ostentatious

Hah, yep, it's in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Billion-Dollar-Kiss-Dawsons-Adventures-Writing/dp/159240295X Twice now this network has been not just saved by Berlanti's instincts but his instincts have created legendary ships. I think her casting absolutely WAS a happy accident. I just think everything that happened after they shot her first scene was by varying degrees of design. Their whole story has been a manifestation of Diggle's already the right fit line. It's like that "he fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, then all at once" line. Obviously Oliver was there for ALL the Olicity moments but the thing about Oliver is that he is The Worst at figuring out what he's feeling when he feels it and why. I think he also sits around and stews over things that people say, like Diggle's advice, like various people thinking Felicity is his girlfriend, Quentin saying she believes in him, how he felt when the Count had her, Diggle accusing him of jealousy, Sara walking away with that "you need someone to bring out the light inside you" line, and then weirdly enough Blood's "the one you love the most" line triggered the flood. And we had that Felicity believing in him line before a Blood said that, but once Blood said it I think EVERYTHING started hitting him. I think definitely in 206 he was articulating his recognition that she is someone he COULD fall in love with but until it all hit him at once, everything that had happened between them, everything others saw happening between them, he didn't realize that while he thought he'd been controlling himself and not falling in love, he was just once again clueless about his own feelings and motivations. And I think both these things are true: Katie and Stephen have anti- chemistry, which is worse than no chemistry, AND the Lauriver backstory and entire concept was a nearly insurmountable barrier. However, I believe that if they had not decided so early to ditch them, if they had actors anyone could stomach together, they would've put in flashbacks and built it up. So I think the lack of chemistry was the REASON they didn't give them anything to work with. Why compound the problem, you know? It was so quickly obvious it had to be done away with that there was really no middle section where they were still kinda trying. The writers were done with Lauriver very early and Laurel was the contingency they really weren't considering but knew they couldn't count out.

I think that SDCC 2013 was such a fraught time. They'd hired CL, they were announcing her coming on board, prods have stated KC was upset by that. They'd brought Emily along, they gave Stephen and a Emily a co-video interview!! But Stephen continuing to discuss Lauriver....well, he talks from where the character is at that moment, and they would've been on 201 or 202. He also didn't want to paint a target on Emily's back, I imagine. She talked them up longer than anyone else because it's in her best interest to do so. It was last spring and early summer, I think, when she was going around doing tons of cons and talking soul mates at every opportunity? I think she's finally gotten the memo, though, because at Paleyfest she did not jump on opportunities. Also found this hilarious bit from KC @SDCC 2012: Ffwd 18 months and in response to questions about what they were going to do with Olicity, the prods are talking about how Berlanti taught them that you have to have a plan, and you also have to be willing to let go of the plan.Berlanti of course is famously the writer on DC who pushed the switch from Dawson/Joey to Pacey/Joey.

I think what we'll see is what we've already seen, magnified.So, where we've gotten shoulder touches -- okay everybody sit down -- we'll get shoulder nuzzling and shoulder kissing. Where we've gotten the whole cupping the cheek gently thing, we'll get cupping the jaw as the fingers slide into her hair and the hand continues its journey to the nape of her neck. Because I think essentially Oliver has been MUTED. So, letting go is just turning the sound way, way up. Upper arm touches become grips as he pulls her in closer. Hugs where he only allowed himself to barely press with one hand ( filmed in closeup ofc) become hands pressing into the small of her back (in closeup ofc!) I'm re watching some s1 and s2 stuff and man do they ever like these closeups of their increasing physical intimacy. You can actually *map* this. Editing would like us to know that all these touches are v. v. important, y'all. Also it's kind of funny how Felicity keeps popping up right after someone gives Oliver relationship advice. Not just 108, but McKenna's "someone you don't have to apologize to." Last line before they wind up in bed, and then...yep, Felicity's face lights up his cell and JUST AS THE LYRIC says "I'm in love now" she says "Hey, it's me." And the next scene? After he unties her, she *apologizes* for giving Helena info and he says, hey, it's not your fault. IIRC Felicity calling also got him out of bed with Sara, and in a roundabout way with Laurel. Diggle made the call, but he did it at her direction and she's there with him, and the first word he says is "Felicity." Felicity Smoak: Cuddle-Blocking Oliver's Sexual Partners Since 2013. Every time he sleeps with someone else, she pops up, God...even Isabel. Oliver THIS IS THE UNIVERSE GIVING YOU A SIGN.

