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I guarantee you've given it more thought than anyone associated with the show

I'm amazed at paid maternity leave not being a sure thing. I'd understand if it were limited for a short period but none at all is crazy - at least from my perspective. We get three months, provided you've been employed for at least a year at your current job. The first month is fully funded by the employer and for the next two months, the employer pays half of the salary and the government insurance chips in for the other half. I'm so sorry for the mothers who have to rush back to work after having a baby because they can't afford not to.

What about paid maternity leave? I read that's not guaranteed, is that true?

My 5.19 spec- Oliver yet again fails to mention that a big bad evil guy knows about the existence of his son and/or ask Felicity for help (simply because the writers like keeping Oliver stupid) and she gets upset about it because duh...she could offer a kind of protection with her cyber hacking abilities that he can't anddddd that prompts a conversation about why they broke up last time.

IF they do a FF to Oliver/BS then they're dumber than I thought lol

Every time I see a WM quote I want to scream ...

And all that precipitates and forms part of them finally talking/confronting the issues between them in 5.20? Gimme!

These are the people who had a vision of Shado appear and call Poppy Oliver's "love" when nothing onscreen ever suggested that before or after that scene, so them elevating SW's importance won't be a shock. Also we've had Sara break up with Oliver before the s2 I love you reveal and Ray break up with Felicity before the sex in NP so at this point I'm expecting Susie to be the one to end things with OQ and I ain't even mad because that's just how they do things around here. On the bright side maybe they'll continue the trend and follow it up with a similarly momentous Oliver x Felicity event. Look at me being all optimistic

Felicity Diggle Oliver (demoted because he's being a dumbass this season) Thea Hmm... I think that's it. I don't mind Lance but ever since Ra's spilled the beans about Oliver and he started that manhunt, he's on my shit list. It's one thing to hunt the vigilante but the way he treated Roy and then Oliver when he told him about Roy's supposed death really turned me off him. As for the rest of the Flarrowverse, it's hard to say as I don't really watch the other shows but from what I have seen I like Iris (or maybe its CP, she's adorable) and Cisco (in doses). Caitlin seems okay but kinda meh and I like Sara once she's on her own show and not stealing screentime from my faves over on Arrow. For favourite dynamics:- Oliver/Diggle/Felicity Diggle/Felicity Oliver/Diggle Oliver/Thea Diggle/Lyla Felicity/Thea (we've gotten a smidge but that's enough for me to be sure that I'd love more of them) Felicity/anybody really ('cept Ray, sorry @Mellowyellow, I know you love them together but s3 Raylicity prove to me that despite what people say EBR does not have chemistry with everybody). Barry/Oliver - I like the curmudgeonly veteran/cheerful rookie vibe they have going

Flashback sex? Well there goes my enthusiasm. Not all but definitely a good chunk. I can still see it being used to pivot back to Olicity but if it ends up being just some stupid ship-baity thing I will rage. On my own TL and not @anybody. But still I will rage. Why wait till ep 20 to clue us in to what happened between Oliver x Felicity between s4 and 5? God, how dumb are these people? Why do I care about this show?

I expect him to mention his dream of doing a live action version of Onomatopoeia on Arrow and say how he's come up with the perfect idea for it, then to look longingly at whichever Arrow EP is present. His interviews about how badly he wants to do an ep of Arrow seem to come across as moderately desperate to me, so I can't see him passing up the opportunity to mention it again.

Same. I saw the photo he tweeted with EBR and WS and thought "is Steve looking hot again?" lol

I read this and gave a deep mournful sigh. This post wrecked my hopes for more of not one, but two other series that I adore. Zane Holt being cast in Searchers makes the chances of a s4 of From Dusk til Dawn lower unless filming both series is staggered somehow because I can't see a s4 with no Richie. Then Rob Thomas' continued devotion to making things that are NOT more Veronica Mars is really bringing me down. Stop it RT. I'm at the point where each additional project he signs on to just drives me insane. For my own selfish needs, I wish he weren't so successful.

I enjoyed Daredevil s1 but couldn't make it all the way through s2. Adored Jessica Jones and haven't tried Luke Cage yet but never really felt excited about Iron Fist so with the bad reviews, I'll probably never get around to it now. I'm intrigued about the Defenders though, turns out I like the idea of a team up when it's not being done at inopportune times and messing up the one show I care about aka DCTv's yearly ep8 extravanganza and the myriad ways its managed to mess with Arrow over the seasons.

This is where I'm at. If they're going to write for plot (which I think everybody on this board has agreed is a distinct possibility) then just plot me an Olicity reunion. I'm not going to hold it to higher standards than the other SL's on this dumb but strangely addictive show. Arrow is not going to change and clearly I have a hard time giving it up and I'm happier when Oliver and Felicity are together so just hurry the hell up and maybe I can enjoy the last few eps of this season and start back watching live in s6.

