Arrow - S6E18 - Fundamentals

This week on Arrow, Oliver confronted his ghost of Christmas past in the form of Adrian Chase while on a very poorly timed Vertigo trip, and somehow came to the absolute worst conclusions possible.

The Good

William managed to achieve what no one has succeeded at in the entire history of the show: getting Felicity to wear appropriate footwear into battle. It’s nice seeing the bond that has grown between these two nerds with the misfortune to love Oliver Queen over the season, and I also enjoyed seeing Felicity putting her foot down about Oliver lashing out at William. Of course that may not have actually happened because this episode had a VERY confusing timeline.

The Bad

Are we supposed to really believe that Rick Gonzalez was actually there in the hospital scene, and not just an extra with a mask and a voiceover?

Unless they are done exceptionally well, hallucination sequences tend to be at best lazy storytelling, and at worst really boring, and this episode ticked both boxes.

Adrian Chase was a compelling villain, and one of the better actors on this show, but it seems like the choice of who Oliver would see was made more on the basis of actor availability and less on their relationship to Oliver and emotional resonance.

Quote of the Week

“Yeah, I Parent Trapped you, but it was a little naive of you to think that I wouldn’t considering how well you know me.” - Felicity to Diggle