Irrational maternal fear? This show has always been weird about secret keeping. Remember Oliver not telling his teammates about Malcolm last season, blah blah Circle of Trust? It definitely smacks of manufactured drama to put a monkey wrench into Oliver/Felicity, but I expect it'll resolve itself down the road. *hands* I ship it, but I'm pretty chill about it.

I was also doing a raised eyebrow at how fast they moved along Cisco/Kendra, but I'll be damned if Carlos Valdes didn't sell the hell out of it (the Kendra actress is adorable, but not as skilled, I thought.)

I liked the banter between Barry and Ollie. I'm thinking the Arrow writers wish they could inject a little more humor into their dialogue beyond Felicity being awkward and kind of went a little overboard with Barry cracking jokes because of it.

Ollie, if you have to lie, you lie to the woman making the irrational demands on you, not to the woman you're in a loving relationship with. This shouldn't be a difficult decision.

I agree that Carter is annoying. Of course, the DCAU version was annoying, too. I haven't read enough comics with Hawkman in them to know if he's just annoying by default.

Put it this way, as far as I recall, Hawkman has been a bit of a prick. The Michael Shanks version was a bit less of one, but they also gave him a strap-on pair. (Of wings)

I did not like them using the same actors for Shayera and Khufu in 11th Dynasty Egypt, particularly smarmtastic Carter with his Pi Kappa Alpha alumni looks. (While Savage's actor is also anachronistically pale for a Middle Kingdom priest, at least the comics version is actually supposed to be a 50,000 year old Neanderthal from Europe.)

Seriously, Merlyn?!? Come on.

I loved both episodes of the crossover! That was terrific! OK, yes, flaws, but nothing I couldn't gloss over. Look, compare it to the recent Sleepy Hollow Bones crossover just in terms of synergizing the shows, this was so much better. There was a lot for me to like here.

I may have screeched when Patty shot Wells. Didn't expect that at all.

Me too.

LOL at Thea's meta commentary on the Age of Ultron!

Yes!

DW: Thanks for that "long way round" explanation, billytea, I did not remember what that was referencing. What I am most curious about right now is who sent Me the teleport bracelet.

as far as I recall, Hawkman has been a bit of a prick.

This is my recollection, too. Also, in the comics he and Ollie do not like each other AT ALL.

I did not like them using the same actors for Shayera and Khufu in 11th Dynasty Egypt, particularly smarmtastic Carter with his Pi Kappa Alpha alumni looks.

No kidding. Savage at least looks the part, but then he opens his mouth and the ancient Egyptian immortal starts giving speechs in the actor's Danish accent.

I've never been a Hawkman fan, but Shayera was great in JLU. I kinda wish they'd gone Thanagarian with them instead of this version, but maybe aliens are only allowed on Supergirl.

Seriously, Merlyn?!? Come on.

So much this.

DW: Thanks for that "long way round" explanation, billytea, I did not remember what that was referencing.

I can't think of any other examples offhand, but repeating dialogue while changing the context to give very different emotional beats (especially going from playing for laughs to playing for pathos) feels like a very Moffaty kind of trick.

What I am most curious about right now is who sent Me the teleport bracelet.

I'm guessing the answer is the Time Lords, for some value of "Time Lords". Though given that he saved them in "Day of the Doctor" and they apparently felt well disposed enough towards him in "Time of the Doctor" to give him an extraordinary set of regenerations, I'll be curious as to what's supposed to have changed. (The Hybrid business feels a bit weak to turn all of Time Lord society against the Doctor.)

The longer I have to think about it, the more I like this ep. It was a tour de force for Capaldi. What I particularly love is the big twist:

"I should have known from the very beginning. Of course. The portrait of you, the creature from my own nightmares. This place is my own bespoke torture chamber. Intended for me only. And all the skulls, and the water. How could there be other prisoners in my hell. The answer of course is there were never any other prisoners. And the stars, they weren’t in the wrong place. And I haven’t time travelled. I’ve just been here a very, very long time."

I mean, I love it as a twist, I got chills. But I was particularly impressed with how the emotional weight of the episode changed then. The fear in the first part gave way to an extended allegory of grieving. Seemingly endless days filled with pain, trying to find strength to keep moving forward.

Biyi doesn't like Doctor Who much, because of all the horrible monsters. She's watched some adventures that I thought would work for her. (She thought City of Death was hilarious, that one was a win.) But she agreed to watch this one, and enjoyed it. (The Veil is the kind of monster that she doesn't like, but ultimately it was pretty secondary to the story.) It was too scary for Ryan, but he enjoyed me telling him what happened. (Such fun, the moment he got it. I explained to him the story of the diamond mountain and the bird, and about the Doctor punching the wall; and then his eyes lit up and he very excitedly connected the dots, working out just what the Doctor was doing there.) Big win in this household.

Throughout the season I've been making a habit of rewatching last week's ep before the new one, as a reminder. (Especially useful in this two-parter season.) And I watched this one again (with Biyi); but last night, to prepare for the season finale, I went back and watched Day of the Doctor again. It's interesting, they had the two plots in Day of the Doctor - the one about Earth and the Zygons and the other about the Doctor and Gallifrey. This season they've followed up both strands.

No kidding. Savage at least looks the part, but then he opens his mouth and the ancient Egyptian immortal starts giving speechs in the actor's Danish accent.

Yes. The proper accent for ancient Egyptian immortals is Scottish.

Of course, any accent we're hearing when people are supposedly speaking Ancient Egyptian is ahistorical, so I guess maybe Shayera and Khufu's accent indicates they're from Thebes and Savage's is typical of Memphis or wherever he came from.

I'm guessing the answer is the Time Lords, for some value of "Time Lords". Though given that he saved them in "Day of the Doctor" and they apparently felt well disposed enough towards him in "Time of the Doctor" to give him an extraordinary set of regenerations, I'll be curious as to what's supposed to have changed.

Maybe it's Rassilon and the High Council whose plans the Doctor thwarted in "The End of Time" rather than the military command we saw in "The Day of the Doctor"? As I recall, Rassilon was big on eternal torment for Time Lords he deemed unworthy.

As annoying as Oliver lying to Felicity is, it's also kinda of in character? He's terrified and stressed out and he retreats to "I am a terrible person and must not tell my loved ones the horrible truth" guilt-laden idiocy. (maybe this is hand-waving to justify bad writing decisions, but otherwise I'm curled up in a ball under the table, so.)

This season's island flashbacks have been boring, but I nearly changed the channel during the Egyptian nonsense. Can we be done with the spinoffs now please?