God, seriously. You know what EBR provided that they didn't even know they needed (as per MGs quote)?COVER. If she hadn't been there giving them not just an alternative but one that everyone was excited about on set and then they got an incredible audience response that they were no doubt *betting on*, someone would've had to answer MUCH harder questions about why they didn't chem test (likely the network's decision, since they were the ones with the relationship -- and you know the network doesn't want to admit mistakes), or why they came up with such a dreadful, unsustainable central relationship in the first place. I bet when audiences reacted to Felicity and to the Oliver/Felicity pairing the way they expected (even more profoundly actually), their relief and joy was palpable. You'll also note than any time any producer or actor gets asked about planning wrt Olicity, they confine their responses to 103. They were genuinely bowled over unexpectedly by her in 103! Blah blah dailies blah blah Roth blah blah genuine smiles blah. Yes, I'm sure that part of this fairy tale is true. Which means that since we know she filmed her first scene on Friday, August 3, 2012, they have a story to cover them through...oh let's cut them some slack and say Monday, August 6, 2012. So what happened August 7 2012 forward, guys?

My "deduction" covers through Trust But Verify prep. Every moment I listed happened in that ep or before. Vertigo was the first ep to enter preprod after 103 aired. Trust But Verify was two days into preprod when 103 aired. The moment from that ep is the first shoulder touch. The scene is integral to the episode and is not something that could've been added in because anyone squeed over Felicity. I suppose arguably the director of the ep could've received a call during filming demanding he have Oliver touch her? That seems unlikely. Vertigo absolutely is the first ep that could've been broken entirely after 103 aired, and you know what? I am erring on the side of caution using the preprod dates, because ep breaking could precede that by two weeks. Official preprod dates tend to be about bookkeeping, tracking expenditures associated with prepping a shoot. The budget for production elements to kick off their work opened up on the preprod date. They don't mean that mind control was exerted disallowing anyone from thinking about the ep before the preprod window. The script would be further along, often done, by that point. That doesn't mean there can't be rewrites of course. If they can't secure a location, for example, they might rewrite. But during that period all the other production elements are getting their shit together to prepare for filming during preprod, not sitting around waiting for the script to come out so they can figure out what sets to build, costumes to design, locations to secure, storyboards to render, and guest stars to cast. The needs of the script have to be known before they can even decide where to spend their time and money. A big expensive ep coming up? They have to know what's happening in that ep so they can be conservative with a few before that. These things do not happen with a snap of the fingers. So it is conservative to put the line at Vertigo, which began preprod 7 working days after 103 aired, and is the episode in which she first revealed she's noticed how hot he is, and that has the trust scene at the end. Since the former scene is a major clue piece for the ep plot and the latter is the setup for Felicity's official involvement with the team which will be happening 2 eps later, I strongly suspect they didn't just come up with that idea when they sat down to break Vertigo. Therefore, the decision to let her in on the secret almost certainly happened before 103 aired. Now true, the awesome reaction to EBR confirmed they had made the right choices, but it did not CREATE any of these choices. There is nothing wrong with my math or my hypothesis.

It was part of their season and a half of walking back the Lauriver relationship. They basically reframe everything they ever set up as indicative of OTPness as something indicative of their NOTPness. So, it wasn't to make you think one way or the other about Laurel. It was to show you that Oliver had info way back on the island that made him start the mental separation process. It was in 211, IIRC, Blind Spot. In 213 you had the Sara/Laurel flashback where you get confirmation Laurel knew about the serial cheating and where she comes across as just determined to nail him down. Then in 214 you have Oliver telling her he's done feeling like her bad choices are his fault and he's done with her period.

