TanyaKay

Now that your friend has pointed it out, Oliver's mother was a very important character in the first season and could very well be the leading lady. I mean Moira was close to the leading man, involved in the season long mystery of Undertaking, looked beautiful, tragic, strong and a little crafty when the occasion called for it. Had a romantic arc of her own (Walter left her, then came back and they had a teary eyed reunion and then Walter left her again) had a bit on the side (Malcolm Merlyn whom she tried to murder rather unsuccessfully) and also a dead former husband. Laurel, on the other hand, had nothing to do with the first two plots of the show, the hero's journey (She was not in the know about Oliver's secret) and the undertaking (her only contribution to the undertaking was saving old archives so that Tommy could be fridged for Oliver's manpain). Her only independent story line spanned three episodes when her mother came to visit her claiming Sara was alive. She played either the rather useless love interest or a damsel in distress masquerading as a lawyer for the rest of the time.

but the whole drawer gate bit was Oliver getting into their business. He also offered advice to Tommy about Laurel a few times which I cannot recall right now but found very odd when it aired. The only sensible bit was when Laurel came to Oliver at the end of season, he told her to go talk to Tommy and then told Tommy to go talk to Laurel. However he negated all that good advice by beating Tommy to Laurel's apartment and hooking up with her over Imagine Dragon's song radioactive

But this is what the Arrow writers do - get the former lover to dish out romantic advice! I you guys remember, Oliver dished out romantic advice to Laurel and Tommy at least thrice in season one. Once when Laurel refused to give Tommy a drawer in her home and then Oliver asked her about drawer gate and Laurel said that oh, tommy talked to you about it. The other time was when Laurel started this secret relationship with the vigilante and Tommy voiced his insecurities about coming second to the vigilante in Laurel's eyes and Oliver advised him to talk to Laurel. Then when Tommy finally broke up with Laurel and she showed up at Verdant asking Oliver to speak to Tommy on her behalf, he also told her to talk to Tommy. Getting the ex to play love guru is an Arrow thing. I am willing to bet my pinkie finger that Sara Lance - another ex - would offer Oliver romantic advice in dealing with his feelings for Felicity in season 3.

hahaha seriously, Dinah and Quentin had some questionable parenting skills that they ended up with daughters with the most dysfunctional relationship. During comic con, Paul Blackthorne mentioned that he is worried about what his daughters are up to in season 3 but he is not too worried because he has raised them well and I was like ... seriously dude? You are gonna go there? One of them ran away with other's boy friend and then became a deadly ninja assassin, the other threw a exploding glass on the first one because that girl could nurse a grudge like no other. In addition, she is a first class blackmailer with a tendency of alcoholism and substance abuse and you think you raised them well? I bet there was some head injury that happened off screen during season final for him to have arrived at this conclusion.

I would totally believe Colton because he is not delusional. I mean he never claimed about having jackets, leather or otherwise, and now sports the coolest suit on the show.

Sussanna Thompson looks younger than her age is flawlessly beautiful even though she does not use fillers and botox. She is amazing.

I remember checking out Blackthorne's age when I first started watching the show because he looked awfully young to me to be dad to a lawyer. Both actresses playing his daughters are born in 1986 ... that makes him a dad at 17. Somehow I cannot reconcile that someone like Blackthorne or his character Lance would actually father a child before he graduate from high school. Malcolm and Tommy were even more ridiculous because Colin Donnell and Barrowman are like 14 years apart, but for some strange reason I can see Barrowman as someone's teenage dad. Let's be honest, he is still a teenager at heart.

God I too was insanely hung up on Luke Mitchell to be Felicity's love interest. Still not happy about him not being in the show.

those desolate fans should let the producers know how they feel about it.

This line is truth .... I hope writers embrace it too and do not try too hard to make us like her.

That one thing I want from season 3 most desperately is Diggle throwing shade at Laurel and he does it to her face like he did with Helena. That would make me immensely happy. I know I am not gonna get it because she will be propped once again as this wonderful lawyer - she sucks as a lawyer. I want him to tell her what exactly he thinks of her and what he thinks of Oliver's association with her and how it all sucks. That day, Diggle would be one of us.

