Sunshine

An example of this: I saw a couple of tweets on twitter today from someone who is sure Laurel and Ollie are getting back together based on 5.08 & 5.09. The gist of his multiple tweets was that when Oliver saw the (paraphrasing) horrible Olicity montage Oliver said it wasn't right. The tweeter didn't see it as Oliver realizing something was wrong because it was an alien induced world with Diggle!Arrow & Felicity in the bunker. Oliver was saying that Olicity was wrong.

I guess my problem with her heart breaking for Oliver, Billy, and then herself is that MG said earlier that her arc has nothing to do with her relationship with Oliver or even her father or mother. To me that leaves Billy dying as the motivator. Straw that broke the camel's back situation? S4 and now this. This potential storyline gives the 5.09 Olicity flashback a little more relevance in terms of her talking about her "magic hands" and the internet. (On 2nd watch I noticed it started with her.) It also gives the phrase "I have to be true to who I am," which was said by both Billy and Curtis to Felicity, more weight. She's now considering being an hacktivist/information broker (I guess) instead of just working for the Green Arrow/Oliver who never listens. Should be interesting to see how that turns out.

Early in the season EBR was working out pretty hard per a SA FB video. Perhaps we'll get some payoff for that besides one right hook. About Matt Mittovich's tweet...Oliver was the first person listed by WM as to whom Felicity's heart was broken for.

I want to be excited but I'm with you on keeping expectations at the appropriate level.

I'll have to see how this plays out but my biggest fear is it will be similar to Diggle's storyline in 5.01-5.04. She takes a "leave of absence" from the team to deal with her grief so no one even notices. Curtis fills in for her. Then she gets 4-5 minutes of screen time for her story. If 4.10 taught me anything it's that I'm not interested in watching a minimal Felicity show and masks do nothing for me. Looks like they are trying to make an "all comic" team. Diggle is in jail and dealing with his legal issues. Felicity will be moving away from the team (literally or figuratively?). All in time for a new team member to arrive. (I have wondered silently if David might be replaced by Wild Dog in S6 because of $. No clue when his contract is up.) Do indispensible characters become dispensible when their popularity exceeds the comic characters? Next, do Thea or Quentin have anything coming up?

Yeah that is what I saw too. Guess I shouldn't trust anything without a source link.

Both Diggle & Felicity's storylines are supposed to still be paying dividends in 5.12 according to BFS's tweet. Diggle is in jail in 5.10 so he's probably still fighting for his freedom in 5.12. They took a break in his arc from 5.05-end of 5.09 other than he could only leave HIVE/bunker as Spartan which seperated him from his family and caused some frustration and OOC behavior. DR did say Oliver & Felicity would be there for him. Felicity could very well be working with Lyla to track down information/people to get Diggle released. It could also lead to more information acquiring for Argus. Felicity's dad brokered information for gain. My guess is she would be doing it to help people. In 3.10 Felicity decided saving the city was her mission not just Oliver's. By my count, there will be at least 6 or 7 vigilantes/heroes on screen - Green Arrow, Diggle, Wild Dog, Ragman, Mr. Terrific, Speedy,& NuCanary. Not every crime needs that many people deployed to them. Even if she's operating out of the bunker it could mean she determines which heroes go. It is possible that saying it's not about "her relationship with Oliver or even necessarily her father or her mother" might simply have been MG's way of saying it's not about her relationships. It's about what she wants outside those relationships inspired by no reason other than this is who she is. In the last two episodes TA was in, the focus was on mom & dad's relationship more so than Felicity.