I do get it. I'm supposed to perceive Ray and Felicity as being the same person like Oliver and Sara were the same person. I just think that Felicity wouldn't come in looking for opportunities to overshare about her sex life in public basically, in someone else's space. I would rather see her overshare with LAUREL, ffs. While Roy facepalmed.

I don't mind Ray, don't think he's a stalker, and don't care about the alacrity with which Felicity is moving on to Oliver. But I do care about showing up at somebody else's house being super gross like that, and in that scene it's Felicity driving the grossness. This isn't anti-Ray, it's anti-squick.

I don't know anyone who wants to see Oliver and Felicity vomiting out info about their sex life while Barry facepalms. And yeah, the only way this works is if Barry gets all Sassy Gay Friend on her.

Sexually Active Band Geeks.

God, I just had a vision of him treating her like his actual girlfriend and 'bout fainted.

It's like they're deliberately choosing all the disadvantages of a shared universe (no duped characters) and none of the advantages.

I'm a HUGE fan of the idea that Oliver knows about Connor already, and his experience with Akio (who is surely slated to die) kept him from choosing to let anyone know he knew or to pursue a relationship. SA's fondness for all Connor-related storylines just seems odd if it's as simple as "Oh someday he'll find out." But if this is a layer to the Oliver onion that he proposed to the prods that they went for, then it becomes so profound. That scene with Sandra in CC, his reaction...yeah, that becomes so meaningful if he knows. Also adds layers to his early interaction with Moira, right when he came back.

Yeah, Raisa stood out to everyone because she was the only person in the pilot who didn't attack Oliver at all. Hope she comes back. *mic drop*

103 Lone Gunmen Airs 10/24/2012 10/24/2012 102 Honor Thy Father Airs 10/17/2012 10/17/2012 111 Trust But Verify Prep 10/22/2012 10/30/2012 104 An Innocent Man Airs 10/31/2012 10/31/2012 111 Trust But Verify Shoot 11/2/2012 11/13/2012 105 Damaged Airs 11/7/2012 11/7/2012 112 Vertigo Prep 11/5/2012 11/14/2012 106 Legacies Airs 11/14/2012 11/14/2012 112 Vertigo Shoot 11/15/2012 11/26/2012 So you can see that all those conceits for Olicity were well established before audiences and critics got a look. All the audience and critics did was confirm what the producers already knew, and provided them ammo to make their case. 113 Betrayal Prep 11/16/2012 11/26/2012 113 Betrayal Shoot 11/27/2012 12/6/2012 107 Muse Of Fire Airs 11/28/2012 11/28/2012 114 The Odyssey Prep 11/28/2012 12/7/2012 108 Vendetta Airs 12/5/2012 12/5/2012 114 The Odyssey Shoot 12/10/2012 1/4/2013 109 Years End Airs 12/12/2012 12/12/2012 115 Dodger Prep 12/10/2012 1/4/2013 115 Dodger Shoot 1/7/2013 1/16/2013 110 Burned Airs 1/8/2013 1/16/2013 116 Dead to Rights Prep 1/16/2013 1/16/2013 111 Trust But Verify Airs 1/23/2013 1/23/2013 116 Dead to Rights Shoot 1/17/2013 1/28/2013 117 The Huntress Returns Prep 1/18/2013 1/28/2013 117 The Huntress Returns Shoot 1/29/2013 2/7/2013 118 Salvation Prep 1/30/2013 2/7/2013 112 Vertigo Airs 1/30/2013 1/30/2013 113 Betrayal Airs 2/6/2013 2/6/2013 118 Salvation Shoot 2/8/2013 2/20/2013 114 The Odyssey Airs 2/13/2013 2/13/2013 115 Dodger Airs 2/20/2013 2/20/2013 119 Unfinished Business Prep 2/8/2013 2/20/2013 119 Unfinished Business Shoot 2/22/2013 3/4/2013 120 Home Invasion Prep 2/22/2013 3/4/2013 116 Dead to Rights Airs 2/27/2013 2/27/2013 120 Home Invasion Shoot 3/5/2013 3/14/2013 121 The Undertaking Prep 3/6/2013 3/14/2013 121 The Undertaking Shoot 3/15/2013 3/26/2013 117 The Huntress Returns Airs 3/20/2013 3/20/2013 122 Darkness on the Edge of Town Prep 3/18/2013 3/26/2013 122 Darkness on the Edge of Town Shoot 3/27/2013 4/8/2013 118 Salvation Airs 3/27/2013 3/27/2013 123 Sacrifice Prep 3/28/2013 4/8/2013 119 Unfinished Business Airs 4/3/2013 4/3/2013 123 Sacrifice Shoot 4/9/2013 4/18/2013 120 Home Invasion Airs 4/24/2013 4/24/2013 121 The Undertaking Airs 5/1/2013 5/1/2013 122 Darkness on the Edge of Town Airs 5/8/2013 5/8/2013 123 Sacrifice Airs 5/15/2013 5/15/2013

