Spoilers Arrow - Season 6

[Christopher]

Pretty sure that the happy Superman on TV was in direct contrast to the movie version, and a response to all of the critical complaints about the angsty Superman in the movies.

Yes, but the point is, that was the decision Supergirl's producers made as a reaction against the movie version, not a dictate handed down by the movie division as a trial balloon for future movies. Just because they all work for the same corporation doesn't mean all creative decisions come from a single source. The whole reason they hire multiple creative teams is so that a single source doesn't have to do all the creating.

 

[dahj]

So... are you Team Arrow or Team Canary?

 

[Romulan_spy]

So... are you Team Arrow or Team Canary?

I'm Team Arrow!

 

[Christopher]

I think the new team should be called the Terrific Trio, just for the alliteration. Curtis is the one with the most seniority, so it kind of makes sense.

I hope next week doesn't have the two teams getting in each other's way because they failed to communicate or share intel. That would be pretty foolish of them -- kind of like, say, failing to sweep the Bunker for bugs after the bad guys invaded it. That's the sort of thing they should be doing on a routine basis anyway.

Interesting that they brought the Bertinelli family back into play and alluded to the Huntress a couple of times. I hope that means they're setting up a return appearance by Helena.

It's kind of weird that Oliver Queen and Barry Allen are both under indictment for murder at the same time and nobody on either team has remarked on it. I mean, they were getting married together just last month, so you'd think they'd keep closer tabs on each other's situations. It's also odd that Barry's trial got underway so much faster than Oliver's. Although that's kind of fitting for the Flash...

 

[dahj]

Another thing that Flash and Arrow have in common is a very shoddy setup for the status quo the writers wanted. The Flash had a really forced trial, and Arrow had some really forced drama to split the team.

Nevertheless I enjoyed this episode, way more than the winter finale, I'm glad that the criminal conspiracy was revealed to everybody so we don't spend weeks being ahead of the teams, and I'm curious to see how the teams will play off against each other.

The fight scenes were pretty neat, though the cameraman in that long take one seriously needs one of those tremor-stopping implants that Curtis and Felicity invented.

Also, any episode with Thea is automatically better.

This would indeed be an excellent cue to have the Huntress return to exact some revenge and maybe form a temporary alliance with one of the teams.

Oh, and the line "Vigilantes are criminals", spoken by a guy called Vigilante who previously fought criminals to justify teaming up with some criminals to fight other vigilantes is one of the most autoironic lines in the history of television.

 

[Christopher]

The fight scenes were pretty neat, though the cameraman in that long take one seriously needs one of those tremor-stopping implants that Curtis and Felicity invented.

Steadicams have been around since 1975. And these days there's digital image stabilization as well. If the camera was shaky, it was a deliberate stylistic choice.

 

[Snaploud]

It's kind of weird that Oliver Queen and Barry Allen are both under indictment for murder at the same time

Coincidence...? Well...yes, probably...but it would be funny if these events were part of a larger conspiracy to get all the superheroes behind bars.

 

[The Realist]

Also, any episode with Thea is automatically better.

Agreed in principle, but regrettably she just doesn't seem to have much of a role on the show anymore. Like last night, she just wanders randomly into a couple of scenes, says a couple of things that don't really matter much, and wanders back out again. (Has anybody ever figured out why her role and appearances have been so drastically reduced?)

 

[Christopher]

Coincidence...? Well...yes, probably...but it would be funny if these events were part of a larger conspiracy to get all the superheroes behind bars.

Well, they aren't exactly the same sort of thing... Oliver is under indictment for past homicides he actually did commit as the Hood/Arrow, while Barry was convicted for a murder he didn't commit (and he must let the world think that he is dead until -- whoops, wrong superhero).

I have to say, though, I'm getting a little tired of Arrow's philosophy that you can make amends for murdering people just by deciding not to do it anymore. Objectively speaking, Oliver did commit homicide and should go to jail for it. So did Dinah, twice in her debut episode, which makes it kind of hypocritical for her to be a police detective now. And just last night, the same standard cropped up with Vince-gilante -- he boasted to Dinah about how he wasn't killing bad guys anymore as if it were just some nasty habit that he'd broken, like quitting smoking or going on a diet.

 

[tomalak301]

The only thing good about this episode was I'm glad things didn't return to the status quo. I am getting tired of Cayden James though, which isn't a good thing midseason.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Agreed in principle, but regrettably she just doesn't seem to have much of a role on the show anymore. Like last night, she just wanders randomly into a couple of scenes, says a couple of things that don't really matter much, and wanders back out again. (Has anybody ever figured out why her role and appearances have been so drastically reduced?)

this is all I could find about that:
https://www.cinemablend.com/televis...n-on-arrow-way-less-according-to-one-producer

Everyone's, like, 'where's Thea?' Well, Willa's [in] 14 out of 23 episodes this year. She's not in all 23. That's not her contract. So we've had to write around that... It's complicated. We try to make the process invisible in terms of our storytelling, but there are just human realities and contractual realities that not only tie our hands, but tie the hands of everyone running a show these days.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Katrina Law Returns to ‘Arrow’

 

[Christopher]

Well, last week I said:

I hope next week doesn't have the two teams getting in each other's way because they failed to communicate or share intel.

And, yay, I got what I wanted. The teams were smart about sharing information and cooperating for their common goal. They weren't entirely free of drama, but they were smart and professional enough not to let it get in the way of their responsibilities. I like it when characters are smart rather than being childish and stupid for the sake of contrived conflict.

