statsgirl

What comics can do that live tv can't -- show Laurel carrying an unconscious Oliver away from a car crash. The biggest problem with this episode was that there wasn't enough time for Roy's story, which is Oliver's origin story in how he learns to control his impulses and be a good mentor, and how Roy learns to trust him even more. That's what the episode should have been about since it was established very early on that Ted Grant was innocent. But there wasn't time for that because they used it to be about Laurel's origin story, how she believes Ted Grant, how she fights Oliver for his innocence. And that's the take-away for me, that the show can either do Oliver's origin story or Laurel's origin story but not both. (And personally there is only one of those I care about.) Oliver let her have the decision not to tell Quentin that Sara had died. And as a result, Quentin will be even more hurt when he finds out that Laurel kept if from him, and it prevented them using police resources to catch Quentin's killer. And then there was when she called in the riot squad and made the situation worse because she wanted to give the orders rather than wait till her father, the police captain, got back. Laurel's right to make her own decisions stops when those decisions hurt other people. I think she should go out and get training if she wants, but I also think that Oliver is right to refuse to train her and to refuse to let her run with the Team Arrow. It's Laurel fan pandering. There is no necessary reason for it in a show about the creation of the Green Arrow, unlike Oliver's relationship with Felicity which at least is about him learning to have a mature romantic relationship. I think if the show wants to do both Green Arrow and Black Canary, it's going to end up shooting itself in the foot. Or higher.

She said that the angle of the arrows was strangely low but if he threw them (presumably from lower that a bow is held) it makes sense. So she didn't rule him out forensically.

He has yet to share a scene with Robbie, but that doesn't mean they're not in the same episode. Campea was at a party at SA's house two weeks ago. There's a bottle of Nocking Point on the table. Campea does a brief commercial, SA said he didn't know it was going to be there. We end with fulsome praise of the show and how good it is, especially in comparison to SHIELD. John Barrowman told him in season one that season 1 you're a guest in their living room, season 2 you're expected season 3 you're part of the family. Talk of how wonderful Supernatural fanbase is. Whew! high fives ban1o. Hee. I wish! Especially given that Maybe the fire of Roy thinking he killed Sara and knowing Oliver wouldn't abandon him strengthened their relationship. So something that happens in the next episode tests then strengthens Oliver's relationship with Felicity? At the least, he said that within the next 3 episodes, there is the best Olicity scene we've had yet. Hopefully he's right otherwise there are going to be some very angry Olicity fans. I think he would be happier with a hair shirt, he's really into martyrdom. I hope he's paying Diggle and Roy at least. Why couldn't he pay Felicity too so she didn't have to work at Tech Village?

Asked about the DC movies, he says that it was 'shitty' that someone else was announced to play The Flash when the great ratings of the second episode were announced. He seems very protective of Grant Gustin and genuinely happy the show is doing so well. Peter Roth of DC Comics said 'let's go twelve years' after the second episode of Arrow. Audience question of why Supergirl went to CBS and not CW: SA said that Berlanti's deal was with the CW and it and CBS are kind of the same thing.

He asked them who they thought killed Sara. Answers Tommy, Thea, Talia, Roy. SA has lots of praise for John Barrowman and how he takes chances. The arrowhead chances every season because Greg Berlanti is an encyclopedia about television and he liked shows that changed their opening every year. Last Thanksgiving Colin Salmon went over to his place and brought his 6 week old daughter a whole wardrobe of clothes. If you like what the show is doing, what you want will happen. John Campea said he hopes Laurel will die. Someone asked if there are any good Olicity scenes coming up. SA said that in the way the villain in this one was a conduit to Oliver's relationship with Roy, the villain in the next one will be a conduit for his relationship with Felicity. In the next three episodes will be the best Oliver/Felicity scene yet. (I wonder if this is what AK was tweeting about.) More ARGUS in flashbacks and in cross-over ep. We wlll see Diggle in a costume before the end of the season, but probably not the costume people are anticipating. (Me. probably a party for Sara) SA says it's a point of contention for him on the show that Diggle doesn't have a costume. But you have to go through your island to get a costume and Diggle already went through his island in Afghanistan and didn't need a costume. How is he paying for everything? SA: When a billionaire goes broke, it's like he's only got 4 million dollars left. Episodes 8 and 9 are the two best episodes of the show they've ever done. (But he also said that about the Promise.) He answered NumberCruncher's question about a lighter schedule, with 'That's an interesting question', and that in some episodes there may be Oliver only in flashbacks..

