statsgirl

Fun. (And a bonus when it's a male reviewer who likes them.)

That's too easy a choice. If it's something to do with the villain of the week and Felicity gets hurt like that, Oliver has grounds for being angry at Ray. As much as I'd like it to be something completely not-vigilante related, I doubt they'll miss the opportunity to make it about Arrow vs Atom.

I'm not sure where to put this. It's about Oliver so I was going to put it there, but it's also about his relationships so I'm trying it here. Let me know, mods, if it should be elsewhere. From the Felicity Smoak thread: We hear a lot about the people Oliver loves -- Robert, Moira, Thea, Laurel, Sara, Felicity. I think Oliver believes he loves them but I don't think that what he feels for them is love. With Robert, he admired him, he was shocked at what his father did, and he vowed to make up for Robert's mistakes. But that's fairly easy to decide to do, there are no grey areas especially for the killer that Oliver became. With Moira, it was harder because he was angry at her although in the end, when they bonded over Thea being missing and she revealed that she knew he was the Arrow and was proud of him, they reached an equilibrium. Frat boy Oliver thought that buying Laurel things and sexing her up was love. Lying and cheating was just part of that for him. He liked Sara and enjoyed her love of life, and after the Queen's Gambit went down, he felt responsible for her and in a sense loved her but not the romantic love we think of in connection with the world. With Thea and Felicity, he says he loves them but he's making decisions for both and refusing them their own autonomy, with Thea in going to fight Ra's for her while refusing to tell her what Malcolm has been doing to her and letting her make her own decisions, and with Felicity in completely controlling all the aspects of their relationship and not allowing her any say. Maybe Felicity dropping a truth bomb and walking away may cause him to reconsider but I'm not putting any money on it. I think Oliver loved Tommy, enough that he's willing to change himself for him (something he won't do for anyone else). I think he comes close to loving Diggle. (Bros forever) I also think Oliver loves Starling City. But in terms of Thea, Laurel, Sara and even Felicity, even now I don't think he knows what real love is.

From a tweet by MG: Two Romance Authors on Arrow in USA Today Gushy. And believing that the OTP can only get together at the end of the series. MG must love it.

According to the report of SA's talk (right or not), the explosion will be in Central City. That would mean either Ray or Felicity being hurt. I really can't see them doing a Lazarus Pit on Felicity, she's not superhero material enough. If they didn't use it for Oliver, they won't use it for Felicity. The game changer may be the Arrow and the Atom agreeing to work together. Or maybe the explosion was caused by Malcolm and he turns into the Big Bad again.

I was thinking about Laurel's line "Because I actually am paying attention" and while I thought it made her sound bitchy, it was pointed out that it followed an earlier line by Felicity who answered "Have you been paying attention?" when Laurel asked her if she could hack the walkie talkies. (It was classic Felicity snark, similar to the lines "It hurts you have to ask me that" and "What does it take to impress you guys?" to Oliver and Diggle earlier in the series.) I think the problem was KC's line reading. She emphasized "because I actually am paying attention" which made it sound like she was putting the others down, rather than " because I actually am paying attention" which would have been a response to Felicity's earlier line. I agree, I think the writers have forgotten that he didn't answer his wife's phone calls as she was dying. This could have been an awesome psychological arc, as he projects his failings on to others and fails to regret that with all his money, he didn't get her a bodyguard. I wish I trusted the writing on the show more to draw the lines they need to draw. Malcolm was convinced he killed the right man and he still went BSC and tried to destroy the Glades, someone needs to point that out. (Diggle?) But I'm still putting my chips on the "Malcolm will end up being a villain" square, and maybe he will be the one to die at the end of the season. I used to think that they were going to make Thea the new Moira but maybe it's Felicity instead except she's not going to be so grey. The show badly needs a new Moira. This episode, with Malcolm walking all over Thea, Roy, Laurel and Oliver, proved that.

I can't imagine Stephen Amell turning down a con appearance so he could host a party for Nocking Point wine, and he actually makes money from that. I think one of the reasons Arrow is a hit show because of the extracurricular work that SA puts into it, from his FB and tweets, to the interviews to his appearance at some many cons. Your job is what you make it. (And I wouldn't be surprised if Katie Cassidy's career is getting a boost from the work SA puts into promoting Arrow. Even her interviews for The Scribbler described her as the actress from Arrow and her blog isn't well known.)

Felicity's favorite part is when Laurel lands the punch. Prop duty. If ever a city desperately needed a new mayor...... Although I think I'd prefer Ray Palmer in the role. Maybe it happens at Diggle and Lyla's wedding. Or Ray says something maladroit about the Arrow and Oliver, already upset that he's Felicity's +1, takes it personally. Not really looking to that though. Anyone with a better scenario?

It's a good thought but if I could really have anything, it would be with Sin as the Black Canary and Felicity in a Watchtower role, with Roy in the wings ready to take on the Arrow suit when Oliver's body finally wears out..

