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I generally think Carina is after any bit of attention she can get but it seems dumb to tag and post multiple pictures yourself and your friends on IV rehydration because you’ve, more than likely, been drinking too much. It does make me laugh that Carina has been tagging Perrier water in multiple posts (that are probably paid for sponsorship) and then following up with multiple posts of her and the Jar crew getting rehydration via IV because -> not enough water.

This is me. I really do not understand the Tommy obsession in fandom. He was a one season character that served his purpose in Oliver choosing to approach his mission in another way. Bringing him back as resurrected, post-Lazarus Pit Tommy would’ve had an impact on S3 or early S4 Oliver. But S7 Oliver is a different man who is at a different point in his life now. S7 Oliver has a wife and child and a baby on the way. Bringing Tommy back for 10 episodes seems pointless when we’ll know that Oliver’s wife and baby daughter are hidden away in a cabin in the woods. At this point in the show, I don’t really expect the writers to take any time to explain why dealing with Tommy would take priority over his family. I will side eye any shock or surprise on Oliver’s part at seeing a version of Tommy again. He’s popped up in one form or another so often it should just be a routine event now.

There are so few episodes left in S7 that the idea of an episode of Dinah investigating what happened in a failed operation against the Ninth Circle doesn’t seem like the best use of the time. The episode descriptions have been all over the place this season so hopefully “Dinah investigates” has the same amount of focus as “Oliver invites Laurel to investigate” did. I’d much rather the writers spend time on the content of the episodes being entertaining than experimenting with the style and tone of them.

I was already uncertain about watching a S8 without Felicity, but ending S7 by killing her off in the flash forwards would remove that uncertainty - I’d be out. It would also influence any possibility of my watching a spin-off with the next generation. They’ve killed off a lot of female characters (and a lot of characters in general) and killing off Felicity wouldn’t be inspired writing it would just be more of the same. I’m holding onto hope that Beth can think of a more creative way to explain Felicity’s absence than going down the same old pathway of death as the reason.

I always felt like Marc, to some degree, placed limitations on Felicity. He often said Felicity would never suit up, or have a mask. We’d see why the company in S6 couldn’t be named Smoak Tech - because Curtis had to have a role. Felicity wasn’t prominent in the milestone 100th and 150th episodes because they were more focused on the masked characters. So it makes me very happy to see so many entertainment sites referring to Emily as the co-lead and genuinely wondering how they can do a S8 without Felicity Smoak present. It’s the type of reaction I would expect to see if S8 had been announced and Stephen said he was leaving and wouldn’t be part of it. Emily turned Felicity into an key character and one that is loved by fans so it’s great to see her getting the recognition she deserves for everything she brought to the show.

As with everything Laurel, the writers put the least amount of effort into her purpose on the show. Unless they provide a reason in the next few episodes, I have zero clues about why she is still hanging around a group of people who don’t consider her a friend let alone part of the team. If they were just going to end up with E2 Laurel being a carbon copy of E1 Laurel, complete with lawyer job & matching BC suit, it becomes kind of pointless to have killed her off in S4. But that’s Arrow, I guess.

Ken, the paparazzi guy in Vancouver, confirmed Katie was filming. As with everything related to Laurel, I don’t have high expectations that her purpose in the show will make a whole lot of sense. It will not surprise me if Katie remains with the show until it wraps at the end of S8. I don’t think Arrow ever really needed a canary and it definitely doesn’t need multiple versions all at the same time. Once Emily leaves there’ll be no present day characters that don’t have a mask/superhero suit.

