Arrow: Underneath

May 4, 2017 4:47 AM - Season 5, Episode 20

Things get intense when Oliver and Felicity are trapped in the bunker together. Meanwhile, Lyla and Diggle deal with their marital issues.

*AV Club recap - Arrow’s heroes have to find a way out of their dead end, in more ways than one
*CBR recap - Arrow Recap: Prometheus Tries to Bury Oliver & Felicity Alive
*IGN review - Prometheus strikes again
*Den of Geek review - Arrow slowed things down a little too much this week, but it paid off in the end.
*EW recap - Oliver and Felicity (almost) kiss and make up after they’re trapped in the Arrow Cave

posted by oh yeah! (5 comments total)

I really liked this episode. Feels like they're doing some good work focusing on characters and emotional loose ends before the finale. It was nice to have Arrow slow down a bit. The "chemical lighting" seemed a bit off but that may have been a problem on my end.

A lot of the reviews complain about not having any action, but I enjoyed the classic action movie elevator climb at the end. I've always been a fan of a seriously injured Oliver pushing his limits. Plenty of stuntwork going on.

Prometheus I disliked the concept at first, as its based on one of the cheesiest Grant Morrison Justice League villians, but I'm starting to love the character. It might just be the Prometheus Strings that announce him its just so focused. He's not in it for any glory or power. Obviously that's why he is going to fail but it's pretty great.
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:11 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I liked the fact that a lot of issues between the couples got hashed out. I was right there until the end when Felicity apologized to Oliver, saying she now knew what he went through when it came to William. That was the not that struck me as really wrong. If she had said, having worked with Helix and having made dubious moral choices, she now understands the desire to have somebody you care about not go down that same path, I would have been fine with that--more than fine actually. But she shouldn't apologize for being mad that Oliver kept some pretty significant truths from her throughout their relationship.
posted by sardonyx at 8:10 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've never liked the William thing as a basis for their lack of trust; there are so many better ways they could have highlighted his failure to really treat her like a partner than this thing that pivots on something that's a part of his past and where her not knowing doesn't disadvantage her or leave her vulnerable. Not to mention that they made a big deal of William's mother drawing a hard line that if Oliver wants to have any contact with William that he has to keep it a secret for now and she's not open to debate there.

At that point the writers put Oliver in a position where his only no lying solution is to refuse this deal, have no contact with his son, and now he can mostly ethically tell Felicity about William's existence. Even there you have him sharing knowledge with Felicity that the mother of his child really wants kept secret, so that's kinda crappy. The other alternative is violating his word to this child's mother who is acting out of (mostly but not entirely wrong) desire to keep her kid safe.
posted by phearlez at 10:32 AM on May 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

I actually kinda liked this. Felicity in general, really. Oliver pulling his head out of his ass. I know I still root for them even though most people got off that train, though.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:01 PM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'll always pull for Felicity and Barry (if we can't get Barry and Kara) but I'm otherwise with you on wanting them together. I think they make an enjoyable couple together, the actors have good chemistry, and I buy those two personality types being attracted to each other.
posted by phearlez at 8:40 AM on May 8, 2017