Sunshine

I'm sure this doesn't help but there are BNF metas out there where this is a good thing for Oliver & Felicity. The reasoning is it shows growth on Oliver's part in that he recognizes that he needs to move on with his life and isn't trying to force anything with Felicity. He'd be all in with Felicity if she only gave him the right encouragement. Susan is needed for Felicity to realize what she truly wants with/from Oliver.

Yeah. I'm not sure it'll amount to much. It might get as much air time as Diggle's arc got in 5.01-5.04 (under 5 minutes an episode). I really don't want it to play out as her working against the team while working with the team - my greatest fear. Have we had any villains not connected to Church or Prometheus this year? I need more spoilers. You know, ones that aren't repeats of what we've already been told. :-)

"Her heart is broken in that last moment for Oliver and for Malone and for herself." "Felicity has set her sights on Prometheus" Mericles makes clear. Felicity "is going to meet some people who are both tied a bit to her past but also very much tied to this new future she's contemplating and that's going to draw her away from the team and lead her to do somethings that are pretty morally questionable." - WM TVLine 12/11/16 "Malone's death uncorks what Felicity bottles up (re: Havenrock). Events in 510-512 force her to re-examine her life (or lack of) as of late". - BFS twitter 12/12/16 5.10 She's skeptical of "Laurel". Oliver is more open and accepting. At some point Felicity is in danger. Turns out BS is in cahoots with Prometheus. 5.11 No clue. There is an all boys road trip to find Tina . Maybe she objects to the trip or Oliver cuts her out because she's not completely on board (similar to treatment in 5.04 with Diggle rescue)? 5.12 Oliver's relationship with Susan is going to put people in harms way whether via Bratva or Prometheus. (I might be wrong but doesn't Oliver get attacked and his office shot up in this episode?) Felicity is dealing with an immense amount of guilt (Havenrock) and probably anger (towards Prometheus). Oliver is utilizing questionable judgement (all regarding women). He also appears to be moving on with his life. (Susan may or may not cause her to reexamine her feelings/stance regarding Oliver.) She has nothing going on in her life besides being a vigilante. Sounds to me like beginning in 5.13 she's going to be doing things her way. I'm thinking Team Arrow is going to be without her services for a while. Curtis will fill in and it'll be put down as her needing time to grieve so no one will really notice what's up with her. We'll probably still get some Felicity & Curtis scenes. Otherwise I'm expecting Felicity & her cohorts. It makes more sense to me than Felicity leading the team astray when something Prometheus related comes up in order to "protect" them. She's not betraying the team if she's not hindering and/or lying to them. The plan might be to hire someone to take out Prometheus. She has money from her Palmer stock but she might have to do some other things for money - hacking, maybe brokering information in order to hire an assassin. Wonder how long this arc goes on and if the team figures it out by trying to stop some "transaction" she puts in play. I think standard arcs are 3-5 episodes. I really, really don't like the idea of Felicity working with the team at the same time she might be working against them for their own good. If she's"going dark" I'd just as soon it be on her own and not played as a direct betrayal of Team Arrow. Are we going to get an episode in this arc where Felicity is VOTW?

Genuine question...Is it possible that Stunts Canada (I think that's the name they go by) has a female shortage since Supergirl moved to Vancouver? I think I read that both Stephen and Katie's doubles moved to Supergirl. Thea has suited up twice this season - once (quite reluctantly HA!) when Oliver was kidnapped in 5.01 and again in 5.09, (much more willingly) when Felicity's boyfriend was kidnapped. She stood on a rooftop and had a conversation. I think she ran and shot arrows in 5.01. With the exception of 5.02 and the ring the bell schtick, I don't recall Artemis actually doing anything extra physical that Madison probably couldn't do. In 5.03 she helped a kid in the market off the ground. In 5.04 she tossed something behind Ragman and helped injured Curtis out. She also used a bow and arrow. In 5.06 and 5.07 I think she was mainly mouthy to Oliver. The training scenes (5.05?) with the sticks were the actors. I always thought everyone had to have one "just in case" but I was wondering if maybe that's not true. It also made me wonder if the reason for the worldwide casting call for Tina was because they wanted an actress who not only could sell the role transition-wise but maybe do some of her own stunts (ala Caity Lotz) if she is supposed to be the "best fighter Oliver has ever seen". I know one poster thinks it was because of chemistry with Steve. :-)

