Arrow Season Seven

[shevek]

S7 E1 "Inmate 4587"

So Oliver Queen is in prison, serving his time out for being Green Arrow, the vigilante. His wife Felicity and son William go into hiding under new identities but that eventually doesn't work because Diaz finds them. Oliver will probably stay in the prison setting for a few more episodes - this is a man's man show, not wimpy and whimsical like The Flash (who only stayed in prison for 2 episodes total, I think).

Despite being a high-testosterone affair, as forum posters have pointed out before on this board, there are ample opportunities to see Stephen Amell not only shirtless and doing various muscular exertions, but there's even one scene where he goes into high combat mode while he's totally naked in the prison showers. Given that the otherwise beautiful Felicity herself has been uglified for the witness protection program (she's taken on face piercings
and Tumblr-chick pink hair..and then she suffers face bruising thanks to the scuffle with Diaz), and the appearances of Dinah (who is currently not Canary but just the police captain) are fairly short, it's up to Oliver with his toned and weathered body to bring in those female (and gay male, I assume)
viewers. Hope that's working well for the CW, because Arrow isn't shirking from being a dark and brutal show.

This episode seemed like it was meant to set up the problems for Season 7. Next week's "Longbow Hunters" is based (at least in name) on a Green Arrow miniseries that was collected into a graphic novel. Not sure how true it'll stay to the comic representation (probably not very) but it sounds promising.

[shevek]

S7 E2 "The Longbow Hunters"

You'd think that an episode called "The Longbow Hunters" would be mostly about the assassin group The Longbow Hunters, brought together by Ricardo Diaz (who in the comics is called Richard Dragon). In reality, the Longbow Hunters segments take us probably 20% of the screen time.

And you'd also think they would have roughly the same people in that assassin group as were depicted in the comic. You'd be wrong about that, too. They're only 1 for 5. Killer Moth and Count Vertigo are nowhere to be found. Kodiak was never in the Longbow Hunters in the comics, he was just briefly in The Outsiders (and was, therefore, a hero not a villain). Brick is in the Arrow TV show in the prison, but he's not included as a Longbow Hunter as he is in the comics.

And The Silencer didn't exist as a character yet..she's only been introduced this year to DC [The Silencer comic is great - it's the best one from DC's New Age of Heroes line, and you should purchase the first graphic novel which just came out!]. I think they kind of just threw here in there for diversity and novelty but who knows (we have yet to see any appearances in the Arrowverse by other New Age heroes like Damage or Sideways, etc..although one of the other New Age books obviously stars Mr. Terrific, we have yet to see Plastic Man, Metamorpho or Phantom Girl).

That leaves only Red Dart as the sole crossover villain character between the Arrow TV show and the Longbow Hunters graphic novel. So obviously they intended to deviate considerably, and they were using the Longbow Hunters title mainly to get credibility with the comic-book crowd. Achieved, I guess, since I watched this all the way through to see what would happen. The actress playing Red Dart, Holly Dignard, shows some prowess at acting evil but does not look like a spring chicken in her debut scene..later on, however, when in costume during the train fight, she looks much more beautiful but we don't see a lot of her in action, just a couple lines and a single dart.

Basically this is another connective episode. You'll watch it to find out why Felicity gets sick of working with ARGUS (hint: they're not as obsessed with catching Diaz as she is). You might also enjoy the interaction between Laurel and Dinah because they get some good action in (fighting Silencer, for example) and look great doing it (no costumes, though), but you'll probably also lament the fact that Laurel's evil side is softening quite a bit due to her work as a DA and in the SCPD with Dinah. Black Siren was a lot more bewitching than liberal lawyer Laurel in a business suit. Plus, if you like prison dramas (which I don't), you'll thrill at Oliver's exploits with shanks and cafeteria trays and doing more pull-ups in the prison yard.

Frankly, at this point I wish they had a more interesting and threatening villain than Diaz to fight. A lot of people on the Twitter are calling his continued presence rather boring. Guess we'll see if his character can ramp up the menace a bit.

[Visitor]

Diaz has pretty much dropped down to revenge against Green Arrow and skipping his whole takeover of crime. It's become revenge plot of the week for him and no season long plot. They will probably waste half the season on this with no other villain being hinted at in the story.

Black Siren came out in episode 2 for pure revenge against Diaz for killing Quentin. There's nothing else driving her this season than getting Diaz for taking away the only character in this Earth that loved her in spite of all she's done. Since the writers aren't going to kill off Felicity so she could romance Oliver, they don't have anything else for her to do after her "apology" to Dinah.

