I was giving an example of why your expectation is ridiculous. Was that too big a logic leap? I mean, you can be petulant about it all you want, but expecting one show to dictate the grades of another is not a realistic grading system.

Yep, this is the only version of Green Arrow I currently like. Even with his more acclaimed runs in the comics, I've always been apathetic to the character. He always used to pale in comparison to the rest of the Justice League, which is not an issue in this show.

Yeah, people who are actually familiar with Oliver Queen in person might be able to guess it's Ollie. There's a likelihood that personal bias against Ollie's civilian persona would make those people brush off the idea that he would ever be Green Arrow, but GA should just never stand in the light next to those people.…

"… I'm assuming the original comic does something like that …"

Yeah, I don't blame the driver for being a shitty shot (I assumed he was right-handed and was forced to fire out the left side of a bouncy ride), but Ollie was posing for a while there. Like I said, I'll just handwave it away as posturing for the cameras.

Yeah, I really do want this show to succeed because androids. I hope it manages to grow an audience, but I've read that it's struggling. I think maybe its attempts to merge multiple genres together is not clicking well with the viewing public.

Yeah, if Ivo really wanted to torment Ollie and/or Sara, subjecting them to Mirakuru experimentation would have been the more prolonged option.

Yeah, unfortunately, that's the fallback explanation for his behavior. It's a catch-all excuse for something that didn't need to be vague. I mean, I'll accept it, because at this point I'd rather just brush it off than devote too much effort creating a non-canon explanation.

I've made fun of Cassidy's acting before, but I've never expressed overt hatred for her or the character she plays. I just don't care enough to be pissed off about it. I'll laugh at clumsy acting, but, like you, I can't relate to the obvious anger some people are posting here.

Yeah, I get that the pose was for badassery, but it was narratively jarring. When the guy started shooting, I was like, "Dude: bullets. Duck?" Eh, I'm just gonna handwave it away, like all those bizarre times that Ollie decides to pull back his hood just so the camera can zoom in on his face.

No, I was referring to Ivo's motives. He had no clear reason to play that game. The audience has to make up any number of reasons why Ivo would do such a thing, hence ambiguous.

I'd prefer if they undercut the cheeseball effect of such an episode by having it be Deathstroke. ^__^

Well, judging from Slade's vendetta in the present, I guess Ollie says, "Hey, guess what? Funny thing happened while we were escaping: I got Shado killed. Surprise!" Then Slade was all, "Betch I gunna cut u!"

Yeah, that's a disappointing trope, especially because it was completely unnecessary in this case. Ivo could have just gone ahead and started executing the three without all the theatrics, and Ollie moves to save the nearest one of the other two (that being Sara). Same result, better guilt trip, less ridiculousness.

Well, unfortunately, that's what usually happens in pre-episode summaries. Scenes are distilled down to what's pertinent to the episode's narrative. Apparently, in this case, the story is that Ollie jumped to save Sara. (That's not my take on the original scene, but that's what we're being presented.) I was just…

That would be an untenable way of grading. It would be like saying no episode of Dexter should have a score higher than any Sopranos episode. That would limit Dexter to less than C grades (regardless of whether an episode actually turned out well), 'cause Sopranos earned a C for Christopher.

No, I agree with your interpretation about how Ivo viewed Ollie's "choice". I mentioned as much in a comment in the last episode's discussion. What I'm wondering is why Ivo even bothered with that game?

If you're in the U.S. you can view both episodes on CW's site. The scene in Three Ghosts happens at the 16:30 mark, while the scene in Blast Radius is 30 seconds into the opener. Although they're cut differently, I'm not noticing a difference in Ollie's actions.

Yeah, I don't know how the writers intended for that scene to play out, but it was oddly ambiguous for no reason. Like, why was Ivo even playing that game? He got the Mirakuru, so what does he care about Ollie, Sara, and Shado at that point? Shouldn't he just kill them all?