If Beth, Marc or anyone associated with the show describes 722 between now and when it airs as a “love letter to fans”...my hopes for a good episode will be suitably lowered. 😬

I’m wondering if Beth relaxed her strict no spoiler/no pictures policy because the EP’s have all seen how upset fandom has become about how the end of Arrow playing out. First it was the bombshell of a short 10 episode S8, then it was Emily’s departure at the end of S7 and there’s a lot of annoyance about the impact of the looming COIE crossover on the show. Maybe they’re trying to create a little goodwill for the final run of S7/S8 episodes...or maybe they’re not. In any case, I’ll happily enjoy all the pretty BTS cast pictures they want to give me and they can earn my goodwill by giving me a satisfying conclusion to the show after 7 years. 🙂

I don’t know how TV show contracts work but if she was a regular or recurring she’d be locked in and wouldn’t be able to accept other opportunities if something interesting comes up, would she? I will be annoyed if they kill Felicity off in the flash forwards so I hope Emily comes back for the series finale or they’ve put a contingency plan in place to film extra scenes and hold it over until the end of S8. The Odyssey parallel of a reunion after a 20 year separation doesn’t exactly thrill me but I’ll take it over an ending of death for Oliver and/or Felicity.

Arrow has always had to carry the load of launching spin-offs and the COIE crossover seems to be having a disproportionate affect on how S7 plays out and what happens in S8. It annoys me greatly that it’s come to this because it seems they want their comic book extravaganza. If they write a terible ending for Arrow where Oliver & Felicity don’t get a happy ending and both of them don’t make it out of the series alive it will definitely affect my decision to watch any Arrow: Next Generation spin-off they may want to attempt. I’d also be wary of any new superhero shows entering into the Arrowverse. In theory COIE should affect every remaining show in the universe. I wonder how much of a hit they will take if all the shows, not just Arrow, suffer drastic changes and cast shake ups as a result of it. I’m also curious about whether they anticipated how upset a very large part of the fandom would be about Emily leaving at the end of S7. It would explain why the information was released in advance and not left until after 722 aired. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people talk about walking away from the show with the news that Emily is leaving. I don’t know what the audience numbers will look like for S8 but I imagine Greg Berlanti thinks it’s worth the risk to draw Arrow out for the sake of the crossover.

Dinah as female lead in any timeline is a deal breaker. There’s way too much of her in S7 with her present and future appearances as it is now (at least for me). I’m genuinely curious to hear from Beth what they’re thinking a S8 without Felicity looks like because it’s likely going to be a very tough sell to keep some fans watching, myself included. I love Oliver and I started the show for his story, but it’s now so intertwined with Felicity it’s difficult to see how they separate it and still carry on for another 10 episodes. Honestly, I wish they’d just let the show end at S7 with the entire cast intact but the crossover has made that impossible. I really do not like the crossovers and how much they impact on Arrow, particularly this season.

The news that Emily won’t be in S8 has pretty much decided that S7 is my endpoint. If they bring Felicity back for the series finale, I’ll watch that but otherwise 722 will be the end. As much as I love Oliver and Diggle, I don’t love Dinah or Rene to want to watch them in two timelines, and the flash forwards without Felicity haven’t been enjoyable this season. It’s also a little annoying that they held back on Smoak Tech for so long this season. They introduced it in 717 and it’s done when Emily films her final scenes. Six episodes is all they were willing to give it while we spent a full season with Captain Dinah and the SCPD. 😞 It really feels like Arrow is being sacrificed to serve the crossover and possibly a spin-off. The show is less likely to get a satisfying conclusion after 7 years because other shows are directing what happens. I’m glad that Emily is leaving on her own terms and pursuing new opportunities, it’s just sad that her character won’t be there for the final run of episodes.

Between the present day and the flash forwards Arrow already has more than enough characters to fit into the show. Personally, I’d be quite okay with skipping another visit from Sara so quickly in the present, seeing as she shows up in 718, and not knowing precisly what happened to her 20 years in the future.

They’re trying to set up and sell their audience on a spin-off. A dead Oliver Queen at the final credits, a city that’s a hellish place to live in the future and missing out on a life with his wife, raising their kids would be a terrible ending for him after 7 years, at least it would be for me. It’d cast a sense of gloom over everything and feel like he spent all that time fighting to save the city and he only briefly delayed the awful future that was looming. If that’s the starting point for a spin-off, I don’t know that I’d be lining up to watch what comes next with the Arrow kids because it might just be another mission doomed to ultimately fail.

