Carrie Ann

If that is a wig on Willa, then she should definitely go for that cut someday because I think it's perfect on her. Anyone know when they start filming 319?

I don't really have a problem with there not being a lot of conflict with the STAR Labs group in Season 1, because they're still becoming a team, and the show hasn't done enough work building their bonds to really earn the emotion to be wrung out of conflict. Like, it was hard for me to feel much when it came to the Cisco/Ronnie thing, because it's been all tell when it comes to C/C/R. I haven't been shown enough of it, in-show. I just wish I was more interested in any of the individual relationships within the Flash Mob, the way I was with every side of the Oliver/Diggle/Felicity team in S1 and 2. (Sorry to compare to Arrow, but it relates to that great Boy Band observation above.) I think the writers are trying--they show these scenes of the team doing social stuff, and learning about each other, and having little moments of conflict that are pretty quickly resolved. I'm fine with all of that, I just can't bring myself to care much about those relationships for whatever reason.

No, that spoiler was about Roy--someone asked MG if we'd ever see Roy's apartment, and he said we'd already seen it in previous seasons, but we'd see it again in 316.

I think it's possible that they are actually going to go this direction. We've already seen RP in meetings with police and local officials about crime for some strange reason, so I could see it going an Iron Man Jr. route, where he basically presents himself as an asset of the city, where he'd work within the bounds of the law or whatever. That would make the distinction between Oliver's approach and Ray's approach pretty stark (heh) right from the jump. Plus, if we're headed that way with Oliver too, it would be sort of a way for Oliver to learn something from Ray (vomit). I am leaning toward the possibility that the gamechanger of Ep 18 is Oliver (and maybe everyone) having their cover blown publicly. It would certainly change the dynamic of the show, but I'm also not sure how that would work for someone like Oliver--who will one day run QC again, according to The Flash. One approach I could imagine is if they arrest Oliver and he won't talk, and then Roy and possibly others put on the suit and also get arrested, and the whole thing is like, how do you pin anything on one person if you don't know who did what? Then after the dust settles, going forward, Oliver could always just be like *wink-wink* I have no idea who the Arrow is, but he seems like he's doing good for the city, so I support him. It could just be like a known secret. Does that make any sense?

I thought Elena was great here. I liked her more here than at any time since very early in Season 4. She seemed like a real friend, whose every thought was about what Caroline needed from her, with none leftover for her love life or her own bullshit. It was lovely, and I don't know why it was so impossible for them to write this version of her for the past two seasons, but welcome back, decent Elena. Try to stick around for a bit.

So, my husband is just now watching the episode, and I must have missed this the first time, but when Oliver talks to Malcolm on the Sat Phone, Malcolm says: "You told me you lost your duel with Ra's, despite your willingness to kill him, because you hesitated. Blah blah you need to regain that killer instinct blah blah." Is that seriously the story the show is trying to sell? That Oliver hesitated in that fight, and that's why Ra's beat him? Because, um, that is not what I saw. I saw a dude who is not especially great at sword-fighting getting his ass handed to him, pretty efficiently, by a near-immortal sword-fighting master.

Um, shit, I kind of loved this episode. All the characters kind of seemed like the best versions of themselves, or at least the most In Character versions of themselves I've seen in such a long time. Elena was kind of perfect? What the fuck is this upside-down universe? Okay, I did hate the whole "you've been in love twice, if this doesn't feel exactly like that, then it must not be love!" thing, but thank God Stefan came to his senses. I probably imagined that look Damon got when Stefan said that he realized it was different, but could turn into something even better, right? Like, maybe he was realizing something? Yeah, I imagined it. But that can't take away from that Bamon reunion, which was the cutest scene on this show since that Maroline kiss in the street in Season 1. It was just so...light and joyful and I watched it a half dozen times in a row. Matty Blue Blue becoming a cop! And maybe Tyler too! Why can't this be the last season? They're ramping up to such a nice ending. I hate to see how they're going to drag this out for another season.

