statsgirl

So clever of him.

Berlanti just keeps getting more and more shows. Season 1, all he had on was Arrow. This year he's also got The Flash and Mysteries of Laura, and he's developing a Supergirl series. I think the best we can hope for it that they hire or promote someone to join Guggenheim in show-running duties so balance him because Guggenheim by himself, even with input from Berlanti and Kreisburg, is not balancing things well.

I think the EPs are so in love with Regina, they want to have their Evil Queen cake and eat it too. I think it pretty much spoiled the first part of season 2 when we had to see Regina kill all the inhabitants of a village but sympathize with her and root for her too. Emma's speech to Regina about how they need to be friends because they are the only ones who are outcasts just about choked me since Emma wouldn't have been an outcast if Regina hadn't try to kill her when she was a baby.

It was primarily a Flash screening (I think they showed Going Rogue as well as bit of the cross-overs) so if Arrow characters didn't make it into the Flash A plot, that's probably why they weren't there.

I'm not really mad at Diggle, I don't think. Yet. The problem is that while I know that Felicity is doing the best thing she can do for herself, she gets no support from anyone, while Oliver does, from Diggle and from his relationship with Roy. I know the show is called Arrow but jeesh, can't someone support Felicity in her corner and be there for her to talk to? Yeah, what heart there is is all for Oliver. I do agree the invitation was a spur of the moment thing for Oliver not to be alone with his douchiness and manpain and when Diggle went to talk to Felicity, he put it in terms of Oliver being in more danger because he's off his game (nice manipulation there, John), but by the time Diggle went home that night, he knew that Felicity's dinner was over and that she had been in tears hearing what Oliver said to Cupid. Since Oliver had turned down the dinner invitation earlier, I would have thought better of Diggle if he had said to Felicity "I know you've already eaten but you shouldn't be alone tonight. Why don't you come over to our place for a drink?" She could have turned it down for plot reasons saying "Thanks, I appreciate it but I think I'd rather just go to the office and get some work done" but it would have been nice to see Diggle offer just one bit of support to her. I think Diggle is wrong here. Every time he's tried to push Oliver before Oliver was ready, it's backfired, usually on Felicity. Nothing moves Oliver until Oliver sees the light for himself, usually when someone he cares about dies. It's so much like season 1 when Diggle quit the team because Oliver was all "only my crusade matters and not your need to avenge your brother". (Also saving Laurel but that's another story) So Diggle should appreciate how Felicity feels because he was exactly the same way 2 years ago, except for Felicity it's more complicated because there's love involved not just bromance and Felicity is still on Team Arrow, trying to work with the guy who's breaking her heart. Diggle wants to bring them together because they're both hurting (although I think that's secondary to Oliver being safe) but as long as Oliver is being an ass, no matter what Felicity does she'll still be hurting. Let's say she does what Diggle wants and shuts down the idea of dating Ray. What does she get? More time watching Oliver meet the emotional needs of other people but never hers? More time putting her life on hold while she waits for him to die? What Diggle is asking of Felicity is wrong. It will make things better for Oliver but it has the potential to crush Felicity. (I'm not big on sacrificing your life for someone just because he's being an ass.) Focusing entirely on that, that Diggle sees Oliver is unraveling and too stubborn to do anything about it, it makes complete sense because nothing is going to get Oliver to move on his position and as Diggle said, it's dangerous [for him to be such an idiot]. For me the problem is that it leaves Felicity completely alone. Again. The writers could have handled that by having Diggle show Felicity some sympathy for what she's going through but they didn't. The problem is that Felicity already knows what she gets from the Team, which is why she's leaving a business dinner to run tech for them, and when the dinner is over, she's back there in the cave. She's basically working 2 full-time jobs, one at QC/PT and one with Oliver and Diggle, and we've been shown several times that it's not easy balancing the two. But what choice does she have other than to quit Team Arrow? If she quit her job with Palmer, she would be burying herself in the lair with a guy who doesn't meet her emotional needs and only dangles maybes, waiting to die along with him, either physically or emotionally when he does. Forever the mistress who gets crumbs but can't quit the affair with the married man.

