statsgirl

I don't think they needed to have a 5 year plan to tell Laurel's story any more than they needed to for Diggle or Tommy or Thea. Oliver is the star of the show and everything jumps off of that. Even with Roy, Colton Haynes wasn't offered a steady contract until late in season 1 and they've already built him up to be a vigilante member of Team Arrow next season so it's not like they didn't have enough time to make Laurel the Black Canary, if KC were up for the role. One thing this show does well is to write to the strengths of its actors. SA does stoic and physical very well, and Oliver is very stoic and very physical. David Ramsey does dry humour terrifically, Paul Blackthorne does emotional conflict, EBR made Felicity quirky and the writers ran with it, Susanna Thompson and John Barrowman can sell whatever they're given. Katie Cassidy does bitchy, and somehow even when Laurel is nicer it often still comes out bitchy. And I guess that's what they wrote to. They could have softened Laurel after the pilot, emphasized the conflict in how she feels about Oliver and the 'good doer' but they got an actress who does bitchy and whether intentional or not, that is what they emphasized instead (the nasty comments and lack of patience, the superiority ("I came to see how your family is doing after the shooting, why can't you?") and the blackmail) till at this point, even with her knowing Oliver's secret, I can't imagine her as someone who would come down on the side of doing good in order to protect the innocent rather than someone grey or doing it to demonstrate how superior she is.

quarks, your reviews are like a glass of cognac, no matter the quality of the meal (episode), I'm left with a warm happy feeling. (Your thoughts on Laurel never fail to amuse.) One of the things I really like about this show is how much it loves having people call Oliver on his crap, whether it's the hypocrisy as Helena did here, or his delusions of saving people as Diggle did, or his self-flagellation . That's a scary thought. Tommy was pretty good too except when it came to Laurel and Oliver. I like Helena as long as I think of her as 'a scary sociopath who will never be in a relationship with Oliver'. (This show does sociopaths really well, I'm very glad they didn't push her as a serious love interest for Oliver because I can't see them being igood given how unstable she is.

No, I'm blaming Oliver for what he didn't do on-screen, which is to stop Isabel from talking trash about Felicity because the only reason anyone thought she was sleeping her way up the job ladder is because Oliver wanted her as his PA.

I agree, those are the two biggest problems with Laurel (well that and whether she's even physically strong enough to be the Black Canary), and until the show stops telling one thing and showing another, I don't think Laurel will ever be a good character.

The old line "Dying is easy, comedy is hard"? Both Susanna Thompson and Willa Holland did a lot of good stuff with often questionable material. I think EBR gets noticed more by the media writers because she has a larger role on the show but even more, she provides a lightness and fun that the show really needs.

Is Ruby married? Because she's way more age-appropriate for Walt than Vic is. Do they not have Search-and-Rescue there? When Walt cuffed the girl to his back to bring her back up, we were shouting No! She could have a spinal cord injury! But of course, it's all about being a he-man hero. Loved the Walt/Branch parallels at the beginning of the episode. Self-harm such a guy thing on this show.

It's interesting that Oliver set himself a task of protecting those who couldn't protect themselves, and then he totally missed the boat when it came to Isabel and Felicity.

Arlene Sorkin on Days of Our Lives? Emma Peel? Ozymandias? Where the inspiration for various comic book character came from: http://screenrant.com/best-comic-book-villains-real-life-inspiration/