They stole a nuke or something. I'm not really expecting it to be addressed. I think "fighting the charges" is just a way to tie Adrian Chase to other characters so that the Vigilante reveal has more impact. Diggle is in jail mainly so Oliver, Rene & Curtis can work as a team on the road trip. I don't think Diggle has much going on in 5B. I saw a tweet where DR told someone at HVFF Atlanta that Diggle is bonding with Tina. It has since been deleted but I am guessing he's just having team scenes. Lance appears to be in rehab so they don't have to write for him in the Laurel/BS appearance. He probably gets out in 5.11 which would also give Thea scenes. He has scenes with Rene in 5.12. In the BTS pics Rene was in a suit and tie. I wonder if Rene has an arc coming up. He's had a lot of focus but not a real arc outside Team Arrow 2.0. I wonder if Felicity's cohort(s) starts out with just the guy from 3.05 (as someone we have met before) or if we're going to get more people from her past. Does it begin in 5.10, 5.11 or 5.12? I remember BFS saying it was still paying dividends in 5.12. I'm not sure how they go to Russia in 5.12 -not saying they don't- just because the Oliver/Susan stuff takes place in that episode If Carly Pope's IMDB page is to be believed. It has been accurate with her appearances in the past. That is the only episode listed for her in 2017 so far. I guess she could take an investigative trip to Russia (explains her absence in 5.10-5.11) which gets her in trouble with Bratva. Most of the team goes to rescue her? Might make more sense for there to be a Bratva stronghold in/around Star City and Anatoly comes to town which exposes whatever Susan is up to. Even then I'm not sure why Oliver would take 5 people with him. According to one of the paps Carly Pope filmed only one day. Not sure what that says about her screen time but she hasn't had many more scenes than one scene Malone to date. He had at least 4 short scenes in 5.09 though. 5.12 seems like another packed episode.

So, Oliver & Susan get involved and he opens up to her about Russia. They are all in. Susan really cares about Oliver. Oliver cares about Susan. (Sounds like a repeat of what was said about Billy & Felicity). It puts them in both emotional and physical danger. (SA said Billy should be concerned about his connection to Felicity.) So does this mean Prometheus is going to arrange for Felicity to kill Susan? She's going to be making morally questionable decisions. JK, mostly. Can't say Oliver didn't warn Susan. He told her that he ruins the lives of everyone he comes in contact with/cares about in 5.09.

Training/working out was the only thing not involved.

SA said at the last con that he was filming a shirtless scene the next day. Most seemed to think it was about how he got his tattoo since they were filming 5.12. My guess now would be love scene (even if similar to F&B in 505 since they are going "all in") which leads to that flashback. 5.12 is 1st sweeps episode. Does their discussion lead to a mainly flashback episode.

That's what I'm expecting, Felicity and a couple of random characters from her "past" similar to Diggle's army platoon. I will be pleasantly surprised if her cohorts are more than that. Although if she's targeting Prometheus she is going to need someone to actually go after him.

Oh good. That's what I remembered seeing too. Thought I'd lost my mind. I couldn't believe it either.

Based on party clothes I think that is Rory being shot away by the sonic scream. I think he's the one who irritates Oliver by making a move. Felicity appears to be running in a warehouse with Curtis. (Guy is tall and not as athletic as Oliver (SA).)

I don't know. PR has often spoiled things that they probably shouldn't have. Everyone being alive in 3.22 after Oliver "killing" everyone in 3.21 comes to mind.

Maybe they wanted to make sure people knew she was interested in Oliver for more than just a story for whatever happens in her next appearance

Okay, okay I'm in the minority. LOL! I just remember a picture from S1 or S2 that had Paul Blackthorne and one of the cops (can't think of his name at the moment) in a BTS picture with OTA in the lair. The first time Lance was in the lair was in S3, episode 19 (I think). They were all in their character's attire. I hope they are all shooting together just not convinced. :-)

I want to be excited for a Felicity arc but I am expecting most of her cohorts to be randos similar to Diggle's military cohorts, even if one ends up being Vigilante. The timing of Diggle's arc in 5A was so Oliver would need new vigilantes. It picks back up just as Oliver gets another fighter. DR had less than 5 minutes of screen time an episode. Now Felicity has to be moved out so Oliver can bond with the fighters. Felicity and Diggle might be background on the team but that's it. My guess is DC wants a comics team. Best way to do that is sideline 2/3 of OTA. Anyone else think the picture of JH, EBR, JD, EK, SA & DR might be nothing other than them going to dinner for David's birthday? WH, PB, RG, JS might have been filming. As for the mannequin challenge, maybe that's all it was and not an indication of them all filming a scene together. The extras made me think Russian bar.