This is why Barrowman's so great. Sure, the acting and all but what really great is that he's so generous, generous to the fans giving them credit for the great life that he has, and generous about SA. Also, hilarious.

Am I supposed to hate Thea? I was excited for her storyline when the season started but with that clip of Oliver saying that Ra's al Ghul is coming for them and the only way to get out of it is for them to work together, I've reached the end of my rope with her. He wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for trying to save her, and she wouldn't be in it if she hadn't flounced off in a hissy fit at the end of season 2 and hooked up with the man who is a mass murderer (instead of refusing to have anything to do with him like she did with her mother) and is now telling Roy how great he was for saving her when no one else did when Roy was out saving the whole freaking city. I hope that "Oliver has to adapt to the new order" is not just about Laurel fighting but also about Felicity and Diggle disagreeing with him on moral principles and because he's making stupid decisions, really digging their heels in this time, but I'm afraid that's beyond this show. Good thought, but if an Arrow-look-alike is the one who hurts Felicity, the current idiot on our screen would be more likely to double down on pushing her away. AK said it was a Laurel-trilogy and I think it was in the sense of a "Rise of the Black Canary" trilogy since in 312 she was an equal to Roy in fighting and a vote in the lair. I think they over-estimated the appeal of Raylicity, by a lot, so the plan is to have Oliver come back from Ra's, make a bunch of stupid decisions so that Ray can look good when he disagrees with them, and redeem Oliver at the end and get the girl. This seems to be the season where the two remaining members of the Queen family have been taking stupid drops along with their morning tea. Now that would be interesting and much better than fighting over Felicity as a love interest. as she tries to work with two superheroes who are both convinced they're doing things the right way (also Oliver having to adapt to the new order) while not letting one know she knows the other. It would meet AK's statement that Felilcity has to choose between two guys but in terms of which is the right vigilante, not which guy is her love interest. (Sadly I don't think it's going to be that but I would be the smart thing to do if they want to spin-off Ray for his own series. Speaking as a mother myself, I'd be trying like hell to get her out of a city where she gets blown up and kidnapped every time I visit. What happens to her when I'm not around?

That's how it seemed to me. He allowed a hug, but he went everywhere else in town before he went to his team, and got himself on tv so they knew he was alive rather than just calling or something, and then he put up that Malcolm thing. Which he had to know would bring down the mood. I wonder if we are supposed to take that as Oliver wanting to be The Arrow rather than Oliver Queen. He gets the business done first and then he brushed through the messy emotional stuff. Even his comments to Diggle and Roy were about how they kept the city together in his absence, not about being glad to be back in the lair with them again. If that's the case, I don't feel sorry for him with the sword through the heart he got from Felicity. He was already dissociating that organ from his life.

If the measure of 'would they be friends' is how much damage must you do to one of the characters to make it look like there is a friendship with the other, for Felicity it's already been substantial. That's a good way of putting it. Oliver and Diggle would have been unlikely to become close to each other in real life but once the show made Diggle Oliver's bodyguard, they found out that they complemented each other and Diggle sign on to protect Oliver's soul and gradually they become like brothers. So Same with Oliver and Roy. Sometimes, unless you're forced together in some special circumstances, you miss out on knowing people who you could be friends with. I can't see Felicity and Laurel as friends because they are like oil and water. They can work together and support each other, and they could have socialized when Oliver and Tommy brought them together as couples but they are too different as people to want to be each other's BFFs. I think Thea would be more likely to be friends with Laurel than with Felicity. They come from similar backgrounds (although Thea was richer) and probably the same prep school, and Thea is more self-centered like Laurel is. I do think Felicity and Sara were friends, they were kind to each and supported each other. Sara taught Felicity self-defense when Oliver refused to teach her and Felicity saw Sara for who she was, not the killer she saw herself as and even supported her relationship with the guy Felicity herself was crushing on. If Sara and Laurel hadn't been sisters, I don't think they would have been friends. Come to think of it, they weren't particularly good friends even then..

Maybe she's unconscious to give EBR a rest after pulling double duty on the Flash too. That would be awesome. Think of all the manpain you could give Oliver, writers. You'd love that. Malcolm is captured by Ra's in ep 315 though. Will hr be free by now? If that happens and if I were Donna, I'd never, ever set foot in Starling City again, not even for a christening.

He'll even sacrifice the people he loves to it. He loved Sara, but he's okay teaming up with the guy who orchestrated her murder. He loves Thea, but he's teaming up with the guy who brainwashed her and put her in harm's way and Oliver's still not telling Thea so that she can protect herself from the BSC guy she thinks is protecting her. He tells Felicity he loves her but he won't give her any say in their relationship or in what he expects of her much less what she expects of him. So if that's what Oliver's "love" is, Felicity is probably thinking she doesn't want any of it right now.

