statsgirl

I felt sorry for Diggle and Felicity. DR did a good job of trying to prepare himself and then showing manpain even afterwards. He's lost people before but it still hurts. EBR did a good job of showing devastated, and while she can't speak for Anna, she can speak as a woman who has lost the man she loves Malcolm is a coward. Now that Oliver failed, he's going to run. And force Thea to run. The brain-washing herbs apparently make you stupid. I understand why Felicity did what she did. It wasn't that her head wasn't in the game, it's that she really believed Diggle and Roy were going to be killed. When Diggle said that they had got out of tight situations before, she replied that Oliver had got them out of tight situations, but Oliver is gone now. Without Oliver's abilities, could Diggle and Roy have got out of there? Discuss. (5 marks) Unfortunately, now it's going to be her fault that Brick terrorizes the city and Laurel has to put on the Black Canary costume. Which is still out on the table? It's been over three months since Sara died. I don't think Laurel was that close to Diggle as to be the one to hug him. But now we know that she's going to save the day by suiting up (where did she get a suit so fast?) and also encouraging Diggle and Roy to get back to being Team Arrow. I called that it was going to be Tatsu as soon as Maseo knocked on the door so yay me. I'm impressed though that he must have called her as soon as he heard Oliver was going to fight Ra's. Clever of them to let the audience know that Oliver is alive so we keep tuning in to see when he gets back. Boo on SA for lying though, unless present day Oliver is missing in 312.

From the Variety interview. Not spoilery for actual events, just directions:

I'm wary because of 2B. I know they pulled it together for the 3 episode finale and some random things made sense now, but there's still enough that they blew (Laurel's addiction arc sucked up a lot of airtime and still didn't justify her becoming a vigilante as much as taking arms after Tommy's death would have done), that I don't have the faith in the show overall that I did a year ago. Add to that the fact that AK and Berlanti are busy on other shows, the misstep at TCA, and their apparent fascination with their shiny new costumed superheroes, and the amount of slack I'm willing to cut the show overall got a whole lot shorter this season. ETA: The killing off of Moira and Sara, two complex characters with lots more potential storylines played by good actresses, in order to make Laurel the new Black Canary (with matching lipstick and nail polish) just seems to me stupidity beyond excuse. I'll see how Laurel does the rest of the season, but I'm shaking my head at it.

Networks still have problems figuring out how to integrate streaming, DVRing and internet things into their numbers so they still rely pretty heavily on ratings at this point. That will probably change, once they figure out how to analyze all the numbers. I agree, she can handle herself only to a limited amount. But she also knows how much that is and she's been good at telling Ray where the boundary line for her is. Iif she can't tell him "I've been in situations like this and I don't feel safe doing this", she has to bear some responsibility if she gets hurt. I was going to say Laurel's "I'm the justice you can run from", and then it occurred to me that they'll want people to come back for next week so now I think the snow and the pounding on the door, unless they show that at the start of the episode.

Agree that Sara's BC costume was so much sexier. But thinking about it, I really believe that KC was trying to honor the comics BC with that costume. Lace and fishnets because that's what the Black Canary wears in the comics. Doesn't matter if it doesn't work on a live action TV, it's what's in the comics. I can't believe they let her get away with fingerless gloves. Does that mean her identity is going be revealed soon? Like really, really soon?

Thanks for the numbers, quarks. It's interesting that they picked up for the second episode in s1, but went down even further for the second on in s2 Blind Spot, which was about Laurel. I guess we'll know in 9 days. I understand the atavistic gratification for Oliver getting angry at Ray if Felicity gets hurt, but then I remember that it's taking away her autonomy to have the men fighting each other for not protecting her. I was looking at the promo pictures for Midnight City. There's one of Laurel in her BC outfit, flowing blonde hair and mask around her eyes, and in the row below, there's one of Felicity with her flowing blonde hair and dark glasses around her eyes. Probably not what KC was intending. Trivia: people in the biz do think that the 18-49 demo matters more because when ABC was down on overall numbers, they launched a campaign about their younger demo, telling the advertisers that younger people are more likely to change brands because of advertising. All the research says this isn't true, that older viewers are equally likely to change brands based on advertising as younger ones, but the myth still persists.

quarks, do you have the numbers for the second episodes after the winter break? I expect a number of people will tune in for Left Behind because of the cliff-hanger but Midnight City may be more telling.

