The hidden subway

[evaba]

This is probably nitpicking, but I have one query concerning the subway/metro system in the Glades.

First of all, I didn't understand if there once existed a subway covering the whole city of Starling or if it only covered the Glades area. It seems kind of odd that they would restrict the subway to one specific area, considering that the whole idea of a metro is to connect various areas of a city. I would have thought that the residents of the Glades mainly used the subway to get out of their own slums to their places of work-which would presumably be somewhere else in the city.


Secondly, how do you hide a whole subway system and make it look as if it never existed? Our subway here in Stockholm is pretty conspicuous, with stations all over the streets of the inner city as well as in the suburbs-it would be quite a lot of work for to fill up these subway entries/holes in the ground! And yet the Glades subway seems to be hidden and all forgotten, since Oliver and Felicity didn't know anything about it. This is probably one of those questions that you're not supposed to ask, on a par with questions concerning Oliver's magical non-growing Island beard, but since the subway seems to play such an important part in the "Evil Conspiracy of Evil Rich People" (a.k.a. "The Undertaking") plotline, it would be interesting to know a little more....

[superhippie2000]

I assume it was a really old subway station that was no longer in use so it was cut off from the main line or something. kind of like train tracks. when they have no need to have them they just kind of let it sit and rot and have grass and stuff grow all over it. So ya the subway has probably been out of service for a long long time and blocked off when it closed down so no one really cares. especially since its in a bad area.

[pochemuchka]

I'm not sure how they made it so inconspicuous that people didn't even remember it existing, but it does seem to cover the whole area, not just the Glades.

Also, a little curious how the Savior got the subway system to...you know, work? All sneaky and everything. That stretched belief juuuuuust a bit.

[evaba]

I'm not sure how they made it so inconspicuous that people didn't even remember it existing, but it does seem to cover the whole area, not just the Glades.

Also, a little curious how the Savior got the subway system to...you know, work? All sneaky and everything. That stretched belief juuuuuust a bit.

LOL! I was thinking the same thing-how did the Saviour get these supposedly decrepit subway trains to run? But you know, it's probably best not to dwell too much over such details, because then the plot holes/incongruities will jump up and punch you in the eye! To take another example from the Salvation episode-Dinah recognized Sarah from her Starling City Rockets cap, which she saw her pack before leaving with Oliver. However, if you're swept off a sinking boat by a huge wave, I don't imagine that you would hold on to a cap, so that you can wear it on a photo several years later, would you? Of course, it is plausible that Dinah was so desperate to find Sarah that she didn't really think straight, but it is a bit odd that Quentin or Laurel didn't see the weak points in her reasoning.

I guess I should add that I do understand that the reference to the cap has an important function in the plot, namely to show that Dinah knew that Sarah was going on the boat with Oliver...which in turn explains why she felt compelled to leave her family to look for her. I just think that the writers could have made that point in a more elegant or believable manner.

Also, how can the *Chinese* Embassy know anything about a person who was photographed in Phuket, *Thailand*? Or maybe I just missed the link that would make this scene probable? I probably have to rewatch and see how it all hangs together...

And don't get me going about all the incriminating evidence that the bad guys in this show keep stored on their computers for years, instead of destroying it right away, which any normal person would! Again, it's a convenient way to wrap up a story-line, but I really can't understand why, for example, Frank Bertinelli would have Helena's boyfriend killed in order to stop him from giving evidence against his organization to the FBI, but still keep all this evidence on a computer locked up in his own safe.

Eva a.k.a. "Nitpicker"

[evaba]

It seems that hidden and forgotten subway lines aren't a fiction, after all....Just found this interesting tidbit about *real* abandoned/hidden subway lines in major American cities:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/23748/4-secret-subways-hiding-underground

There is interesting info in the "comment" section as well.

[JDBentz]

You know, I'm beginning to think that the Glades isn't actually part of Starling City. One of the things mentioned in Salvation is that the cops don't/won't//can't go into the Glades. This, combined with the no longer in use subway, suggests the Glades is indeed separate from Starling City.

Another thing to think about: just because a subway or building is abandoned does not mean it is unusable. Robert Queen's factory, now Verdant; and let's face it, if the Undertaking is all about dealing with the Glades 'permanently', whose to say they wouldn't have the subway shut down in order to keep the 'more important lives' from being in the Glades when whatever they're planning takes off? I would bet that the subway is usable, but the only ones who would know it is those who have worked on it or for it and knew it wasn't "dangerous".

[evaba]

Hiya JD,

Judging by this map, taken from the show, the Glades neighbourhood seems to be a part of Starling city, with surrounding neighbourhoods with various names:

http://arrow.*****.com/wiki/File:The...subway_map.png

My impression is that The Glades slum is meant to symbolize a particularly "bad" or "dangerous" part of the city, at least to outsiders. It does have the look of a kind of generic slum, with junkies, decrepit buildings and people making fires in the street to keep themselves warm. Actually, that's an aspect that has puzzled me.....I thought the comic book Star/Starling city was situated in California, where the sun always shines (or so we are told!). Fires in the streets would make more sense if the action actually took place in Vancouver...

Also, the "Arrow" universe seems to be a pretty polarized one-on the one hand you have the über-rich (the Queens, the Merlyns etc.) in their mansions, or the slick downtown area you see in the aerials, and on the other you have the slums in the Glades. You have to wonder where all the middle class people in Starling city live/belong.....people like the Lances, or Diggle/Carly or even Felicity. That is kind of weird, considering that the middle class is normally the largest part of the population. But I guess I'm just taking the show far too seriously than I should....we're probably meant to believe that all these people have an "off-screen" life in some nice suburban neighbourhood, but that we never get to know about it because it's not part of the plot.

As for the subway, I'm sure it will be used in some way in the season finale.

Another question-why are the "Big Bads" of the Undertaking arc all business tycoons "who are poisoning our city" and their (possible) victims slum dwellers? I don't think that Guggenheim and company are trying to pass on any "subversive" messages concerning one-percenters and social inequality to the viewers...it's probably just a trope, but it's kind of interesting anyway. The most probable reason I can think of is that business tycoons (at least in a realistic universe) are the most likely to have the power and money to bring on any real disasters....which means that they are the only worthy enemies for the Green Arrow in the long run (as opposed to the "villain of the week").