statsgirl

Wasn't Felicity bringing her 'A' game anyway? She had multiple computer programs running for facial recognition and everything else, and when they finally got a clue, it was Felicity backtracking LaCroix and figuring out that he was calling his mother that finally found the guy. Accusing her of not bringing her 'A' game was just wrong but it was typical Oliver, snapping other people because he's so frustrated he can't do more. Back at SDCC, KC, CL and EBR came a day late because they were working. I've been trying to think of what scene they could have been working on that didn't involved any of the others but I got nuthin'. Any ideas?

I'm pretty sure Oliver is going to unlock himself later this season and start pursuing her. (MG tweeted that Oliver will be jealous, if you can believe him.) He's even already started that by telling Diggle he doesn't want to die down there and she's barely left him.. Even if he doesn't, it's the red pill/blue pill thing. She loves Oliver but he's not available. She doesn't love Ray but he is. What does she do? If this were Jane Austen or even the 19th century she'd probably choose to marry Ray because women didn't have many other options. But Felicity does, she's smart enough and probably earns enough that she doesn't need a man. Will she wait for Oliver, go with Ray, or choose her own life alone?. ETA: I agree with wonderwall, the writers have done very well with making Felicity complex and almost as strong as Diggle. Whether it's because EBR created and fights to keep her character good, or whether they just like Felicity, I don't know but so far, she's been written very well.

Do I think Brandon Routh will become second or third banana on a TV show? Especially one on the CW? Named for another superhero? No. Do I think the EPs are going to marry Felicity off to Ray Palmer, or kill her in the third season? No. To the general viewer, she's more important than Laurel and in spite of how it may appear, I don't actually think they want to tank their own show. (All bets are off for the fourth season opener though) I agree they are pushing Ray/Felicity very hard, and it's exactly why I hate third parties in the OTP story but most of the pushing has been done in interviews rather than on-screen right now. It could change but for me part of the appeal of Ray is that finally someone is pursuing Felicity. She's not part of the furniture as she was for Oliver in s1, she's not second choice as she was for Barry, at last there is a desirable man who sees Felicity as desirable and as his first choice. If she's going to end up choosing Oliver, she's got to have an 'A' level alternative. I hate triangles but I also hate to see the woman in the pairing sitting alone at home while the guy is out oat-sewing. Poor Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell's version). And yes, I don't have much faith in the writers. But I am holding on to hope. If seeing Roy comfort Felicity and wishing he could be the one there for her is what caused Oliver to realize that he doesn't want to die down there, then there is hope.

That's a good parallel, benteen. What Berman meant was he put in everything that he loved (Ryker, ST:TNG; not Enterprise), and I guess MG and AK put in this everything they love, meaning Laurel and not Sara.

Interesting. I thought the Roy/letter/Felicity scene was to show that Roy and Felicity are now close (to justify Roy being the one to hug Felicity all through this episode instead of Oliver), and that with Roy becoming part of the Team, he needed to man up and do his own dirty work (reveal that he knew Thea wasn't just travelling). I'm sure someone at the burial asked where Quentin was, if not Felicity then Roy or Diggle. Laurel would either have to spill that she didn't tell him or lie that she had but he was too sad to come.

But Roy listened to Felicity and went to Oliver. I can't see Laurel stopping long enough to even hear what Felicity has to say much less consider the advice. If Quentin does find out from Felicity then I think it would be because it would show on her face. But I don't think there will be much Quentin/Felicity interaction now (sadly) since Felicity is off working with Ray and Quentin calls Oliver directly. I'm still guessing he'll find out when

It looks like she's wearing a man's shirt in that pic. I'm always wondering how she's not freezing in those cut-away dresses while the guys are wearing two or three layers. SA said he pinched a nerve in s1 trying to stay warm while shirtless in the lair.