I'm watching the Play It Again, Dick webseries. Not as good as the show, of course, but still kind of fun.

I have a friend who did stop watching the show this season because she couldn't take Laurel any more. But generally, I think it's more complex than that. If you love everything on the show but one thing, you're still going to tune in for everything that you love. But if the rest of the show is weaker and not giving you what you watch for (as for many of us it was during 2B when Diggle and Felicity became sidelined and OOC and it seemed everything was about Slade and the Lance Family Drama), then hating one character can tip you over the edge into giving up on it. Certainly not at the cost of character development, which is what many of us watch the show for. Arrow has a great stunt team, but between all the superhero and action shows and movies, I'm getting bored with the stunts. I watched RED2 over the holidays and Helen Mirren as a badass assassin who just takes out her guns and coolly shoots with both hands while tossing out quips was such a relief.

Well there is one picture of Felicity, with her hair down but wearing glasses. That's her "Ray" look, as opposed to her "Oliver" look with a ponytail. Looks like Roy and Laurel are fighting together, and Laurel is also investigating with her father. Lots of Laurel in this trilogy. And Douche DJ is back. So add that on to Oliver not being there, and it looks like my 8 pm that night just got free. It's a clever way to tie the universes together, I think. They can't constantly be visiting each other because then Arrow viewers would always be asking "why don't they call Barry to deal with this villain?" So by making Felicity the contact between the two worlds, they prevent that from happening and finally give Felicity a girl BFF.

I just can't stop laughing at the idea that the Black Canary wears fingerless gloves so her nail polish and lipstick can match. I remember the feminist protest marches for equal rights. Good to know it wasn't all in vain.

They may put her in a wheelchair temporarily as an Easter Egg! to show us how clever they are. That could be why they changed the title of 315 from Oracle. Maybe Ray's suit fails to function properly in 311 when he helps Quentin, and they're still trying to fix it in Flash's 118 and go to Cisco for help? Nods. It's important to know that about the character for when she becomes a superhero..

You'd also feel that way if you read her blog. I tried after her interview about it last year and it's pretty superficial in the sense that the reader has to adapt to the fashion, rather than how to adapt what's fashionable to your particular age and bodytype. Also she said she like one piece jumpsuits for travelling because they're so comfortable but I can't imagine how you would use an airplane lavatory in one. I couldn't stop laughing at this. Laurel and Katrina -- sisters across the ages. That I would love to see. Felicity Smoak, integrating superheroes all over the DC universe. Can she have a Star Labs invention too and get that invisibility thing the Lego Felicity has? If she gets a costume too, then maybe she can go to panels like the cool kids. Maybe we'll get lucky and Ray Palmer will decide that Central City is more his world. I'm excited to see him and Cisco working together, that could be a beautiful friendship and give Ray something to do other than Felicity. I think they said no more cross-overs for the shows although some for individual characters so it's unlikely 3x18 will take place in Central City. Could it be Ray getting hurt and Felicity is visiting him when her mom shows up? Although why would Donna visit if Ray gets hurt?

This kind of says it all. We used to comment on how little p.r. she does for the show, but now that she's doing it, she does her character no favors. Good to know we'll be getting lace and fishnets too "'Because the Black Canary wore fishnets,' Cassidy explains" To her, the look is the character. I can't believe they really okayed that ridiculous costume but maybe they did it to stop her talking about Laurel and Oliver being soulmates. I think she is, not self-absorbed in a mean way where other people don't matter, but unaware of what's going on around her with other people because she doesn't put herself in their shoes. Oliver was just away at the beach for five years. Sara chose to belong to a group of bad people.

Hopefully she won't handle it like Laurel did when Tommy died, going after an innocent person. I like his spoiler about Roy helping Thea through it by showing her his old life. I hope that actually gets shown.