Right? Where did that come from? Brandon Routh should stop playing buttoned-up prepsters, because the slightly scruffy look works for him. He looks so much younger in that first pic.

Diggle in Nanda Parbat makes me happy. But yeah, I can't figure out the order of things, but if Oliver gives himself up for Malcolm, I swear to God...

I think the Amells probably took that picture together when they both happened to be shooting on the same day, and only posted it this week because it wasn't a spoiler anymore.

Yeah, I feel torn because of your second point. I want things to end happily for Oliver because I'm a sap and because I don't want to go into hiatus feeling bummed about the show. But I don't want to miss out on the best stuff for O/F either. So I thought about that moving to CC scenario too, and I think we may have talked about it briefly here, but I think my real ideal scenario is that Ray is going to CC, wants Felicity to come with him, and she ultimately decides not to go. So they break up, and there is hope in Olicityland, and we see Oliver beginning to pick up the pieces of his life again. But they aren't together yet, and we can save it for S4.

I honestly hope they don't, because I actually want to see that happen and see the beginning of their relationship, but knowing these writers, I don't think they can resist. But we'll see. If Ray is still going to be on this show next season, I think that could affect the plans.

Agreed. Plus, if some time passes between 315 and 316, then that stretches their relationship out a bit longer. I think the writers will want it to get a little more established so that it will have some narrative resonance when she breaks it off and we get five minutes of Olicity before hiatus.

Do we know which episode of The Flash PB is in? Because it would put my mind at ease to know that he's in 118 or 119. But otherwise--I can imagine MG thinking killing Quentin is an Epic Game Changer That Changes the Dynamic of the Show Forever (did I cover them all?) because the team would have no connection in law enforcement anymore, and would probably move more permanently in the Public Enemy direction without a sympathetic person in their corner. I hold onto hope that it's not happening, but I could see the reasoning.

Oof, that's tough. But I'd say Laurel's, because there are a million things wrong with it--both aesthetically and functionally. I mostly think Ray's helmet looks ridiculous, but otherwise, you know, it's a big stupid metal suit. It's gonna look dumb regardless. But we know that a BC costume can look good and seem functional, because Sara's did.

"i swear to god larry" is possibly my favorite thing to ever come out of this fandom. And I AM A HUMAN ENTITLED TO MY EMOTIONS might be second.

Wow, according to this, The Flash 118 (with Felicity and Ray) isn't going to air until April 14th, which is two weeks after Arrow 318. That must have been a pretty big rewrite in order to make it make sense in the timelines of both shows.

ALSO why would you go to the goddamn island with only equipment provided by Malcolm Merlyn? You know, you have this person on your team? Who is pretty good with stuff like this? Granted, she hates this whole stupid ass plan of yours, but I bet she'd be okay with providing you with stuff that would help you stay alive.

I don't want Iris to have a plot that's completely unrelated to the Flash, because that's what I'm here for. I'm interested in the story of the Flash, so for me, the reporter angle as handled in 114 was perfect. If Iris has an unrelated thing, it just marginalizes her further, in my view. What would have been ideal is if the show had established that a friendship had developed between Iris and Caitlin and/or Cisco while Barry was in a coma, and she was visiting him. Because then, after he woke up and "met" C & C, Iris would already be set in those relationships as well. Plus it would have led to some conflict when Barry woke up and they had to decide to keep his powers a secret from her; they could have felt conflict over their loyalty to Iris vs. Barry. But she really does need to be able to talk to someone about things. It can't be Barry or Eddie, for obvious reasons (and he's disconnected from the other characters too, so it doesn't solve the problem), and it kind of can't be her dad anymore either. So they've left Iris in a pretty isolated place, on a personal level, but at least they're rectifying the situation on a professional level. At this point, I would accept her developing a mentor/mentee type of relationship with Mason, and having one or two lines that indicate her emotional state. Once she learns the truth, I hope she will become more integrated with the STAR labs group, socially at least.

