Carrie Ann

Yes, I definitely think the writers were going for a Sawyer thing--the guy who proactively pushes people away because of his pain--and I couldn't stand Sawyer's one-note tone and dumbass nickname thing, either. But I think it's just a matter of opinion, because I know a lot of people find it charming or funny, at least. It says nothing to me about RG IRL.

But when did he call Emily that?

When did he call Emily "Blondie?" I don't really have a problem with him being dismissive of his character calling Felicity "Blondie" because he doesn't write for the show, and if he thinks it's in character, then...I agree. Also it was fanon for so long that Roy called her that, that I wouldn't have even noticed it. The constant one-note arrogant tone Rene uses, that I do notice. The Twitter follow thing is a bit more revealing to me, but could also just be an oversight, I guess. Anyway, hopefully it's a non-issue BTS, but even if it is, I don't frankly care because I'm hoping he's off the show by next season.

Yes, they were hooking up for a few months prior to the boat trip, I believe? This scenario is basically what I anticipated once spoilers started to come out, so the questions that remain for me are: 1) Are they all under a shared delusion (assuming that the five people in the photo above are all in this dream scenario--or at least Oliver, Thea, Sara)? Are they aware that this world they're in is not right, or when/how do they become aware? 2) How badly are the writers going to handle this? Will it be a realistic imagining of Oliver's life had he never gone on the Gambit? Where he is still a douche who never stopped cheating on Laurel, and his family is a mess, etc. etc.? Or will it be a retcon like 419? 3) How do they ultimately get out?

I could be okay with how they are around each other if we could see them showing any emotion w/r/t the other person when they are alone or with others. Just show them turning away and making a different face than the one they present to each other, etc. But because the show isn't giving us any kind of insight into any conflicted feelings--or really any feelings at all--I just feel at a loss for how these two people got to this point only six months after canceling their wedding or how they feel about it now. As I said after 505, it feels to me like the writers have stopped writing any kind of story between them at all (and are carrying on as though parts of their story never happened), and that's not acceptable to me as a viewer who invested in that story for four and a half seasons.

Yes. I feel like it would be easy for them to just avoid writing these beats entirely--they're avoiding so much else--so I don't see the point of doing it at all if it doesn't ultimately lead somewhere, sometime. I'm sure I've said that before though, about things that turned into a big bunch of nothing, so I can't say I feel super positive about it!

There was also the moment at the concert at the end where Felicity said, "my boyfrie--my--Malone," like she still doesn't want to think of him that way. I could have used a little more nuance to the line readings about dating/boyfriend/girlfriend talk in order to get more of a ship-vibe from it, but I don't really see the point of those moments if...there wasn't some kind of point? Not sure I'm making sense.

I think it's almost certainly referring to Malone. SA was giving his standard "Oliver isn't jealous! They're adults and friends and partners!" line, so I think the implication was that Malone being connected to Felicity, and Felicity being connected to the GA, is where the danger lies.

Wow, maybe he DOES get it!

He's not. Wil Traval retweeted this rather poorly-worded article that suggested he would be made recurring or that it had been "reported," but there was no actual report of that.

I disagree. I think he's had decent chemistry with most of the people he's been paired with besides KC (and Carly Pope, but they've barely interacted so that's not a surprise), even if I do prefer the chemistry between O/F to other pairings. I don't think Tina is planned as a long-term love interest for Oliver, or even a long-term character on this show, but if the writers continue not to write a story for O/F through 509, then I do assume she will be a short-term LI for him. I will be surprised (happily!) if they don't repeat the short-term LI patterns of S1 and 2 here (Helena (bad) / McKenna (good but wrong); Isabel (bad) / Sara (good but wrong)).

What I wouldn't give to have an Arrow S2 situation right now. Something distracting and entertaining and satisfying. As it stands, I feel much less inclined to give this show more time and chances. That goes for any show whose thesis seems to be "withhold the things people like." Today? And for the foreseeable future? I need you to just give me those things or, at the very least, earn my trust that you will return them if you take them away.

Maybe his negligence leads to something bad happening, because yeah, otherwise I can't see how anything could be worse than the deaths of two daughters (one of them twice!).

In that 42F video posted on Thursday, SA said that Quentin still isn't completely on the wagon and another bad thing would happen for him to hit bottom before he could start on his way back out of it. I'm kind of bummed because I had hoped this relapse story had mostly happened off-screen, and was relieved that we weren't going to be spending more time on it. But anyway, that explains the line in the synopsis for 507 (?) about Thea fighting for Quentin or whatever. Something bad will happen and she will try to keep him sober or help in some other way, I'm guessing.

Shipping part aside, I think it's kind of hilarious that she basically just reaffirmed the OP's point. Of course no one should "owe" anyone sex ever, but only one gender has been historically oppressed via sex, so yeah, I probably wouldn't care if Malone were saying it (except I would because *vomit*) because it wouldn't carry the same icky overtones??? It's almost impressive the way this tweet hits a sexist trifecta--the original line, the blindness to the difference between a woman or man saying the line, and the sneer at shippers. All these people need to stop talking.

I think it's basically going to be different because Susan won't betray him in the end. ETA: or what @apinknightmare said better.

Most of the time, MG blames viewers for not understanding his vision, but even he has occasionally acknowledged in the past that if people didn't get something, then that's on the writers. I don't blame BFS for cherry-picking someone in his mentions for whom he had a ready answer, but eventually, I hope they do all realize where they screwed up here in the early goings. Maybe if they realize it now, they can make adjustments at the halfway mark and beyond.

I think you can basically replace "unexpected reaction" with "unlike normal human reaction" going forward.

OMG. That is an important lesson to learn, and how else can you learn it than with positive reinforcement?

I kind of can't believe that Brian could say the journey of 505 was identical to the journey of the entirety of S3 and not even realize it. Like...glad I watched that whole shitty season for nothing at all. Anyway, I look forward to finally learning the point of this whole dumb season next week (from you all, I won't be watching). I'm sure it will be great and not at all repetitive.

Also, one-episode "emotional journeys" don't translate to season- or series-long emotional journeys, or explain why he regressed and continues to regress on some of these issues. Will he remember this trust thing next week? Who can say! It's like every episode I have to figure out what this version of Oliver understands about himself and the world. It's Memento, every week.

I can't do raisins on their own, but I am not mad to find them in baked goods. And yet, almost every other alternative you could use would be better. My go-to replacement is dried cherries, but apricots, chocolate chips, fresh fruit...almost everything is better than a raisin, which makes them useless.

Same, btw. I change my mind every few hours. :)

Aww, that's kind of a bummer if people are escalating, because I actually thought this second tweet was kind of endearing.

OMG this is so true. I've been having trouble connecting to Oliver this season too, and I think this is part of the reason. As I said in my earlier post, he was a completely different person in S4, but I can't...quite fix on who this S5 person is. It's kind of like S1 Oliver, kind of like parts of S3, but I can't quite locate it. There's nothing to point to and say, "Okay, see he's responding like this because of [x]." With Dig, it all goes back to Andy and I feel like even if I don't buy that or like it, I can connect the dots. But there is nothing that explains where this new Oliver came from. He wasn't even like this at the end of S4, so I can't point to the breakup or to Saint Laurel. He's just...like this now, for some reason, and because there's no emotion to tie it to, I don't think Amell is pulling it off at all. It just feels like he's been replaced by a pod person. Ooh, midseason twist!