The only other thing is the flash forward of William going to the ARGUS island off China to find what Felicity left him. I guess this will be the season story line about what happened to Roy Harper and Thea Queen.

[shevek]

Sorry if this is a bit of a spoiler, but from Episode 2 we already know that Roy and Thea's relationship didn't work out.
It was such a boring revelation that I didn't even mention it in my review...sorry!

Yeah, it's a little disappointing that they haven't introduced a Big Bad by the end of Episode 2 yet and all we have is this Diaz and Black Siren stuff
with no real reason that Oliver should be in prison other just some dramatic variety and muscular pull-ups. Hope something new gets revealed
soon which will make S7 more than just going through the motions.

[brdiy]

The only consolation so far for me is that Dinah seems to have gotten hotter even without the costume.

I for one can't believe that the most bland Arrow villain got 2 seasons. Btw, did I miss something or did they intentionally not show how Felicity managed to survive the attack by Diaz?

[shevek]

No - good point - you didn't miss anything. They didn't show it and Felicity never explained it. Some deus ex machina / Mary Sue stuff there.

[Maskripper]

Just saw the last episode (3).
Well, I like the storylines. Will be interesting to see how Queen will get out of that prison.

But DAMN, I miss the masked women! I hope that at least one canary will appear in the near future.
Laurel needs to put that costume back on...even if she wasn't the canary. Would love that!
Or at least Dinah should be back in costume.

[Visitor]

Laurel appeared as Black Canary in episode 2 and should return in episode 4 from the promo.

[Maskripper]

Laurel appeared as Black Canary in episode 2 and should return in episode 4 from the promo.

Not to my definition.... ;-)
Canary = full costume + mask
no mask = no canary

[shevek]

So, Laurel will transition to being the Black Canary character rather than Black Siren? Maskripper (of course!) would be right to say she has to have the mask, but I guess we'll see. Haven't seen EP3 yet, maybe tonight.

[Maskripper]

Well, ok, there was a masked canary...not the one I am wishing for to return (Laurel, even if it is not the same) and not in the present timeline.
I am not the biggest fan of this "future"-timeline they are building in this season. Kind of a big Spoiler-parade for me. I do hope that it is only a possible future, that must not happen at all....

[shevek]

EP3 Crossing Lines
EP 4 Level Two

Better write this stuff down before I forget what I saw - took me several days to find the time to watch these two episodes back to back.
We continue this season of Arrow with Oliver in prison - it would be pretty awkward if he was in there for most of the entire season but that's what it's looking like for now. I don't know how many interesting storylines you can concoct from a situation that's entirely behind bars - I guess you could ask the producers of Orange is the New Black but I don't watch that show.

EP3 is recommended. If nothing else, you will want to see the team of Felicity, Dinah, Rene and Agent Watson battle the Longbow Hunters in the high-security CDC lab. The fight between the hot Red Dart and Watson is particularly nice, with moments of brief peril for both. It's also nice to see The Silencer on television so quickly - I mean, John Romita Jr and Dan Abnett only created her a few months ago (I have the TPB of the first 6 issues) as part of the New Age of Heroes line for DC and she's already onscreen. That's a lot faster page-to-screen result than most of the "politically correct" style heroes Marvel has introduced in the past few years.

EP4 brings in the sociopolitically relevant topic that I've been waiting for the Arrowverse to address for many years (and that we addressed in Episode 9 of Heroineburgh, inspired by Gail Simone's 'Knightfall' run of Batgirl): gentrification! Yup - there's an evil real estate guy who's hiring an arsonist and his team to burn down properties in the Star City ghetto (the "Glades") so he can buy them up. Within this context (boy, I'm starting to sound like The Umbrella Guy), you can find Dinah going hand to hand with the arsonist team, and her and Rene finally teaming up with the new mysterious Green Arrow (who isn't Oliver of course) to positive effect - the new Arrow even shows his heroism by risking his life to put out a fire.

Also, there is a supervillainess in peril through much of this episode: the Silencer (who is definitively identified as Honor Guest from the comics when
Red Dart calls her "Honor"). She is shackled and kneeling on a concrete block. But unfortunately, any of the 'torture' that Felicity or Laurel inflict
on her (yes, those two make common cause, which should be interesting for the future) is only hinted at off screen. I guess there's some kind of double standard where a man (Oliver Queen) can be beated and shocked to within an inch of his life, but you can't even a *woman* get a few good hits in on another captured woman. Such is network television, I guess.

