Carrie Ann

Yeah, it's 122, and I agree that at that point, he's at least trying to help Barry. Whether of his own volition or because it's a part of his LoA mission, I don't know.

I still wonder about Stephen's tweet at the beginning of 320 filming--the direction: "When you see Stephen, go limp." Not sure who that would be, but I think it was the same day as the body-mounted camera shot, so I'm guessing it does happen at the hospital? Malcolm is the only person who would feel Thea's death that personally, but he can't be at the hospital, so the other options are Laurel or Felicity? Could be Malcolm somewhere other than the hospital though.

I agree that something seems a little...not quite right with the story we've been given, and that's understandable. But I also think they did such a good job this season building Roy into a really good part of the team and a good character, and CH really did his best work. It sort of feels like a decision that was made when Roy wasn't working so well. And if CH is still available someday down the road, and they figure out a way to bring him back, I'd love to have him back. It came out of nowhere for me, but like I said in the episode thread, Roy was one of the only things I unequivocally loved this season, and I'm going to miss him.

The hair is another giveaway that it's CL or her stunt double. Remember, LL's BC wig is straighter because it's more feminine and modern! :)

We're not going to see Felicity's apartment for the rest of the season according to MG, so...maybe they all move in with the Michaels-Diggles!

Awww, maybe Felicity is going to take Thea home, and maybe live with her or at least take care of her, to make sure she's okay after being LPed.

I like a lampshade when it's followed up with some remediation of the problem they're addressing. Like, okay we hear you, we kinda screwed up. If you're going to lampshade Ray's creepiness, it would have been better if Felicity said, "It's not as creepy as it sounds." And then Ray said, "Actually, it kind of was, sorry about that." And she said, "Okay yeah it was super creepy but I got past it." It doesn't make it better, it doesn't erase what happened. But it forces RAY to acknowledge the wrongness of his own actions, and it allows Felicity to have feelings about those actions that are (I feel) true to her character. This, like the question on 319 about the Star Labs prison, felt almost more like a jab at fans who are disturbed by this stuff, rather than a Mea Culpa.

I don't know what to think about this episode. I guess I liked it--there were a lot of good moments, and the last 15 minutes really were surprising, so that's good! While Quentin was trying to bully Thea about Oliver, his argument was you know, your boyfriend just got hurt in prison and...it shoulda been your brother instead? How is this going to get Thea to come around to Quentin's perspective? I'm so sorry they're doing this to QL, honestly, it's ridiculous bullshit. The Ray/Felicity/Oliver stuff was kinda muddled, to me. Felicity seemed WAY over the top concerned and schmoopy about Ray for someone who has also apparently realized she's in love with this other dude. I don't know. The see-sawing back and forth between cooing and hanging all over Ray just kinda undercut the O/F stuff that was also happening. I think it was supposed to be the other way around, but to be honest, that's not how it came off for me. It's fine, I know it's over next episode, but I wish the buildup hadn't been so...off. I'm really sad about Roy. Glad he didn't die in-universe, but he may as well have, and that sucks because he was one of the only things I've liked about this season.

Ray is totally going to ask about the fern and Felicity is totally going to have to explain it and I hope he cries, just a little bit. ETA: Or...it's gonna get destroyed by the cops. Now I made myself sad.

I couldn't really see anything there, but the smart move would have been to start clearing things out as soon as the police had Oliver. Haha too bad all these characters are idiots this season.

With the thing about Oliver smiling in Season 4, I don't think he's going to be in the LOA by end of 323. But I think we're looking at him being in NP for 321, possibly even almost all of 322, coming back at the end maybe for whatever he's doing in CC in 122. (And hurray, two more episodes of Oliver being sequestered from the team.) The writers here have no problem shoving a whole story into a half an episode (Malcolm training Oliver, anyone?), so seeing the LOA through Oliver's eyes could take place entirely in 321 and I wouldn't be surprised at all. I mean, I guess I wouldn't be surprised no matter what, at this point. This writing staff needs a come-to-Jesus retreat with Greg Berlanti during the hiatus to get their shit together.