It they do that, I think it will fail because while KC is good in vengeance scenes, she's awful (IMO) in evoking pity and being vulnerable. That's something Caity Lotz did so well, even while she was kicking ass as the Canary. Cassidy can't do it, so I say, bring it on. Part of me wants this too because I think it will be reflected in the ratings. The show is pretty much assured a season 4 so that it can be syndicated but I want a serious wake-up call for these EPs. And if they think Ray/Felicity is going to make up for lack of Felicity in the lair.... hahahahahaha.

Isn't the Clockmaker going to show up in Central City? That's Felicity's tailor-made villain. And then there's a Flash villain who is supposed to show up in Starling City. They have to be very careful how they handle Felicity from now on, with Sara gone and Laurel "the least-liked character" (io9 review) now centrestage as the Black Canary. I got my best friend into watching the show and she phoned me today to say she was done, she just can't watch Laurel any more, although she'd be happy to tune in if they ever do a show about Diggle and Felicity. (Completely seriously, she asked if TPTB were trying to torpedo Arrow so they can move on to other shows. I hope the set dresser is not going to get into trouble. Is it to create a shrinking machine? I must confess, I like that someone is pursuing Felicity for a change and bonus, it's for her brains. That's even rarer on TV than it is in real life.

It could be Tommy from the Lazarus Pit but she would have reacted more startled than that because she knew Tommy was dead. It could be Roy suffering mirakuru after-effects because her voice was kind of 'hey, what are you doing up here?' but if they do that, if they trash both Sara and Roy to get Laurel in those fishnets, I'm going to be really angry. As soon as Oliver said the LoA doesn't kill their own, that meant it probably is. Basically the EPs have set the bar incredibly high to make this mystery work out well enough to justify killing off Sara.

That answers at least one question:

The cops wouldn't know about the LoA; Quentin barely knows. They would probably identify her as the female vigilante in the city but since the anti-vigilante task force has been disbanded, they're not looking to arrest her. And even if Quentin had some grief because his daughter was a vigilante, at least she would be alive. That would have been awesome. Tommy could have gone to Felicity for advice about Laurel since he couldn't go to Oliver (past and present history). I get that this show is about Oliver Queen (NOT Laurel Lance) but they do miss some good things focusing just on him.

I suspect it was a mis-type (I do a lot of them) but that was a true Freudian slip. What they are doing is truly "density". I wish we could because I have the feeling she practically raised Oliver and Tommy after his mother died and his father bailed. But if you want to see Kathleen Gotti, she's currently on General Hospital chewing the hell out of the scenery as the wonderfully evil Dr. Lisl Olbrecht. Orion, very well said. I'm a mom too and to write Laurel doing that is unforgivable. Even more unforgivable if Quentin thanks Laurel for worrying about him. Guggenheim has two children, how could he let that pass? Parents are stronger than we think. My mother was recovering from a heart attach when she heard her child had cancer, and she took it in her stride. There may be an excuse for Laurel but no justification.

Done. You're up to 13 now.

There was a lot about Laurel this episode that I feel was in character. The way she barked orders at Felicity, telling her to go to Verdant to meet her (why? Felicity could have done it on her tablet) and angry at Oliver when he fell off the bike after the joust because the other guy got away. Except when she was giving orders to Felicity, the only member of Team Arrow she had time for was Oliver. She decided for her father whether or not to tell him, and he couldn't say goodbye to Sara when they buried her. She refused to listen to Oliver and got the gun and went after Komodo herself, and then was going to kill him even though he wasn't the one who shot Sara. She lied her way into the hospital room and physically hurt the guy to get information. Then she went to the window where the arrow had come in. At the grave site, she got all upset that this was no way to bury Sara when she was the person who had made the decision to hide it. These are all consistent with the Laurel Lance we've known over two seasons. They're not good things, but they are consistent.

