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High Five! Arrow Recap 319, "Broken Arrow"
This episode is the TV equivalent of LoA DJ Chase: it came out of nowhere, %$#ed me and then tried to kill me. Because so much happened, I will be avoiding a lot of RP character dev and summarizing the flashbacks. Let's get into it.
At Starling National Bank, two guards listen to news of Roy's arrest as the lights start to go out, so of course they immediately hit the panic button. HAHAHA NO.
This is Arrow, son. They go investigate and find a metahuman who fries them both with his supercool lava-eyes and walks out like it's no big.
At the police station, Lance hauls Roy in past Oliver and he snarks at Oliver for letting "the kid take the fall." Shouldn't you blame the people of Starling, Captain? How do these two even look alike?
When Oliver asks to sign a full confession, Laurel walks in and BAMFs in the only way she can currently BAMF-bringing a Habeas writ from the DA stating that they will not pursue charges, and that since Oliver confessed only to Lance, it looks fabricated.
Lance uncuffs Oliver, but tells him it's not over. When the Captain leaves, Oliver asks Laurel WTH and she says she is ensuring they are not both in prison.
At Palmer Technologies, Ray asks Felicity why she is in the office with both Oliver and Roy (yep he knows) in jail. Felicity tells him Oliver was released and asks how he is doing, which is what you should ask your boyfriend when you just got done ignoring his ILY.
Ray makes up an excuse about being high on tiny robots and meaning "love" with a lower-case L and says they shouldn't make it "a thing."
He excuses himself, kindly saying he will keep a good thought for Roy, but the two are VERY awkward with each other, and Felicity says nothing to reassure him, which is telling, because "being reassuring" is like her second (third?) job.
At SCPD, Oliver visits Roy in holding and asks HIM WTF. There is a lot of that this episode. Roy tells him that he should be punished for killing the officer, but that he gets to return the favor and save Oliver's life. It's touching, but Oliver isn't convinced.
When Oliver tells him the city still needs him, Roy replies "It needs you more," because Roy knows the goddamned deal. He says that he feels okay for the first time since he killed the officer, and Oliver looks down at his hands, no answer to that.
***FLASHBACK SUMMARY ALERT*** Maseo, Tatsu, their son and Oliver are hiding out with someone who owes the Yamashiros a favor. They cannot run without Waller finding them, so Oliver offers to find her first. Amanda shoots Shreve. She is wounded. She tells Oliver that Shreve's plan was to unleash the Omega on China, and that he has been holding her prisoner. Shreve has an antidote for himself and his team, and plans to blame The Triad. He wanted to kill Oliver and the Yamashiros because they know about the weapon.
Amanda tells Oliver to run as far as he can. Oliver reports this to Maseo, and they resolve to steal some of the vaccine. They break in and retrieve it. Oliver wants his friends to take the antidote and run, but they offer instead to help him put an end to Shreve's plan. ***END FB SUMMARY***
Outside Verdant, Malcolm and Oliver speak about R'as. Malcolm warns him that he has yet to have anyone close to him die. Are we watching the same show?
Because of this flawed hypothesis, Malcolm says that he may want to consider that leading the League is less risky than whatever R'as will devise next to convince him. Oliver, who is not trying to hear it, says he has to go because he's going to break Roy out of prison.
Oliver arrives at Verdant to find that Thea has been watching the news and has found out about Roy's arrest. When she asks if Oliver put him up to it, he tells her no, and that he will do everything in his power to make it right. Not a lot in your power right now, Oliver, unless you are going to punch a cop.
Felicity and Digg arrive, and he tells them the same, but Felicity notes the bank robbery by the metahuman on the news, and says they might have something else to worry about. I think worry is now one of Oliver's basic metabolic functions, along with glaring and breathing.
Digg points out that it makes sense the metahumans would come to Starling with The Arrow out of commission. Oliver asks Felicity to call S.T.A.R. labs and ask about the metahuman, but he is cut off by Quentin, who barges in with a smirk and a search warrant. Everyone reacts a bit differently.
Turns out he hauled ass over to avoid the Team wiping away any evidence, and leads officers to the basement door, where they break it down. I mean, couldn't they have asked for the code?
Quentin turns the lights on, illuminating the equipment, and turns to Oliver with a self-satisfied " I got you now, you son of a bitch." The officers photograph evidence and break the %$#@ fern, while Lance mocks Oliver's display choices.
Suddenly one of the officers tells him that they have swept the place for prints, and only match: Roy Harper. Lance storms out, and warns the team that as smart as they all are, he will be there when they make a mistake.
Outside the club, the original three members of Team Arrow stop to talk. Turns out not only did Digg and Felicity wipe everyone's prints but Roy's, but they also moved some "Sensitive trunk items" elsewhere.
Digg tells Oliver that Roy is already in jail, and they didn't see a point in losing both of them. Oliver doesn't want to lose Roy, and he also wants to stop the metahuman, and says they need to pick up his extra weapons. Digg points out that they can't go to the secondary lair because Lance is having Oliver tailed by plainclothes cops who won't let him stop "so much as a purse snatcher."
Am I the only one thinking that maybe cops would want to stop a purse-snatcher? Oliver asks Felicity to call Barry, but she tells him that he's very busy, and offers someone else.
Palmer Technologies. Ray hears the door and tells who he assumes is Felicity about his neural connector, tech which enables him to control the suit's movements with his mind. As the robotic hand on the table waves, he turns to see both Felicity and Oliver there to ask for his help with the metahuman who is killing people.
Ray asks if Oliver is okay with this, but he only responds that they do in fact need him. Ray high-fives him because yay team-up, Felicity smiles like a mom who just agreed to take her kid to Disney, and Oliver's face is the fandom.
On the desk, the robotic hand hits air and Oliver glares at it like, "I can't believe I have to carry another goddamned backdoor pilot." I feel ya, brah.
In jail, Roy is taken through to visitation, where Thea sits waiting.
She asks how he is and he tells her that he didn't want to see her. When she tears up and asks to know what is going on, he says he promised himself that he would never lie to her again, and he didn't want to break that promise. She asks why he would, and he tells her to please know he will be fine. "Is that a lie?" she asks, and he Inhales as if in pain, hanging up without answering-but not before they tearfully stare at each other for eight full seconds.
MY HEART, DAMN IT. Theroy is the Titanic of Arrow, and Oliver is the damned crate piece that they both need to float on, but only one of them can without it sinking, so Roy takes the fall. I am at once amazed by how much he loves the Queens and annoyed Thea again has to suffer because of a choice made without her input or consent.
At Palmer Technologies, Ray tells the team that he plays squash with the manager of the bank and somehow managed to get in there and GET TO THE POINT MAN, PEOPLE ARE DYING. Amirite, Oliver?
Anyhoo, he got magnetic resonance images of the crime scenes. When they remove the radiation, they can see the perp's face, and he is in the system, a Jake Simmons, last seen at a processing plant. Oliver tries to leave to face him, but Ray interjects himself. They both know he is a killer, but Ray says he is a man of science, and best equipped to figure him out.
Oliver grudgingly accepts, but makes him promise to get out at the first sign of trouble.
Ray arrives at one of the many abandoned warehouses and communicates back with the team over the comms while a nervous Felicity frets.
Oliver asks her if she ever gets that nervous when he is in the field. When she pleads the fifth, Diggle makes eye contact with him over her head and shakes his head quickly in the negative.
Ray's encounter goes about as well as you expect. He shoots the meta and only manages to power him, barely escaping being choked.
Ray arrives back, hurt and Oliver and Diggle are not impressed with his performance. Oliver tells him that although his instinct is to rely on his tech, that it is a tool, like his bow and arrows. "I'm the weapon," Oliver says, as Ray stares blankly and comments on how poetic that thought is.
Oliver warns him that it he relies on the suit more than himself, it'll get him killed.
In prison, Roy is attacked on his way to his cell and Colton Haynes gets the sexiest, best fight scene of his character's entire run. Seriously, I needed a minute-and yes, that minute was in my bunk.
He is taunted about how good he is without arrows, and the answer: pretty damn good! He escapes with just a knife cut across his back…for now.
The Queen apartment. Lance is executing a search warrant on the condo, when a colleague comes by and asks him to dial down the crazy. SCPD already has a suspect, no need to harass Queen and risk losing all he's gained, career-wise.
Thea complains that there is nothing there, but Lance doesn't believe her, taunting her with the idea that Roy is currently paying for Oliver's crimes. Thea kicks him out, but not before Lance gets a call about Roy's injury.
He makes sure to tell Thea that even if he is fine for now, it's a question of when, not if he gets a shiv in the back, and that his body will be on Oliver's conscience.
At Palmer Technologies, Ray remembers that Simmons thanked him for blasting him with compressed light rays. He and Felicity look for potential power sources he could be feeding from, when Oliver hears his sister call his name and rushes out of the office with Digg to meet her.
Thea tells him that Roy was attacked and that there are more inmates waiting, and Oliver resolves to break him out. Diggle steps in his path to stop him, and Oliver tells him quietly, "John, if you know what's good for you you'll get out of my way."
Digg doesn't even comment, telling him that if he knows what is good for him and Roy he will stay put. Oliver tries to walk past him, and Diggle stops him by putting his hand on his shoulder and asking him to listen. Oliver explodes, pushing his friend and shouting at him to take his hands off him. I am simultaneously flailing in panic and turned on.
The noise brings Felicity into the room, and now John has also lost his cool and is using his loud voice, telling Oliver that he knows what he is going through, but he has to "throttle this back" before he loses everything.
"I have already lost everything," Oliver says quietly, his voice rough. "I am not going to lose Roy." He walks out, and Felicity and Digg look at each other, unsure what to do.
Felicity catches up to him outside the entrance. He shouts at her that he can't believe she and John are okay doing nothing "and letting Roy fight off all of Iron Heights", but she responds that it isn't that simple.
