seguist @seguist - Tumblr Blog

Once again, we have Season 1 (and 2) retconning. Because who remembers what happened back then, right?

We do.

We know that killing was almost never Oliver’s first resort.

We know there’s no evidence Oliver was killing everyone along the way to his target.

We know that Oliver didn’t torture people to death for practice.

We know Oliver had a moral code, skewed as it might have been.

So when Oliver says “I wanted to. I liked it”, I don’t know what he’s talking about.

Chase had him so, okay, say it. Say whatever you need to get out of that cell. But to actually believe it (after a mere six days)? I’m not sure I buy that.

Even though he believed Evelyn dead, I’m not sure I buy that.

And it’s Prometheus. There’s nothing Oliver has done that can compare to killing hockey mums to play word games.

In any case, the Queen is now off the board.

(All puns aside, Oliver’s the most powerful piece in the game. I know many say it’s Felicity but her work’s done at a distance so she’s more like a Bishop – perhaps a fianchetto Bishop if you want her extraordinary skill recognised. Google it if you like.)

But taking the Queen is not the endgame. It’s part of the middlegame – the stage in which most pieces are removed. They wanted Oliver and his team gone. Why? Presumably, they’re in the way. But of what?

Last week’s episode was titled “Checkmate”. But that’s not really accurate. Oliver was captured but he’s not the King. The King is Star City.

On the other side, Chase is not a Queen. I’d say he’s more a Knight. And I think we can fully expect him to be sacrificed when it suits Talia.

Alright. Enough Chess metaphors.

We finally found out why Chase calls himself Prometheus and it’s kinda disappointing. Prometheus defied the gods and he’s defying the pantheon that is Team Arrow. Obviously Chase didn’t read the rest of the myth. Really looking forward to him getting his liver ripped out. Repeatedly.

#arrow #arrow 5x17

Thoughts on Arrow 5x11

‘Second Chances’.

Finding a new BC is about continuing LL’s legacy. I know many think her legacy is minimal or non-existent – while Canary stood against violence to women, it is difficult to identify what BC represents – but let’s assume such a legacy exists. Passing on the mantle is not something that can be forced. Fulfilling a retconned deathbed promise does not carry on the legacy.

DD (or Tina) seemingly has no relevant connection to LL. She was not recruited by her, not trained by her, not even inspired by her. She’s more like Sara than LL. Maybe they’re related – Quentin could meet her and identify her as his ex-wife’s cousin’s daughter i.e. LL’s second cousin – but I doubt it. How is this continuing LL’s legacy? DD isn’t likely to accept being forced into a BC mould. Would she even appreciate the heritage attached to it?

A better new BC – if we must have one – would’ve been Evelyn. We know she was inspired by BC so she would’ve been a suitable successor. Instead they made her Artemis and a TRAITOR.

I don’t understand Talia. She told Oliver, “The world needs people like you.” But what does she care? Why does the List matter to the Daughter of the Demon? She trained Oliver and pushed him into becoming the Hood. Then she trained Prometheus who’s going after him for being a serial killer. Did she know what Prometheus intended? Indeed, was it her that set him on his path as she did with Oliver? Or was this more an Anubis-tricking-Oma-Desala type of thing?

Talia advises Oliver to separate the monster, giving it an identity, so that he can be Oliver Queen. This goes against Maseo’s maxim from S3 FBs: a man cannot live by two names. But he didn’t think about that advice in S1-2, nor about Talia’s advice in S3. Nothing new, I guess.

Felicity tells Rory about her hacktivist days - an unhealthy power trip, she says - but she's heading back there by the end of the ep. All because a fan who doesn't know what she's talking about guilt-trips her and gives her some aptly-named files. She keeps it from Oliver - will she get a teamwork lecture later this season?

I wonder if Prometheus is behind this. If he wants to compromise Felicity, this is a good way to do it. She's already seeking revenge, frustrated with their usual methods when a hacker shows up, deals blows to both her ego and her conscience then offers her another way. It cuts her off from the team or at least distracts her. Or, perhaps Prometheus believes he’s freeing her to be herself, though someone who kills innocent people to make anagrams is unlikely to be concerned by another’s wellbeing.

When Oliver finds out, I hope he's only angry about the secrets, not her hacktivism because this is just another means to their goals.

Diggle's still locked up and barely got a look-in. Remember all the OTA we were promised? Still waiting.