That's why this feels so wrong what Laurel did. The family fell apart and part of it may have been because they couldn't put Sara to rest properly. There was no proper closure because she was lost as sea and that may have contributed to Quentin's drinking and the marriage falling apart. And now, there will never be. Quentin and Dinah should have had the chance to say goodbye to their baby properly. It was not Laurel's decision to make. If Laurel was that concerned about his health, she should have asked his doctor whether it was okay to tell him something bad or not. Because this show is this show, I'm sure when Quentin thank Laurel for protecting him and hug her as the only daughter he has left now. Why would he be benched for the season? A few Bereavement leave in Canada is three days. If he wanted more he could take a weeks off. He would have continued to mourn her for a long time but there's no reason he couldn't work at his day job, especially since he's a Captain now. This way, he's looking forward to seeing Sara the next time she comes to Starling City until he finds out that she's long dead. That's cruel.

I can only speak for myself and the four people I got to watch this show. Yes, I read comics but I have no loyalty to them, and the other people have never read them. So we have zero loyalty to Laurel Lance's Black Canary or the Oliver Queen/Laurel Lance relationship. We tune in purely for the storytelling that is on this show, not looking for comic book canon or the formation of the Justice League (although if I like the characters, that would be a bonus). It feels like many people who are happy with this development like it because it's following the comic book canon. But if you liked Sara, you'd be upset that it looked like she died at the end of The Calm. You might tune in for the second episode to see if it's really true because people on this show often aren't really dead. But once you'd seen that she really is and is in a freezer at Verdant, and that Laurel is going to step into her mask, I can see why people who liked Sara and don't like Laurel would tune out. As apparently 13,000 of them did. But it's just one episode, for now.

I was at an alumni committee meeting Tuesday and this question came up. The college is really hard to get into and everyone who made it in was at the top of their class. One of the questions raised at the meeting was that why was it only men standing for governance positions when there were more women admitted than men? There are various hypotheses but my guess is that even though women know they're very smart, most haven't been encouraged to take leadership roles or maybe to believe that they're worthy of them. Which would be in keeping for someone like Felicity. She had enough self-esteem and courage to get out of Las Vegas and into MIT, maybe with the encouragement of her teachers, but she doesn't think she's good enough to be management material. Maybe working for Ray will help her realize just how good she can be, and not just in terms of hacking.

This is why I find it mind-boggling that they want to turn Laurel into a Good Vigilante, instead of having her Amanda Waller shades of grey.

This episode felt like a chess game to me -- the pieces were moved into position for the next season of the show, and we are left to fanwank the thinking and emotions behind them. That said..... I think that's a good way of putting it. Unlike Oliver, Laurel and Sara, she (like Sin) had a lot of grief and pain when she was growing up. Felicity chose to deal with it by being positive and striving for more, and so when Sara died and she was so upset, she needed to deal with it by finding something positive. It wasn't Oliver who was in self-blame mode, or Laurel who was out for vengeance, or Roy or Diggle who were just doing what they think needed to be done. Positive was a new job and a boss so actively wanted her, he bought the company she was working for. IIRC, the QC offices at the end were the only sunlight place for her in this whole episode. LOL at Oliver coming to realize he's not a character in a Greek tragedy, even if AK and MG think he is. That's a good theory. Didn't Tommy go bad in the comics? Maybe he ended up in the Lazarus Pit and went bad. Every time there's a lot of Laurel interacting with the regular cast, they all go OCC. (Time of Death, anyone?) I guess it just points out how she doesn't fit into the A storyline of the show. When Oliver gets near Laurel, he becomes his most prissy, self-egregious ass self. I attribute it to Laurel always propping him, saying either he's the bestest boyfriend ever (while he's cheating on her) or tearing him down when he's been off doing Arrow things. After all that has happened to him over the past seven years, I can accept that Oliver can't grieve any more, that well is all dried up at the moment. Saying he needed to be the leader so others could grieve? An excuse, and an ass of one too. Yes. What makes it worse is that this show was shot in Canada. Somebody should have stopped them, especially since it was established that yes, his mother lives in Quebec, not Louisiana. But she's not giving up her job on Team Arrow, which is the 'more' she was talking about last season. She's still staying on the vigilante job. Or maybe she secretly meant more in terms of knowing Oliver even though at that point she thought he was in love with Laurel? I assume that she took the job at Tech Town (?) ( I only think of it was Buy More) as a temporary measure because she wanted to be available for Oliver when he got back QC. Well, he doesn't want QC any more, or at least not right now. And he doesn't want a relationship with her, again not now. What he wants her for is the Team Arrow equivalent of her old IT job at QC -- hack into data bases and phones and be yelled at when Oliver's life isn't going the way he wants it to. Ray wanted her for her IT skills but he really appreciates them (hence the $1.2 billion buyout to get her working for him). It's doubtful he wants to put her back into the same old job she was in back in season 1. Maybe she's intrigued to see why he wants her so much. Or maybe she just needs to get out of the dark lair and into the light of some hope. She's not giving up the Arrow mission but she needs more in her life than just that and a shut-down Oliver right now. It's her way to grief Sara's death. It was a Laurel/Oliver episode. Symbolism. waves to Actionmage, a fellow Forever Knight fan

