Arrow Arrow season 4 episode 17 "Beacon of Hope"

[AspieXLDS]

Guard82: Well said. Which is why I'm hoping they aren't stupid and actually kill Laurel off. I'm not sure I'd be able to watch a show where the only other compelling actors aside from Amell (when he's not playing an Olicified Ollie) are John Barrowman and Neal McDonough, seeing as we may say goodbye to one or both by the end of the season.... Neal because he's the season Big Bad and they rarely stick around or have one-off appearances later down the road (coughSladecough); Barrowman because I wonder if Oliver will actually kill Malcolm.

 

[SpideyVille]

From the sounds of it, Barrowman will be around next season.

 

[AspieXLDS]

From the sounds of it, Barrowman will be around next season.

So if they were to kill Laurel, it'd leave one compelling actor unless they De-Olicify Oliver... Though i will say Willa has developed into a fine actress herself since Season 1.

 

[BlueLanternKal]

Y'all still watching this?

Is Laurel still alive?

 

[Justin]

I'm kinda lost for words.

I have to say, for the first time in a while I was really really enjoying Arrow. There they were in the office. Fighting a credible villain who wasn't Damien Darhk. Curtis was playing the role that Felicity used to play so so well as the comic nerdy funny guy.. the music was pumping, the Arrow was fighting a robot bee man that actually looked far better than it sounds.

And then...... the bee-man takes out Oliver, the guy who's been training for what, 8 years and is one of the better DC hand to hand fighters?

He takes out Speedy, who was trained by Merlyn and has killed members of the league of assassins.

And then he is bested in single combat by Felicity.

I honestly thought it was bad that she talked Cupid out of a fight. But this? What on earth are they even thinking.

She beat a foe in combat that kicked Oliver Queens ass. Wow. Just wow.

 

[Jedi Arrow]

So what's that the last 3 VotW Felicity has stopped?

Felicity didn't stop Cupid. She talked her down, but then even after Cupid said "You sure know how to make a girl believe in love again," she made a move as if she was going to still detonate the bombs, and then that's when Thea and Diggle came in and took Cupid down. So no, Felicity didn't stop her.

 

[Dark Raven]

This had to be the campiest episode of the series ever. The tone was very cheesy and it all seemed like a really bad show. Then Felicity had to be the one to take down the bee man.

Curtis was annoying. Felicity was annoying. Donna was annoying. Brie was annoying. What a terrible episode.

 

[Slade W]

So if they were to kill Laurel, it'd leave one compelling actor unless they De-Olicify Oliver... Though i will say Willa has developed into a fine actress herself since Season 1.

David Ramsey is pretty good too. They do not use or focus on him as much as I would like them to though.

 

[Slade W]

I think that when Oliver claimed to have read the Harry Potter books, it was a small nod to Mike Grell's GA run where it was shown that Oliver was surprisingly well-read.

When Curtis gave his theory that Green Arrow was someone in Palmer Tech's data-processing department named Neal Adams, it was a reference to the artist who re-designed the Green Arrow costume in the late 1960s.

 

[Kar]

Am I the only one getting annoyed with Malcolm's answer for everything being "I'm Ra's al Ghul?" It's every episode he's in now it seems like. It's the new "you're my daughter, Thea" cause GOD was he throwing that around every chance he got.

"How did you get in my house?"

"I'm Ra's al Ghul."

"How did you get in my car?"

"I'm Ra's al Ghul."

"How did you get in my fridge?"

"I'm Ra's al Ghul."

And yeah, this episode was just dumb to me. They really don't care about keeping the Arrow Cave a secret.

 

[aNarcHy2day]

This was without doubt the worst Arrow episode till date!

Oh, my eyes!

PS: Third Harry Potter reference this week after Supergirl and Flash.

 

[SpideyVille]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but what they're doing with EBR and Felicty, is the same thing they're doing with Malcolm/Barrowman, and the show is hurting for it. They are big fans of his, and that's why they keep him around, as opposed to having stories that actually work for the character.

 

[Slade W]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but what they're doing with EBR and Felicty, is the same thing they're doing with Malcolm/Barrowman, and the show is hurting for it. They are big fans of his, and that's why they keep him around, as opposed to having stories that actually work for the character.

I remember an interview with Barrowman where he said that the writers wanted him to be the Joker of this universe, and to be a recurring threat, as Merlyn is GA's archenemy in the comics. It is true that they are fans of him, but they also want to have him as his as the shows main villain, like Merlyn is in the comics. And they have succeeded in that regard IMO, as he is this universe's Joker. There are more powerful and dangerous villains that operate on a larger scale than Merlyn (same case with the Joker), such as Slade, Ra's and DD, but nobody has caused as much damage to the hero than Merlyn has (again, it is the same with the Joker in regards to Batman).