In all the attempts to free Digg, everyone seems to have forgotten he has actually committed some crimes. Not those Walker’s pinning on him but escape from lawful custody and, since he’s military, some sort of absence offence (UA, AWOL, etc). With a previous attempt at flight, and the only exculpatory evidence being illegally-obtained documents, he should not have got bail.

No Quentin. No Thea, again. Even when she shows up she has no plot of her own. She's Oliver's COS; that's ample material. Otherwise, just put her back on the team. There was plenty of time for new people, though.

Remember all the OTA we were promised? Still waiting.

Why is Oliver affected by the Cry and Sonus' power? He was trained by Ra's al Ghul! Not to mention he faced Sara's Cry back in S2.

Many parallels throughout this episode: Talia/Oliver and Oliver/DD, obviously, but also Felicity and DD. Both lost a lover (yeah, I said it) and are on a quest of revenge. But, while Felicity is just starting out, DD’s finishes in this episode. And unsatisfactorily for her. Felicity should take note. DD also brings to mind Helena, whose desire for vengeance was boundless, but Oliver doesn’t seem wary of history repeating.

There's some good Greek mythology meta at the moment. I rec this.

#arrow #arrow 5x11

That doesn't even begin to make any kind of sense.

Amaya Jiwe, Legends of Tomorrow 2x10

Pretty much a summary of the entire show.

#legends of tomorrow

storyteller0311

So, Pandora has to be related to Prometheus, right?

Ok, maybe the writers are just on a mythology kick…but that might be too much of a coincidence, right?

In Greek mythology, Prometheus steals fire from Zeus and pisses him off. So, in retaliation, Zeus chains Prometheus to a rock and sets up a situation where Prometheus is tortured every night, magically healed in the morning, rinse, repeat.

But Zeus is still pissed, so he decides to wreak havoc on mankind by…you guessed it…having Hephaestus create a woman named Pandora. Sexist pigs. Ugh. So, then, Zeus gives Pandora a jar of stuff – bad stuff – and has Pandora married off to Prometheus’ brother Epimetheus.

Pandora can’t resist opening the box, so she does what Zeus tells her not to do, and she opens the box.

And all the bad stuff flies out. But there’s one thing left in the box.

Hope.

Hope is what’s in the box.

Okay. So what does this all mean?

Let’s face it. Despite my comment about coincidences above, there’s a really good chance that these are just surface nods to mythology and (what I’ll comment on in a moment) comic canon. But, where’s the fun in writing off possibilities? We need some spec!

Keep reading

seguist

Excellent spec.

If Oliver is Epimetheus, then the Prommy theory makes even more sense. I accept Oliver and Prometheus being brothers due to Talia but if Prometheus were Tommy it’d be even stronger.

Isn’t Hephaestus sometimes called “twisted”? In a sense, Helix is “making” Felicity AKA Pandora.

I’m curious as to how Zeus could be said to have created Prometheus and Epimetheus. Isn’t he their cousin?

In that case, wouldn’t Talia be Iapetus and someone else Zeus? Then again, perhaps that’s being too literal. After all, Prometheus isn’t chained to a rock having his liver ripped out. If anyone is being punished, it’s Oliver.

If Talia is behind all this, what purpose could she have in setting her students against each other?

#arrow spec

Two thoughts on The Flash 3x11

Iris is dying. Cue the Kübler-Ross?

On TV, the Kübler-Ross Model is rarely well done. Here are a few misconceptions TV gives us:

It’s the stages of dying – no, it’s for any major loss.

There’s an order – no, you might start at depression, then move to denial, then to anger.

Once you hit acceptance, it’s over – no, you can pass through that stage and onto another.

Each stage happens only once – no, you can (and likely will) bounce between all of them.

Every stage will happen – no, you can skip some.

That said, so far, I’m impressed with how The Flash is portraying Iris’ preparation for death. She’s started with acceptance – she’s okay with dying but wants her life to matter. The uniqueness of her situation has combined that acceptance with a recklessness with her own life based on the idea that she can’t die yet. (That’s one way to test if you can change the future.)

Iris wants to make her mark. Barry loves her.

Iris worries she’ll be gone before making her mark, just like her mother. Barry says her mother did make her mark – she had two children, including the woman he loves. That’s true but doesn’t really apply to Iris who has no children (unless that’s a suggestion Barry). She has, of course, invested emotional labour in Barry and Wally and others but it’s understandable that she wants to do something more direct, more concrete. Barry’s response didn’t really address that. Instead, he downplayed her worry and emphasised his love for her – which is important, no doubt, but doesn’t go to the key point. She wants to make a mark.

