Arrow: Unmasked (7x08)

Really? Is this what we're doing?

Cons:

I knew that there would be some tension and heartache between Oliver and Felicity, given everything that's happened in the seven months they were apart. But on their anniversary, they're having talks that sound like they're considering separation? Please. The fact is, both of them were annoying me with this argument. I was ready to acknowledge that they both had some stuff to work on, but Oliver's judgmental attitude was really unwarranted, and Felicity jumping to extremes feels like a retread of every breakup or uncertainty they've been through in the past. Felicity didn't murder someone in cold blood or anything. She armed herself with a gun for self defense, and shot to slow down, not kill. It feels like Oliver is valuing Felicity for what she can do for him, in terms of being a shining beacon of purity and light, instead of loving her for the complex, fully developed person that she is. That annoys me a great deal.

We see briefly that Diggle and Lyla have Diaz locked up and they're going to ask him for help with something. Just... can we not? Diaz is a boring villain. I'm ready to close that chapter for a while.

I don't hate the flash-forwards completely, but I still find the reticence a little frustrating. The fact that we don't know several basic facts about this future is really frustrating. We keep getting allusions to some terrible thing that happened, but we don't know what that is yet. We still don't know when/if/how Oliver died, we don't know where Thea or Diggle are... it's all beyond frustrating, because I want to connect to older William and to these other new/returning characters, but I can't get my head around what happened enough to really sink in to the story. Flash-forward stuff always suffers from trying to keep the truth a secret from the audience, but the characters know what happened, so it makes things feel a little stiff and unnatural that they never just come out and say it.

Robert Queen had a secret daughter. Okay. Like. Can we just not? Again? Turns out, it's a secret third Queen sibling who has been donning the new Green Arrow digs and going around acting as a vigilante for the city. Ostensibly we'll learn more about her soon, like who her mother is, where she learned the exact same set of skills that Oliver did, why on earth she's turning up in secret now, and more. We've already got so many fundamental mysteries in the flash-forward story, that this one feels really teen-soap. When I saw this woman kneeling in front of a grave and addressing her dad, I was really curious as to who it could be. Robert Queen feels like one of the less interesting possible answers to that question.

Pros:

I did like a few things about the flash-forward story. This new bad-ass girl seems cool and could be interesting. She provides us with a connection to Felicity that will hopefully yield some answers as to what really went down in the last several years. I also like the hint we get that Rene is estranged from his daughter and from Dinah - apparently he's still in the Glades, where the city is basically ruled outside of the parameters of the law. I want to speed things along and really start to see the missing crew in this future land, so hopefully Rene is just around the corner. And where's Curtis?

Although I'm frustrated with Oliver's judgmental attitude, as I mentioned above, I really do appreciate that we're seeing how much prison truly affected him. He's not back to normal. He's jumpy, and he's really quiet. The scene where he's being honored by the city shows that he's uncomfortable in crowds. It makes sense that things wouldn't instantly click back into place, and so I appreciate that we're getting a chance to explore that dynamic.

I'm loving the pair-up of Dinah and Rene this season. They have these differing views about helping their city, but actually it's more like Dinah trying to resist the allure of Rene's ideas, while Rene tries to respect Dinah's ideas. Through it all, even when they're on opposite sides of a debate, they're really solid as partners and you know they have each other's backs.

I hadn't spent a lot of time contemplating what Oliver's role would be in the show once he got out of prison, other than knowing that he couldn't just go back to being a vigilante. I love the idea of him working with the police, because it adds a whole new challenge to things, and I think Oliver is going to wind up butting heads with the red tape very soon. Also, we know from the future that the SCPD have become something of a joke, and the city is in ruins. Finding out how we get from this point to that is going to be an interesting journey.

A few small things: we got a Tommy mention, which, however brief, made me smile. I miss Tommy so much. I liked that we had a brief moment between just Oliver and Diggle, and I like that John asked if Oliver needed backup out in the field. Diggle has found a new way to help make the world a better place, but he'll still drop everything to be there for Oliver if he needs help.

While I might be annoyed that the conflict between Oliver and Felicity is going in this direction, I did still like their scenes together. We see how happy they both are to be together, but also how hesitant and unsure they are. During all that time apart, I imagine that they thought they'd snap back together like no time had passed, but that's not what happens. We get sweet moments, like Oliver zipping up Felicity's dress, and reunion sex, and Felicity being protective of Oliver when they go to the city event. But we also see that things aren't going to be instant smooth sailing. I know it probably sounds like I'm contradicting myself when I say that I like that there's conflict between them. I just don't like the type of conflict, and the fact that Felicity is jumping to such extremes right away.

That's all I've got for now. There are a lot of things that I like about this season, but I'm undeniably annoyed by several elements in tonight's episode.

7/10