It would but I don't remember anything in 5.02 that would have started that arc unless it was Curtis wanting to be a vigilante. Felicity had a couple of things going on in 5.02 She's the buffer between Oliver and the recruits. Shows a leadership role. She hears Ragman's story for the first time. In 5.03 she is there for Oliver and she tells Rory the truth about Havenrock. In 5.04 she is the sort of the leader and sends the Team into the field. She also tries to get Rory back on the team by talking to him. In 5.05 she has a nooner with Malone and Oliver gets clarity thanks to Human Target. Mortal lock dialogue. In 5.06 she tells Malone the truth about who she works with and gets info relating to the killing stars. In 5.07 she's team background more than anything else. In 5.08 she's calling the shots (or Flash/Supergirl) to get support for the noobies going after whatever tech trying to locate the team. In 5.09 she is basically running down clues from her computer and fighting with the boyfriend . (I did think it interesting that she had more faith in Oliver than in Billy surviving a confrontation with the "Throwing Star" killer. They said they were positioning her to do something "new". Based on the setup I would say it looks more like recruiting vigilantes/deploying teams/running ops than creating a start-up. This is S5 new. My problem, which I've said along, is if she creates a start-up this year it will be more about Curtis/Mr. Terrific than her. In S3 & S4 her non-team time was split with Palmer Tech so I'm not sure a start-up would be considered new. Whatever started in 5.02 is supposed to still be paying dividends in 5.12 "Bratva" . Does her 5B arc start after this? I know plans change but in season 3 DC told them they couldn't use the name Oracle. MG said the name changed but that didn't change their actual plans for Felicity. She could become an information broker to other superheroes outside Green Arrow. She could run her own information gathering team. Or, she could start-up a company, which would greatly curtail her vigilante duties, so Curtis has a place to develop his tech.

Only because the DA convinced Mayor Oliver to issue a shoot to kill order to the police. I guess he thought he had to follow through.

They are looking for several people in 5.10 it seems - Prometheus's mother, Oliver's trainer from Russia, and BC. Do they stumble across "Tina" in their search for Oliver's trainer? Talia appears in 5.10 but perhaps only in flashbacks. The sides did refer to her as the best female fighter someone has ever seen. 5.10 "Who Are You" following 5.09 "What We Leave Behind" sounds like more than who is LL? My guess is the characters, primarily Oliver, decide who they are going to be going forward. Oliver has always focused on the bad. Maybe it's time for him to focus on the good he has done. From the preview, Diggle is in jail and is now willing to legally fight for his freedom. I don't know who LL is at this point but I have to wonder if her main purpose is to destroy THE Black Canary Statue. BS's sonic scream would do that. (Maybe she goes to see the statue is startled and screams.) It would also clue Oliver in to the fact that she's not his LL. Destroying the statue makes sense if the plan is to use Black Canary as a mantle going forward. (Note: It's possible there was a worldwide casting call because IIRC none of the 3 live action Black Canary's were widely accepted - 80's Birds of Prey, Smallville or KC's LL. They need an actress who can sell the role physically-for transitions-as well as a human worth rooting for.) How is this for a reach :-)... A certain poster* on here is very certain Olicity is getting back together sooner than expected. Another* thinks by the end of February sweeps. There were rumors that NuBC might be for Wild Dog. Some dismissed this when Juliana Harkavy was cast because of height and looks. Carly Pope was dismissed as a romantic interest because of age & CW's history. However, since right before the 100th episode they have been trying to sell Rene as Oliver 2.0. (Examples cited earlier in the thread.) So maybe not so far fetched? *I know the names of the posters. I am just not sure if it's appropriate to name them or not so I didn't.

If I understand twitter's new policy today, verified users will no longer have to be concerned with getting hate (or love for that matter). If you are a verified user the only tweets you will see are from people you follow. For example, SA will see tweets from the 384 people he follows but none from his other 1.66M followers. Removes the instant feedback of one source of social media. Interesting.

She's never actually met her before so it's not an unusual way to put it. She probably assumed they no longer interacted.

Maybe no one realizes Felicity's importance to Oliver. She is the ex-fiancee. Most ex's don't continue to have relationships unless children are involved. Sometimes not even then. The only photos originally on Prometheus's "list" are Lance, Diggle and Thea. Evelyn brought Prometheus the pictures of Felicity, Curtis, Rory & Rene. This says to me that Prometheus didn't know they were working together. Regarding the Olicity flashback scene, I just noticed that it begins immediately after Curtis says "I have to be true to who I am." Felicity looks at a red pen in a container. Cue flashback sequence. It ends with Oliver saying "Felicity, I believe in magic." Next scene is Oliver telling Thea he remembers something. The Olicity connection that can't be broken even by Oliver killing her boyfriend? LOL!