I think it's really important to look at Moira and oddly enough Raisa (who was intended to be recurring, but got a gig on General Hospital). In the pilot they are clearly set up as these two extremes on the mother figure spectrum. Laurel is set up to represent both of them...cold, eternally disappointed like Moira, but by the end warm and convinced there's good in there like Raisa. She quickly became all Moira though. I mean, it's a fact that Robert and Moira were overindulgent, gave him no responsibilities yet still managed to act disappointed when he turned out just like you'd expect him to...Moira was disappointed in her husband AND her son, and she probably thought Oliver was turning out just like her cheating husband. Over time the parallels between Moira and Laurel became stronger, as they moved Laurel out of the LI role. Then they start making it clear that yes, Laurel knew he was cheating on her, and yes, she (like Moira) was willing to stick it out for some reason (*cough cough $$$*). And Felicity has clearly taken over the position of being both Moira (boundaries, expectations) and Raisa (genuine belief in his goodness). Sorta funny that Raisa and Felicity were "staff." Well, I think this just shows that Laurel was among the contingencies. This was quite a tightrope they were walking, making sure multiple paths were available. The preprod and filming dates are published on the Arrow Wikia. The cover pages of shooting scripts list the data. The only two S1 episodes that don't have that info listed are The Odyssey and Unfinished Business, but their dates can be estimated with a lot of accuracy since the dates of the preceding and successive eps are available. I actually have a spreadsheet of the preprod, shooting, and airing dates that I'm referring to, but I pulled all the data from the Arrow Wikia.

If you look at the timelines, so many decisions about Felicity and how she and Oliver were relating to each other were already written or filmed before 103 even aired. Everything with Walter. "Personal internet researcher for Oliver Queen" (which incidentally was where she was introduced to Diggle, and Diggle was introduced to observing Oliver and Felicity's reactions to each other (and having Diggle reacting to their interaction - cutting in those shots - instructs the audience to follow along with Diggle), "You're remarkable/thank you for remarking on it" (It is also the first time the connection between their hands is shown in closeup), when he hands off the arrow). Scavenger hunt/so no wine then (incidentally? The first time he touches her is in that scene -- and he touches her shoulder. It is also the first time the connection between their hands is shown in closeup, when he hands off the arrow). The cut from "you'll be ready for her" to Felicity? Long in the can by that time. Look at that list. Before 103 aired, the following ongoing Olicity things had been established: 1. Diggle understanding more about what's going on with them than they do. 2. His admiration and appreciation of her abilities, and her response to that appreciation. 3. Shoulder touches. 4. Their hands in closeup Which is a clear build to this: You know what the first episode that entered preproduction AFTER 103 aired was? VERTIGO. Yes, this: Is the FIRST NEW INTERACTION they came up with after audiences and critics got the opportunity to respond to her/their relationship. Yes, I have heard before that Felicity is just not his type because he likes fighters/tanks. Which...you know, the problem with "Because comics!" people isn't that they are obsessed with the comics, but that they don't even seem to watch the show. Laurel, Sara, Baby Mama, they were not tanks when he became involved with them. Sara turned into one much much later; Laurel is supposedly turning into one; Baby Mama presumably never will. Shado isn't just a *tank*, ffs, she is *capable* but she was a med student before she was abducted. Helena wasn't a tank yet, just trying. McKenna is the one who was a clear tank when he got involved with her, but he had known her in high school too. So, looking at that list, his type seems more like "brainy chicks" than tanks. Which makes so much sense for Oliver, both his character type and his actual behavior onscreen. There's a reason for all those high school AUs where he's flunking out and Felicity is his tutor. Oliver is the underachiever who admires overachievers. Also, regarding the baffling lack of flashbacks to establish L/O when as blixie said flashbacks are built into the show's DNA...isn't that a huge tell as well? I mean, they tell you very little info about L/O's relationship. This indicates to me that they probably did plan to use flashbacks to provide that, but so quickly realized they needed to extricate themselves from L/O that they pulled the plug on that.