He says it is, and she challenges him with the idea that he would then also be in prison. "I can't just do nothing," he answers, calmer now. She tells him that she thinks John is right and he is struggling in so many areas in his life, but that he needs to let people help him.
She correctly intuits that it isn't just that bothering him, though. Oliver has given everything up for The Arrow persona, "even you and me," but now even if he breaks Roy out of Iron Heights, there is no more Arrow.
Oliver tells her that he was once told a man can't live by two names, and now he can't live by either of his-so he doesn't know who he is. "I know who you are," Felicity says, stepping closer and looking him in the eye. "Whether you're in a hood, or a suit…"
"…you're the man that I-I…" Oliver freezes and holy shit his face.
Felicity stops and starts again, never once breaking eye contact.
"You're the man that I believe in."
A quick beat, and neither is fooled. They both know what she meant to say, and their eyes are locked on each other. Suddenly Felicity gets an alert from Ray that he is ready for her to upload the transponder to a power source. Oliver offers to go with her, but she goes alone, saying it's adorable how he forgets he's being tailed, and it's time he gets some practice letting people help him.
Iron Heights. Lance stops by to see Roy, who has signed a confession that doesn't implicate Thea. He tells him that he knew his obsession with the arrow would bring him to a bad end. "You don't deserve to be here." Roy tells him about killing the patrol officer, but Lance isn't impressed, telling him that his time in there doesn't make up for any of it. Why is Jail-Roy so hot?
I'm not being rhetorical here, it is EATING at me.
At a power plant, Felicity is looking around for Lord knows what when she runs right into Simmons, dressed as a guard. Back at Palmer, Ray notices that Simmons is drawing power from the same plant Felicity went to. He calls her, and Simmons answers, apologizing that "the blonde can't come to the phone right now."
Oliver ACTUALLY FACEPALMS. I howled. Exasperated Oliver is on my permanent Christmas list.
Ray warns him not to hurt her, but now Simmons is the fandom, openly mocking his non-hero-ness. When Simmons hangs up and turns his attention to Felicity, however, she hits a valve nearby and releases steam into his face, and breaks away, running down a corridor.
Back at Palmer Oliver is already turning away, but Diggle warns him he can't go. "It's Felicity!" he says, as if that explains everything and IT DOES. Ray does quick math and says it would take him eight minutes to get there on his Ducati while he can fly. When Oliver warns him he needs more than his tech, Ray figures out a way for his tech to merge with Oliver's instinct. Ray flies to Felicity while Oliver dons the neural connectors so he is able to remote-control Ray's movement.
At the plant, Simmons catches up to Felicity and gets all chokey again. Ray arrives and tells Oliver to "kick his ass". He forces Felicity to leave and Oliver takes over the fighting. It is truly inspiring to watch Amell punch air, and I need more of it in my life. Eventually, however, Simmons throws Ray into a wall and the neural network is damaged.
Once Oliver can no longer control his movement, the tide turns and Simmons pummels him. Oliver is shouting him to get up and fight, and because he needs it, he gives him a pep talk about how he put himself in harm's way to save Felicity, and that is something heroes do.
In any case it's motivation enough for Ray to fight back and beat Simmons. Felicity rushes to hug Ray while back at Palmer, Oliver holds his head when he hears her voice.
He loves her so much, guys. I worry sometimes that when he finally gets a taste of that he might just enter a fugue state and evaporate into a cloud.
Iron Heights. Another attempt on Roy's life. An officer shoves him out of the way, but just when he thinks he is saved, the same officer stabs him in the gut.
Spoilers, schmoilers. It didn't dull the pain and at this point I wanted to destroy the CW with fire.
When Oliver arrives home that night, Lance is on the couch with a crying Thea. "Harper was killed an hour ago," Lance says, and Oliver gets about-as-ugly-as-he-can-get-crying. FIRE, CW.
Lance walks out, but not before unloading some guilt on Oliver, frozen in the doorway. "I would say I'm sorry but I think we both know whose fault this is."
Later, Oliver is looking through the wreckage of the Foundry when Felicity and Digg show up, exchanging a look. He tells them that he shouldn't have listened to them. "I might not have been able to save Roy, but I would feel better right now if I tried."
John says that he knows he might never forgive them. "I make my own choices, John," Oliver replies, which is an amazingly generous thing to say to a friend who talked you out of saving another friend who is now dead-but Felicity isn't talking about the decision not to break Roy out. "he means…forgive us for this." And Roy walks in.
I don't know whether to laugh or break something.
"HOW?" Oliver asks, overcome. Roy came up with a plan to get arrested and had one of Lyla's A.R.G.U.S. folk special-stab him in a place that would bleed but not be lethal. The blade was laced with a beta-blocker, which simulated death and ta-da! Prison break for Roy, and innocence for Oliver. Oliver points out that they did this without asking him, and Roy answers that he has done the same for them in the past.
Oliver accepts this with a nod, and then asks the question we are all asking: "What happens to Roy Harper?"
That night outside Starling, Roy says goodbye and I am legit crying.
Colton Haynes started as a character that I could largely take or leave, but where Felicity is the heart, Oliver the brawn and Digg the head, he became the quiet soul of the team-able to be both deadpan blunt and incredibly emotional- and he'll be missed. Oliver tells Roy that he feels like he is throwing his life away, and Roy says he is starting a new one, asking him to tell Thea he is alive and sorry he couldn't say goodbye. John tells him "Anywhere, anytime" he needs anything, to call.
Roy is now openly crying when Felicity says with a smile, "I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow," and hugs him.
She has placed an untraceable satellite phone in his bag and tells him to be ready to get a million calls. Finally, this goddamned pair of noble bastages.
"Thank you," Roy tells Oliver. "Thank YOU," Oliver replies, and they shake hands, these two taciturn men of few words, and there are novels of meaning in the two phrases. Roy gets in his car and drives away as the original Team Arrow stares after him.
Felicity asks Oliver how angry he is with them on a scale from 1-10, but he is trying, and replies that he needs to start letting people help him. Diggle tactfully walks away to wait in the van, and neither Felicity or Oliver seem to notice he's gone.
"I just think sometimes that you are so focused on the people you love," Felicity says to Oliver as he stares down the road, and she links her arms through his, placing her chin on his shoulder, "that you forget that there are people who love you." At this, Oliver looks down at the ground and says nothing, and Ray, watching his girlfriend from across the street, realizes why she never said she loved him.
I have spoken long and hard on my dislike for how Ray is written, but let me point out that if they are going to make this character relatable, human and the kind of superhero that has some sort of insight-scenes like this are invaluable, and that Brandon Routh did more here with a single wrinkle between his eyebrows than any line Ray has had all season. This character has potential, but it's currently all trapped in an actor who is not getting the sort of characterization that Routh is capable of emoting. I hope to see this change going forward for him in his new show.
Another quick insight into the goodbye scene. Roy is in his trademark red hoodie. It is meant to recall the kid he was when Oliver first found him, and it does. Every other character but Felicity is in black. She is in pinks and tans, and in the nighttime in the glare of the street lights, she almost glows, the light in so much darkness, Oliver's light in his darkest moment. When Ray stares after Oliver, alone, the lights of the buildings behind him are red and blue, the colors of the ATOM suit. Once Felicity is gone, he will find his light in his mission. Kudos to the costume department and director on the lovely visuals.
Central City. Ray delivers Simmons to Cisco, and names him "Deathbolt." These two need more screen time together, as there is clearly a bromance in the air.
Ray wants to know how the prisoners get fed and how they water the flowers, but Cisco has discovered that Simmons wasn't in the vicinity of the particle accelerator explosion, so… how can he be a metahuman?
Starling City. Thea is looking at pictures of Roy and drinking wine when she feels a presence.
It is R'as, who is being very anatomically specific about which part of the Demon he is, thank you very much, and that her brother will soon join him.
Thea denies it, saying that Oliver will kill him, but R'as, unruffled, says, "No. He's going to beg me," and catches the knife she throws at him. Thea runs, but he intercepts her, and she does a pretty decent job of fighting him, until R'as throws her into her coffee table and stabs her clear through with his sword, reciting a prayer like he did for Oliver.
He leaves her there, the broken glass echoing the snow her brother once laid on, both now tinged red with Queen blood.
Thanks for reading all the way to the end! For more shenanigans, follow me here or on Twitter @conniebv. If you want to read any of my other Arrow stuff, it's archived here. See you next week for the Olicity Event of the Season: The F*ckening. God help us all.
My favorite scenes, Arrow 318 "Public Enemy"
Not a full recap this episode, but I did want to briefly highlight two scenes, both of which featured character truths long held back that finally came to light.
1. __?_licity
In the hospital, Ray tells Felicity that he loves her. This causes Felicity to tell him that it is "nice to hear" and hightail it out of the room to get him some hospital jell-o, because he must be hungry. NO ONE IS HUNGRY FOR HOSPITAL JELL-O. And yes, Ray is the jell-o.
This leads to the scene where Smoak smoaks Smoak. Felicity walks out of the room and gets caught with her guilty-face on (and not because she had hospital sex).
Those really should be more different.
If part
of Felicity's charm is her constant unconscious double entendres, large
part of her mother's charm is in all that Vegas flamboyance hiding a
shrewd ability to read people. It didn't escape me that she knew her
daughter didn't return Ray's sentiments by just looking at her, and it
also didn't escape me that, for all that Felicity playacts at being
embarrassed by her, Donna is the one person she can admit her feelings
to: she is not into Ray, even if she has tried. When she questions herself because it makes sense on paper, Donna once again hits the nail on the head by pointing out that it is because she is in love with Oliver.
this episode, hints were dropped about Felicity's father: he was a
criminal, and she quickly deflected any mention her mother made of him.
Felicity has had two great loves: Cooper and Oliver, and both were
fringe elements with questionable moral codes, probably closer to the
father that abandoned her than she herself ever stopped to consider, so
what does she do? She consciously picks good, dorky nerds like Barry and
Ray (or what Ray should have been) and then puts all her energy into
trying to make it work, to be with men who, even if they should leave
her, would not devastate her.
