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Welcome back, Arrow Squad! It feels good to be back in the swing of things as we continue to dig our hands into this fourth season of Arrow. Your hosting trio is here this week talking about Season 4 Episode 11 “A.W.O.L.” which originally aired on January 27, 2016.
Happy Birthday to our very own Podcast Overlord! It is such an honor to celebrate this episode of Arrow Squad by honoring Kevin’s life. 
We are so thankful to have Kevin every week, not just to discuss a great TV series, but also to share life with him.
I might be able to attribute my fondness for this episode to being in an unnaturally good mood this week, but I don’t entirely think it is based on my mood. Several components to this episode fit together very well and made some connections between ongoing story arcs that we’ve been lacking. Or, at least, lacking interest in. In my blog post last week, I drew reference to Baron Reiter being the boss of Shadowspire, but what I wasn’t certain of was why they would be relevant in this week’s episode. Rather than just being a bad-guy-of-the-week variety, Shadowspire was heavily intertwined with Argus and Andy Diggle, bringing Oliver’s time on the island full circle…yet again.
A.W.O.L.
Once again, the episode title this week feels to me to be more poetic than meaningful. Officially, the term AWOL (absent without official leave) is used to describe a military personnel who is absent from their post without having been given permission to be as such. In most branches of the US military, a person who has been AWOL for more than thirty days will often be qualified as a deserter (there are certain criteria that go into what qualifies as a deserter, but it’s at least worth noting).
We use the term very loosely in our culture to describe people who aren’t where they are expected to be, and haven’t been for a while. “He’s gone AWOL!” And because of it becoming more of a colloquialism in our culture, I believe the title of the episode is mainly talking about Felicity….even if it could be applied more abstractly to someone of the characters that are literally military personnel.
Felicity is a very important member of Team Arrow, and I love the emotional battle she went through in this episode to realize that for herself. It isn’t something that another person could tell her, she had to understand her own role and accept that role before it could become real to her. While most of us don’t actually see our past self while we struggle with self-pity and self-doubt, we battle the demons of regret and insecurity that arise when our primary mode of living has been altered. And with as dramatic of a change as Felicity has undergone, coupled with the drugs, it’s no wonder she saw her goth counterpart!
For a time, Felicity, I suppose, could have been considered to be absent without leave, but try telling any member of Team Arrow that Felicity should be classified as a deserter and you will likely have several weapons pointed at your head. Sometimes military personnel go AWOL because the system does not allow them to accomplish a task by way of protocol; leave isn’t granted, for example, and a man’s wife is about to give birth to their child. Leave isn’t granted and a loved one is on their death bed. Sometimes protocol isn’t followed because we’re human and life happens, and life doesn’t have a a protocol. So, no, Felicity is not a deserter (plus, it’s only been, what, 2 weeks??). She’s just taking a little time away from the action before jumping back in.
Who else really qualifies as AWOL?
Death
While my good mood certainly made this week’s viewing experience a pleasure, I have to say it puts a wee bit of a damper on my perception when I think about the flash forwards we’ve gotten. About the death. And not just the person who is in the grave, but also what has become of Oliver and Felicity. Regardless of what happens to their relationship, because I do want it to unfold organically, everything right now is tainted with the awareness that this happiness they’re sharing will not last.
I’m not so naive to think that it could, should, or will, last…I get that this is a TV drama and a story dealing with complex situations, but it is incredibly hard to enjoy the present happiness when I’m being manipulated by allusions to what happens in the future.
However, due to a pretty big death in this episode, and a series of events surrounding it, I can’t help but wonder if we have another clue as to who is in the grave. Amanda Waller’s character was killed (probably owing to the fact that Viola Davis will be taking up the role in Suicide Squad — please join me in shaking our fists at The Man). Requiescat in pace, Amanda Waller. If that’s even possible for her.
Through this episode we learn that Andy Diggle was involved with Shadowspire back in his Army days; Shadowspire is an organization headed by Baron Reiter; Baron Reiter was farming opiates on Purgatory while Oliver was on the island; and Shadowspire is still active. With Amanda Waller’s death, what will become of Argus? Will Lyla, Waller’s most trusted agent, take over?
More than ever before, I see the various strings of this season coming together (possibly) to connect the island events with the current day. Putting Andy in the mix, bringing Shadowspire in and possibly reinserting Lyla back into Argus, could we be seeing potential doom for our beloved Johnny Diggle? It pains me to think about it!
Next Week
Season 4 Episode 12 “Unchained”
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Emily, also Emilee, did an amazing job in this episode per usual. I loved Shadow’s names for New Jersey. Is there any YouTube video of the “Snow Angel Challenge”? I enjoyed hearing about the convention. I enjoy John, but I’m not a fan of Malcolm. You don’t get up during the Super Bowl, the commercials are half the fun, arguably the fun depending on how the game’s going; that’s crazy talk Shadow, stay seated!
