Arrow 611 We Fall Review
Last night's Arrow showed us the best of what makes Arrow rise above the mundane of television. I thought last week good, but his week was great. Husband, wife, and family can all work on a show that's known for action and adventure. Emily and Stephen make it work. Jack Moore also gave us a great performance with William. David Ramsey shone last night too as John Diggle had his own struggle over being a hero, more on that to come. Emily, Stephen, and John are the heart of Arrow, and let's just say the Newbies have so much to learn. As perfect as the episode was, I have only one small complaint that I'll address later. Last night's episode is so hard to break down, because of so many wonderful aspects, but I hope to do my best.
Olicity: Wonderful scenes as we see Oliver and Felicity at home getting William off to a school field trip. Watching Oliver and William shooting arrows from toy bows was cute, but did Oliver deliberately lose? Did the Green Arrow miss the mark? Even William thought it was a odd, but of course Oliver lied again about not being the Green Arrow, when William said, "It must be because you're out of practice since you're not the Green Arrow." Then in comes Felicity with William's backpack (that annoying Flash backpack). What a great Mom she's becoming. Then William wants his homework checked for extra credit, and Oliver volunteers, but he hands the paper over to Felicity. That was so cute. We found out that William can solve 12th grade AP math. After Oliver leaves and Felicity and Oliver have that saying hug and kiss, Felicity says something like, "We've reached the maximum level of domesticity," and Oliver answering with, "I hope not." These are moments that make the show so special and different. Oliver is so happy, he's just starting to be "domestic", and he wants to grow. Those of us who have been married a long time appreciate those moments. I leaned over to my husband of 46 years and said, "Hey, have reached our maximum level of domesticity?" He winked and replied, "Not hardly". It's these light moments that make the heavier, weightier moments of Arrow have more meaning, and more weight, if you will.
It's the little touches that the writers add to their characters that show rather than tell us so much. For example after Oliver rescues William and brings him to the bunker, he stands there wanting to give William space. Felicity thinks Oliver needs to talk to him, so she walks overand puts her chin on Oliver's shoulder. It's her way of saying, I love you and understand. It's her way of being patient with Oliver. They have little soft moments together, and Emily and Stephen know how to pull off those softer moments. Also, at the end, when Oliver and William are on the couch and Felicity is sitting in a chair and they are having a parent meeting with William to talk. Felicity needs to talk things out. That's what she's always done with Oliver. We find out it's because she wanted her own father to be honest with her and to just tell the truth. Children can bear more than we think. They've had a long, difficult day, and she sits in her bare feet . I loved that moment because it was real. Then she told William to have a good night. I know most people will say so what about the bare feet, but it's a small thing that shows reality. Okay, I'm weird.
Two favorite Olicity Moments: Oliver doesn't know what to say to William, and he thinks that William may just need to be alone to think and not talk. Felicity comes over to tell him the importance of talking and to tell Oliver that William can take it. Felicity, "I think William can handle it." Oliver, "I don't know. " Felicity, "Well I do cause you know, genetics."
Another reason I enjoy Arrow, and I know I've stated this before, is because the writers keep continuity. As Felicity reassures Oliver that William can take it, she say, "Yet here we are..." That made my mind go straight back to season 4 when Damion had Felicity and Oliver came to rescue her, and they talk and Felicity says, "Yet here we are..." Oliver has changed yet not matter how much we change, we still have to live with general makeup of our personalities. We have to work to overcome some of our demons within ourselves. Oliver's first inclination is to keep things close and not share. Felicity lovingly reminded him, that William and she can take more than he knows, and they are a part of who he is and what he does. I am sure that when Oliver heard Felicity say, Yet here we arre,, his mind went back to that time when Damion had the one he loved, and she reassured him that her love was constant. I don't know about you, but that was a special moment for me.
