Arrow Arrow S3 Episode 11, "Midnight City"

[fire117]

Do you really think Quentin will never speak to his daughter again because she tried to protect him from a potential fatal heart attack? He will understand and forgive her like any decent parent that loves his children would, only a vindictive person would hate his children forever for something like that.

Do you hate Team Arrow too for helping Laurel with the lie?

Speaking of weak links, many feel Roy with his lack of lines and bad acting this season and Thea, who hasn't done that much so far, are worse. Laurel right now is more interesting than both, as a lawyer and the Black Canary.


Moving on, Amell told the truth, no Lazarus Pit for Oliver, some should let it go, the damage is done! It is awful and lazy writing, but lets not forget these writers have done several poor choices already, like making the Huntress a cop killer (Season 1), Slade hating Oliver because of Shado, wasted Summer Glau as Isabel Rochev, etc.

Now they have ruined Ra's Al Ghul by making him incompetent, he can't kill Oliver but a brainwashed Thea can kill Sara, yeah, whatever Arrow!

Despite the flaws, the episode was good thanks to Brick and the interaction between the characters, specially Laurel and Felicity, and Laurel, Roy and Diggle. Who would've thought that Brick was going to be a better villain than Ra's Al Ghul? Unlike Matt Nable, Vinnie Jones is believable as a villain and really intimidating. This is another example of how inconsistent this season has been, we have seen more and better stuff with Brick in just two episodes than Ra's this whole season, even Maseo is more interesting than Ra's! Speaking of Maseo, it seems he's going to die, this could make Katana go after the LOA, and if she comes to Starling with Oliver, she could train Laurel, so she becomes a good fighter by the start of Season 4.

I feel Laurel is more of a weak link then Roy or Thea personally.

If I was Lance and learned that Laurel had kept Sara's death from me and pretended to be her, even using a copy of her voice to make me think she was still alive. I would be angry and not speak to Laurel again. As keeping that secret would be betrayal and betrayals by family is the worst kind of betrayal.

 

[Kar]

I think my main gripe with this Essence Herbal Healing mess is that the writers are making such a big fuss on keeping things grounded in reality...and then they say Oliver was brought back to life with magic plants.

Still waiting for them to show what REALLY brought him back from the dead.

 

[mr. peasant]

Let's not forget the writers basically retconned how/where Oliver got stabbed. They initially had him stabbed in the chest on his right side as well as his stomach. Then they end up changing it to him just getting stabbed in the stomach area. Utterly stupid on the writers part.

I'd advise you to watch the episode again. In the episode, Ra's stabbed Oliver under the ribs - specifically on the right side of the epigastric region of his abdomen. Anatomically speaking, the organs most at risk of injury here would be Oliver's stomach and liver. At no point was Oliver stabbed in the chest.

 

[The_Manhunter]

Did anyone else catch the news report referring to Roy as Red Arrow?

I really like the idea someone had here where Oliver gets the Green Arrow name as a way if distinguishing him from Roy.

Yep, I thought it was pretty cool. I agree with you also.

On a related note, Roy is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters on Arrow. Colton Haynes is doing a great job this season.

 

[The_Manhunter]

The Good
+ Roy, Roy, Roy - Colton Haynes is doing a very good job and I love seeing Red Arrow/Arsenal kicking butt
+ Laurel - The Writers have done an incredibly job with her journey as a character
+ The DJ - I did not see that one coming lol
+ Malcolm - John Barrowman as usual is fantastic
+ Thea - Willa Holland has really stepped up this season, I look forward to seeing where she takes the character
+ Ray - Brandon Routh is great, although I wish Felicity wasn't tied to him as she is already tied to practically everyone else
+ Flashbacks - They did a good job emphasizing the difference between Oliver and Maseo
+ Laurel's Stunts - I love how they threw in an "Epic Fail" moment there lol, really shows that she's got some ways to go before she can match Sara's ability

The Bad
- That dream with Oliver and Felicity
- Oliver's survivial - No need to explain
- Laurel - Why are they having her keep Quentin in the dark still? And why was Team Arrow helping her? At least Cassidy does the scenes well.