HAAAAAAAAAA. Yes, good, great work all around gentlemen, that's a wrap on the Black Canary origin story.

I've seen a few gifsets with the P&P quote over the years, from different fandoms, so I wouldn't be miffed, @kismet. I liked the one you linked though--very pretty editing job.

Wow, yes! I don't know why I'm so obsessed with alternate Laurel origin stories when I honestly DGAF about her character. Maybe it's because I'm continually astonished at how the writers basically made the wrong choice at every turn with her. But anyway, the Lances should have lived in The Glades. It gives Laurel a stake and an ownership in this fight that Oliver doesn't have. It makes her whole CNRI thing more personal. To live in The Glades, we'd need Dinah to have a lower-paying job. So let's say, maybe a social worker or an agent for CPS or something; and she studied martial arts to protect herself and maybe even some of the people she worked with sometimes. Not a full-blown vigilante, but you know, a few beat-downs here and there. And then she could have taught her kids martial arts (or sent them to lessons) from a young age too--tough neighborhood, tough world, gotta protect yourself. Laurel grows up street-wise. And she and Sara are both scholarship kids at the prep school, and they both have an innate disdain for the rich kids, but then these charming a-holes end up sort of enamored with them, and eventually they come around and accept that some of the rich kids are okay and at least they throw good parties. And Laurel sees the shit both of her parents have to deal with in getting criminals through the justice system, in helping victims, and decides to go to law school, so she can come back and help people. And the whole time, she's moving up in the ranks of her kung fu school, mentors are taking her under their wing (ha ha), etc, so that she is already doing some vigilante stuff by the time Oliver gets back. They are at the same level, fighting skills-wise, and they each have their own missions and motivations and methods for being vigilantes. Now, the problem still remains that the character I just described would be a poor fit for KC. But yeah, Daredevil gest it right when it comes to a lawyer/vigilante with a believable backstory and personal drive, and it's honestly just not that hard to come up with this stuff. The Arrow trio clearly spent like ZERO time thinking about Laurel/BC when conceiving the show, other than as Oliver's One True Love.

Paul's responses were pretty cute too. This is such a sweet cast. They've kept me around way longer than I would have been if they weren't so charming and talented.

I'm not a fan either, but I think RPF has always existed in fandoms, and it always will. It is annoying when things are tagged incorrectly though--was this one not tagged as RPF?

Right--I think this is a promo to play up specific elements of these three shows (even if they didn't mention the spinoff here). It bugs me because a) I think it was super cheesy and too long and somehow no real concept other than "throw these people in a cage!" and b) because I can't remember any other promo of this magnitude, so it's a bummer that it focuses on villains and side characters instead of the bulk of the series regulars on both shows. We'll never get a Team Arrow promo like this, for example (not even talking OT3--I'm talking like a full-on promo with everyone, Laurel, Roy, Thea, whomever).

Was Ray's suit finished by the TCAs? For some reason I thought it was still being tweaked at that point. Don't really care when or why it was done this way--it is comic nerd masturbatory fantasy shit and the opposite of why I watch these shows. But a good reminder that the things I like are absolutely not the priority.

Um. WTF is that?

Oh, I don't find it surprising that people only watch TVD (or any show, really) for a ship--I just don't think those people are entitled to the show going in the direction they want it to, even if ND was sticking around. And that's the tenor of a lot of those tweets--that JP should somehow have forced Nina to stay, or that she should have just ended the show, because that's what they want because of the ONE aspect of the show they care about. As JP pointed out, there are seven other regular cast members, who all have storylines and fans. I honestly don't think Delena fans are a majority of TVD viewers anymore, if they ever really were. But even if they are, you know, all they can do is stop watching if that is the only thing they like about the show--and they really should.

Ummmm I also just got that pun.

