statsgirl

I'm torn, because while I really want to see the conversation they have, I know it's going to end in them being farther apart and then Ray comes in. SA said that it's his favourite Oliver/Felicity scene, and he tends to go for either the big action stuff or scenes that have a lot of emotion, like the "my baby died" scene with Susanna Thompson so I hope it's really good. My guess is that Oliver lays his heart out and then tells Felicity he can never, ever be the lover/companion she needs, which leaves her free to consider Ray. If she's left thinking she's a crush object, then Oliver is lying to her again.

What? Manu Bennett ditched Fanexpo in Toronto to go to Dragon Con? I had been planning to break my 'never gone to a con' rule to go to hear him, but now I don't love him so much any more.

It's one of those things that the writers write to drive people crazy speculating. I bet the Lauriver shippers got a lot of support from it. Me, I'm hoping it's that he needs a (good) lawyer on his team. But I bet AK and MG meant it for the emotional support.

I suspect he cheated with more women than just the interns at QC. Bored wives of the men on The List would be easy to access because they would be in the same social circle. Firing Isabel isn't indecision but avoiding an uncomfortable situation just because he can, something he passed on to pre-island Oliver who took Sara on the boat trip because he didn't want to tell Laurel he wasn't ready to live together.. I think the speech says more about how crazy Isabel was even back in the day with Robert. If he drops her like that just because Thea had a riding accident, he was never going to be her soulmate and stay with her permanently. You don't give up all that status and money (because Moira would have taken him to the cleaners) and respect of his peers to be permanently with someone like Isabel sneaking away like that. More likely he would have given an excuse to everyone for his absence (like Walter's trip to look at the QC holdings in Austalia), had a vacation with her, and then left her at whatever expensive hotel they were at to return to his real life.

I'm hoping it's also because Sara is in Europe still hunting her mysterious international assassin. I can't think of any circumstances where Nyssa would even want to train Laurel since she's not part of the LoA and Nyssa hasn't had any time for her yet. Besides, I want to see Nyssa training Laurel even less than I want to see Oliver training her. It would be awesome to see Nyssa and Felicity working a case from the outside, and Sara undercover working it from inside. (But we're never going to get it because that, people is the difference between how they treat the male audience in this genre and how they treat the female. No one would bat an eye to see Oliver, Diggle and Roy working a case in an episode where there is no Felicity.) It doesn't make sense because no matter how insecure Felicity was about her social skills, the one things she's always been sure of is that she's a technical goddess. She knows that there is more to her than being a crush object, of Oliver or Ray or anyone else. That's an interesting thought because presumably the reason Oliver stops dating Felicity and pushes Diggle away is that he feels he can't be The Arrow if he's also Oliver Queen. But in pushing his team away, he loses the very thing he's trying to obtain. If they want Laurel to be the Black Canary, then they're going to have to give Sara something else because I doubt the audience would accept Laurel if Sara is dead -- they'll have a hard enough time accepting her even if Sara is alive. Using Sara as to take the pressure of Oliver/Laurel as an epic romance makes sense... but why were they still trying to push Oliver at Laurel in s2?

Wasn't his last job playing the not-worthy love interest on Emily Owens MD? The Young & the Restless is a pretty important soap. One year I was TAing a counselling course and running the practicum (hands-on stuff) and the tutorial time overlapped the Y&R. I had to go to the department to get the time changed and a new room because students were ditching the tutorial to watch the soap.

Slade said that he needed Oliver to have one more distraction. Darn you, Slade, letting Laurel know could have been a distraction -- killing her definitiely would have been. Anatoli to Sara "When did you get so scary?" (That never gets old.) Moira on Thea crayoning all over the walls "I couldn't stop her; it was so adorable". Me: That's because you have no boundaries with your kids. My kid: Yeah, Mom, even you have more boundaries than she does. Felicity: Go, do it, go get Thea and end this" Oliver looks so surprised that it's Felicity saying this. He expected it from Diggle, maybe Sara would understand, but not Felicity, she's never had to fight like that. . Thea is ready to believe the guy who kidnapped her that Malcolm is her father and Oliver has known for years. She really is way too volatile. But Oliver is really an idiot about not telling people the truth. Or does he really believe that he chose Sara, as part of his PTSD?

