I'm still not a fan of Laurel, although that might be because the show is really pushing the whole angle of Laurel and Oliver MUST Be Together But Not Yet! Because I'm totally not into the idea of them as a couple.

In the episode I'm currently watching she goes from vigilantism is wrong, to I was wrong you are doing the right thing, and then back again to the first position with very little persuading to warrant such dramatic shifts in her supposed strong lawyer principles. It's making my eyes roll, but Felicity was once again adorkable and competent.

Tea: Barrowman just showed up.

the thing I like about it is that it doesn't shy away from ethical quagmires

To me it's blithely ignoring ethical quagmires. I guess I don't feel any sense of consequence from the whole thing, so Ollie can swan around killing who he likes, and Tommy will be mad, and Diggles kind of pout, but it doesn't mean anything much in the end. And Tommy's rationale for leaving Laurel was major weaksauce.

Teen Wolf Reject's excuse for absolutely everything is also kinda paperthin. I guess I know where they're going with him, but why doesn't seem as important? Other than he has a read hoodie, which he might have stolen on his way out of Beacon Hills...

I can't lie--JAR being lawyerly for even one second was funny enough for me to log in to FB and congratulate him on same. It's a hell of a niche...

I can't lie--JAR being lawyerly for even one second was funny enough for me to log in to FB and congratulate him on same. It's a hell of a niche...

It was weird, though -- back in the day, I would never have said he had chubby cheeks (and I'm still not saying that), but last night his face looked like he lost all his baby fat. And I get that he was lit and shot to be creepy, but still.

To me it's blithely ignoring ethical quagmires. I guess I don't feel any sense of consequence from the whole thing, so Ollie can swan around killing who he likes

Seriously. I am still waiting for some consequences to that. More than Tommy breaking up with Ollie, I mean.

I feel like a lot of shows would have made crystal clear by now that it's perfectly okay for Ollie to kill bad guys, whereas Arrow reminds us that this is the 26th corpse and whether he got what he deserved or not it's not Justice. They could still wuss out on me, of course, but I think they haven't yet, and that is enough of a win for me.

Apparently W13 needs proactive saving: [link] I am skeptical about the point of all that.

I feel like a lot of shows would have made crystal clear by now that it's perfectly okay for Ollie to kill bad guys

I feel they have, though. Everyone's issues with it seem at best decorative.

I don't, I feel like the question is still open (although perhaps not to most of the characters, which is a fine distinction, I know) and they may yet make it a real issue.

What I'm comparing it to is, well, Stargate Atlantis comes to mind, where storylines would raise thorny questions but then events of the plot or reveals would just make those questions not apply to this particular case.

While Ollie certainly thinks he's in the right, and Laurel and Diggs and Tommy and everyone but Cop Daddy, I guess, agrees, there's room for the audience to disagree and events may yet show that Ollie et al are, in fact, wrong.

Apparently Laurel would still be on his side if she knew the truth, though, and the impact of Diggs disagreeing with him has been minimal.

I would only disagree with you re: SGA in that they didn't treat anything like it was thorny--it was only the audience thinking it was fucked up that defined problematic--the universe didn't even hiccough at SG-instigated genocide, for instance. It might be troublesome but ethically abhorrent? Pfah!

I think a show like Nikita does a better job of "our protagonist is making dodgy calls here, and the script buys into it wholeheartedly" even though Nikita usually comes out shiny, it's not always. And the other people on her side differ with her often and stridently and with reverberations past the top of the hour.

You are right on both counts. I appreciate that Arrow is not quite as blithe as SGA was, which is a low bar but sometimes I have low bars.

Nikita is way more interesting ethically, no doubt, they really dig in to thorny questions on that show. Which I love. Among other things: there's so much to love about Nikita.

the impact of Diggs disagreeing with him has been minimal.

And Digg tossed his disagreement out the window when he found out Deadshot was still alive. They're grey-area-ing all over the place.

Cop Daddy's lecture to Roy and Thea in this episode was the strongest argument I've seen the show take (and he's right, not just legally, but from a Who Watches the Watchmen? standpoint), but I feel like his lecture was just to set up Roy's resolve to find the hood guy (and, one presumes, join him [seriously, I am in love with his red hoodie]).