She's the one who rebuild the Arrow lair when he left at the end of season 1, and she's always giving him "you can do it" speeches. And she's still there working for Team Arrow whenever she needs to. She asked for one night off in two years. In terms of working for Palmer, it was Oliver himself who said Palmer would be better for the company than he himself would be. She's 'all in' in terms of the vigilante thing and she was there for a relationship till Oliver shut her down. Again, and again, and again. After a while, you have to stop hitting your head against the brick wall because the wall's not going to move and you'll end up killing yourself.

Yeah, he's still lying to Thea but other than that, he's doing great emotionally except for Felicity. But a lot of the time it feels like he's using her as his punching bag for his martyrdom and projecting on to her "I could have had everything except I have to be a hero". What works for Oliver is limbo, having Felicity by his side available whenever he wants her but no real relationship or emotional stuff, and if she's not, that's on her. Another thing that bothered me about the episode is that this is the second time Diggle has pushed Oliver to do more than he wants to and it's rebounded on Felicity both times. In The Calm, Diggle was the one who pushed Oliver to go out on a date with Felicity when Oliver was still stalling on asking her. What happened is that Oliver did and it gave Felicity hope, and then Oliver grabbed the first chance that came up to push her away again, breaking her heart. In this episode, Diggle pushed Oliver to tell Felicity how he felt before someone else (Ray) got her and so Oliver went to her office and saw the kiss. Good thing Felicity didn't see him there but if the moment is carried through in the writing for the next episodes, Oliver is going to push her away even more now that he thinks she's with Ray. I read a review of the episode whose writer said that Oliver doesn't need a shrink because he's got Diggle. Uh, no, part of being a shrink is knowing when to push and how much to push, and Diggle kind of stinks at that.

That's a really good point. We're getting it all from Oliver's perspective., I think Felicity is getting a bad deal from those people she cares most about. One of the reasons I hate these stupid contrivances to keep the couple apart is because they inevitably make me dislike the characters I cared most about before. I'm not too fond of Oliver these days but my real anger is for Diggle this week. Oh totally Oliver got Diggle in the break-up, but Diggle didn't have to pick sides like that. While he was trying to get Felicity not to go to that dinner with Palmer, he could just have said "I know Oliver pushing you away is hurting you. Don't do anything you'll regret later because of that" just to let her know that he's knows this is hard on her too and to give her an opportunity to talk about it if she wanted. But he said nothing. Nada. And later, when the tears were in her eyes listening to Oliver tell Cupid he couldn't be with anyone, would it have killed him to give her a shoulder squeeze of support? But more than that, I don't think Oliver the one suffering the most because he is buoyed by his self-righteous martyrdom, one of his less attractive qualities. He couldn't be with the woman he wants, he had to give her up because he has to save the city. Yes, it's hard, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. He doesn't like it that Felicity is hurt along the way but that's the way life is when you're Oliver Queen the Arrow. In Draw Back Your Bow, we saw Oliver suffering a lot, suffering because Felicity isn't there whenever he wants her to be for his cause even though he keeps pushing her away because of his pain. And we saw Diggle being caring and supportive to him four times in this episode, not to mention the fifth when he went to Felicity to plead Oliver's cause. What did Felicity get? She got an awkward invite from a shirtless Palmer, a rejection from Oliver she told him it was just a business dinner (Do what you want) when she really wanted him to tell her that he cared about what she did, an interruption of her dinner to help Oliver, another major rejection from him when she went over after dinner to help only to hear him tell Cupid he can't be with anyone, and, after pulling herself together and going back to her office, a rejection from Ray who stops and walks away mid-kiss. Oliver said to Diggle "I made a choice. So did she." But given his choice, for her it was more like what he'd said after killing the Count, there was no choice. So we end the episode, Oliver having made a choice, surrounded by his good friends, in light and warmth. But they don't show us Felicity, alone in her office, trying to get some work done because there's no one for her to go home to or spend time with, probably trying to figure out how she got here when all she was trying to do was get some worthwhile attachments in her life. Damn you, Diggle.

