Felicity was front and center this episode as we got to see Felicity for the first time out of the confines of a mission or the hideout. For once we saw Felicity in her own element, at her home. Can I mention how cute her apartment is. Felicity is often given sufficient screen time, but she isn’t given personal material. Everything about her tends to revolve around Oliver and their vigilante work. There aren’t many times we get to sit back and see Felicity. Hell, we even got to see her mother a bit. The fight she had with her mother was the only detractor in the episode. However that was only a means to get us to put Felicity face to face with her past. It’s nice to flesh out her character a bit by giving her a legitimate plot line. Oh and newsflash, Felicity doesn’t have naturally blond hair.
The main plot of the week was about Brother Eye who wanted to wipe the debts of everyone in Starling City. It was an interesting turn when we learned that the virus that was doing this was actually created by Felicity while she was in college. Now her past was coming back to bite her in the ass. This episode actually incorporated a number of twists and turns and it actually felt rather satisfying considering the entire threat was much different than the usual Arrow villain, tactics wise.
The flashbacks this week focused on old Felicity. A Felicity in which she is a hacker in the midst of college and all the highs that come with breaking into government databases. Even then Felicity had a good mind and wasn’t willing to use her ability to get herself into trouble or potentially hurt others, even if that means it could have erased all student debt. What made the flashbacks of this episode so great was that they showed us another side of Felicity while also directly informing the plot.
Ray Palmer is so genuinely great that it’s hard not to like him. He is a bundle of energy as he bursts into Felicity’s apartment. He has plans for Queen consolidated and while there is an undercurrent of something out to threatening, he’s also understanding. Ray Palmer is quickly on his way to becoming an interesting part of the show, bringing a lighter element. Hopefully he gets to do more than pop in and be bubbly.
There isn’t much to say, but Laurel is going through her own issues. We’ve seen all through the show that laurel isn’t particularly an example in self restraint. We’ve seen her fly off the wall more than once and for multiple reasons. Her not being able to maintain control after her sister’s death. It seems that she may finally begin to learn a bit of control.
I have to note that I broke out laughing when I saw Diggle in his ski mask next to Roy in his full costume. Diggle seriously needs to either accept that his face is scene or get in the costume game because he looks like a common criminal bordering on fool.
What did you think of the episode?
So, I pondered... 