When Sin first saw the Black Canary and went up to speak to her, BC just brushed by her, ignoring her. I assumed it was because Laurel didn't know Sin but now I've remembered that it was Sin, along with Thea and Roy, who took her friend's case to Laurel to look into in connection with Blood's blood drive. What was that about? I'm sure that's what there doing. But there is a difference between jumping into bed with the girl on the second date, as he did with Helena, and a chaste kiss on the forehead as he's walking away. Between that and teaming up with Malcolm, no wonder Felicity believes he doesn't love her.

Will he be changing from the Arrow suit to the Oliver Queen suit? Or to the LoA suit (which is what I think he was teasing). The Arrow and the Atom not being happy with each other is meant to put Felicity in the middle of them (because if Oliver can accept LaurelCanary and MM, he can accept anything) so she has to choose. Oliver better hope it's after he's had a chance to redeem himself because right now, I have a feeling she'd pick Ray in a heartbeat. (I still don't like Raylicity but right now I'm liking Oliver even less.)

You could say that Felicity also put Oliver on a pedestal and it is that Oliver whose memory she was trying to honor that month he was gone. “I can’t think of a world or a universe or a plane of existence where Oliver would agree to any of this.” Then he came back and knocked himself off.

It's so sweet that John Barrowman is an Elizabeth Sladen fan. RIP, you were awesome. Both Kristin Kreuk and Jennifer Morrison are smart ladies. (Jennifer Morrison was the on the rest of the House cast went to to explain the medical terms (like Amanda Tapping, she made sure she knew what the jargon she was saying really meant) and Kristin Kreuk is one of the panelists on this year's Canada Reads.) I get the sense that KC doesn't understand it when she makes a gaffe but I have never understood why the show doesn't get her some p.r. coaching.

I don't know if Laurel changed her mind in the end or if she's just allying herself as a part of Team Arrow. It was Diggle's choice whether they aligned themselves with Merlyn, he didn't have to convince Laurel or Roy to change their vote. I'm not expecting things to get any better in 318 either; it's not as sweeps episode.

The Arrow speech would have come better in an episode where he, you know, actually did something in the fight other than try to save Malcolm's soul. From The Emancipation of Felicity Smoak review (a great analysis of the power differentials in the lair and a fun read) You just know that with Felicity rejecting him, Oliver is going to see it confirming that Tatsu was right that he had to sacrifice the thing he values, and will double down on his decision to work with Malcolm. It's a pity that so many people see this as a romantic tiff rather than an "Oliver is being an idiot again" thing. I understand why the ended the episode where they did, on a high dramatic note, but we really need Diggle to voice his opinion. I find it interesting that in this very modern TV show, Oliver is following the medieval courtly love rules, loving his lady purely and from afar. Poor Felicity, Oliver's about 1200 years away from where she is.

If every time a new creative team comes on, they can just throw out the previous version and create their own, no wonder comics canon is such a confusing mess. I think it's a marketing mistake to drop Diggle and Felicity and thus the readers that they could get from viewers of the TV show but what do I know? (Other than a former job at an ad agency, that is.)

When Diggle agreed to join Oliver in season 1 he said it was because war tears pieces off you and he was going to be there to make sure that Oliver stayed as whole and healthy emotionally as he could. Diggle's already said that it would be wrong for them to join forces with Malcolm Merlyn. If Diggle is written in character, I can't imagine he would be in favor of what Oliver's doing.

Diggle had already said that working with Merlyn was the first step to becoming him, the end didn't justify the means. That was on Oliver. He spent more time talking to Diggle and Roy than he did to Felicity when he got back (and had spent far more time with Thea and Malcolm). And then he immediately dropped the Merlyn bomb, knowing that Felicity and Diggle would be mightily opposed. He could have said "I'm working on that" or "I have an idea" rather than "Malcolm and I are working on that." The way Oliver has jerked Felicity around this whole season (never letting her get close to him, telling her he loved her and immediately walking away from her every time), he deserved what he got. Felicity, who tried to keep the honor of Oliver alive even when she thought he had died and dreamed quiet dreams that he would come back and be with her, didn't.

I don't think Nyssa will replace Ra's during the time of the show. Ra's is too important a character in the comics. As much as I liked Tommy and hate that they killed him off, I would rage if he came back. Tommy is the only male character who died and didn't return back alive again like Slade, Malcolm, Oliver and even Cooper did. Meanwhile Shado, Moira and Sara, three great characters the show really could use, remain dead dead. It's too bad there isn't a character currently on the show who could become the Dark Archer #2. I'd say Roy but he's a nice guy and he has his own comic book heritage. Possibly Thea but I get the feeling the show wants her to be good albeit clueless. From the episode thread: Yeah. If Ra's is so bad and Oliver has to pull out all the stops to defeat him even to making a deal with Malcolm, why not really pull out all the stops and get Barry's help? Surely by not Oliver knows Malcolm Merlyn can't be trusted. Just ask Diggle and Felicity. Just ask Sara or Robert .... oops, they're dead.