Arrow: Left Behind
January 22, 2015 9:19 AM - Season 3, Episode 10 - Subscribe

As Diggle, Felicity and Roy start to fear the worst after Oliver's disappearance, Melyn continues to scheme, Ray gets a new suit, and another vigilante appears in Starling.
posted by the man of twists and turns (25 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I wonder how long it's going to be before someone sends Thea the video of her killing Sara.
posted by homunculus at 10:10 AM on January 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


It's amazing how Laurel has achieved a higher skill level after a few weeks/months of training at the gym after work than Oliver achieved after 2½ years (in flashbacks) on the island and Hong Kong.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:17 PM on January 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


I know I complain about this in nearly every Arrow thread, but how much longer are we supposed to believe Thea will be okay with never even visiting an entire floor of the club she owns, even as her family's former security chief, her brother's former coworker, and her ex-boyfriend go in and out multiple times a day? Malcolm Merlyn seems to have found the lair with minimal effort and he doesn't even spend eight to ten hours a day upstairs from it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:31 PM on January 22, 2015 [4 favorites]


The fight arrangements were great in this one. I really liked the "run down the pipe, flying kick the guy in the chest at the end of it thus lofting yourself onto the top of the pipe to run back the other way" thing. The parkour dismount off the adjacent pipe was really cool too.
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:58 PM on January 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


I was thinking exactly that, DirtyOldTown, when Felicity mentioned they should change the locks when Malcolm just waltzed in, again.

The Hong Kong scenes are really boring me to tears and makes it kinda hard to miss Oliver when he's not gone. It's like he's not dead or something.

Felicity's boss still bothers me. I'm not buying the consensus that he's supposed to be good. When he delivered the line about Felicity not getting to say what his wife wanted, all I could think is that he was faking and we're going to find out that he doesn't have a wife and he's evil. Is it the actor giving off the evil vibes?
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 1:58 PM on January 22, 2015


Felicity's boss seems to be the comic hero Atom, and since there is at least some talk he could get a spinoff, I think it's pretty safe to assume he is a legit good guy. That doesn't mean he couldn't end up in conflict with Oliver and Company though.

Oh shit. "Oliver & Company"! Star City's ace crimefighting team shares a name with a lousy Disney cartoon.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:44 PM on January 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm beside myself that they're setting up the Atom (nee Ray Palmer)'s "hero reveal" after his character has already exhibited such villainous traits -- e.g., stalking, manipulation, and sexual harassment of his closest employee, Felicity -- but he's a somewhat conflicted character in the comic books, too.

I guess I don't want kids or teens watching Arrow and thinking that's how men and women should treat each other, but it feels weird to pick that bone with the show while also being OK with the gratuitous violence and gaping plot holes. Then again, is Oliver any better than Ray with women? Not really.

Felicity seems like she can handle Ray's bs at this point, but I hope she eventually gets to wear a pair of freaking pants to the office.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 3:32 PM on January 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I agree. I think they intend to set up Ray Palmer as one of the Good Guys in the comic book sense, but maybe not entirely as a good guy in the human sense.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:08 PM on January 22, 2015


It's amazing how Laurel has achieved a higher skill level after a few weeks/months of training at the gym after work than Oliver achieved after 2½ years (in flashbacks) on the island and Hong Kong.

Or Sara achieved by years of training with The League of Assassins. One of the many issues I have with the Laurel-as-Black-Canary storyline is the ever-eroding requirements for becoming a badass. At least with Roy, there were stretches of time where he had nothing else going on in his life, so it could be assumed he was training all the time.

Maybe next week we'll see Laurel get her ass kicked by some baddies and realize that she needs to spend a lot more time training if she really wants to do this thing, but given how clumsily the writers have handled her storylines at every turn, I am not optimistic. And I've said it before, but they really need to drop the DA stuff. The show would work perfectly well with no courtroom scenes whatsoever.

I kind of LOL'd at Felicity's line about dead people not coming back, "Except pretty frequently on this TV show."

I'll be pretty disappointed if Brick turns out to be the Big Bad for this season. Yeah, he's evil, but there's nothing interesting going on.

Then again, is Oliver any better than Ray with women? Not really.

I really dislike Ray's stalker-y behavior. But I can't really argue that Ollie is a better boss than Ray. In Season One, Oliver got Felicity involved in his vigilantism without telling her why he wanted to trace where an arrow came from or whatever. He put her at risk without giving her a chance to decide whether she wanted to take that risk, at the same time he was hiding his vigilantism from Laurel to protect Laurel. (And Laurel was a cop's daughter with some decent self-defense skills, and Felicity was just an IT employee as far as he knew). As the son and stepson of some higher-ups at Queen Consolidated, Oliver would be the kind of person it would be hard for a QC employee to say no to. I give him points for not asking Felicity out until he was just about done as her boss at QC, but that's about it.