#the flash #the flash 3x11 #iris west

seguist

Iris feels as though she doesn’t contribute to the team. Barry tells her there’d be no Flash without Iris West. It’s supposed to be sweet but it’s also demeaning, I think. She helps Team Flash by existing? That’s like telling her she just needs to stand there and look pretty.

This also exposes a flaw with how Iris is written. It’s rare that she has a substantive role in the plot, beyond moral support and romance. She’s an investigative reporter. There are plenty of ways that can be relevant but I can’t remember the last time she was in a newsroom or posting on a blog. She doesn’t even need to be working on a story because the skillet can easily be used in tracking metahumans.

And even if that wasn’t true, here’s an idea: have her develop new skills!

melonatures

the flaw of the flash is that it is an adolescent male power fantasy

iris’s feeling as though she doesn’t contribute to the team isn’t a sign that she’s badly written anymore than barry’s feeling as though he’s worthless without his powers is a sign he’s badly written, or joe feeling as though he had to be lenient with wally and not provide him with firm boundaries made him badly written, or wally feeling as though he wants to be a speedster and a superhero and not just an everyday citizen makes him badly written, or jesse feeling as though her dad didn’t believe in her was a sign she was badly written. iris feeling as though she doesn’t contribute to the team is simply an exploration of her desires, and a continuation of the show’s bizarre insistence that the only characters worthy of time and consideration are those with superpowers, or those labeled geniuses (something that iris herself may subvert in upcoming episodes).

maybe it’s because i am deeply uninterested in plot (i can’t remember the last time i cared about cait or cisco coming up with some solution through The Power of Science, or the last time i was interested in any iteration of harry/wells/hr), and i find the procedural format of the show to be unimaginative, besides the point, and boring at best (lazy and stupid at worst), but i appreciate that in addition to her metahuman database, her building and maintaining the flash’s relationship to the public, her myriad roles in her family, and her belief in good and the impossible, iris isn’t only defined by what she does, but exists as a character that has significance in other ways. “there is no flash without iris” doesn’t mean she simply has to exist, it means that the emotional labor she does that people so easily demean (~just moral support~; the same emotional labor eobard did for barry all throughout s01, the same emotional labor joe regularly does, the emotional labor that people love to read about in all those hurt/comfort fics, and which characterizes shows that fall into the genre of “drama,” and the flash *is* a drama, as well as a procedural) is actually valuable and has worth. “there is no flash without iris” means that her belief in the impossible matters; “there is no flash without iris” means that she has saved barry multiple times; “there is no flash without iris” means that iris is the only character who operates at ccpd, at star labs, in the west home, at ccpn, and on the streets; “there is no flash without iris” means that she is an essential part of the flash mythos—but then again, mythos doesn’t have very much to do with plot as it does with metaphor and meaning.

i do agree with you that barry’s turning everything back to focus on him is ugly, though.

seguist

In part, I agree. Not to Barry being egocentric (because I wasn’t suggesting that!)

There is no Flash without Iris West means her emotional labour is actually valuable.

There is no Flash without Iris West means that her belief in the impossible matters.

There is no Flash without Iris West means that she has saved Barry multiple times.

There is no Flash without Iris West means that she is an essential part of the flash mythos.

This is all true.

But…

I don’t think that’s how it was meant here. It was written to give us a sweet Westallen scene but reduced her role to the way Barry feels about her.

Her concern is valid. She wishes she could do more on the team beyond emotional support to the hero. Which is important. Of course it is. But her role should not be reduced to that one facet. She should do more on the show.

Yet, for all those things you rightly say she represents, that she does to present the Flash to the public, that isn’t written for her lately. And that’s why I say she is badly written. Her character is not given its full potential. It’s not about her feelings, it’s that she could do more, be shown to do more than she is.

My comment about Iris being in a newsroom was not about some window-dressing by her being on the right set. It’s about her being a journalist, an investigative journalist. Not in some empty way by her interviewing someone now and then, but by digging in, by making the connections, by finding the story. By investigating. Continuously. Her being a journalist gives easy access to an overarching plot.

The reason we’re not discussing Iris’ relationship to superheroing is that the show isn’t doing it either anymore.

Maybe this conversation about her contribution to the team marks the beginning of a new direction being written for Iris. I truly hope so. But, at the same time, I’m trying to keep my expectations low.

#the flash #iris west

And even if that wasn’t true, here’s an idea: have her develop new skills!

