did address this/set this up in 704. The idea that although Robert shot himself so Oliver would live that it wasn't so Oliver could live but so Oliver could "right his wrongs," so was it the ultimate right thing to do or not (countered to Oliver when hallucinating himself in the same position, did the same action but did not put a burden on William and told him to "live"), since it basically sent Oliver down into an existential crisis for the last 10 or so years. So confronted with that and more information that Robert wanted other people to fix his problems is what Oliver's whole issue is.  

5 minutes ago, insomniadreams88 said:

Something that confused me is I thought that the men Dinah took down in her future intro were SCPD, but didn't Zoe ask Rene to give the SCPD access to the Archer Program in this episode? So who were those men Dinah took down? Security? Or am I misremembering something? 

She didn't ask for SCPD to give them access, I don't think.

[tv echo]

3 minutes ago, bijoux said:

While I’m all for Walter showing up, would a talk with him have made a difference? The letter was in a warehouse paid by Moira. I assumed he never got it. Moira Queen, the ultimate WASP hoarder. Get rid of the evidence, dude!

We don't know that Walter never got the letter. He might have received it and then shared it with Moira. Or Robert never sent it. Or Moira intercepted it. Walter could've provided some enlightenment on this question. Walter might also have provided information as to any conversations with Moira and/or Robert as to what happened to cause Robert to abandon Emiko and her mother. Right now, all Oliver has is an old letter with no context. 

[Lady Calypso]

I think this is truly the beginning of the end for me with this series. I tried, I really tried, but with this episode showcasing where they're probably going with the series (possibly sans Oliver after next season, which is why we keep getting the new characters shoved in our faces), I simply am holding on for a little bit longer. It's really damn hard, though, when 85% of the episode was pointless for me to watch. 

I'm going to assume the reason for less Oliver is because of Stephen possibly still filming the crossover at this point. Still, Stephen brought in some excellent work this episode, so even if his plot was the D plot of the episode, it was still the best out of all the plots. Felicity being a supportive wife was nice. I did like their scenes and I did chuckle at Oliver being so surprised that his father was...*gasp*....a liar! 

I don't understand why Diaz is still a thing. Sure, he doesn't infuriate me as much as Dinah does nowadays, but his character serves no purpose anymore (did he ever?). And them pretending he's some big powerful villain is laughable. Plus, still can't understand a word he says. I wish I believed that he'd be blown up, but I feel like there will be contrived drama where he claws the bomb out of his head just as it's about to be used on him. Why? Because I can't have a nice vision of Diaz's head blowing right off with Oliver and Felicity pushing the trigger. 

The flashforwards are so, so, so bad. Some shows can pull off flashforwards. Arrow is not one of these shows. The only good part of the flashforward here was Rene and Dinah being at odds. Rene's annoyance by Dinah was perfect...until they ruined it with the show blatantly being on Dinah's side and making it clear that we're not supposed to be on Rene's side (due to the "twist" at the end with Rene's right hand man being related to Felicity's death). I disliked the last Dinah/Zoe scene because of Dinah's smugness. 

Also, a good part to the flashforwards is the heavy implication that Curtis is dead. I don't see why Roy would be part of the Promise Mark and not Curtis if it wasn't because of Curtis being dead. We know they didn't simply forget to include his name since Curtis appeared in the present day scenes a couple of minutes later. 

Lots of Emiko and a lot of Rene/Emiko, which I can see the show gravitating toward. Meh. I do like Rene the most out of NTA at this point, but it doesn't mean I want him to be the focus. The issue with Emiko is that she's just a rehashed season 1 Oliver. There's absolutely no difference other than a gender swap. Come up with a better arc, show. Stop reusing stories. At least the secret came out fairly quickly, so that's a plus. 

[BkWurm1]

2 minutes ago, tv echo said:

We don't know that Walter never got the letter. He might have received it and then shared it with Moira. Or Robert never sent it. Or Moira intercepted it. Walter could've provided some enlightenment on this question. Walter might also have provided information as to any conversations with Moira and/or Robert as to what happened to cause Robert to abandon Emiko and her mother. Right now, all Oliver has is an old letter with no context. 

If they hadn't gone on and on about how Moira made Robert give up his extra family, I wouldn't have been sure Moira had ever seen the letter.  Felicity was looking through a box that had Oliver's (I assume) year book and childhood pictures.  My first guess was that after the Gambit went down, she had all the misc stuff from Robert and Oliver packed up and sent to storage.  (Which is slightly contradicted by the fact she'd kept Oliver's room untouched).  If that was the case, she might never have known about it.  I really don't get why she'd have paid for the storage unit full of her children's momentos from a secret offshore account.  Maybe they should go through the rest of those boxes carefully.   

[Soulfire]

Sorry for being late.

 

 

 

 

[kickingnames]

Is this the first episode with Felicity in these new glasses, or have I just not been paying attention?

[apinknightmare]

3 minutes ago, kickingnames said:

Is this the first episode with Felicity in these new glasses, or have I just not been paying attention?

She's had them since the beginning of the season.

[SmallScreenDiva]

Admittedly I fast-forwarded through a bunch of stuff so I might have missed the part where Oliver and Felicity worked on their marriage per the summary?

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, SmallScreenDiva said:

Admittedly I fast-forwarded through a bunch of stuff so I might have missed the part where Oliver and Felicity worked on their marriage per the summary?

I think the synopsis fucked up, like they did with an earlier episode that said Curtis was going undercover, but that didn't happen until the following week. So mebbe we get the focus on marriage next week?