I think Oliver slept with Isabel because it was a 'no strings attached' sort of thing and Oliver had been celibate since Laurel six months before. If he'd been thinking with the head on his shoulders, he would have realized that getting into bed with Isabel, in any sense, was more dangerous than it was worth. But that fact that he did sleep with her after she was so nasty about Felicity is what I find hard to forgive because I do think he owed Felicity some loyalty for being his friend and partner. Even as Isabel was leaving, she threw out another remark implying that the only reason he kept Felicity around was for sex. I don't let people talk like that about people I care about and especially not to their face, and that's why We saw very little of Isabel interacting with Felicity until Keep Your Enemies Close so we're left to extrapolate from that episode. When they arrived in Russia very early in the episode, Felicity asked not to be left alone with Isabel, which I think is telling about how Isabel treated her because she wouldn't have said that about Moira or even Laurel. She did spread it to Oliver when she told him. And she also implied that the only reason Felicity was his PA was because of the length of her skirts, not for her brains or her competency. It's been said that Isabel couldn't have known how competent Felicity was which A) I find hard to believe because she'd been working with Oliver and Felicity for several weeks by then and it would have been impossible to think Felicity wasn't competent and B) then why even say that she'd only been hired because Oliver was sexually attracted to her? If Isabel had told Oliver in a "you better squash this rumor" kind of way, that would have been different. But she implied that it was true, and if she told Oliver she probably talked to other people about it too. The 'sleeping your way into your job' hits a particular nerve with me because early in my working career, that was the rumor about the woman who had had my job before me and had been promoted to a junior executive position. I don't know if she did get it by sleeping with one of the bosses (the rumor was he was sleeping around with a number of women) but I do know that even though she was very professional and competent (more so than most of the men who had been promoted ahead of her), her career at that agency was toast because of the rumor. It's not just gossip, it's a career-killer, as Isabel would have been well aware. Was it petty of Isabel? Yes but that's the kind of person she was. But since it affected Felicity's future career, Oliver was responsible and should have quashed it when he knew. That was Felicity doing her job. She protected her boss's privacy and his time, she ran interference for him and she told him information that he used to get out of meetings. That was Felicity's job, and not a cause for Isabel to be annoyed with her. Be annoyed with Oliver for refusing to let her get closer to him and work with him, and for running out of their meetings, but not Felicity who was doing what her boss told her to do. If Isabel had any knowledge of how business works, she should have known that. We do know he disregarded Moira's advice, who told him not to trust Isabel. We can't be sure if he stopped sleeping with Isabel or not because Isabel disappeared till the end of the season when she took over QC and it was revealed that she was working for Slade. But we also didn't see Oliver tell Felicity "you're right, I do deserve better than her and I won't be sleeping with her again" so again, it's what each of us extrapolates from that episode. ETA: Oliver was the only reason people at QC were saying that Felicity used sex to get her job. I find it really awful of him, disloyal, to not protect her from hurtful gossip that arose only because she was doing something that he asked her to do. If nothing else, he should have stopped Isabel from continuing to imply Felicity was sleeping with him.

At Walker Stalker Con, EBR said that she got the script for Arrow, she'd never heard of the show but she read Felicity's part and thought "wow, she's really smart, she's talking about Shakespeare" and really wanted the part and decided irrespective of the rest of the show, she was going to go all out on that character. (She added that she was going to see a production of Taming of the Shrew (I think) later that day.) Stephen Amell said in a different interview that when Oliver smiled at Felicity in that first scene, it was him breaking character. And that's how you make your character indispensable to the show.

I see her as someone who gets along well with guys because she's non-threatening and easy to be with. Felicity's the girl the quarterback talks to when he's got women problems rather than asking her out herself so she doesn't see herself as someone who guys might be interested in other than as a friend. And because of the type of guys who are interested in her are geeky and shy (like Barry) she's less likely to be asked out because they are too shy. I think Laurel and Isabel are more likely to be the type of woman that other women don't like. I can see both of them as head of the sorority or business club respectively, resenting any woman who would challenge them. Felicity having the respect of Oliver and Quentin would make her an instant target. With Moira, I think it was more plot contrivance than anything else the first two times (in Walter's hospital room and at QC). About the paternity, it was Moira defending what's hers. Since Moira liked Laurel, even while Oliver was cheating on her, I can't think of any reason why she wouldn't like Felicity. Laurel didn't come from money either. EBR said in an interview that it was interesting playing Felicity when Sara was sleeping with Oliver because while Felicity liked Oliver herself, she also liked Sara and wanted her friends to be happy.

Mary Sue's don't screw up. Felicity does screw up band then she tries really hard to fix it, which is another reason why the audience likes her. Good point. If Felicity were a Mary Sue or a special snowflake, Moira would have liked her for how good she is to Oliver. But Moira didn't; Felicity threatened Moira's relationship with both her children and as a threat she had to be dealt with. Laurel doesn't have time for her but Laurel doesn't have time for anyone who could come between her and Oliver. Isabel hated her smug face but Isabel probably projected all over Felicity -- she was the confidante of the CEO of QC, as Isabel herself had been with Robert; she stood between Isabel having unlimited access to and possibly influence over Oliver; and she was probably much more popular among QC employees than Isabel herself was. Maybe Felicity even had a better academic degree and Isabel didn't like anyone being ahead of her. Sara likes her, Nyssa respects her and Thea doesn't seem to have any issues with her. I think Lyla would get along with her very well. I can see Felicity being popular with guys but more in a 'best friends' kind of way than in a 'really hot girl other guys will be jealous I'm dating' because she has no wiles and doesn't flirt, and also because she said in Tremors that now that there's finally been a guy interested in her, he ends up in a coma, that's just her luck. I think that's another reason she's popular with the female audience as well as the male, because she's a geek (as I suppose many of the viewers of this show are) and a nice person and not going to be the prom queen, like many of us watching her, and as we root for her to get the hot guy, it's a bit of living vicariously.