I really don't think there will be anything more than a kiss good-bye at most. I think the 'not a 10 because no sex' is Guggenheim trolling. Even the casual viewer who has no idea of spoilers needs something. What if Oliver and Felicity were still at odds and Felicity was actively dating Ray when Oliver disappeared at the end of 309. A viewer tunes in Jan 21 and sees that Oliver is still missing, Felicity is worried but still dating Ray, and Laurel is putting on her Black Canary gear and going out with Roy to fight. Next week, the same thing. If I were that viewer, I'd be thinking 'why the hell am I even watching this show, without Oliver, without Olicity and with InstaCanary? Let's see what else in on at this time'. (Maybe it's all a plot to get us to watch Mysteries of Laura instead.)

Oh totally Oliver got Diggle in the break-up, but Diggle didn't have to pick sides like that. There were a number of times he could have support Felicity but he didn't. We see Oliver suffering because the show is about Oliver but I don't think he was the one suffering the most. We saw Oliver suffering because Felicity was doing something else when he wanted her and Diggle being sympathetic, suffering because she was going on a work dinner and Diggle being sympathetic, suffering when Diggle was being sympathetic and teling him if he didn't say anything Felicity would move on, suffering because Ray was kissing Felicity. And at the end, we got a scene of Oliver and Roy going into the light, warm room and being greeted by Diggle and Lyla. What we didn't see was Felicity alone in her office working and dealing with being rejected by the men in her life three times that day Taking the rest to the relationship thread.

Because nothing says sexual tension like doing it in the crypt close to the heart of your not-dead-wife. Robin and Regina really don't do it for me. I think sexual tension is when you want to say to the couple 'just do it!' whether they've done it already or not. Definitely not Robin and Regina. Wonder why they didn't take Emma and Hook from that show instead.

They need to give us a good Olicity scene because they're going to need people to keep watching while Oliver is gone. So while I don't trust MG's assessments (although the 'not a 10 because no sex' made me laugh), the show really needs a bang-up scene between them. And both AK and SA have said it's good. If they ever get down to real sex, it will be either interrupted to save someone or the city blows up. It'll be the Lazarus Pit. Malcolm didn't need it because he faked being dead and so he got his minions to take Tommy there. Felicity said she had tried to check the DNA from that arrow that killed Sara against Roy's but it was inconclusive probably why she asks Caitlin for help. I give you odds it's planted DNA.

I thought from Oliver's expression when he was watching the TV that he didn't know about the name change (which makes no sense if he were still holding shares but what about the finances on this show does?) so that he was hit by a double whammy -- not having Felicity available when he wants her to be and losing the QC name. At least for the former Felicity would still be around if he paid her from the $4 million he has left so no sympathy from me, guy. Sales. Just sayin'. Oliver's most open and honest relationships in this show are with Diggle and Roy. Thea begged him to open up and be honest with her in seasons 1 and 2 (this season she's keeping her own secrets) , and Felicity has accepted everything he's given her and he's still shut himself off from her, so again, no sympathy from me for Oliver. This stupid 'star-crossed (aka asinine) storyline is really making me dislike Oliver. LOL. although I think by this time, Mrs. Gardner knows she's not going to get the necklace, sale or no sale.

A 'reward' for an actor though is a juicy storyline, and many of them prefer acting the villain to being a good character. I can see them making Thea the chief suspect for a few episodes, long enough to cause Oliver to risk himself to save her, but I don't know about long term ... as Speedy/Mia Dearden, she may be a more valuable character than they want to get rid of. (On the other hand, both shows have a had of killing the females and keeping the males except for Tommy.) In the end, if not Sin then I think it's an archery kneeling on one knee, which would account for the odd angle of the shots. And LoA or Waller, assuming that there is Queen DNA planted on the arrow..

Granted, I'm still fed up with Mer and Der because of all the refusal to get a nanny and all the babysitting mix-up which ended up being pure selfishness on their part because a nanny would have been better for the kids. So yeah, they may be the show's A couple but they're both fundamentally selfish. I think Derek should go to Washington because that's what he wants to do. A couple of years away from Mer and the kids vs a lifetime of resenting them for not letting him live his dream. I'm with Mer on that, although I'd be fed up with her behaviour too. Speaking of pregnant actresses..... I can understand why writers do that though. Most women on TV shows are of an age to get pregnant and if they do and the writer doesn't want to write in the child, there's the agony of losing a baby to wrap it up nicely. I like Amelia and I like Owen and I want them both to find happiness but this is way too fast. Cristina's footprints are barely dry.

