GirlvsTV

I'd like to see this too. Or really any development involving Oliver becoming self-aware this season. It would certainly feel like a victory : ) Yeah, it's funny. I really have no interest in watching tonight, but I look forward to reading episode recaps to see if my spec was right!

Because no one on this show is allowed to do things in a straight forward manner. The more convoluted the path to get to the end the result the better, or at least that seems to be how the writers see things : ) Seriously though, maybe Thea will initially be more reticent to do the job herself but if it shakes out the way I speculated, Oliver saving Malcolm would basically force her hand. So Oliver's attempt to 'save her soul' would actually be the thing that causes her to 'lose' it. Although this killing someone = losing your soul thing is pretty dumb because the show has never really equated those two before. I'd rather them stick to the 'humanity' argument to keep it more consistent with Oliver's journey.

My wild speculation: I hope Oliver saves Malcolm from Nanda Parbat and then returns with him to Starling City where upon being reunited with Thea, she immediately kills Malcolm herself because Oliver thwarted her plans to have Ra's do it. This way Oliver's plan to 'save' Thea's soul completely backfires and he remains the miserable dumb ass this show has devolved him into. Also, seems a fair punishment for not respecting Thea's decision to turn Malcolm over to the LOA in the first place. ETA: Oh well. I guess it was too much to hope for that they'd actually do something slightly original with this storyline.

Do we know for sure that Roy and Laurel are in NP or is that just spec? I didn't see them there in any of the pics. There was a quick shot of Laurel in the promo but she was wearing her Buckles, so it seems like that is from Starling City not Nanda Parbat because Oliver and Diggle are in regular clothes when they're chained up. Idk why she would be in costume in NP if Oliver is not. The only reason I could see Oliver and Digg going after Malcolm is if he threatens to expose Thea if they don't help him.

Well, this is is the first ep in awhile that didn't make me fly into a rage spiral. Amell and Holland were particularly good in their scenes, and I wished we'd had more of them vs Slade instead of the flashbacks. Slade's return felt wasted in this episode. Also, show, if you are going to make me sit through that many Lance Family Drama Hour scenes at least balance it out with more Felicity and Diggle. Lol at Laurel's, "You always knew I was headed towards the mask." These writers seem to think constantly TELLING the audience how awesome and destined-to-be-a-superhero Laurel is will somehow outweigh the fact that they have been and continue to SHOW us the exact opposite. So now that Thea knows (finally!) and hates Malcolm again, this show is really stretching it to have both Oliver and Thea think they still need his help. The only reason Ra's is a threat at all is because of Malcolm. How great a story would it be if Thea actually put on the wig and became Black Canary? THAT would make a good origin story and she has the perfect motivation for feeling the need to continue Sara's legacy. But it will never happen, because comics. Ray's suit looked so dumb in the previews. Not looking forward to sitting through that storyline at all.

I love Olicity and want them to be together 4eva but I'm perfectly okay with that tropey DiD 2.5 comic storyline not making it to the actual show. I disliked that scenario in the recent Green Arrow comics too, when Zehra was kidnapped. Just really over the girl getting taken to be rescued by the guy all together. Also, I like how Oliver apparently takes a break from his Felicity rescue attempts to take off his shirt and get in a workout. And that panel with Felicity and the red pen is cracking me up. It looks like she is cleaning her teeth with it.

Regarding the latest Ray spoilers - Does anyone else feel like they are watching basically the same hero origin story play out over and over again? Character A motivated by death of Character B, changes ways and becomes heroic. I know this is pretty much the formula for most superheroes but I guess I find it odd that they've decided to run so many of these character origin stories back to back. It feels really redundant at this point. And boring.

What is even the point of Malcolm being Thea's protector when the only reason she is in danger is because he made her a target?! It isn't even like it was some unintended consequence. He came up with and executed a plan to brainwash his daughter in order to turn her into the League's enemy. Argh, where is that .gif of Oliver angrily swiping stuff off a table when you need it.

Well, we had to get rid of Oliver to make LL remotely viable as BC so he's probably out again for Reasons so Ray can become Atom. Bleh. Not at all interested in any of this.

AND Roy knows what Malcolm did to Thea! How could he ever believe that when he knows Malcolm made his daughter into a killer and a target for the League?! Would a loving father do that to his child? It's like everyone in this episode aside from Sin, Felicity and Diggle contracted a severe case of the stupids.

I hate to burst the bubble, but I think that may have been Tatsu's voice? I rewatched the promo a few times and didn't think it sounded like Felicity, although my CW affiliate has terrible picture and sound quality so I'm not 100% sure.

I love Felicity Smoak. She really is what brought me into watching Arrow and I've felt, for the most part, the show has done really well by her character. I've never really had a moment of disliking her until this season and both moments have been related to Ray. The first was the weirdly flippant attitude I felt she had in 3.07, when QC became Palmer Technologies. I can't believe we didn't even get a small moment of her expressing that the change might be difficult for Oliver. I mean, if she brought it up with Oliver he probably would have brushed her off with an 'I'm fine,' but the fact that she didn't try at all felt very OOC to me. I guess I can fanwank maybe it happened off screen, but every time she or Ray twirled their fingers in the air I wanted to yell at the tv. The second time was the much discussed Ray/Felicity scene in 3.11. I feel like the lighting, direction, framing and underlying score are all meant to tell me, as a viewer, that this is a moment with romantic undertones. On watching it the first time my reaction was pretty much, "WTF, Felicity?!" and then "Gross!" And I HATE HATE HATE that the writers have made me react that way to one of my favorite female tv characters. The only reason to include that scene with those two making googly eyes at each other is so they can push a romantic relationship between them a few eps from now, even though the undertone in the scene makes no sense within the episode itself. The sad thing is the writers have had half a season to build up Ray/Felicity but they've managed to completely squander it. So much so, that they have shoehorn scenes like that one into episodes where they make no sense just so they can catch up to where the plot needs them to be.

Considering how MG tends to oversell stuff I'm expecting his 'mad as hell' is probably more like 'slightly perturbed'

And, really, if it's the National Guard he wants he is in the wrong office since that would be the Governor's responsibility not the Mayor's. I really wish they'd added a little bit more of a time gap between 3x09 and the current eps. It would make certain aspects of this plot a lot more believable, especially the fact that apparently things are so bad they need to call in military reinforcements. I mean, it's been like a week since Oliver went to fight R'as right?

Well, wealthy donors buying political influence I can certainly believe.

Really though, why is Ray even there at all? It makes no sense. Unless I missed something, he has no role in either city government or law enforcement. I am going to choose to believe that if Brick hadn't barged in the Mayor would have told Palmer to GTFO. Also, the lighting or editing or something feels really off in that clip. It just looks bad.

As much as I dislike it, I think this is just another example of the writers using a 'tell instead of show' shortcut to inform The Flash audience about Ray's character. Flash viewers are already familiar with Barry and Oliver (from the crossover) so this is an easy (and lazy) way to quickly communicate info about Ray to new viewers. Still super dumb, though.