statsgirl

I think the writers and KC were going for conflicted, but as she plays only one emotion at a time (angry! resentful! wants Oliver! hates Oliver!), it comes off as wishywashy and screwed up..

The Clock King was a nemesis specifically constructed on the show for Felicity 'Sizable' doesn't mean most. But to be specific, me, the four people I talked into watching this show who otherwise wouldn't have been watching it, and two who are watching it independently, including one person who teaches computer science at a college and thinks Felicity is the only IT person on TV who has been not ridiculous. And the person who writes the questions for Larry King's interviews. And Jennifer Cruize who stopped watching during the clusterfuck in s2 when Felicity and Diggle were sidelined. I sometimes wonder if MG and AK feel get fed up with being asked questions about Olicity and Felicity because it seems like that is what they are asked about most after which new villains are coming up. But reporters ask questions about what their readers and listeners want to know, so they shouldn't be too upset about it.

Oliver was pretty repulsed when he found out that his father had slept with Isabel too. The dialogue MG tweeted is from the s2.5 comics and not the TV show, right? That's interesting. Either he knows this will get the fans reacting, or he just like the character. I always thought that MG and AK loved Laurel because they were the ones who wrote her in the comics, esp AK, so they want people to love their baby. But this version of Felicity is even more their baby, they created her from just a name and a profession. So maybe when MG tweets a line by or about Felicity, it's showing off his cleverness in creating her.

Sometimes a character is popular with a small number of the fans but not with everyone. However with Felicity the first people who really wanted her back were the EPs, followed by the WB executive and she's got a lot of praise from critics as well as fans in general. When they want the audience to like a character, they pair him with Felicity as a love interest, first Barry Allen . She's the character they used to tie the Flash to Arrow last season and keep him in the audience's minds, and while Oliver is appearing on The Flash in ep 1, which makes sense as Barry Allen learns to use his power, Felicity is going over on ep 4 Just because Roy is now on the team doesn't necessarily mean he's safe. Tommy Merlyn should have been safe because isn't he the Dark Archer in the comics? If they can kill one Canary (Sara, although I hope they don't), they can kill another and let Sin move into the spot later. And if they ever want to really hurt Oliver again and send him down a dark path maybe in s6, Diggle, Oliver's mentor and brother-in-arms will die. Or Thea. Or maybe even Felicity that far down the line. But I think she's pretty safe for the next 3 seasons. ETA: from the Laurel Lance thread: This is why I think Felicity is pretty safe. There is a sizable portion of the audience who either quit watching or were ready to quit, and then Felicity came on and we were watching again. If they ever do decide to get rid of Felicity, they need to have this portion of the audience hooked enough that we won't leave and that's not such an easy task.

I wonder how they're going to justify keeping the foundry since a) it was compromised and b) Isabel said the Queens no longer own it.

I think it makes more sense to have him living with Roy now that Thea is gone. They can bond over her, and Oliver training him, and the fact that Roy has a house with only himself to live in it. Guggenheim is especially a rabble rouser when it comes to tweeting Felicity/Oliver lines. He tweeted "You'll always be my girl" for 2x14 (and I hoped it would be to Thea or Sara anyone but Felicity) and "I love you" from the finale. I would much rather have had Oliver work out where he's going to stay and what his relationship with Felicity is going to be, and with Diggle, on-screen and not have it 8 months over when the season 3 started. It worked last year because Oliver disappeared but now, except for Thea who is still gone, it's going to suck missing all that. I can't believe the comic comes out in less than a week.

Seriously? And I turned down the offer of a ticket on Friday because there was no one I wanted to see??? <<headslap>>

But it's been five years.... six by the time Sara returns. To quote the title of Paula Caplan's book, Stop Blaming Mother, or in this case, mother and father and Oliver and Sara. The idea of building her life around Oliver was the dream of either a very immature person or a gold-digger and she should have moved beyond the former and I doubt they ever wanted to portray her as the latter. Maybe it's the only way the writers knew how to portray them as an epic love story but it did Laurel no favours at all. Laurel didn't want to know, and she must have worked really hard at it. It's impossible she couldn't have figured it out, between Oliver not being available when she wanted him, or the gossip amongst their friends or Sara's comments. The same way Moira may have found not to know about Robert's infidelities after the first dozen or so. In a flashback, when he told her he needs to tell her something (Malcolm's plan), she tries to shut him down, replying "I don't want to know her name." He did once, in Home Invasion when he chose bringing in the bad guy so Laurel could prosecute him over having Diggle's back. And we know how that turned out. With Laurel and Oliver, it really feels like they're both playing to the glory of their roles rather than actual caring for each other. Episode 1x02 just finished playing on my local station, and looking at it now, Laurel really is awful, petulant and self-righteous and cruel to Quentin when he tells her he only wants her to be safe because he's lost one daughter already. The girl playing the one the bad guy is after is a better actress.