I don't think he'll quit although I wouldn't be surprised if he does, depending on how they handle Laurel Passion is what makes a dedicated viewer rather than indifference. He said he got thousands of tweets agreeing with him about Laurel. I guess I just don't understand why the producers are so married to the idea of her as the Black Canary that they're willing to ignore fans like him.

The ArrowAfterShow this week was interesting. After addressing the elephant (canary) in the room (starts at about the 4 minute mark), Campea just got so excited and so enthusiastic about the show. He said there are a thousand things they get right compared to the one they get wrong (people become superheros too fast), and proceeded to go through a good number of them. He really liked the episode. This guy is such a booster for the show. The EPs need to listen seriously to people like that instead of brushing them off as disgruntled fans.

Oliver wouldn't let the LoA go after Merlyn because he was Thea's father (at least that's all I can think of) so he's not going to let Laurel go after Thea. Although 7 months of training by Malcolm vs 4 weeks of boxing lessons would have been an interesting fight. Especially if it were to the death.

That's strange because I got the info from there. I guess they changed their minds.

International sales. For some reason B&tB does really well internationally.

When Guggenheim said we'd know who killed Sara 'by the end of the year', I think he meant by the end of the TV year, meaning this season. Otherwise it doesn't make sense, to kill her for just 8 episodes of who dunnit. I think that's why they can do it, though. The audience knows he's not dead but they're wondering what could have happened to him, and watching his friends try to find him, worrying that he really is dead. What I can't understand though is why would you want the titular character of your show to be absent for almost three episodes in only the show's third year? It's too soon to be bored with him (that comes in season 5 or more) and if it's to provide the space for Laurel to become BC, that's a bone-headed maneuver. I think this show only gives Oliver's women real alternative love interests when they want to take them off the table and they're not going evil (Helena, Isabel). McKenna left town, Sara broke up with him and left town to go back to Nyssa. Only Laurel got another real love interest on the show; Barry/Felicity didn't even get out of the starting blocks. I have little doubt they'll continue to keep Oliver and Felicity apart but I hope they'll come up with another reason (Felicity's abandonment issues on top of Oliver leaving?). I agree, Diggle will be suiting up pretending to be the Arrow. But with those muscles, he'll have to get his own costume. (I wonder if he already has one, just for emergencies).

And then we (the audience) finally see him at the end of 3x12, and Ra's got him. I'd expect Diggle and Felicity to keep looking for him until they actually find a dead body. It's can't all be Starling City as usual during those episodes. or Black Canary and Atom suit up.

Didn't she see it in action when Sara saved Oliver from her at the police station? Presumably they talked about it in their many conversations while Slade was attacking the city last season. That's a really good point, especially as Laurel becoming BC is so controversial, so they'd want to keep scenes of Oliver to keep people watching the show. So it makes sense that the people on the show worry that he's dead, and the audience is worrying too (except not). With respect to Ray, I'm really hoping that now that they have used him to get Oliver jealous and move that plot forward, his main function will be science/CEO/Atom instead of Felicity's love interest. Because as Danny Franks said, I can't see Felicity dating him when she's worried for Oliver. Especially not if there's been a big scene between her and Oliver in 309.

Does one need to make amends for a kiss? (In that case, Thea's DJ has a lot to make up for.) Or is it amends for walking away at a time when Felicity feels like she's being rejected by everyone? I'm still hoping it's amends for using her to get the mine so he can make his suit while she was singing his praises as a good guy to Gardner.

I'm now thinking that he wasn't going to go to Felicity and tell her he wants to be in now. I think it was just going to be like the time before, when he told Felicity she knows how he feels about her, and the time before that when he shut down the possibility of a relationship before it even started with his maybes. This was going to be another 'I care about you but I can't be with you now but I really care about you', in which case, it's a good thing he turned on his heel and left. I'm bitter that he's still hurting Felicity, but I'm okay with him turning tail.