Arrow S3 E5 - 'The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak' Review

Hacktivism.
Felicity took the forefront this episode as she was forced to face her past demons.
'The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak' took a slightly different approach this week, as we delved into Felicity's past life as a hacktivist in college. Its a fun concept and great to finally learn more about the super hacker's past, made all the better by the way the writers make the focus feel natural by connecting it with the present day story-line. It all comes together fluidly to create an entertaining watch, although some may be disappointed by the lack of further progression in the main plot. After seeing Ra's in the closing moments of 'The Magician', it seems strange to not feature him in this episode.
In terms of content however, this episode was certainly interesting. I loved the idea that the bad guy was Felicity's supposedly dead ex-boyfriend (let's face it, anyone who is dead in the Arrowverse is basically still probably able to return at this point), and Cooper Seldon was a decent, if a bit basic villain with a bad-ass desktop background. Brother Eye as a human was a smart idea and keeps Arrow that bit more grounded, even as we near the introduction of magic to the Arrowverse. With the character surviving the events of the episode as well, hopefully we will be seeing Seldon return to take on Team Arrow in the future.
The sub-plots this week involved Thea and Oliver moving in together and growing closer, Felicity building bridges with her mad mother and Laurel coming clean to Ted about the rage that drives her. All were fairly standard Arrow affairs, with the strongest moments coming from the Thea/Oliver arc. I like that their relationship feels more natural than ever now that Thea has matured and likewise Oliver is much less patronising towards his sister. It also builds tension - with both siblings hiding major factors in their lives, it will be interesting to see how all the secrets are spilled. 
The only other comment I will make about these plots is that once again Laurel annoyed the hell out of me with her stupidly confident call to send in a riot squad and stubborn refusal to tell Quentin the truth. I think at this point I have to accept that I hold a moral bias against Laurel's infinitely frustrating character and nothing is going to change that.
Overall, the fifth episode of season three was a fun diversion from the major conflict between Oliver and the League, although it slightly derailed the momentum gathered from the last episode.

STARRING: Arsenal, Wildcat, Brother Eye

AWESOME MOMENTS:

• The Arrow taking down multiple gun turrets was as awesome as it was strangely logic-defying
• Felicity kicking Cooper's ass was yet another highlight
• Big shout out to Ray here for all of his scenes, as once again Brandon Routh reminds us all how great and hilarious his character is
• Watching the city be blacked out was eery and made for a great sweeping shot
• That HUGE final reveal that maybe ROY killed Sara!! I actually can't remember who did kill Sara so am looking forward to re-finding out haha
• Roy kicking ass as Arsenal is also always so satisfying to watch

EASTER EGGS:

- This week's episode title was a reference to the Secret Origins DC comic series.  Secret Origins is an anthology style series featuring stories about the origins of various DC superheroes and villains. DC recently revived the series, this time focusing on their characters' new origins in "The New 52" universe.

- Felicity had a 1938 Robin Hood movie poster hanging in her apartment. Neal Adams used Errol Flynn's depiction of Robin Hood from this movie as the basis for his 1969 redesign of Green Arrow's costume and look.

- Felicity's black hair, tank top and ankh necklace during her college years were a nod to Death, a DC character created by Neil Gaiman.  Appearing mainly in the pages of the Vertigo series Sandman, Death was one of the Endless, a family of anthropomorphic beings each representing a different concept or emotion.  Death was shown as a young goth girl with near limitless powers. Despite her dark clothes, Death had an upbeat and friendly personality and served as a friend and guide to Morpheus, her younger brother and friend. According to Arrow writer Brian Ford, Felicity's original costume design featured both the ankh necklace and the Eye of Horus mascara design, but DC told them they could only keep one or the other.  

- This week's villain was named after the Brother Eye intelligence system, an AI program based out of an orbiting satellite.  A Jack Kirby creation, Brother Eye originally served as the assistant to O.M.A.C., a hero who operated in an alternate "near future" unrelated to most of DC's other comics. 

In 2005, Brother Eye was reintroduced to the DC universe in the build up to Infinite Crisis. Brother Eye was an artificial intelligence system created by Batman to monitor and collect information on metahumans.  The system gained sentience and was later used by Checkmate to control its army of OMAC drones, dangerous cyborgs with the ability to recalibrate their bodies to counter various superhuman abilities.  Batman and a team of superheroes (which included Green Arrow and Black Canary) eventually destroyed Brother Eye after discovering an alternate version of Lex Luthor was using the satellite in his plot to recreate the multiverse. Brother Eye was resurrected in the New 52 in the pages of OMAC with much of its new history intact.  Brother Eye initially used OMAC in his fight against Checkmate before the AI system was allegedly destroyed by Max Lord. It later took control of OMAC and used it to cripple Justice League International, effectively ending that team. Brother Eye reappeared as one of the primary antagonists of The New 52: Futures' End. 

You'll recall that Ray Palmer recently recovered the plans for an OMAC weapons program in "Corto Maltese". 

- Diggle mentioned that Lyla was on assignment in Santa Prisca.  Santa Prisca is a fictional Carribean nation notable for being the birthplace of the Batman villain Bane.

- Another week, another Coast City reference.  Captain Lance mentioned that Laurel's boss was away in Coast City, leaving her as acting district attorney.

- Felicity's roommate is named Myron Forest.  In the original OMAC comics, Myron Forest was the creator of the Brother Eye program.

- Shortly before he was arrested by the FBI. Cooper was wearing a t-shirt featuring Starro the Conqueror.  In the comics, Starro was an alien lifeform that resembled a large starfish.  It could take over a person's body by attaching a minature clone of itself to their face.  Starro was notable for fighting the Justice League of America during their first appearance in Brave and the Bold #28.

- "Nice apartment. Lots of space" - Ray's comments to Felicity about her new apartment mirror those made by Batman and Joker about Vicki Vale's apartment in the 1989 Batman movie. 

- "Definitely black" - When Ted offered her a choice between a red or black outfit, Laurel chose the black one, because of course she did (Black Canary)

- At the end of the episode, Ollie and Thea began to watch Possessed, a 1931 movie about a female factory worker who becomes the lover to a wealthy divorce attorney.  The movie starred Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. 

- This episode was originally going to be called "Oracle." Oracle was Batman's "Felicity"

- This episodes villain, hacker Cooper Seldon, has practically same name that The Big Bang Theory's main brainiac Sheldon Cooper.

- In one of the flashbacks, Felicity is doing some coding for Zork, an interactive fiction computer game. Twice in the episode, Cooper mentions one of the game's main antagonists, the grue, even quoting, "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." from Zork I.

RATING: 7.7/10