Momma Smoak is right: So much of the burden of choice has been placed on Oliver's shoulders this season, but now, Felicity has
to choose. And the choice is, not surprisingly, similar to
Oliver's: go all in with a risky venture or sit tight on a safe bet?
Bless you, Mama Smoak, patron saint of the S.S. Olicity.
2. Oliver and Lance.
I said in my recap for 317 that "not a single thing" in Oliver's life had shown him that it was possible to love without tragic results, and in this episode he is finally face-to-face with the embodiment of the fallout of two of those instances: Quentin Lance.
Lance tells Oliver that R'as told him that he and Sara had been together on Lian Yu, and when he questions when Oliver decided that he would take decisions on behalf of his family, Oliver says quietly, and with feeling, that he loved his family, and gets backhanded as a response, along with an admonition to take advantage of his right to stay silent.
However much that admission riled Lance, it was honest, and raw. Laurel was Oliver's first love, and for years she was a beacon of hope, an ideal that he could pine for and remember better times. Sara was so like him that if not for the boots knocking they could have been twins, two blonde kids broken and built back up by terrible circumstances, looking to keep a light in their lives after years of darkness. Oliver loved Sara, where Ollie had loved her sister, and whatever his faults, Oliver is not a disloyal man, and one with a rather long memory. When he tells Quentin he returned from the island to try and save the people of the city, Quentin's response is a deliberate, hurtful recitation of all the people that have died in Oliver's life.
It is an echo of the very same list he once brokenly admitted to Felicity. It is the same list that caused him to turn himself in as a criminal, rather than to see harm done to others he loves. He tells Lance he didn't want Laurel, or anyone else to get involved, but Quentin claims that not only did he involve his daughter, but himself, and that he has made all the people that he "claims to care so much about" into "criminals, liars and victims," and that he isn't a hero, but a villain.
Now if the theme is identity, one of the reasons Oliver loves the Lance family is because they are so intertwined with his memories of himself that while perhaps not happier, are symbolic of a time in his life when things were not as complex and his burden not as heavy to bear. Sara especially, but Laurel too, were people who knew him then and now, endured disappointments and tragedies with him and eventually reconciled as friends. While he may not be involved romantically with either at this point, he values the Lance family, and the father that both girls strove to protect.
And by all means, Quentin is also seeking to replace the identity of grieving father with the much more familiar one of justice-seeker, crimefighter. In this he is much like Oliver himself, who has channeled his pain and loss into a cause, and in this cause found allies, like Quentin himself was once, and they in turn their own identities as heroes.
So the pieces are reshuffled and the chessboard is reset. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
FML. Arrow Recap 317, "Suicidal Tendencies"
I actually could not make myself watch this episode again, so now I'm running late and I am just gonna bite the bullet. Forgive me if I gloss over a ton of shit that I just do not care to get into, and an advance warning that this is rampantly anti-Ray. A LOT. I thought about going back and editing some of it out, but I gotta be me-so you're getting an advance warning. 🙂 If you want to know why I feel this way about this character, read this excellent meta or this one here.
It's Dyla's wedding drill! Oliver feels good that he's early but just like his life in general lately, he's deluding himself and is actually late. This is an issue because Lyla booked a photo session which he missed, but problem-solver Diggle offers to Photoshop him in.
Felicity walks in in one hell of a red dress, poses to let her Boo take an eyescape and absentmindedly reaches behind her to pull Ray along.
We get to see Palmer meet Digg, and the only way it could have ended better is if he snapped his neck and he and Lyla danced their first dance on his corpse like a human bear rug.
Oliver is on his best behavior, making nice when Digg gets a call. The officiant just got deployed, and OH NOW RAY HAS TO MARRY THEM THAT IS A PERFECTLY NATURAL DEVELOPMENT SHUT IT. Yep, he's a minister, and he's coy about why but I don't care why. Ray cracks jokes, people laugh and find him funny, I don't get it, and Oliver looks sad and lonely. Wednesday.
Dyla and Theroy cut a rug while the Arrow writers toss Lauriver a bone. Oliver compliments Laurel's dress and cast, and she tells him about her new (female) trainer. Oliver wants to ask more but she tells him today isn't about that. Felicity shows up with the bouquet she caught and Laurel congratulates her and leaves. Felicity and Oliver have a brief convo about her bringing Ray as her plus one, and again, Oliver is supportive and tells her that if she's happy ("Very," she lies), then that's all he's ever wanted for her: a good guy and a normal life.
Suddenly the team's phone alerts all go off and I am mesmerized by Roy's, who has what seems like an alien abduction going off inside his suit. It's the news about The Arrow becoming a killer again. Cue double takes!
Wedding scene: Four whole minutes. Put THAT in your scrapbook.
Later that night and one fabulous costume change from the new Mrs. Diggle, the group gathers in the Foundry to watch what I have to assume is the only TV any of them own. If the mayor speaks we don' see it. Lance tells the reporters they think it's The Arrow, Laurel is like "Unsubstantiated, bitches! D.A.'s office takes a hard pass!"
Then for some reason, Ray speaks. I mean, IN WHAT UNIVERSE? Like, I am sure I have seen news reports of crimes committed in Washington state, but I have never seen Bill Gates on the news being like, "You guys, I'm gonna take care of this. ON IT." So basically Ray is like,
because he's a genius and I'm sure that makes sense to him, except the premise is ridiculous and NO. But let's play along with the superhero show.
Felicity is upset because she didn't see this coming, and the Team think the LoA is behind this, trying to raise public sentiment against the Arrow (so far, so good!). Digg wants to know what he can do, but Oliver is like "What you can do is go to Fiji and get sex drunk, dismissed" and just this once, Diggle prioritizes his family life and he and Lyla leave to get in their limo.
But they're not alone in their limo! Amanda Waller has no soul and I think it's pretty safe to say no idea of romance, because Floyd Lawton is in there, waiting for them. Suicide Squad time!
They get to A.R.G.U.S. and Amanda gives them their mission: there's been a terrorist attack at a Kasnian hospital, and US Senator Joseph Cray, whose pet project it was, is caught and needs to be extracted. Digg won't let Lyla go alone, and when he asks Waller who besides them and Deadshot is going, it's one of my fave Arrow villains ever: Cupid!
In the Arrow Cave, Oliver is moping the best way he knows how: training shirtless in front of Felicity.
For once, she doesn't spare him a glance, plugged into every camera signal she can hack her way into (cover your baby monitors) trying to find "Evil Arrow". So far, no luck. Roy shows up with info of a huge drug shipment that "Fake Arrow" would likely show at, and although he offers to suit up, he stays behind at Oliver's request because "It's the League."
SS troops through the woods while Cupid fantasizes about her wedding and the strong babies she and The Arrow would make. Strong AND crazy! Lawton tells the assembly that "love is a bullet to the brain" and people like them don't get to have families, though Lyla and John disagree.
When Lyla tells John that the mission only involves getting the senator out, and not the hostages, he asks if that's her talking, or Waller. Lawton smirks at their disagreement and Digg snaps that he's not him. "I wasn't always me, either," he mutters.
***FLASHBACK ALERT*** Floyd Lawton shows up home after a military deployment. His wife is happy to see him and introduces him to his adorable daughter, who looks about 3. Lawton tells her that he missed her every day, but the little girl is scared of him. You can see the dismay on his face, and his wife tells him that she just doesn't know him yet, and needs time. ***END FB***
Oliver is headed to the warehouse, where Felicity has seen the Fake Arrow headed. Oliver gets there in time to shoot an Arrow into his shoulder (just to hold him still!) and unmask him, but it's not R'as. Two more jump out at him and for a while there, it's like the beginning to the best slashfic ever. A voice tells Oliver that it's useless, as when one falls, two more will rise, and it is Maseo. Oliver tells him he can't believe in murdering all these people to prove a point.
Turns out Maseo is fine with the murdering, but it's the semantics that bother him. This is a persuasion, he tells him, because R'as sees something in Oliver. So really, it's like a bouquet of corpses. Oliver won't embrace it, and tells Maseo he should know him better. Maseo is like "Ok wevs I kill all day every day it's all the same, really" and poofs his way out like "C U BRAH".
That night, Ray is flying around in his Atom suit and catches Oliver on patrol. He scans his face and has software that IDs him.
The next day Felicity walks into the office and gets called to task by the same self-unaware dumbass who has conned her compliance with whatever ridiculous trick he pulls out his ass almost every scene they've been in together since his character debut. I made a personal promise to try not to use a single Ray pic this recap, so you get gifs to express my emotions.
Ray tells Felicity that she is insulting his IQ because of course, this is all about him and what she did to him and how he feels. Not like, MURDERS.
Now Oliver might be a hardheaded tree, but at least he isn't a walking spleen like this egocentric load. Hey genius, you never once questioned why your VP was okay with helping YOU make a super suit?
Ray tells her it all makes sense now, and that he basically x-rayed him with the suit he never told her he got working, and using her facial recognition code he "borrowed" that he ALSO never told her about. MINUTIAE. Dick.
It doesn't matter that she vouches that Oliver didn't kill anyone in almost two years and that she knows him better than almost anyone. What Ray gets from this is that she has feelings for him (which is for his purposes, irrelevant), and even though she follows up her immediate "Yes" with denials and assurances that it's over, he mocks the idea that he's "supposed to trust her" now.
He tells her he hasn't held anything back from her since the moment they met (UM YOU STOLE HER TECH, he hasn't even been honest in the last 24 hours), and that he thought they could be partners in his mission and in life (I wonder what designerTHAT dress-bribe would have come from). When Felicity says she wanted that, and still does, it convinces no one. She asks Ray what he's going to do, and he answers that he's going to honor the promise he made to the city and "bring the Arrow to justice." So, add Starling city to the list of things Ray's about to catfish into long-term commitment. My hate frees me.