That was definitely an off-note for me in the episode. It is ridiculous to imply that the logical next step for a 30-year-old lawyer who took a few boxing lessons and has a general interest in "doing good" is to become a vigilante. I mean, my best friend fits that description. I wonder why she hasn't donned her mask and buckles yet? Oh, her sister probably needs to die first. That's the magic key.

Because of how hard I've hated every episode since the hiatus, this one was almost a relief, because there wasn't much to hate. Any episode without the Lesser Canary goes in the win column, at this point. I liked all of the Oliver/Thea pieces, except that I felt his reasoning about why they can't tell Laurel was weak, and I hope that Thea--of all people--will disregard it and realize that it's best to just tell people stuff that directly impacts them. I liked Slade better here than I did at any point in Season 2--maybe it was just nostalgia for a far superior season--but I was a little bummed he hadn't mellowed a bit on the whole Shado thing in his time in Purgatory. He did seem a little more circumspect in general, almost sorry about Thea, and it was nice to see that nuance from Manu Bennett who had basically no opportunity to demonstrate subtlety in Season 2. And in general, I felt like this was the first episode in awhile where the central thesis of the season was laid out in a way that I found clear and believable. I don't know why, when they've been hammering at this stuff for awhile, but maybe I feel like they're finally at the turning point, where something is actually going to happen that will affect Oliver's ~soul~ or whatever. I'm ambivalent about almost everything else. While it was cute to see all the characters a few years before we met them (and to see Andy Diggle for the first time!), the Dig and Felicity stuff felt a little silly. My headcanon is that Oliver didn't know who Felicity was when he took his laptop to her in 103, but I'll allow that he could have made the connection soon after. I'm sticking with that until proven otherwise, because it leaves that first meeting untarnished. Oh, hey Tommy! I still find you utterly useless, and not compelling in any way! But if you're coming back to life, I'll accept it as long as your purpose is to pull LL back over into her own storyline and away from the characters I actually care about.

Somehow Oliver is both the winner BY FAR, and yet also closely followed by Dig/Felicity.

Exactly my fear, because that's how these writers roll. They make characters react to things in ways normal humans would not, simply because it's necessary for their storylines to work. Eh, we'll see, maybe they'll make some comments in future episodes indicating that C/R are actually doing the long-distance thing, and that convo with Cisco was just meant to convey that Caitlin is okay with Ronnie being away from her, physically-speaking.

I hope it plays more like Quentin finally has to acknowledge what he's known all along.

I was OK with Iris being hesitant, because she hasn't been thinking about Star Labs as a target of suspicion before now. Yeah, there was the Wells press conference thing, but otherwise, what she knows of them is that Barry works with them and they saved his life. To me, this showed that she isn't stupid, because she quickly began looking at things with different eyes, and by the end was convinced that something is going on. I also liked that the suspicion was not directly through Barry, but actually through Caitlin/Ronnie. I don't know, I'm just really happy with how that played out. As for the first part--see, I didn't think the Clarissa/Stein thing was handled any better than Caitlin/Ronnie. Why wasn't Clarissa going to Pittsburgh? Why a big emotional goodbye, when she could just go there? Is it because the military would track her and find Stein? If so, I wish that had been spelled out a bit more, because I missed it. That's also why the Caitlin/Cisco conversation made no sense to me. I get it if she needs to stay in CC and Ronnie needs to go to Pitt, but wouldn't they still be in a relationship? Just long-distance? I don't get where they stand, but she sort of made it sound like they're not together until this Firestorm situation is figured out or something. I just don't believe that's how humans who love each other would handle that situation. I'd be on Skype every night and planning meetups every few weeks, and we'd get through it. But there's no way I'd just go on a break from my newly-back-from-the-dead fiance, just because things are complicated.