Freckles101

After Izzy told Alec that their parents' plan was to marry him off, he had the "screw all of this" reaction and that's when/why he went to save Luke. You might have been distracted by his biceps in that scene though, I know I was. ;) I don't know if I can say this was my favorite episode so far, because I don't care about any of flashbacks (although I'm still laughing at Clary asking Luke if she's her father LOL) but I loooved all the stuff with Izzy and Alec. It'll be interesting to see the role reversal going on with them, with Alec being the one who's ~rebelling now and Izzy doing the opposite. Also I watched that Alec/Magnus scene a ridiculous amount of times and they continue to be by far my favorite part of the show.

It's kind of amazing how good her hair looks. considering I doubt Sara'd let anyone get close enough to brush it haha. I'm reasonably satisfied by what they did with Nyssa in this episode to make it plausible that she won't be around for Legends of Tomorrow. It makes sense and I'm very glad she's not dead, and the fact that she obviously still loves Sara keeps it open for them to get back together in the future.

Yes, we did, in 2x01! And it was one of my favorite scenes LOL. Joe + Cisco + Iris is possibly the best combination of any characters on this show tbh. Cisco and Iris definitely need to have more scenes together. Hopefully that will happen this season. I loved seeing that Iris was there in that first Jitters scene in this episode because it really shows how she is part of the team now.

I read this interview with Katrina Law (which is great BTW - I love the bits about how she was cast) and she says that she's gonna be "in and out of Arrow throughout this season" but can't say whether or not she's gonna show up in LOT yet. Although it is suspicious that Katrina hasn't filmed since 4x03, I really don't believe that the writers would kill Nyssa. It seems like that would be TOO much baggage for Sara to bring with her to LOT, and how would Sara ever be okay with Laurel resurrecting her if Nyssa died as a result?

I've never actually watched the show (just one episode of the new series...which I immediately regretted) but am listening to the podcast anyway, so I'm really liking hearing the clips! They can be cringeworthy at times (thinking of the Brandon basketball team episode) but they definitely help me follow along more than just descriptions of the scenes do. And yeah, hearing the reactions to them is probably my favorite part of the podcast LOL.

People were trolling IMDB last night, changing lots of names/adding people, so I'd definitely take those cast listings with a grain of salt.

IKR?! I'm not sure if it's just that Caity has been working out more (like she said she's been doing in that interview) or what but I never noticed how great her arms are until today:

I know the common theory was that Nyssa would be the one to do it, but that doesn't SEEM to be the case? It's hard to say based on the trailer when the resurrection actually happened. Anyway, I'm really excited to see everyone's reactions to her being alive! I'd hope Oliver wouldn't keep it a secret... Also, I'm really hoping we get to see Nyssa on the spinoff too. She deserves better than staying in the League of Assassins with Malcolm as the head, even though Sara is actually alive.

No, he didn't know. They told him an episode or two before Ward's Hydra loyalties were revealed last season.

Yeah I hope its sooner than that, but they are giving her a purpose in the show. (And more of one than Laurel has, lbr.) From this article: I'm not sure if they're totally abandoning the whole grad school thing, but it seems like they are leading up to Iris becoming a journalist. And for that reason, I'm thinking she won't find out about Barry until near the end of the season, because given the fact that she's gonna be reporting (in one way or another) on The Flash, they need to keep that dramatic tension up.

I'm really hoping Iris finds out sooner rather than later, by the end of season 1 at the LATEST. I already love Iris though! Shallowly, she's super gorgeous and Candice and Grant have fantastic chemistry. Smallville!Lois Lane is my favorite character of all time, so personally I'm thrilled The Flash is giving Iris a storyline similar to Lois's s8 Red-Blue Blur storyline.

Wait so what does Sara's death do to that whole weird spoiler thing about Laurel's ~question of the season wondering if she can be her sister or w/e? (I can't remember the exact wording.) I guess that makes more sense now?...

In an effort to avoid linking to TVTropes (though if you want to check that out, it's the Stuffed into the Fridge trope), here is a bit of an explanation from a great article I read today: On Arrow, the most blatant example is Shado, who was killed to give Slade a motivation to go evil and give Oliver man-pain, but this can also apply to Moira and Sara. Since Sara was presumably killed on Laurel's behalf, this may not be the technical definition of fridging, but it definitely applies. I still can't believe how blatant the writers are being in this way with Sara, straight up admitting that she was killed for plot purposes to drive the first half of the season and further Laurel's presumable journey to become Black Canary.

I used to get so annoyed last season with all the constant worrying about whether Sara was gonna die or not, because I was honestly 100% convinced that the writers would not go there. Now, along with being heartbroken and infuriated, I also feel like a complete idiot for ever having faith in them. Shado's fridging was the beginning of the end for me, and I've basically already stopped watching. (The last episode I saw was "Birds of Prey" and the Sara parts of the finale.) Still, I was planning on catching the episodes this season with Caity and I was really looking forward to seeing Sara's presumable character arc this season, especially the Sara/Nyssa flashbacks, which I've wanted since 2x13! And sure, we're still getting them apparently, but literally why? Since they've all but admitted that Sara is nothing more than a plot device, even with R'as al Ghul coming on, I can't see what relevance the development of her early relationship with Nyssa has anymore so what's the point of showing it . I totally buy the theory that the writers decided to let go of Oliver/Laurel in favor of Olicity while still allowing Laurel to become Black Canary, and it fucking sucks because while both sides at least get something out of this compromise, as someone who can't stand Olicity (or Oliver/Laurel, don't get me wrong - I basically don't want Oliver with anyone tbh), not only do I get something I hate, my favorite character was fridged on Laurel's behalf. It's just SO LAZY. Other than Isabel, are there any female characters that have died on this show who WEREN'T fridged? Even if there were, three in the past 9 or so months is just disgusting. Also now there's five male regulars (almost six tbh, considering how many episodes Brandon Routh is gonna be in) and three female regulars. The balance was bad enough before Moira died and now it's even worse.

