1. “You have failed this omelette”
From the very beginning of the episode, you see that this isn’t the same show as last season. Ollie and Felicity are trying to make a life work in the suburbs, Ollie has put his energy into cooking and being a domestic superhero, and Felicity is bored. Adding some ennui to Felicity’s love story is a really effective decision – it gives her more to do than just be Ollie’s girlfriend, and it also says a lot about both parts of the couple.
For Ollie, it shows that maybe this isn’t what he’s really meant to do – if he can go six months without saving people, maybe making eggs in the slow cooker is really where he should be (to be fair, that’s not exactly the path to restaurant success – the Crock Pot Corner probably isn’t the most popular restaurant on your block). For Felicity, it continues the character’s sheer unwavering desire to keep getting better and better at being a techie, and never being satisfied with the status quo.
It is weird to see Ollie so happy, especially when everyone around him is decidedly not. His “Felicity Smoak, you have failed this omelette” goof was a solid one, and it allowed Stephen Amell to actually be closer to his real life/social media presence, which is a charming and funny dude. By the end of the episode, he was using a voice changer again, and was back to vigilantism, but for a brief, shining moment, Ollie was almost at peace. Almost.
2. Six Month Time Jump
Much like The Flash, the show experienced a six month time jump between the end of season three and now, and a lot has changed – the aforementioned Ollicity domestication, Team Arrow uhh…Diggle? has gotten good at taking down bad guys (but not, you know, that good), and Starling City was officially rebranded as Star City, in tribute to Ray Palmer, who is dead until Legends of Tomorrow explains that he probably just shrunk down real small like.
On The Flash, they used the time jump as a way to dull emotions and heal wounds, whereas here, the time was used to fester. Everyone, aside from maybe Ollie, is more bitter and upset than they were six months ago. Laurel is more desperate, Diggle’s grudge hasn’t subsided, Thea is getting more and more rage-y, and Felicity is bored. Never before has the divide between the CW’s two shows been more clear.
3. Giving the Supporting Cast More
I’ve long advocated for needing to give the non-Ollie/Felicity members of the cast more to do, and this episode shows interest in doing just that. Sure, Dinah and Diggle are still more one-dimensional than you’d like, but the show is attempting to give them arcs – that’s a big improvement over where they were at this time last season. Y’all remember when Diggle got married, and it was a way bigger deal that Felicty brought Roy than it was that Diggle was actually getting married? That’s what I’m talking about.
But here, we have Quentin betraying the city (?!), even if he’s being sheepish about it, as well as Laurel sort of floundering as a leader, and Thea, perhaps, finally showing the effects of the Lazarus Pit – this is growth for these characters. Each one is in a different place than the last time we saw them, and all are on trajectories to end the season in a far different place than they started them.
Quentin working with Damien Darhk is interesting for a few reasons – at first, I felt it was very out of character, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Quentin feels like he has no control over the city, especially with all the vigilantes running around, and so this is his way to bring order back to chaos. Of course, aligning yourself with a mystical demon isn’t always the best plan, but I’m sure he’ll figure it out.
Diggle – no matter if each week we are reminded that he has a daughter – still isn’t really given too much to do here. ‘Being mad at/disappointed in Ollie’ isn’t a real character trait. I would love to do the Bechdel Test with Diggle, but instead of seeing if two women talk about something that isn’t a man, it is ‘has Diggle ever had a conversation that isn’t about Ollie?’
Continued below4. It’s Not Easy Being Green (Arrow)
It has been well established on this show that just about everyone knows that either Oliver Queen was the Arrow, or that he was falsely accused of being the Arrow. So, even though the Arrow is ‘dead,’ if the city sees a guy who looks a lot like Oliver Queen dressed up as the Green Arrow, wouldn’t they put two and two together? Doesn’t that just seem logical?
Similarly, if Queen Industries was as big of a deal as it seemed, and the CEO and his son disappeared, wouldn’t their faces be all over the news? I can still identify what Elian Gonzalez or Amy Fisher looks like, even though they haven’t been in the news for a very long time – shouldn’t someone in Coast City (perhaps Hal Jordan, whose bomber jacket we saw in the bar) recognize Oliver? Having longer hair isn’t exactly the world’s greatest camouflage. You would also assume that Laurel would know he is back, since they clearly use the same color stylist on their hair.
5. Who’s in the GRAAAAAAAAAAAAVE?
The episode ends with Barry, having missed the funeral, comforting Ollie at the grave site of someone he cares about. I think we are all supposed to see this as Felicity, but Ollie seems too in control for that. But would anyone else elicit the sort of response that the show wants us to have? Thea’s been dead already, Diggle is like the family pet that the kids ignored so much they don’t realize he’s gone for weeks, and Laurel seems unlikely for whatever reason. Would they really kill Felicity?
Let me know what you think in the comments!
