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The CW knows on which side its bread is buttered. (Right now, below the picture, there's a picture of Felicity behind Oliver during Slade's attack on the lair with the caption "Felicity, you''ll be safer here in the friendzone." Well done.) From the Hopes and Fears thread: I think if this were real life, they would stand a good chance of staying together because there is such a foundation of respect and calling each other on their crap. i think that's one of the reasons so many people either ship them or don't mind if they get together. (But this is TV, so I'm not holding my breath that they won't break up..) An addition to being the bestest ever, there are few or no consequences for Mary Sues for their bad behaviour. I'm beginning to think that Laurel, with her being such a great lawyer and suffering so bravely and reveryone trying to protect her (Tommy, Quentin, Sara), maybe becoming the BC now with no consequences for her bad behaviour is the show's true Mary Sue.

Didn't they refer to Oliver being found on Lian Yu? In the beach scene, Felicity referred to where they were as "minefield island" so it was the island from where they got Oliver in the season opener. We know that ARGUS had a presence there because Fyers was reporting to Waller. It seems unlikely that ARGUS would have build a majorly fortified underground prison in the year and a half since Oliver left.

I agree that they're purposefully parallels. Just like capturing Slade in the present paralleled his decision to kill him in the past, Oliver's present day journey seems to be about learning from his mistakes and making better choices this time. That both of those involve Felicity is just a benefit. I think there is fan pandering about Laurel and that Kreisburg and Guggenheim are the fans in question. They want to give Laurel a crucible story to match the other characters but they can't quite make themselves do it so it's quick, unrealistic (e.g. she didn't seem at all drunk when driving her car ), and easily and unrealistically resolved. The problem is that they're hurting Laurel's credibility as a character by making things so easy for her. It reminds me of ER and how the writers protected Carter from the real life consequences of his actions. He had a brief addiction storyline in which he did crossword puzzles at his mandated AA meetings and bullied Abby into being his sponsor because he didn't want to talk to a stranger, and it was over in a handful of episodes, and later he was shown drunk with no reference to any addiction at all..

Hair grows at the rate of 1/2 an inch a month (that's what they tell cancer patients) so in a year his hair would have grown about 6 inches, maybe more if it was longer going in. Having looked at his hair and beard again (for the sake of research, of course), it looks to me like about one year's growth. Purely speculating, I guess that he spend one year in Hong Kong with Amanda Waller, one year in Russia where he learned to speak Russian and became a BRATVA captain, and then the fifth year on the island again. No idea why they would put him back there though. Pissing someone off, Waller or someone else, makes sense and his punishment was being abandoned back on the island in what someone thought would be irony. My question is, we know ARGUS had a prison there, so why was the island deserted with no grooming supplies? Was there no one in the prison at that time, who needed to be fed and cleaned up?

Both Stephen Amell and Gergory Smith grew up in Toronto so that may the connection. I don't know about him as a rival for Oliver Queen though. He's a good actor and he could do that, but physically, he's a bit too much like Barry Allen.

I agree. I think Oliver/Laurel were dysfunctional from the pre-island times, and the fact that Laurel could have a good relationship with Tommy just emphasizes how bad Laurel was with Oliver. I could have accepted Sara with Oliver if I hadn't met Felicity first, but not Laurel. And while I wish the show would resist the temptation to re-open Oliver/Laurel once again (hopefully to end it once and for all), I fear they won't. I'm telling myself I can get through it with enough chocolate and the fast forward button. And if they do try O/L again, it seems to me that would be the time to do it. Otherwise, there's just no reason that I can see to go back there again.

The Mayor -- another waste of a villain. On the other hand, Isabel Rochev was nasty enough to make up for it. Not going to win the "Most Congenial Co-Worker Award". Sebastian Bloods speech I loved Quentin this episode. He was so worried about Laurel he was willing to go to Oliver for help. His crucible was alcohol, Oliver and Sara's was the island, Diggle's was Afghanistan. Laurel's is the death of Tommy, just as Helena's was the death of her fiance. Oliver finds out the other masked vigilante is Sara This was a great introduction to Sara -- she was mysterious, she was wounded, and like Oliver she was in pain. But as I was watching it, I wondered why Oliver took only Sara on the fight to the Mayor and not Diggle, and then I thought was that this was the first misstep with Team Arrow. The writers were so focused on telling Sara's story that that's all that they saw. I think if Diggle had been included more in the fighting scenes, and both he and Felicity in the Arrow cave scenes, I wouldn't have been thinking the show is moving away from what I want and wondering if I will be watching next season. They pulled it together for the season finales but I think putting a microscope on some arcs instead of keeping the bigger picture in view really hurt the show. Sin calling Roy "Abercrombie" never fails to amuse me.

