statsgirl

raises hand... pick me, pick me! Low self-esteem is a possibility but at this point, I'm leaning to narcissistic. Everything revolves around her, every action is referenced from her point of view. And why not? Look at how Quentin behaved after Laurel bugged Blood's office, compared to how he was after Sara saved a child from a burning building. He was glad Sara was alive but could he at least have given her some validation for the act? For example, when the nameless cop said 'that woman is a hero', Quentin could have added "She really is". If Laurel grew up with that, with her parents praising her every move and pushing her to law school or academia while they've just happy for Sara not to get kicked out of school, and adding on Laurel's looks and brains, no wonder she thinks the world revolves around her and no one has suffered like she has.

So that's where the card-counting comes from, Felicity was from Vegas. Maybe they do think long-term on this show after all. The soft sheets works for me but not the comforter. It gets pretty hot in Monte Carlo this time of year. (The broke/Monte Carlo/cards reminds me of when I was in school and watching General Hospital (what? Everyone in college did) and billionaire Jax had lost all his money and was counting on V to help him win a high stakes chemin de fer game to win it back.)

What about the baby? I can't believe Oliver and Felicity spend 5 years alone on the island and there isn't even one baby.

Oooh, I like it. I thought that Slade let Blood take the case as a test of loyalty, but to use it to abduct his target is lovely and sneaky. Good point. Sometimes the show goes so fast, it's hard to connect all the dots. (That, and that I don't really trust them anymore.) (Sorry, couldn't help it, it wouldn't leave my brain.) If you're not looking through Olicity glasses, the actual interactions between Oliver and Felicity have been pretty platonic. He's slept with every other available woman on the show, and the last time she hugged him, when he got back in Three Ghosts, he was talking to Diggle and hugged her back as if his mind was elsewhere. If, and it's a big if, there is something significant between Oliver and Felicity in terms of Blood's "the one you love the most", it's going to come out of nowhere if it's not set up beforehand. I thought the directing in the clock tower scenes was clunky, but it's not as if you can stop the tape and say "look, see, here he's responding back to her." She hugged him, and slowly, walls breaking down, he's hand drew close and he hugged her back. Shot of Oliver's face. At this point, I'm going to assume say it's foreshadowing. Pandering is usually taken to mean pimping. On this show, my vote would go to "I know you as well as I know my own name... I know you in my bones." And the arrow, it's not that Laurel shot the arrow, but that the show put her into the position to shoot it. Why was she following Oliver around anyway? I think Lauriver was the pandering in Streets of Blood, and there was a lot of it. ETA: I just watched the 'Felicity bucks up Oliver in the clock tower' scene and noticed 3 things I'd missed before: 1: Oliver is apologizing to her when he says that he didn't see this coming 5 years ago. Not just explaining but it sounds like an apology maybe for failing her too. 2. As she gives her speech, the music rises. Real epic music through the hug and Oliver's determination to keep fighting. 3. As Oliver leaves with Diggle to get the cure, he's a lot more open to Felicity. He was friendly but always a bit closed off, now that it's the endgame, his walls are down. (Also noted that when Oliver tells Felicity to stay, she stays, unlike Laurel.) I love that Blood's mask is the physical representation of his fear of his father. And as a fan of The Daily Show, I smiled at his American flag lapel pin as well as his red, white and blue tie.

If Sara felt inferior all her life to Laurel, as she well might given that family scene when she comes back from college, then having Laurel accept her and respect her might mean more than having it come from Quentin or Dinah, both of whom greeted her back with joy. So on that level, it worked for me, and I was glad to finally get closure between the sisters after 7 years, because friends come and go but family, if you're lucky enough to get a good one, stays.. I understand the sentiment, but wow, that would have been taken as a huge anvil of Sara dying. Laurel doesn't have the faintest clue what Sara went through so really, what can she say? If Sara really does feel inferior to the gorgeous and popular (on screen) Laurel, being compared to a beautiful bird is a sweet thing to feel. That, I think is the big problem, as well as her lack of chemistry with SA. Laurel is being written as if she were on another show. It reminds me of Pleasantville,where all the characters were black and white and suddenly one of them was in colour. Or in Laurel's case, black and white in a colour TV show. She interacts with the other characters but she stands out and usually I'm aware that she's different.