He says ep 10 has been the worst in the first two seasons so this season they found a really great way to do it. If you like the show, trust the writers. More about this being Laurel's island (although it may be Ann Campea), and everything is so wonderful. He has a future in politics. Basically, Campea is so excited to have him on the show, it's a puff piece. But he did say that Laurel aside, the woman in the show are written really well. SA said episodes 6 and 7 bridge the gap between the start of the show and the fall finale. He loves working with Laurel in his Arrow persona. Diggle was being the devil's advocate in telling Oliver to dump Roy. Campea's favorite episode was The Magician, SA agrees it was very good.

I wonder how they would have handled Roy's storyline if it had been the 'A' story and had more time to be told, rather than the 'B'. There was so much talk last week about did Roy really kill Sara, and in the end they shrunk it into a Laurel episode. I read a number of complaints that last week's villain was too boring. Obviously they hadn't seen this episode yet. I know they were talking about lairs, but seeing the line printed is giving me the suggestion they're really talking about something else. Or what Felicity does.

I love it how everyone know so much better than everyone else what's the right thing to do. Did Felicity lose all her influence points with Wells? I'll be happy to see Lyla again. Is this where Shaw's hint that Waller makes you do bad things comes into play, or will that be later?

True. But Laurel has guaranteed that it's no one else can because no one else knows.. At least now she's letting Team Arrow help. I guess I should also give her points for not demanding Roy go to jail immediately... except she can't do that because she didn't tell her father Sara's dead.

I give Laurel points for calling Felicity on the phone, knowing she is the person who can track where they are. Did Oliver and Diggle transport to get there so fast? On the other hand, Oliver super stupid that Grant would kill a guy and hang him in his own gym. Yes, I think they do. While I didn't like The Promise, at least it wasn't boring. LOL yes. Although I will say that the ten minutes of a real hypnotic induction would be pretty boring TV, just like if we saw Felicity hacking in real time. Oliver realizing that Roy was remembering killing the cop and not because he killed Sara was ridiculous. How could Oliver be so sure?

I guess it's so that when she appears on her BC leather, we can say "she's been training with Ted Grant for three months now, of course she can do it."

This burned me so much. Ex-military Diggle is telling Oliver to cut Roy loose when it's the mirakuru that affected him. Whatever happened to not leaving a man behind? And Felicity willing to let Roy confess to Oliver in front of blabber-mouth Laurel. And Laurel telling Ted Grant she used to date the Arrow. Yeah, the flashbacks, which I usually hate, were the best part. Kudos to who called it with Oliver using the technique on Roy.

I guess I'm just not one of his favourite fans because I really hate the fake angst and teasing when the best thing about this couple is how they fit together so well. When people talk gently, they like it. When they talk a lot and with anger, it's a demand for attention before they give up. He doesn't get it if he thinks the best part of a couple is watching them being tortured, and people hating on a storyline is a good thing. What diminishes Oliver's journey for me is time spent away from it. He's still got a lot of journey left almost 3 seasons, so there is more to learn about him. Taking time away from that means it's not so important as it was before. I think the only solution is to put Laurel in costume and on a BoP spin-off. That way people who love her will be happy, and people who don't want her on Arrow will be too. Campea should be thankful for those twitter pictures, it will certainly up his audience tonight.

Isn't it a different Barbara Gordon on Gotham? She's too old to be Batman's Barbara Gordon, so I thought it was her aunt. At the moment they're more interested in Oliver/Felicity because they brought in Superman to be the stall-ship for her rather that a C level actor that they brought in for Laurel, but again, that's not saying what they will do in season four. I wish they would do a BoP spin-off as a mid-season replacement like Marvel is doing with Agent Carter. I think they were actually lucky it happened now because if they had been released after Oliver went away from Starling City and Felicity was dating Ray, people would have been even more upset and less likely to tune back in in January. This way, they have time to get over it if the next episodes are really good.