Felicity as Mom: There were so many great moments that showed Felicity is going to be a great Mom. It begins with her bringing in the backpack, and making sure everything he needed was in it. Mom's care about that. She wonders if she does the right thing. There isn't a mom in the world who has never wondered that. But the writers masterfully showed Felicity's love and care towards the end, when Oliver and the others are in the field fighting. Felicity asks Will (really cool, because Moms always have special names for their kids) to sit by her. She then becomes the narrator for the fighting. She lays out everything about Oliver for William. He's not perfect. He sometimes has to lie. He is in the middle of danger, and yes, sometimes heroes don't come home, as the camera pans to the Black Canary suit. She tells William when she first falls in love with his father. Yes, we all know it was the very first day when he brought the bullet ridden computer to her, because that was the moment the viewers fell in love with her. We knew it would just a matter of time before Oliver discovered it. She's worried about him, but she's learned she has to trust him, and not let those thoughts crowd out trust. They have to hope for him and for themselves. They are the best part of Oliver's team. They are why he can go do what he does. Emily played that scene so well. She owned it. I also loved that even there they gave us humor, because that is a part of who Felicity is. Oliver takes out a person, and Felicity covers William's eyes and said, "That's definitely parenting 101." I have memories of covering my children's eyes during Raider's of the Lost Ark. HaHa, so that was real for me. The sweetest moment came at the end when the family unit sat down to talk. Oliver was so open and honest with William, and then he told William that he would stop being the Arrow, if that's what he needed. William's response: "I was afraid of being an orphan, but things have changed, I have Felicity now." Felicity has become his mom in his heart. Emily Bett Rickards owned the scene and it for me it was the highlight of the night.
Diggle and Felicity: John and Felicity always have sweet moments together. Diggle misses being the Green Arrow. John tells Felicity that what's on his mind is stupid, but Felicity says, "You don't do stupid." Felicity tells him that he'll get another chance. Will this cause a problem down the road? I think we are going to get more into Diggle in this second half. The writers have stated that would. Are these little clues? Felicity worries about what to say to William, because she's a stepmom in training. Diggle reassures her that she will be fine. He knows she's his mother already, simply because she's worried about doing the right thing.
William: Jack Moore does an excellent job as William and his his scenes on the bus had to remind the viewer of a young Oliver. I thought it was sweet how he defended Felicity against the bully, and yet he went back to save the bully, Tony. William has a lot of character.
Cayden James: We found out that Owen Post is Cayden James's son. It's rather good that it was no one we suspected. He thinks an arrow missed the intended target and hit Owen by mistake and killed him. He wants revenge on his son's killer. However, we learned Oliver was not in town the night Owen was killed. Oliver was in Hub City trying to find Dinah, so he never was the killer, which means the real killer framed Oliver. Who might those suspects be: Anatoly, but that seems unlikely. Vincent? He was in town, could he have done it? Black Siren could have done it, right? Then there is Adrian Chase himself. He was alive, and he was diabolical enough, but he didn't know about Cayden James. Whoever it is, once it is found out, James will want to take get revenge on that person, will he work with Oliver to do it?
I also think James is setting up Felicity to be his next victim. Felicity now knows that when she got into the computer it allowed James to breakthrough the firewall. Her fingerprints are on everything. I am rather nervous for her.
NTA: The newely formed team are a bunch of petulant teenagers jealous of mom and dad. Rene got on my nerves when he kept asking if Felicity were spying on them. For goodness sake, he turned against the man who helped him get his daughter back. Dinah and Curtis were no better. Oh, and don't forget that Curtis didn't inform them that he had seen Vincent, and they were willing to forgive him but not Oliver. Seriously? And do any of us think that they would have had victory over James's group if Oliver and Diggle hadn't shown up, and what's up with snide remarks at the end. Is anyone else so over this team?