He caused great damage to the city and lots of people died from his Undertaking (around 500), he killed the heroes best friend Tommy (which was also a loss to him too, but it seems to have affected Oliver more), he set about the events that resulted in Oliver's Dad's death, him being trapped on the island for several years (and as a result, his feud with Slade which also resulted in more death and Oliver losing his company), he used Thea, which resulted in Sara's death (a big loss to both Oliver and Laurel) to set up the feud between Oliver and Ra's, leading to Thea's death and her having to be brought back with side-effects, Roy having to fake his death, give up his life and go on the run and Oliver having to lose his teams trust in order to beat Ra's. He has also revealed William's existence to DD, resulting in William having to leave Oliver's life and the love of his life Felicity breaking up with him.

He will probably cause more damage before the seasons end, as he has aligned himself with H.I.V.E. Slade, Ra's and DD are more powerful and have greater resources, but failed to use their resources to hurt and cause as much pain for Oliver as Malcolm has. It is similar with the Joker. There are more
powerful villains than him, but no one is as persistent or has caused as much damage to Batman as the Joker has (Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Rachel Dawes etc).

At the end of the day though, the most important thing is entertainment, and whether they have used Malcolm in an entertaining and interesting manner is a different story (I take it that you do not think that they have done so). I am just giving my impression of what I think they have been going for with Malcolm (based on my observations and what Barrrowman said). While they are fans of Barrowman, I do not believe it is the only reason that they have kept him around. They want this shows most main and most persistent threat to be the same one from the comics.

 

[catch22]

I've given up on this show. It's become nearly unwatchable

 

[Jedi Arrow]

The things I disliked about this episode:

-Donna holding up the wet floor sign and Thea holding up the mop. What are those supposed to do? Scare the bees away?
-The abundance of bee puns. Ugh.

The things I liked about this episode:

-Darhk's scenes (seeing Hush again was a surprise).
-Not gonna lie, Felicity stuffing Donna's hair into her mouth to get her to shut up was amazing.
-Felicity not immediately rejoining the team at the end. Way to go, not falling to fandom pressure and putting her back with them right away.
-Laurel was on point. I smiled every time she was on-screen this episode. From her advice to Oliver to the training scene to finally using the Canary Cry for something useful...[BLACKOUT]if she's dying next week, then at least she had this wonderful episode as a terrific goodbye present. [/BLACKOUT]
-Also, the training scene in general was on point.
-Curtis' humor. That was actually pretty funny and it reminded of S1 Felicity (aka her best moments).

The "so-bad-it's-funny":

-I laughed so hard at "I'm calling 9-1-1!" The dude hammed that up so bad. t:

 

[signalman]

Very enjoyable episode.
The Bug-Eyed-Bandit is one of my favorite Flarrowverse villains.
Emily Kinney seems to be having a BLAST playing the role.

Since she has only used bees so far perhaps she should have called herself, QUEEN BEE.

 

[mr. peasant]

Am I the only one getting annoyed with Malcolm's answer for everything being "I'm Ra's al Ghul?" It's every episode he's in now it seems like. It's the new "you're my daughter, Thea" cause GOD was he throwing that around every chance he got.

"How did you get in my house?"

"I'm Ra's al Ghul."

"How did you get in my car?"

"I'm Ra's al Ghul."

"How did you get in my fridge?"

"I'm Ra's al Ghul."

And yeah, this episode was just dumb to me. They really don't care about keeping the Arrow Cave a secret.

Simple solution. Just ask him the following question:

"How did you lose your hand?"

 

[Dark Raven]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but what they're doing with EBR and Felicty, is the same thing they're doing with Malcolm/Barrowman, and the show is hurting for it. They are big fans of his, and that's why they keep him around, as opposed to having stories that actually work for the character.

They should change the name of this show to Barrow.

 

[SpideyVille]

Don't get me wrong, I love Barrowman when he's given a good story to work with, but more often than not, he suffers the same fate as Laurel, Roy and Thea, where he's only important when the plot calls for it. But what's worse is hat the character is basically responsible for all of the crap the team has gone through since he became a regular again last season.

They use him more like a Get Out of Jail Free card.

 

[Quasimod0]

This was not a great episode, imo.

 

[Slade W]

This was not a great episode, imo.

Yup, the worst of the season IMO. I only really enjoyed Darhk's scenes. As always, he was great.

 

[Dark Raven]

Yup, the worst of the season IMO. I only really enjoyed Darhk's scenes. As always, he was great.

Well I'd say the Olicity wedding and this one are tied for worst of the season... possibly of the series.

 

[regnak]

Well I'd say the Olicity wedding and this one are tied for worst of the season... possibly of the series.

Don't worry I am sure they will soon reach new lows. Of course I won't be watching after next week. So for me the Olicity fake wedding will probably be the worst I see.

 

[voyzovrezon]

Wow, all this hate for this episode. I thought it was the best of the season. It was action packed, funny, serious in moments, and the acting was superb, especially when Oliver loses it on Curtis. The whole show was tops!

A few of my favorite scenes:

 

[Slade W]

Wow, all this hate for this episode. I thought it was the best of the season. It was action packed, funny, serious in moments, and the acting was superb, especially when Oliver loses it on Curtis. The whole show was tops!

A few of my favorite scenes:

I loved that scene with Darhk and Malcolm too, as well as the other scenes with Darhk.