Merlyn's time with the LoA was before Sara's since he was back in Starling City and causing the ship to sink, but he could have traveled back to confer with Ra's Al Ghul and run into Sara there. It would make an interesting twist if Sara were to have encountered him in one of her flashbacks.

I think I like the idea of a loyalty test (still trying to get my mind around it) but I don't think that would happen because it would be about Felicity then, and everything on this show is about Oliver, unless it's a total off-shoot like Diggle's Suicide Squad. I recently saw an interview with Anna Paquin and Steven Moyers and they said they met during the chemistry test for True Blood. (They're married now.) So yay for chemistry tests. Been there, done that with Isabel and it was in Felicity's present. We have disagreed about Isabel back from when she first appeared. Isabel didn't insult Felicity openly when she first appeared but she did insult Oliver and I do think that affects Felicity who is both loyal to and protective of Oliver, as Isabel would have seen. Isabel resented Felicity for interrupting her meeting with Oliver even though as his PA, she had every right to and it was up to Oliver to tell her he would get to "Mr. Harper" later, not Felicity's call. At the time they arrived in Russia, I thought Isabel was being an absolute bitch to Felicity, which included the nasty comments about the length of her skirts, to the extent that Felicity, who never dislikes anyone, begged to be let out of a cab ride with her. She was spreading the rumor that Felicity got her job because she was sleeping with Oliver (which anyone who worked with Felicity for 5 minutes would have known is not true because of how efficient she is) and any woman who has worked in business would know that's complete death to your career to get the reputation that you slept your way into the job. By giving the rumor credence, Isabel was attacking Felicity who had done nothing to hurt her. Felicity did ask Oliver not to sleep with Isabel because he deserved better but he ignored her. (I've heard that there was a scene written where Oliver got to Isabel's to sleep with her again but Summer Glau wasn't available.) Part of that 'better' is being a nice person to other people, especially those who work for you, which Isabel wasn't. It says a lot that Felicity was completely supportive of Oliver's relationship with Sara later. The thing to me is that Oliver saw how badly Isabel was treating Felicity and he didn't do a damn thing. If he had cared about Felicity's feelings, he would have told Isabel to shut up about Felicity and that if he hears that she's says another bad word about Felicity she'd have him to deal with. But he didn't. Loyalty is a two-way street. So as long as it isn't Slade or Malcolm Merlyn that she's sleeping with, I say "Go, Felicity".

http://tvline.com/2014/06/14/arrow-season-3-spoilers-oliver-rivals-felicity-love-interest/ I wonder if we'll be told the casting at ComicCon. Since he's going to be a high-tech-powered superhero, maybe he hires Felicity to help him build the tech.

Only a small percentage of sociopaths are serial killers or go to prison. Most of them are businessmen or lawyers or other professionals. Not to name names but there is a certain person on Shark Tank... Speaking from my own biases, which is as someone who loathed the Dr. Motorcycle Boy part of Castle (so glad Victor Webster go a good role on Continuum), I still think it can work if Oliver friendzones her and then Felicity starts dating Daniel, possibly meeting him while she's looking for a new job, before Oliver knows about him and becomes a business rival. What if it's part of his growth? There have been a few things which Present Oliver did differently than Past Oliver did, for example not leaving Felicity behind and save as he did Sara, and curing and capturing Slade whereas he had tried to kill him before. This can be a new stage of growth for him where instead of shutting down, he makes clear efforts to deal with the situation. Maybe that is her choice -- Oliver. And if he doesn't want to be with her, she's still attracted to the same type, a strong man with a good heart who wants to make a difference in the world. The more I think about this, the more I want Felicity to make the decision on the basis of what she wants rather than any personal loyalty to Oliver. It's not like he gave a damn how she felt when he was with Isabel, especially given that Isabel treated Felicity like something foul on the bottom of her show, so why should Felicity have to give up a good guy because platonic friend Oliver looks on him as a rival? ITA. He's had his chance, now she needs to do what's best for her. At this point, she owes him friend loyalty, as he does her, but not more. What does "different side" mean? Are we talking Montagues and Capulets, or Blue Jays vs Dodgers? Or Communist vs Fascist ? J Walter Thompson vs McCann Ericson? People have business rivals all the time and unless Daniel is doing something to prevent Oliver from being able to re-acquire his company, as Isabel did, the same Isabel Oliver was sleeping with, why shouldn't Felicity date him? I don't understand how Daniel can be half as bad as Isabel was even in the first half of s2. She wanted to take his company, she insulted him and she continually put Felicity down both to her face and behind her back. And if Oliver got to sleep with Isabel in spite of Felicity and Diggle telling him not to, why shouldn't Felicity be able to decide her own life for herself?