Overall I give it a 7

 

[Destructus86]

I think my main gripe with this Essence Herbal Healing mess is that the writers are making such a big fuss on keeping things grounded in reality...and then they say Oliver was brought back to life with magic plants.

Still waiting for them to show what REALLY brought him back from the dead.

Is it related to this "Alpha" stuff we keep hearing about?

 

[Kar]

On a related note, Roy is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters on Arrow. Colton Haynes is doing a great job this season.

Agreed. Everyone's been kind of complaining about how he's not doing much but from what I see he's being exactly what he is: a partner/sidekick. He doesn't need to talk much, just be there to assist. I do like how he got his time to really shine with Diggle and Laurel. He did his thing.

 

[fire117]

Agreed. Everyone's been kind of complaining about how he's not doing much but from what I see he's being exactly what he is: a partner/sidekick. He doesn't need to talk much, just be there to assist. I do like how he got his time to really shine with Diggle and Laurel. He did his thing.

Agreed.

 

[zenith16]

I feel Laurel is more of a weak link then Roy or Thea personally.

If I was Lance and learned that Laurel had kept Sara's death from me and pretended to be her, even using a copy of her voice to make me think she was still alive. I would be angry and not speak to Laurel again. As keeping that secret would be betrayal and betrayals by family is the worst kind of betrayal.

I think the problem here is she knows that captain lance has been pushing him self and not always taking his meds when he should and no matter how he finds out about sara his shock that his youngest little girl died but this time for real will put him in a bad heart attack (especially when he's dealing with a overly all city problem crime wise ) not one that will kill him & make the actor leave the show but a bad one . remember that family fell apart the first time over her death. no matter what it won't be pretty this is what I suspect I ca see the writers using that time for his heart attack to kick once he does . if they those types . it will be less worse without havin to deal with brick or some other city wide problem. but she better do it when things have cooled down.

I'm not making up excuse's ether for her actions or the arrow team helping her with that part but he doesn't help him self at time with taking better care of him self and likin to be hands on with the beat street cops & ollie .

 

[Mikelus]

If I was Lance and learned that Laurel had kept Sara's death from me and pretended to be her, even using a copy of her voice to make me think she was still alive. I would be angry and not speak to Laurel again. As keeping that secret would be betrayal and betrayals by family is the worst kind of betrayal.

You fail to understand that she's doing it out of love, that's why Felicity is helping her. Quentin knows Laurel loves him dearly, he will forgive her, is predictable anyway.

That said, the producers have dragged this out for way too long, Lance should've been told the truth by episode 10. And Thea not knowing Oliver is the Arrow and being so clueless about everything is getting old. Oliver disappears, the Arrow the same, then the Arrow returns and so is Oliver, if she doesn't figure it out in the next couple of episodes, she's a complete moron. She has been wasted so far, not doing anything really interesting and having a close relationship with Malcolm, the murderer of hundreds of people and his brother Tommy, makes the character shallow and unrelatable.

 

[Infinity9999x]

In my experience, Season 3 is usually a bump in every show that writers struggle to get over. Once they do, the show gets back to its greatness. For example, the first half of Season 3 of LOST dragged, but by the time the S3 finale came around, it had its legs back under it. I have confidence that Arrow will do the same.

(A notable exception, in my opinion, is Once Upon a Time; IMO, Season 3 has been their best season yet.)

I hope it gets better...but this is different than dragging it out for me. The beginning of the season was slow, sure, but it was getting steadily better. And I thought the mid season finale was great.

Until they revealed that he was just "injured," and that actually tainted that entire mid season moment. It was a cheap ploy just to up viewership, and that's something I have a harder time forgiving than just a slow meandering start. This was a clear use of cheap shock value, and I hate that. It's lazy writing.