Speaking of which, this episode also places Oliver in the solitary confinement area of the Slabside prison, called Level Two. He endures psychological torture from the resident creepy psychologist Dr. Jarrett Parker (played very deadpan by a black actor whose name I just can't see to find anywhere?) which is a bit more indirect and more sinister than the direct physical torture Oliver got from Adrian Chase a couple seasons back. The scenario with reliving his past memories on the raft with his dad reminds me a lot of the Room 101 scene from Orwell's 1984, especially at the end where Oliver recites his name as "Inmate 4587" - that was a bit chilly.

The only thing about this season is that the "20 years in the future" segments are very confusing. So far we have an older Dinah (still looking hot),
an older Roy, a grownup Will, and a grownup Zoe whose codename we don't know yet but she's probably the new Black Canary (kind of cute in her mask - attn Maskripper!), all in the context of a Star City that is a clamped-down ruin. It's hard to see how that will tie in to the present storyline but I guess we'll see. The flash-forwards, though, are annoying because they break up the main story.

It was definitely helpful, though, to watch both of these in one sitting.

P.S. I forgot: Curtis (who hasn't done much for a while) makes himself useful by bringing a Beebo to Zoe in the hospital. First Beebo appearance in Arrow.

[Bugsy44]

I must say Katie Cassidy is looking hotter than ever!!!!

[brdiy]

I must say Katie Cassidy is looking hotter than ever!!!!

I find her hotter when she's channeling her dark side rather than the goody two shoes Laurel Lance.

--
Frankly, I'm beginning to find this whole Ricardo Diaz arc very tedious. For a mere thug, he sure has lasted too long for comfort.

[Night_Lantern]

Speaking about the hotties of Arrow, just came across a steamy pic of Juliana Harkavy/Dinah Lance that she shared on Instagram...which leaves very little to the imagination.



Don’t know about you but I’d happily let her cook me anything she wanted wearing that. Especially if she had to bend over a lot...

[ksire_99]

Thanks for posting NL,

BUT

Her arms are too damn short!

[shevek]

EP5 The Demon

You aren't going to find much hottie-ism in this particular episode of Arrow, unless you consider Felicity, Dinah and Laurel teaming up to help take down Dr. Parker by combing through old SCPD police files stimulating. Women putting aside their differences and working together is the progressive element of the writers' bullpen, coincidentally coming right at the post-election time with more women in the House of Representatives than ever before, etc. The feminism is fine because it's not overdone or preachy, it's just part of the story.

But luckily these writers also know how to craft some elegant complex fight scenes. Spoiler: Talia Al Ghul returns to join Oliver in the Slabside prison. The fight segments where they battle their way out are great. Again, the progressive writers take great pains to make sure that the male and female protagonists get equal screen time during the fights, and again that's fine, because it goes along with the story. I very much like the way Arrow integrates the various diverse backgrounds of everyone in the story without doing any virtue-signaling, as is so unfortunately prevalent in Supergirl.

A good example of this is Curtis. After pretty much not doing anything for most of the season, he is suddenly thrust into a major role by Diggle and ARGUS where he has to pretend to play the role of an African scientist in order to make an arms dealer bust. Mind you, it's made abundantly clear how much of a genius Mr Terrific is - they mention TWICE that he has "14 PhDs" and that he speaks "five languages", and once that he's an Olympic level athlete, as if he didn't already know these things but has to be told for self-validation purposes. But hey, Curtis gets the job done and does it in classic Mission Impossible style, all without pissing his pants. I started the season thinking he was a useless token at this point, but maybe they should give him more exciting things to do like that in the future.

This episode is worth it for the fight scenes and for the reappearance of the beautiful Lexa Doig as Talia (also known as "Andromeda" from Andromeda, and a long-running character on Stargate), whose presence stands out even if she has burn scars on half of her face. At the end, we see her back in her assassin costume - hope we see more of her. But I don't think that she is the mysterious 'Green Arrow' who's been running around Star City while Oliver's been in jail.

Hopefully we'll know more about that next episode when the ladies band together to try to get Oliver out of stir on a technicality. (his mistreatment on Level Two).

[shevek]

EP 6 Due Process

The best thing that happens in this episode is that we get to see Felicity in a new darker mode, when she becomes more like Oliver: willing to kill her enemies and willing to put others in harm's way (in this case, Anatoly) to reach her greater goal. Her vengeance for her husband takes her right to the very brink of killing Diaz, and yet she can't because she has to trade him for her husband's freedom.