Yeah, the stories were different enough that it wasn't like you were just watching the exact same thing two times. (Though I'm a fan of this style anyway.) Like, in Allison's story she's the one who saved Noah's daughter from choking and in his version he was the one; in his version she was wearing a dress in that nighttime scene, in hers she was wearing a tank top and shorts, and there were lots of other differences. I hadn't read any spoilers, so I didn't go into the pilot knowing that they were playing the unreliable narrator card at first, although I realized it pretty quickly once we got into the second half of the episode. I preferred that section, as Ruth Wilson and Joshua Jackson are my main draw in wanting to watch this show in the first place and so far I'm finding Noah a pretty unlikable character. Well, maybe not unlikable, but I can't find much of a reason to "root" for him so to speak. (I somewhat sympathize with him when it comes to his kids though. As someone with six siblings, that diner scene kind of made uncomfortable in a familiar way because that kind of like madness and the kids being so loud is totally something I recognize as real life.)

Regarding when the witch trial is supposed to happen, I always assumed that would be in episode 10, since they filmed 9 and 10 after the first four for location reasons. So there wouldn't necessarily be much time for Jamie and Claire to talk, but I am assuming that they will spend a good amount of time on that before/after the post-beating making up scene at Leoch in 1x09. Like, that's when Jamie first tells Claire about BJR's proposition back when he was at Fort William, right? And we know from somewhere (the podcast for 1x07 I believe?) that the line "there is room for secrets in this marriage but not lies" IS showing up later on, so it's got to be in the next episode so there's time for it to actually have resonance before Claire tells Jamie her secret. I know I've seen more extensive speculation about how the rest of the season is going to play out, but here are my rough thoughts: 1x09-10 - Beating scene/getting back to Leoch/witch trial/ending episode 10 with Jamie taking Claire to the stones 1x11-12 - Claire and Jamie going home to Lallybroch 1x13-14 - Jamie going missing, Claire and Murtagh finding him, the whole awful BJR/Jamie/Claire scene where BJR nails his hand to the table, etc. 1x15-16 - The rescue from Wentworth, Jamie and Claire going to France. The Lallybroch stuff might be contained a bit more and the witch trial/rescue could be around episode 11, with Jamie being captured at the end of 1x13, but given their way of filming the episodes in blocks of two. I'd be surprised? Granted they don't necessarily have to film the witch trial at the Leoch location, but even with the introduction of the Duke of Sandringham I'm not sure enough happens back at Leoch in between Jamie and Claire returning and the trial to sustain a whole other episode. If I have to guess, I'd say Claire being taken into custody will probably happen either at the end of 1x09 or beginning of 1x10, leaving a full episode for the trial, the rescue, and Jamie taking Claire back to the stones. I'm assuming we're gonna get a cliffhanger with Claire at Craigh na Dun, so 1x12 could pick up with Claire choosing to stay and them going to Lallybroch. This would make things very compressed, especially given that 1x08 also ends with Claire captured, but there is much more of the book they have to get through in only eight episodes than they did for the first half of the season.

Somewhat shamefully, it never occurred to me that that scene could be considered rape when I first read Outlander. (Maybe because I sped through it - I honestly read it in like one sitting, maybe because I didn't have the Game of Thrones mess in my head at the time.) But over the past month or so as more people have been reading the books, I have seen that assertion quite a bit, and while I don't necessarily agree, I can understand where people are coming from. Clearly, it wasn't meant to be rape (not that that is an excuse! Because the author's intention should not be privileged above everything else when the actual text is saying something different) as Jamie and Claire specifically talk about rape earlier in that scene, he makes sure to get her consent before they start, and there are lines about Claire saying something like "Yes, Jamie" after the part where she tells him to stop. At the same time...she does tell him to stop and he doesn't, which is problematic. Personally, I'm just REALLY hoping they leave that part out of the show, because the beating scene is going to cause enough controversy as it is and making that sex scene undeniably consensual is nothing but a good thing. I also definitely agree that I hope they change Jamie's attitude about the beating. The fact that he "enjoyed" it...for someone who later admits that he loved Claire pretty much from the day they met, I definitely consider that OOC. Especially seeing how Sam is playing Jamie, with the lovey eyes and things like his concern in the past episode about just calling Claire sassenach, the idea that he'd take pleasure in causing SO much pain to Claire is gonna be really hard to buy. (Also, I know this show is just from Claire's POV, but I wonder if they're gonna include the scene from The Exile where Dougal basically tells him Jamie has to punish her or he will do it himself?)

I've been thinking a lot about Ali's relationship with the girls and have come to the conclusion that Emily and Hanna are definitely the ones Ali was the worst to. Which is part of what makes Emily's behavior towards her this season so frustrating. Hanna's going into a downward spiral/identity crisis with Ali being back, while Emily just sleeps/makes out with Ali? And gets mad at Ali when she finds out she's lying, yes, but goes right back to looking out for her the next week? This is especially jarring because Emily has ALWAYS been the Liar to take the least amount of shit from her love interests. But I guess since Ali is her first love, she's also her blind spot in a way (Emily's Ezra or Toby, if you will, as they've indicated via song choices). I'm hoping Ems will eventually be able to move on from her though.