I think if the EPS would come right out and say 1) Sara is not going to be killed off so that Laurel can become the BC; 2) Laurel is not going to be Oliver's love interest any more; 3) Laurel will have a place on the show but it will not be as a leader of Team Arrow 4) Laurel will still have story lines but they will not cut into the time of other characters' I think a lot of viewers would let themselves like Laurel more. Of course, the Lauriver shippers would probably storm the internet. I spent so much time worrying that Laurel is going to take over the show to the detriment of the characters I care about (Felicity, Diggle, Sara, Thea) that it's hard to look at her objectively I thought the use of Laurel in this episode was perfect -- she had a bit to do with Oliver but not so much that she looked like a superhero, then she left him in the hands of Diggle and Felicity who had lots of screen and storytime, and went off to do stuff with her family. LOL That's Laurel. There's self-interest, and then there's narcissism. Although neither is right for a future hero. I thought guys didn't talk to other guys about stuff like that? Diggle has given Oliver pep talks before but they've been short and with lots of things left unspoken. This episode needed a big pep talk, so it was left to Felicity. On the other hand, I'm getting tired of Oliver needing a pep talk every 30 minutes. As Felicity said, fighting back is the way to handle these defeats (paraphrasing).

Yes, that's my one worry. If Felicity is Shado to Oliver's Slade, well we all know that Shado died so the other girl could live. But it would be a stupid move for the show to do, given Felicity's popularity.

It would be nice if the cure took away the crazy and the recovery from a death blow. At this point, I'd be okay with Roy having extra strength. Awesome thought. And it does pull in what seems to be a relatively disconnected Line of Import. Not necessarily her death though. Even the willingness to do it would help her get closer to Oliver and Sara's 'hero' status.

Slade looks totally crazy. I can't wait. Just when I'd accepted all the arguments, and resigned myself to it not being Felicity.... man, what a surprise that is.

It's a tease. I hope it won't turn out badly for us. If Oliver knew he had a son, I'd vote for that because parents often love their children with a fierceness no partner can match. Look at Moira. But even if Slade knew about the son, Oliver doesn't. Right now, there is no stand-out candidate for "the one Oliver loves the most". He loves Thea, Laurel and Sara in different ways. He probably knows that he cares for Felicity in 'a good friend' kind of way, as he does Diggle. I think it would be really stupid for the show to say at this point "this is the person Oliver loves the most" unless it's his sister although I personally wouldn't mind some hint of romantic feelings for Felicity. You know, maybe Slade does tell Oliver that he has a son, and then tries to kill him. (Doesn't succeed though because that would be cutting off a lot of good storylines.)

It's actually "While Oliver has fought all year to be more than the killer he once was, when Slade kidnaps someone close to Oliver’s heart, Oliver is pushed to the edge and realizes sometimes it takes doing the unthinkable to stop the monster." By that wording, it could end up being Diggle. It could also be Thea, since she is his sister, or Sara or Laurel. But the biggest payoff would be for it to be someone who is close to Oliver's heart but Oliver doesn't know it yet so it's a shock when he realizes it. And he does know about Thea/Sara/Laurel. (With Malcolm back,I'm hoping he's keeping Thea safe.) With the lighting and carrying Felicity, there was a lot of Olicity in this episode. When Felicity said "I believe in you", that really made me think it would be Felicity. The dialogue for the scene writes itself: Oliver: I brought Felicity in, I was the one who put her into danger. Diggle: Oliver, it was her choice to stay with us. Her choice to fight against Slade. Oliver: She told me she believed in me. I have to prove to her that she's not wrong. [Oliver grabs his bow and goes off to do the Unthinkable.]