I figured if it's Rory attacking Black Siren it's simply to strain things so he stays behind on the boys road trip in 5.11. Name confusion (Rene/Rory) makes sense too. Canadagraphs has said in the past that sometimes he gets copies of scripts. Perhaps he's the poster? Seems like somewhere he would hangout on. He was annoyed on twitter about posters questioning his knowledge about Laurel/BC.

The Arrowwriters just shared the THR article.

Isn't most con money made from things besides ticket sales?

Sarcasm? If not, why would this happen?

Well, Lance is sharing scenes with Rene in 5.12. SA was excited about that. I know in the 100th BTS video w/SA, EBR, WH PB, EK & RG, RG (Rene) was dressed in a suit & tie. Maybe Oliver or Lance gave Rene a job. :-) There was a tweet recently that had SA, WH, PB, RG & JS on location.

I'm confused (not unusual) between Mericle's quotes in The TVLine article and BFS's tweets. Is Felicity doing her own form of morally questionable vigilanting, targeting Prometheus (WM) in 5.10-5.12 as well as working with Oliver & Friends? It takes her away from the team (Cue boys only road trip in 5.11). If she's doing both it leaves her no time for a life. Then In 5.12 or so she reexamines her life (or lack thereof) per BFS. Ha! I just realized this COULD lead to an Olicity reunion in Feb sweeps which ends with episode 5.15 Mar 1. This of course assumes she chooses not to move on from Oliver (& Friends). They could of course go the other way too. Not sure where that would lead. I think Tina will be suiting up. I think she'll be a canary of some sort. Beyond that I don't know. I am curious if Thea will ever suit up again. Suiting up in 5.09 doesn't really count because all she did was stand on a rooftop with Oliver and have a conversation. Maybe she will for the finale, an all hands on deck sort of thing. WM said at SDCC they needed JB/MM for the 2nd half of the season. You need an LOA trained fighter to fight LOA (Talia) trained fighter(s).

5.15 should be as sweeps ends Mar 1. Then we probably take a break.

Rory's rags vs alien demon. What have I gotten myself into?! ?(I don't normally watch this type of show so not sure how I got so hooked.)

Felicity had 2 threads playing out in 5.02 - recruiting vigilantes and Havenrock/Rory. Either or both could be paying dividends in 5.12. If Felicity is the one who discovers Tina she could officially join Team Arrow in 5.12. It also crossed my mind that Rory might be part of "the past" because of the promise to help each other not succumb in 5.04. I also wonder ed if it might include Curtis because of the BTS picture. If Felicity eventually starts Smoak Tech Rory might be involved too based on the DNA scene in 5.09. I am wondering if Felicity's arc actually starts during hiatus with hacking and 5.10-5.12 is when Rory or Curtis get clued in or her dad shows up. Not sure how I feel about a random new character from her past showing up in a season full of too many new characters. I'm trying to figure out how they are going to portray this. I need more than Felicity in front of a computer scenes. :-)

If you look at that scene from another angle it is also a bread crumb to get to Felicity's 5B arc. Curtis has just said to her "I have to be true to who I am." She glances at a red pen then we go to flashback and we see her with a red pen in her hand. She talks to Oliver about her "magic" fingers and how she can find things you just can't google. When she gives him the number and sends the pen flying he does get down in a traditional marriage proposal stance to retrieve it. He hands it back and says he believes in magic. Whether you see it as such might depend on how you view Olicity (pro or anti). It ends with Oliver present day remembering the address. It does advance the plot of 5.09 in that respect. Maybe it also advances 1 or 2 other plot points. Maybe not. Without today's spoiler about Felicity I might not have given that flashback much thought.