In Kasnia, the Squad moves into the hospital.
***FB ALERT*** In a truly disturbing scene, Lawton makes a bad sandwich. No really, he's been drinking and shouts at his little girl because she doesn't want to eat. His wife shows up and points out what we all suspect: he's not sleeping, drinking too much, and can't hold a job. She wants him to talk to someone, but instead he erupts into a fit of violence, pulling a gun on her in front of the baby, and when he snaps out of it, horrified, she calls the police on him. ***END FB***
Oliver and Roy are in the Cave comparing the fake vs. real Arrow-arrows (they're identical) when Felicity comes in and unloads Palmer's entire season-long character arc in one panicked rant. I am a little jealous of Oliver, because this doesn't even take 30 seconds. Oliver understandably uses his loud voice to ask when she was going to tell him about someone pissing on his vigilante turf, but she says that's not what's important: Palmer is going to tell the police who he is. What are they gonna do?
At the police station, Ray is telling his theory to Laurel, WHO I GUESS IS THE POLICE NOW? I mean, I'm just a caveman here but don't you report crimes to actual cops? For all the good it does him. Laurel tells him Oliver was exonerated two years ago, calls his digital images unreliable and his testimony "uncorroborated." Ray then proves once more that there is no belt to low under which to hit by bringing up that she is defending Oliver because they dated and are old friends. Laurel's face here is gold.
Also creepy: how does Ray know she trained with Ted Grant? Does he just randomly data-mine? He guesses she is the Black Canary, too. He is like a . In any case, Laurel basically tells him to f*ck off in legalese, and he says he'll "just have to seek out justice on [his] own" because he really is a self-entitled sh*t. I love me some Brandon Routh, but I have never wanted to watch a hero fail harder in my life.
Kasnia.The senator tells one of the hostages that everything will be okay. The SS shoots their way in, killing all the bad guys, and Lyla tells him that they are there to get him. He gets upset, saying that this isn't how it should have happened, and pulls a gun on them, because they shouldn't have come. All hell breaks loose as more men show up to fight them, and Lawton tackles Cutter, taking a bullet for her. This leads to a great scene where Cutter transfers her affections to him, and he considers dying as an alternative. When Diggle goes to treat his bullet wound, he sees Lawton's tattoo, and the name of his brother.
Lyla tries to radio out, but her signal is jammed by Sen. Cray. It turns out the kidnappers are mercenaries he hired to stage the hostage situation so he could defuse it and become a hero, then run for President.Now the hostages are witnesses, and he needs to erase the evidence, starting with them.
Ray is in his office smirking with self-satisfaction when Oliver walks in with his hands in his pockets because OLIVER HAS BALLS THE SIZE OF MOUNTAINS, Y'ALL. He responds to Ray's smug "Arrow" with "Super-suit" and it is so perfect I want to take the writer who wrote that to a nice steak dinner. It turns out Oliver booked an appointment specifically to broadcast how few fucks he gives about the fact that Ray is hunting him. He heard from Laurel, and tells Ray that he didn't kill those people, which Ray says Felicity told him, but he scoffs at the idea of an impersonator, saying he "hates it when that happens."
He once again hits below the belt by insinuating that Oliver is unhinged because of his "5 years on a deserted island," and Oliver admirably doesn't react, saying only that Felicity told him the truth, and he "should trust her judgement." Ray says he can't do that, because his FREAKING MASSIVE GENIUS of a girl's brain was broken by her "emotional attachment" to Oliver and she doesn't see him for what he is: magma-hot millionaire crime-fighter.
Oliver again chooses not to engage, telling him he has "no idea what the city is up against," and as he walks out, Ray says something that's supposed to be ominous but isn't because he might as well be wearing diapers now.
Kasnia. Digg and Lyla are in a room watching the building be rigged with explosives. The mercs mean to bomb the building and leave the senator as a lone survivor. Lyla questions what they are doing, and at John's assertion that they accepted a mission like soldiers, reminds him that they are also parents.
She tears up at the possibility of orphaning their baby girl, and Digg admits Lawton may have been right. At that moment Lawton and Cutter come through the hall. When Lyla tells Lawton they won't make it out, he looks at her tear-stained face and tells her that they will, and she and John will go home to their daughter.
***FB ALERT*** Lawton is in jail, and gets a visit from a nameless woman (a 'drone' from a 'hive') who is posting his bail in exchange for his "skills," i.e., killing people. At first he refuses on account of his family, but upon finding out that his wife has a restraining order on him and that he will never see her or his daughter again, he takes his first assignment: Andrew Diggle. ***END FB***
At the Foundry, Felicity sits, exhausted and on edge when Oliver comes back in. He tells her it didn't go well, and that Ray is "stubborn" (at which Felicity rightly scoffs) and "unstable" (same thing, but not so rightly this time) and Oliver tries to impress on her that he built himself a suit to seek out a killer, and that's not normal.
Oliver comments that "He's gonna be next," and Felicity tiredly comments that he would like that. Oliver recoils ("Excuse me?") and they settle in for the no-holds-barred type of fight you have when you are truly at the end of your rope and stop watching what you say. It's heartbreaking, raw, and not a little overdue. Felicity tells him that he never wanted her to be with Ray, and all the talk about wanting her to be happy "was just talk." Oliver says that it's not true, and that he meant what he said-until he found out Ray was like him, a person with a um, crime-fighting vocation. "You deserve better," he says gruffly, his voice breaking on the last word, and although he is hurt and speaking from the heart, so is she, and she calls him out.
"What I deserve is to be with someone who isn't scared of being happy," Felicity says. The blow is surgically precise and it hits the mark.
Oliver turns away from her, and she pushes what she thinks is her advantage: that Ray told her that he wanted a partner in his work, his mission, and his life, and he wants to be "a hero AND a human being." Oliver's face hurts me, y'all, because he does want all those things, but let's face it: this is one pragmatic sonofabitch, and not a SINGLE. DAMN. THING. in his life so far has shown him it is possible to love someone (with the exception of John) in his hero life without things going tits up, and he just isn't willing to risk her. He takes his opening, and with such uncharacteristic bitterness that it makes me shudder, says that it's because Ray hasn't realized yet "that he can't be."
He looks at her right in the eye and reminds her that he never said he didn't want to be with her. "I said I couldn't be with you AND save the city…and neither can Ray. He's just too new at this to know it yet." OUCH YOU GUYS. They have served the truth tea to each other and it is bitter.
A beeping on Felicity's screen interrupts them, and Oliver asks her to have Roy meet him (I guess it's okay now for Roy to fight LoA?) at Maseo's probable next target, a power plant.
At the power plant, Roy reports no one there, and he's kind of right. It's just Ray in his super-suit, saying things that I don't care about and blasting them with whatever the hell. Oliver shoots at him but the arrows bounce off. Ray blasts Roy into a fence, knocking him out.
Another blast knocks Oliver over, but when he is about to gloat his victory, Oliver takes a flechette and kills his power, incapacitating him. Oliver holds him at arrow-point and says that he asked him to back off, and he didn't. Ray says to go ahead and kill him, show Felicity the kind of man he really is.
Oliver immediately puts his bow down and says that he "has nothing to prove to her, but you do. She chose you, so trust her." He helps Ray up, turns his back and walks away because I guess Roy can find his own way home. Damn, Oliver. At least throw a blanket on the kid.
Kasnia. The Senator is apologizing to the people he's about to kill when Digg, Lyla and Cutter come bursting in the door. He threatens to blow them up, but then notices there are only three of them as Lawton starts shooting from the roof. They evacuate the hostages and run out, but when Cutter asks how Lawton is getting out, he confesses he isn't, and reassures John that he and Lyla will get back to their daughter, but he needs to cover their escape. As the timer counts down, Lawton takes out a picture of his family and is looking at it when the building blows up.
Felicity shows up at Palmer's office and there's the obligatory pat "I'm totally sorry about not trusting you when I should have trusted you" apology and she asks him if he was sincere about the partner thing. Of course he is, because this is absolutely not like those scenes in horror movies where a couple says they'll be together forever and then 5 min later one of them is beheaded. Nope.
At Casa Diggle, Lyla tells John that Sen. Cray paid off the hostages. John confesses that he is quitting Team Arrow, because of Sara. Lyla says that he is doing good work, not like her with Waller and that she resigned from A.R.G.U.S. because she wants Sara to be proud of her. "I'm proud of you," John says, and they hug.
In the Foundry, Felicity is literally smelling the roses when Oliver walks in. She is leaving for a meeting Ray has with the mayor, but not before she gives him a kiss on the cheek and thanks him for proving her right.
There is pretty much ZERO animosity on Felicity's part after what became a pretty heated discussion. Why is that? Oliver has proven to Ray (and through him to her, although he claimed she didn't need it) that he is a man of his word, and that he respects her decisions. Now that he knows what Ray is, Oliver doesn't agree with her choice, but he trusts in her to work it out. Felicity can't help but to take note of this and store it away for future reference. And for Oliver's part, he now knows that Felicity is wholeheartedly committed to the idea of being a full life-partner to a hero, and that she will do it even if the hero is not him, and that's got to be food for thought as well. A definite corner, subtly turned.
John walks in and when he asks Oliver what he missed, Oliver says, "Oh, not much," AND HE IS RIGHT. They must have touched base before he came back in, because Oliver knew he was in Kasnia, and about Lawton. Diggle briefly tells him that he was right, and that doing what they do "having loved ones at home is complicated," as he pours them vodka from Oliver's stash.
I missed his response my first two viewings, but Oliver answers "The things that matter always are," and I can practically hear the water smoothing this particular stone. The two partners toast, "To Floyd Lawton." Digg asks if he found his impostor, and that they need to do so before he arrows any more criminals. "Or before he starts putting them in innocent people," Oliver answers.
