Carrie Ann

Yep, I think it's for sure an O/F scene, because I think earlier this week he called the scene with the two of them his favorite scene coming up, and now he's saying this. So, yay.

Hey, guess what, I hated this episode. But, a couple things I haven't seen mentioned here: --Felicity is...not chewing exactly, but playing with a red pen against her lips at her desk in her first scene. Which is nice, because the second half of this episode makes me seriously wonder how they plan to sell her epic love for Oliver after he gets back. And when they plan to get around to letting her say and/or show that? Do they think one tear and a couple of scenes where she seems sad are enough for me to understand her feelings or frame of mind right now? Because I don't. And I've seen some people say that those two little Raylicity moments were not flirty, but in my opinion, they were. If Felicity were not OK with that vibe with him all of a week after Oliver died, she would have shown that. Moved away, dropped her smile when she realized what was happening. That's not what I saw. Ray explicitly stated his interest in her, and how he wants to be a vigilante not to protect the city, but to protect her. She smiled back, all soft and sparkly-eyed, and kept her face inches from his. And in the scene at the end, she's all up in his personal space, bending in closer to talk to him. That's...nope. --Malcolm seemed pleased with Thea's standing her ground at the end, and I have to believe that it's because that's ultimately what he wanted, right? The Quentin thing is just...it's disgusting to me, and I'm furious at every member of Team Arrow for it. I've been saying since sometime in November that I felt worried they were sacrificing the characters we love and the things that work on the altar of Laurel and Ray, and yep, that's happening. Now I'm just sort of wondering how many more episodes it will take with Felicity acting out of character before I just accept that I don't understand or particularly like her anymore. And my anger at Team Arrow is just putting me more firmly on Oliver's side, which is ridiculous because no one's even in conflict with him yet. But when they are...! I just sort of feel like, even if he has to work with Malcolm or Ra's or Amanda or whomever, I'm going to take his side because I hate everything else that's happening here right now. TELL THEA. TELL QUENTIN. Stop being such horrible friends, JFC.

Ah, Routh in a suit. Crashing back to Earth about the Dyla wedding. But I can still hope for longing looks at least.

Red dress!

I found the amount of pre-shipping that went on with Snowbarry in The Flash fandom very off-putting. Olicity was a factor, as I think many fans saw Caitlin as the Felicity analog--the sciency girl team member, so they just projected stuff onto Barry/Caitlin before the season even premiered. But there's also, you know, something else going on there. But I agree with Shanna: Because implying that people who disagree that Westallen is written in stone have ulterior or subconscious motivations is unfair. So far in this thread, I see a lot of moderate disagreement ONLY with the assertion that Westallen will absolutely be endgame, or that they've already established a great basis for a romantic relationship. And both of those are up for debate. And not that anyone should have to establish "cred" as far as this goes, but I have zero interest in Snowbarry personally, and am tentative about Westallen because I just haven't seen enough to get excited about. I'm slow to ship. I like Iris, and I hope to get invested in Barry/Iris because I would prefer to watch that.

Yep. This is something I'm dreading, and not just about Laurel. The way they're making 3B sound, it's like it'll be Oliver vs. Everyone Else (the dictatorial thing won't work anymore, etc.), and it's frustrating for me as a viewer who loves Oliver to feel like the big moral of the season is that Oliver is a big dummy and everyone else--including people who've been doing this for all of three minutes--is right. I just don't see how having him come to that conclusion, after reversing two seasons worth of growth, is something we're supposed to cheer for. So I understand that we don't know how things will actually play out. But I'm saying this after absorbing all of 3A plus all the interviews and hints and spoilers we're getting: the EPs are fully invested in building up Laurel and Ray, and my personal opinion is that they are doing that by tearing Oliver down and by making the other characters servants to Laurel and Ray's arcs. That's what I saw in 3A; and they're making 3B sound like second verse, same as the first. If that's not the case, wonderful. But I came into this season with a great deal of good will and faith in the writers, and it's gone. I would love to believe they will turn it around in 3B, and if they do no one will be happier than me. But I feel like I've invested in enough TV shows in my life to see the writing on the wall here--as far as this season goes. I think it's a write-off, for me, and my only real hope now is that they can recover for Season 4. Man, I know that sounds pessimistic, but I swear it's just me trying to be realistic about my own hopes for the season.

