statsgirl

It was better to cut it. If we had seen her hand clench his arm and then she found out it was a fake, I would have been furious for her.

If Thea doesn't know yet, maybe that's what he wants in exchange, their silence on his role in Oliver's death. Still don't understand why they can't just take down Brick themselves. Call in Barry if it's a real problem.

The other problem is if the team of Diggle/Felicity/Roy/Laurel/Wildcat/Ray fail (because Ray is already in on it and Wildcat should be the one they ask first to join), how is Oliver going to be able to step back from Arrowing at the end of the season? Malcolm offers to join them because he has a particular score to settle with Brick. Was Brick one of those who killed Rebecca, or is Malcolm lying to get on the Team?

Yeah. Apparently none of Oliver, Diggle or Thea are safe from Plot Point Stupidity. (Fingers crossed for Felicity though.) Could there be left-over effects of mirakuru that prevent the bomb from exploding? He did have it in his system for five years after all.

Maybe they let Slade out to try him on the Sucide Squad and he escapes? We don't know yet that Diggle sides with Laurel, do we? Just that "they look to Diggle to make the final decision." On the other hand, if Diggle does side with Laurel and Felicity leaves, Oliver comes back and shows they were wrong to trust Merlyn, it could be the impetus for Laurel in Canaries, realizing she doesn't know everything yet. I take the "Diggle sides with Felicity" back. Nothing can be stupider than Oliver accepting Merlyn's statement that no prison could hold him and then protecting him from Nyssa. If for no other reason, Merlyn KILLED 503 PEOPLE! That he should pay for. So I guess everyone is fair game for plot stupidity this season. We know MG's wife is a smart cookie (as Agent Carter might say), can we count on AK's as well?

I gather that from KC's interviews that the justification for Laurel becoming the Black Canary is because she's got a big heart and fights for people who need justice? This could be problematic because while they have shown that Laurel is an emotional, excitable person, they haven't really shown that she does in fact have a big heart for other. The pilot episode set up a good path for Laurel. She was a crusading lawyer at CNRI and then did a good job in Honor Thy Father when she wasn't bitching Oliver out, and she did take on Declan's case in An Innocent Man. She was also good taking care of the kid in Home Invasion but unfortunately between an Innocent Man and then, she humiliated Tommy at dinner and was meaningfully cruel to her mother in Salvation. She did agree to supervise Thea but that also could have been because she wanted the rich Queen family to be indebted to her, and then she ended up lying to Thea twice. She helped Tommy stand up to his father. In Birds of Prey she wanted all the hostages saved IIRC. But in terms of showing Laurel having a big heart, that was about it, as far as I remember. Meanwhile, there were scenes of her yelling at the people closest to her, her father, her mother, Oliver, Sara, and by season 2, she's on the prosecution side, not the defense team. Meanwhile you've got on the show Tommy, who wanted to help save CNRI, who ended his relationship with Laurel because he thought she and Oliver belonged together, and who sacrificed his life for Laurel. Or Sara, who thought she could never atone enough for her sins but was fighting so that 'no woman should be hurt by a man again', took Sin on without hesitation, and went back to the LoA so that she could use their help in saving Starling City. Those are genuinely big hearts. Quentin climbed into the bottle because Sara died and he couldn't stop the Dollmaker. Even Moira has a heart although it was all for her children until Oliver told her that if the people in the Glades die, it doesn't matter that he is still alive. Diggle joined the crusade to protect Oliver. The crucibles others have gone through have not been of their own making -- Oliver and Sara in the hellish years, Diggle in Afghanistan, Roy with mirakuru. Not to make light of it or her recovery, but if Laurel's crucible was her addiction, it was a result of her own actions in Tommy's death. The writing has failed the character if she's to be like the Black Canary of the comics. Laurel is a flawed person, which is okay because all the heroes on this show are, but they still haven't written her as having The Right Stuff to be a superhero vigilante.

It would be harder for me to accept InstaCanary. The team allying with Malcolm would be a case of folie a quatre and just why they need Oliver to stay. Finding out Malcolm is behind Sara's death is going to make her look more foolish for pushing for Malcolm to join the Team. But then, she has a Big Heart.

Maybe we'll find out that Laurel took piano lessons along with her self-defense course and she has amazingly strong hands. I'm genuinely curious to see if they can write themselves out of this apparent hole. They made Laurel the Black Canary because that was The Plan but she's by far the weakest member of the team. That's not going to sit will with Black Canary fans, nor does it make sense given when she is in the comics, but neither is making her instantly Sara going to work for much of the audience.

