SonofaBiscuit

Well I suppose they could flashback to "one month earlier" and show the resolution of Oliver dangling off of the cliff. Showing us footage of any of the stuff that happens to Oliver in the month between episode 9 and episode 10 would technically be a flashback. So we would know that he's not dead, but Team Arrow wouldn't know that.

Maybe they begin looking for him right after he disappears, and continue searching all through the break, they just don't have any luck finding him. I'm assuming that they are still searching in episodes 10-11 before a rescue or whatever in episode 12.

Even if Oliver leaves voluntarily, my problem with a Ray rebound is that it will only have been like two months or so. Oliver is going to pour his heart out to her, say goodbye, and then Felicity will turn around and start dating Ray? Too soon, too soon. Maybe if there is like a six month time jump or something, but not after two months.

Oh gosh. I was thinking about Oliver disappearing. I didn't even consider Quentin. Dinah shows up and Lance drops dead of a heart attack. That would be fricking awful. You know, thinking about it, when we pick up in episode 10 after the winter break, we could have Oliver flashbacks to the moment he disappears (I'm assuming it's going to appear as if he may be dead at the end of nine). We would see what he was enduring beginning two months ago and taking us up to present day. It would sort of leave his fate up in the air because if he's alone in the wilderness, maybe he won't survive (of course he will, this show is called Arrow). When we hit episode 12, that's when they could change from flashbacks to current Oliver and his rescue/return to Starling City.

I will take an article from the future mentioning Oliver Queen and his wife, Felicity.

Given the choice, always go with what Amell says. Always. Guggenheim's declarations generally amount to nothing.

A little part of me (the really really mean part) is laughing at the fact that Arrow viewers who ditched this show for The Flash are now going to be subjected to Laurel over on their show as well. Hahaha! I'm so mean that I wanted to go over the The Flash forum and alert them to this development, but there's no spoilers thread. Darn!

I think that it says a lot that I would gladly accept Nyssa, Sin, Felicity, Thea, or even crazy pants Cupid as Black Canary before I would accept Laurel. That's a problem. I'm not watching live after the winter break, but I am looking forward to the creative ways people try to comment on the episodes without getting their posts deleted :) I wonder if Cupid is returning sometime in episodes 10-12. It looks like she has a comic connection to Brick, and I believe that he's beginning his three episode arc in episode 10. In the comics, So it looks like Laurel is part of The Flash crossover. Oh my god, if they go with this canary cry thing, I'm going to have to cut a bitch. And yes, I know it would make no sense since everyone else gained their abilities from the particle accelerator explosion, but when does this show ever make sense? Maybe if Oliver finds out about his kid in that episode, Laurel will find out too. I can't remember, does Felicity know that Oliver got a girl pregnant when he was with Laurel??

I'm bitter about the fact that I read all of these wonderful analyses about the show, and whether I agree with them or not, I know that much time and effort has been dedicated to these thoughts. Too much effort. In fact, most definitely more effort than the writers have invested. These writers don't seem to want to tell stories, they just writer filler to get us from Plot Point A to Plot Point B. They fight the natural progression of the story every step of the way. Convoluted indeed.

I initially had thought that Ray and Felicity would begin dating before the mid-season break and continue dating during Oliver's disappearance. But after watching the latest episode and reading other's thoughts, I'm wondering if Felicity will shut Ray down in episode nine. I had the impression from Guggenheim's comments about Ray/Felicity that she would date him for a while before ultimately choosing Oliver as the one she wanted to be with. But I didn't really take into consideration the way that Guggenheim has oversold every fucking thing ever. I know that some weren't bothered by it, but I thought it was way too soon for Felicity to be kissing Ray and declaring that she has a "type." The EPs haven't done an adequate job of building up the Ray/Felicity relationship, but they frequently skip a lot of important developments and leave us to fill in the details. So maybe Felicity makes her choice in episode nine and Oliver says his heartfelt goodbye. We're assuming that Oliver is present either mostly or only in flashbacks in episodes 10-11, right? If he goes off to the LoA voluntarily, I would expect that we would be shown scenes of his time with the League. The fact that he's probably only present in flashbacks leads me to speculate that maybe he is actually presumed dead at the end of episode nine. But since there's no body, Team Arrow holds onto hope that maybe there's a way that he survived. They continue to look for Oliver or his dead body. That could get us through episodes 10-11. Meanwhile, Oliver is out in the wild living it up Bear Grylls style. Never giving up hope, Felicity is somehow able to find him and arrange a rescue mission. Of course, Felicity will be a part of this mission and will be the first face Oliver sees when he's rescued. I guess that I would like to see a scenario similar to this if I'm going to have to go multiple episodes sans Oliver.