Moira vs Donna in defense of their kids..... all the way down to sharing holidays. Would Donna feel uncomfortable? Would Moira feel Felicity isn't good enough for Oliver (whereas Laurel was) or accept her and Donna because they like/love Oliver? So much they could have done.

Probably Oliver and Laurel making up past differences. As if the show hasn't done it a number of times already. The idea that the show is going to go into the holiday hiatus with Laurel ready to don the BC costume and Oliver missing boggles my mind. I can only think that there will be a good Olicity moment in 3x09 to keep people who don't like Laurel watching. Because if Oliver and Felicity are still at odds, Oliver is gone from the lair and Laurel is suiting up, what's the point?

Matt Mitovich said "Laurel simply wearing the costume and doing it justice/meeting its potential are two vastly different things, of course." But that's doesn't help. I have no interest in watching Laurel try and fail and try again to be the Black Canary, and take up even more time on the show. And now I'm thinking that Oliver being away is to give Laurel more screentime as she becomes the Black Canary. MG saying that Katie is doing the best work she's done on the show isn't saying much, considering she was hired to be the leading lady and by assumption the best female actress.

Whose credit card will she use? Or is the SCPD to incompetent to check out who the new vigilante is? It does look like you can get it at a S&M store though. I wonder if Left Behind refers to Team Arrow being left behind without Oliver. Knowing Laurel and how she feels she's always right, she'll be trying to take Oliver's place.

So she suits up in January? They must be betting that there are more people who want to see Laurel as BC than those who don't like the idea. Maybe Ted Grant had an extra suit in his secret vigilante stash. Also, did Guggenheim just say Grant is her love interest tonight? That's what you get after a couple of weeks of boxing lessons. And when did she learn to use the stick?

With all due respect to Stephen Amell, there are characters you love to hate, and then there are characters you just plain hate. And if there is more of characters you hate, you're not going to watch any more. The fact that she wasn't in on Oliver's secret wasn't the problem -- the problem was why she couldn't be in on it (e.g. Oliver didn't trust her, she doesn't listen to anyone else).

I think there are levels of who sees what promotions. Most people see the "Next on Arrow" on TV, some see sneak peeks on the internet. I think it's only those who are really into the show who look at the promo pictures. I don't think they are overly promoting Felicity since she helping Oliver and later having Roy tell her his secret. But they don't seem to be promoting Laurel's story or her relationship with Ted in what I see on TV or read about the episode. In fact, there is more promotion around Ted with Oliver than there is about Laurel with either of the two guys. Felicity's just come off of two good episodes, one on The Flash and one on Arrow, so it will be interesting to see what the ratings are like for an episode in which she doesn't have much to do, and it's going to be more about Laurel and Ted. In other words, they know that a Felicity backstory episode with little Team Arrow will get viewers; what about one with Laurel-on-BC-track?

But telling .... just like they wanted to air the first minutes of Ultron so people would watch Agents of SHIELD.

Re the question of whether Felicity's sexier clothes attract the male demo, I found this: Which Felicity would you rather have dinner with?

I liked And that the Arrow writers need to be warned off getting Oliver and Laurel back together again. It's a smart analysis of the show, and from a respected source. I hope the EPs are listening.

A few years ago (okay, 20 years when ER started), medical shows were all the rage. Now a medical show can only survive if it's a soap opera (Grey's Anatomy) or a cop show in disguise (House, Body of Proof, Forever). It's too bad though because some really good shows take a while to build and figure out what they are. (e.g. Arrow, which got a lot better when it took the emphasis off Oliver/Laurel/Tommy and put it on Team Arrow). It used to be that networks gave shows almost a season to build audience, now they yank them after a couple of episodes. It's made worse by the amount of time it takes to turn the ocean liner around; Agents of S.H.I,E.L.D. got a lot better when it stopped being about Skye and Coulson and spread the adventure around. But it takes a long time -- scripts are planned and written in May, shot in July and it's October before the audience finally sees the finished product. They're writing for February and shooting for January right now so if something is not working, it's going to be April before it gets fixed. ---------- An interesting read: The CIA reveals what's real and what's reel about ARGO (When ARGO premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, it got booed because of how it incorrectly portrayed Canadians. Ben Afleck had to add a disclaimer at the end of the film.)