I like the consistency in that whenever Felicity has to hang from something, she hangs on to Oliver while he hangs on to the rope. I think, it was clever of them to have Felicity out of the episode where Oliver decides not to kill Malcolm so she couldn't be blamed for it. As to Felicity not having any wisdom to impart to Laurel, why should she have any? Laurel is the one who really knows Oliver, Laurel has gone through more tragedy (except not), and Laurel has been working with Ted Grant for four months (compared to Felicity working with Diggle for two years and being in the lair for as long). I have no doubt they're okay with Laurel/Felicity scenes as long as Laurel is the dominant one.

How exactly could Dinah have stopped her 20 year old daughter from going away with the man she said she loved? Not to mention that she tried to talk Sara out of it but Sara wouldn't listen. That's why Dinah beat herself up for 6 years. Just to add that Dinah didn't abandon her family, they abandoned her. In the deleted scene, Dinah told Quentin that she left town because Laurel was in law school (presumably in her own apartment) and Quentin buried himself in his work so there was no one and nothing for her in Starling City. Word. (Do people still say that? It was so useful in its day.) When Oliver lunged at Sara he hadn't even expressed a romantic interest in Felicity yet but the sympathy was all on her side. If they push a relationship with Ray/Felicity, the sympathy will still be hers because Oliver pushed her away in 3A. As Marc Guggenheim said, it's her superpower. The backlash will be on Laurel and they can't afford any more of that. Yep, Oliver said that he appreciated that she didn't try to dissuade him from going to fight Ra's, and then said "if it's you asking, I'll do it". It's funny that people think there's a power differential between Oliver and Felicity. There could have been, but Felicity has always stood her ground, even quitting the team because she didn't like what Oliver was doing. Felicity and Diggle are the only two people Oliver listens to, and of them I think Felicity has the edge. In the scene with Laurel in the Cave, it wasn't that fact that Laurel was telling Oliver to keep fighting that made him do it -- it was the information she gave him that Sebastian Blood was in on it and that even if Oliver gave himself up to Slade, it wasn't going to end. Yes, that's the feeling I got too, that Laurel wanted Oliver for herself and that's why she got Sara grounded. By the time Sara got out, Laurel was dating Oliver and he was off-limits.

I'm stunned that they used 'Trollenheim', and he didn't get offended.

MG said that the scene in which hadn't been written yet; he didn't say that it was in episode 3x18. It could be something nearer the finale to set up the storyline for next season.

You'd think Sin would be smarter about Sara Canary than Quentin since she knew her better. I'm pretty sure they've heard that. I think this is their way of getting people to like Laurel, their go-to method for getting the audience to like a character seems to be to have her interact with Felicity. The problem is that every time Laurel has been in a scene with Felicity she's either been bitchy or indifferent so they'll have to write her better if they want the Felicity goodwill to fall upon her. The episode description said the flashbacks are Merlyns. CH said that he and Emily had signed a three year contract. They signed it in s2 so theirs goes till the end of s2 while the other actors' contracts go till the end of s3. We don't know if KC signed one of those or an extended on like SA. However, a contract means that the actor has to be available, not that the show can't get rid of him sooner. Honestly, I could sit through Felicity/Laurel scenes if it's Diggle who brings her back to the Arrow Cave. (Unless 1. Diggle tells her Laurel needs her help or 2. Felicity tells Laurel how awesome she is. Then all bets are off.) They are too far apart, unless you want Slade to hold Felicity prisoner 3x14 - 3x17. I don't think Manu Bennett is signed on for four episodes though.

At least they told her during season 2 ...

Yes, I think so. She brings some information on Sara's murder. Surely Laurel can't still want to work with Malcolm after that???? Malcolm repeatedly refused Rebecca's phone calls as she lay dying because he didn't want to be bothered with her; he was busy doing business stuff. He then decided The Glades, all The Glades, must pay. (Is that what the Freudians call reaction formation?) And then, after her death he leaves his 8 year old son alone, grieving, while he goes off to find himself in Nanda Parbat. I don't mind his ONS with Moira but leaving Tommy to lose both mother and father is unforgivable. As Oliver said, the crucible didn't change him, it just stripped away the excess to reveal the person underneath. I like Malcolm, although not as much as I did when Moira was holding him back, but I can't buy him as a loving husband and especially not as a loving father.