I think it's great that the episode's writer is so positive about EBR's performance, and then I remember that MG tweeted about KC's "Emmy-winning performance" and then I'm not so optimistic. SA is at FanExpo on Saturday and Sunday so he still could be shooting today and tomorrow. Hopefully they've scheduled EBR's flashbacks for Friday and Monday to give him a bit of a break.

If I stand upside down and squint sideways, I get the impression that Laurel's life stopped when the boat went down. Her sister was presumed dead so her parents split up and then there was nothing for her. Of course we know her life didn't stop, she went on to law school and an important career as a crusader so it just makes her seem like a bitter drama queen. Ugh. Is that what she could have meant? That's really selfish, to blame her sister who was missing and presumed dead for 6 years, for losing her the fantasy life as Mrs. Oliver Queen that she had planned. And since she's thrown plenty of blame on Oliver for taking Sara, it's hypocritical to put all the blame on Sara right now.

Maybe No, I don't really think so. Wow, did the writing in that scene ever let Laurel down. That's just an awful line.

From what the EPs have said, in the flashbacks Oliver is going from irresponsible frat boy to the stone cold killer we saw in the pilot. Meanwhile, present day Oliver is moving in the opposite direction, first learning not to kill, then wanting to be a hero, and now opening up more and smiling as we saw in the last scene of the s2 finale. Killing Tommy pushed him to become a killer. Killing Moira made him realize that sacrificing himself to Slade wasn't going to work and he had to fight to save the city. If Felicity dies, all it's going to do it push him back into the darkness (because as Sara said, she's the light he needs to let in). Doesn't make sense to kill her in terms of the storyline, doesn't make sense to kill her off in terms of being a fan and critic favourite.

You can see that Quentin was not happy with it (something PB reiterated in interviews) but at this point, he probably realizes that he has no control over Sara's actions. He's just glad she's alive, and worried what she's leaving to. It makes sense that in ep 22 she was dealing with the bargain she made with the LoA to save the city and I like the idea that she realized that she could be a hero even when she's with the LoA but that's a storyline that's pretty complex and deserves a whole lot more time than just a few seconds We've talked about how KC said she was uncomfortable with sex scenes with SA but to my mind, this is a bigger problem, If she messes up a scene because she can't keep her personal feelings out of it and react the way her character should, it's a problem for the show.

It's not just learning to fight so they wouldn't get killed. Sara was trained by the LoA, to get in, do the job, get out, and not get noticed if she can help it. (I assume, not having read the comics.) She was taught every technique that's worked for the other assassins and everything that each developed for himself. I will accept that Laurel can fight, if that's what the show is selling because it's either that or stop watching, but I won't trust them as much,

"Felicity, it's fine to get involved with a billionaire, but if you're going to do it, make sure he can keep his money. This one isn't going to do you any good any more."

As much as I don't like Laurel, I have to give her that she was good for Tommy back in s1. He needed a strong person to both give him a kick in the pants and believe in him and she did that. I still feel sad that the EPs felt it was more important to keep Laurel on the show and they sacrificed Tommy for Oliver's motivation. I think it would have been interesting for Tommy to think that Oliver killed Malcolm and run Merlyn Global, all the while with Malcolm pulling strings behind the scenes. Thea is much too young for Tommy (emotionally, not chronologically) but it would have been nice to see them get together in a few years. Hey, maybe Rebecca cheated on Malcolm and Tommy wasn't really his son, that's why he could never live up to Malcolm's ruthlessness.

When I saw the picture with the baby, all I could focus on was the overflowing diaper bag, and all the stuff you carry around. I wonder if that's Oliver or Stephen carrying the bag. Oliver with Mama Smoak? I wonder what that could be about. So glad EBR is tweeting excitedly. Except for Home Invasion and the Promise, I like every episode Ben Sokolowski wrote, and it's not his fault about Home Invasion. On the other hand, there is no forgiveness for "Please save Oliver" from The Promise.

