Even straight arms and trick camera angles would help a little…

I would have loved even more grease paint, full on Marine sniper mode. The mask is cool, but yeah, it's about as effective as a pair of glasses.

Wildly inconsequential pet peeve corner (because I love this show and this doesn't matter in the slightest): Some special effects guru somewhere has to come up with a way to make CPR look more realistic on TV. The way characters administer CPR on most shows (i.e., high on the chest with your arms bent) is just wrong.…

So much goodness. A Christmas Carol, Arrow style. Ollie starts a fight club in his Arrow Cave. Great action. Evil Slade with an eye patch. Not too much Laurel. Barry getting Flashed.

I didn't think so either. I think he just jumped in front of the gun, but he probably would have done the same thing if Ivo had pointed the gun at Shado. I think this has to filed under "unnecessarily torturing yourself over a death that could not be prevented."

I was thinking the same thing. Arrow goes all Tyler Durden in the Arrow Cave.

The plotting is just okay, but some of the visuals are cool, and Mrs. Ma and I conclude that pretty much everyone on the show is nice to look at. Decent fluff. I do want more drones, though. In an age of sentient robots, you'd think you'd have autonomous drones flying everywhere, taking pictures, delivering pizzas,…

I suppose it's a matter of opinion that Underwood's voice is "beautiful," but she's a terrible singer. Not only is she pitchy, but you can see her lack of technique in her jaw and neck while she sings. The girl won a karaoke contest, and all the country concert idiots love her, but that doesn't mean she's any good.

Carrie Underwood does not have the pipes for The Sound of Music.

Definitely agree. She doesn't have to be eeeevil to have her own agenda, one that occasionally conflicts with Oliver and his crew.

Maybe a super soldier drug combined with Batman-like toys…

As far as the superpowers go, I'm wondering how far they'll take it. From Barry Allen's little monologue about his mother's murder, it sounds like this could go Smallville. Or it could go Captain America (super serums, lots of exaggerated physical strength, etc.). If they go Smallville, then Oliver will need to be…

Word.

A "B"? Are you kidding? This episode had everything. Let's recap:

No one expects it.

Mrs. Ma and I called it for this show last night. 9:03 PM, Eastern Time, officially dead. As another astute commentator put it below, S.H.I.E.L.D. is the Olive Garden of action/superhero/genre shows: familiar ingredients but no spice. Its greatest sin is being dull as shit. That and having no real stakes. Being dull…

I'm mystified by this "disappointing" Fringe pilot. I guess I was watching another show than Todd.

It's good to know that no matter how heroic the Arrow tries to become, we'll always have flashback Oliver to kill the hell out of people.

The flashbacks were definitely the best part of tonight's episode and Lotz is killing it.

This was the first time I have not enjoyed the character of Felicity. Her scenes as a pining nerd girl getting her crush on were pretty sub par, almost embarrassing. Neutering her by making her all about Ollie, if that happens, is going to be a bad move.