Another Oliver-light episode, “Unchained,” focuses on Felicity, Nyssa, and ROY’S RETURN! It was wonderful how much light Roy brought back to the group. He had Oliver smiling and everyone happily working together as a team.
Roy’s Revolving Door
Roy returned this week and it was SUCH a delight. From his apologetic sighs to Team Arrow for bringing mess into their lives to his heart wrenching goodbye to Thea, it was great having Colton Haynes (and Roy’s excessive parkour) back. I love that Roy can come back in a multitude of ways, but it makes me worried for both his and Thea’s safety.
Roy’s goodbye to Thea felt more final than any of their previous ones. Of course, Speedy thinks she’s not going to survive her Blood Lust, but even Roy seemed resolved that this was over. Does this goodbye prevent Roy from coming back? Or will Thea die by the time he does? Either way, after this tearful farewell (from them and the audience… you know you sniffled), can they ever meet again? It would either be repetitive or super awkward (Roy comes back with a wife or something — I think I remember seeing someone reference a Roy companion from the comics they’d like to see).
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Hopefully Roy comes back, because his humor and baby blue eyes were missed and a welcome reprieve from some of the Darhkness we’ve experienced. And hopefully Thea doesn’t die, because really why would we destroy Ollie like that? (If she does die, I still think it’s Mama Smoak in the grave because as I’ve said before, Oliver and Felicity’s anger doesn’t match the death of a fellow warrior, it matches the death of an innocent. Plus Thea’s death by Damien would undo all Thea went through from her resurrection to now. She’s already had her life threatened. To kill her again would be repetitive).
I Choose Nyssa
That is all. Nyssa wants Malcolm dead in return for saving Thea’s life. Nyssa deserves this after all she has lost, plus it is her birthright. I think, obviously, it shouldn’t be Team Arrow to do the deed, but I approve of the general plan.
We, as the audience deserve, an awesome Nyssa vs. Malcolm fight where she destroys him. I doubt this is going to happen. Mostly because the cast and producers can’t live without John Barrowman. This, of course, makes sense, but I’m not sure how long they can sustain Merlyn’s storyline. He only exists for Thea and I am ready for her to be over her bloodlust. So hopefully they can find it in them to cut Merlyn from the story. It IS Sweeps Week coming up after all. They’ve got to go big!
Smoak ‘im Out
Daddy’s home, Felicity! I’m sure there is already a lot of hurt feelings and strife between Felicity and her father, but man wait until she finds out The Calculator is her father! I wonder if the Calculator as villain will be a mini-arc while Damien Darhk does whatever he and his wife are doing.
Either way, it seems that neither father nor daughter know that their new nemesis is blood related. But besides wanting a city on a Hellmouth to test his tech (because, come on, Star City is totally cursed with suck), why does Mr. Smoak come back to town? Did he hear of Felicity’s injury? Seems like he’d have shown up earlier if it were her accomplishments as CEO. Or perhaps he wants the battery Palmer Tech just created. I just want to know what he wants from her. Only Laurel on current Team Arrow is free from evil relatives, it seems. (See: Moira — who was complicated and redeemed herself but presented as an obstacle for Ollie many times, Malcolm, Andy, and now Papa Smoak).
Now that it’s officially debunked, I’ve realized how glad I am Damien isn’t actually Felicity’s father. I think The Calculator’s crimes are more redeemable — if they choose to go that route — and in this episode, he didn’t actually get to commit the crime he came to commit. Having Darhk as her father could have thrown her off the deep end with all the terrible things he’s done (I’d say including shoot her, but hey, Moira did it to Ollie).
The Calculator’s crimes are easily to comprehend as an irritating evil. And perhaps we’ll see where Goth Felicity’s ideals and morals come from, which we know Felicity has moved on from but is now coming back to haunt her in the form of her father.
I’m Worried About Katana
Like last episode, which featured more black people than ever all at once, “Unchained” featured three Asian women! It was awesome to see Shado, then Nyssa meeting up with Katana.
http://onepunchmans.co.vu/post/138644939204/my-favourite-warrior-ladies-coming-back-to-slay
HOWEVER, last episode now made me wary. Will they all survive the season? History says no. Plus, there is the fact that Katana appears in the Suicide Squad films. Despite Tatsu not having any Squad connections in the Arrow-verse, have they reintroduced her only to kill her off before the season is over? It would track with Deadshot and Amanda’s treatment (though seeing Deadshot on The Flash’s Earth 2 episode was a delight). So clearly we need to protect Tatsu at all costs! She’s already lost everything, why kill her?
Mini-Flechettes
- Damien Darhk’s Wife is running for Mayor against Oliver. I know that their plans being a bit foiled has made her try to move things along herself, but why didn’t she run before? How does this help their plan. Also, WHAT IS THEIR PLAN? Is it an Earthquake situation?
- Felicity vs. her dad was great, just because you begin to see some resemblances in behavior. Just maybe her dad as her shadow self or something.
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- MR TERRIFIC! I was so glad Curtis was back and that he threw a few punches! I think with all the attacks he’s experienced at work, he might slowly be realizing he should be taking self-defense lessons. Hopefully we get to see him do more as the weeks come.
- This week’s flashbacks, despite Shado’s surprise return appearance, were even less sensical than usual. Can we PLEASE get to the point or at least identify a solid goal? S1 Ollie: Get off the island. S2: Ollie: Get off the island and survive Deathstroke’s craziness. Ever since S3, they’ve failed to identify a strong enough goal for me to care.
That’s all I got because Zoom stole my recap speed force. I’m headed to Earth-2 to get it back.