Based on my experience in the Arrow fandom, the fans who love Oliver & Felicity are some of the most deeply engaged in the show and analyse the storyline, plots and characters and offer up thoughtful critique. Some of the best theories and critiques I’ve read about the show are from people that Carina would label as ”shippers”. I’m 100% confident that she would absolutely love to have a large and passionate “shipper” fanbase for her show.

I really liked the episode. It put Oliver and Felicity back at the heart of the show. There were several wonderful Olicity and OTA scenes, they remembered Delicity were friends and Pod Diggle has been banished and replaced with real Diggle. I wasn’t even that bothered by Dinah, which feels strange to type because I can’t stand Dinah 99.9% of the time. I must admit her life changing news might’ve gone in one ear and out the other but...anyway. The SCPD story continues to be the least interesting setting for show about vigilantes. Did I laugh a little everytime a costumed vigilante told a villain they were under arrest or had the right to remain silent? Yes, yes I did. I really like and enjoy the Olicity kids in scenes together even though they’re stuck in a grim future timeline. I think I would’ve been a lot more patient with the flash forwards if they’d paired them up from the start to solve the mystery of the missing Felicity.

I’ll be annoyed if they kill Oliver off and sacrifice Arrow to serve the crossover and the remaining shows. Even if they frame it as Oliver is the hero of superheroes it will still ultimatley ruin the show for me personally. I don’t watch any of the other shows currently and I’d be unlikely to watch anything new they try to launch if they sacrifice Arrow at the end of its run. Once bitten, twice shy. I’m already irritated that the grimmest of grim future timeline their showing us might be due to a S8 crossover. They need to fix what they’ve set in motion with that and give Arrow the ending it deserves. Oliver fighting to right his fathers wrongs and save the city for 7-plus years only to have it end in his death because of a universe bending crossover wouldn’t be at all satisfying.

This is me! I will blindly accept, without any complaints, all totally out of left field story plans if they just fix the grimmest of grim future timeline. Give me an alive Oliver & Felicity, in the present & the future, raising their kids together. I don’t care how they get there as long as they deliver this to me!

As much as Arrow has been frustrating to watch the last couple of season, I still love Oliver, Felicity & Diggle and the show and will miss it, and this board, when it finally ends. I think they did plan to carry the show on with the flash forward cast once Stephen left, but the poor reception to the bleakness of the timeline changed their plans and they decided to end the show. My only hope is that they don’t kill Oliver in COIE, they fix the bleak future they’ve been showing us and allow Oliver & Felicity to end on a happy/hopeful note, living their lives with their kids. It would feel too depressing if 7.5 years after Oliver returned to save Star City to right his fathers wrongs, he still ultimately ended up failing. If they want to create a new show featuring Mia, William and Connor I’d give it a go but ending Arrow with a dead Oliver & Felicity and old Dinah and old Rene in the new shows cast would be deal breakers.

I feel like this season makes even less sense to me than previous ones. Each new tease or “bombshell” they drop leads to what... wait... but how does that... that makes no sense...!?! I swear I’m watching each episode but I’m getting really confused trying to keep track of everything. I think keeping my expectations super low is really the best option right now.

I’m trying to stay hopeful that this is something we actually see Felicity tell Oliver onscreen and we don’t just return to him already knowing because it happened in offscreenville during hiatus. I’d like to believe that they recognise the importance of that milestone but it’s Arrow and there’s always the possibility they could mishandle the execution of that reveal.

I hope the next episode brings to a close the “Emiko is angry at Oliver for things his father did that he didn’t know anything about” part of the story. I understand that she’d be wary about trusting Oliver but I think they’re treading a fine line with making her continually antagonistic to all of his attempts to reach out. It’d be great if they didn’t drag it out and they moved forward with establishing a better relationship between Oliver & Emiko and let her interact with Felicity as part of his family and not just limit her to Rene as the only other person she talks to. I’d also like to know why she decided to wear a replica of Oliver’s GA outfit when she’s been so against him up to this point. If she doesn’t want anything to do with him why adopt his crime fighting methods and costume?