Spoilers Arrow - Season 4

[The Old Mixer]

The subplot about Felicity's ditzy mom got tiresome five seconds before the character appeared.

I'm guessing that all these people with Boris & Natasha accents are going to be Ollie's ticket into the Russian Mafia.

 

[Commander Richard]

Entertainment Weekly: Mama Smoak (Charlotte Ross) is returning. There are a lot of fans who want to see Lance and Donna together. Is there any chance of that happening?

Paul Blackthorne: If there’s one man in the DC comic book universe that needs to get laid, it’s Lance. Let’s face it. #GetLanceLaid If that turns out the way it does, I think it’s a hilarious pairing. To go from Dinah (Alex Kingston) to Donna is quite the contrast and not something that Lance would be expecting himself to react to, but of course, once that woman walks into the room, I think any man is going to have a reaction, notwithstanding Lance. It’s an interesting combination, the two of them together, it’s a big of an odd pairing. But as long as it ends up with Lance getting laid, I’d be very, very happy about it. Or Lance would be happy about it.

Source

Old but relevant... Could Captain Lance Find Romance with Felicity's Mom?

 

[Gryffindorian]

It was good to see Donna Smoak again. While I could understand why Felicity felt guilty for not being able to help Ray sooner, her questioning her own relationship with Oliver seemed misplaced. At least her mother was able to enlighten her.

Happy to see Ray back. Brandon Routh just looked a tad hotter tonight.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Therefore felicity becomes Quentin's step daughter, therefore Sarah and Dinah's sister, and therefore Oliver Queen's penis will destroy her life like has happened to all of Quentin's other daughters before Felicity.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

So Dig's codename for this week's mission is Spartan. Think that's a one-off or it will actually stick around?

 

[Sketcher]

So Dig's codename for this week's mission is Spartan. Think that's a one-off or it will actually stick around?

I could see it sticking. His helmet's design is fairly reminiscent of a Spartan helmet.

 

[Dick Whitman]

So Dig's codename for this week's mission is Spartan. Think that's a one-off or it will actually stick around?

I could see it sticking. His helmet's design is fairly reminiscent of a Spartan helmet.

Good catch. I never thought of that connection. Watching the episode I thought the name was kind of random. I actually wish his mask did look closer to a Spartan helmet. It still does not work for me. It looks to small for his face. Having it longer at the bottom with a nose guard like a Spartan helmet would be a huge improvement. It would also stop the Magneto comparisons.

 

[Christopher]

I feel things are just getting too cluttered now. There are too many subplots for any one of them to get the attention it deserves. Hopefully once Legends is underway and can take over its characters' story arcs, Arrow and The Flash will be able to focus more tightly on their own.

And they're being far too blase about Sara going around beating and killing guards, as they were with Thea before. Not to mention how cavalier they were about stealing that component from Kord Industries. Couldn't they have thought of a less illegal option to try first? Like, see if the STAR Labs gang could cook up a substitute component, or have Lance try to talk the Kord people into volunteering it? I mean, I hear Ted Kord's a pretty decent guy. True blue, even.

And Star City's on the West Coast now? Since when? I thought we saw a map a while back suggesting a Midwestern location.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Star City's real world counterpart is Seattle, or has been for quite a while, even though it's filmed in Vancouver. Amell said as much at the Seattle Comic Con a while back. Anyway, they've shown Star City as being a seaport town any number of times. It's where the Queen's Gambit was docked, after all.

 

[Dick Whitman]

The show itself has been inconsistent with where Star City is. But usually in the comics its been on the West Coast.

Its the only thing that makes sense considering the Queen's Gambit left port and ended up near an island in the North China Sea.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

DC's geography has always been painted in very broad strokes. Generally speaking, it breaks down like this:

West Coast: Star City, Coast City, Gateway City
Midwest: Central City (although on television it's coastal), Keystone City, Midway City, Hub City, Blue Valley, Smallville.
Deep South: Saint Roch
Mid-Atlantic: Leesburg
Northeast: Metropolis, Gotham, Bludhaven, Opal City, Ivy Town.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Midwest: Central City (although on television it's coastal),

I am not 100% convinced of that. I am aware many assume Central City was on a coast due to the tidal wave Weather Wizard created. But if you closely watch the scenes with Mark Mardon and Joe on the boat there was a shoreline in the distance behind them. While the wave went the other direction towards the Flash. In multiple episodes we have seen a river runs through the center of the establishing shots of the city. That opens up into a bay or lake in the distance.

They are trying to vague as possible in its location. But I don't think its a coastal city. Otherwise they would not always show that river dividing it.