The other major element to the storyline is the redemption arc for Earth 2 Laurel, who realizes the good she has inside of her, with quite a bit of help from both of the other series hotties (Dinah and Felicity). The series makes it all about the strong beautiful women without the need for any preachy politics - they just take charge of the action. Furthermore, the episode has a bit of a nuance: Laurel actually teaches Oliver an important lesson when she reminds him that nobody is either good or bad, everyone is somewhere in-between (and that kind of view, of course, would be anathema to an extremist from either side of the spectrum). A good point of realism and moral relativism there.

Not sure still about the importance of the future sequences with grown-up William and Zoe, other than to observe than Juliana Harkavy still looks amazing 20 years later - they didn't really age her enough with the makeup.

There were some great action scenes and fight scenes in this, with plenty of great tension. The only thing I'm hoping is that we haven't seen the last of the Longbow Hunter trio (they kind of melted into the background when Diaz was secured). They were only used sparingly and I would like to see more of them in the future, especially the Silencer.

Oliver's still in jail at the end of this episode, and it looks like his timid prison buddy is more ruthless than we thought, so look for some more drama in stir next week.

[Visitor]

Of the four shows, this seems to have the most integration of characters towards the plot goals. Everyone stays in character with proper motivation for changes from past seasons. No sudden shifts because there's a different writer this week.

It looks like the purpose of the future sequences is now to show that Felicity has changed into a darker version and this season is the turning point. However it will be several episodes until we get what future Felicity is planning and whether she is trying to help or stop the event from happening.

It's looking more and more like Oliver's timid buddy is playing Oliver and has been through out joining up for "protection." I'm wondering if he was there as one more of Diaz's men working to gain Oliver's trust and use the information against him.

I missed the full sentence in the translation subtitles where Anatoly is talking and mentions the KGBeast.

[shevek]

EP7 Slabside Redemption

Wow. As someone was once wont to say, "That escalated quickly." (a few spoilers are ahead)

This is one of the most violent episodes of television that has ever been shown on free (non-cable) television. Just pure mayhem starting about halfway through. It's also the most "manly" episode ever on any Arrowverse show (there is no woman in this entire episode until a few seconds at the end when Felicity shows up, and there are no superheroines or costumes at all), and there is almost no social-justice preachiness whatsoever, other than a little speech Diaz makes about prison being "dehumanizing" and Oliver not realizing that when he's been super-criminals there.

The morals in this episode are entirely "gray" (as Dunbar points out to Oliver) which the episode demonstrates makes him a better hero. "Black and white/us and them" shit is for the birds, and it's a symptom of extremism (whether it be extremism from the left or the right). The morals of the real world are always somewhere in the middle, and Oliver demonstrates that, as he saves as many prison guards as he can (calling them "innocent" when they're clearly not - they were bastards just a couple episode ago) while cracking the skulls of as many inmates as he can (it looks like he's just knocking them out, but come on - how many of them could probably die from their injuries?).

Everything goes topsy-turvy as even Oliver's little buddy (Dover, his name is) is tested and winds up weaseling himself an escape route. But the main thrust is blood, bone and sinew - bleeding, crunching, moaning - and somehow (as you knew he would) Oliver powers through it all, and Dunbar regains his heroic status once again (he once saved Lila of ARGUS on a mission of some kind).

Watch this. It's Attica, Shawshank Redemption, Lock Up, Green Mile, and every other prison movie you ever watched rolled into one with twice the action. So many stunts it's hard to count. Worth your time, especially the second half..but the first half is worth it for the suspenseful leadup to the carnage.

P.S. I decided to research a little about the prison The Slab or Slabside as published in DC Comics. It doesn't have a ton of mentions but it does occur in a few comics in the 2000s. The Slab is a prison for metahumans which is originally located in New Jersey until the incidents in the Joker Laughs series force it to move to the Antarctic. And then it only gets mentioned a handful of other times (from what I can find) in Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, etc. So I guess they were relatively free to turn the Slab into whatever they wanted - it's certainly "Max 4" security (as the guard says) but it's not a metahuman facility at all in the Arrowverse.