At the mayor's office, Laurel, Lance, and Felicity listen to Ray tell the Mayor that he "has it on good authority" that the Arrow was set up. I am not really sure why Felicity has to be there, but that's because I am STILL not sure why Ray is there. Neither is Lance, who gripes about Laurel's suggestion to call a press conference.
As the Mayor tells them she is tired of listening to them, she gets an arrow through the heart and I am a little jealous, because she doesn't have to sit through any more Raylicity. We see Maseo in a building across the way, dressed in a green Arrow hood and aiming through the window-straight at Felicity.
'Bout GD time. Arrow Recap E316, "The Offer"
In under the wire guys! Sorry so late, RL kicked my ass this week.
We pick up where we left off, with Oliver being surprised by the offer to become the Head and the torso and the entire superlative body of the Demon.
He mutters to himself as Oliver is untied, something along the lines of "The people that made that shirt really knew what they were doing." Just kidding ha ha, it is an old phrase that means "The tale to be told begins thus", and was spoken to him by the man whose place he took, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
They walk down a hallway and R'as stops a duel to tell one of the students what they did wrong. You can tell Oliver is surprised he didn't kill them, but R'as points out that "all men need guidance". When Oliver interprets this as the fact that his followers have to kill for him, R'as clears it up by saying that no, they have to die for him.
They sit at a table with a banquet laid out, and Oliver is not impressed. R'as says it's pretty much an FYI, and proceeds to lay out his case: Men have called Oliver a murderer, and a torturer, but he would never be so blunt. He sees the struggle in Oliver's eyes between his dual identities, and points out that "Oliver Queen is a man destined to be alone."
He mentions that he loves a woman he cannot have, and right away Oliver interjects, saying that R'as doesn't know him. R'as points out that he knows The Arrow, "Al-Sahim", and that the people he saves will never think of him as more than a vigilante, and that his city will turn on him, the police will call him a criminal, and that he will be "scorned, hunted, and then killed", dying as he began, alone.
You want to think that Oliver would know enough to remain stoic, but no one, not even Diggle or Felicity, has ever hit him up with such a dispassionate list of his fears. R'as' is ticking off his greatest insecurities, and we see it in his eyes. The idea that this man can read him so easily is almost as distressing to him as the idea of what he is offering.
Back at the Foundry, Thea is trying to get Nyssa to kill her, but Nyssa's all 'thanks but no thanks," saying that the blood debt ends with Malcolm's death, which she is sure her father has already taken care of.
Laurel and Roy come down the stairs, and attack Nyssa to protect Thea. Roy knocks her out with a tranq dart, and when he asks Thea how she got out, she's all 'IDK, maybe League training' and skedaddles out.
Back in Nanda Parbat, it's storytime ft. R'as, Oliver, and the Lazarus Pit. R'as tells Oliver that the waters have allowed him to live well past his time, but that they are losing their effect on him, and that when he survived death by his own free will, without its help, he proved that he was a worthy successor.
Oliver is all ungrateful and doesn't want to "become an instrument of death," but R'as points out that he could save the world if he wanted, not only one city. As it turns out, the League is loyal to their leader, no matter his credo, and if Oliver-as-R'as told them to stop killing, then they would. Oliver asks what would happen if he says no, and as a gesture of goodwill, R'as allows him to leave with Diggle and Malcolm, "all debts forgiven and all blood oaths waived."
With a final glance at the Pit, Oliver tells the men, "Let's go home," and they walk out.
That night at their apartment, Thea is the fandom when she tells Oliver that they need to stop having these "Thank God you aren't dead" moments.
Oliver reassures his sister there isn't a scratch on him. When she asks how, he looks at Malcolm laid out on her couch, and she is both surprised he got out and upset that R'as didn't kill him. She tells Oliver he can't stay there, but he replies that there is no other place he can take him, and that he isn't asking for her to pity or forgive him- just to let him heal.
Oliver walks back into Verdant and dodges Diggle's attempt to be specific about why they were allowed to leave Nanda Parbat, basically telling him that they should just be happy to be back and alive. Oliver is like St. Peter, he only answers something after you ask it three times.
***FLASHBACK ALERT*** I'm gonna deviate from the usual and just summarize the entire flashback in one go. Oliver takes Akio to the Botanical Gardens to try to find his folks, and they are found by the people looking for his parents. As Oliver tries to escape with the boy, he runs into a woman who looks exactly like Shado. ***END FB***
Oliver and Diggle walk into the lair, and Oliver ignores Laurel and tells Felicity that Malcolm is still alive, right before he opens the door to Nyssa's cage and tells her she's free to go.
Laurel should just write your questions down on a piece of paper and have Felicity ask them. Nyssa doesn't believe her father would trade her life for Oliver or Malcolm. "He didn't," Oliver says, loquacious as always, and tells her to go home. Both Laurel and Felicity start to question him, but he snaps that it doesn't matter and eye-begs Felicity until she pulls up a crime in progress.
At least you can always count on something awful happening in Starling City.
That something awful is a robbery of an armored truck by trigger-happy guys in masks, one of who has his lips sewn shut for no reason other than it looks scary, because no way do I think this dude gives a flaming f*ck about meditation. The baddies are surprised by Roy, Oliver and Laurel, but escape with a diamond shipment because it's hard to catch the bad guy when you have to keep saving one of the 'heroes.'
Oliver drops off the criminals he did capture at Captain Lance's, but is surprised to find out that he knows he lied to him about Sara, and he's really, really ticked about it. Lance tells The Arrow that the idea of knowing right from wrong was precious to him, and he knew vigilantism was wrong, but he threw his lot in with The Arrow because he trusted him.
But now he sees the man he is, and he "lies so he doesn't have to carry around the weight of his decisions," and Lance is done with him. If he's ever done with the law, he should look into psychology because HIS ANALYSIS IS ON FLEEK.
Roy & Felicity are at the office geek-bonding. Felicity is hanging playfully onto Ray's arm while he tries to figure out how she solved a problem he couldn't.
Oliver sees them, composes himself and knocks, and when Felicity looks up and sees them, she jumps back like a woman who just realized the love of her life is watching her rebound hard with a human asterisk.
Oliver's voice is so deep when he greets Ray it's like he underwent a second adolescence just for that purpose. Ray seems surprised by his request to speak to Felicity, but he leaves them alone. Felicity apologizes for not telling Oliver about them, but he tells her she doesn't owe him anything. "That's not true. You're one of my closest friends," she replies.
Just like that, with a smile and a deep sigh, we have a detente on the Olicity Wars of 2015, and I for one couldn't be happier. Oliver and Felicity need conflict to grow, and they are bound to clash every so often, being each the yin to the other's yang. However, the moments where they demonstrate their faith and trust in each other are the lifeblood of this relationship. That's the long version, The short version is it gets damned old and depressing watching them fight for almost a whole season, so FUCK YES ARMISTICE.
Oliver tells Felicity about the man with the scarecrow mouth, and she brings up a rap sheet for Micheal Amar, "Murmur". She notices Oliver is on edge, and she gets him to tell her what Lance said to him, "some variation of go to Hell." She tries to comfort him, but he says that the Captain is right, had every right to know, and he lied to him for months. Felicity steps in close to his body, her Green-Arrowy-senses tingling as she tells him she has a feeling something else is going on with him, besides Lance and her 'thing' with Ray.
She places her hands on his forearms, and whether it's the touch alone or the fact that this is the exact same place she held on to him when they kissed, Oliver pulls back abruptly in an echo of her earlier withdrawal from Ray.
With a smile faker than a flashback wig, he thanks her for her help and leaves her with her hand up in the air where his arm was, just as she left him after their kiss.
Also, an Arrow writer comes out at this point wearing a mankini and shouts "ECHO!" just in cast you didn't get the parallel.
Laurel shows up at the Queen's apartment to see Thea Malcolm and compare father-drama.
Malcolm, who was awake on the couch the entire visit, gets to hear her non-apology, along with a confession that she was willing to die because of what he made her do. She tells him that she hurts more than she did when they met, and he does the fatherly thing and urges her to kill him-but quickly-because Malcolm Merlyn doesn't want to suffer or anything.
In yet more father drama, Nyssa finds out that R'as asked Oliver to be his heir. Nyssa claims that he never approved of Sara, but R'as says what he didn't really approve of was her weakness.
Then, because 75% of the people on this show are either active or recovering homicidal maniacs, Nyssa tries to resolve this by good ol'-fashioned patricide. R'as stops her blade with his hand, and when she tearfully tells him she will not stand there and see her legacy handed to a stranger, R'as responds "Don't" because if R'as ever gave a fuck, it got washed off and the wound healed over immediately, like his hand does in the Pit.
Back in the Arrow Cave, Digg, Oliver and Roy discuss why Amar wanted to steal industrial-grade diamonds, and when Digg suggests asking Felicity to help, Oliver says she's 'preoccupied' like someone who is caught up in a momentary problem that they are trying to get out of, WHICH IS ACCURATE. Roy offers to ask around in The Glades, and takes off. Once they are alone, Oliver finally caves and tells Diggle that R'as predicted that the city would abandon him, and he would die alone. Now that Lance is shutting him out and he sees "Felicity with Palmer," he feels like he saw into his future.
When Diggle tells him that it's a mindf*ck and asks why, Oliver tells him about his proposal to become the next Demon's Head. Digg can't believe that Oliver would accept, but R'as made a pretty compelling argument about the difference he could make, and Oliver has obviously been thinking about it.
My take: It's not only that Lance is angry and Felicity is "temporarily unavailable" (props to whoever wrote that line for John), but that R'as managed to shake the bedrock upon which he has isolated himself: his belief that the sacrifice of his personal life is making a difference.
If this belief isn't true, then all his pain has not bought him or his city anything measurable in return, and his life holds no meaning. True to form, any call to self-analysis causes Oliver to RUN AWAAAY, and R'as knows it. Why spend time troubleshooting when he can just escalate the escapism to the next level and parkour into a whole new identity? I totally get why Digg does this.