 

[Jedi Arrow]

I hope it gets better...but this is different than dragging it out for me. The beginning of the season was slow, sure, but it was getting steadily better. And I thought the mid season finale was great.

Until they revealed that he was just "injured," and that actually tainted that entire mid season moment. It was a cheap ploy just to up viewership, and that's something I have a harder time forgiving than just a slow meandering start. This was a clear use of cheap shock value, and I hate that. It's lazy writing.

Fair enough. FWIW, that's not the decision I would've made either–Lazarus Pits would've been my go-to, but there were other ways to do it without bringing in the Star Wars-esque "will to live." Could Oliver and Padme maybe share Oliver's will to live?

But honestly, it's no big deal to me. Oliver's already survived seemingly stabbing himself in the heart with his own arrow in Season 1 without any kind of ill effect, so this isn't that much worse than that, I guess. It's just minimum payoff compared to what they really could've done with it. Ah, well, every show is entitled to make a few mistakes. It's not enough to make me dislike the show which has rapidly become my absolute favorite.

 

[Seb]

Fair enough. FWIW, that's not the decision I would've made either–Lazarus Pits would've been my go-to, but there were other ways to do it without bringing in the Star Wars-esque "will to live." Could Oliver and Padme maybe share Oliver's will to live?

But honestly, it's no big deal to me. Oliver's already survived seemingly stabbing himself in the heart with his own arrow in Season 1 without any kind of ill effect, so this isn't that much worse than that, I guess. It's just minimum payoff compared to what they really could've done with it. Ah, well, every show is entitled to make a few mistakes. It's not enough to make me dislike the show which has rapidly become my absolute favorite.

I actually rewatched the Oliver stabbing himself to stab Merlin scene. He hit himself high enough that he would have missed his heart by a long way and maybe even scraped past the edge of his lung. They did that one right. Also, after a mad dash to Tommy he had months to heal up before we next saw him onscreen. In this case it was just terrible writing on top of terrible writing, unless they reveal that Tatsu secretly did something magical to him.

(I don't really care about the pits, which I think will end up being used to bring Tommy or Sara back in full crazy mode as antagonists. I just want Oliver's survival/resurrection to have some supernatural element to it, since it clearly shouldn't be natural.)

 

[zenith16]

I actually rewatched the Oliver stabbing himself to stab Merlin scene. He hit himself high enough that he would have missed his heart by a long way and maybe even scraped past the edge of his lung. They did that one right. Also, after a mad dash to Tommy he had months to heal up before we next saw him onscreen. In this case it was just terrible writing on top of terrible writing, unless they reveal that Tatsu secretly did something magical to him.

(I don't really care about the pits, which I think will end up being used to bring Tommy or Sara back in full crazy mode as antagonists. I just want Oliver's survival/resurrection to have some supernatural element to it, since it clearly shouldn't be natural.)

with how long both have been dead & how the pit works Malcolm would have started the zombie apocalypse with tommy's return & I hope he get's eaten for it too. I don't think the writers of the show will bring back sara man.

 

[JJmelo]

I actually rewatched the Oliver stabbing himself to stab Merlin scene. He hit himself high enough that he would have missed his heart by a long way and maybe even scraped past the edge of his lung. They did that one right. Also, after a mad dash to Tommy he had months to heal up before we next saw him onscreen. In this case it was just terrible writing on top of terrible writing, unless they reveal that Tatsu secretly did something magical to him.

(I don't really care about the pits, which I think will end up being used to bring Tommy or Sara back in full crazy mode as antagonists. I just want Oliver's survival/resurrection to have some supernatural element to it, since it clearly shouldn't be natural.)

Completely agree, it makes no sense for him to never have died. There are a million things that should have killed him and to say "his will to live" pushed him through it is BS. Tatsu has to have done something special or this is a huge missed opportunity on the part of the writers.

