statsgirl

I thought Ra's was terrifying after that scene with Moira and Malcolm. Then when I saw him, I thought What's all the fuss about? I still think Nyssa is much more scary than Ra's is. I'll see what the next episode brings but I'm wondering if this is what I should be tweeting MG about Ray. That's kind of awesome, quarks. This show gives me whiplash between the potential for awesome storytelling (I'd rather it be the Odyssey and not The Dark Knight) and what often ends up on my screen. Remember how Penelope set the bar for fidelity in the Odyssey? It's yet another argument for giving shows a finite number of episodes so the story can be plotted out and told well rather than renewed? cancelled? renewed until the show withers from being stagnant.

So many good people lost. sob Oliver: I don't want to be a hero. Sara: I'm the farthest thing from being a hero. Moira, sacrificing herself for her children. Tommy sacrificing himself to save Laurel when he could have been safe. Quentin willing to sacrifice himself to defuse the bomb. And that folks, is what makes a hero.

I agree they have a real problem with their shiney new toys, especially the ones who wear costumes, and it often messes up their storytelling, and then they pull it together for the finale arc. I'm hoping that's what happening here and once Laurel's and Ray's stuff is done, thanks to Oliver being busy offscreen, they'll get back to the Team Arrow as they did last season. "It's time [they] got back to that." I don't know about retconning Laurel as Oliver's love interest but certainly they've tied Felicity to Oliver's humanity, she's even the last person he thought of as he died. Besides, looking at the year end reviews on the Starling Times thread, it's clear that Felicity/EBR is the break-out character on the show and the one getting the most accolades other than Oliver/SA and Barry/GG. While there are time I don't think too highly of the EPs intelligence, killing the golden goose in favor of the one who has already been shown not to lay eggs at all (except in the metaphoric sense), would be really stupid.

I've been rewatching season 1 during the holiday break. I admit that I didn't like Laurel from point in the pilot episode when she turned off the TV that everyone else was watching without asking because she didn't want to see the news item. But what has struck me from watching the episodes again is how incredibly much Laurel makes everything about her. From seizing the remote to her insistence that both Tommy and Oliver put her first ahead of their friendship, to getting upset when the table in the restaurant isn't free for her when she wants it (because Tommy didn't have money to bribe his way in but she doesn't care about that). When she talks to Oliver about taking Sara away with him, she says "you don't sleep with your girlfriend's sister unless you want to blow up the relationship" (actually, maybe you do if you like the sister in question and have fun with her), and when Sara tried to warn her that Oliver wasn't ready to live with her because he was cheating on her, she replied "Why can't you be happy for me?" Her introduction to Felicity was annoying because after asking who this person is, Lauren ignored her for the rest of the scene and talked only to Oliver. Even in season 3 she's telling Quentin he's not doing his job properly, calling out the riot squad because she's going to save the city, and saying that she won't tell Quentin about Sara because she can't lose someone else and giving orders to Felicity as if she worked for her. If they had deliberately tried to write a character with a narcissistic personality, they couldn't have done a better job. I don't think the writers did it on purpose, but it does make their job of making Laurel a sympathetic and believable Black Canary that much harder.

I'm tempted to say that Oliver was alone on the island because if someone else had been there, they would have told him to get a shave and a haircut but I really think they will find a way for him not to be alone in season five, if only because it would make the flashbacks incredibly boring. ARGUS already had a presence on the island when the Queen's Gambit went down, odds are they maintained something if only a skeleton presence later on. Oliver told Diggle in season one "when I decided to come home", which argues that he had some autonomy by then and also some way of getting back, or at least connecting to the boat that found him on Lian Yu. Just because the Chinese sailors didn't see anyone else on the island doesn't mean no one else was there. Oliver would have wanted anyone who picked him up to think that he had been alone on a deserted island for the whole five years.

I'm going to be a Felicity-type optimist and think that maybe after EBR fought to keep Felicity's glasses and ponytail in season 2, maybe they thought "hey, we can do something with this". This season the only time her hair was down was on the date with Oliver, the rest of the time Oliver's Felicity has glasses and a ponytail. Barry's Felicity still has the glasses but her hair is often down and flowing. Ray's Felicity's hair is also often down and her clothes are more muted and more professional than last year's EA clothes. The shoes still kill me. EBR too apparently,, as she's said that if you can't see her feet in a scene, she's wearing flip-flops. Just popping this in here... you can see Susanna Thompson in Once and Again which ran from 1999 - 2002 although she's toned down because Sela Ward was the star of the show. She was in a number of Star Treks, from The Next Generation to Dax's former lover in DS9 (she was beautiful if you don't mind the trill spots) and in full alien make-up as the Borg Queen in Voyager. Back to Felicity -- I think she was stunning in the red dress for the aborted date in The Calm but it was a Felicity that I almost felt uncomfortable with. She wasn't my Felicity. I wonder if Oliver felt something of the same and whether it might have played into his shutting down a relationship between himself and this beautiful stranger.