I think that would be a very good question to ask the EPs at Comic con. Do they want Oliver to come out like a hero smelling like roses (hence the no kill rule) or do they want him to be a grey character (sister swapping, constant lying to family. general douchebaggery)? I personally think they want him to be a hero but are constrained by the story they have told so far and they believe if they change him too much, it would be very out of character. I am all for dark characters and protagonists - I mean I watch House of Cards and every decent and nice person loses out or gets killed in that series but that is how it was written. The problem with Arrow is this chaotic confusion. Is Oliver a hero or a douche? Do we introduce super powers or do we keep it gritty and realistic? Who is black canary? How did Malcom survive? Who feeds Slade Wilson in supermax? Who is gonna answer these questions?

Yes, budget factor a lot because you pay more to a regular than a recurring actor. A series regular does not need to be in all episodes, some series regular contracts specify a certain percentage of the episodes (for example, 7 out of 10) but it holds the actor for the entire season, with shooting dates TBD. Those per-episode salaries are considerably higher, because the actor then clears his or her schedule for this particular role. You get paid more for your availability. Katie Cassidy was missing from 3 solid episodes and had about 90 second screen time in at least two. Emily Bett Rickards too had three dialogues in episodes 15. Plus a series has a specific number of actors they can have as regulars. They lost a series regular in Sussana Thompson but have cast relatively better known actors for multiple episodes recurring characters (Routh, Aoki, Starmore who have all appeared in big budget Hollywood fares) so they really do not have the budget to extend contract to another actor. They will write their stories accordingly to accommodate who they have. I still think it is commendable that they are producing a very slick looking super hero show on a shoe string budget. I mean they are so strapped that they recycle clothes all the time. Diggle has probably two suits and Oliver has three (yes, I notice these things) and I can probably recall every Felicity outfit Emily wore and wore again in each episode in both seasons.

Oh that cracked me up like anything. I seriously would not be able to handle both Felicity and Parker in a frame because it would be oh so glorious. I would love it if Parker transfers her love of tasers onto Felicity. The way she randomly tased everyone was the best part of Leverage and that was a very good show.

Honestly, I don't have as much of a problem with Laurel Lance as I have with Katie Cassidy and her acting choices. I mean they have given some terrible material to Willah Holland and she was supposed to act all entitled and bitchy in the first season before she met Roy Harper but Willa did a pretty decent job with whatever material she was handed and no one I know hated her with the same gusto as they hate Laurel. So in my opinion, Laurel would have sucked no matter what role she was given because Katie Cassidy's one singular expression (She saw Ollie's scarred body, same expression, Tommy died, same expression, mother thought Sara was alive same expression, defending poor people in court same expression) would have ruined it and she would have come across as the same entitled and rude person as she does as a lawyer - I mean they did change her character quite a bit in two seasons - from CNRI to DA's office and no one liked her any better.

Honestly, the minute Felicity was let in on the secret, I never trusted any female love interest of Oliver to stick around. I mean no one else except Felicity makes sense to me but then that is just me. McKenna was quite likeable though. I mean EVERY girl that Oliver has interacted on the show was better than the supposed epic love but McKenna was alright.

Well she was tolerable in only a few scenes - I wanted to punch her in the face during that double date with Helena and how she insulted Tommy.

Well honestly, the minute Laurel decided to hand out love advice to Oliver and Sara in episode 15, I tuned out every conversation she has had with Sara and I think I FFwd through BoP because I just could not take Laurel reaching out to the bottle in the middle of a hostage situation and not recognizing her dimpled chin sister. I am doing a first season rewatch and I think her scenes with her father were just as terrible as with anyone else. In every scene, she came out bratty and dismissive and those were her acting choices - even with the same dialogues, she could have come out as someone who is earnestly trying to argue with her dad even though she loves and respects him, but no, she was rude and dismissive.

