Loved It? Hated It? What did you think of "The Calm?"

[Amarice]

I mostly liked the new episode (glad Arrow is back after five months break) but I have mixed feelings about some parts.

I don’t like the tendency to put Olicity moments just to satisfy the fandom demands. I like Felicity as a character, she doesn’t have to serve as another Oliver’s potential love interest. It seems so forced to me. Just as Felicity couldn’t be a valuable member to the team and a character without all of this.

I’m also afraid that Diggle’s and Quentin’s part is going to be reduced. "No, you can’t put yourself in harm’s way, you are a father now"/"No, you can’t put yourself in harm’s way, you are going to have a heart attack." Well, that would be a pity. Lance can still support the Arrow, just not in the field, but if Diggle's only part is going to be watering that fern Felicty had brought to the foundry it's going to be a kind of joke and wasting such a good character.

Also, I don’t like when they bring back a character just to kill him or in this case her off. Well, it was a shocking ending for sure, but seems rapid and rushed. Poor Sarah! I liked her as the Black Canary. Guess it had to happen sooner and later... I think it's going open a way to Laurel to became the second Black Canary (the scene with the falling mask is significant enough). As for the murdered I think it was Komodo. Still, I think that they should do this in the mid-season finale and built up some tension first. There is also the possibility that Laurel's investigation is going to be one of subplots of the season so in such a case it might have some sense (btw. I like her cooperation with Oliver - "You catch 'em, I cook 'em").

That pocket bow and suit under Arrow's outfit was also a bit riddiculus to me.

But what I liked is seeing Roy in his Arsenal outfit, fully supporting the Arrow on the field. Also that Ray Palmer guy seems to be interesting. New Vertigo might see a bit blank as an enemy, but the part with Ollie being the most afraid of himself was not bad. Poor Felicity, who has to work in the IT shop (at least it was not Big Belly Burger), and Oliver, who is not going to easily win back his company were good subplots too. And hey, was it the same doctor, who helped the Arrow when he had knee injury? I mean the scene with Lyla and Diggle. Well, seeing Dig as the happy father was not bad either, but I really hope he is still going to be part of the team.

The flashbacks were quite good too. Now we are getting idea why Oliver is far from being fond of Amadna Waller. Liked the twist with the bad guy and his family, who might turn to be not so bad as it seemed.

[Arrowaddict22]

What role does Diggle play in team Arrow now that Roy is part of the Team? And will we see Diggle's new family being used against him, or used to threaten him in some way?

[Billy Jor-El]

I kept wondering why Ray Palmer reminded me so much of a young Chris Reeve, kind of a tougher version of Clark Kent. Oh....Brandon Routh....duh!!!!!

Enjoyed the ep, but although I've said it before, it was made insanely evident in this ep....Emily is SMOAKIN' HOT!!!!!

PS....when Felicity told Roy to break the freon line....hmmmm...is freon actually legal to use anywhere anymore? The refrigerant in a car's A/C is R-134, hasn't been freon in years..... Oh, well, Felicity is really too hot to make that a big deal.

[Anno_Domini]

Dat death!

"The Calm" was a nice set-up, but Sara's death is what really pushed Arrow in that direction from making the season premiere mediocre to freaking amazing. That and Roy as Arsenal…I'd say the first take of a sidekick in live-action that is as stellar as the main hero, and I'm counting both TV and film.

[DeathBySpoiler]

I give this a lower rating not exactly sure which. Oliver/Felicity feels pretty forced, and I am docking a point or two for the official page spoiling Sara's death. I hope the rest of S3 is better.

[Thailog]

- Olicity. I don't have an issue with it as a ship, but this subplot may have been too much, too soon. Why the rush -- they could have taken their time with it, been more subtle and given it a more substantial (and dramatically satisfying) send-off/time-out.

I agree with this.

It's possible the writers thought "the Arrow 2.5 comics will explain this" but not everyone reads those. As it stands, it's a bit odd to jump from the season 2 finale into the current state of things without actually seeing the development between the characters (that obviously did happen) on-screen. Also, the cliche of "I love you but I can't be with you because I'm afraid you might get hurt" was already overdone in Smallville and it feels out of place here since Felicity is already in danger by virtue of being Arrow's (crime fighting) partner regardless of her relationship status with Oliver.

[evaba]

I give this a lower rating not exactly sure which. Oliver/Felicity feels pretty forced, and I am docking a point or two for the official page spoiling Sara's death. I hope the rest of S3 is better.