Would they kill Diggle so soon after killing a main like Sara? I definitely get the arguments for him, but I don’t know if they would given that factor. As one of the writers said it might have nothing to do with Darhk, people are just assuming so it’s hard say it’s Diggle from that point as well. I still think it’s Donna Smoak because she’d fit both possibilities – Darhk not Darhk, but we will see. Now I want to know what Shadow was going to say. 🙂
Overwatch works great with the military theme of this episode since that’s the name for snipers who protect the ground unit because they can see more of the battlefield than the rest in the people in the unit on the mission. Double the Felicity, double the greatness. I was definitely surprised by Amanda being shot because she’s such a huge character; still hoping we see a version on “Supergirl”. Felicity = awesomeness. I’m still hoping for Olicity being romantically together at series end. I could actually see the reverse of Oliver not going far enough maybe upsetting Felicity; if she’s still paralyzed in the limo scene and can’t go after who she wants and asks Oliver and he says no only for someone to die thus the limo scene then that could be a factor, her feeling like he’s not listening to her and trying to control things instead of working things out equally. Again something changes with Felicity and she’s going to get dark so her feelings could be elevated; plus there’s the whole William thing still and find out possibly from Barry about the rest and feeling Oliver kept it from her too much for too long. I think it’ll be a combination of things and not something that seems repetitive in their relationship such as Oliver being the one to cause the split beyond the William issue; not that you’ll feel Felicity is being unreasonable but it’ll be her choosing to remove the ring for an amount of things not just Oliver’s latest actions. They were together in that limo so there’s hope for a reunion and he did agree with Felicity’s “kill him” decision so maybe it’s part of her dark arc and Oliver bring her back like she’s brought him because they seem pretty cemented to Olicity.
“Makes you do stupid things faster!” – lol; great one Shadow! Also yes, Andy is physically sexy; don’t backtrack on that Miss Ice. Laurel will walk before she dies on this show I feel. The way to get around Flash being in various editions is there’s like 3 different popular Flashes so Barry can be on the show while Wally or Jay is in the movies.
I agree with Green Butterfly, the Felicity arc is definitely my favorite arc of the new episodes so far. I also agree to keeping Felicity paralyzed because as Green Butterfly said it’s not something that is explored much; code name or not, Felicity is the current television version of Oracle and until, even then, she shows up it be great to see that plot being explored. They can build her the Brainiac braces, or in their case Mr. Terrific, later on and have her walking with assistance later but for now keep her in the wheelchair. It adds great realism to the events and is a great plot to explore; I hope she’s in the chair for the rest of the season at least and part of the next. I hope her recovery is tech based not magic based.
“Disagree that’s fine but keep it respectful.” – great policy! I have to say I wasn’t big on the first part to the pilot for “Legends Of Tomorrow”; I loved seeing Arthur aka Rip Hunter in a Doctor from “Doctor Who” role, he especially was Doctor-ish in part two, and I loved the Trouble Trio of Captain Cold-Heatwave-Sara but beyond that I wasn’t crazy about it. I definitely enjoyed part two more. The big thing I’m looking forward to regarding LOT is Sara being faced with a chance to change her death and what it means if she takes it; also her running into Nyssa throughout time.
Blog post comments…
Happy belated birthday Podcast Overload! Also happy belated birthday to Miss Ice’s mom!
“Felicity is a very important member of Team Arrow, and I love the emotional battle she went through in this episode to realize that for herself.” – yes; so much!
“Who else really qualifies as AWOL?” – this might be completely inaccurate to the character, but to me if I had to pick one of the group who feels AWOL, it’d be Laurel. She definitely took matters into her own hands when it came to reviving Sara despite multiple warnings from Nyssa and concerns from others. She’s also had this vibe to me for awhile that if she and the group ever disagreed she could walk and be fine with that decision and it would take some talking to get her back. Yes physically she is present but idea wise there just feels like a disconnect at times; Mechem for example, Oliver wanted him left tied up and Thea and Diggle weren’t exactly disagreeing but Laurel changed Oliver’s plans when she arrested him because it wasn’t an idea she agreed with. It’s easy to say Andy is the AWOL one for the Ghosts ranks given his military background, but something about Laurel recently just makes me feel like she’s a discussion point for that term.
“Regardless of what happens to their relationship, because I do want it to unfold organically, everything right now is tainted with the awareness that this happiness they’re sharing will not last.” – agreed; it is very “Yay! Wait.” feeling given the limo scene which may be the end of the season as some podcasters have argued.
“Will Lyla, Waller’s most trusted agent, take over?” – I’m fine with that.