I felt so sorry for SA losing that game. You could see he really, really wanted to win, he's so competitive. He threw in "I'm Canadian" to mediate his loss in writing two fewer US Presidents. (I think he could have got more if he had had more time.) What struck me is what they talked about. Kimmel seems like he doesn't watch the show so he would have been told what to talk about from his staff in consultation with SA and the Arrow people. They talked about 1. his fans; 2. his Kimmel story, 3. Olicity 4. shooting fake arrows. (I was happy not to have yet another interview about new superheros stepping up in Oliver's absence. I also wonder if it was partly his decision to talk about Olicity to end the Lauriver revival talk.) I thought Bennifer referred to Ben Afleck/Jennifer Garner, so Brangelina would have come first. Speaking of Ben Afleck, when he said "Bennifer", that I realized why I have such trouble with the film Argo. Canada has very few heroes; a couple of weeks ago it was the 200th birthday of Sir John Macdonald and most people didn't realize it. I can't imagine the 200th birthday of George Washington going unnoticed. But one of our heroes who we feel very strongly about is Ken Taylor, who was the Canadian ambassador who was responsible for hiding the American hostages. Afleck not only took much of what the Canadians did and gave it to his American characters, he added a tag that the Canadians didn't do enough for the American hostages and should have done more. The latter was removed after a very vocal reaction at the Toronto International Film Festival and he added something thanking the Canadians but it still really burns. I can just imagine what some US networks would say if another country did that to one of their heroes.

Another insight into the planning process: It sounds like any of the actors can go in and pitch ideas or argue for their character. We know Stephen Amell has pitched a number of ideas that the EPs used and John Barrowman brought in the idea that Malcolm Merlyn is Thea's biological father, not Oliver's.

Nukethefridge interview: I love how he supports that you can be a hero and not wear a suit, not just supports but actively campaigns for it. You can be normal and decide to be great in your own life. (That should be on a T-shirt.) One of my biggest fears about the show is that they're going to forget that Diggle and Felicity are heroes too, so yay to David Ramsey for continuing to push for it. They could let him do the salmon ladder -- if Oliver, Barry and even Ray get to do it, why not Diggle?

Well, he did say that Roy and Laurel would get closer, and Roy does want to be like Oliver ..... I would so tune in for that. Hysterical. MG has been promoting this as a Brick trilogy, the first time any villain has had a multiple-parter who wasn't the season Big Bad. Basically they're saying that when she loses in court, she can still get her own way by beating the guy up? It's perfect for Laurel, who always thinks she's right but as a sympathetic vigilante character? Not so much. It look Oliver all season 1 with the help of Diggle and Felicity and starting out from a more empathetic place to become a hero. Are we going to have InstaHeroCanary as well as InstaCanary? That would be organic storytelling. This is Comics! Too bad Blood killed his mother. Because the idea of Laurel and Mrs. Blood having tea together is comic gold.

I suspect that being the Black Canary will make her interesting enough that if there is a liquidated damages clause, they won't use it and will keep her there, because her value, while not what they paid for, is enough to be more than the damages.

I liked Addison from the moment she arrived, ta! da!, but then I never shipped Mer/Der (he was way too passive aggressive for me to like him). I think she got her own show because she was so popular in spite of being the person the stall the lead couple. So that's another thing a turn-around needs -- to have the character himself or herself be liked despite his role on the show itself, whether it be villain or ship-staller. That's the opposite of Laurel, who was written to be a popular character but then turned out to be disliked by a fair portion of the audience.

I think the only question is whether KC can sell "badass", especially after Sara/CL doing it so well.. Will she be believable to the comic book types who think Laurel deserves to be the Black Canary because of Comics. My daughter, who had not yet seen the costume, looked at the promo and asked "Why is she dressed like a dominatrix?"

Write and tell them and that you won't be getting the 2016 calendar if there is one. It may not make a difference but if you don't tell them, it certainly won't make a difference. If you post the address, I'll write too. I have no interest in getting a Laurel/random villains calendar.

We've been questioning for a while 1. how long is KC's contract, 6 years like SA or 3 like the supporting players; and 2. does it have a clause that requires them to pay mega bucks to her if they take her off the show before it's done. Any thoughts? Is this the same Laurel we're talking about? The one who has no time for anyone's pain but her own. I think even worse than making her InstaCanary is the retcon of her personality into Mother Theresa. They are so desperate to make Laurel happen, I don't know whether to pity them or give in to fury.

I wish Guggenheim would stop trying to push Raylicity on us because so far it's just played out like a C-level Olicity. Does he really think that after Oliver has just left, telling Felicity he loves her, Felicity's going to go "Oh, where can I find myself another superhero who plays it safe and sticks around?" Whereas Laurel is not on a power trip??????