My beef with the writers: Don't get me wrong, I love the Arrow writers, and most of the time they get things right, but there are a couple of things that annoy me, and since this my review, I'm going to air my complaint. Please, writers find an age for William and stick with it. He's smart and in AP 12th grade math, so he's bright I get that. So would he really play with toy bows and arrows that look like they are for an 8 to 10 year old? There are more realistic ones kids can get that can be shot indoors. My 11 year old granddaughter takes archery and has one. It couldn't be used in the kitchen, but they could have gone to an archery range. That to me would be more believable. Jack's voice is changing, so having him play with that set just didn't seem real. Then that Flash backpack, really? He's sticking his AP math in a Flash backpack. I asked my ten year old grandson if he would like a Flash backpack, now this is a boy who loves the Flash, but he looked at me and said, "No thank you, Oma, my friends would think I'm acting like a second grader, but I love you though." This is why I have a hard time with that backpack. William is no longer the little boy that Oliver played Flash with his bedroom in Central City. Maybe I am the only one who thinks this way. It's not the acting, the acting is great, it's that the age of the character just does't fit.
My other beef with the writers is James wants to take away the city Oliver loves and destroy it and all he loves out of revenge. Let's see how many times has this happened? Ra's al Ghul, Damien, Adrian, and now James, all wanted to take away from Oliver all he loves. Can't they create a villain who doesn't necessarily want to take everything away from Oliver Queen, but is just a villainous villain who commits crime and only team Arrow can stop them? Perhaps this will go in another direction once the team can find the evidence to prove that Oliver did not kill Owen Post. This is a very minor point.
Olicity: Wonderful scenes as we see Oliver and Felicity at home getting William off to a school field trip. Watching Oliver and William shooting arrows from toy bows was cute, but did Oliver deliberately lose? Did the Green Arrow miss the mark? Even William thought it was a odd, but of course Oliver lied again about not being the Green Arrow, when William said, "It must be because you're out of practice since you're not the Green Arrow." Then in comes Felicity with William's backpack (that annoying Flash backpack). What a great Mom she's becoming. Then William wants his homework checked for extra credit, and Oliver volunteers, but he hands the paper over to Felicity. That was so cute. We found out that William can solve 12th grade AP math. After Oliver leaves and Felicity and Oliver have that saying hug and kiss, Felicity says something like, "We've reached the maximum level of domesticity," and Oliver answering with, "I hope not." These are moments that make the show so special and different. Oliver is so happy, he's just starting to be "domestic", and he wants to grow. Those of us who have been married a long time appreciate those moments. I leaned over to my husband of 46 years and said, "Hey, have reached our maximum level of domesticity?" He winked and replied, "Not hardly". It's these light moments that make the heavier, weightier moments of Arrow have more meaning, and more weight, if you will.It's the little touches that the writers add to their characters that show rather than tell us so much. For example after Oliver rescues William and brings him to the bunker, he stands there wanting to give William space. Felicity thinks Oliver needs to talk to him, so she walks overand puts her chin on Oliver's shoulder. It's her way of saying, I love you and understand. It's her way of being patient with Oliver. They have little soft moments together, and Emily and Stephen know how to pull off those softer moments. Also, at the end, when Oliver and William are on the couch and Felicity is sitting in a chair and they are having a parent meeting with William to talk. Felicity needs to talk things out. That's what she's always done with Oliver. We find out it's because she wanted her own father to be honest with her and to just tell the truth. Children can bear more than we think. They've had a long, difficult day, and she sits in her bare feet . I loved that moment because it was real. Then she told William to have a good night. I know most people will say so what about the bare feet, but it's a small thing that shows reality. Okay, I'm weird.
Two favorite Olicity Moments: Oliver doesn't know what to say to William, and he thinks that William may just need to be alone to think and not talk. Felicity comes over to tell him the importance of talking and to tell Oliver that William can take it. Felicity, "I think William can handle it." Oliver, "I don't know. " Felicity, "Well I do cause you know, genetics."