So far, the only thing Laurel Lance/Katie Cassidy has managed to have chemistry with is that magical jacket that her sister passed on to her. A lot of people said that she had chemistry with Colin Donell's Tommy but I disagree, it was all Colin who was excellent in every scene that he did and had an outstanding chemistry with everyone he interacted with on the show, be it Cassidy, Amell, Willah Holland or Barrowman (still bitter that they made Willah his sister because I totally shipped Tommy & Thea). Cassidy was just as boring at her end in those scenes as she was with everyone else. I don't think any chemistry test would do wonders where Cassidy is concerned.

They could've managed to save a lot of time by chopping off 60% scenes of Lance family drama and Laurel Lance and her stupid choices in life. That would've left plenty of room to tell the stories that matter. Most of the well received episodes were ones where there was little or no Laurel Lance. It is producers' weird attachment to that one character which is obviously not working that is harming the story telling process and nothing else.

One of the press releases do mention that Ray Palmer would have special interest in setting up QC's Applied Sciences Division so I am assuming that he would be interacting with Felicity regarding that - the fact that she worked closely with former CEO would also help. I am just hoping - rather desperately I may add - that they do not make her new CEO's EA. I know they will have to invest in making another set for Felicity's office instead of seating her just outside the CEO's office but please, don't make the smartest person on the show a glorified secretary. We have had that 'Girl Friday/Wednesday' thing on the show already ... can we now move on?

I kinda filtered out that David Ramsey bit because it was downright disgraceful. You having a foot in mouth disease is okay but a person whose job is to be in public eye and she has been at it since she was 16, this kind of negligence is criminal. You don't have to be warm and fuzzy and funny because not everyone is that Jimmy Fallon and Ellen kinda person who becomes your best friend in 90 seconds but at least be courteous and professional. I don't think the hair and make up people told her anything, she was just making it up. After all they are not her employees but employees of CW or whatever production house that hired them. I think they take their revenge by giving her clumpy mascara look in every episode. This is my theory and I am gonna stick to it :)

Yes, you are right. I was trying to be kind but she is thoughtless, rude and dismissive. Honestly, the whole spiel about how the make up crew thought she looked amazing in Caity Lotz's mask and wig was bordering on extreme levels of jealousy and envy and she was not even hiding. It was cringe inducing; I was dying with second hand embarrassment. Yes, her people do not allow recording but should they also try to not rein in her responses and coach her to say the right thing. That would be a better approach rather than putting the gag order on people attending the cons. She would not be able to do that at comic con because it would be an official DC/CW/WB panel with the whole cast and producers so we will get to see some more of her gems. The question that I would like to ask her is why does she think that kicking ass is the only way to be a smart, strong and independent woman because she always seems to waiting for canary to happen to make her badass. Why does she think she needs leather and fishnets to be kickass, why in her opinion her civilian avatar of Laurel can't be badass enough for her. I mean we are told that she is physically capable (though she cries we cant do it Ollie at the drop of a hat) and she is this super duper lawyer which should've been wicked enough for anyone, why not for her?

Great Question there. I think she is a very poor public speaker as is evident by her many gaffes. So no matter what you are gonna ask, it will be dealt with either indignation or incoherence. Case in point: last July, at CTV upfronts she said that Laurel's got this and she's gonna beat Felicity at it ( I have no idea at what she would beat Felicity because they interacted for a total of 76 seconds during the whole season). In addition, she called Felicity a comic relief character multiple times. In another con, she insulted Jared Padelecki's wife Genvieve (who played Ruby 2.0 in SPN) when she was asked which Ruby she found better (her response was did someone play that character after me and I don't care, whatever!). Another time she was asked about Felicity and she insulted the person asking that question about going and reading the comics (she should know that apart from keeping the name Oliver Queen and the fact that he was a billionaire turned vigilante who lost his fortune, everything else is different from the comics universe). Another time she was asked about her colleagues and she could not finish one sentence properly because she genuinely could not say nice things about her colleagues. She has been in the con tours through the summer she has been telling everyone that she will be Canary (he justification was that she's got the jacket now). EPs at TCA says she will just be a lawyer. Does she even know what she talks about half the time She is a PR nightmare and I am surprised that CW PR has not reined her in. Or perhaps they let her be because her character tanked otherwise.

There are already too many people on this planet, if men too start procreating, there wont be place for people to stand. We gotta find another liveable planet and we gotta do it now!