Hey, it worked with Thea. Season 3, the Malcolm Merlyn Mind-control volumes. (Man, I really miss Moira, by the end she really had Malcolm's number. "You told me [about Ra's al Ghul] when you mentioned Nanda Parbat.") That could be part of it but I also think that it's true what he told Laurel, that he doesn't want to know who the Arrow is because then he couldn't ask him to do the things he needs to do to protect the city (e.g. when he told him to get back to killing when Laurel was kidnapped by Slade). The cost of doing right has been an on-going theme in the show. I think Quentin dealt with Sara being the Canary partly because he had already lost her to death and partly because she was doing her thing out of town so he didn't have to know the specifics. But Laurel is going to be in town, right in front of the eyes of the police department, and it will be interesting to see how he deals with that. At least I hope it will be and Quentin doesn't just say "Cool. Stay safe."

But it was happy. Well not happy but they're both out there fighting for each other. There are a lot of fics where thinking of Felicity brings Oliver back, but I like this one the best in terms of hopeful angst.

This is something that Quentin could identify with, because he's already said that he doesn't want to know who the Arrow is (even though he probably does). Knowing for certain makes it real, and he'd understand why Laurel didn't want to tell him because she was hoping it wasnt' true. That's a better solution than Laurel not telling and Quentin forgiving her all because she's the only one he has left in his life. (He really need Donna Smoak to come by again.) But the real problem I see is that there is still no reason for Laurel to suddenly acquire a black leather suit and put on Sara's wig and mask. Sure Dinah told her to make the killer pay, but she can do that better as a lawyer than wearing a Hallowe'en costume. (I love Quentin for that line.) She'd have to be delusional to think that she's a good enough fighter now to help out with Oliver gone, and it's hard to think that the bad guys of Starling City knew the Canary well enough to be afraid of a woman with blonde hair in black leather. Something along the lines of Harry Dresden works with River Song..... or like Castle and Bones. There must be a market for that kind of show by now. If they do it properly, I can see how it might work. There's no greater trauma than being killed, and there should be some consequences. It's also a better way to stall Olicity than Felicity suddenly dating Ray. But I have no interest in seeing season 1 Oliver again and it actually doesn't make sense in terms of their parallels of Flashback Oliver getting more inhuman as Present Day Oliver regains his humanity. So I'm okay if they do it, but wrap it up before the push for May sweeps.

They don't have to see Malcolm as being in cahoots with Ra's, they already know that Malcolm engineered the circumstances so that Oliver would have to fight Ra's to save Thea. That right there is enough to never believe anything Malcolm says, not to mention that Malcolm was responsible for their friend Sara dying. I'm used to actors who fight for their characters. I remember back on The Lost World, Michael Sinelnikoff said that there were so many different writers and directors in the first season that the actors talked amongst themselves and said that they had to take responsibility for maintaining the consistency of their characters I can believe that KC was not consulted about her BC costume before they presented the drawings to her although even Brandon Routh got to look at the early drawings for his. But just as SA said that Oliver's costume has to be so that he can put it on without needing someone else's help to get it on, I think all the actors have a responsibility for the consistency of their characters. So even though the EPs okayed it, I think KC should have asked Why are the gloves fingerless because she's a lawyer and she's going to be leaving fingerprints all over the city? Will Laurel be able to put it on by herself? Will the buckles snag on things and get in the way when she's fighting? I think KC gets criticism for things that are beyond her control, but I kind of feel the criticism of her BC costume is something she could have lessened. Unless it is purposefully meant to be a fail, in the way that her initial fighting abilities are a fail, and then both get better. Twitter, and blogs and youtube telecasts by people who watch the show because of the comic book connection, as opposed to those who got pulled in by the storylines in the first two seasons. I still think that those people who know the comic books aren't expecting Laurel to become a superhero, especially after seeing Sara, whereas for many who do come from the comics, seeing Laurel as BC is going to have the feel of righting the show to meet their previous expectations.