Imo the ratings reflect what's going on now, so crappy ratings right now are fine by me because 1. the show has already been renewed so there's no worry about cancellation and 2. anything that signals to TPTB that a change back to OTA and Olicity (which is what I'm a fan of) are in order are to be welcomed. If and when Olicity do reunite, then I'd expect Olicity fans to want increased ratings to reflect the popularity of that move. Also the dismissive way that 'shippers' were referred to and dealt with earlier this season by MG and even SA, the fact that Oliver x Felicity's relationship has been dialed back to the point where Flashpoint erasure/gaslighting has been mentioned and the very obvious PR newbie push has combined to make me feel a little, make that, a lot bitter so lower ratings which shows that all the complaints are not stupid shipper bias but reflective of what the general audience enjoys makes me happy. That being said being rude to MG or anyone really on SM is not okay but sass and snark are fine, people just seem to have a problem knowing where that line is.

Also this wasn't just a lie once and it's over forever scenario. Oliver not only lied about the existence of his son but EVERY time he left to go see him or called him or bought something to send to him etc. He intended to remain a part of his son's life while marrying Felicity and continuing to spin a web of lies to her so he could maintain a relationship with his son and BM for the REST OF THEIR LIVES. Felicity wasn't just facing the fact that he'd lied about his son's existence but that he fully intended to do so FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES unless BM ever relented and said he could tell her, even though various other people already found out INCLUDING MALCOLM MERLYN. Felicity was looking into a future where the man she was about to spend her life with, intended to have a family with her and also have a secret one off to the side that he would make up reasons to visit FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. Accepting what Oliver did meant accepting that he'd intended to go into a marriage with the intention of keeping that part of his life separate from her FOREVER by continuing to ACTIVELY lie to her. Then there's the reasoning behind the need for a lie which was basically because BM said so - to me that was straight up more offensive that anything else. When faced with a choice between lying to his fiancee, the woman who was his partner in crime/life and the woman who'd kept the existence of his son a secret from him, Oliver chose to honour the BM's wishes. Now the reasoning behind that was so stupid and could never be articulated fully other than to say "SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF HIS CHILD" so I just ignore it because lbr the whole point of this story was to break Olicity up. So they contorted the characters and their thought processes just to make that happen. If not, they would acknowledge that Oliver could've simply told Felicity while appearing to honour BM's terms and she would've never known so allowing him to maintain his relationship with both his son and Felicity. Stupid stupid hacks

@legaleagle53 I think we're saying the same thing. Idk maybe I wasn't clear but I never suggested that whether her activities were legal was relevant, I was merely responding to the poster who said she didn't deserve to be fired because she'd done nothing illegal. As for her losing her job for unethical conduct, though not the one she was actually guilty off, that was fine by me and definitely one of those ends justify the means situation.

True but 'illegal' doesn't get you fired it gets you arrested. The punishment for being 'unethical' is losing your job and as we can agree, what Suzie did was unethical af. So imo, it's a question of whether the ends justify the means and to me in this situation, they do.

When I saw the clip from the Russia ep, that was pretty much my reaction too -not so much that she was directing come hither looks at Oliver but that her DD was going to be one of brash talking, hard fighting women who spoke archly all the time aka the in your face kind of sexy that dominates the comics world.

There are some people who only ever notice Oliver being called out when it's a Canary doing it aka every iteration of BC being touted as a much needed member of the team who'll finally call Oliver out, as though Dig and Felicity have been his enablers for the past few years.

Yikes. I'm at work and can't access it rn but that sounds beyond cringeworthy. So do we think that's the way she's meant to play it or just the newest bird trying to increase her chances of becoming a regular by snagging the main LI role?

I'd actually like it, if it led to an expose on everybody/somebody else - just full on expose Oliver's naivete with trusting/dating her for the stupidity that it is. That's exactly why I doubt it'll happen though, the show seems to insist on Oliver just being fast and loose with his secret, without a thought as to the potential consequences to anyone else - which is fine if he's the only one with something at risk but he let Lance in to the new Arrow cave mere episodes after his vendetta against him drove Roy out of town, had no problem with BM just waltzing in and continues to date Shady Suzie who has already done wrong by his sister and is actively looking into his secrets - but the truth is, logic has never played a part in how a story unfolds in Arrow so there'll either be fallout or there won't and the sole determinant will be what story they're currently telling, logic be damned.

Just so you know, in my head, you sounded exactly like Lilly Kane when I read this ;)

@kariyaki sorry about the lack of spoiler tags and thanks for the helping hand. I'm hard core judging myself for the mess up here