[shevek]

EP8 Unmasked

I love this: right from the get-go, we see lots of skin. First some female musclepower for the guys: relatively new actress Sea Shimooka (whom I assume is half-Asian) is shown doing pull-ups and upside down moves on the rings in her exercise uniform. Then she slips on her costume (the usual
cliches: glove shot, zipper shot, belt etc) and she is, in fact, the new Green Arrow! Who saw it coming that the new Arrow would be Emiko Queen from the new 52? Nobody on this forum, at least. Yup, it's Oliver's half sister - the daughter of Robert Queen and Shado. And then immediately after, of course, a gratuitous shot of Stephen Amell in the shower with all of his scars, for the ladies. He zips up the back of Felicity's dress, she looks like an absolute knockout, the romance is rekindled, and hearts are all a-flutter. Good way to start things out, but it gets more complicated later on.

Then we zip ahead to the bleak future Star City where old Roy, old Dinah and grown-up Zoe (the new Black Canary) are searching down the origin of the message they got from Felicity and come upon a ferocious super-hot blonde female cage-match fighter named Blackstar (Katherine McNamara). Do we see a pattern here? Arrow's bringing in more kickass hot female characters. I'm OK with that so far. Blackstar's gonna be a sneaky one though.

So someone's trying to kill people and frame the new Green Arrow vigilante while doing it. Oliver and Felicity become a target for a hired assassin named The Mirror aka Frank Cassaday (not a character from the comics). Oliver and Dinah figure out the mastermind is a club owner named Fuller, and what comes next is a bit of typical Oliver Queen action.

Things end with Oliver in a new position that he's never had before. You'll have to tune in to see what that is. I think this is worth watching for the transitional elements..oh, and Diaz is back in the mix, AGAIN (ugh).

At least if you've seen the Elseworlds crossover you can skip the last two minutes (it's the same preview scene as the other two series).

[Maskripper]

Well, the title of the episode is perfect for me :-) , would be even better in a series with a heroine, but well, perhaps next year ;-)
Funny thing is you can use the title for the new green Arrow (as she is unmasked to the audience) or for the green Arrow, as he runs around without a mask.
Looking forward to see how the new green arrow will be exposed to team Arrow in the next episode!

[Visitor]

Tune in next year for more adventures of America's most dysfunctional super hero family. Or why Bruce Wayne is glad that he's an only child.

Seriously:
Father Queen kills himself and another guy to save his son and sends him off to become the Green Arrow
Mother Queen has an affair with a close family friend and has an illegitimate daughter
Sister Queen, Thea, joins the family business of shooting people and then leaves
Now Half-Sister Queen shows up taking over her brother's job

[shevek]

Good point - it's almost a polar opposite to the Pierce family in Black Lightning, which is tight-knit and (despite disagreements) supports each other at all costs, even justifying doing the 'wrong thing' for the 'right reasons' (a quote from Anissa).

[Maskripper]

Just saw episode 12.

Spoiler

Well, this whole "give the vigilante badges" thing is really annoying me. I hope that won't last so long, because I really like masked vigilantes (surprise!) and if they will run around without masks....this show basically becomes a cop-show.
It seems like all their secret identities are exposed right now (at least to the the police?).
And everyone in the city knows about Oliver. (bad idea from the authors)
So, what can stop the criminals to come after them and their loved ones? That can't work!

I will watch this show until the last episode of the very last season as it is still watchable for me, but damn.....I really miss the high level of season 2 (and all the masked women).
And I'm someone who is entertained pretty easily....

[Visitor]

The current story is getting weaker with making vigilantes into consultants. What are they, the DC equivalent of Tony Stark?

Nicest bits were the reference to Gotham and interviewing Barry Allen about Green Arrow being Oliver Queen.

Right now all I care about is the future story with the rise of the Glades and the possible destruction of Star City.

[shevek]

I am so behind on Arrow, got to make some efforts to catch up tonight if possible. Without watching, however, the idea of the heroes becoming consultants for the police department is one we've pursued since last year in Heroineburgh. I'm not saying they stole our idea, of course, just that it seems to be an obvious move. With our plot, though, we have villains whose main purpose is to discredit the heroines and show them to be dangerous
and ineffective so that the police department loses all confidence in them and the municipality pulls its funding and support. I wonder if they might do something like that here..especially since in Arrow it often seems that the main theme is someone or other 'failing this city'.

Guess I'll peep this now and see.

[Maskripper]

Watched episode 13.
This time I don't use the spoiler function.
I guess if you don't wanna be spoilered....you don't read this thread unless you have seen the episodes.

