This marks my second year of being able to celebrate Filipino holidays like a normal person – I worked in one of the country’s top BPOs for over four years so I never really got to enjoy the luxury of the Holy Week for the first four years of my working life.  During my student years, however, I remember being involved in religious activities scheduled here in the village.

But since I haven’t had a break since the year started, I just planned to lounge in bed and just re-connect with it you know?  I get the feeling that my bed’s been feeling neglected and I planned to spend at least the first day of the long weekend rectifying that problem.  At least I planned to.

After a (relatively) late breakfast I found that JackTV ran their “Break Up With The Internet” campaign where they ran full season marathons of their top rated shows, and season 3 of Arrow was slated for the whole of Maundy Thursday.  This was good news for me because this saved me from the hassle of downloading or streaming the episodes online, but also spelled bad news for my plan to sleep.

A compromise: since I had seen more or less all of the episodes up until the mid-season break, I inserted a nap until the afternoon where I stayed in front of the television until late in the evening.  Among other things, the experience made me realize that one of the most painful things in life is setting up the alarm clock during your days off.  A necessary evil, I guess, in order for me to catch up.

The thing is, I’ve only been a fan of the show since season 3 aired.  I tried to watch the first few episodes of season 1 and while I was initially caught up with the chemistry between Oliver and Thea (it’s incest, but he had more chemistry than Laurel, come on), the novelty sort of wore off.  It was just too gosh darn serious and I got the feeling that the show was ripping off concepts from Lost with the whole island thing.

I’m happy to say that the writers have gotten a solid grip of what the show’s really about and the third season’s been brilliant so far.  Things are evenly paced and the characters have really grown.  Aside from the bit where Thea can’t quite decide if she wants to kill Malcolm Merlyn or not, every action that every character took up until this point made sense.  Hell, they were even to pull of Laurel being the NEW!Canary well.

The Arrow binge ended with the Public Enemy and here are my thoughts (spoilers ahead, read at your own risk):

1. Holy shit, they outed him.  Omygodomygodomygod, they actually outed him.
2. I really like Brandon Routh as Ray.  He’s an arrogant dick but he pulls it off charmingly.
   
3. Hello, Mama Smoak!  I’ve missed you!  There’s never a dull moment onscreen with you around because of the inappropriate shit that tumbles out of your mouth oh so easily.

   

4. I dislike this gelled up hair of Ra’s al Ghul.

   

5. Paul Blackthrone as Quentin Lance should get an award for his performance in this episode.  I totally get where the character is coming from and don’t begrudge Captain Lance for sicking the whole of Sterling PD on the Arrow.  On another note, how the eff does the League keep those floors so shiny?

   

6. Hooray, Ray loves Felicity!!! Boo, she can’t say it back.  I’m an Olicity fan and I like to read fanfictions about them but seriously, Felicity does not need the drama that Oliver brings into the equation.  Use your brain, choose Ray!!!
   
7. What is Maseo’s deal???  What happened to his kid?  Did he die?  Is that why he works fo the League of Assassins now?
8. Oh no, is Colton Haynes going to be written out of the show now?  I’m too lazy to Google that right now, but this whole self-sacrifice thing feels like a send off.

   

   
   

The worst bit is the next episode (Broken Arrow) won’t air until the 15th and they had the gall to release this teaser.

BRB, my mind’s exploding.

*Photos from Public Enemy’s IMDB page.