It's at least 50% comics. Most of them seem to think that something like the Picture of Doom (they are incredibly hung up on that) is a promise that cannot be broken. They also think that because multiple other characters who are not Oliver or Laurel have stated "u guys are totally meant 2 b" in various ways that that was the show promising them that was true, and never noticed that Oliver just stared at the speakers with that deliberately blank face of his when they said it. Similarly, when Laurel claims to know him better than anyone, they think that means the show is omnisciently saying this is a fact. It's really a philosophical question to me, about how a person processes narrative. When someone onscreen TELLS me something outright - like "I spent five years on a deserted island" - I immediately think, oh *did* you now. Mm hmm, sure you did. I am suspicious of anything I am told but not shown. Laurel claims to know him best? Both what I have been shown and the look of "she is tryin' my nerves" look of stoic endurance on Oliver's face while she says it makes me go mm hmm sure you do honey. I find them to be naive consumers of narrative, in other words. I find myself to be an overly suspicious consumer of narrative who vastly overestimates how clever writers are being because there is nothing I love more than an unreliable narrator, plus I'm an atheist so the only sense I ever get that anyone is actually in control of any universe is in fiction, and it's pleasant to feel like someone has a plan sometimes. I don't think Diggle is unimportant, and he's second in importance in shaping Oliver after Felicity, but...the guidance he gives him, in word and in example - and David Ramsey and SA have both said this outright - is the example of a husband and father. He's his friend, they have bonded as brothers, but the lessons he's gotten from Diggle are about how to be with Felicity. Diggle doesn't outright counsel him on anything but his love life. So...as far as contributing to Oliver's transformation, Diggle has provided him with guiding principles to use to find his way toward the Guiding Principle. I think there is a difference between saying which characters are important to Oliver and which ones have provided examples and guidance. Thea is important, and reconciling with her is an enormous part of his healing, but she isn't providing examples and guidance, neither is Roy. Providing Roy with examples and guidance has been part of Oliver's healing as well.

Don't forget "desperate," considering the way she hangs all over a guy who barely even looks at her.

