statsgirl

It makes sense if Diggle and Roy step back and take a moment to regroup, especially if Felicity's just shut the lights down on them, and then they can think it over and come back, and Diggle goes to see Felicity and gets her back. What sticks in my throat is that it just happens to be the time that Brick invades, and Laurel decides to suit up with the black leather she's got hanging in her closet because the trained police can't handle it. I'll wait and see before judging the episode but it all seems so contrived right now. Why would she think she could replace all of Team Arrow?

I think Oliver didn't tell her on the way over because he was hoping he wouldn't have to do the Unthinkable. Maybe he could keep Felicity safe at the Queen Manor while he saved the city and then Laurel himself. He can be delusionally naive like that. Then when she said she wanted to be "unsafe" with him, he decided to risk it all / trust her to be a full partner. Yeah, forever bitter that we didn't get to see the summer. Or the wine. Or Sara over the summer. Or everything else that Guggenheim thinks we will be satisfied if it's in the 2.5 comics.

I don't think she did. I think she was hoping but when he didn't take the bait, she backed away with her dignity intact. She never really knew how he felt about her till their last scene. Even during her talk with Ray, she was thinking Oliver regretted kissing her. Treating everything as if nothing had happened at the start of Corto Maltese was her way of trying to get everything back to before the s2 finale days He had the phone bugged but that only works if they're talking on it, doesn't it? You can ping a phone but that only tells you it's location, not what the people around it are saying, He could have told her on the trip over. .

I think it's a plausible theory. It throws Diggle and Roy under the bus because Diggle would want to continue (as opposed to joining ARGUS) and Roy took up being a vigilante so that he could save people the way the Arrow saved him, but that's nothing new for Laurel trajectory. But what is Malcolm's plan though? He couldn't have believed that Oliver could defeat Ra's, and if he only wanted Oliver dead, why not kill him himself another way? And what would be the purpose in wanting Oliver dead? As John Barrowman said, Malcolm sees Oliver as family in some twisted way.

If he had made her kiss him thinking he was serious about the ILU and then found out it was just a ruse, she might not have help it against him but she should have been much less likely to trust him next time he said he had feelings for her or kissed her. As David Ramsey pointed out, this is a guy who has slept with 582 women. And probably has considerable experience in using them. Yeah. I didn't quite understand why MG thought we would be so angry but if that was the way the kiss was shot, I completely agree.

And boom, instant media coverage on a slow weekend. Well played. At least CarterMatt covered it. Want to take bets GreenArrowTV won't? And CarterMatt do redeem thenselves here

Sometimes EBR is okay, and other times she completely nails it. The look on Felicity's face at the end of that scene when Oliver has walked away, it's confused and upset and someone who thought she'd just got everything in the world and as soon lost it and doesn't know what to do. Because Oliver not only tells her he loves her, he initiates the kiss but stops short of her lips so she actually has to lean up and kiss him first. Poor Felicity.

If I were writing the show, I would make that scene after Malcolm has gone to get the sword but before the scene where he shows it to them to prove Oliver is dead. It would be toying with them like a cat toys with a mouse he's about to kill, the kind of power and mind games he gets off on. I can see Malcolm going up to the mountain to watch the duel himself but not making the trip just to see if there is a weapon left behind. If Oliver is dead, his Team would be crushed soon enough. He's too fastidious to get himself dirty for just that. Damn, but EBR is great in that scene. No wonder the EPs have been praising her performance. Thea was being her usual pissed-off teenage self in that scene. Roy lied to me, my mother lied to me, Oliver lied to me. I'll show them, I'm going to go off with my psycho murdering father. Totally believable for it to be her own decision and in keeping with the Thea from season 1. Everything after that is up for grabs though.

A bonding scene rather than an action scene, so let's scrub it.

I agree, the first priority should be to get Thea away from Malcolm, and I was really hoping Felicity would go all Warrior on her ass. That's the only way it could come from Felicity, with truth tea, because Thea barely knows her and doesn't know she's been helping Oliver for two years, or even that Oliver is the Arrow. But from Laurel's perspective, she'd want to know why it was suddenly so important to get Thea away from Malcolm when Oliver was okay with her associating with him a few weeks ago, and why she's suddenly living with Roy? Felicity? when she's got her own posh place.. And if Laurel's in the lair now, there would be no planning without her listening in. Come to think of it, that's something both Laurel and Thea have in common (beyond their love of nice things), that when they think they're right or have been hard done by, nothing and no one else matters.

