I have to say, I feel like I'm seeing the mechanics of character-based storytelling way, way more clearly since I started getting into pro wrestling. This whole Oliver/Felicity business is just classic bad booking.

I don't think Felicity wants it to be her decision, or even a joint decision between Oliver and her. She just finds it telling that Oliver wouldn't even want to discuss it with her or get her thoughts before making such a big decision. That suggests to her that he just doesn't value her as a true partner, which…

This is getting into Doylist vs. Watsonian territory, but I think it's just a whole lot easier to think of Thea as a fundamentally consistent character who was written really, really poorly last week, for reasons that had nothing to do with her and everything to do with justifying a really poorly thought-out plotline.

I said this is another comment, but I'd argue the narrative justification kinda works because Felicity's point is that, when placed in an impossible situation, Oliver's instinct is to keep the secret from Felicity instead of let her in and trust that they can see it through together. That suggests there just isn't…

Oliver: "So, how are things otherwise?"

You know, I bet they could get Virginia Madsen to play a live-action Roulette…

Maybe Laurel just has a knack for instantly bonding with badass women (see: Nyssa). If that became her defining character trait, I'd be pretty in favor of it.

I think the show kind of successfully threaded the needle in saying that, while Oliver absolutely was in an impossible situation here, his instinct isn't to trust Felicity and bring her in to help solve those problems, and Felicity doesn't feel she can fully trust Oliver if he doesn't fully trust her. The plotting to…

I think you gotta give Megalyn Echikunwoke that sweet, sweet series order before she commits to the flattop.

I mean, kids *do* love Batman and Robin Hood, so they ought to really, really love Batman + Robin Hood, right?

Cosigned.

Willa Holland is also probably the MVP of making preposterous expository dialogue work by just fucking committing to them as hard as she can. Nobody on any Arrowverse show has her beat in that category.

I felt it prudent to get caught up on the CW Seed series a month or so before this episode aired, so those lines felt silly but at least contextualized. I'm guess I'd have been cringing even harder if I had no idea what she was talking about.

While I'd quibble with calling that a deus ex machina for boring writer-ly technical bullshit reasons (alternatively: I've watched enough new Doctor Who to know exactly what a deus ex machina is, and it isn't quite that), I'd agree it's a pretty fast reversal of the paralysis plotline, and it sure feels like a…

Nah, she has to say that at least 10 more times before it attains that lofty status.

When you've got a name this wonderfully unpronounceable and unspellable to, like, 95% of all people you meet, you don't give it up!

I'll probably give the finale the top pick. I just didn't have much of a response to tonight's blurb.

I believe it was Douglas Adams who said, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."

Yeah, sorry guys, I emailed Erik about this earlier tonight, and we're not going ahead with coverage. I'll add a blurb about this to the "What Else Is On" section in a sec.

Yeah, it unfortunately didn't work out. Sorry!