Hopefully just while Oliver is gone, jay741082, so that Laurel can fulfill her destiny of becoming a superhero.

I think it's not just the chemistry though. IMO, EBR works harder in her scenes than KC does and I think it translates to the audience understanding the character better. It's not enough to feel the emotions, you have to be able to get the audience to feel and understand them and that requires working out the moves and facial expression and timing. It's like SA, who is three completely different people in past, present and Arrow present, and different again in his scenes with Thea than when he was with a character he doesn't love deeply or is angry at. The scene in The Calm when Oliver finally asks Felicity if she wants to go on a date with him. EBR says "yes..yes" and then gives a little nod to emphasize it even more. Or the scene in The Undertaking when Laurel first meets Felicity. KC doesn't show much emotion when Felicity interrups but EBR is active and stumbling and talking with her hands.

If Diggle, Roy, Felicity, Laurel, ARGUS, Ray and the whole Starling Police Department can't get rid of Brick, not to mention calling Barry for help, what good are they? Oooh, nicely put. But she has to be removed from the main narrative so 1. Laurel can take her place as the Good Woman on the Team and 2. Ray can get his super suit built and become a costumed superhero which appears to be what really counts on this show. (Otherwise why would Arsenal and Insta Canary have any influence on Diggle?). At least they're giving her a reason to recuse herself from the Cave instead of just making her too busy helping Ray and have Diggle and Roy mad at her for shirking her primary responsibilities and letting Oliver down.

Hey, I love Smoaking Billionaires too. But I can see O/L/T in the past as they experiment. It might also have given Laurel a distaste for Tommy if she thought he was a sub there. I'm not MG's biggest fan but I agree with him there -- there is no way that scene could have been written without getting into the reasons for Oliver bidding Laurel good-bye, and that would have changed the episode entirely, if for no other reason than Laurel would have been justified in demanding Oliver do something about Thea and Merlyn instead of sacrificing himself to Ra's.. I think if she hadn't jellied, they would have kept looking for another IT specialist. But I also think EBR jellied a bit too much with SA. If I were the EP and really wanted the Oliver/Laurel OTP to stay, I would have kept her on the sidelines working from QC rather than brought her into the lair itself, especially since Laurel wasn't going to be there herself for another season. I would have been afraid of another Clark/Chloe fandom division, and I can't see the show wanting that, the current shippers wars are bad enough. The fact that her name 'Felicity Smoak' was supposed to be just an Easter egg argues that they didn't mean for her to become as important to the team as she did.

One of the two Time of Death writers. But it's also co-written by one of the guys who wrote The Secret Origins of Felicity Smoak. I don't see how Oliver could not side with Felicity after what Malcolm's done, unless Laurel is proved right by the time he gets back. Maybe that's why he accepts her on the Team.

The only thing that makes sense is Malcolm wanting to join. He looks good for Thea and he gets an 'in' to Team Arrow so he can do his underhanded stuff there while there is no Oliver. I wonder what the point is of pitting Laurel vs Felicity, it seems like a no-win situation. If Felicity is right, Laurel looks even worse for wanting to add Malcolm; if Laurel is right, there are going to be a bunch of angry fans for what seems to be throwing Felicity under the Laurel-bus too. They may already know about them. The episode description for the previous episode says "Meanwhile, Ray steps in to help Lance and the police force fight Brick, showing Felicity a new side of her boss."

That's going to be the great Felicity/Laurel scene, where Felicity admits that Laurel was right and knows better than she does?

I hope so too but I think since Ra's is going to rain fire upon the city, teaming with Malcolm will be something that saves them in the end.

Because Brick is more than they can handle on their own, and they need to honor Oliver's memory? (There seems to be a bit too much memory honoring on this show.) Because they need Laurel to be more a part of Team Arrow than Felicity is so we'll love her? Felicity is shutting down the Arrow cave and working with Ray while Laurel is cheerleading the Team.

Laurel & Roy: Brick is just such a bad, bad person. We need all the help we can get to defeat him. Felicity, We'll I've got this guy who is working on this suit.... Diggle: Sorry, Felicity, can't wait. I don't want to agree with Roy (and I really don't want to agree with Laurel) but we have to handle this thing now. Felicity: But what about the police? Laurel: Oh no, you can't tell the police. I couldn't stand to lose my father. And they're still using her to get people to like other characters. Maybe that's why we have to wait for Felicity/Thea scenes, people already like Thea.