So, spoilers (from a promo I can't find, but definitely legit because it's from a screenshot) for next week:

Spoiler

Roy is going to get injected with Miracle.

 

Alright, first off - come on, people. Really? You have that little faith in Slade? He's a fucking beast.

Okay, so predictions? Slade lives. Remember when Olliver is about to go fight super-charged dude and both Felicity and Diggle are like, "this guy could kill you," and Ollie says, "Nah, bro, I've got this. I've beaten one of them before, I can do it again" Well, he's gotta be talking about Slade.

Secondly, the episode? Awesomesauce. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that the super-charged dude just let Ollie live. Seriously? What's wrong with villains these days? If I was a villain, I would have gone over there and snapped his neck, then put two in his chest and one in his head just for safe measure. That bothers me.

Oh, and Felicity: You know better than to settle, girl.

 

Slight spoilers, but in the promo for the next episode Blood says that it's time Oliver joined him. So I assume he told his superpowered henchman (his name is Cyrus Gold by the way) not to kill the vigilante if he ran into him, which was fairly likely.

That or he figured the double dose of a drug that's been fatal in most cases was enough, but I prefer the first explanation because it seems much less incompetent than the alternative.

 

I sort of wondered if that's what it was about. I guess that makes sense, but it's still sort of a cop out. But yeah, the first would be a lot preferable.

 

Thing is, is it really possible for Island Oliver to beat vanilla Slade let alone a super powered Slade? I think most probably it will be the new captain of Amazo or one of the prisoners that Ollie beats.

Ha, Solomon Grundy's real name is Cyrus Gold. Is he already dead here? I remember him saying something about Blood saving his life or something.

 

Currently, I'd say Island Ollie couldn't realistically beat Slade, but after a couple more years? Certainly. I think be was referring primarily to If Ivo's soldiers, though.

 

It's my one complaint about the entire series. Everything moves so fast. The trial should've lasted at least 2/3rds of the season for it to even feel real. Barry should've been in a couple of shows before the trust between Felicity and Barry happens. etc. etc. Like I said, the pacing is my one main complaint, it's just a bit too fast to keep the suspension of disbelief firmly in place.

 

I don't completely disagree, but I also don't agree with that. The pacing is definitely fast - almost certainly too fast, for that matter - but the trial taking up that much of the season (which would be fifteen episodes, mind) would cause it to drag like fucking crazy. There are more important plots to worry about, even on Moira's end.

 

They forced the Felicity/Barry thing as to make us care enough about Barry to watch his spin-off. The idea being if fan-favorite Felicity cares about him then maybe the audience will too.

It did feel forced, especially when she got upset at Oliver for calling out Barry on his lies. Oliver was in the right, all he knew was that Barry lied about his superiors sending him there and having a similar case in Central City. Not to mention the amount of knowledge Barry had about the robbery.

I also didn't care for Moira's storyline. Her showing up at the company was just plain stupid, and throwing a party for her the moment she got free... How did anyone expect any guests to show up? It felt like I was supposed to feel sorry for her, but I really didn't.

The stupidity of that whole plot had me sympathizing with Isobel.

 

Honestly I think the Felicity thing was done for two reasons:

1) To establish a reason - any reason - for her to realistically think dragging Barry to the base when Ollie gets fucked up is a good idea.
2) Melodrama. During season 1, the show thrived on relationship melodrama, and that clearly hasn't gone anywhere, even if it's between more likeable characters now (not Laurel.)

 

Which actually reminds me... was Laurel in this episode at all? I honestly don't even remember a single scene with her in it - that may also have added to my enjoyment of the epi

 

Olliver wasn't dosed with Brother Blood's serum, was he? He got injected with the Ketamine, presumably.

 

No clue, wasn't very clear. I also wasn't sure if he was injected on purpose or if he simply was thrown so hard into the storage boxes that he broke them open and was accidentally injected in the leg by what was inside.

 

:facepalm I totally didn't consider the ketamine. I just saw the syringes and my mind went straight to the serum. I've pretty much forgotten by now but were the syringes the same type that Blood was using? That might have been why I was confused.

 

If it was an accidental injection, it would make sense if it was ketamine. That's what was being stored there.

 

Just rewatched the scene, and it was definitely accidental. He gets punched into a shelf full of supplies, Cyrus walks away, and next thing we see he's lying there with two needles sticking out of his leg. Given Ketamine was what was being stored there, I'm honestly leaning strongly towards that explanation. If nothing else, I don't think it would be a good idea to give GA superpowers.

 

They might be doing Roy's drugs arc from the comics.

 

Alright, someone needs to explain the Laurel hate. Is it based on the comic books? Frankly, I've enjoyed her character, and also enjoyed um . . . watching the actress play her character.

---------- Post automerged at 09:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 PM ----------

True, though the trial itself could've only taken up three or so episodes. Even for someone as famous as she is, murder trials take forever to actually get to court. So they could've just built the plot around her in jail.

Thinking more about it, Moira's an interesting character. They definitely haven't cast her as likable, or even someone a person can identify with, but there's always just enough to keep her from being thoroughly disliked as well. Writers are walking a fine line with her, IMO, and doing a decent job, so far. Though this last episode has me wondering a bit.

 

Not really. In the comics, Laurel is the middle name of Dinah Laurel Lance, or the Black Canary, which would be Sara here.

I don't particularly like her, myself. She seems really irrelevant to the Green Arrow, even if she's relevant to Oliver. Her complete flip of opinion after the Undertaking didn't really help her already bad position, even if she was very emotionally distraught after Tommy.

Anyway, does Merlyn seem like a figment of Moira's imagination to anyone else? There were a few things against it, but that was the vibe I was getting the whole time. And the fact that the Undertaking went against the League's code was kinda funny, given the city-slaying super terrorist of Batman Begins.

 

I didn't mind Laurel for a lot of Season 1, but in Season 2 she's really annoying. Her actions and justifications are irrational, every time she blames the Archer for something stupid I just want to punch her - something her dad actually brings up to her, so props on the show for calling her out on that. At the end of the day, I just don't find her a compelling enough character to matter, which is disappointing given she's supposed to be the primary romantic interest. The indications that she will eventually replace Sarah, whom I find to be a better character overall, don't help either.