Man, Black Canary using her Canary Cry to stop that oncoming train was utterly badass. Although I'm pretty sure sound does not actually work that way. And wouldn't it have been easier to use her Canary Cry to force the stuck switch lever...?

Vigilante being undercover does explain the paradox of why someone with a vendetta against criminals would be working alongside them. I should've thought of that, knowing that Vince was an undercover cop, but I didn't make the connection.

If Cayden is only doing all this because someone made him think GA killed his son, that means he's not the ultimate big bad of the season. There's someone bigger manipulating him. Could it be Talia? She failed to get Oliver using Prometheus, so now she's trying again with Cayden?

Nice to see William stepping up and being heroic in getting the other kids to safety. I was thinking that experience might be a factor in getting him to come to terms with Oliver being GA again, but the script didn't make a specific connection there.

I guess Ollie going back to the hood full-time was the inevitable long-term outcome, but I'm disappointed for John. He really wants to be the Green Arrow, not just Spartan -- even with a cool new Cisco-designed costume.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Well, last week I said:


And, yay, I got what I wanted. The teams were smart about sharing information and cooperating for their common goal. They weren't entirely free of drama, but they were smart and professional enough not to let it get in the way of their responsibilities. I like it when characters are smart rather than being childish and stupid for the sake of contrived conflict.

I agree.

And liked the Outsiders reference...perhaps setting up in/when Arrow ends its run, that Black Lightning will wind up being a part of Earth 1, and lead the Outsiders...at least from time to time.

Man, Black Canary using her Canary Cry to stop that oncoming train was utterly badass. Although I'm pretty sure sound does not actually work that way. And wouldn't it have been easier to use her Canary Cry to force the stuck switch lever...?

I am guessing that such a move would have broke the lever, and wasted precious time.

Though i am wondering if that move killed or hurt the driver of the train. In Chicago, that cabin is very small, and would have been possibly crushed or trapped.

However, cool new use.

Tangent - i still think Dinah should use a blond wig. It would make more sense for the future...

Vigilante being undercover does explain the paradox of why someone with a vendetta against criminals would be working alongside them. I should've thought of that, knowing that Vince was an undercover cop, but I didn't make the connection.

If Cayden is only doing all this because someone made him think GA killed his son, that means he's not the ultimate big bad of the season. There's someone bigger manipulating him. Could it be Talia? She failed to get Oliver using Prometheus, so now she's trying again with Cayden?

I wonder if it was one of those failsafes from Prometheus...JUST IN CASE he might have failed. Merlyn doesn't have any reason, why, right?

Someone just posted that Katrina Law is guest starrring later... sounds like she might be the mastermind, and set that up.

Nice to see William stepping up and being heroic in getting the other kids to safety. I was thinking that experience might be a factor in getting him to come to terms with Oliver being GA again, but the script didn't make a specific connection there.

In terms of the actions, it was great...but that scene kinda showed the skills of the actor don't seem so great (as opposed to say David Masouz on Gotham)

I guess Ollie going back to the hood full-time was the inevitable long-term outcome, but I'm disappointed for John. He really wants to be the Green Arrow, not just Spartan -- even with a cool new Cisco-designed costume.

I wonder if the are going to eventually sub in Green Lantern's story for Green Arrow's (kinda like Arrow being the lower budget TV version of Batman. If they introduce a Guy Gardener like Arrow

I still hold out hope that Diggle will be a version of Green Lantern. We shall see.

 

[SAndrews10]

I loved that Cayden's alias to visit Ollie was Ben Gale, a combination of the two names he used on LOST Benjamin Linus and Henry Gale

 

[Christopher]

I wish he'd used a fake surname that was the name of a species of bird...

 

[PKerr]

Ollie's facial hair really grew a lot on the way to the office.

 

[dahj]

That was a rather unceremonious exit for Pike, a character that's been there since season 1.

So they first stopped a terrorist attack, and then they paid the terrorists not to do an attack?
Eh what, did I miss something?

Otherwise it was a decent outing, I liked the fight with Felicity's voice-over, the train-stopping canary cry and Oliver's resentment as he handed the Flash backpack to William.

Vigilante being undercover does explain the paradox of why someone with a vendetta against criminals would be working alongside them.

Unless he's a triple agent...

If Cayden is only doing all this because someone made him think GA killed his son

I'm still not sold on that son story. It just seems weird that master manipulator Cayden, the supersmartiest hacker in the world, just didn't bother to check the evidence that can be easily disproved just by looking at Oliver's instagram feed for that day.

 

[Christopher]

That was a rather unceremonious exit for Pike, a character that's been there since season 1.

Yeah, the episode did rely a bit too much on our remembering a character we've only seen infrequently for the past year or two.

So they first stopped a terrorist attack, and then they paid the terrorists not to do an attack?
Eh what, did I miss something?

They stopped an attack on a specific one of the "safe zones," but James still has total control of the city's Internet-linked systems and has it sealed off from the outside world. He can still do a lot of damage if the city doesn't meet his demands.

 

[Morpheus 02]

That was a rather unceremonious exit for Pike, a character that's been there since season 1.

THANK YOU for pointing this out... i totally agree.. seems VERY sudden and out in a blink of an eye. I appreciate they DID spend a minute mourning him. I did NOT realize he has been a part of Arrow since the first season! I know he had been on for a while, but man...he's like Aaron Pierce on 24! I hope the death meant that he has a new gig that will take him away from future appearances. I hope it's not the the "Lost" reasons for departure...