It's pretty much a show comprised of the actors they loved, with no regard to the in-world story.

That's the Stockholm Syndrome talking.

"Strike me down, and I shall become…shit wrong script…I return to you now, at the turn of the tide (and the upfronts)."

I hope they do continue, I'm a fan of Myles' erudite articles. I actually came to AVClub via his personal site (which also recommended Doctor Who series five to me).
Anyway it would be smart for AVClub to continue, they need the clicks.

Two takeaways for me from this episode:
1). Desmond's "Yuir gunnah diyee Chahlie!" and its frequency of appearing in the future "Previously On…" segments. This ties only the following exchange for genre TV repetition.
Buffy: "Faith, you killed a man."
Faith: "I don't care."

I want an excel spreadsheet at the end of the series highlighting the matching questions and answers. Let's quantify the totals.

It messed up the Atom/Flash episode too, though less egregiously. Just that some of the emotions and motivations didn't track as well.

Because Vancouver.

They're dropping GL references like Arrow did with Ra's and HIVE. I'm hesitant to say we're getting Hal next season, it's so unlikely, but this fits the pattern.

That's why Ollie's in town with his cousin. They're picking up Barry and going to CC's only gentleman's club Jiggles.

Is this the episode where they capture Heat Wave and throw him in the pipeline and Snart has to get thrown in jail too to rescue him? And they're in there with Clock King and Count Vertigo?

Folks, I have an amazing bit of fanfic in my head where the similarities in Revenge and Arrow result in a crossover. Conrad and Malcolm chew scenery. Victoria and Moira scheme for queen bee. Thea and Charlotte do Vertigo and crash fancy cars. Nolan vs Felicity in an epic hack-a-thon. And last but not least Emily and…

He's such a politician

Yeah but I'm clean and sober, and this theory is still awesome.

But they occurred so early in the series we're hardwired to not understand it in retrospect. At that point in the show, any idea like that was underdeveloped.

I want Libby's backstory.

In techno-magic terms, I always figured Jacob made Dogen's life force emit a field that repelled Smokey, thus his death allowing Smokey to enter the tunnel.
I'd go so far as to say the ash (likely from the volcano) was "blessed" by Dogen. This also leads me to picture a mega boss battle between Dogen and Smokey,…

Explains the creepy obsession

I love the Sawyer subplot, it reminds me of the few times Wolverine led the X-Men. He's basically more interested in doing his own thing, but he has to pony up occasionally for the unity of the group.

She has a conveniently placed red dot for this.