So sorry. I have to admit that it’s difficult to process unearned moments like that one. I think that what you have throughout the first season is, as I’ve said, contingencies with Felicity, Helena, McKenna, but you also have Laurel as a contingency. The prods may not have wanted her, but they couldn’t replace her yet. The network had a longstanding relationship with her. WB/DC has a longstanding relationship with the character. While the actual people who day to day had to put the show together figured out very early she had to be replaced and who the best person was to replace her, it’s not entirely their decision. I think what they were doing is kind of like…if I go to a trade show and there’s this upstart vendor with great technology that I think could replace a current vendor who needs replacing. I make my case up the chain, up the chain gives me the leeway to keep it under consideration, I start shaping my processes to accommodate *both* vendors for a while, proving slowly that the new vendor is capable and the product is improved…season two you can see that effort expanding beyond simply giving Felicity the important relationship with him but proving that, at least wrt Oliver, Laurel was unnecessary. She sat out several eps, they gave her very few scenes with him. And then the much overlooked 214…which I'll get to in a bit. YAAAAAS. This is it exactly. Consider what Stephen said a few weeks back: Oliver was always supposed to have a Transformation. That’s his character arc.And he was always supposed to have a Guiding Principle in that transformation, and it was always supposed to be one woman. Which again...how fucked do you think Trollenheim et al felt, knowing that Laurel was never gonna work, knowing it so soon? Regarding 214, I think it got lost at the time, but that whole “I am done running after you” speech from Oliver to Laurel in 214 is interesting. Most of us were just like “Since when is he running after her?” and arguing about who was shittier, Laurel, Sara, or Oliver. But from the show’s perspective, from his internal perspective, I think they consider that the moment when onscreen caught up to offscreen and their intent aligned. Also interesting that just before this time you had the AK interview (Jan 2014) where he was asked about Olicity and responded that he had learned from Berlanti that you should have a really great plan, but also know when to let that plan go. In 214 in that one line he reframes the entire L/O relationship. He's no longer seeking her good opinion as part of his healthy maturation and hero's journey. No longer is she the source of any inspiration. Any illusions he had about that in season one are gone. He sees it for what it was: her punishing him and him feeling like he had to endure it because he made her this way. He was running after her looking for forgiveness from her, not being inspired by her old belief in his essential goodness and rightfully, healthily wanting to get it back, which is what they tried to sell at first. And it changes the way that whole “her photo is his talisman” thing must be interpreted. Truly, he saw their relationship through rose-colored lenses on the island. He forgot the reasons he resisted the idea of a permanent relationship with her. He has examined how he feels and this is his answer. And that is probably why MG and SA both heavily promoted that ep/hallway scene. For them, on set and in universe, that was when it became official. First, I think in this case what the fandom wanted was also what TPTB wanted, so it was for the right reasons. More important than O/F’s chemistry was O/L’s lack thereof. That was the emergency. O/F's chemistry, while strong, is really of secondary importance. If Felicity had never existed, O/L's unsuitability and the impossibility of their relationship carrying the show would've still been dealt with somehow. I think the crucial difference on the "changing or saving a person" is that Captain Save a Ho was *actively* trying to change Helena/Sara. That’s what Diggle was talking about. Oliver has changed as a result of Felicity’s presence in his life, but not because she took him on as a fixer-upper project. Felicity set boundaries for working with him, i.e. that she wasn’t going to support activities she felt were unethical. And then she walked away. If she had crumbled when he tried to physically intimidate her with that reboot his system line, THEN she would’ve been more like Oliver, hanging on too long. But she walked away, and it was Oliver’s choice to decide if she was important enough to go after. And when he wanted to back away from their relationship but still kind of keep her dangling, she set a boundary and walked away. Again. Some of this comes down to your concept of who Oliver really is. Did Felicity change this guy, or did being around her greatly facilitate his healing and completely appropriate maturation process? Any of y'all know Sondheim's Company? It comes down to this line, from Sorry/Grateful: My view of Oliver is Raisa's: maybe he's not a good boy, but he has a good heart. Everything else aside, lack of boundaries set by parents, giant fuckups, probable undiagnosed ADHD...at the base of it, he has a good heart. His core self can be trusted. But he doesn't trust that core self. And Felicity shares this opinion of his heart: Now arguments about whether or not he actually gives a single fuck about QC or not aside, this statement to me is clearly really about his relationship with Felicity. He has to trust his heart, not be afraid of his own feelings...this is getting so long and rambly, but you know who, from his perspective, is the fuckup? Who can't be trusted? It's the guy who fucked around on Laurel. It's the guy who knocked up some girl with his carelessness and then she had a miscarriage, the thought of which hurt him. It's the guy who destroyed the Lance family, the guy who got Sara "killed" twice and who put her at the beginning of a path that has led to her being an assassin, whose father murdered a dude and then killed himself for his sake, who just had to have sex with Shado thus fucking things up with his bro Slade, who got Shado killed, whose actions brought on Slade's wrath and thus got the city destroyed and many many people killed including his mom. That guy is Oliver. Not the Arrow. The Arrow is not dangerous to...lbr...women. Look at all these hurt, dead women. From Oliver's perspective, Oliver did that. That is why Oliver is afraid of OLIVER. The Arrow is his escape. The Arrow is the one he can trust, because the Arrow doesn't feel passion. The Arrow slaps water. The Arrow is under control. Oliver had no control over his feelings, passions, actions, and look at all that happened. So, for me, what Felicity has done for Oliver isn't change him or save him, but allowed him to be the person he's always been. This is why it is so difficult for me to imagine that they didn't know what they were doing with the "I still feel like I can trust you" scene. That is the moment that sets Oliver on the path toward healing.