This is the kind of thing that bugs me about TVD--they take technicalities and make them meaningful, which is a silly shortcut to conflict or development. (Ex.: Elena actually met Damon first OMG that means she loves him more; Stefan "killed" Enzo and that's why Enzo hates him.) Elijah didn't lie about killing Tatia. The Elijah who has spent the last 1,000 years with Klaus didn't intentionally keep that from him. The newly-vamped, in-shock, grief-stricken, devastated Elijah made a quick decision, and had no way of undoing that decision later. So we'll see how this plays out--and I should say that I have no problem with this seriously messing with Elijah himself--but I personally don't believe that it says anything about the person he is. Committing a heinous act when he was not in control of himself, and then having the memory of that act removed from his mind, doesn't actually change the person he became. I'm assuming that's the conclusion this character arc will reach, but he will always have this guilt and pain now, and that's fine too. I love Elijah, and wouldn't mind seeing him a bit more dangerous again for awhile.

I agree. I have no doubt Klaus once loved Tatia--and last season, that would have been enough to make Elijah's unknowing "betrayal" unforgivable. I find that version of Klaus exceedingly tiresome, and I'm glad TO has finally allowed him to grow past that. Because yes, it certainly didn't feel like Klaus held on to Tatia as some sort of ideal or his One True Love or anything. He had no real feelings for Katherine or Elena that we ever saw, aside from selfish desires to control them so that he could access their blood. Elijah was the one who gravitated toward the doppelgangers, and this revelation that he killed Tatia almost makes me appreciate that a little more. Like he loved Kat and wanted to protect Elena, and maybe one element of that was about subconsciously trying to get absolution. Anyway, I'm not completely sure Klaus is 100% over this, but at least he didn't immediately disavow his brother. Progress.

My best friend watched the show in a week and felt exactly the same as you, and I totally get it. I even agree, though I think for those of us watching in real time, talking about it all through hiatuses, etc., it feels less sudden. I found the scenes in 223 acceptable in the flow of things because, a) we didn't know for sure that Oliver really, really meant what he said, and b) I found it very believable that he had feelings for her the whole time, that had been building and he had been fighting, but that in those intense moments of the last few episodes, he just sort of let them through. And maybe they surprised even him. But going from that to the premiere was jarring to say the least. And it wasn't even necessary. We were robbed of five months of touchy-feely flirtiness just so the writers could put as much strain on O/F as possible. And now it looks like after nine episodes on that arc, they're going to cycle right back to the beginning of it. They could have just had those nine episodes be about drawing them together, then tear them apart in Ep 9, have Oliver come back committed to only being the Arrow, and it all would have been more angsty, more satisfying, and more entertaining to watch. Alas.

It's almost certainly the premiere event for 50 Shades, which opens the following weekend.

This was in response to my post, so just to be clear: that was from a few weeks ago, before these episodes, and I was responding to a quote from Julie Plec about Cami meeting Hope. It was only a hint at that point, so I was just speculating. And I don't think Klaus has any reason to distrust Cami at all, but I still stand by my belief that they never should have let anyone else in on the secret--it's clearly about to come out, and the more people who know, the higher the risk of that. And Klaus can compel the memory away, but Finn is still a witch, and who knows what he could do to Cami to try to track down this secret?

Guys...I kinda ship Gia and Marcel now. She was running her fingertips over his head,which was in her lap! This is not something you do with a pal. Does she just have chemistry with everyone? I don't know. But I am into her and I want to keep her forever. Otherwise, I loved this and last week's episode, which I watched back-to-back. I like the way they are playing with the character/relationship dynamics. It's something TO has always done well, and TVD still does sometimes as well--revealing secrets or big moves and then allowing its characters to surprise you sometimes. Klaus's forgiveness of Elijah wasn't all that surprising to me, but Elijah's emotion around it, and how it ended Finn's spell, was surprising. Marcel proving himself a good leader again, showing a new, stronger side of Gia and Josh. Jackson being in love with Hayley but understanding he can't make her love him too. Finn being merciless, even when it comes to his mother. Ack, love everything. Kudos to the writing staff and the whole cast (yes, even LP and PT who I know are not popular), because I am so enthralled with everything right now.

Also, the writers can do the same thing they're doing on Arrow, which is to say "Never say never!" to keep stringing people along on both sides. The story's not over until it's over! So they can put Barry with all sorts of other love interests, in between periods with Iris. And no, I don't think any of these EPs is concerned enough with the optics of their diversity and marginalization issues, so I wouldn't count on that as a factor for them. I don't feel connected enough to any of these characters to ship anyone--for me, GG has better chemistry with Stephen Amell than with any of his actual love interests so far, but I just think I need more time to get invested. But I do personally prefer CP as an actress, and I think there's a lot of potential for the growth of the B/I relationship. For now, I'm most invested in the Joe/Barry relationship, and hopeful that we'll get that level of emotional resonance with other characters down the line.

