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[sc:astop]
Welcome back to Arrow Squad! It was so great having a new episode of Arrow back, wasn’t it? In spite of the angsty and non-action-oriented approach this episode took, it was fun having the gang back together. Season 4 Episode 16 entitled “Broken Hearts” originally aired on March 23, 2016 and featured guest star Amy Gumenick reprising her role as Carrie Cutter (a.k.a. Cupid).
Broken Hearts
“Love is a bullet to the brain, or an arrow to the heart.” These are the wise words of Carrie Cutter, a.k.a. Cupid. 
One episode removed from Felicity ending her engagement to Oliver, and their relationship, and literally walking out the door, it comes as no surprise that the writers of Arrow chose to dedicate an entire episode to tugging at every heartstring fans of these characters possess.
I go back and forth between wanting to let the season play out and see what happens, and total frustration over behavior which seems totally out of character for both Oliver and Felicity. Every episode this season has been delivered to us, still wet with strategy, in order to orchestrate an outcome — the grave scene — and has allowed very little to happen organically.
And Broken Hearts is no different. From beginning to end it had this clear intention of teasing hope for the couple, only to rip it out once again. Why else bring Cupid in unless you have some all-to-obvious metaphor to squeeze out?
I Swear to Tell The Truth
The only value this episode brought to me was in the trial of Damien Darhk. Or Kenneth from Marcovia. 
Although I have some nitpicks about the way the trial unfolded, I absolutely loved the storyline that followed Laurel and Captain Lance throughout the episode.
We cannot accuse either Captain Lance or Laurel for acting out of character in this episode. Both upheld the past 3+ years of growth and experience to a T. The reputation Captain Lance built from his decades on the force was, quite literally, what convinced the judge of there being a valid case against Damien Darhk.
Also, did you notice that Damien Darhk did not say a single word this episode? He must have been in at least 50% of the episode, and did not say a peep. Now those are some acting props, my friends.
Concerning the use of Damien’s 3 abductees from Oliver’s holiday party, I have a couple comments. Diggle takes the stand, swears an oath of honesty, and then finds the details of his and Thea’s illicit drug purchase aired out. When Diggle fires the comment back at Damien’s lawyer, “I swore to tell the truth!” The lawyer’s rebuttle is something like, “And then I saw you perjure yourself.” I could not think of what he was referring to… and so the only thing I came up with was that the laywer is talking about Diggle’s testimony of Damien. Still, it confused me.
My next comment is about why, after Diggle’s testimony took an arrow to the heart, Laurel didn’t call Felicity to the stand. There are a number of things that the defense could of uncovered; Felicity’s hactivism phase, her criminal father. Or, perhaps, Laurel thought that she wouldn’t generate the proper sympathy after having broken off her engagement to the ex-mayoral candidate.
Closing Arguments
My dislike for the episode undoubtedly came across before you reached this section. There were a lot of things that happened in this episode that I reacted to, going, “Haven’t we gotten past all this?” From Amanda Waller being the one to release Cupid to Felicity’s less-than-funny quips about love being dead to Diggle’s “Just Give Her Time” mantra, we’re dancing around the same cliches that every other angsty CW television show loves to hold onto. There were a couple points in the episode where I said, “What, are they Clark and Lana now?” #SmallvilleReference
As we’ve said many times, we don’t mind the relationship exposition… but don’t insult us. Try something new, instead of using relationship drama to drive the story arc.
Also, let’s do away with the magic, huh?
Next Week
Season 4 Episode 17 “Beacon of Hope”
Watch Promo
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[sc:as]
No Olicity together? No Shadow! Don’t say such things. I get your anger at the wedding picture tease though.
Diggle had some stuff with Layla and Andy and Thea had the quickie make out with Oliver’s campaign head but beyond that there hasn’t been much “real life” recently; Laurel has certainly been on the short end – yes she has her scenes with her dad, but we don’t see Laurel getting personal time. It feels like Black Canary is here for the missions and that’s it thus I feel she could walk away from the group and be perfectly fine; is this continued fallout from things regarding Sara’s death/return or has Laurel just out grown the team as it were? I know some fans blame Olicity for her lack of screen time, but I don’t think that’s fair since Laurel could switch off with Diggle for an easy case to mix up the teams or she could have a bonding time with Felicity/Felicity and Thea or she could see what Nyssa is up to and have the group guessing what she’s doing versus what is Oliver hiding this week…there’s things to do with her but because she’s just there basically it feels like she’s not really connected to anyone. However one thing I don’t want to see with her is a romance with Oliver now that Felicity has stepped back because enough triangles and I don’t get the vibe Laurel really cares about him that way.
It would definitely affect my passion for the show if Felicity wasn’t there. Oh the bar scene in “Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.”…so good! I actually disagree with the concept of happy couples make for bad television, I get it’s a drama and they need that but there’s a difference in organic drama and drama for the sake of drama; if you want Oliver and Felicity fighting why not have them discuss kids because she didn’t seem thrilled about that right now in Ivy Town and once things calm down with Darkh maybe William will make Oliver’s biological clock start ticking. Let them fight about Felicity’s rehab…get back in the chair Felicity or at least act like you have some signs of rehabilitation because we’re hearing about these sessions but we’re not seeing them and the organic drama they can bring. Why can’t happily married Olicity debate their friends’ actions during the episode and come up with a plan to help them? I know he’s the lead but why must all drama revolve around Oliver? To compare this to another series “The Fosters”, the parents there are happily married and they still have drama in their world while being the most interesting characters on the show arguably. They’re certainly my favorite part of the show. I understand in part where writers are coming from when they say there needs to be drama on a drama, but I disagree happy couples can’t be interesting on dramas too.
Maybe Donna will call out Felicity about forgiveness as was said or maybe Layla will say something to her which would give us screen time for her and potentially give backstory to her relationship with John or her own personal history.
For someone who’s sick Podcast Overload sounds great. Are you teasing Lynda Carter Podcast Overload? That would be awesome!
A good podcast; while I also enjoyed the Heroes And Villains recap, it’s good to hear you three discussing episodes again.