Well, that's the pilot. I don't think they were going to rewrite the pilot during production, no matter how dire the situation. Plus who knows what order they filmed in? The conversation is illuminating from the perspective of, this is the central argument they wanted Oliver to have inside himself wrt his LI. The idea that his time away hasn't made him a person any more worthy of love and trust than old cheatin' lyin' Ollie was. See, I am one who believes that Oliver trusts the Arrow more than he trusts pre-island Oliver. I think the man he's afraid will hurt Felicity is *that* guy. He isn't afraid of exposing her to the Arrow or the risks of the Arrow's enemies. He's afraid of exposing her to Oliver. It's also illuminating because it tells you who you were supposed to think Laurel was. Consider if someone who had the kind of warmth EBR has was in that position. You would get the sense that the coldness was just a defense, and that she had little hope of being able to hold on to it because she is essentially a loving person. By that conversation, end of the pilot, you would see that she was easily melted. But KC isn't right for that kind of role and she and SA had no connection. The pilot wrapped end of April, I think? 102 began filming in July, we know EBR was cast late July. I found notices from August about JdG's casting. JG wasn't far behind. They were already reaching into the CW vault to prepare. These were IMO contingencies. And I actually totally agree about how Oliver seemed to fall in love with all of them, and I think that shows that they were truly trying to cover themselves. The LI had to be on stage by the end of the first season. Had to. As I have said many times, this show has never wanted to be about Oliver figuring out which woman he loves. It wanted to be about Oliver allowing himself to be with the woman he loves. The audience couldn't be expected to swallow that if they didn't put her into play during the first season. I think they immediately had that instinct about EBR but you have to go ahead and put other plans into place. This is a 22-yo n00b, and they'd already made one huge casting mistake with KC. You try selling that to the network. They had to have time. But I think that they'd gotten the go ahead by 112. If Laurel had worked out, I think you would've seen that whole slowly growing trust arc between Laurel and the Hood instead of Felicity and Oliver. But think back on season one. When did they drop that build? When did they drop trying to frame Laurel as the one whose trust and belief in him was all inspirational and shit? I would have to go back and look but...pretty early, I think. We came back from Christmas with a new prime directive. The absolute death knell for L/O was in Dodger when Oliver allowed Felicity to be the archer, with him truly an arrow. When he went with her moral guidance about what they should and shouldn't do. That was Laurel's job y'all. She had *one job*. And they gave it to Felicity permanently in that moment. Sure, Diggle is an influence, but Oliver is a straight boy and his fine upstanding older brother Diggle isn't someone who can reboot his system.

I don't think Laurel would've found out earlier, no, because I think their plan (like with Iris/Barry) is that the hero keeps his True Love in the dark. I think Felicity found out early because they realized that Laurel couldn't be that True Love, so they changed the plan entirely, and lbr Olicity together in ANY capacity was pure gold, so they wanted them together constantly. Since they established Laurel, they had a shorthand in place for her position wrt Oliver, so they didn't have to build in a "getting to know you" period. So, there was a driver for Felicity to be involved in his work. I think what actually matters is that non-fandom viewers make up the vast majority of the audience, and while not "passionate" about Olicity, would be baffled at the suggestion that there's any doubt in anyone's minds who the main couple of the show are. And they've felt that way since she appeared, since unless you came burdened with awareness of comics, their relationship looked like the intended romance from the start. They spent no time or effort on L/O. They gave them no "good times" flashbacks to try to establish their connection. I think they gave them exactly one flashback that was there to show them liking each other, and that was VERY early in the run. After that they were always to show how terrible they were together. Yet O/F have been together constantly since The Odyssey. Interesting that that's the ep where he found his way to his Penelope. If you are just doing a content analysis of the show, without being tainted with outside knowledge of non-show things, this looks like an intentional friends-to-lovers romance from the moment she appeared. That doesn't mean they were in love from the moment she appeared. Because that's what a friends-to-lovers romance *IS*. If they aren't friends first, it's not f-2-l.