Well, actually no arrow in this episode....
Not the outed Oliver and not his sister, who doesn't appear at all... (???)
I'm really worried that this whole "let's out the masked vigilante and turn them into cops" can't be taken back....I can't find a logical way to do that.
And in this episode a first villain comes after the "unmasked" team members. I wonder how all of them wanna protect their loved ones from being killed or kidnapped to hurt the team arrow members.
And together with that "future plot" line....I can not help myself but to think that this show will end with season 8. I think that Oliver might be killed or sacrifice himself in the big, game changing next cross-over. I am no expert on that story-line in the comics, but I read that some heroes were killed in that one.
And by that time may be the "present" timeline will have caught up with the "future" timeline (in arrow).

And what do you think of that throat injury of Dinah?
I have the strong feeling that she may have lost her canary cry with that...
I mean the dismantled her canary version of the whole season....
Only very few masked appearances...... than she was exposed as a vigilante in the last episode........... and now that injury.
I bet my imaginary Ferrari on the fact that she now will continue as a normal police captain.

[shevek]

OK speaking of Maskripper - that seems to be the theme of the recent episodes of Arrow since the break and the episode "Unmasked."
There's no masks anymore and no mystery since everyone eventually gets identified and most of them wind up working for the police.
The villains in these episodes (at least the uninteresting, non-powered ones) are all characterized by their need to hole up in dark
secret dingy hideouts with lots of newspaper clippings attached to the wall. This cliche is getting old.

I 'ripped' like a bat out of hell through four episodes of Arrow last night and here are the results:

E10 My Name Is Emiko Queen
Yup, that's her name. She's Oliver's half-sister. She's not that interesting. She's also the LEAST beautiful female to have any kind of major role on this series. Sorry but it's true. Meanwhile Oliver tries to reconcile new things he found out about his father.

E11 Past Sins
The most intriguing thing about this episode is the part that doesn't pan out: ARGUS is so close to reforming a new version of the Suicide Squad (called The Ghost Initiative). That would have been a cool subplot for several episodes and given a chance to Kelly Hu (who is smoking at 50 years old!) to get back into the action as China White, not to mention pouring Amy G back into that sexy Cupid costume, but no such luck.
Instead, we get a guy who's mad at Oliver because Oliver's dad shot his dad on the raft. Easily solved, whatever.

E12 Emerald Archer
They're running out of ideas so they thought, 'What if we film an entire episode' like a TV documentary / reality show thing?'.
Not a good idea. And then the lame villain Chimera whose face they never even show? Just a time filler so Team Arrow has someone to fight.
I'm not sure why they don't take actual villains from the Arrow comics to fill such roles. There are five (yup, five!) Chimeras in the DC Universe and this anonymous armored doofus represents a take on NONE of them.

E13 Star City Slayer
Stanley is back. He was a stupid character to begin with, but I understand why Oliver needed a psycho-phant (I think I just coined a term)
in prison. It's a lot less evident why we needed him as a villain in an episode, except (once again) to kill time. The family dynamic with William (will he stay or will he go?) is annoying, too. We know from the future scenes that he goes, so there's no suspense there. And like Maskripper says, we don't see Emiko - what happened to her, did the actress (Sea Shimooka, who hardly has an acting resume at all) go on vacation?

The thing that I find most incredulous about this latest arc? The way that Mayor Pollard suddenly reverses her decision about how much she hates Team Arrow and gives them carte blanche to be deputized under her wing. After the incidents of these episodes involving crazed maniac killers who are all causing death and destruction BECAUSE OF OLIVER QUEEN you'd think she would harden her heart and simply ban any of these vigilantes from operating. But she gives in. She has to...because otherwise there's basically no story left and the show writes itself into a corner.

The other thing that's annoying: the Futurama scenes with the Arrowverse version of Disney's Descendants - since every character has now proven to be a son or daughter of Team Arrow - is out of place. It should be another show entirely (maybe they're grooming it for one? who knows?). The only tidbit I'm interested in is exactly whom did Felicity have a hot blonde daughter (Blackstar) with? I want to meet that dude.

You don't need to watch any of this. OK, I take it back - maybe you want to watch the part in E13 where Dinah gets her throat slashed, because if there's anything the Arrow show comes back to time and time again, it's the brutally violent realism thing which is one of its few consistent plusses. Don't worry, everyone, she'll be OK, canary cry or not.

There, I've saved you several hours.