The extended promo. Sara looks good. Laurel throws a punch. Lots of bodies lying around http://www.spoilertv.com/2014/05/arrow-episode-223-unthinkable-season_6100.html

So many scenes to choose from ...... I like shows that give you something to talk about after the episode is over. At first, I was thinking that it was ever since Felicity knocked on the door in the Russian hotel after their tryst but Felicity was already complaining about her earlier in the episode when they arrived at the airport and she had to take a cab with Isabel. Now I'm thinking that it was when Felicity interrupted her meeting with Oliver to tell him that he was needed elsewhere because Roy had left a message arrow for him, and Oliver told her she needed to work on her excuses. (I can't remember when episode that was.) Isabel looked really pissed off when they left the room. On the other hand, it could have been in the season's premier when Felicity brought Walter in to save the day.

LOL, she was actually a normally functioning rational person. Am I expected to love her for that? Between some of the episodes since Christmas and this one, it seems like the show has multiple personality disorder.

Okay, now that I've seen the episode, I take back a lot of what I was thinking. I enjoyed it, and I'll be back for next week. After the 'Laurel saves Oliver' scene and return to Diggle & Felicity, they pretty much kept Laurel with Sara and Quentin, which is just the way I can take her, while Oliver was with Felicity and Diggle, especially Felicity. They should have had more for Diggle to do but much of the episode was a gift to Felicity fans. Oliver's support in his almost-darkest hour was from Felicity,and thank you to whoever wrote the show that it ended on "I believe in you" rather than I love you. Yay for Malcolm's return, in all his dubious glory. I can't believe I didn't see before how much Willa Holland looks like John Barrowman. I can totally believe Thea is his daughter. Nice stuff between Laurel and Sara, and long overdue. ARGUS -- badass and while effective, really not one of the good guys.

I don't think Cassidy is a good enough actress to fake being excited about the show when she was about to lose her job. I think the best I can hope for is that they give her a role other than BC, and that they drop the idea of making her Oliver's True Love. I'm not sanguine about the odds for the latter though.

The Thea/Malcolm clip is great. That's what I want to watch for. The Diggle/Felicity/Oliver clip they gave us last week was also great, and then Laurel spoiled much of the episode for me. I doubt it too. But could the EPs even do it? The Laurel/Lauriver fans have got their noses twitching with the scent now. Once Laurel is on the team, I don't think they would be content with waiting to have her realistically learn the skills, or even to let Oliver have another relationship because they see her as the real BC and Oliver's one true love. With Laurel out in the field and fighting by his side, I think the floodgates have been opened.

Since the promos are put out by CW's promo department, and maybe the sneak peeks as welll, maybe they think that Laurel is a draw since Katie Cassidy was a CW darling for several years now. What surprises me is that no one associated with the show is hearing that KC isn't a big draw. Isn't the promotions department supposed to keep abreast of these things? AK knows there is a reaction against Laurel, wouldn't he call up the promo department and say 'hey, if you're going to promote Laurel, send out something with another character too'? I can imagine that the EPs are thinking about the audience "what are these people on about, all we've done is add Laurel to the team at last. What is their problem?" Our problem is that we're worried about the writing and we're worried that the characters we do care about will get pushed aside for Laurel. If they were come and say that Sara will be back next season, people might not be so upset. (Of course, if they said that Felicity will get her own storyline, we wouldn't believe them after last episode when no sooner had Oliver said it was up to the three of them that it because about Laurel and Oliver.). I laughed at the following paragraph from canadagraphs about the finale: http://canadagraphs.weebly.com/9/post/2014/05/arrow-films-a-scene-with-several-cast-for-the-season-2-finale-episode-unthinkable-spoiler-inside.html

I'm glad it made you laugh. I need to try that because it made me ragey. I've been wondering that since January. It would have made more sense to put out a Malcolm clip, or even Malcolm promo pics because people are going to be tuning in to see him again. I wonder if the EPs think that we will tune in for him and Oliver/Diggle/Felicity anyway so they want to promote Laurel and Oliver/Laurel. I still have the feeling that the EPs think that if they just shove Laurel at us enough, we'll grow to love her.