I think when they write female characters, they write them well (except for Laurel and that's a result of a number of factors) because they are good writers. I see misogyny in how disposable these female characters are when they think it will make a storyline, and how much they cling to the male characters they create. I think the last important male to die was Tommy. The other problem is that all three good women, Shado, Moira and Sara were executed -- either bound so they couldn't fight back or caught by surprise by a friend. In contrast, the male characters, Malcolm, Slade, Count Vertigo, Boomerang, villains all, were given the opportunity to fight for their lives and survive. Even on The Flash, Plastique, who didn't want to hurt anyone, was executed while the men either get put in the prison or go free.

How would Felicity explain wanting to get Thea away from Malcolm to Laurel, without spilling the beans that he's brainwashing her? I agree, it would have been a better story, especially if Diggle and Roy (who Thea is mad at because he lied to her) helped. It's discouraging that these episodes are Laurel-centric, and Ray-centric, rather than being about carrying the established storyline through.

Count Vertigo fell on a car. Why does he get treated better than Sara? I learned the term "fridging" after The Calm. They should have known it before.

More like the show can't afford to let that happen.

Laurel can't go after Thea because with 8 months of Malcolm Merlyn training vs 3 in a boxing arena, Thea would totally kick her ass.

She'll probably try to go after Malcolm but Diggle/Roy/Felicity will stop her because that would be suicide. Too bad.

That makes more sense than MG's version. Yeah, there is a substantial amount of mysogyny there. They need to hire some women who aren't Wendy Mericle and Beth Schwartz. An Oliver-less Arrow would have been a tough sell at any rate but I think they would have had a better chance of selling it as 'How will Team Arrow (Diggle, Felicity and Roy) react? Will Thea find out about Oliver and how Malcolm set him up, and what will she do?' Those are the characters (along with the fridged Sara and Moira) that the audience has bonded to. Instead they promoted Laurel becoming the Black Canary, Ray getting his ATOM suit and Ra's al Ghul, the comic book stuff. Laurel is the most divisive character on the show and a lot of people either haven't accepted Ray or don't really care, ditto Ra's. They did take CH to the panel but he was completely overshadowed and not asked a single question. I don't even think he's given an interview. Most of the TV audience either doesn't come from the comic books or is willing to give up on the comic book stories in exchange for a well-written TV show. I'm curious to see if they can learn.

So. Much. Damage. Control. The TCA panel generated a lot of buzz, just not the kind they were hoping for.

If Ra's can go from brutally stabbing Oliver and kicking him off a cliff to making him an offer, what's a little Malcolm Merlyn teamwork hurt?

If nothing else, this served to show MG that the part of the fandom that supports Olicity is not just a few loud fanatics. You want an audience, Mark? Here's a big one.

Now I'm even more convinced they did the right thing to cut the kiss. The way they shot it, he was really taking advantage of her and her feelings for him. MG was right to think he would be hated after that.

I think he likes the adoration and the ability to write out longer replies, like the "Oliver tells Laurel he's leaving" scenario. I agree, the release of the clip at this time has fishy all over it. But it sure worked.

Slade is not a subtle guy. IMO they needed the 'I love you'. And I agree, anything more than what they showed would have made Oliver a douche. side by side kisses http://felicties.tumblr.com/post/108290824552/2x23-deleted-kiss-3x01-kiss I love the comparison between the dark of 2x23 and the light of 3x01.

He puts the syringe into her left hand,which makes sense since it would have been shielded by their bodies from the camera. Presumably that's when her right arm moves back, when she realizes it's just for show. Poor Felicity. all her dreams happening, and then to realize it's all a fake. And then he does it again in The Calm. At this point, I'm wondering why she should give him a chance at all.

People who go through crucibles during the time period of the show. Diggle's didn't count because he was in Afghanistan, Felicity's didn't count because she was a child and then at MIT. But then Merlyn's shouldn't count either because that was long ago... or does it matter that he came on with a mask and a comic book name? I think seeing Sara killed in front of her should be Laurel's crucible, not her addiction as KC is saying in interviews. Or better, Tommy dying for her. The motivation is a huge problem.