#the flash #iris west

Arrow 5x06

12 thoughts on 5x06 'So It Begins'. Spoilers.

Oliver becoming Bratva should be his most questionable decision but has been downplayed all season. The Bratva is being portrayed as a morally-dubious civic group bent on justice, not as a vicious criminal gang involved in human trafficking, sexual exploitation, arms dealing, smuggling, bribery and racketeering. Now, they have a bigger, badder, crueller enemy in Konstantin Kovar. And that’s how the writers are making Oliver’s decision more acceptable, instead of properly confronting the darkest chapter in his past.

Wild Dog is absolutely correct - there is an A-team and a B-team - but the divide is not based on worthiness. It's based on experience and skill. There are some situations the recruits are not ready to handle, despite their training. They are not on Prometheus’ level, yet, so it's not wrong for OTA to vet a situation before bringing it to them. They should accept their mentor's judgement for a while longer.

Oliver should avoid any relationship with Susan Williams, not because she's Isabel 2.0 or anything but because she's a City Hall reporter. It’s unethical for both of them as long as they hold their respective jobs – and for good reason. There's no intrinsic problem with Oliver dating (despite his ongoing adoration for a certain hacker) but it shouldn't be her. At the moment, she’s agreed to a one month moratorium on attacking him but how will a relationship work when that’s over? It's trouble waiting to happen - and that's without considering she knows something about Russia.

Thea's role in the City Hall storyline is to bring stuff to Oliver and keep Quentin off the booze. I'd really like it if she actually did something on her own. She seems to have hired no staff (Quentin doesn't count) nor has she resolved anything herself. Bonding with Quentin is great but I need her to have her own plots. In fact, the whole City Hall storyline needs work.

When Digg suggested Felicity use her relationship to get a throwing star, she was reluctant because she doesn't like mixing her personal and vigilante lives. She had no problem suggesting Oliver use some 'flirty-flirt' on McKenna to invade her privacy and get intel. That wasn't appropriate either but let's be consistent.

The anagrams were absurd. It doesn't seem likely that Prometheus could find four names that can be rearranged into four other names from the List with no spare letters. The writers clearly forced it because the probability of a Gay Eked and Sachi Beech in the same city has to be low.

The writers need to go and review s1 because the List was never a kill list. Oliver did not kill as a first resort (or what was his dispute with Helena.) and actually didn't kill many on the List at all. Plus, the people on the List were not innocent lawyers and bankers and so on, they were vicious crooks, some of whom got people killed. So, the recruits don't know that but nor did anyone on OTA correct their misunderstanding.

If Prometheus’ point is that Oliver’s a serial killer, it’s not well conveyed because Adam Hunt was killed by the Dark Archer and Ted Gaynor was a justifiable homicide. As for Palmer Cokes and Sachi Beech, we don’t know their fates but it’s unlikely they were killed. That’s not enough to say ‘serial killer’ (even if it’s accurate). And if he’s trying to accuse Oliver, doing it in dead bodies sort of undermines his point.

Artemis says Oliver is a hypocrite because he stopped her killing Ruvé. That isn’t hypocrisy. That’s experience. Oliver learned a better way. And he believed he was protecting Laurel’s legacy. (I know that there’s no evidence Laurel was opposed to killing but Oliver could’ve been projecting. Regardless, I doubt she’d want a 16-year-old kid killing in her name.)

Oliver and Evelyn are portrayed in this episode as having an almost father/daughter relationship but no groundwork has been laid for that. 5x02 to 5x05 have focused too much on the other recruits, especially Wild Dog who somehow represents every issue Oliver has with them. And now the writers are just asserting a bond has developed without letting us have any Oliver/Evelyn scenes.

Prometheus is obviously not Quentin who is most likely being set up. But the SCPD evidence connection suggests Malone as an alternative. He went through an especially quick series of emotions when Felicity told him about her night job, which could be an indication he was searching for the right response to continue manipulating her (or it could be bad writing). However, Prometheus has been preparing for years for this so, if he is Malone, one might expect him to have been ready with a response to Felicity’s confession. Yet, Malone was the one who informed Oliver about Prometheus threatening Church even though he had no way of knowing about it and Felicity stealing the throwing star was a little too easy. It seems more likely he is working for Prometheus and is not Prometheus himself.

Thea is most likely to prove Quentin's innocence but she'll have difficult time of it. Quentin cannot be Prometheus nor working for him because he's been drunk. But Thea will want to keep that from Oliver meaning Quentin cannot account for his whereabouts.