I'm really into Daredevil. We're on Episode 10, so only four to go and I'm already sad about it. I will say that I've found my attention drifting in the last few episodes and I think there are a few reasons for that. One, I'm not AT ALL interested in Fisk or what D'Onofrio is doing there (based on what I'm seeing online, I think that's an unpopular opinion), so the episode centered on him and his flashbacks was not my favorite. Two, the flashbacks in general are starting to bore me. Hey, guess what, they bore me on Arrow and they always have. I can understand their value, in both cases. I just wish that when it's not strictly necessary for origin story reasons, they'd leave them out, or limit them to just one scene for character development. Three, I'm dissatisfied with what they're doing (or not doing) with the women on this show. I love Claire, I like Karen, I can't stand Vanessa. In general, there are very few women here, and they are all in the love interest position, or in subservient positions to men. And there were a number of places the EPs could have gender-swapped to have more women around. Ben Urich--I'm sure he's a comic character? But he could have been gender-swapped and we would have had another strong female, a women helping women storyline, and passed the Bechdel test. And I fear they are going in a double triangle direction here, and I see nothing on-screen that calls for romance between Karen and Matt. I know it's in the comics, I get it. But they have no chemistry for me, and I actually do like the dynamic with Foggy and Karen. So a triangle with Matt in between them would make me dislike both Matt and Karen more--just like Oliver/Laurel w/r/t Tommy who I liked WAY less than I like Foggy. I have my fingers crossed that the EPs will pay attention to what works on screen and avoid going there in S2.

Haha, I haven't felt compassion toward JP in a long time, but that kinda brought it back for me. I mean, yes, she made the Delena bed and she effed up with Enzo completely, and I don't feel bad for her for having to deal with the fallout. But people are cuckoo crazy, and all that craziness does is put me on her side. And it's a great reminder that no matter what fandom factions you belong to, it can completely color your view of the majority feeling. Because that person saying people only watch TVD because of Delena...I don't know anyone who fits that description, IRL or on the internet. But I'm sure it feels that way to people in deep in that fandom.

I agree that Leah Pipes does fine--I just think the character is a poor fit for this show. Cami just doesn't have the depth or emotional heft the others have. And I can see the idea of having a lighter-hearted, more down-to-earth character on the show, but frankly, Davina* and Gia** both fit that bill better than Cami does. They're both more complex characters whose rough edges blend better with the others. Cami just doesn't have those sharp notes, the deep-down bitterness, the rage. There's just something missing. And she has reason to be that way--what happened to her brother, her uncle, what's happened to her. But they just write her as this dishrag. I don't actively hate her or resent her presence or anything, but I know that when she's not in an episode, I don't miss her a bit. *I think Danielle Campbell is a weaker actress than LP, and still I am way more invested in Davina than Cami, and the writing for her character has a lot to do with that. Davina also has appealing chemistry with Marcel, NuKol, Josh, Bex. I don't feel much chemistry--platonic or romantic--between Cami and others. **Gia is a great example of the opposite--of the actress doing all the heavy lifting, while the writing mostly fails her. There is almost nothing to this character--no backstory, really. She's a musician and seemingly an orphan/runaway, right? Otherwise, we really don't know a whole lot about her. But from the first moment, I felt deep sadness in her, a desire to connect, to belong somewhere. And her chemistry with other actors has been immediate and excellent. Obviously with Elijah, and Marcel as friends, but even with someone like Josephine. Like, I believe this ancient, jaded woman would be taken with Gia, because who wouldn't be? She's the best. That's why the scene in this episode where Gia has to sell the Great Haylijah Romance was so off-putting. I believe Gia would feel lesser than Hayley--she clearly has confidence issues and she got with Elijah knowing he was heartbroken. That's fine. But like I said, having her say that to Hayley, and having Hayley accept it as though it's true and correct just makes me dislike Hayley and feel pissed at the writers for putting Gia in that position. Fingers crossed the EPs like Gia as much as I do, and treat her better going forward.

After seeing people here talk about the darkness, I adjusted my picture when I watched it last night. Just upped the brightness/backlight, which I never do. But it helped for sure.