Jessie Robertson reviews the fifth episode of Arrow Season 3…
Hacktivists? For lack of a better word…..
Unlike last week’s episode, everything here came wrapped in a tight little gift box, no detail left unthreaded and it was a fun way to spend an hour. When I saw this title, I actually realized we know much to nil about Felicity’s background, so I thought it was a good idea for a show, especially at this juncture when Sara’s mysterious death has lingered over the team since Season 3 opened. So, let’s see what we learned about our favorite rimmed glasses genius: She has a white trash momma! Donna Smoak debuted on the show and she has absolutely nothing in common with Felicity (well, until the end of the episode realization) She was “dressed like a porn star, which is a compliment” as Felicity put it and not into all “that techie stuff” as she put it. I loved the looks both Oliver and Diggle gave Felicity as they got to meet Ms. Smoak (still single gentlemen). You could tell they both were thoroughly enjoying that moment. We also got a few tidbits about Felicity’s father who apparently was also a genius; have a feeling more may come to pass on him later down the road
Felicity was also a hacktivist, which means she was a computer hacker who used her skills to make real change, her first attempt at being a hero, she reiterates later to Oliver. She was also Goth! Her partners in crime, Cooper and Ryan, with Cooper being her first love, and also a bit too much of a go-getter when hacking government encrypted files. Their activities get the attention of the FBI and Cooper takes the fall for using a crazy super virus (that actually Felicity herself created) but he zealously used it. Fast forward five years later and Starling City has gone dark; a single red eye slit appears on every electronic device in Starling proclaiming it to be “Brother Eye.” He’s a cyber criminal hiding behind a databank of computers somewhere; he’s the anti-Felicity; I think you know where this is going. The cool thing about all of this episode (besides being Felicity-centric) is we get large segmented chunks of who she is shaded in, while also leaving out other parts for further discovery. Where Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity) really shines is the audience is so invested in her, whether it’s anger, resentment, or just a plain emotional cry-fest, we take the ride with her and she just keeps grounding the show; she had a great scene with her mom truly digging into their personalities and pulling all that extraneous stuff to the surface- the exact conversation many people wish they would have with their own parents. There’s also a transformative scene at the end where Ryan finds a garbage bag of Felicitys’ Goth apparel, and Felicity steps out of the bathroom looking as we know her; it was like she just changed into her superhero gear. I thought it was an easily overlooked, maybe cheesy moment but a powerful one.
The only other thing going on this week was Oliver and Thea starting to reconnect. With them, it could get tricky; as they both are having to hold these secret lives from each other, yet they always appear where the other shouldn’t normally be, there’s the issue with Merlyn’s money and how believable will some of their stories be? I think it’s a very thin tightrope of plausible ideas going forward so it will be interesting to see how they walk it. And who has pre-lit fireplaces lining the walls of their apartment? Laurel also gets a few moments to shine, although she basically screws it up. I sort of like her more in the business suit, lawyering it up, rather than in the gym just flailing around. It looks like her training and evolution will come much slower than we expected, but I think it’s makes sense because she’s got a lot more ground to cover.
Other notes:
– It’s not just the Arrow that Felicity is a fan of; she has a movie poster of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn in her apartment; did she always have that or did she pick it up recently?
– Diggle got a mask!
– In an emergency caused by Brother Eye’s blackout, Diggle had baby Sara with him when convening at Arrow HQ; Ollie was really weirded out to have her down there. Plus apparently Argus has a babysitting service?
– During the flashback, Goth Felicity and Cooper were discussing the merits of more hacktivism activities, and Cooper was wearing a Starro T-shirt! I’m thinking that’s where he got the idea for the name Brother Eye, which otherwise doesn’t make sense, even if it is a DC comics character.
– Felicity had some great lines tonight, such as having a vision of Cro-Nuts before they came out and mentioning how weird it is when old lovers return; she stopped herself and repeated “lovers” in a phlegm-inducing way. “So Creepy how that sounds”.
– And the cliffhanger for next week! I have theories people, but let’s see how this plays out
Jessie Robertson is a contributing writer who loves all things comic books. He currently has one novel on Amazon.com, exploring people able to consciously do what they want in dreams. Yeah, sounds good right? Feel free to email him anything, questions, comments, critiques or Lost trivia at phdreamer81@yahoo.com.
Originally published November 6, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