No, this was after he got into a back-and-forth with another fan asking why, if he loves his female characters, they continue to die for nothing, etc. So this guy was backing him up. I'm sure MG just didn't look at this guy's timeline; just responded to a tweet directed at him without giving it much thought. But even if this dude was a progressive kind of guy who didn't spend 50% of his social media time attacking feminism, men don't get to absolve other men of sexism. Like...that's just not your place. Even if it had been a woman, I would roll my eyes at his thanking people for recognizing his goodness. But this is just another example of MG just not really getting it, and being kind of willfully blind to valid criticism. This is why I don't follow him on Twitter or Tumblr. I see what is posted here and most of the time I wish I hadn't.

Wow, that dude is a misogynist garbage pile, and his timeline is just a string of anti-feminist, anti-woman word vomit, interspersed with fandom crap. Sweet move thanking him for acknowledging your anti-feminism, MG.

I feel so torn about this, because as I have said probably too many times, I give zero fucks about Tommy. Not flashback Tommy, not present-day Tommy, not Zombie Tommy. I sorta liked Ghost Hallucination Tommy in 209, but that's it. And I would hate the concept that yet another man gets to defy death, but no women ever do. But part of the reason I have no interest in a Tommy return is that I feel like his "slot" in Oliver's life has been filled by characters whose relationships to Oliver are much more appealing to me (Diggle, Roy, Barry, Felicity, etc.), and there is still a lot of development to be done there. I don't want more time taken away from deepening those relationships for Tommy, in any capacity. On the other hand--if Zombie Tommy happened, I feel like his return would actually center on Laurel. Because the EPs know that she has no other appealing relationships; no believable bonds to anyone aside from Quentin (arguably), but many people did like her with Tommy. And this--assuming Tommy were to come back "wrong"--would actually be the kind of story I could get involved in. I would root for Tommy to get better, so I would be rooting for Laurel to succeed in helping him. Somehow, despite feeling indifferent-to-hostile about those two characters, I can imagine a scenario in which I would enjoy a storyline with them. I don't get it.

I find him super enjoyable, but I want him done at the end of this season because there's no way to maintain this without getting tedious or humanizing him. I don't want that from Kai. Hopefully some other CW show will see Chris Wood's appeal and cast him accordingly.

I kinda think Kane's playing a long game here--I think he's recognized that Clarke and the kids have some knowledge of the ground that he lacks, and he realizes that the kids (and probably some of the Ark people too, at this point) see Clarke as the leader. She's the person they trust. So I feel like he's sort of biding his time, throwing his lot in with the popular side for now. But I expect him to make a power grab again sometime soon.

I think she's the girl who was keeping watch in the scene where Jasper, Miller, Monty, and the Mount Weather girl (sorry, can't remember her name) broke into that office. When they went back out the door, she was gone, and at the end of the episode we see her presumably having her marrow drained. I think...?

We don't know what her title was or what all her job entailed in S1--she called herself "just an IT girl," and I have no doubt she could have gotten a better job somewhere. But at the same time, someone sent Oliver to her, and then Walter got the same info when he needed someone to track Moira's activity. So at least we can assume that her boss, maybe her boss's boss, knew what they had in her. Someone there knew she was the best. So, yeah, she hadn't founded a tech startup, and she wasn't in charge of some special division with the government, but she was working at a giant multi-national conglomerate, and within that organization, she was recognized as the best asset of the IT department. I would wager that she was being put on projects that utilized her skills, and not just answering Help Desk calls. And had Walter stayed in charge at QC, it may only have been a matter of time until she was promoted to a position in line with her skills and intelligence.

I read that response differently--the question was whether the show was going to get any lighter, and his response of "have you seen this show?" meant that it's dark and going to stay dark. But I just disagree that it has ever been as grim as the stretch from 220-310. I mean, Tommy was the other major death on the show, and that happened in a finale, so there wasn't as much of a grief hangover as there was after Moira, Sara, now Oliver. As far as the rest of his responses, I wonder if he realizes that he contradicted himself w/r/t Malcolm's plan for Oliver. On the one hand, someone asks why Malcolm would send Oliver if he thought he would be killed, to which MG says Malcolm doesn't give a shit. Then later he says that Malcolm was counting on Oliver beating Ra's. Ummm...?

This picture of CH, SA, and DR is so cute.

This is actually a list from the Everwood forum here, which is where I learned about it too--not sure of the original source. If you visit that thread, you can see my horror in action: 1. Madison returning to Everwood 2. More of a focus on Delia 3. The wedding of Andy and Nina 4. The coupling of Ephram and Hannah 5. Jake no longer being on the show 6. Andy's dad visiting again 7. Nina pregnant with Jake's child

I know! Precious Ephram. Did you ever read what their plans were for a season 5, though? Shudder. I wonder how he and BR know each other.

Brandon Routh tweeted this pic of him with Gregory Smith (who's directing 315) yesterday: They're in the lair which gave me pause for a minute, but the facial hair and outfit make me think BR wasn't filming that day and just wanted to say hi to Gregory. Though I suppose they could have been doing rehearsals...