All my excitement for 3x10 just disappeared with that description. I like the idea of Diggle and Roy defending the city but that's going to be over in the first few minutes of the episode. There seems to be no reason for Felicity to believe Malcolm Merlyn since he's not only a liar but a huge manipulator but she probably will. Thea thinking there is something more behind Oliver's disappearance has been ruined by the fact that she is still being such an idiot over Malcolm and not telling Oliver that he's around and dangerous. Since she doesn't know that Oliver is the Arrow, and that he went to a deathly duel, asking Malcolm to find out why he isn't around is kind of meh. Anyway, Thea asked Oliver not to make her choose, having already chosen Merlyn so she's off my Interest List (another possibly good plot ruined by the showrunning). After two years of pretty much not caring what goes on other than to catch the Hood (she did care in the first three episodes of s1 when she was at CNRI, and the deleted scenes in 1x23), there will be some random reason (Brick?) for Laurel to put on black leather and pretend to be Sara. Contrary to what the EPs said, that the reason for her putting on the suit will be in 3x09, there still is no real reason for her to put in on since she only swore to get Sara's killer and that's Oliver who is missing. Maybe Ray's suit can distract me from her. The stunts will be good because Glen Winter is directing, but between this, Flash, AoS and the movies I've seen over the holiday, I'm kind of over that kind of stunt. I agree, to get that "epic" scene (my expectations are lowered now knowing MG wrote it), Team Arrow have to believe that Oliver is dead. But I hope they demand more proof than a bloody sword and a home video. If it were me, I'd be looking at what con Merlyn could be playing with having Oliver killed by Ra's. Diggle and Felicity have already had to deal with people like Merlyn, Isabel and Moira, not to mention Slade. Back-stabbing is the first thing they should be looking for in any statement by Malcolm. I'm totally expecting most of the social media to embrace her, if only because Laurel is finally becoming the Black Canary, and most of the rest of the audience won't mind or will pay attention to other parts of the show. The people like my friend who quit watching because she can't stand Laurel are few and generally silent. But that doesn't mean that the writing etc. couldn't have been much better and made it more likely people who are skeptical (like Alan Sepinwall or John C.) could accept her as the Black Canary. I remember that Stephen Amell said that he insisted that the Arrow costume be simple enough that he (i.e. Oliver) would be able to get into in it on his own quickly. Why SA >>>>>> KC.

It's still Christmas, right? A cute Christmas fic, where Joe West invites the Arrow gang, including Sara and Nyssa, over for the celebration. For All Of This by gnimaerd.

I get the feeling that EBR is still pretty shy about the fame thing. She'll do a con if there are other people with her (e..g. SA and DR in Chicago) or if it's a mandated PR thing like the European tour with CH but she won't sign up for a con on her own for the money. (Given when KC has been saying in her appearances, that's probably a good thing.) Contrary to what the CW PR department thinks, Laurel's rise to Black Canary has been a massive fail all around, from the writing (why isn't she looking for Sara's killer if it's so important to her) to the acting to the costumning. Sara had to die to set the wheels in motion because heaven forfend Laurel actually wants to help the people of Starling City; Oliver has to appear to die to justify her putting on the buckles so soon. I'm anticipaqting that the season will end with Malcolm fighting alongside Oliver against Ra's but Oliver is an idiot to trust either of them. That's kind of this year's theme though, what an idiot Oliver is. He was stupid to try to protect Malcolm from the consequences of The Undertaking and like the scorpion the turtle crossed the river on Malcolm stung him to death by setting him up to kill Ra's. Oliver was also an idiot to think he could kill Ra's in a duel when he knew how good even Nyssa could fight. Unless it's Nyssa helping to save Oliver, she's doing to be rather an idiot too, for letting herself be manipulated by her father like that.

No wonder Paul Blackthorne is pushing for a Quentin/Donna romance. At least it would be something different than propping Laurel the whole season. And it would be typical Laurel to think that she's the one who is going to do it. Forget Diggle and Roy, who have actually been trained to fight, Laurel's spent three four months learning to box, she'll handle what the police can't. I didn't mean that it would be Sara's child, just that even if Nyssa wasn't feeling maternal, Sara was approaching her thirties and likely wanting a baby. I'm sure Ra's could have negotiated a way with Nyssa that the child has her DNA and Sara retires from kiling people to raise the child. I think less of him that he didn't think of that himself. If he was so impressed with Oliver, he might have agreed to donate the sperm if Sara was raising the baby. In primitive cultures, eating a foe's heart was thought to give you their courage, or their brain their wisedom. (Mostly it just gave you their parasites.) Maybe Laurel thinks that if she looks like Sara, she will have Sara's courage and fighting ability. She's going to need all the help she can get. Or maybe she thinks that if she looks like Sara and does what Sara does, she will become Sara, who did all the hard work on her own. That does't make any sense psychologically (Laurel always thought she was better than Sara) but who knows what the EPs are thinking at this stage.

Yay, because it decreases the odds that Felicity will be fridged for Oliver's manpain this or next season.

Artificial insemination? The odds of finding a worthy partner and producing an heir jump astronomically when Nyssa doesn't have to be in love with him too. If Ra's wanted Nyssa to procreate, he should have left her in a relationship with Sara, doubling the chance that one or the other would want to have a baby in their family. Meanwhile, he could be looking for Nyssa sperm donor.