 

[JD]

I was happy to see Ray back.
I think The Flash and Arrow have spent almost as much time this season setting up Legends of Tomorrow as they have on their own stories. I don't mind, and I think they've managed to work it in fairly well, but it's definitely noticeable if you know what coming.
I like Spartan for Dig's code name. They did say he'd be getting one this season, so I'm thinking it will probably stick around.
I'm glad they didn't focus to much on Sarah losing it while they were at Kord Industries. We just got that story with Thea, and I was not wanting to see it repeated so soon.
I do agree with Christopher about them jumping right to stealing the piece for the enlarging device. I understand they opperate outside the law, but you'd think they could have given at least a little bit more time to some other options.
I'm really not sure what to make of Det. Lance, and Felicity's mom.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I'm surprised no one has made the Spartan connection yet. Maybe it's a 90s thing, but to me it instantly jumped out that John Spartan = Demolition Man. As such, I'm not REALLY sure it's something that will stick - if for no other reason that the DC licensing folks would have a field day clearing the naming rights.

This episode was really very busy on a lot of fronts - so much so that I'm wondering if it would have been better suited as a two-parter, or at least to separate out some of the plots into two different episodes. It wasn't overly rushed, but I felt that so much of it could have used more room to develop. It may be that they've bitten off a bit too much to chew on and the result is an episode like this where not everything is, well, digested as it should be.

The flipside of this sort of storytelling this season is that between their own story and setting up Legends, there is basically no room for one-off episodes. This is a good thing too, as we would cast off standalone plots in favor of EVERY episode building towards one plot arc or another. So far, both shows have managed to keep all of the plots entertaining enough AND separate enough that it doesn't drag the whole down.

Mark

 

[Marc]

I'm surprised no one has made the Spartan connection yet. Maybe it's a 90s thing, but to me it instantly jumped out that John Spartan = Demolition Man. As such, I'm not REALLY sure it's something that will stick - if for no other reason that the DC licensing folks would have a field day clearing the naming rights.
Mark

Or maybe Digg simply has a laconic sense of humour

 

[Dick Whitman]

Actually I discovered DC already has a completely unrelated character named Spartan. From Jim Lee's Wildstorm team WildCATS.

Beyond that they will have no legal clearance issues at all. I do not think it has any connection to Demolition Man. Spartans is a historical name. There would only be an issue is a competitor like Marvel has a major superhero already with that same name. They don't.

 

[Christopher]

I'm surprised no one has made the Spartan connection yet. Maybe it's a 90s thing, but to me it instantly jumped out that John Spartan = Demolition Man. As such, I'm not REALLY sure it's something that will stick - if for no other reason that the DC licensing folks would have a field day clearing the naming rights.

I thought of that too, but there's no reason to assume that was their intent. John is a very common name, after all. And nothing about Diggle has anything to do with time travel. Clearly the intended reference was to the ancient Spartans and their reputation as great, stoic warriors in helmets.

By the way, there is a Spartan in DC Comics, originally created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee for Wildstorm's WildC.A.T.S. in the '90s. But he's a Kherubim alien named Yohn Kohl -- although he has used John Colt as an alias. And instead of a helmet, he wore one of those weird Jim Lee-style cowls that wrap around the head but leave the hair uncovered on top.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Hum, all fair reasoning - and didn't know we already had a (completely unrelated of course) Spartan guy in the DC verse. I'd be more concerned at that point that they'd simply let Felicity randomly assign him a name with no context besides arguably his helmet design... OTOH, Diggle doesn't care much at all to even have one, so just arbitrarily giving him a code name seems to work somehow.

Speaking of, did anyone find it odd that where everyone seemed to HAVE a code name, everyone was so quick to shout out "SARA!!!!" on multiple occasions within earshot of who knows how many people?! I mean sure, they didn't call her by any "Canary" moniker, but...

Mark

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Midwest: Central City (although on television it's coastal),

I am not 100% convinced of that. I am aware many assume Central City was on a coast due to the tidal wave Weather Wizard created. But if you closely watch the scenes with Mark Mardon and Joe on the boat there was a shoreline in the distance behind them. While the wave went the other direction towards the Flash. In multiple episodes we have seen a river runs through the center of the establishing shots of the city. That opens up into a bay or lake in the distance.

They are trying to vague as possible in its location. But I don't think its a coastal city. Otherwise they would not always show that river dividing it.

Vancouver has a very rugged and irregular coastline, surrounded by inlets, bays, bridges, harbors, and islands. Those are what you're seeing in the location shots. In the comics, Central City is in Ohio. What they're showing on TV ain't Ohio (no more than Smallville being in Kansas when it looked exactly like British Columbia). Regardless, in the Arrowverse, Central and Star Cities are an easy train-ride's distance from each other, hence their characters visiting each other's shows all the time.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

...To say nothing of both cities sharing Iron Heights Prison (I know it's supposed to be near Keystone City), in sets and prison uniforms, despite the facility being within visual distance of Papa Allen seeing a giant wormhole in the sky.

Mark