-

[brdiy]

^One possibility is they're possibly setting up Laurel Lance to regain her Black Canary status again. Seems to me like the runners of this show are regretting killing her off in the first place. Good for the show, I think, if that happens. In any case, I like this version of Laurel better with her dark streak, rather than the previous goody two shoes version. Crossing my fingers there.

As for the flash forwards, maybe they are better off spinning off a dystopian future-based Arrow-verse. That ought to work.

Watched the latest episode, and I do hope that's the last we see of whiny young William in Arrow. That kid has always annoyed the hell out of me.

[vnv7272]

The implication is that Felicity's daughter is Oliver's daughter. So, given that piece, Felicity and Oliver must go their separate ways at the end of the season.

[Maskripper]

^One possibility is they're possibly setting up Laurel Lance to regain her Black Canary status again. Seems to me like the runners of this show are regretting killing her off in the first place. Good for the show, I think, if that happens. In any case, I like this version of Laurel better with her dark streak, rather than the previous goody two shoes version. Crossing my fingers there.

Would love that!
But she would need a little change of costume at least so nobody knows who she is. And a propper mask of course
So we would actually have a real vigilante with a secret identity.

[Visitor]

With the speculation that Oliver Queen dies in the next Crossover event, then next year could be the last Arrow season. Still doesn't explain how William doesn't know that Felicity is pregnant unless he leaves in a few episodes.

Maybe they are setting up Arrow: The Next Generation with the dystopian future plot?

[shevek]

Would make sense. It'd be very CW. It'd also be bizarre to populate an entire TV series based on a comic book that will mostly feature characters who never existed in comic books.

[shevek]

I think everyone saw this coming? As Arrow becomes a series dominated by its female characters, albeit with low diversity quotient.

At least for next week's episode, Lost Canary S7 E17, also written by two female writers.
In addition to Emiko Queen (with a revelation about her), Felicity and Blackstar (from the future Star City), there will be four more:

- Laurel reverting to Black Siren costume
- Dinah re-donning the Black Canary costume
- Sarah guest-starring in White Canary costume (pulled from Legends duty by Felicity)
- guest-star Carmel Amit as the Israeli Hawkman villainess Shadow Thief / Aviva Metula (played by an Israeli actress for extra realism?)

With seven ladies on board, Star City has become Heroineburgh! It's interesting, also, how the show has generally portrayed its female characters as of late - more ruthless, vengeful and prone to vigilantism than Oliver Queen himself. I'm going to bet there's little or no peril, though. Plus they're pretty much all wearing the same leather costume. But it's heaven for the Superheroine Forum...although I'm sure we would have enjoyed a couple more masks?

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[shevek]

OK, surprised there isn't more enthusiasm on here for the "Lost Canary" episode of Arrow which aired on 4/15.
Or maybe you just haven't seen it yet?

I was a bit hasty about proclaiming the female characters to be more ruthless than Oliver. Sure. they put up a "bad-ass" (very overused adjective by now) attitude while doing their genius-level computing and world-class combat sequences (four beautiful women fighting each other is something you normally only see on Kick Ass Kandy) but at the end of the day, the theme of the episode was about moral redemption and female solidarity (for Black Siren in the present, and Blackstar in the future).

Sure, two of the women (Emiko and Aviva) are just straight-up irredeemable villains, but the rest of them form this sisterhood network which is congealed on the series as "The Canaries" (not a group that has ever yet existed in the comics)..both in present day Star City (where, in the group's proto-form Felicity quips about calling them "Birds of Justice") and in Star City 2040, where they have become a formal vigilante system fighting the corporate villains (including a Wild Dog turned mayoral stooge).

As such, there's a lot of emotional support, mutual validation, and wine-drinking. There's the inevitable dig at what they regard as inadequate heroine predecessors - Felicity describes the proto-Canaries as "Charlie's Angels but without the feathered hair and casual sexism". The writers re-emphasize White Canary's bisexuality, when she talks both about flirting with the constantly chattering Felicity (who wouldn't?) and about her old fling with Oliver.

Also, you won't find any peril. The amount of time that any heroine is actually is danger in the episode (whether by bomb trap or by gunshot) is less than a second, and resolved very quickly by another heroine saving the day - there's no villainous lingering or gloating.

Masks: There are several in the episode. Zoe Canary wears one in the Star City 2040 sequence (and please note - her inclusion makes EIGHT female characters in the episodes, not seven). Dinah Canary wears one in her fight sequences. Future Black Siren (yes she is still around) wears one in 2040, and you also see the Canary henchwomen wearing them as well. So even if many of other main characters eschew them, masks are prevalent.