It's not just WB. Sci fi/action shows don't win any of the major awards either. Battlestar Gallactic won only 3 Emmys, 2 for visual effects and 1 for editing. Never got nominated for a single acting award. It's the shows on the other cable networks, like HBO and AMC that win the awards. NCIS, the highest rated drama, over 11 seasons got three Emmy nominations, two for stunts and one for Charles Durning as guest actor, and didn't win anything. I fear Arrow, for all the actors and crew who put their hearts into it, isn't going to win a major award. Although I do think they deserve the Emmy for stunts.

Eonline Best. Ever. TV Awards. http://ca.eonline.com/news/551312/best-ever-tv-awards-2014-vote-for-the-best-actor-and-actress-in-a-drama-now Stephen Amell is nominated for Best Actor. No one from the show for Best Actress, but Kristin Kreuk and Adelaide Kane are. It's one of those where you can vote as many times as you want, so the CW should end up happy.

I think it depends on how they shut it down. If Oliver admits that he has feelings for Felicity but feels that he can't be with her because of the whole superhero thing, I think most fans will go "yeah, they're going to bring it back later" because the idea of them together has been established. Most of the comments from people who want them together that I've read said that it's too soon, and that the Queen Manor scene was better with having the kiss cut.

It's the fact that Daniel never knows what's real and what isn't that made the pen thing work, both for Daniel and the spy who wanted to make him look crazy. I find Donnie/Kate sweet rather than sexy. And I really want him to stick around because Daniel needs a male friend who isn't either his boss or him employee, and I hate the idea of Daniel and Kate together.

Everyone is made stupid around Laurel because if they weren't there would be very little for her to do on the show. I was thinking about Alan Sepinwall's comments from his dream Emmy ballot: Bolding is mine. I know that the appearance of Felicity was what kept me watching the show, but it's an intriguing thought that they might have liked the character enough to reconfigure the show itself.

That's what I think is going to happen, and I'm okay with that because it's good storytelling. I think Diggle will confront Oliver on it, because Oliver's not the type to open up especially to criticism, and Oliver will go into his "the life I lead" speech. Diggle, a man with a baby on the way, will try to call him on it, or he'll just give up and go with one of his patented "Who can help this fool?" looks. I prefer the 'show not tell' method, and I like the idea of Oliver realizing that not only is Felicity interested in another guy, he's someone like Oliver is himself but chose a different path. The question is, will they use Felicity's interest in Daniel to re-open Oliver/Laurel.

What strikes me is that the nomination was for the show in general, not for a specific romantic couple. I would have expected Oliver in action, or a Team Arrow shot, not one of Oliver & Felicity in what appears to be a shippy encounter. I hope they're not so stupid as to tease something this much that's not going to happen, but you never know. I wonder if the Olicity stuff is being sent out now because Oliver is going to shut it down early in season 3, and they want viewers to be invested in it because it's going to start up later For realz, I hope. ETA: good point about it being a result of the Sepinwall and Feinburg articles, dancingnancy. It makes sense to push what critics think is good about the show.

She may not be at the same level as Roy, but I think she'll be fighting smarter because Malcolm will had taught her what he learned from the LoA. Maybe even better than Roy unless he's really been working out with Diggle during the hiatus.

I can't get "I Love Paris" out of my head now. Eric McCormack really does have a good voice. (And the show Can-Can doesn't get done enough.) It's too bad Daniel can't have a relationship but I can see that it works better for the show this way. Good suspenseful case. I really like the Moretti/Donnie relationship. They're good together and now that they are together, the Daniel/Kate shipping is done (on the show at least). I wish more shows were willing to let one of the leads have a longterm functional relationship outside of each other.

I want to know how Oliver knows which is the trick arrow and which is the regular one. They're all in the quiver and he just reaches back and grabs the right one. how does he know it isn't the wrong one? It was Oliver's hallucination of Robert, and while it served to keep him going, and to make him obsess about crossing off the names in the book, it didn't do the memory of Robert any favours. I like that the show demonstrates how Oliver got the way he was pre-island -- lots of money, attractive and lousy parenting.

