Loved it? Hated it? What did you think of Uprising?

[Genny]

Pretty much agree 110% with all this.

I should start out by saying that I will be going against a (big?) portion of the fanbase by saying I don't like 'Olicity', mainly because I don't like Felicity, or at least as she's scripted/directed to be portrayed on the show. I could go on for a very long time about all the reasons, but suffice it to say, the character is treated very unfavorably by the writers/directors/tptb, imho. And I must say I'm glad I'm not an O/F shipper, because I might actually be walking out on this series if last night's last scenes were an indication of where this 'relationship' is and is heading. Hell, even when they do get 'shippy' with them, SA/EBR don't play well off each other in those scenes, or at least I am blind to what I should I be seeing between the two - it always feels really awkward and cringeworthy. Like I said, I don't favor her character much, but if I did, I'd be shipping the hell out of Ray/Felicity, like hardcore. Now there is a 'ship with some spark and believability between the actors.

I try my best to stay out of the 'ship wars' altogether, but if there is an endgame I had to choose that would best fit, it'd be Lauriver/Canarrow. And maybe its because I prefer Laurel to Felicity as a character, but to me, the hints to a Lauriver endgame have been anvil-sized, right out of the gates. Both in real time and flashbacks.

As long as its just using Malcolm's knowledge and acquiring help/skills to better match Ra's and the LoA, the team should understand Oliver's reasoning behind 'working with' MM. Its not like he was saying he was bringing MM into the team and they were total BFF's now. A fight with RAG brought Oliver to the brink of death - why would using all available resources to get better and possibly avoid a similar (more permanent) outcome be a "stupid thing" to do? The world isn't always black & white, people. Its shades of gray, too.

I absolutely loathe this storyline about keeping Sara's death from Q Lance. Yes, the fear of it literally killing him is a real one, but how is prolonging the charade/lie helping matters in the slightest?! It just makes it all that much worse, in the end! There is NO WAY that he wouldn't have ever figured it out. If BC got seriously hurt and Laurel was also seriously hurt, but its not Sara in the hospital being treated for the Canary's injuries, it would become crystal clear what was up. What the writers/ptb are doing to Q Lance with this whole thing is insanely and inhumanely cruel; not to mention trashing not only Laurel's character, but all of Team Arrow in the process with all their help in the deception. Single most horrible 'secret' storyline in the history of, like, ever.

Thanks, I really like what you've added. Totally agree with you, 110%. Well said.

Enjoyed this episode. My minor criticism is the vicious beating Wild Cat received from Brick. I felt Laurel's trainer should be able to fight better than that.

I wasn't sure why they showed only Laurel hanging back to watch Oliver's speech but the way they cut that scene showing just her watching Oliver reminded me of Lois in Smallive hiding while watching Clark heal himself in the Lazarus episode.

It will be interesting next week to see how Oliver handles how the team has evolved without him.

You're totally right, I expected him to fight much better because he trained Laurel who was managing just fine, and he was a vigilante himself yet he went down quick. I was surprised.

I also got the Lois watching Clark vibe from Laurel watching Oliver. I think they showed her watching him because she's happy he's back, I mean she had a pretty strong, even though she only said one word, reaction when she realized he was back. She was really relieved and happy so I think that played into why she stuck behind.

I'm interested to see how Ollie will take the changes in the team.

There should be a system set up for when Oliver can't be, or isn't, around. Like he is the leader of the team, but when he's away, one of them is the defacto leader in his stead, and then another person if first person can't for some reason, etc.


I know it won't happen, because of the need to pander to a portion of the fanbase, but Oliver should be telling Felicity - albeit politely - that he's let it go up to a point, but she needs to make a choice on her priorities; the Arrow team or Ray Palmer. "Us or Him", basically. She hasn't told the team (Oliver) that Palmer is working on his A.T.O.M suit, right? I wonder if the TPTB will decide to have that somehow blow up in her face by not confiding in Oliver/Team Arrow. Of course, this season's myth-arc 'spine' seems to be about all the harmful secrets kept from people they care about, so it fits right in.

Good points here. I agree that he should politely (for him) tell Felicity she needs to make a choice. And not just between Team Arrow/Ray Palmer, but between whether she wants to continue as part of the vigilante group or if she needs to step away for a while.

Really good point.

[Lois_Lane_Fan]

I enjoyed all of the action from the big fight scene this week. It was cool seeing Sin, Ted, and the civilians join in the battle, though I will be disappointed if Ted was killed off like it seems he might have been. There was so much more potential for his character than what we ended up getting.

[choiceofluthien]

I was somewhat surprised Ted didn't fare so well but then again neither Roy or Diggle had any luck. Ted's beating seemed to reinforce how hard Brick was going to be to beat. Before the episode aired I thought Oliver would come back in time to take care of Brick. I liked how it turned out that Malcolm 'helped' even after being refused and he was skilled enough to take down Brick. It just upped the stakes and underscored how Oliver was still needed. And since the actor has apparently joined another TV show it was a good time to write him out/reduce his role.

And yes, keeping Sara's death a secret was a horrible idea. It was a bad idea from the start although I understood why Laurel was worried considering what happened the first time. But then she confessed to her mother but still kept it from her Dad. OK, still not liking it but whatever. But faking Sara being alive is possibly the worst storyline, so cruel and unnecessary. And Felicity and Diggle are okay with it??? I know they understand keeping secrets but this is something else.
I don't need to see another fallout between Laurel and Lance, we had enough of that in the first two seasons. I just don't understand what the purpose is. Lance needs to find out in the next episode but my heart is breaking for him. Also, I think it will be harder for him to take after being lied to for so long and then tricked.