In the end, Oliver says, if he can't be himself, and the Arrow isn't making a difference, maybe he should be R'as Al Ghul.
Oliver comes home to check if Thea killed Malcolm yet, and they talk while Malcolm listens from the couch. Thea doesn't recognize herself anymore, and only the thought of Moira kept her from killing him. Even though Oliver reassures her that she is nothing like Malcolm, she says one thing is true: both she and her father are broken.
She leaves, and Malcolm and Oliver discuss Malcolm's parenting, and Ra's offer. It turns out Malcolm suspected this was the case, as there is a prophecy that states that "the man who doesn't perish at the blade of R'as Al Ghul's will become the next R'as Al Ghul," and he warns Oliver that he shouldn't delude himself into thinking he has a choice on whether or not to accept.
At the Foundry, Oliver walks in to find Felicity waiting. He thanks her for being there, and she takes a moment to let him know that even if she and Ray "may be something", she still believes in what they do and she is committed to it. Translation?
She coyly asks about his own commitment, since John told her of R'as' offer, and that he might be considering it. Oliver points out that he, at one time, was also an assassin, and that there is "more than one path to justice."
Felicity asks how he knows he isn't already on the correct path, and he expresses all the same doubts he did to John about The Arrow not making a difference, linting the people he's lost and how Thea's in "ten different kinds of pain."
Felicity counters, "So you leave? Then what?", which is THE MOST succinct counterargument anyone can ever make to Oliver and everyone in his life should just tattoo it on their wrists and flash it during arguments.
Oliver finally admits to her that he just doesn't know why he is doing it any more, and she tells him that while she can't give him the answer, she doesn't think he became the Arrow so people would say "thank you." She also curiously points out two things he didn't mention to her personally at all: Lance shutting him out, and dying alone. Oh Digg, way to stand in for the fandom, son! Felicity acknowledges that they are not together, but it's because of his choice.
As for the reason they do what they do, she says, that's a question that they all struggled with when they thought he was gone- and now it's just his turn.
Digg and Roy come back with a lead on the diamonds, and Felicity promises to contact Lance, but he's not picking up. Laurel shows up at his office and asks her to "just let her have it" but not imagine for a minute that she will give up on them.
Lance tells her that he knows she tries to save the world, but he doesn't know if she can save their relationship. He's thought long and hard about it, and even though he loves her, he doesn't know if he can forgive her.
Suddenly, they hear shots, and Lance reaches out to pull Laurel down. Outside the station, Murmur is shooting the place up. Felicity tells Oliver and Roy, who head for the station. Lance tells Laurel to run, but she won't leave him. He retorts that "just because [she] thinks she's some kind of hero" doesn't mean he won't protect his daughter.
Laurel does run, but ends up being attacked in the hall. Nyssa arrives to save her and Laurel sends her after Lance, and Oliver and Roy show up soon after. In the alley outside the station, Oliver manages to knock Murmur unconscious, and Lance asks him why he is waiting around, and if it's because he needs a thank you. "That's not why I do this," Oliver retorts, and rappels out like a boss.
Back at the Foundry, Oliver thanks Felicity and tells her she was right, and Digg and Roy considerately exit so they can talk.
The Flirt is off the charts as she saunters over and he tells her that at first he embarked on his crusade for his father, but had not stopped to think of why until she asked him to. Then that night at the precinct, he thought of how the officers and how their families counted on him and the team to come home safe, and that is why.
Felicity asks if this means "a pass on becoming the most handsome Demon's Head ever"? Oliver ALMOST smiles and says that he's not ready to give up on what they're doing. Felicity reminds Oliver of how he is always telling her that he just wants her to be happy, and with a smile that rivals his at the end of "The Climb," says that "The thing is, as long as you're in my life, I am." He and Felicity then proceed to make not only sweet eyeball love for four full seconds, but to have what really feels like a whole eyeball rom-com.
That is, until some asshole named R.Palmer calls and c*ckblocks my fun.
Outside the station, Laurel leaves to find Nyssa waiting for her. It turns out both women are having Daddy issues and Missing Dead Sara issues, so they decide to have a bite to eat and begin a chickmance. Platonic? Romantic? Who cares! I am HERE for this.
Bonus: Nyssa will teach Laurel not to suck. Win-win! I've heard some folks speak out against this ship, but I am ON IT. These two women are going through the same issues and share many of the same problems. Even if it never goes romantic, I am all for something that makes Laurel less annoying and more palatable and gives Katrina Law something to play other than "fierce as sh*t," which she has already mastered.
In the meantime, Oliver meets Maseo and formally rejects R'as offer despite his warning that the decision is already made, and that there are consequences. When Oliver asks if it's a threat, he says it's just "the will of R'as Al Ghul."
Speaking of ships that share the same issues, Roy is at home pretending to read when someone knocks on his door. He is ready to lead poison them to death with a pencil, but It's Thea, who is feeling lost and wants to stay with him a while.
She hugs him for comfort and when they pull apart, she kisses him. Roy, who knows when to deviate from his mentor's teachings, is IN.
Somewhere in what looks like the Glades, a figure that looks like the Arrow shoots one of the men who helper Murmur steal the diamonds. He tells one of the survivors to "tell everyone" what he saw, and when the camera pans to where we can see his face, it's R'as Al Ghul.
Consequences, indeed.
Like it? Want to read past eps? Here's a link to my masterpost!
Musical Chairs, Arrow Edition
Here are the main cast of Arrow, paired up with the Taylor Swift song they most remind me of. Don't ask me why I do these things. I haven't a clue.
I need to get off Tumblr, and soon.


text:
Oregon Research Institute
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About ORI
Evaluating New Nicotine Standards for Cigarettes-Project 2
Investigators are looking at the effects of smoking a reduced nicotine cigarette. This research may help inform the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) how best to regulate cigarettes in the future with the goal of improving public health.
Herbert Severson
Co Investigators
Edward Lichtenstein
The continued high prevalence of smoking and the high percentage of smokers who have problems with quitting call for innovative approaches to tobacco control. Reducing nicotine content in cigarettes to the level that they are non-addictive may have a profound impact on public health.
In this multi-site, double-blind clinical trial senior scientist Herb Severson and his team are examining what happens when the nicotine levels in cigarettes change over time. They compare those effects on smoking and health to smoking cigarettes with a typical level of nicotine. The study examines how the rate of change in nicotine level over time affects smoking behavior and tobacco related health risk.
This two-year grant is a subaward with the University of Minnesota from the University of Pittsburgh from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Promoting Healthy Child Development
Promoting Physical Health
Promoting Psychological Health
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Tenmile Creek is a stream located just 3 miles from Lakeside, in Coos County, in the state of Oregon, United States, near Tenmile, OR. Whether you're baitcasting, fly fishing or spinning your chances of getting a bite here are good.
Ten Mile Creek Sanctuary Located on the coast near Yachats, Ore., Portland Audubon's Ten Mile Creek Sanctuary is a 216-acre reserve of extraordinary ecological importance.


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2020 Reboot: Rittenhouse Verdict Sends Black Athletes Into Racism Overload
Nov 21, 2021 Athletes, Black, Overload, Racism, Reboot, Rittenhouse, Sends, Verdict
It's 2020 and déjà vu all over again. Athletes misled by President Joe Biden and corrupt left-stream media are once again overdosing on white supremacy Kool-Aid. False narratives over the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict are pushing them over the edge, just as the Jacob Blake incident did a year ago. They would have preferred the judge and jury have hanged an innocent white man.
The president and media had referred to the defendant as a "white supremacist" — fueling outrage on the Left and leading many to mistakenly believe those he shot were black.
Yahoo Sports reported that many of the athletes who boycotted professional games last year after the Jacob Blake shooting are lashing out at Rittenhouse and the verdict. No wonder. Yahoo's Cassandra Negley framed her story as Rittenhouse shooting at demonstrators during last year's riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The jury saw all the evidence, acquitting Rittenhouse of all charges of wrongdoing.
Bubba Wallace, a black NASCAR racer (in photograph above) who once claimed a garage door opening rope was a noose intended as a threat because of his race, tweeted the common theme that Rittenhouse was acquitted because he's white: "Ha, let the boy be black and it would've been life…hell he would've had his life taken before the bullshit trial.. sad".
Isaiah Thomas, a member of the 1990s Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys" NBA championship team, vented rage at the judge who presided over the Rittenhouse trial:
"Not like that but like that you can be white and get away with anything!!! I'm scared for my life and my kids [sic] life.. But African Americans is [sic] locked up for life for shit they didn't do!!! Damnit [sic] man!!!!What about those peoples [sic] families?? No justice for anything? Fuck that judge"
WNBA players slapped the race card down hard on the table, too.
Los Angeles Sparks forward and ESPN analyst Chiney Ogwumike tweeted an implication that the U.S. justice system is based on race.
The Phoenix Mercury's Briana Turner tweeted:
"I bet the judge will be the first to take Kyle Rittenhouse for dinner to celebrate all that he's accomplished this past year … insane how much our judicial system varies based on physical traits of the defendant. Disappointed but not surprised".
Not that black basketball players are looking at anyone's skin color. Turner also blasted the "All Lives Matter" crowd over the verdict.
Former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Robert Griffin III wrote," Kyle Rittenhouse can kill without a sliver of doubt & walk free but Julius Jones is in jail for life without the chance for parole after being on death row for 20 years with all types of doubt in his case. What is Justice? God help us."
Jones received clemency Friday from Oklahoma Gov. Keith Stitts four hours before he was scheduled to be executed for a murder conviction.
Former Atlanta Falcons all-pro wide receiver Roddy White wrote, "Every time American [sic] gets a chance to do the right thing it never does. This is the guy that will one day become law enforcement and will go on to kill more people because he knows he can get away with it. America continues to do this to us every chance it gets."