You are right. And to avoid politics, I'm pretty sure that Condeleeza Rice would too. Sarah Palin probably would have a loaded back-up shot-gun with her.. I think this was less Ray, because that's in the future, than to have Oliver's arms free for Laurel to fling herself into. You know, I think I would have preferred it if Laurel had been crying in Felicity's arms instead of Oliver's because Felicity cared for Sara too, and Oliver was all stoic and apart from them. It would have been consistent with him being shut off this episode, and it wouldn't have brought up the shadow of Lauriver, which, as you say, is really unfair to Lauriver fans if they are not going to do it. Also it would have progressed the Laurel/Felicity bonding they seem to be trying for more than Laurel barking orders at her and calling her in to the lair to work. Whether Ray is smarmy or not, which we will probably find out, I like his grand gestures of spending $1.2 billion to get a company so Felicity would work for him, in contrast to Oliver forcing her to be his EA (although I'm sure Ray will make a profit out it), or taking only $1 as salary to get the city moving. (It reminded me that Mark Zuckerburg just donated another $25 million to help Africa with the Ebola crisis.) It's such a contrast to the closed-off Oliver. And on a positive note, I like that Felicity said that she admired Sara for being fearless. Felicity is so often having to fight her own fears and I appreciate the continuity.

I wonder if Laurel's pantsuits are to give her a Hilary Clinton-esque vibe. Smart, capable woman lawyer. Telling her to bring her 'A;' game was a really douchey thing to do, as if she wasn't going to try as hard as she could for Sara's sake. I understand it from his perspective, that he was feeling sad and helpless and wanted to be pointed in a direction, and I understand it from hers, she was grieving and feeling helpless, and I understand it from MG and AK's view because they wanted to put a wedge between Oliver and Felicity so Laurel could have Oliver's arms around her, but it doesn't make it any better. Good points. I can't believe that the real Felicity would have walked out on Oliver like that rather than comforting him. (Or even that she went to Roy to be held rather than Oliver.) This is bringing back nightmares of last season when they decided to halt Oliver/Felicity and did it by having Oliver out of the blue start sleeping with Sara again. Apparently, the only way they know how to slow down a relationship is to have one of the pair start seeing a third party, just as the only way they know how to motivate Oliver is through a dead loved one. I missed that but yes, she must have been hanging on to hope that he would come out of his exile. Maybe that's why they weren't uncomfortable with each other in the opening episode. LOL at your write-up of Roy's thoughts "Are you hugging her or should I? 'Cause she really needs one of us to hug her right now. No? OK, I'll do it."

I wouldn't put it past her, but that's because I don't like the character. Not telling her father because he would steal her thunder is pretty small. Maybe she didn't tell him because she didn't want Sara to steal her thunder again?

That makes a kind of sense... and I think I could like psycho Laurel more than this version. But, as Oliver said, Sara's fighting skills were way more than Laurel's. Does Laurel really think she can take Sara's place?

Putting Laurel in Felicity's episode.... the shape of things to come?