Holy crap, you guys, I have ALL THE FEELS.  I’ve always had a certain grudging sympathy for Laurel, who kept the ball rolling for years only to turn into the loser of the world, and now she actually made me all teary.  Also, Felicity is sad.  I repeat, Felicity is sad.  This is not OK.  Sad Felicity makes my heart hurt.  I feel like E.T. going “Oooooouch…”.

So here’s a pretty scattered look at the ups and downs of this episode.  It’s scattered because I’m still recovering.  First of all:

Dude, there is an awful lot going on in the show right now.  They may over-stuffed things a bit.  There were scenes in which so many people told so many lies of omission, implication, or just, you know, bald-faced lies so quickly to so many people that it was like a French farce of lying.  I seriously thought that at one point the Queen Mansion might just collapse into a sinkhole or possibly explode or at least be hit by lightning, because of the vast preponderance of epic bullshit going on.

Thank God nothing awkward is happening with the Lance family (she said, sarcastically)

Plus, there are approximately 1000 plot lines all of which are getting more and more interconnected.  They can’t possibly all happen at once, so someone is always short-changed.  Has Diggle gotten anything to do or say since he rescued his ex-wife in Russia?  Can we please, please, give this guy something to do other than be a comforting voice of sanity and a token Person of Color?  I know people have to wait their turn for screen time (Roy is apparently locked in a closet until next week) but this is getting ridiculous.  More Diggle, please.

Since there are so many, many things to talk about let’s focus on Felicity and Sara.  I liked it that Felicity is jealous – but she’s not primarily jealous because Oliver is having a semi-romantic relationship with someone else.  Oh, I’m sure she’s jealous of that, but that’s the not the source of her malaise.  She’s jealous because Super-Sara is super.  Sara is good with the science stuff.  She’s good at fighting.  She can relate to Ollie and Diggle in a way that Felicity can’t.  Felicity can’t even hate her, because Sara is also great at being nice to Felicity.  She appreciates Feleicity’s talents, she asks before she touches the equipment, she encourages her to work on building self-defense skills, and she’s just basically a decent person to Felicity despite having her own grounds for jealousy.  Although her calling Felicity “cute” is a little passive-aggressive, I don’t think she intends it condescendingly.

It makes sense that Felicity would question her role on the team right now.  Her crush is doomed (or so she thinks).  She and Ollie have lingering tension because she revealed his mom’s secret, so her role as the person who provides emotional support is shaky.  Her tech skills have been unreliable lately so the one quantifiable thing she has to offer is in doubt.  Frankly, if I were Felicity, I would have packed my bags and headed off to date Barry months ago.  But Ollie reassures her that “She’ll always be his girl”.

Felicity is firmly in the “Little Sister Zone” but she seems OK with that for now. The painkillers really take the edge off.

What I like about this arc is that Sara and Felicity absolutely refuse to be catty to each other.  Think how often we get the “women fight over a guy” story.  Sara and Felicity have larger goals.  They need the team to work.  Plus, they are both fundamentally nice people.  What I don’t like is that everyone treats Felicity like an adorable small child.  Felicity, I’ve been in the little sister zone.  When you know that’s the most affection you’re gonna get from your beloved, it’s tempting to hang out there.  But you’re not “cute” and you’re not a “girl”.  For God’s sake, you’re a brilliant, competent adult.  Make people treat you like one.  And keep up on learning self-defense – Sara seems like a good teacher and everyone should know some basics, even when they don’t hang out with vigilantes in a high-tech basement.

OK everyone, jump on the comments.  What did you think about Ollie telling Laurel that he’s “done chasing her?”  The photo of Sin – contrived, or adorable, or both?  Can we just have a show about Sin and Thea?  Their super-power is snark!  Isn’t The Clockmaker a great villain?  Will he escape justice and wreak further havoc?    Make it happen!  Is Sara doomed since she told Sin that Sin will never have to get along without her?  Let’s see – Sara has reconciled with the family, escaped the League of Baddies, and she and Ollie are getting along so, I’m gonna go with…yes.  Sara is toast.