And that's not even getting into the douche-y relationship stuff Oliver's done, because I will never finish writing this comment if I go there.
posted by creepygirl at 9:31 PM on January 22, 2015


Forgot to mention that I liked Diggle having a moment that was about Diggle's feelings about Oliver's death, and not Diggle unpacking someone else's emotions for them. I wish they could fit more moments like that on the show without Oliver being (presumed) dead.
posted by creepygirl at 10:02 PM on January 22, 2015 [3 favorites]


It's amazing how Laurel has achieved a higher skill level after a few weeks/months of training at the gym after work than Oliver achieved after 2½ years (in flashbacks) on the island and Hong Kong.

She kicked one guy, and hit another guy in the head with a stick. It wasn't that impressive.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:31 AM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


What exactly happened with Diggle and Brick and the gun? I found that part a little confusing.

Also, for whatever reason I just really hate Laurel. I seriously cannot stand her and I wish she would leave the show, she and her big dumb face.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:14 AM on January 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


And I've said it before, but they really need to drop the DA stuff. The show would work perfectly well with no courtroom scenes whatsoever.

Or at least have them written by someone with the barest of competence with the law? Or understanding of how humans peak? Laurel trumpet-talking THE PEOPLE VERSUS omg shut up. But then I really don't care for the actress. At all.

The only upside to the DA thing is maybe they'll have to confront what a giant fucking mess it would make of any convictions she gets if she's ever outed. Lost evidence would be a fucking dream compared to that mess.
posted by phearlez at 9:24 AM on January 23, 2015


Mrs. Pterodactyl, I too hate Laurel. I think it's a combination of her weird passive-aggressive tone of voice, constant abuse of her DA powers (which should be in check after her addiction storyline, but somehow aren't), lack of emotional discipline in dangerous situations and default angryface.

It's the show's decision to give her really awful clothes and a hair color that doesn't look great on her, especially since she usually wears super-dark or overly pink lipstick. Her face IS weird, but I hate to tear down an actress' looks -- it feels mean. She definitely reminds me of the girls I grew up with that did ballet for years and years; they all got these oblong, narrow faces from malnutrition and over-exercising that emphasized their hollowed out eye sockets, which made them look more like fish (eyes on the sides of their face) than people (eyes side-by-side and facing forward, like other predator species).
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:33 AM on January 23, 2015


She kicked one guy, and hit another guy in the head with a stick.

And my sense of her strike with the stick was that it showed no technique. She just smacked him.

I really want to like Laurel because I've always loved her comics counterpart, but they write her so badly and disjointedly even given the fact that this is a CW show with superpowers (and apparently magic) that I have a hard time. It says something when the thing that really knocks my suspension of disbelief isn't the announcement that someone was raised from the dead but the idea that Laurel is going to be the badass Black Canary.
posted by immlass at 8:19 PM on January 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


Or at least have them written by someone with the barest of competence with the law? Or understanding of how humans peak? Laurel trumpet-talking THE PEOPLE VERSUS omg shut up.

I know, right? "Produce the Arrow as a witness"?! MOTHERFUCKER, THE 15 COPS HE WAS SHOOTING AT ARE ALSO WITNESSES.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 12:00 AM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


What exactly happened with Diggle and Brick and the gun? I found that part a little confusing.

I suspect Brick is bulletproof. His comic analogue is a metahuman with invulnerablity and super strength. Given that Digg shot him in the head and he shrugged it off, it seems that the show character retains at least the invulnerabilty.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 12:08 AM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'll join in on the Laurel hate parade. Katie Cassidy* is not the worst actress in the world, but she's given such shit by the writers. She is inevitably the worst or most pointless element in any given episode. The alcoholism storyline was just AWFUL.

As far as this episode in particular... Yeah, I was left pretty cold. The flashbacks this season have been pretty bad, alternating between being pointless and way too on the nose. In this episode and "The Climb" they've been particularly out of place. A storyline that involves the protagonist's apparent (and genuinely shocking) death and his resurrection should not be crosscut with anything unless it's really meaningful. If nothing else, seeing a living Oliver in the flashbacks takes the power away from his absence in the current day scenes.

Speaking of his resurrection, I hope they do something really interesting with it after the fact. Ollie's "death" was impressively dire. He should be absolutely shattered. Dead twice over. Or more. If he's been brought back by some nonsense magical medicine I'll be pissed. A death that impressive deserves a resurrection equally so.