When the motorcyclist shot and Oliver checked that Moira was okay before running after the cyclist, he told a specific person to call 911. Good to know the research on bystander apathy wasn't wasted. Diggle: Now I know how your family feels when you lie to them. (When Diggle has the only funny line in an episode, it's pretty bleak.) I see the chemistry between Helena and Oliver but Diggle is right, she's a psychopath. And unstable. It's great Oliver took Thea's advice to talk to someone but this is not the woman to make yourself vulnerable to. She's even more dangerous than Moira, who is also lying and keeping secrets. Tahmoh Penikett is can play lead or vicious killer, but he's a lot more convincing as vicious killer. Kelly Hu is wasted, she was much better used on Warehouse 13. This is Laurel's best episode to this point. She's understanding and supportive of Tommy, and.they are good for each other. They vie with Moira and Walter for the Awwww vote. I do like Walter and Moira together. Poor Tommy. Malcolm Merlyn is vying with Robert Queen as being the Most Negligent Rich Father of the Year. In the Public Appearances thread, Stephen Amell and John Barrowman both talk about a cut scene from this episode. Good call, having Malcolm show up at Moira's bedside is much creepier. Speaking of which, if Moira wasn't hurt, why is she still in bed 2 days later?

My bad about the JAG finale, KirkB. I remember I hated it for some reason, it turns out it's because it was a horrible way of negotiating a relationship. I'll look in my mailbox for an invite to the break-up party. Nine seasons of UST, and then that. I don't just want to know the couple gets together in the end, I want to see how they are together. One of the reasons I'm in favour of an Oliver/Felicity get-together is because it could be done with a minimum of angst and suspension of disbelief. (Getting together with Laurel after the sister-swapping and the lying and lack of faith would take a major suspension of disbelief.) I like Arrow because it's an action/adventure show, not a soap opera, I hope Arrow continues to make Oliver cleaning up Starling City it's primary focus but during the next season, I'd like see him open up personally more, including getting closer to Felicity. Those two could really rock the Nick and Nora Charles banter.

Laurel Brown suggesting at what point the cut kiss might have happened and why it was cut. http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/arrow_oliver_felicity_kiss_season_2_finale-2014-06

Like on JAG? A flip of a coin to see if they get together? Worst. Ending. Ever. after St. Elsewhere. If they're going to put tease two people together in a relationship, let me see the relationship and what they're like together. Otherwise I might as well stick to fanfic.

There was a lot happening in s2, what with Sara, and the Lances, and Slade and Roy and then Thea. I'd rather have more on Felicity and wait till s3 than have it rushed, now that I know she's really going to be in s3. (I was worried for a while there with so little emphasis on her that she was going to be killed off.) If there is a big storyline with Felicity's father, it makes sense to put it in the season where others will be dealing with father issues (Diggle and his baby, Thea and Malcolm, Oliver and his unknown child).

Arrow may not last the full 5 seasons, or it may get renewed for longer. All I know is that SA said that the EPs have a five year plan, mirroring Oliver's five years on his various islands. If I could have what I want, I'd like to see them move to get together by the end of season 3, and be together in season 4. I know that leaves two seasons where they are together and that's a long time for the EPs to avoid putting them in relationship drama which I really hope they don't do, but I thought Castle took one season too long to put them together when they finally did in s5. I think that the plot contrivances to keep an OTP apart make both characters stupid and ruin them. And Oliver is not someone to remain celibate for long. If they are going to try out Oliver/Laurel again, let's get it in s3 and over with. If it can't work now, it won't work in two years either, unless EBR decides to leave the show.

Me three, about waiting too long kills what's good about the relationship. I gave up on Bones entirely because all I wanted to do was smack them both upside the head. I suspect that if ED hadn't got pregnant in real live, Booth and Bones still wouldn't be together.

That's quite something coming from Alan Sepinwall. It's too bad the Emmys are so hidebound in who gets nominated and who wins. He would also nominate Bex Taylor-Kraus, who plays Sin. (BT-K is also guesting on The Librarians next season ) http://tvline.com/2014/06/16/the-librarians-cast-bex-taylor-klaus-the-killing-bullet/ Dan Fienburg, who does the other half of Sepinwall's Emmy ballots which are the actors who may actually be put on the ballot, also put in EBR but in 21st slot Bex Taylor Kraus is at #18 but for her work on The Killing. Arrow got pretty much shut out of the Teen Choice Awards, except for Best Sci Fi show, in which it's up against Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, Sleepy Hollow and Once Upon a Time http://tvline.com/2014/06/17/teen-choice-award-nominees-2014-full-list-pretty-little-liars-teen-wolf/