It's funny. When the Flash/Arrow crossover was first announced, I remember being annoyed because I thought that they should let The Flash stand on it's own. Now it's one of the few episodes that I'm actually looking forward to. It sounds like things are going to go downhill quickly after the winter break.

^I like how everyone in that photo is amused except for Audrey Marie Anderson (Lyla). She does not find it funny at all.

No no no. SA looks so much better with facial hair, I don't want him to manscape too much. His current look is really working for me :)

I was looking at Oliver's stupid flashback hair last night and wondering what we're going to do when he eventually makes his way to Russia and becomes a Bratva Captain. No way they take him seriously with that ridiculous hair, but I imagine that the show will have to do something with it to distinguish flashback Oliver from current Oliver (because yes, some people are dumb and won't be able to tell if it's a flashback otherwise).

I wish that I could just forget about this show until season three was over and then binge watch all of the episodes. It would make it much easier and probably more enjoyable if I knew exactly when Felicity and Oliver were going to get together. Yes, please! I don't want this Ray crap to continue on for seventeen more episodes. That's a long ass stretch, and I would like to be invested in at least one part of this show. They've taken everything else that I actually care about away, so it would be nice to have something to look forward to every Wednesday.

Palmer Technologies has some terrible security if Oliver Queen can just stroll into the building in the middle of the night.

Arrow initial ratings are in. It had a 0.9 and 2.63 mil viewers, on par with last week. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/11/20/tv-ratings-wednesday-stalker-the-100-rise-law-and-order-svu-chicago-p-d-slide-arrow-flat/329895/

No Laurel in this one, if that makes a difference to you. Lots of Diggle/Oliver, which is always a good thing. Nothing says platonic like an expensive couture dress and a $10 million dollar necklace. Then Ray acts all innocent after he kisses Felicity, like he just wanted to keep things friendly. Don't buy it. I did notice that during Diggle and Felicity's conversation at QC, she was holding a red pen. Who knows if that's supposed to mean anything. Random Dance Mix #1 was awful. Of course nobody would dance to that crap. Random Dance Mix #2 was super similar, but way more awesome. I noticed you, romantic music playing during Ray and Felicity's dinner. You may be trying to tell me something, but I'm gonna ignore you. Oh, and BR is fit and all, but SA still wins hands down in a "best abs" contest

^Yeah, I think that you're right because Kreisberg tweeted that on Oct. 21st, and that's when they were filming episode nine.

Haha. I wonder if Oliver shoots Barry in the back with an arrow. It kind of looks like it.

You know, I was a kid when I watched Pretty Woman and I thought it was a sweet movie. Maybe that's worrisome, I don't know. But in the world that we live in now, Ray's pushy behavior sets off all sorts of alarm bells. If my boss bought me expensive gifts in an attempt to get me to go to dinner with him, I'd be worried that I'd be getting a side of Rohypnol with my fancy dinner. Maybe that's a parallel we're supposed to see between Oliver and Ray. Felicity takes three benzos for her dinner with Oliver...Ray puts three benzos in her dinner drink on her date with him.

Could Cupid and her crazy self just adopt the Laurel Lance identity and become Black Canary? That would be entertaining, and believable since she has the background required.

I'm getting the sense that there isn't much Team Arrow in this one. Seems like there will be a lot of Ray/Felicity and Diggle/Arrow/Cupid. I'm still watching live, but not in a way that will contribute to the ratings.

I'm not sure that their plan to get us to fall for Ray is going to work. I don't hate him, but I certainly don't want Felicity dating him. I don't see how a spin-off with this guy would possibly be successful.

Amy Gumenick came across kind of adorable at the end of that TV Line interview. I watched the sneak-peek without audio ('cause work) and man, Ray has crazy eyes!