Maybe the fans of TVD and Reign have more time to vote than other people, or maybe it's important enough for them to keep voting over and over. I don't think Arrow is going to win any acting awards unless it's in sci fi specific awards. I'm glad it's getting attention though, and that its actors who work really hard are getting recognized. SA doesn't have a hope of winning an Emmy for Arrow but Dan Fienburg still put him on the "other notable candidates" list along with Kevin Bacon, Jason Beghe, Clark Gregg, Jonny Lee Miller and Timothy Olyphant. That's not bad company. http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/if-i-had-an-emmy-ballot-2014-outstanding-lead-actor-in-a-drama-series Ironically the actor with the least experience is EBR. Her imdb resume starts in 2012. Do you still have the link? I'd love to add my vote to that.

A fact which KC doesn't seem to be aware of, although not really surprising if she hasn't read the comics yet. Her grandfather, Jack Cassidy was even bigger in his day. And her step-grandmother is the fabulous Shirley Jones. She divorced him because she couldn't live with him (he was bipolar and alcoholici) but she is still saying in interviews that he was the love of her life in spite of having been married to Marty Ingals for the past 37 years. He died in 1976, long before KC was born, so I suppose there are only family stories of what he was like when he was ill.. I have a hard time getting a read on KC. Sometimes, as at the Calgary FanExpo, she's gracious and supportive of her colleagues, and at other times it's like she's playing the only character on the show of any importance besides Oliver. To hear her talk about her role on the show, she sounds very entitled but then she says she only got involved in Hollywood when she was 18 because she wanted to do it on her own merits (except that she was in The Division when she was 16). I do think however that someone (the EPs? her publicist?) needs to talk to her about the attitude she's projecting and give her some stock answer for interviews and conventions. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Few things turn me off a TV series faster than The Couple repeatedly getting outside love interests as a way of stalling putting them together. I'm hoping that since Daniel is also Oliver's rival in business and superhero-dom, it won't be just about Felicity. And if Oliver's I Love You was real in any way, I don't see how they can put him together with another woman, unless it's Laurel in a "let's try it again" (which I will be fast forwarding). Video from Denver Comic Con: I hope that means that Sara is the official Black Canary.

Good for that questioner, because she doesn't think it was her bad that she felt so embarrassed. But it's kind of appalling. I don't think, or rather I hope, KC didn't set out to be mean on purpose, rather that she expects she will be the Black Canary and that's that. That's pretty much what all of us have been asking here -- how can Laurel fit onto the existing team and what special set of skills would she add to the team? So a 20 year old fan is looking at the show and the character closer than the actress who plays her. My guess is that asking the audience to answer the question was expecting them to say "she's the Black Canary and Oliver's partner" but that's too simplistic, especially on a show that has been twisting canon all along. Stephen Amell and John Barrowman have been taking an active role in helping to develop the canon of the show and coming up with new ideas, and quite possibly other cast members are too, while Katie Cassidy is skimming the surface. How does she do that, since she's a method actor? And wouldn't she be worried since Felicity has taken over the love interest role and Caity Lotz made such a good Canary and try even harder to make Laurel necessary?

I think Waller said she was hunting a new character in town, Deathstroke. It was Oliver who identified him as being Slade Wilson.

