Season 5 only had a few weak episodes, and I'd say half the season was in the "great" or higher range. (Lineage, Destiny, Damage, You're Welcome, Smile Time, A Hole in the World/Shells, Underneath, Time Bomb, and the 2-part finale)

The astronauts do not have weapons.

For Lance, it has to be plausible deniability (and not cognitive dissonance).

It's not like Meryln is supposed to be a rational madman, just a crafty one.

I figure Captain Lance watched a lot of Sanford & Son when he was younger.

And for me, it was framed as two future lovers that almost but not quite cross paths.

The Duff 2: Duff Harder

During the previews, I kept wondering why teenagers would make Hillary Duff references at each other. Maybe the sequel can be hip teenagers hanging around "The Susan-B-Anthony".

A 9, or 9.5.
The mere existence of the salmon ladder sets an upper limit on what can be achieved by man, like Warp 10 in Star Trek or an A+ in the AVClub.

Well, at least Angel never tried to pass himself off as a teenager so he could troll the high schools looking for new girls. Now that would be super-creepy. (At least he had the decency to burst into flames in the sunlight, instead of glittering.)

Now I'm imagining a movie where Samuel Jackson's "Mr. Glass" (from Unbreakable) decides to coach a cross country team.

"If you see a school bus of children about to die, and you can do something about it, you should consider hiding… Now go run a lap, Clark."

After re-watching the scene, Oliver stays stone-faced when she says "You're cute". He is either smiling that he can leave, or at her last comment: "I really need to stop talking to myself". Plus if you look at the light sources in the room, she would have been in the shadows from Oliver's viewpoint in real life…

I just rewatched the scene. While it was different than I thought it was, it backs up my interpretation. Oliver might remember that some woman was there that evening, but it makes more sense that he wouldn't be able to identify that it was Felicity, especially 3 years after the brief encounter.

Did he hear her? Weren't the glass office doors closed? (I didn't DVR the episode, so I can't double check right now.) If he is hiding, he is going to at most glance at where the person is standing, not expose himself in order to see her face.

Why would she be checking on the computer?

Actually around the corner. Unless the cell is holding Mr. Fantastic or Plastic Man, the button was unreachable, short of dislocating the elbow of a skinny female model.

We saw in an earlier episode how well it worked for Oliver when he tried to leave a message on his mom's answering machine. As shadow said, Oliver has been told many times what would happen to anyone he contacted.

Some random blonde walks into the office from down the hallway where he is hiding, and after seeing her for a moment from a distance (but not hearing her through closed doors), he is supposed to remember her 3 years later?

He did "Awakenings" the year before, which was another great performance.