#arrow #arrow 5x06

Agents of Shield 4x04

Thoughts on 4x04 ‘Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire’. A bit late by my standards. Spoilers

Operation Turing

Radcliffe believes Melinda May will be the ultimate Turing test for Aida.

A Turing test is usually conducted through text-input conversation, but that’s only necessary because the evaluator would be able to see they are talking to a computer not a person. That’s not necessary with Aida because she’s anthropomorphic.

There is some debate over whether knowing one respondent is a computer is necessary for the test. In this case it's impossible because May would just pick the one she doesn't know. However, she is disadvantaged by not knowing 'android' is an option.

The test having begun, Fitz sets about undermining it by covering for Aida – badly. The purpose of the Turing test is to determine whether a machine can pass as human. This means that all her answers need to spot on by themselves without someone explaining them away. Additionally, since Fitz is so awkward about it, May might get suspicious. Either way, it skews her conclusion.

May doesn’t say she knows Aida is an android but it’s hard to tell if she’s suspicious or not. Poker face from Hell.

If lying is not always wrong, why is telling the truth one of Aida's tenets? It would be admittedly harder to program for context-dependent truthfulness but surely she can't pass Turing without being able to deceive. Indeed one version of the test - the Imitation Game - requires fooling the evaluator into identifying the computer as a human woman, basically what Aida's trying to do.

Meanwhile…

Coulson finally meets flaming-skull guy

No, Mack, you're never working on Lola or driving her. Move on, already. Though, question: who does Coulson trust to work on her?

Nice to see her in action again. Going under the truck was especially good.

How would Lola's flight help in this situation, Mack? By the time you took off, Robbie would be long gone.

Wait, Robbie's power - or whatever - extends to the car?

It's difficult to accept that Mack still believes in God after all he's seen at SHIELD. Alien life is especially corrosive to most organised Judeo-Christian religions because many of those have doctrines about the specialness of humanity. This is not to say that continued belief would be impossible, only that if aliens landed in St Peter's Square tomorrow, we can probably expect it to take a while for Judeo-Christian religions to adjust their teachings. However, this would not be so much a difficulty for less formalised religious beliefs.

As to Mack's argument that belief in God necessitates belief 'in the other thing', that doesn't ring true. There are any number of believers in God who reject the concept of the Devil, most substituting a non-personified form of evil. Then again, 'the finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist'.

When Coulson says, in his experience, gods usually turn out to be aliens, just how much experience has he had? The Asgardians, for sure, and maybe Hive and the Kree but those really are pushing it.

Daisy trusts Robbie so Coulson does too. His trust in her is still going strong despite what's happened. Aw.

If Coulson pushes Robbie out of the plane, would he survive the fall?

Uncle Eli says they were breaking the laws of physics. Really? Or did we just not understand them fully in the first place? Perhaps he meant the laws of physics as we understand them. Samantha Carter always made that distinction.

And now there's an asset in trouble, which leads us to...

Daisy and Jemma’s big adventure

Hacking into SHIELD is impossible now? Didn't Daisy set up the protocols when they started rebuilding?

Daisy and Simmons getting the location data provides a contrast with 1x07. It's clear how much Simmons has grown/been corrupted by the events of the last three years. We knew this already, of course - she DID take an extremist stance on Inhumans and try to kill Ward, for example.

Simmons' modification of the plan would seem to undermine any pretence that Daisy coerced her. Daisy's been AWOL for some time and probably wouldn't know about Simmons' promotion. Simmons COULD claim she'd accidently let it slip, I guess. Also, is it usual for updates to files to be done by flashdrive at irregular times?

Simmons being the boss is scary. She'd have a real shot at world domination. Plus, SADIST...

The wristbands track the real-time location of Inhumans? As if registration wasn't bad enough. They're tracking them like tagged animals. And later we learn from James it's not voluntary. The Sokovia Accords were nowhere near as oppressive as I expected but the implementation is awful.

The claim 'it's for their own protection' was used to justify Japanese internment IN WAR TIME, which this isn't (yet). And the internment is now condemned. Do people never learn?

James working in a fireworks store is not as bad an idea as Daisy thinks. He can already blow things up at will; how much worse could it be? It's certainly no worse than SELLING FIREWORKS TO MINORS. Also, it's actually a way he can strengthen his will against temptation. Being constantly confronted with it and resisting exercises his frontal lobe which is responsible for impulse-control.