I think we're watching different shows. However, Brandon Routh would do okay with his own show, and there would me more "magic" tech than on Arrow. I've realized that the deciding factor for me whether I watch a show or not is if a character on a show pulls me in and makes me want to find out what happens to him or her. Ray Palmer isn't there yet.

Douchey DJ can be a comic book character in the way The Flash uses them, as recurring (e.g. Leonard Snort), so just because he's on another show doesn't mean he can't be costumed. We'll see what Merlyn's plan is (hopefully there is a plan or else this is just poor writing) but it's hard to believe he ever loved anyone other than himself. He refused to take his wife's dying phone call, and then blamed everyone else for her death. (They could have taken the description from the DSM4?) If so, why did Ra's get so angry when Nyssa returned and said that Malcolm was under Oliver's protection? Both Nyssa and Ra's essentially said that Oliver had made Ra's an enemy with that. (Or are they making it up as they go along?) I never understood why Ra's had such a problem with Sara as Nyssa's lover. She knows from talking with Sara how dangerous the LoA is and if she's talked to Quentin at all, she should be aware how worried for Sara's safety he is, the grinning at the jacket handover notwithstanding. Because Oliver didn't say goodbye to her is a pretty feeble excuse for not believing Malcolm Merlyn when he says Oliver is dead if Oliver's team, who knows much better what Oliver went to do, do. If she is the one who doesn't believe Oliver is dead and looks for him, it's an indication that the show is willing to throw Felicity and Diggle under the bus for Laurel too. Diggle looking for Oliver makes the most sense to me, because Oliver is the brother he thought he could save. Finding out Oliver has died, especially after Oliver turned down Diggle's offer to go with him, would devastate Digg.

I know the initial casting announcements hinted that he was going to be Laurel's LI, but that could just be the spin the spoiler people put on it. Or it could be a deliberate misdirect, like OUaT saying they were casting a love interest for Henry when they were really casting for a flashback friend of Emma's, or a p.r. thing to show that Oliver is not going to be Laurel's LI this season.. Until I hear otherwise, I'm still holding out for a Laurel/Ra's relationship.

Oh, douchebag DJ........... Although after 3x09, I wouldn't mind it if Dinah were next. After 2 1/2 seasons of Arrow, I'm not a fan of Katie Cassidy but the writing has really failed Laurel.

I haven't been watching regularly because I hate the Jason adoration and it's transfer to Jakeson, Fluke sends me to sleep and Sonny, Shawn and Carly turn me off like no one else, but did Julian ever tell Alexis that Fluke was the one who blew up her house?

As Malcolm said, Thea shot him but Tommy wasn't willing to. Malcolm thinks of Thea as being stronger than Tommy was, which makes the brainwashing plant even more of a cheat.

Merlyn loves Thea in his own twisted way, one which quite possibly includes making Oliver part of his bizarre family, presuming that the suicide mission he just sent Oliver on doesn't actually kill him. Anyone who is willing to wipe out an entire section of the city because his wife died because he refused to answer her phone calls isn't normal but in his own psychopathic way, he probably does love Thea at the moment, as long as she lives up to his expectations and doesn't fail like Tommy did..

It's probably a flashback or a time jump within the episode. Malcolm is strange, but would he really keep a bloody sword around for 6 weeks? Would it take him that long to get back from a mountain that it only took Oliver a few hours to get to? In the clip with Felicity turning around, as she does there is a shadowy figure in the background going up the stairs from the lair. It looks like Felicity is just turning around then to look at the sword. I kind of hope not though because that kind of reaction is difficult for any actor to nail.

Oliver stabbed Malcolm Merlyn through the heart and he survived. He told Diggle and Felicity that Sara was dead, and she wasn't. He told them that everyone injected with Ivo's mirakuru had died but Slade survived. Felicity spent five years feeling guilty that Cooper had died because of her but he hadn't. If anyone knows footage can be faked, it's Felicity. I will be very disappointed if Diggle and Felicity just accept Oliver is dead because Malcolm says so. There are two episodes that Oliver is in only in flashbacks. We've been assuming that they are 3x10 and 3x11 but maybe they're 3x11 and 3x12. That would solve the problem of Diggle and Felicity thinking he's dead, while the audience knows he's alive. If Buckle Canary is the person who is convinced he's still alive, I will consider going to Guggenheim and throwing things at him in person. Ditto Thea, who I don't think really deserves to be Oliver's closest person at this point, given how she's treated him lately. That would be hilarious. But we see Oliver in 3x12, and Slade only arrives with 3x14. I won't be happy if 3x13 is all about Buckle Canary and I don't even get to see how Diggle and Felicity react to Oliver being alive.