I've been running across Tommy/Felicity fic quite a lot lately. I think that realistically, once Laurel slept with Oliver again, any further relationship with Tommy would have ended up tanking because he wouldn't have been able to trust her not to run to Oliver if they had a fight. But would Tommy and Felicity have worked as a couple? Or is it a case of being too similar in terms of personality type?

Interesting because if quarks is right, then at that point the EPs had decided to end Oliver/Laurel and Oliver had given Laurel and Tommy his blessing in Year's End. If so, then she should have been talking about Laurel's relationship with Tommy in terms of Laurel and Tommy and what they bring to each other, rather than justifying it in terms of Oliver's sins and how she feels it's okay because of that. She needs to make Laurel a character in her own right rather than in terms of Oliver and future BC. It's an interesting question -- does she view Laurel as morally superior? Or does she view Laurel herself as seeing that she's morally superior, when it's not necessarily the case? The acting would be the same for both, but the her attitude towards Laurel would be very different. Saying " It’s a selfless act, to me, but at the same time, it’s the only way she knows how to function. It makes her feel safe. In the same breath, maybe it’s a selfish thing" shows more insight than I usually credit her with. If it's the way to function that makes her feel safe, in a sense it is selfish. (Parents who want to be their kid's best friend when what the kid needs is tougher boundaries may know the feeling.)

From the heartaches thread, a Collider interview KC published October 2013 although from what she says it seems more like it's from season 1: Well, that is kind of a weird way to view her character's relationship with her father. She can step up and be the caretaker of the family but IMO to think of the daughter is the wife....O_O. I don't mean in a sexual way but if she's thinking that she is now the wife of the family...like I don't get that at all. Too bad the moralist Laurel felt blackmail is okay. See to me, this tells me that even if the writers changed her character she never changed her acting to go with the character changes. and about Laurel and Oliver: Other than laughing at all the integrity her father instilled in her and there's going to be lots of Laurel taking down people who don't have it, this interview feels like it's from very early on in the shooting and she's got this idea of Laurel that didn't end up coming out on screen. She was right that Laurel wanted Oliver to be a certain way and he ends up disappointing her, but there's no sense that Laurel was wrong in any way to try to force what she wanted on to Oliver. And while there may have been some sense of Laurel being a caretaker wrt the clients of CNRI and a backstory of helping her drunk father, that was all the caretaking there was and it quickly vanished. As for Laurel being unselfish, the moment she took the remote and shut off the TV everyone else was watching, that went out the window.

moving my reply to the Laurel thread

I think Walter has more legs than just in Thea's storyline. A big part of this season will be Oliver trying to get back QC, which should involve banks and money and business advice. It's ridiculous that the person on the show with the best business credentials right now is Oliver or guest cast Ray Palmer. (I'm leaving out Malcolm Merlyn since I don't think he's be offering Oliver advice any time soon.) @MsSchadenfreude, good to meet another fan of Murdoch Mysteries. I've been a fan of the show since it first started, although my love was wore thin during the seasons she married Darcy for the most idiotic of reasons and then was stuck with him just to keep the OTP apart. I think it's got better since it moved to CBC so I hope you get to see this last season. I"m looking forward to the next one.

Me sad too. It sounds like he doesn't see a role for Walter on Arrow now that Moira is gone. #nomoiranowalter I hope that's not what the EPs told him because I think as a recurring character, he could add a lot to the show.

Just think, apinknightmare, if there were no spoilers, you probably wouldn't be as angsty to see it as you are now. As for the 'will they/won't they' thing, 'you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold em', know when to walk away, know when to run'. I hate the trope with the fire of a thousand suns but Oliver isn't ready to be in a relationship yet and I rather he get ready than they get together, break up, spend time apart, get together... which is what MG threatened us with when talking about Oliver/Laurel as star-crossed lovers. I think it's hopeful that there are more and more shows on television getting the couple together while the show is still running (Bones, Castle, Murdoch Mysteries) rather than after the show is either done or is declining (Remmington Steele, X-Files). On top of Oliver not being able to be in a stable relationship now, I agree with AK that Felicity has to be given a real opportunity to choose between Oliver and another viable option, not just Oliver or nothing. Or a guy in a coma. I'll see how it turns out. I was ready to leave the show after the mess of s2B but they pulled it together at the end, so I'm see what they do now.

Thanks for asking. Now I know too.