James taunts Daisy about being alone. Once again, we’re seeing Daisy’s issues with abandonment which happens every season by her being abandoned or betrayed again before coming to realise her team is her family. This season, she’s isolated from SHIELD (mostly by choice), on the run and last ep Gabe run her off. Her abandonment issues have been plumbed to the depths. Perhaps it’s time to explore something else.

Simmons accuses Daisy of dragging James down by encouraging him to join her in using extreme measures which are 'not the solution to anything'. This is something of a role reversal. Daisy feels the same about the Watchdogs as Simmons did about powered people after the Kree City. Except, Inhumans aren't an inherent threat, despite political rhetoric, whereas the Watchdogs are a terrorist group. Not that it justifies Daisy forming another one. But her position is understandable.

Hellfire is being a bit of a spoiled child. As Daisy points out, he did want to go through Terrigenesis. But, now that has and the consequences were harsher than expected, he wants out. And plans to take out every other Inhuman with him because he hates himself. What a whinger! (Okay, in fairness, he has suffered a lot but teaming up with the Watchdogs is a bit much.

Ha ha! Hellfire is no match for the Ghost Rider.

And we move to…

Getting the band back together

Daisy thinks Coulson might be angry at her but he’s just glad she’s safe. Of course he doesn’t care about what she’s done. They’re family. He understands her better than anyone.

Accusing her of settling personal scores was a bit rough, though. Sure, that’s what Robbie’s doing – he did pray for vengeance, after all. Daisy is taking the fight to the Watchdogs, a xenophobic terrorist group which affects not just her but all Inhumans and, after 4x03, the world. Perhaps his accusation was just a way to motivate her.

If so, it works. She’s back on the team (temporarily, at least). And then the team is reunited at Radcliffe’s. Probably be a bit shaky at first. There are plenty of secrets and animosities to go around.

Simmons takes Fitz aside to talk about Aida being an android. She figured it out in a couple of minutes. So much for May being the ultimate Turing test. At least Coulson was convinced, despite Aida’s verbal faux pas.

Whatever technique Simmons uses to beat the lie detector has to be really good. The purpose of the tests is to prevent infiltration of SHIELD after what happened with HYDRA and Paperclip. So whatever technique they come up with must be something HYDRA or anyone else wouldn’t think of because otherwise the lie detector tests have been redundant.

Team Coulson is back together and, given Simmons’ concern about the lie detector test, keeping it a secret from the Director. This is probably why he broke them up in the first place, because they’d operate behind his back. Except, he never would’ve been able to keep them apart for long so only undermined his own position. It would’ve been better to restore Coulson’s Team to its s1 status, operating mostly independently, selecting cases for themselves but still reporting to him.

Leaving the Director out is a massive show of lack of trust in his leadership. Coulson wouldn’t have done the same to Fury (although there would’ve been little point because Nick Fury knows everything). Jeffrey, however, would be right to be angry about this. Coulson relinquished his leadership position but is still behaving very much like a Director.

AOS keeps going backwards and forwards on this. Last ep, Coulson seemed sanguine about his role. Now he’s back to trying to do his own thing.

#agents of shield #aos spoilers #aos 4x04

arrowsource

Paul Blackthorne discussed how Quentin will develop a father/daughter relationship with Thea as well as his reaction to an alien invasion.

“Arrow’s” Quentin Lance has had a pretty rough go of things over the past five seasons. First, he believed his daughter Sara died when she went down with the Queens’ ship, only for her to return to him as an assassin — and die soon after that. Through the power of the Lazarus Pit and some Constantine magic, she came back to life, just in time for her sister Laurel to die at Damien Darhk’s hand. Now, Sara is off on a journey through time, looking to exact revenge on Darhk, and Quentin has been left alone to dwell ever since.

As such, Quentin has hit the bottle again, but Thea Queen hopes to put a stop to that. At the celebration of “Arrow’s” 100th episode, Paul Blackthorne — who plays Quentin — told CBR that Thea’s offer of help will lead the two to develop a father/daughter relationship as the season moves forward.

seguist

I approve. Very much.

#arrow #arrow spoilers #thea queen #quentin lance

olivergifs

Things have really fallen apart without Oliver, haven’t they?

#arrow 5x04 #oliver queen

feilcityqueen

#don’t talk to mom like that

klarolicityswan

Felicity was saving the city aeons before you put on that hockey mask, kiddo. Take a sit.