I am rewatching 5.09 and noticed that the only pictures on The Wall originally were Lance, Diggle and Thea. Evelyn brought the other pictures to him. He might have no clue what Oliver and Felicity have been through together. I also noticed that the Olicity FB scene starts with Felicity looking at a red pen immediately after Curtis says "I have to be true to who I am." It ends with FB Oliver saying "I believe in magic". Next shot is Oliver telling Thea he remembers something. The connection Prometheus doesn't know exists? :-)

Regarding Curtis & Paul's break-up...I agree it seemed a little strange. I think Paul leaving Curtis was their way of tying up that loose end in Curtis story. Other than a brief mention in 5.02(?) he hasn't been mentioned/or seen since S4. IMO, they were avoiding the possible backlash similar to Sara's or Clexa's (No clue which one died since I don't watch The 100) of killing off another LGBT character. Otherwise they might have gone with Prometheus killing Paul and the drug being found during autopsy.

I forgot about that one. It seems strange to me. The first rumor was that Wild Dog was wanted for a movie. Now instead of making him his own character they are trying to sell him as Oliver 2.0 which is why I thought at one point maybe they were going to run 2 teams instead of one large team with Wild Dog in charge of the B team but I'm not sure anymore. I don't know what his overall reception has been. I've seen more negative than positive but I don't read the comic friendly sites so they might love him. I just thought the shift was strange. Instead of letting us decide who he is they are telling us in the dialogue. I think it's interesting that Dig is being removed from the A story again just as they begin to introduce new characters (Talia & Tina). Lance is in 5.12 (based on something SA said) and shares scenes with Rene (who was in a suit & tie in the BTS pics). Don't know if he's back before then. I speculated earlier that maybe he was sent to rehab to avoid dealing with his reaction to LL/BC/BS visit. Maybe not.

Have we been duped by the return of KC for one episode (I don't think so) or is SA's current pushing of BC going to blow up spectacularly in his face post 5.10? (It has crossed my mind that this might be part of KC's representation demands although I'm not really into conspiracy theories.) Some comic purists rejected Sara as Black Canary because of her name. I assume they are not naming JH's character Dinah Laurel Lance. Will Tina's middle name be Dinah? LOL! KC's fans aren't going to be happy. I wonder how long it will be before Tina takes up the mantle of black canary or whatever color. Will it happen right away or will it happen it May sweeps? On another subject, why is the show pushing Wild Dog as Oliver Queen and not just as his own character? I was surprised when the actor compared himself to OQ in one of his interviews. It sounded like PR talking points. In 5.08 he is shirtless and doing the salmon ladder. Curtis makes some remark about you're not Oliver and he responds something about always being ready which includes being in shape. In 5.09 right before Evelyn comes in Rene and Diggle start to discuss kids and it sounds like Rene is implying he might have one out there somewhere. (Is SA on probation and if he doesn't play by the rules and push comics he could be replaced? Was it in his contract? Just kidding. It just seems like it's become a bizarre world since May's Upfronts.)

Thanks for the link @Morrigan2575.

Thanks. I don't know if I ever actually looked at them or not. I just remember the discussion about sweeps dates and saw a couple of tweets asking for confirmation of the return date but never seeing a response.

Flash and LOT are both coming back on the 24th I believe. I think a reporter said something about Arrow and February but their was no official announcement that I recall. My local station didn't show it. I saw the 25th when I watched the 5.10 preview on the CW app.

February Sweeps begins Thursday Feb 2 and end Wednesday Mar 1 so sweeps episodes are 5.12 Bratva to 5.15. Even if they returned Feb 1 5.10 was never going to be a sweeps episode.

They are also looking for Oliver's trainer from his time in Russia which we are assuming is Talia.

Did PB end up with a "fall off the wagon go to rehab" storyline just to remove him from any LL returns episodes? Do we think he's back in 5.10 or TPTB just don't want to deal with that aspect of the story?

Pretty much. Nick Zano's character said Gideon could make/replicate them.

My problem with Felicity's arc in 5B being about a start-up is that I have grown increasingly cynical regarding the show. I'm sure Curtis (male) will help with the start-up and it'll be more about the incredible inventor than her(female). It's also not something "new" to her. As for her storyline beginning in 5.02 and still paying dividends in 5.12 it seems like recruiting vigilantes could be it. She even mentioned in 5.09 that she should have vetted Evelyn better. The title of 5.12 is "Second Chances". Guess who the newest recruit appears to be in 5.12 - Tina/NuBC. I think 5.10 is mainly dealing with BS which reminds Oliver of his promise to Laurel. Felicity has probably been tracking Tina for a while. 5.11 Sees the boys road trip to Hub City. 5.12 Sees Tina in Star City. (See Felicity's storyline - recruiting - is still paying dividends in 5.12 even if those dividends are masks).