StupidTown, ahoy. The sneak peek is Laurel shooting the arrow to save Oliver. http://www.spoilertv.com/2014/05/arrow-episode-222-streets-of-fire-sneak.html If it's anyone but Thea (Oliver's sister), Laurel (whose picture he was clutching) or Sara (former SO and fighting partner), the show is going to have to justify how this person is close to Oliver's heart. I'd laugh if it were Diggle. I love the idea of Oliver injecting himself with mirakuru if he thinks Felicity is dead that if they do it on the show, I will praise them all summer. Sadly, I think the odds of it being Felicity though are rapidly diminishing. The EPs said they would explore Felicity backstory next season, but she doesn't actually have to be alive for them to do it.

I think it would be a fun twist if Ra's Al Ghul were Felicity's father, the dark and the light. A new kind of sister-in-law relationship with Sara too. But it's unlikely since I got the impression that Felicity remembers who her father is.

Slade's most obvious target is Laurel because that's who Oliver was obsessing about the first year on the island. But if Slade's been watching Oliver in Starling City, he should know that Oliver hasn't had much contact with her, and that he's been sleeping with Sara. So I would think Lauel if the show can't be bothered to do much thinking about it, or if not her, Sara. He's had the opportunity to kill Thea twice now and I think that if it were going to be her he'd have done it already unless he's playing cat-and-mouse. I would be surprised if it were to be Felicity because I don't think Slade would consider her that way. She's Oliver's PA and she's on Team Arrow but she stays pretty much in the background, unlike Sara. Slade strikes me as a man who pays attention to the obvious rather than the woman hidden in the background. I love the idea of Oliver being willing to be shot up with mirakuru if Felicity 'dies'. I think Kreisburg and Guggenheim would jump on the idea, but then they'd make it about Laurel and not Felicity. Your way is a much better story. Please, Slade, take Laurel away, out of Oliver's orbit, and do whatever you want with her. The only downside to that idea is KC herself. When she talks about her scenes with Paul Blackthorne in interviews, she talks about their "process", which sounds like Blackthorne spends a long time with her going over Laurel's motivation and how she would react in their scenes and what she would be doing so that KC doesn't have to look like she's doing multiplication in her head and so their scenes come off as Laurel's best. I don't think she does that with Stephen Amell, maybe because he's too busy to spend that kind of time with her, maybe because he's not experienced enough to know she needs it. Going by KC's anecdote, Manu Bennet works his stuff out in his own head and plays it out for anyone who may be around. I'd love to be wrong but I think putting Slade and Laurel together would look good on the page but KC's acting wouldn't be up to it. ,

Oliver was trying to drop a whole building on the men (yes, men) who were part of Slade's army. Since there is a mirakuru cure, he could have save them. That sounds pretty 'unthinkable' to me. A description designed to drive us crazy trying to figure out who the "someone close to his heart" is. After last week's Laurel-fest on the heels of "it has to be the three of us", I'm not playing any more,.

I have the feeling it wasn't that Felicity's story was so big it couldn't fit into s2, but that they took the room for Laurel's.

This is the greatest discussion I've read in a long time. I feel like I'm back in college.where the arguments we argued were smart and exciting and important (to us anyway). Arctis Tor, I really like your analysis of Laurel, although it took me a minute to remember that DiD stood for Damsel in Distress and not Dissociative Identity Disorder, although that could apply too. Pootlus, all your scenarios make sense, but I was thinking that there was one you didn't include: 8. the Pygmalion Factor. I was getting some information last night and I realized that AK was not only the one who the GA/BC that turned off many people, but that he wrote BC as Dinah Laurel Lance. This version of her is his creation, maybe he even had a hand in casting KC in the role and now I'm thinking that his bewilderment that so many people don't love her is genuine. He can't see what is wrong with the character and as one of the two show-running EPS (Berlanti is usually off doing other things), he has a lot of clout. It could be that the Pygmalion Factor is the wildcard that throws logic and good writing out the window. Maybe we should all be hoping that The Flash gets picked up and he leaves Arrow for it.