#arrow #felicity smoak

Arrow 5x03

Thoughts on 5x03 ‘A Matter of Trust’. Spoilers.

City Hall

It’s great the media had a role in this episode. Although it is implied that the Queens get a lot of media attention, it’s rare for that to be part of the plot. Of course, with real scrutiny, keeping his secret would be much more difficult. Hopefully, with Susan Williams as a recurring character, the media will be a concern more often.

Oliver gave Thea specific instructions where Lance was concerned and she ignored them. Yes, her motive was a good one but it wasn’t the right thing to do, as she says. Oliver is the mayor, elected by the people to make executive decisions for the city. She is merely chief of staff. The correct course was to recommend the appointment and let him decide.

Come on, Susan, it wasn’t your producer. It was you. Own up to your vicious tirade.

It’s very difficult to believe that Thea would be taken in by Susan’s innocent journalist act. And yet she is. This might be consistent with her previous weakness for sob stories, as seen when she didn’t want Roy charged in s1 but that’s not very convincing. Thea is more hardened and cynical now and, presumably, has always lived with media scrutiny so would have a siege mentality where journalists are concerned.

Susan’s new angle was obvious: the mayor’s office is in chaos. It’s one of the press’ favourite themes.

Oliver isn't wrong to say he's accountable for all the decisions of his staff. But that's because he's supposed to supervise his office. If one of his staff behaves inappropriately - which Thea did - has to take action.

Thea need not be demoted or fired, but Oliver needs to make it clear she crossed a line. Given she offered her resignation, she probably already knows.

Thea channels her mother with Susan and warns next time there will be consequences.

What did we learn? Oliver mayor, Thea chief of staff. Don’t trust journalists with secrets. Oliver needs more advisors.

Arrowcave

Oliver yells at Wild Dog for going off without permission but doesn’t cover the full scope of his stupidity. He didn’t consider the big picture, he went without someone on comms and forced Evelyn to choose between protecting her identity and backing him up.

Rory asks: Is this normal behaviour around here? Answer: YES. Certainly with Wild Dog around.

Oliver goes to confront Sampson. “Derek Sampson,” he says, “you have failed this city.” Haven’t heard the old catchcry in a while. This is presumably part of the back-to-basics, pretend-it’s-season-one theme which the writers are on without any degree of subtlety. S1 references everywhere.

Sampson is basically Slade Wilson Lite. He has strength, endurance, accelerated healing and wants to build a supersoldier army.

Felicity's nice story about her dog Lucky was a way of telling Oliver the recruits’ (read: Wild Dog’s) behaviour is all his fault. Oh, come on. Wild Dog chose go off like a hothead.

It is true Oliver peremptorily shut down Wild Dog earlier because he doesn’t trust him. But why should he? The Dog has no respect for his experience, constantly challenges him and has no impulse control. Oliver wasn’t wrong to shut him down. If he can’t control himself, he’s a danger to himself and others (in this case, Evelyn who fought without a mask).

And there’s no comparison between Lucky and Wild Dog. Despite the name, only one of them is an actual dog. Which I guess is Oliver’s point about the codename.

Slicing Sampson's tendons was cool but the way he flops around is disturbing.

The Arrowverse Wiki says, “Derek's last name, Sampson, may be a reference to the Biblical character Samson, one of the last Judges of the Israelites, who was granted superhuman strength by God.” Sure. Except he was defeated by cutting tendons not hair.

In the lift (elevator) to the new lair, Wild Dog asks if the builders knew his secret. Yes. That bothers me. Who built the lair?

They need new battlesuit cases.

Other

When Oliver-as-GA meets Felicity's boyfriend, there's no indication he knows him. So, we can assume he doesn't know about the relationship.

The DA can’t get a warrant so Oliver agrees to influence a judge. No, that’s not on. It’s called due process and even if he doesn’t follow that in his night job, he should as mayor.

DA also mentions Oliver stole his girl once. (Yes! We get it! Oliver was a playboy. Can we talk about more recent history now?) He doesn’t hold a grudge… so why bring it up?

Ragman’s on the team. Felicity’s not comfortable because she redirected a missile to his hometown. This is not her fault. It’s basically the trolley problem writ large and almost everyone throws the switch. Her feelings are a different matter. They make perfect sense. And being around Rory must be tough.

Evelyn wants to know about dating as a vigilante. Felicity says don’t which is hypocrisy, regardless of Detective Boyfriend’s significance.

By having those other men be murderers, the show is watering down Oliver's moral culpability for getting involved with the Bratva.