In tweets that now appear to have been deleted, J.R. Smith, the former NBA player, actually said, "You can literally have random white people, as well as police, kill a unarmed black person/people and still get away with it," concluding the verdict is proof that "the systems [sic] plan" is to "normalize killing blacks as much as possible."
By now, you get the sordid picture. The black athletes' mood is ugly, and it's not hard to understand given the left-stream media's pathetic coverage of the Rittenhouse trial that only inflamed the Left.


May this find you all well and enjoying the changes from Spring to almost Summer! There has been lots going on and much to learn for me...including this blog post:)...all undertakings have been beautiful! Love always what you do and you will never know anything but joy!
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Tag Archives: Leadership
Leadership is an absolutely humanistic element sought in all areas of our lives: school, church, work, family, community and government. A few years ago, an interview with author Simon Sinek went viral on YouTube because it was so relatable. He explained how 35 years of raising kids to think that everyone is a winner, in conjunction with the explosion of social media and digital technology, has had some detrimental side effects to the workplace. The impact has left employers feeling the need to step up and find ways to reverse some of the effects. But the greater question is, does this go beyond just the workplace and will this lead to a leadership crisis everywhere?
There is certainly an exhaustive list of the benefits we've received from the digital revolution of the last four decades. But like the rapid-fire disclaimer of all those side effects listed in the ad for the latest anxiety medication (which would cause more anxiety I would think!), we should be aware of where humanistic elements are essential and may be harmed from the reliance on technology.
Sinek explains, awarding every child regardless of achievement has created a lack of confidence and a sense of entitlement. Addiction to social media and gaming has starved a generation of person-to-person interactions, relationship building, imagination and allowing their minds to wander and create. Every technology which makes our lives easier also creates an expectation of instant gratification.
Sarah Moulton of Human Capital Leadership Institute points out that there are four leadership traits that cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence: reassuring communication, human touch, establishing rapport and creativity. This means they need to be cultivated in us…the humans!
Reassuring communication is critical because technology cannot teach or convey hope, essentially. The human touch relates to problem-solving based upon the needs of a unique individual or group; dedication to seeing the solution through. Establishing rapport creates trust and empathy which is needed for people to work successfully towards the same goal. Moulton references Eric Wahl's explanation of creativity by saying, "Intellect without intuition makes for a smart person without impact."
At Arizona Farm Bureau we see great value in youth leadership programs such as the Arizona FFA and Arizona 4-H. These organizations provide opportunities to both urban and rural youth and instill the value of hard work, responsibility, leadership, ingenuity, problem-solving and persistence through a myriad of programs offered to fit all sorts of interests. Aren't these the qualities of leadership we all want to guide the future?
It is true that the Age of Social Media has shifted our axis and we don't yet know what greatness and cost will result, but I don't believe Sinek has spent much time around Blue Jackets (FFA students) or the 4-H Creed. Believe me, there is very little instant gratification in agriculture, as those of us involved in it know. These youth are confident because they have earned their reward and they must interact with their peers to get the job done. Their minds have been engaged and broadened through the many projects the programs offer. As long as these programs remain robust with our support, there will be no leadership crisis in agriculture or elsewhere.
Ag LeadersAgriculture LeadersAmerican Farm Bureau FederationFarm BureauLeadershipLeadership Training
The people of Farm Bureau have always made it an organization of distinction. Widely seen as a popular movement to advocate for agriculture and rural families when it was formed, the way we communicate today has meant a return to those roots, or perhaps more accurately, grassroots.
Today, public policy issues running the gamut from transportation and labor to trade and regulations are won or lost in our state and national capitals based on the personal stories shared by individual farmers and ranchers. Facts are still the foundation, but Farm Bureau's farmers and ranchers communicating how issues are felt at the farm gate is paramount. And that, in a nutshell, is Farm Bureau's value proposition.
The grassroots structure of Farm Bureau, from the American Farm Bureau Federation through the state and county organizations, is unmatched in the world of advocacy for agriculture. Farm Bureau is arguably the most effective organization of farmers and ranch families in the world, and it all goes back to the commitment of individual grassroots members and leaders.
I have seen this in varying degrees over the last 34 years as a member of the Farm Bureau staff. That time included a lot of farm tours, committee meetings and annual conventions. But what sticks out the most, and always will, is the personal stories of how issues affect Farm Bureau families at the farm and ranch level – whether it was a sweet corn grower in Rhode Island, a nursery producer in California or a wheat farmer in Kansas.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of writing countless speeches, columns and news releases. I have logged years of service with some of the most capable professional staff members in agriculture at the county, state and national levels of Farm Bureau. During that time, the organization has grown in terms of the application of modern communications strategy. As a result, the media profile of AFBF has been greatly elevated. That is more a testament to the AFBF Communications Team than it is to me. One constant throughout that time, however, has been the fact that Farm Bureau is fueled by grassroots passion that radiates from the land, the community and the balance sheet.
Unlike many organizations that try to wrap so-called grassroots campaigns around a hollow façade, with Farm Bureau there is never any doubt about whether the intent of grassroots Farm Bureau policy is being represented. Like all organizations, or for that matter any aspect of society these days, Farm Bureau has its share of critics. Due to its dominant profile in the world of agricultural policy advocacy, Farm Bureau is a big target for those who disagree, whether for reasons of ideology or envy. No organization is perfect, but when it comes to representing the will of its members in the public policy arena, Farm Bureau is unsurpassed and its commitment to members is unrivaled.
One thing that sets Farm Bureau as an organization apart from nearly all others is that if you are a farmer or rancher and you do not agree with a policy, you can work to change it. That does not mean you will automatically succeed, but Farm Bureau's policy-setting process can be efficacious for anyone with an idea to make agriculture and rural America better and the ability to convince others to follow. And that is why Farm Bureau invests in its members, making sure they have the leadership and communication skills to answer the bell no matter when it rings.
As I sign off my duty as executive director of communications for AFBF, and a career that has encompassed a full one-third of AFBF's 100 years of existence, I stand confident in the organization's ability to endure through both good times and bad, just as it has since 1919. Even during the very serious and unprecedented challenges facing farmers and ranchers in 2019, the organization remains effective, responsive and the respected Voice of Agriculture when it comes to public policy advocacy.
While I look forward to a new professional opportunity with the United Soybean Board, I will fondly recall all the advances to agriculture Farm Bureau has helped fuel during my tenure. And for that reason, I look forward to many more years of Farm Bureau involvement, as a member who will continue to be #FarmBureauProud. It's been my honor to serve.
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How Do I? Follow the new-for-2015 one-IRA rollover-per-year limit?
As most people know, a taxpayer can take a distribution from an IRA without being taxed if the taxpayer rolls over (contributes) the amount received into an IRA within 60 days. This tax-free treatment does not apply if the individual rolled over another distribution from an IRA within the one-year period ending on the day of the second distribution.
Taxpayers and the IRS both believed that this one-rollover-per-year limit was applied separately to each IRA owned by the individual. If an individual owned two IRAs, for example, the taxpayer could do two rollovers in the appropriate period – one from each IRA. The IRS applied this interpretation in proposed regulations and in Publication 590, IRAs.
One rollover per taxpayer
In Bobrow, TC Memo. 2014-21, CCH Dec. 59,823(M), issued in January 2014, the Tax Court concluded that a taxpayer could make only one nontaxable rollover between IRAs within a one-year period, regardless of how many IRAs the taxpayer maintained. Thus, the one-per-year limit applied to the taxpayer, not to each separate IRA owned by the taxpayer.
In Notice 2014-15 and Announcement 2014-32, the IRS indicated that it would follow the Bobrow interpretation. It withdrew the proposed regulations, and will issue a new Publication 590-A, Contributions to IRAs, that applies the Bobrow interpretation.
Transition rule
In the notice and the announcement, the IRS provided a transition rule that it will not apply the new interpretation of the limit on permissible IRA rollovers until January 1, 2015. A distribution from an IRA in 2014 that is rolled over to another IRA will be disregarded in applying the new rule to 2015 distributions, provided that the 2015 distribution is from a different IRA that was included in the 2014 rollover.
The IRS noted that there are several types of rollovers that that are not subject to the Bobrow rule: a rollover from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA; a rollover to or from a qualified plan; and trustee-to-trustee transfers. The IRS stated that trustees can accomplish a trustee-to-trustee transfer by transferring amounts directly between IRAs, or by providing the IRA owner with a check made payable to the trustee of the receiving IRA.
However, a rollover between Roth IRAs would preclude a separate rollover within the one-year period between the individual's traditional IRAs; similarly, a rollover between traditional IRAs would preclude a rollover between Roth IRAs with the one-year period.
Dave Hoenk2015-12-23T16:07:47-05:00
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Robert Austin, of the RobertLovesPi blog, got to thinking about one of those interesting mathematics problems. It starts with the equations that describe the volume and the surface area of a sphere.
If the sphere has radius r, then the surface area of the sphere is 4πr2. And the volume is (4/3)πr3. What's interesting about this is that there's a relationship between these two expressions. The first is the derivative of the second. The derivative is one of the earliest things one learns in calculus. It describes how much a quantity changes with a tiny change in something it depends on.
There's an obvious flaw there, and Austin's aware of it. But it got him pondering different ways to characterize how big a cube is. He can find one that makes the relationship between volume and surface area work out like he expects. But the question remains, why that? And what about other shapes?
I think that's an interesting discussion to have, and mean to think about it some more myself. And I wanted to point people who'd be interested over there to join in.
I intend to be back to regular mathematics-based posts soon. I had a fine idea for a couple posts based on Sunday's closing of the Diaster Transport roller coaster ride at Cedar Point, actually, although I have to technically write them first. (My bride and I made a trip to the park to get a last ride in before its closing, and that lead to inspiration.) But reviews of math-touching comic strips are always good for my readership, if I'm readin the statistics page here right, so let's see what's come up since the last recap, going up to the 14th of July.
Reblog: Why are Hot Dogs So Inexpensive?