(I am glad we will probably be seeing more of Rila Fukushima, though. She was my favorite part of The Wolverine.)

*I generally hate to comment on an actress' appearance, and I'm not knocking her or anything, but something happened between seasons one and two and she looks like a completely different person. It continues to be sort of jarring to me.
posted by brundlefly at 6:22 AM on January 25, 2015


I'm not a big fan of slagging an actress's appearance either. But it did not escape our household's notice that Katie Cassidy went from thin tv female lead size to taut bag of bones between seasons one and two. Had this happened later, it could be more easily written off as a consequence of training to be Black Canary. But as it was, it had the depressing whiff of "Let's get me a tv body!" which is depressing from an ideological standpoint more than anything else.

I don't mind her acting so much. I would hate to hold her accountable for the weird corners they paint her into all the time. I hope she gets more/better to work with as Black Canary.

One last weird note: does anyone else think it's weird that no two of the Lances look related at all, from a physical standpoint? I know it's tv and there are bigger casting concerns than sibling/parent-child resemblance, but none of the Lances look anything alike at all.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:29 AM on January 25, 2015


I thought the bullets were blanks. Good to know there was something else going on.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 11:10 AM on January 25, 2015


I didn't love the episode, but I didn't hate it. Though, I distracted myself by doing other things while I watched it, so my attention wasn't 100% (bad me!).

The fight sequences were definitely well done (and as pointed out, the exit from the pipe, kick to the chest for leverage to finish a jump to the top of the pipe....nice!).

The Hong Kong sequences, at least with concern to this episode, seemed to have existed so we can bring Oliver back alive (yeah, they aren't really needed). We have a trajectory for Oliver from the Island to his return home, and unfortunately, it apparently includes his time with STAR in Hong Kong and eventually, his initiation into the Russian mafia at some point.

Cassidy. I don't hate her, but I concur that the writers don't do her any justice. She's gone super hardcore in working out and the result is, well, a different appearance than the one she had in Season 1.

There some definite things that will happen by the end of this season:

1) Thea will learn what she did to Sarah.

2) Oliver and Razzy will fight again.

3) Merlin may be a part of that fight.

4) Merlin is going to potentially die or run away until needed again.

5) Diggle might remember he has a newborn little girl.
posted by Atreides at 4:34 PM on January 25, 2015


Her face IS weird, but I hate to tear down an actress' looks -- it feels mean.

I totally get this, and it didn't even occur to me that it came across that way. "Big dumb face" is a phrase I use whenever I can't stand the sight of someone, including men (and occasionally my husband). It 100% wasn't meant as a commentary on the actual size of her face or her appearance, just an expression of the juvenile rage into which her stupid character throws me. Sorry, I should have phrased this more carefully.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:47 AM on January 26, 2015


4) Merlin is going to potentially die or run away until needed again.

Based on his last interaction with the Arrow crew I suspect he might become a morally ambiguous occasional ally. Sort of like Deadshot. Might be a stretch given his mass murdery inclinations, but I don't know.
posted by brundlefly at 9:46 AM on January 26, 2015


Yeah there's no way the Arrow writer's room ends the conflict created by having Thea in the middle between Merlin and Ollie.

I personally am skeptical about a Ras and Ollie rematch since you probably need it to end in a draw; I don't see them closing that door unless they do it by having Talia Nyssa take him down and ascend to running the League. Any why would they? That would have made sense had Ras engineered Sara's killing as I half suspected in the beginning but why would she do it now?
posted by phearlez at 10:54 AM on January 26, 2015


Based on his last interaction with the Arrow crew I suspect he might become a morally ambiguous occasional ally. Sort of like Deadshot. Might be a stretch given his mass murdery inclinations, but I don't know.

He really went out of his way to prove that Oliver was dead. "Guys, guys, I know you didn't believe me, but here's the proof!" In that, it was kind of strange, as did he have a stake in the Arrow Company knowing that Oliver was dead? Was he seeking their alliance to handle the League when they make their move?

What are the rules for control of the league?

If Ras can't be killed, then I definitely think it would end with Oliver choosing to spare his life and gain a debt from him. I just can't imagine they wouldn't let Oliver have the second fight, it just doesn't feel like the hero's storyline to be beaten, saved from the point of death, only to never confront the person that nearly killed them. To a degree, this already happened with Slade, for example. Ras is the obstacle before Oliver, though granted, they were only in town to avenge Sarah's death and I assume that Oliver's participation in the duel, successful or not, nixed that out.

Hrm.
posted by Atreides at 2:40 PM on January 26, 2015


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