There are so many things that could have gone wrong with “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak.” We could have gotten too bogged down in the past. Too much weight could have been given to some “dark secret” of Felicity’s. These things didn’t happen. What we got was a fun, charming episode of Arrow that still managed to not feel too lightweight. One of my pet hates on television is the practice I call “magic hacking” where keyboards sub for magic wands, I tend to excuse it on Arrow. I DO get worried when it turns out an entire episode is going to be focused on it. There’s plenty of magic hacking on display in “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak,” and I have to wonder if “hacktivism” was even a word five years ago (I don’t feel like looking it up), but I guess when it’s dressed up in the trappings of the DC Universe I tend to get awfully forgiving. It’s my tragic flaw. Now, as for the rest, what can I say? The first thing we see of younger Felicity is that she’s coding a Zork emulator? And then when she “grows up” she has an Adventures of Robin Hood poster on her wall. Are you kidding me? It’s like they’re trying to get their target audience (namely: me) to love this character even more. (ahem…it worked) We didn’t get a single shot of folks in costume until nearly twenty minutes in, but the way things were playing out, I didn’t miss it. I took last week’s episode to task a little for being something of a talky, season one style throwback, and in general, Arrow season three has (so far) felt a bit bashful about going “all in” with the superhero stuff the way they did last year (reasonable, considering how much The Flash gets in). Basically, the show never went too far in either direction this week…although the tear gas and snare arrows were plenty badass. You know what else? I’m not even gonna pick on Laurel this week. It’s too easy. Her dad said everything that needed to be said. The final flashback of Felicity moving on from the goth look was something to keep an eye on. “This is me now” speaks to something a little deeper going on with her. If this were a different character, you’d wonder if she was unstable. I’m not suggesting Felicity is, but if she can shed her skin so easily then, she may do it again at some point. Thea is definitely up to no good, and she probably doesn’t even realize it. I’m certain of it. She settles in to watch Possessed with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable after Ollie agrees to move in with her. While Possessed may just be a convenient old movie from the Warner Bros. catalogue to bust out, it is about a woman with some mental health issues that leave her not exactly in control of her own mind. Which brings us to… Who Killed Sara Lance? Wow. That was quite an ending, wasn’t it? I suspect this is just another red herring, though. The idea of Roy flinging arrows with enough force to kill Sara indicates that this is nothing more than an awful hallucination. Unless…unless he’s having weird mirakuru flashbacks. You know, like how some people that you may know who took too much acid in college sometimes have trouble looking at plaid later in life because it kinda moves around? I mean, I certainly don’t know anyone like that, of course, but I’m sure some of you shady types do. – Brother Eye was a creation of Jack Kirby for his absolutely insane OMAC comic book series in the ’70s. It was a satellite super computer that helped create/activate OMAC, the One Man Army Corps superhero who was kind of like a hi-tech cross between Shazam and Captain America. You just have to go with it. It’s great stuff. Anyway, Brother Eye and the OMAC concept has since been used to varying effect in DC Comics continuity, and these were even the heavies in an unproduced Justice League movie from a few years ago. – Now, speaking of OMAC, we did see Ray Palmer checking out the blueprints for OMAC tech a few weeks ago. So, now we have Brother Eye and Myron Forest…OMACs are coming to Arrow. You heard it here, first. We won’t have mirakuru zombies this year, but we may have OMACs! – Santa Prisca gets a name check. Was that a first? Santa Prisca is an island with a pretty serious prison, and it’s where the comic book version of Bane got his start. You know you’re bad news when you start in prison. – And yes, evil boyfriend was wearing a Starro shirt. A kind of artsy-looking one that I would totally wear. But I’m not an evil hacker. Starro is a DC villain/creature that sticks to your face and makes you evil. So, yeah. Maybe it was the shirt that did it. – The original title of this episode was “Oracle,” the tech-whiz character that Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon became when she lost the use of her legs, and the character that, in terms of skill set, Felicity most resembles. It was changed, likely at the behest of the Warner Bros. corporate masters, which makes me wonder if “Oracle” has a role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, or some other high profile DC TV or movie project in the works. Keep in mind Ray Palmer was originally supposed to be the Blue Beetle… What did I miss, Leaguers? Let me know… Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