[kickingnames]

1 hour ago, apinknightmare said:

She's had them since the beginning of the season.

Thanks — I have no idea why I didn’t notice before now.

I take that back; I sort of know why. In the premiere I assumed they were part of her witsec disguise, and then that she hadn’t gone back to the others because she was just so focused on getting her husband home. Apparently I should have recognized that the glasses are representative of her mental state — those other glasses reflect the woman she was before her husband went to prison, and she refuses to be that woman anymore, so she’d definitely keep the new glasses.

Anyway, it probably says something about how riveting this episode was when it finally allows me to notice something that changed at the beginning of the season.

Edited January 22, 2019 by kickingnames
Wait, no, I was wrong

[Mellowyellow]

@Soulfire so happy to see you back!!! 🤗😘 

I thought the show had finally annoyed you so much you quit!

[Soulfire]

49 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

@Soulfire so happy to see you back!!! 🤗😘 

I thought the show had finally annoyed you so much you quit!

🤗 I haven't quit (yet). 

Edited January 22, 2019 by Soulfire

[Kymmi]

The show really bored me, so I might have missed this - but what is the reason for Emiko to wear the exact same outfit as Oliver? I should know better than to watch the shows after the winter hiatus. They're such a bummer.

[bijoux]

Felicity floated the idea that it was Emiko's way of reaching out to Oliver, either consciously or subconsciously. It's best bet so far. 

[AnimeMania]

22 hours ago, JamieLynn832002 said:

I don't think Emiko understands how a mask works (of course, since there's apparently no record of her despite being born and raised in Star City maybe she doesn't need to worry about being identified.) She changed the mask in 708, before it covered the lower half of her face so we wouldn't realize she was a woman, but I don't know about the rest of the costume.

This really bothered me that she lived in Star City yet doesn't have any paper trail, didn't Emiko go to school or did she spend all her time practicing archery.

The other thing that bothered me was the Security Guards were doing their rounds carrying flashlights, inside of a building! Don't make your building so dark that the security guards can't see what they are guarding or if anybody else is in the building. Do indoor security guards really walk around patrolling with flashlights?

[thuganomics85]

Just got around to this and... it was something, I guess.

I'm assuming this was around the crossover time, which would explain why it was so Oliver (and Felicity) lite, but even then, it just strangely feels like the show is prepping for the possibility of Oliver/Stephen Amell leaving soon.  They keep ramping up the "importance" of both Dinah and Rene, introduce this Emiko character will all of early S1 voiceovers and mission, and even jokingly hint at Curtis being her and Rene's "Felicity" (Heaven help the show and every viewer ever if that happens!)  Meanwhile, Original Team Arrow is mainly on the sideline (except Diggle, which... we will totally address that later), and don't even factor into the flash forwards, outside of being name-dropped.  Again, maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but I don't know.  It just feels like they're testing the waters for this change and I do not see it working at all.

That said, maybe I'm just in a more lenient mood, but I actually didn't think the Emiko actress was that bad.  Definitely some rough moments, but I thought she had a few bits where she showed potential.  I think the main issues were the writing and pairing her off with Rene, which just doesn't work (probably because Rene seems so infatuated with here that I honestly wonder if this is heading down a romantic route), since I don't really care about their bond and all that shit, especially compared to the history with her and Oliver.  Even though they only met right at the very end, I already felt like she suddenly became more interesting opposite of Oliver/Stephen Amell.

I could write a whole paragraph over how stupid the flash forward is (it is actually making me miss the wacky hijinks on the island during S4, complete with magic, possessed mercenaries, and Taiana and her bizarre accent), but all I can say is nothing will top Rene's awful hairpiece!

And then there is everything involving ARGUS.  Yeah, at this point, I don't care what the official reasoning will be (which I'm going to assume will be pulled out of the writers' asses like always), but Original Diggle is either dead or missing, and this Diggle we see here is an imposter.  With the added bonus of being an emotionless one since David Ramsey seems to have checked out this season (can't blame at all.)  So, new he's basically backed Lyla into a corner and is making her reform the Suicide Squad again, with Diaz as their first member.  Yippee!  I would so love it if in the next episode, Diaz fucks up and starts monologuing, only for Lyla to just blow his head off without blinking an eye, kindly inform Diggle he's sleeping on the couch for two years, and just walks away.

Finally, this episode reminded me out much I miss Walter.  Come back, Walter!  Actually, don't.  Knowing this show, they'll just write you out of character and probably kill you for good measure, since they love to have every bad thing possible pile on top of poor Oliver.

[Cthulhudrew]

Just to play Devil's advocate to all the Dig bashing, can we really fault the guy for pushing a narrative that ends up with ARGUS sticking a bomb in Diaz? When mushmouth's head goes all "kaboom!" you will all be singing the praises for Diggle's out of character actions, I promise you! :)

 

(But for real, I wish they would stop writing his character all over the place. This is what happens when you replace Waller with two essentially good people in ARGUS. You have no justification for sticking Diaz in the Suicide Squad.)

[ladylaw99]

I binged watched the last 6 seasons with my son during winter break so that we could watch Arrow live together.  It's interesting watching this show with him because he sees things more open minded than I do.

He didn't like this episode but had a hoot reading the comments on the live thread with me.  

He hopes the episodes get back on track with Oliver.  Oliver is his favorite character because he is so flawed.  One thing he mentioned to me was he hopes Felicity can give him some insight to the abandonment issue because she was abandon by her father at such a young age.  I told him this is Arrow and not to hold his breath, lol.