I think the reason 112 seems like they're on a date is because Oliver rather thought they were. When she wanted to meet, he invited her to his house at first. Come on. He's unsure what this is all about but he would be unsurprised and quite open to the idea if it turned out this was her way of socializing with him. Don't forget, earlier in this very ep was the first time Felicity's babbling indicated sexual attraction to him ("I noticed"). And then she gives him something no one else gives him: trust. He treats her and their relationship like a precious disappearing natural resource that must be protected at all costs from then on. Imagine you were the showrunners in March 2012, producing the pilot. You have conceptualized a years long narrative in which the hero's Love Interest is INCREDIBLY important to his journey. Vital. This is The Odyssey ffs, Oliver just stayed out at sea even after he got home. Now imagine shooting the pilot, and realizing over the course of that production (and having this grow every moment thereafter) that your female lead absolutely cannot be your Penelope. She cannot. She can't do it. It doesn't matter why. What matters is that the structure of your entire show depended upon the hero being in love with one woman, who represented Home to him, and his journey was going to be about finally coming in out of the cold and coming Home. What the actual fuck are you going to do? Holy shit. It's not like you can just come up with a new Penelope next season. This Hero's Journey has been GUTTED. You need a Penelope YESTERDAY. Then in 103, your Penelope appears, and you grab on with both hands and start negotiating and plotting. It takes a long time to work out the details and set this ship back on course. You have to position your Penelope where she was supposed to be all along. That is no small feat, especially when you consider that your plan was to never do any positioning AT ALL. It was all supposed to be backstory. Which is dumb, and which is a mistake they made again with The Flash (audiences need to see and care about relationships as they develop) but which was their (bad) plan. They didn't take the entire Arrow lesson with them. Yes, they did better with the casting, but they still built-in the structural problem of expecting people to be invested in a relationship just because they told us to be.

I think the initial plan was for the O/L/T triangle to last for the first three seasons or so, and Tommy would go Dark Archer as O/L finally got together, probably in season three. I think Oliver would've had other involvements but I don't think he was ever going to be a "dawg" about it. They would've been more Helena type things. There would've been some point where L/O were just reconciled and then boom Sara would've come back, Laurel would've felt betrayed, there's your wrench for a while. But that's how it would've gone, Laurel would've been the girl he couldn't sully with his touch, and also she would've gotten the BC storyline where Oliver doesn't want her out there fighting. It just would've had emotion behind it because it would've been the woman he loves putting herself at risk. I think that since critics and audiences alike recognized from the pilot that L/O was not going to work even briefly, much less provide the scaffolding for Oliver's series long arc, that the prods had to realize it during *production* of the pilot. I think they had to start mentally planning even then. If Felicity hadn't come along someone else would've been. It wasn't going to be Laurel, and that has nothing to do with Felicity. I think that by 108, when the editing cuts directly from Diggle's "...when the right person comes along, you'll be ready for her" to Felicity entering Walter's office, they knew what they *wanted* to do, so they were putting those sorts of things in place. I think they were ensuring that they could eventually point to moments like that and in Vertigo and say look, there's the build. They needed that in place just in case they were allowed to do what they wanted, and IMO they absolutely *wanted* Olicity probably by about 15 minutes after they saw the dailies from her first scene.

I think that if Laurel had worked out, she'd be getting both the "I cannot b with u because danger" and the "barreling headlong into danger trying to be a vigilante" storylines. And I think it would've come to a head in S3, because Marc said they always vaguely thought BC would happen in S3. Oliver would've had to do a lot of I cannot b with u before that.So I imagine s4 was about the time they figured they'd let Oliver be with his LI. Which explains the accelerated schedule this season. I think they're probably back on track with his love life story arc.