I think my favourite part of this episode is Oliver realizing that his father had an affair with Isabel, that he slept with her too, which means.... oh my god! My second favourite part is Oliver telling Felicity that it's her plan, and Felicity replying that she never thought he'd actually do it. I also like BSC! Isabel, The Scorned Soulmate. Since Robert was so quick to leave her and get her internship terminated and never speak to her again, methinks he wasn't on the 'soulmate' train., Quentin respecting the Arrow enough that "the least I can do is a little bit of time for him" in prison. The part I hate most – Laurel finding out that Sara has extensive scar tissue over her body and never asking her about the scars again. And even though she finds the motorcycle accident suspicious and she knows Oliver is the Arrow and he works with a blonde woman and she followed them to Star Labs, she still doesn't say anything to Sara. I feel sorry for Thea but she's still a drama queen. "For the first time in my crazy messed-up life, I was starting to feel okay." I know things suck now but they were pretty good for the first 12 years of your life. And way to dismiss Robert, who loved you and took care of you all your life with him as just another liar. Kate Spencer! I'm going to miss you! But you're no match in deviousness to Laurel. Too bad they're still trying to push Laurel as a good character. There goes Laurel hugging Oliver again. Wait .... why is Oliver hugging her back? Does he have feelings for her? I thought that was over. And he's sleeping with Sara.

The whole movie is up on youtube. I can't believe I watched the whole thing, although while cleaning off my desk. Excuse me a minute while I brush the sugaryness off my teeth. I can understand why Stephen Amell loves doing Arrow so much. He has more dialogue in 2 scenes of Arrow than he had in that entire movie in spite of his second billing. Parts of it are frighteningly close to Arrow. Maggie Grace's character (SA's love interest) is blonde and babbles. It's painful how much she's like Felicity in the opening scenes. Later SA's character's sister-in-law says to her "He gave you the 'Mounties can never marry' speech, didn't he? He believes it deeply, but if anyone can change his mind, it's you." There's also another character called Edward, an idler whose father made him go to the Mountie Academy to go on the straight and narrow. (I laugh at the 'Mounties can't marry' line because it's just like Oliver's "Because of the life I lead" speech, and also because my mother-in-law was raised in the north because her father was a Mountie, and she knew Leslie Nielsen as a boy because his father was a Mountie at Fort Norman.)

@cadlymack, who was challenged by the fan along with EBR and CH, said that she wasn't going to do it because there is a drought in California. I hope she donated, but even if there is a drought, be creative. Dump a pail of confetti on yourself, donate, and challenge other people. ALS doesn't get anywhere near the publicity the better known cancers do, so it's their turn. I like what EBR and CH did because it looks like they deliberately delayed responding so that they could promote the part about donating money if you don't do it within 24 hours, and then they did it anyway. Good sports, and keeping with the idea of donation. And Bill Gates built a special contraption to dump the water on himself.

I wouldn't have minded a bit on Oliver's kid, as long as it was only a bit. It would have tied in with the 'parenthood' theme of the show, with Diggle's baby and Thea/Malcolm and Felicity and her one or two parents. Maybe they mean it like a joke -- we've waited so long for any backstory on Felicity that it's a nudge, nudge, wink, wink. So Mama Smoak comes to Starling ... or Star City. I wonder if she gets to meet Oliver or Diggle,. That should be an interesting scene. It would be weird not to have some mention of her father if her mother is there, either some information on why he left or what his job was. I guess they're pushing her daddy story to another season though.

It does sound as if there is more to Felicity Smoak than we've thought, although not too much more I hope. It's also good p.r. for the episode since she's so popular, especially if she's not that much in the previous ones (not a spoiler, just speculating).

The CH/EBR ones seems planned it out, the first part at least. Colton said that they didn't have enough time to do it, Emily added "or friends to do it", splash, and then Barrowman pops up and says "That's what friends are for". It looks like the second one pail was a total surprise. It does seem like they have a lot of fun on the set. Kudos to Colton and Emily though. That's the first ALS Ice Bucket Challenge vid I'd seen that emphasized donating to the charity. As one of our comics said, we have coloured money because our beer has alcohol. ... grin.

That is a lot of money Colton and Emily have. Those are hundred dollar bills (Canadian money is coloured). The video of John Barrowman's challenge. He knows what it's like to get hit twice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeId26V2Hxg

Great edit. But all that flowing long hair? It just makes no sense, besides blocking her vision it makes it easier to grab and hold. I was hoping that Felicity at least had smart hair. Bring back the ponytail.

Sara could accidentally kill Nyssa, or Nyssa could die doing something with Team Arrow. That would be guilt-free for the team (except for the emotional stuff) but still bring Ra's down. My vote still goes with Sin dying, although I would dearly miss her. It would be the thing that would bring Roy and Sara closest, and give both of them lots of emotional beats to play. Not to mention Bex Taylor-Kraus has got another show and she's guesting on things like Longmire. I think Lyla dying would be all kinds of messy for the show. Besides being a kick-ass person, she's the only female character left over 30 and having Diggle a single father would severely limit his ability to be part of Team Arrow, much more than Oliver pushing him away. Maybe she steps down from running ARGUS because it's too much when she has a baby, maybe she's forced down after whatever happens in Corso Maltese.