Powers: Unfortunately Shadow Thief does not have the power to slip in and out of the Shadow Dimension like she does in the comics. So the only power usage is the Canary Cry by Black Siren, which happens twice.

Costumes: Katie Cassidy as Black Siren looks on point, and we see probably more of her in the black leather costume in this episode than we've seen her in any other. Caity Lotz is gorgeous as usual in the same style she evidences on Legends. But the real treat is the incredible leather catsuit that was designed for Israeli actress Carmel Amit to play Shadow Thief. It is very tight and sexy (looks a bit like a Nightwing costume) and very much on display in several scenes. We know that Arrow is coming to a close, but with a few episodes still left, we can only hope to see more glimpses of Carmel in that wonderful outfit.

So with the usual caveats about the recent tamping down on provocative costuming (an episode like this would have been more obviously over-the-top in the 80s or 90s), the "Lost Canary" episode is still highly recommended for Superheroine Forum buffs, and they throw us a real nice tidbit with Shadow Thief. The only thing it was really missing was some good peril and some actual use of any superpowers.

[Visitor]

The only super power is the Canary cry done by three different Canaries. But then Arrow is about ordinary humans without powers saving the city. It could have used some real peril

This episode like this week's Legends of Tomorrow was the heavy emphasis on the women on the show. Oliver and John were off on a briefly shown side mission that could have been dropped except this show is called Arrow and not Canary. Mostly it's about failure of women to support women causes problems. Too much talk and only one real action sequence in the warehouse showing women can blow things up too.

[Maskripper]

So many women in sexy suit.....no real surprise I loved the episode!
ShadowThief was a great newcomer...love her suit! Put a rubber cowl on her and it would be close to perfection...
I liked how Black Siren was fighting with herself to find out on which side she is/will be.
And finally seeing her in the canary mask again.....gives me hope we will see her that way again.

Yeah the episodes could have used a little more action and peril, but hey.....I won't complain.
Looking forward to see the next one!

[shevek]

"Spartan" episode was fairly different than "Lost Canary" as we were back to the main story of Team Arrow fighting against Dante, Emiko and the Ninth Circle. I won't spoil the surprise that changes the game in this conflict.

This episode is a must-see for Ghostbusters fans as Diggle's stepfather, a four-star general, is introduced and he is played by Ernie Hudson! You'll definitely want to check out his scenes if you want to see him doing something serious other than fighting ghosts.

Very little costumed heroine action except for some background work with Dinah. There's a lot more of the usual Arrow male energy in this one,
even parts where Felicity and her 'CTO' Alena have to be saved from a lethal situation by Marines with guns, and Mia/Blackstar is saved by Connor when he uses his Deathstroke Gang tattoo to gain access to a restricted weapons vendor (they have a sexy moment later while they're in danger, and Katherine McNamara shows how she really is a stunningly beautiful actress close up).

However, when Felicity and Alena are alone in their own scenes..there seems to be quite of the "self-validation" you-go-girl attitude that is often prevalent among these shows. Alena is Felicity's personal sidekick and cheering section, and tells her numerous times how great she is, how successful she will become, and how her legacy will be secure and triumphant etc.

As per Marvel Comics, this is kind of the new-ish way of writing 'strong' female characters - they are often being *told* how great they are rather than just showing it, like Ripley or Sarah Connor did in the 80s. And I could be wrong, but I think Buffy and Xena didn't have cheering sections either (correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Gabrielle spent most of her time fawning over how great Xena was?)

I mean, I don't recall Robin telling Batman, 'you're great and smart, you can do it', and I don't recall loner heroes like Spider-Man or Daredevil having sidekicks who constantly validated them (they had friends and lovers, like Mary Jane and Foggy, who would support them out of costume, but in a regular human relationship kind of way). Anyway, it's just a little thing, but it's niggling, because you see it so often in the comics these days. In Episode 15 of Heroineburgh, which comes out in May, we actually make fun of this new trope with Gardenia's new adoring sidekick.

A solid episode where a lot of things happen and it moves the story along - if you're a fan of the Diggle character you'll want to dig in.

[Maskripper]

How about something to laugh about?

From a new article on "Entertainment weekly":
"....That said, the universe’s expansion precipitated what is widely considered to be Arrow’s best season, the fifth one. ..."


I honestly never heard from anyone who would say season 5 was the best.
Perhaps the worst...but not the best.

https://ew.com/comic-con/2019/07/17/arr ... ver-story/