" She's lost, Diggle, whether she knows it or not, I can save her." In this episode, Oliver tries to save Starling City, one crazy person at a time. On re-watch I was surprised to see how much it's Oliver chasing Helena rather than something mutual. Oliver: Before the island I wasn't a good person.... you're on an island too Helena. Helena: I can't be hurt again. Oliver: I'll never hurt you, I promise. It feels like Romeo and Juliet on crack. Helena is definitely unstable if having dinner with his old girlfriend on their third date gets her hurt. And she calls Laurel 'the love of [his] life.' Because she really thinks so, or because she can't move on from her fiance? Either way, shut up, Helena. Oh Diggle, how I love you. Between the wisdom and the snark, he was definitely the MVP in this episode: Oliver: Diggle is my .... associate Helena: Well any associate of Oliver.... Diggle: Is absolutely nothing to you. Ma'am. Diggle:She know's my name. That's lovely Oliver: You can trust her. Diggle: 'Cept I don't. Sleeping with this girl, Oliver? Oliver: Oh I don't think that's any of your business, Diggle. Diggle: It became my business when you brought me into this. And when I signed on , I told you I was going to keep your head straight. But Oliver you're lonely, lonelier than you like to admit. And that's why you think you can change this girl because you need to think you can. You're like a dope fiend who thinks he can deal with his own addiction by making another addict go straight. Oliver what you do is dangerous and getting confused about who's good and who's bad is a good way to get yourself dead. Oliver: Are you done? Diggle: Yeah, I'm done. With this. Everything else, I don't know. I don't know, Oliver, you tell me. Later Helena threatens to expose who they are. You called it, Diggle. Oliver finally gets it "I looked into her eyes tonight and I can't stop her from going over the edge, she's already over." Here's the rule of thumb about women, Oliver -- Trust Diggle. Meanwhile, Walter is having troubles of his own. "I haven't changed Walter, I'm still the woman you met and fell in love with." I love Moira, and how Susanna Thompson plays her. She is so many shades of grey. Walter and Thea are so good together. I think Thea needed him even more than Moira did. Poor Felicity, as Walter jumps down her throat. It's a hard position for Felicity, and a hard one for Walter too as he realizes that he still can't trust Moira. "I hate mysteries. They bug me... they need to be solved." Go, Felicity, even though she's just been scared she's being fired. I'd forgotten that in these early episodes, Felicity is involved in Walter's storyline a lot more than she is in Oliver's. Tommy and Laurel are cute, except she's trying to push him too hard. She really needs a man who is okay with her pushing him around. And then she switches into bitchy mode: "If they don't seat us soon, I am going to write a horrible review on line."..."I'm sure I'm hungry." Who does that? And then, laying into Tommy, she doesn't get it: "You didn't ask him?"...."Tommy why are you so upset?.. You were supposed to talk to him" No, you were trying to get Oliver to help. It's typical Laurel, always running to her to your white knight. It's Oliver and Laurel, it always has been, that's not going to change...am I supposed to be reminded that I can't give you what he could." So it's not just me who sees Laurel as a gold-digger? And of course it's Tommy who is the one who apologizes and tell Laurel she's a million times too good for him even before he was broke. Laurel is totally stunned to find Oliver with someone else. But then she tells Tommy "Oliver and I are over"... what, am I supposed to like her now?.At least Laurel apologised for pushing him too hard and it was kind of sweet. But I'm getting whiplash from her jumping back and forth. Tommy ends on a high note when Oliver offers to share his trust fund "No, that's the easy answer....what I want is a job." Is it just me? Because I was given oxycodon when I hurt myself, and I couldn't get off it fast enough.. And Diggle being a big brother to Oliver again: I don't think love is about changing or saving a person, I think it's about finding the person who's the right fit......you opened up, took a risk with your heart . The Oliver I met a few months ago wouldn't have been able to do that. And when you meet the right person, you'll be ready for her. Cut to Felicity entering Walter's office. Even the film editor ships Olicity.

Is this for romantic relationships only, or for all emotional relationships? I was thinking that there was no greater arrow to their hearts than when Quentin and Dinah thought that Sara had died.

I vote Quentin. He and Sara seem to have a special relationship now, one that they got feeling that each had lost the other and now, having her/him back, they really cherish the other person and appreciate having them in their life. (English really needs a gender neutral pronoun here.) If it weren't about setting Laurel up to be the BC, it would make more sense for Sara to give Quentin her jacket to hold on to while she's not there with him.

Cutting back Diggle's time so that Laurel can take his space sounds like a nightmare. Not to mention, it wouldn't work because Laurel is pretty much the antithesis of Diggle. (He's trained, she's not; he's experienced, she's not; he's wise, she's not; he's got a platonic, selfless relationship with Oliver; she thinks she's in love with both Oliver and the Arrow.) When Roy and Sara joined, there were a lot of people asking for the original Team Arrow back. And they were respectful of both the mission and Diggle and Felicity. I don't see how they can add Laurel without spoiling the dynamic. But that still doesn't mean I'm not scared they'll plop herl in there next season.