I love that there's an almost naked studly guy with his bucket. So John Barrowman.

My vote goes for Oliver training Roy. He didn't do it well enough in s2, now is his chance to do it right. I hope Sara or Diggle will continue to train Felicity. Oliver training Laurel is wrong for a number of reasons: he should be too busy being vigilante and getting back AC to have time to do it; she doesn't really need superhero training, boxing should be enough; and I never wanted to see Oliver and Laurel close and sweaty again. I've been reading a fanfic where after Queen Manor is gone, Oliver moves in with Roy since Thea is now gone and Roy needs stability. As much as I'd like him to move in with Felicity, Roy makes a lot more sense.

Are they shooting 3x03 now? In that case, they can have four or five episodes in the can before Ramirez leaves for the other show. If he's not a major part of the storyline like Ray or Katana, then he can shoot his scenes to 1) start Laurel's training and 2) be her love interest so that she's got someone and can leave Oliver to Felicity, and then pop back occasionally to show that Laurel is still working out and still romantically involved. He doesn't need to do more, the superhero quota is met with Oliver, Roy, Diggle, Sara and possibly Ray, and Count Vertigo, Malcolm Merlyn and Ra's will do nicely for the longer arc villains.

,,,when you go to see a production of The Magic Flute and Papageno is shirtless and buff and your first thought is 'Hmmm, he should really be on Arrow'.

Agatha Christie, in one of her Tommy and Tuppence stories, had Tuppence say that if you get a mysterious note telling you to meet someone in a dangerous or deserted place and you just show up without checking it out, you deserve what you get. That's my rule of thumb for DiD. Oliver has had to save Roy a few times too, from the guy on the subway, Blood and later from being Slade's vending machine. I think they did this with the best of intentions, to provide Felicity with a growth arc (she wasn't jealous of Sara sleeping with Oliver, she was upset because Sara was better at her job (fighter, blood tech) while Felicity was failing at hers. I think it would have worked better if they had left the scar part out of it though. At least when Felicity puts herself in danger, it's because she's doing it for the team, and because they give her kind of a reason to (bait for the Dollmaker, no one else available with The Count, ditto with the Clockmaker plus needing to prove herself). For Laurel, it's too often been because they had to find a way to insert her into the story.

I got the feeling that by the time Sara went to Nanda Parbat, they had stepped down from the high intensity of protecting people from Slade (probably because Birds of Prey followed Suicide Squad and there was less Slade! in that). It was after Sara left that Slade killed Moira so if anything, they should have really increased protection for Laurel then since Slade had just announced one more person was to die. Maybe Oliver thought that if he handed himself over to Slade, Slade would leave Laurel alone so there was no need to protect her. I can fanwank that as Laurel being brave on adrenalin going out and hitting the mirakuru soldier and then, seeing what it's really like out there, getting scared afterwards. But it is harder to like her than Sara, who is always brave post-island, or Felicity who is always scared but goes ahead and does it. It's like they were trying to place Laurel somewhere in the middle, or maybe find a position for her that doesn't mirror someone else's..

Sara was already looking out for her without her knowing it, Diggle told us that at the start of Suicide Squad. I agree that Oliver should have told her, especially since Slade was after Oliver not the Arrow, and he mega should have told her after Thea got kidnapped. But on the down side, based on her past behaviour, he couldn't trust that she wouldn't go rushing out to confront Slade head-on rather than taking care she stayed safe. And that would have made it much more difficult for Oliver.

When Quentin wanted to put police protection on Laurel in the fall of s1 because of the bad guy she was going after, she was all 'you're not the boss of me' like a 13 year old and refused it. When in 2x21 Oliver told her to stay behind and stay safe, she followed him and almost got them killed. It would have made sense to tell Laurel that Slade was after her but how could he trust that she would behave with that consideration?

He's a very compartmentalized guy. I think he thought that if they didn't know, they wouldn't worry. Neither Laurel nor Thea are like Sara, who can handle herself, and even with Sara he told her to stay away so she wouldn't get hurt. I do think that Oliver still cares for Laurel although not as much as he did a year ago and not romantically any longer. I think the "do what you have to do" is Oliver compartmentalizing again; he was focused on defeating the army and the plan to inject Slade with the mirakuru cure and didn't have room for worrying about Laurel. Really dangerous though since he knew Slade wanted to kill the woman he loved. If Oliver had told Laurel 1) that he was the Arrow earlier on and 2) that Slade was out for revenge, what would she have done?