Another reason I enjoy Arrow, and I know I've stated this before, is because the writers keep continuity. As Felicity reassures Oliver that William can take it, she say, "Yet here we are..." That made my mind go straight back to season 4 when Damion had Felicity and Oliver came to rescue her, and they talk and Felicity says, "Yet here we are..." Oliver has changed yet not matter how much we change, we still have to live with general makeup of our personalities. We have to work to overcome some of our demons within ourselves. Oliver's first inclination is to keep things close and not share. Felicity lovingly reminded him, that William and she can take more than he knows, and they are a part of who he is and what he does. I am sure that when Oliver heard Felicity say, Yet here we arre,, his mind went back to that time when Damion had the one he loved, and she reassured him that her love was constant. I don't know about you, but that was a special moment for me. Felicity as Mom: There were so many great moments that showed Felicity is going to be a great Mom. It begins with her bringing in the backpack, and making sure everything he needed was in it. Mom's care about that. She wonders if she does the right thing. There isn't a mom in the world who has never wondered that. But the writers masterfully showed Felicity's love and care towards the end, when Oliver and the others are in the field fighting. Felicity asks Will (really cool, because Moms always have special names for their kids) to sit by her. She then becomes the narrator for the fighting. She lays out everything about Oliver for William. He's not perfect. He sometimes has to lie. He is in the middle of danger, and yes, sometimes heroes don't come home, as the camera pans to the Black Canary suit. She tells William when she first falls in love with his father. Yes, we all know it was the very first day when he brought the bullet ridden computer to her, because that was the moment the viewers fell in love with her. We knew it would just a matter of time before Oliver discovered it. She's worried about him, but she's learned she has to trust him, and not let those thoughts crowd out trust. They have to hope for him and for themselves. They are the best part of Oliver's team. They are why he can go do what he does. Emily played that scene so well. She owned it. I also loved that even there they gave us humor, because that is a part of who Felicity is. Oliver takes out a person, and Felicity covers William's eyes and said, "That's definitely parenting 101." I have memories of covering my children's eyes during Raider's of the Lost Ark. HaHa, so that was real for me. The sweetest moment came at the end when the family unit sat down to talk. Oliver was so open and honest with William, and then he told William that he would stop being the Arrow, if that's what he needed. William's response: "I was afraid of being an orphan, but things have changed, I have Felicity now." Felicity has become his mom in his heart. Emily Bett Rickards owned the scene and it for me it was the highlight of the night.I also think James is setting up Felicity to be his next victim. Felicity now knows that when she got into the computer it allowed James to breakthrough the firewall. Her fingerprints are on everything. I am rather nervous for her.
My beef with the writers: Don't get me wrong, I love the Arrow writers, and most of the time they get things right, but there are a couple of things that annoy me, and since this my review, I'm going to air my complaint. Please, writers find an age for William and stick with it. He's smart and in AP 12th grade math, so he's bright I get that. So would he really play with toy bows and arrows that look like they are for an 8 to 10 year old? There are more realistic ones kids can get that can be shot indoors. My 11 year old granddaughter takes archery and has one. It couldn't be used in the kitchen, but they could have gone to an archery range. That to me would be more believable. Jack's voice is changing, so having him play with that set just didn't seem real. Then that Flash backpack, really? He's sticking his AP math in a Flash backpack. I asked my ten year old grandson if he would like a Flash backpack, now this is a boy who loves the Flash, but he looked at me and said, "No thank you, Oma, my friends would think I'm acting like a second grader, but I love you though." This is why I have a hard time with that backpack. William is no longer the little boy that Oliver played Flash with his bedroom in Central City. Maybe I am the only one who thinks this way. It's not the acting, the acting is great, it's that the age of the character just does't fit.
My other beef with the writers is James wants to take away the city Oliver loves and destroy it and all he loves out of revenge. Let's see how many times has this happened? Ra's al Ghul, Damien, Adrian, and now James, all wanted to take away from Oliver all he loves. Can't they create a villain who doesn't necessarily want to take everything away from Oliver Queen, but is just a villainous villain who commits crime and only team Arrow can stop them? Perhaps this will go in another direction once the team can find the evidence to prove that Oliver did not kill Owen Post. This is a very minor point.
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