ComicFan777

I would like to think that Oliver had Rory stay behind because he wanted to have the most invincible newbie (at least when he is in his suit) stay behind to protect Felicity.

I hope you are right that bashert is only referring to black canary mantle. In the last scene with Oliver and Tina, I thought it looked like Tina had hearteyes for Oliver when she smiled but Oliver looked like he had poop in his pants and he didn't know when was a good time to leave.

This whole bashert thing makes me think that GA and BC could be set up as "soulmates" and Oliver ends up with Felicity just like Dawson and Joey called themselves soulmates but Joey ends up with Pacey. I like that towards the end of the last two episodes, we've had Oliver/Felicity scene just talking to each other. It's nice to see.

I think that if Tina doesn't live up to Oliver's expectations of St. Laurel, Oliver goes to Thea and says, "I made this stupid promise to Laurel...Could you come back on the team and be the black canary? I promise I won't hit on you..."

I'm having a hard time understanding this recent Oliver with his combination of misguided optimism in trusting random strangers because of a promise he made to St. Laurel (who he didn't seem to care much about for the last 4 seasons) and defeatist attitude that he can kill or whatever because it's too late for him but not too late for others to change. Oliver used to be broody, but this combination seems like an odd mix to me. I was unimpressed by Tina - she was meh to me. I was really bored with her storyline. TBH, I would have been more interested in how they would have integrated the astronaut ninja into the team. Felicity would have a scientist friend to geek out with, but at the same time she'd be a ninja, too -- such a cool combo in my book. I really like Talia. I am finally interested in flashbacks. I liked the Felicity scenes and Rory works so well with Felicity. "Mini" Felicity was amusing. I am really interested in Felicity's dark arc.

I was a little surprised because I expected the comic fans to be rejoicing, but I saw quite a few comic fans actually unhappy with Tina being Dinah Drake because they felt duped that a random person was slapped with the comic canon name and meta cry to fit the part when it's the name that belongs to Laurel's mom.

It feels like the writing is on the wall with Tina actually being Dinah Drake with a real canary cry, a backstory very similar to comic Dinah Drake, and having an instant connection with Oliver (almost sounds like destiny) combined with the direction the show has taken this season towards action and comics. I hope that the non-comic canon characters aren't going to be sidelined to give more screentime for comic canon ones. With every new mask, it feels like they are moving towards fully rebooting the show to all comics. If that ends up being the case, I won't be sticking around to watch a show I barely recognize anymore.

Yeah, but if we go by ratings as indicating the general audience - it's slipping, so not so great either. If social media is mostly diehard fans and if it's important to the network, that might dwindle too.

Even if the comic fans support nuBC as Tina/Dinah Drake, is that really enough to carry the show? Laurel fans are long gone. I'm sure at least some of the olicity fans will be gone instead of sticking around to see whether a GA/BC romance happens or a dreaded love triangle - it sounds like a train wreck. Who's left? Are they really that confident that basically a portion of comic fans and action lovers will be enough viewership? Unless they are planning to finish in S6, the direction of the story is really baffling me.

I think one of the comic origins (?in the 70's) for BC is that Dinah Drake was married to Lance, he died, and she went on to meet/date GA when she was moving on. This also seems to be to get Tina's back story to align with comic Dinah Drake's - Vince is basically comic Lance (assuming Vince is someone she dated or married).

Yeah, when I see "essence of ass", I think butt fart which seems to describe Wild Dog pretty well in earlier episodes.

It would be kinda funny if JH took her acting tips from watching Laurel and that's why she's got some common acting choices as KC.

If Tina's attitude is anything like Laurel or Wild Dog, I don't want her around.

Nope, they think Tina will become evil or get killed, then magically BS comes back as a redeemed superhero. I did find it amusing though that when I was lurking in the forum that shall not be named, some mentioned that they were at the edge of their seats, at the end of episode 5.10 when Oliver was telling Felicity that he wanted to find a new canary and when he was gazing at Felicity with heart eyes for so long, they were holding their breath, thinking that he was going to ask her to be the new BC at that moment. Funny that comic fans perpetuate the idea of Felicity being the nuBC even though MG shut down that thought every time.

From what I've read, some comic fans want to give Tina a chance because they've been really happy with this season so far with all the comic-booky stuff and want to see BC/GA and don't really have much options now that Laurel is dead - they will accept any canary now. Another theory they've tossed around is that Tina is temporary nuBC while Black Siren gets redeemed, then the true canary will come back to fight beside GA because you know, Oliver wanted her close by to see if there is any "Laurel" left in her, so they seem to be ok with Tina being nuBC in the meantime.

0.56 for 5.10, so getting closer...

I don't think Tina will always look angry. She will alternate between angry expression and smirk.

With Tina the meta super fighter and Curtis with his fancy new tech weapons, the writers are going to have to write more powerful villains or else Team Arrow is going to seem too powerful for street thugs. Heck, if Tina's scream is as powerful as Black Siren's, she could wipe out criminals from a distance so no need for Green Arrow anymore.

Curtis's new tech weapons might require CGI, too. Flying T-spheres?

Crackpot theory (since in comics Ragman's suit absorbs souls): maybe Rory meets someone while they are in Russia who knows about the rags - he finds out that the source of his powers are all the souls from Havenrock were absorbed in his suit, at some point says a prayer for the dead as a form of repentance for somehow using their souls for his suit, and decides to stay in Russia for the time being with the wise person to learn more about how he can free them...

Because I can't have good things...

So sad. Ragman is my favorite newbie.

...as superficial as it is, maybe they just want to see a pretty girl in leather that can fight and has a good set of lungs...

...maybe Lance will quit drinking for good and goes to Vegas this summer to win Donna back and we hear about them being happily married in Vegas next year...it leaves his story open-ended so he can come back whenever...

It looks like the midseason premiere was the lowest this season. The 18-49 demo technically dipped into the mid-0.5's --> 0.56 from http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/arrow-tv-show-cw-season-five-ratings/ At what point do you think the ratings might affect the writers' storytelling choices?