On the other hand, this incident would explain Oliver's perspective on justice when he returned to Starling.

Diggle must really hate himself right now if he’s hallucinating Deadshot.

#arrow #arrow spoilers

Agents of Shield 4x03

Thoughts on 4x03 ‘Uprising’. Spoilers.

Inhuman Terrorists (only not)

After what the Watchdogs do, with the unknowing cooperation of the Accords signatories, it would be completely unsurprising if a real Inhuman resistance group were to form.

Mack isn’t wrong to yell at Burrows from PR. Yes, he needs to worry about bad publicity by why the heck is he in this meeting? He has nothing useful to contribute (as he just demonstrated) and any comments he does make are not useful to the Director in making a decision. Lives come first, then publicity.

“It”?! Oh, violent attacks are so much easier when you dehumanise your target.

Yo-Yo stops the Watchdogs from killing a man and her friend rats her out. Real nice. The intolerance brought on by the Accords can only get worse.

The Watchdogs tracked Yo-Yo from a copy of the List, which is apparently available to multiple US agencies plus the Accords signatories. So, conservatively, hundreds of people have it. How was it ever going to stay secret?

The List has some very specific real-time location data but apparently not names or photos because the Watchdogs didn’t know it was Yo-Yo. Or perhaps some parts have higher classification and the source doesn’t have clearance. It can’t see why that would be the case. Surely, the location of an Inhuman is at least as sensitive as the name. The Inhumans were promised protection.

Coulson feared that the List would be leaked. He didn’t seem to have the same concern about the Index, which is essentially the same but with a smaller distribution. Yet, even after the HYDRA Uprising, he expressed no reservations when Gonzales wanted to index the Inhumans.

Of course Fitz counts in ‘chimpanzees’ – not actually monkeys, but close enough.

I’m still not quite seeing the dog in this tattoo. Is it abstract?

Not really clear why Fitz needs three compasses to locate the EMP. In two-dimensional space, he only needs two lines.

The map Fitz has drawn indicates the EMP to their west about a dozen blocks. That cannot be correct. The bearings are approx 30°E, 10°E and 10°W. This indicates that the EMP must be to their north and close because the compasses were not that far apart.

The President is going to order the military to take out the Inhumans by any means necessary. What, all of them? They’re targeting entire communities of mostly-innocent people? That’s a little extreme. Can’t imagine why Inhumans might hate this arrangement.

So they have no problem using Yo-Yo’s ability without authorisation when taking out the EMP.

The Director came forward with the re-emergence of SHIELD, but not with his status an Inhuman. The whole idea was to have a superpowered person people could trust. Surely, that announcement will happen soon.

Coulson seems more comfortable with not being Director now. It’s great that he’s realised the fieldwork is more his thing.

Daisy and Robbie

Daisy’s belief that Inhumans wouldn’t commit the EMP attacks is seriously misguided. Inhumans are no different to other humans and would be feeling marginalised by the Accords and related government activities. As with everyone, there is a spectrum of reactions, and some of those will be angry and violent. She’s also got a very short memory because her mother was pretty much a terrorist.

Gabe must really not know about his brother being the Ghost Rider if he’s being so snotty towards Quake, who he doesn’t know the first thing about.

Daisy is a class act. Gabe is ignorant as to what’s really going on with his brother and thinks Daisy’s a bad influence so tells her to leave Robbie alone. She could counter his accusation by telling him about his brother but doesn’t because Robbie doesn’t want her to. She just leaves.

I’d really sympathise more with Gabe if he’d been willing to tell his brother what he’d done.

When Daisy listens to the SHIELD announcement in her van, she looks unhappy. Is it her painful arm or does she miss being part of the team, especially since Gabe told her to get lost?

May

Wasn’t really expecting to have May being treated one episode later. It’s a little disappointing she was back to normal in two episodes.

Aida seems troubled by the idea of being hidden away. Is that just an artefact?

Why is killing May gonna help her? Why to sci-fi shows always say that?

Simmons doesn’t question where Radcliffe got the power source from. Considering he has get approval for his research, isn’t that unusual?

May is evidently unchanged by her treatment.

Senator Nadeer

What do you call 17 dead Inhumans? A good start.

So Nadeer’s brother has been turned into stone. Was he killed by Terrigen in fish oil? She’s talking to him, so probably not. Has he been trapped mid-Terrigenesis? Or did an Inhuman do it?

#agents of shield #aos spoilers