Ep.11 Review:
https://otlnews.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/arrow-review-s3-ep-11-midnight-city/

 

[cheungcheung]

(I don't really care about the pits, which I think will end up being used to bring Tommy or Sara back in full crazy mode as antagonists. I just want Oliver's survival/resurrection to have some supernatural element to it, since it clearly shouldn't be natural.)

I'd love to see tommy come back as dark archer 2

 

[kguillou]

At this point I am just hoping Ollie's near death experience has long lasting ramifications. Oliver has to be a changed man at this point, he cant just return to Starling, put on the hood and act like none of this ever happened. His brutal defeat from Ra's has to mean something.

 

[fire117]

At this point I am just hoping Ollie's near death experience has long lasting ramifications. Oliver has to be a changed man at this point, he cant just return to Starling, put on the hood and act like none of this ever happened. His brutal defeat from Ra's has to mean something.

Agreed.

 

[Mikelus]

If Arrow's Lazarus Pit can resurrect people, then it doesn't make sense Nyssa not bringing Sara's body back with her. Nyssa should know about the pit because if something happens to Ra's, she's the one that's going to take care of her father and be in charge while he recovers.

Maybe Arrow's pit can only heal people and keep them younger (explaining Ra's age), but not resurrect them, that's why Sara's death is such a big deal. Also, Tommy and Sara are skeletons right now, this show prefers keeping things "grounded", but they could decide to retcon some things, go full fantasy and bring all the dead back, including Shado, who's a great character in the comics but was wasted in the show, time will tell I guess.

 

[Seb]

My guess is that if (and it's a big if) they do have resurrective Lazarus Pits, bringing back a dead person will result in permanent insanity. I figure if Tommy or Sara (or both) get resurrected, then Ollie or Laurel would be forced to mercy kill them.

 

[Boy Scout]

If Arrow's Lazarus Pit can resurrect people, then it doesn't make sense Nyssa not bringing Sara's body back with her.

Unless she's not allowed to use it.

Maybe Arrow's pit can only heal people and keep them younger (explaining Ra's age), but not resurrect them, that's why Sara's death is such a big deal.

Also possible.

Also, Tommy and Sara are skeletons right now, this show prefers keeping things "grounded", but they could decide to retcon some things, go full fantasy and bring all the dead back, including Shado, who's a great character in the comics but was wasted in the show, time will tell I guess.

I hope not. That could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

 

[Nathan]

Does anyone else find it funny that so far, Laurel actually had more badass moments out of costume, than in? I'm sure we all remember the occasional showcasing of badassery, like when she beat the snot out of the rich boy in the bar, when she took care of the guys attacking her at home, or when she disarmed one of the fake Arrows.

We know she had self-defense training for probably years, and she's been taking some lessons from Wildcat. But the moment she donned the mask, she forgot everything she's ever learned over the years. Because all she does is charge at people, flailing around with either the staff or baton. It's great that they are showing her struggle, because crime fighting is tough, but so far she isn't that much better than when Kick-Ass started out.

 

[Boy Scout]

Laurel has never had to fight for her life before. Learning how to fight - which is typically done in a controlled environment - is different from being in an actual fight, especially when the people you're fighting against have guns, crowbars, and a desire to either seriously injure or kill you outright. I know you don't like Laurel and I respect that, but all this complaining is starting to get old.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

Marc said they won't go deeper into how he survive

forever-tan asked:
Is the show ever going to show exactly how Tatsu saved Oliver?? Idk it's hard for me to believe that he survived all that! Either way I'll still always be a huge fan of the show and thanks for all the dedication to put into it!

We’re not really planning on delving too much deeper into it.

 

[Nathan]

This is more against the people writing Laurel, than Laurel herself. I like that they are showing her struggle, but they could do that while showing that she has a clue about what she's doing. Yes, real fights are different from sparring sessions, but they aren't even showing anymore that she attempts to put up a proper fight.

They are so concerned with showing her struggling to follow in her sister's steps, that she comes across more of an amateur than she did in Season 1.