I wanted to write another one of my long reviews, but was afraid that it would be mostly ranting about the lame Oliver/Felicity romance, with its retconning and all around OOC behavior. I mean, when did Diggle become an Olicity shipper (I'm talking about the on screen action, not tumblr, where he has been an Olicity fanboy since the first season) and is it really true that Oliver saw his loved ones and old friends as "threats" or "targets" when he first returned to Starling city?? That is not my impression of his on screen relationships in season one. It was a bit like the "Arrow" writers had spent the hiatus on tumblr and "An Archive of Our Own" studying Olicity fan fiction before they wrote that Italian dinner date, rather than writing their own story! I had actually gotten used to the idea of a season three Olicity romance, but this was just forced, rushed and poorly done. ...in my humble opinion, of course!

The Digglet was supercute, and it was nice to see Roy Harper in action (though I hope the writers give him some more speaking parts in future episodes!). In general this season premiere felt rather crammed, maybe because the writers wanted to catch up with everyone's storyline, as well as laying the foundations for future plotlines. I won't mourn Sara, but I think it was a pity that she didn't get more (screen)time with her loved ones before she left for good. On the positive side, I think her murder will be a great catalyst for the season three story arc, since she has connections to almost all the major players, even the ones who didn't know her before the Gambit disaster, like Felicity and Roy Harper.

[DeathBySpoiler]

Also, I can't believe they put "Olicity" in over Malcolm Merlyn - John Barrowman is my favorite thing about Arrow atm. That was the plot line I was most excited about and they didn't even show him.

[costas22]

It's possible the writers thought "the Arrow 2.5 comics will explain this" but not everyone reads those. As it stands, it's a bit odd to jump from the season 2 finale into the current state of things without actually seeing the development between the characters (that obviously did happen) on-screen.

Agree with this. I'm one of those viewers that didn't buy the 2.5 series. Nor am I planning to because I follow Arrow as a tv show. If the producers' intention was to to have the comic portray the growing bond between Oliver and Felicity, then imo that's an easy copout to go from A to Z straight away as far as that relationship is concerned. Can't keep important stuff like that off screen.

[Supergirl333]

Hi. I'm new here but not new to the Arrow TV show. I hated the fact that they brought back Black Canary just to kill her off. I'm guessing that she returned to tell Oliver that Malcom was training Thea to be a killer and that it was Malcom who killed BC. Oliver keeps getting text messages from Thea saying that she is traveling from one vacation spot to another. I believe this is just a ruse while she is being trained by daddy, IMO.

[Alchemix]

The shooting with just 3 black arrows, was a bit of Malcolm merlin's trademark. On the other hand the makers of the show are pretty good in misleading the viewer.

[Quark]

It was a good episode but there were a couple of things that bugged me one of them being when Roy was icing that bomb. How no one turned around to see what was going on was rather strange.

Another thing, I understand that Oliver wants his company back but wouldn't it be a wise idea to get some sort of qualifications?

The final thing, unless I'm looking too much into it, when Oliver was on his date with Felicity he said that he had decided to come home two years ago. Does that mean that whole thing with the fishing boat in the season one premier was staged?

On another note, I think it was Malcolm who killed Sara.

Also, I wonder if another reason why crime is so low in Starling City is because of a potentially growing League of Assassins presence in the city which sends all criminals scurrying...

[Haggard01]

Well Quark I often think about that as well. I re watched the scene and it does sound a lot like Oliver staged his own rescue. Also add in what we know about his time with Amanda Waller with the possibility that he spent more than one year off of the island I'd say it is a very real possibility that those fishermen were going there to get him off of Lian Yu. I think the only we will know for sure is if some one says it or when we see the finale island scene at the end of season 5.

[MackPowee]

First off the Clam was a decent episode. The action sence were good but have seen better. It was cool to finale see Roy in his costume and Brandon Routh did a good job as Roy Palmer. But how long before they make a superman joke? Now as for the Sara dying and as for Laurel becoming Black Canary this differently the reason that would make her. But I don't think Sara is died, not if they use the idea that Ra's al Ghul keep coming back from the dead, that Sara will come back. If she does come back it should be as a villain one that will Laurel some problems after she has been Black Carney for a while.

PLUS anyone like the brief Barry Allen cameo? But I have to ask anyone else think that if it wasn't The Flash pilot that they would just have Oliver go to roof talk to Barry then runs off. Then camera could zoom in on Barry then that where The Flash Logo appear indicating that Arrow is over and your now watching The Flash. The sence could be him in Central City.

[PHOENIXZERO]

The Flash's normal air day is the day before Flash so that wouldn't work, they were just reairing the pilot after Arrow as an encore. I think they should've either cut that little shot with Barry and just had Oliver taking a phone call, saying Barry's name and leaving... Or showed the scene from Oliver's perspective including what he did afterwards. Sara is dead, they made it pretty clear she's dead with how they did it, don't know if the Lazarus pits exist in this world though.