I'm actually curious as to what the others, especially Diggle, think of Oliver working with Malcolm. As said above, it's not like Oliver has forgiven Malcolm or even trusts him. He's tired after all that happened and wishes it was over. At the moment he doesn't see any other way; I don't think anyone can argue that he needs more training if he hopes to defeat Ra's in a fight. And as long as he wants to protect Thea, he will have to face Ra's again. Everyone else he cares about is probably in danger too.
I'm curious to how Felicity will react when Ray starts going out on his crusade...

[like a bird]

I don't think Ted Grant is killed off I just think he is just seriously injured just so he would be in the hospital and out of action so the actor can move onto his other show and later if he has time he can come back for an episode.

Ted is alive, MG answered this question on his tumblr.

I liked this episode. It seemed to me that Arrow was back on its tracks, with beautiful battle scenes. Actually I like the fact that the Glades habitants took a part in the fight. I liked that when people want to talk for the dead they are wrong most of the time. I like Felicity but this is something that happen very often in real life, people disagree on what someone dead would have done or said.

I don't thing the disagreement about Malcom is just a matter of morality. It is but it's not only that. I think that Felicity means that it's too risky. When someone form an alliance with his enemy he has to be sure that he will manipulate the enemy and not the other way round. But Malcom is stronger than Oliver physically and mentally. Once they will reach their goal (if they do) Malcom will get rid of Oliver.

[NightHawk777]

The Laurel over somebodies shoulder ... I think i saw that too but pretended i didn't. Havent rewatched yet, but will keep an eye out.

Rewatched last night. What it looks like is someone was rushing at Laurel and basically tried to tackle her. He wasn't carrying her on his shoulder so much as pushing her back the opposite direction.

[NightHawk777]

Ted is alive, MG answered this question on his tumblr.

I liked this episode. It seemed to me that Arrow was back on its tracks, with beautiful battle scenes. Actually I like the fact that the Glades habitants took a part in the fight. I liked that when people want to talk for the dead they are wrong most of the time. I like Felicity but this is something that happen very often in real life, people disagree on what someone dead would have done or said.

I don't thing the disagreement about Malcom is just a matter of morality. It is but it's not only that. I think that Felicity means that it's too risky. When someone form an alliance with his enemy he has to be sure that he will manipulate the enemy and not the other way round. But Malcom is stronger than Oliver physically and mentally. Once they will reach their goal (if they do) Malcom will get rid of Oliver.

No matter what Malcolm says, he did try to get rid of Oliver already in the climb.

[Red_Arrow]

Rewatched last night. What it looks like is someone was rushing at Laurel and basically tried to tackle her. He wasn't carrying her on his shoulder so much as pushing her back the opposite direction.

Okay. Someone told me about it. I didn't see either of those things, but that's probably because I was still thinking about Brick's men having guns and wasn't paying attention. Thanks for the clarification.

[choiceofluthien]

OK, so I realized what was annoying me about Diggle seeming to not approve of Oliver's plan.
In season 2 Diggle had to teamup with Deadshot (briefly at least) to save Lyla from the Russian prison. Is that not similar to Oliver teaming up with Malcolm? I mean up until that point Diggle wanted Deadshot to be killed...

So it's not the first time someone on the team has had to work with the enemy...

[Lipzo]

OK, so I realized what was annoying me about Diggle seeming to not approve of Oliver's plan.
In season 2 Diggle had to teamup with Deadshot (briefly at least) to save Lyla from the Russian prison. Is that not similar to Oliver teaming up with Malcolm? I mean up until that point Diggle wanted Deadshot to be killed...

So it's not the first time someone on the team has had to work with the enemy...

That was Felicity not Diggle that disagreed with Oliver. Diggle disagreed when Roy suggested they use Malcolm to take down Brick, but not when Oliver said he was teaming up with Malcolm to defeat Ra's. He never said a word about that.

[Amarice]

I mostly enjoyed this three episode arc of Arrow-without-Arrow. It seems that when the writers don't focus how to put Olicity into the story, they actually give some thoughts to the main plot. An awfully weak and unecessary Olicity ending in this episode proves that point.

They were some weak parts (that must be a very strong tea, which heals the hole in the lung within a month, not to mention Oliver "teleportating" from Nanga Parbat to Starling City), some plot holes, but overall I loved the atmosphere, Team Arrow continuing what Oliver started, Arsenal and Black Canary fighting side to side, Laurel taking up her sister's mantle, uprising in Glades, Merlyn's and Thea's subplots (no idea how it happens that he now feels remorse, and how the hell killing everyone in Glades was going to do something good but well). Vinnie Jones was great as ominous villain Brick. Also it was fun to see Wildcat and Sin again.

I loved how quickly Lance fingured out who is hiding under that red hood. At the same time it surprised me how cool he was when he heard that the Arrow is probably dead. But well, maybe his experience told him that this guy has the tendency to coming back from the grave.

Seems that Quentin is going to figure very soon that something terribly bad happend to one of his daughters... I feel sorry for him already.

I'm more and more interesting about Maseo's and Tatsu's sublots. I guess their son is dead and it was the reason why they fall apart. The flashback in those three episodes were mostly well done and give us new pieces of information. As for the scenes with Merlyn I think that he listened to Rebecca's voicemail after he had learned she was dead and he wasn't aware that something bad had happened when the police came to inform about the death of his wife.

Oliver came back in the most accurate moment. I missed that green hood in Starling I must say. I hope that the show is going to stay as enjoyable as it was after the hiatus and they are not going to torture us with getting back to Olicty. Really, I liked Felicity so much when she returend to Team Arrow after they suffered a breakdown and convinced others to carry on with Oliver's mission, which became their own. They are hurting both her and Oliver's characters when they are putting there in this Olicity nonsense...

[Nibbio]

I expected a bit more to be honest, and the thing that Diggle did, i mean come on!