Here's a cute little observation about presentation and the power of those volume formulas that kind of get looked at when we're in the chapter about the volumes of basic solids (circular cylinders, in this case) and not afterwards. It's also for hot dog fans.
Memorial Day is the unofficial start of grilling season. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, it exists), Americans will consume about 7 billion hot dogs between now and Labor Day–that's about 818 per second! The estimated cost of all this is about $1.7 billion, or less than 25 cents per serving.
A large part of this low price is probably due to the quality of the ingredients, but I want to focus on hot dogs purchased from vendors rather than at supermarkets. Street corner hot dog stands have been cropping up around Durham for the last several weeks, and while I haven't purchased from any, I get the impression that they are quite inexpensive.
Author Joseph NebusPosted on Tuesday, 29 May, 2012 Tuesday, 29 May, 2012 Categories Mathematics, Recreational MathematicsTags cylinder, hot dogs, reblog, volumeLeave a comment on Reblog: Why are Hot Dogs So Inexpensive?


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The Palestinian Authority said Wednesday it will receive around 60,000 coronavirus vaccine doses over the next 48 hours, buy online lamisil paypal payment without prescription the first shipment provided by a World Health Organization partnership aimed at helping poor countries.
That's only enough doses to vaccinate 31,000 people out of a population of nearly 5 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israel, which has faced criticism for not sharing more of its supplies with the Palestinians, has already vaccinated 5 million people— more than half of its population—and has largely reopened its economy.
Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Kamal al-Shakhra said authorities would receive 38,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccines will be kept in storage until the WHO reviews recent safety concerns.
An Israeli security official confirmed the shipment, which arrived in Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, and said about a third of the vaccines would be sent to Gaza on Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
These are the first doses to arrive through the WHO's COVAX initiative, a global humanitarian partnership that has been slow to get off the ground, facing shortages of cash and supplies as rich countries have galloped ahead with their vaccination campaigns.
Those global inequities have been on vivid display in Israel, which boasts one of the world's fastest vaccination campaigns, and the Palestinian territories, which have yet to receive enough vaccines to cover medical workers, let alone the elderly or those with chronic illness.
Until now, the PA had received 2,000 doses from Israel and acquired another 10,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine. Authorities in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas, have received 60,000 doses in shipments organized by Mohammed Dahlan, a political rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who is based in the United Arab Emirates.
The PA has been criticized for using some of its limited supply to vaccinate senior officials and their security details, as well as the Palestinian soccer team. The Health Ministry defended its policies, saying more than 90% of its doses were given to front-line medics.
Rights groups have said that Israel, as an occupying power, is responsible for vaccinating the Palestinians. Israel rejects those claims and says its own citizens are the priority. Under interim peace agreements, the PA is responsible for health care in the territories it administers but both sides are supposed to cooperate in combatting epidemics.
The PA says it is securing its own supplies through COVAX and agreements with drug makers.
Israel recently began vaccinating the estimated 100,000 Palestinians from the West Bank who work in Israel and Jewish settlements. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
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Amazon is expanding Amazon Care telehealth service nationally for its employees and other companies


Celebrating the anniversary of the founding of our church, Bro. Mitch Merritt delivers "Defining God and His Ways". The bible is our diagnostic to understand our relationship with God. Listen to this 2018 Wilmington Feast Meeting sermon as he expounds on how we were intentionally created in the image of God to love and serve Him!


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Perennial and SPH Sell Singapore Mall to Mitsubishi-CLSA Fund in S$520M Deal
2019/04/22 by Jan Kot Leave a Comment
Singapore's Perennial sells its Chinatown Point Mall for S$520m
Singapore's Perennial Real Estate Holdings and a consortium of investors including Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) have agreed to sell a retail complex in the city's Chinatown precinct for S$520 million ($383.28 million), the listed companies announced on Monday.
Under the terms of a sale and purchase agreement outlined in the announcement, Perennial and its co-investors are selling their entire interests in the Chinatown Point Mall and an accompanying set of four strata office units in the office tower element of the project to a subsidiary of Pan Asia Realty Advisors, a joint venture fund invested by Mitsubishi Estate and CLSA Real Estate Partners.
The sale of the complex at 133 New Bridge Road comes two and a half years after SPH joined with Perennial to buy out a 60 percent stake in the 205,000 square foot (19,000 square meter) property not already held by the developer at a value of S$442.5 million.
Transaction Involves Cash Compensation of S$225M
"The transaction is a testament to Perennial's ability in identifying quality assets, creating value via enhancement initiatives, and ultimately unlocking value via divestment for all stakeholders," Pua Seck Guan, CEO of Perennial, said in a statement.
Perennial CEO Pua Seck Guan
Under the terms of the agreement, the consortium will receive S$225 million in cash for their shares in the company holding the assets as well as for assignment of shareholder loans. Perennial, which holds a 50.64 percent effective interest is expected to receive approximately S$125.3 million of that amount, subject to final adjustments.
The transaction price of S$520 million translates to S$2,450 per square foot of net lettable area in the Chinatown Point mall, and the seller consortium was advised in the transaction by the Singapore capital markets team at JLL. The transaction is expected to close on or about June 6.
Perennial explained that the transaction is in line with its "active capital recycling strategy to rebalance its portfolio, enhance its financial flexibility, and maximise its returns to shareholders."
SPH Liquidates 31% Stake
In a separate filing to the Singapore bourse on Monday, SPH said its wholly-owned subsidiary, CT Point Investments Pte Ltd, has a direct stake of 30.68 percent in the holding company that owns the Chinatown Point Mall which it expects to liquidate in its entirety through the sale. The company expects to record its share of gain of approximately S$10 million in its books pursuant to the transaction.
SPH, which is best known for publishing Singapore's Straits Times and only last week acquired £133.7 million ($175.3 million) worth of student housing assets in the UK.
The remaining stakeholders in the selller consortium were not identified.
The buyer, Pan Asia Realty Advisors, was set up by Mitsubishi Estate and CLSA in 2017 to invest in core Asia Pacific real estate opportunities.
Perennial Sells Out After a Decade in Chinatown Point
Constructed in 1993, the Chinatown Point project includes a 25-storey strata-title office tower next to the mall, which was previously acquired by a Perennial-led consortium for S$250 million in 2010 and later renovated at a cost of over S$91 million.
In 2016, Perennial brought in SPH to jointly buy a 60 percent stake in the mall not already held by the developer at a value of S$442.5 million, with Perennial taking a 40 percent stake in that acquisition.
Following completion of this latest transaction, Perennial's wholly-owned subsidiary, Perennial (Singapore) Retail Management, will continue in its role as the property manager of Chinatown Point Mall.
Separately, Perennial on Monday noted in a profit guidance that it expects to post a first-quarter net loss for the three months ended March 31, primarily due to weaker operating performance of its newly operational assets, as well as higher financing costs.
The group expects to turn profitable in the second quarter of this year, on completion of the disposal of its stake in Chinatown Point Mall. It added that further details of the group's performance will be disclosed when it releases its first quarter results in May.
CLSA Puts Robinson 77 Office Tower on the Market for S$725M in Singapore
CapitaLand and Friends Break Ground on 51-Storey Downtown Singapore Tower
JP Morgan to Lease 7 Floors in CapitaLand's SG Office Tower CapitaSpring
CapitaLand, CCT and Mitsubishi Team Up for $1.3B Singapore Tower
Filed Under: Retail Real Estate Tagged With: CLSA Real Estate, cm-sea, Featured, Mitsubishi Estates, Perennial Real Estate Holdings, Singapore, Singapore Press Holdings, weekly-sp


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A non-exhaustive list of terms used by the neurodivergent community.
Annaliese Simons, Bear Hub Staff
Disability: A condition that significantly impairs an individual's function. Disabilities can be mental or physical, and it is often an individual's choice to identify as disabled.
Neurodivergent: An umbrella term used to describe conditions that are related to cognitive or developmental abilities. There is no widely agreed-upon set of conditions that fall under the umbrella, but the most common are autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and OCD. Some people with these conditions prefer the term "neurodiverse."
Neurotypical: A term for anyone who is not neurodivergent.
Stimming: Short for "self-stimulatory behavior." Refers to a set of behaviors involving the repetition of movements, sounds, or other behaviors. Anyone can stim, but it most commonly occurs in neurodivergent people, especially autistic people.
Echolalia: The repetition of sounds or vocalizations made by another person. Up to 75% of autistic people may have exhibited the behavior.
Nonverbal: A state in which someone is unable to speak. They may want to speak, but there is a mental block or other inability preventing them from doing so. When someone is nonverbal, they may use alternative forms of communication such as writing, AAC, or sign language.
AAC: Stands for "augmentative and alternative communication." AAC is any method of communication that does not utilize speech, and is often used by nonspeaking autistic people. However, anyone can use AAC, not just neurodivergent people.
Hyperfocus: A state in which someone is almost obsessively focused on something. Hyperfocus can make it very hard to do anything else, even basic tasks like using the bathroom. Though hyperfocus can be a positive thing in terms of productivity, it can also have negative impacts depending on the situation and how long it lasts. This mostly occurs with ADHD.
Executive dysfunction: A state in which it is very hard for someone to get anything done, even if they want to. Mostly occurs with ADHD, but can occur with other forms of neurodivergence.
High-functioning/Low-functioning: A pair of terms intended to describe how much support an autistic person needs. While these terms are widely used in the medical field, many autistic people don't like them, because they can be restrictive and are often not wholly accurate.
Person-first/Identity-first language: The two prevailing kinds of language used to refer to neurodivergent people. Identity-first language is preferred by most neurodivergent people, and puts the identity before the name or noun. An example of this would be "a neurodivergent person" or "they are neurodivergent." Person-first language is the opposite, and puts the name or noun before the identity. An example of this would be "a person who is neurodivergent." If you don't know which kind of language someone prefers, ask them!
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