apinknightmare

Yes, I'm reading it as Oliver considering Ra's offer is worrisome to Felicity because she loves him. But she's torn between him and Ray romantically, probably because, like AK said, Ray is the emotionally available version of Oliver (arguable, but that's what the EPs are selling), who's just some kind of happy-go-lucky dude who isn't convinced he's going to die being a hero (cause poor Felicity still doesn't know that Oliver doesn't want that).

Same, like...what is she finding out about this suit? Surely not that it works. He had to have told her that it works? IF HE DIDN'T TELL HER THAT WORKS, I SWEAR TO GOD

What did he say about her finding out about the suit? Does she...does she somehow not know it works?

From your keyboard to someone else's keyboard! Maybe they'll go this route, although I'm always cynical that they're going to go the way that causes the most issues and the most angst. If he does voice some issue about Felicity and regret that she's in a relationship with someone who isn't him, I hope someone says, "Uh, that could be you, ya dumbass. If you'd just stop being such a dumbass!" I would enjoy that. (ETA: I know comments like these usually set off the same old same old Felicity should fight for Oliver too crap, but I just mean that Oliver needs to stop being a dumbass and get himself and his life in order. If he did that, he'd be on the right path towards being with Felicity, if that's what he wants)

I bet he'll just be resigned to Felicity being with Ray, and never mention anything to her about it, much less give her an ultimatum. It'll just be some kind of "I'm not accomplishing anything as the Arrow, you guys don't need me. Felicity doesn't need me because she's got Ray now, guess I'll go eat worms-slash-become Ra's al Ghul."

He did say that, and I hope he sticks to it. But then again, he's the one who said that Felicity sleeping with Ray would factor in. I'm wondering - what exactly does Oliver think is going on between Ray and Felicity? He saw them kissing, and when someone on Tumblr asked MG if Oliver thought Ray and Felicity were dating (or had feelings for each other, I can't remember), he replied with something like, "No, he just thinks Ray was cleaning something out of her teeth." So, yes. He did think that. In the Flash ep of the crossover, he seems to confirm it when he tells Barry he needs to let go of Iris and looks longingly over at Felicity. In 3x09 he tells her he loves her but keeps it relatively chaste with a kiss to the forehead. Then when he comes back Felicity tells him she fantasized about him doing things differently when he came back. "Things between us, you mean," was his reply, so...did he think she broke up with Ray, or? I guess I just don't get how her romantic status change with Ray factors in since it seems like he thought they were together already anyway?

Since that's Colton's interpretation, I'm not sure how much stock to put in those words vs. how it's going to play out on screen. But I don't think it's that she loves Ray or feels about him like she feels about Oliver, it's this weird rebound-without-calling-it-a-rebound thing the EPs are pushing with (like AK said the other day) Ray being the emotionally available (and let's be real, physically available, since Ray doesn't keep running off to do dumb shit like rescue Malcolm from Ra's and, you know, consider becoming Ra's) version of Oliver that she's settling for because she can't have the real thing.

I really hope that Felicity sleeping with Ray isn't part of Oliver's decision-making process like MG said, because how would Oliver even know that? I can't imagine Felicity outright telling him, and, what...does he ask? No, ew. It's none of his business. Does Ray mention it in front of Oliver? GOOD LORD NO. I don't want to be legit angry with Oliver, but dude, he didn't even budge when Felicity told him she fantasized about him coming back and doing things differently, so...not here for Felicity's relationship status playing a big factor in this decision. I wish I could check out for the next four eps.

Ugh. Double ugh. YOU TOLD HER YOU COULDN'T BE WITH HER, LIKE....deep breaths, deep breaths.

Are there any Batman issues named "AXXXXm"?

"A Requiem" is a nice thought, but I think it has too many letters.

Seriously. It's not like he was a hero and fell from grace by being driven to vengeance for his wife's death. He was always a shitty person and the one thing he did that could've been considered heroic was going after Thea during the siege, but that's, you know, voided by the fact that he took her in and used her to kill Sara, so...I've got nothing.

Yeah, that could be it too.

I didn't think it was awkward so much as just a strange thing to say. I get that he was trying to lull her into some kind of sense of importance in order to get her to help him get Felicity back and not pull any tricks, but why would she believe him? Unless, I guess, maybe she didn't. She's a little twisted, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the next part plays out.

He must just ask Ra's for some time to get his affairs in order, and that's why he's still around in Starling City after 3x16. But MG said that Ra's was going to make Oliver long for the days of Slade wreaking havoc on his life - did he just mean that he was going to punish Oliver into accepting (because he can say no, he'll just have to fight him again/die) to the point where he won't want to keep his life in Starling? I figure he's got to try to get out of it in order to make the end of this season even remotely suspenseful, so I guess there will be another big duel? Although I wonder why Oliver can't just accept the offer and then turn the League over to someone else once Ra's is out? Are they going to introduce some weird-ass kind of blood oath or some kind of supernatural thing where he would literally die if he didn't relinquish the title by the approved means? IDK.

So, the guy Oliver's going after in this issue has a suit that's a lot like Ray's. I can't remember from the previous issues - was that super suit ever addressed, or is this the first time we're seeing it do anything? I wonder if it's some kind of pre-ATOM thing that villains managed to get the plans to before the gang blew up Applied Sciences.

I guess maybe Ra's could kidnap Quentin to compel him to stop going after the Arrow, and the fact that the guy who recruited his daughter to be an assassin asks him to stop going after a vigilante makes him want to do it more? But then how is Ra's even remotely a villain? Just because he's strikes "fear" into the hearts of these people without ever showing us why they would really fear him? It's a power plant or some other kind of industrial structure. You can see it better in other shots.

The only reason I'm hesitant to believe that Oliver accepts Ra's offer is because he's around in Starling City for the next four episodes. I guess he could ask Ra's for time to get his affairs in order, but then there's the issue of Lance going after Oliver. Right now he's pissed, but what gets him to the point of wanting to catch him and calling him a villain? Does Ra's send the other Arrow to Starling start doing terrible things to punish Oliver for not accepting his offer, or to make life so miserable in Starling that his only choice is to go to Nanda Parbat? Or is the random Arrow coming around (or Arrows, since some have pointed out there might be more than one) just a coincidence that sends the cops after him right when he's trying to get Starling situated to leave and secures the notion that he has to leave and can't change his mind about becoming Ra's? When Stephen Amell said that the number of masked heroes at the end of the season would greatly influence Oliver's outlook on things, I honestly thought that meant he was going to fight for Oliver Queen, now I'm guessing it makes him think he can do some good outside of Starling City as (I can't even believe I'm going to type this) the leader of the LoA. I really hope that's not where it's going and we find out in the last episode that Oliver's agreeing to do this is some ploy to bring Ra's down. Otherwise, I don't know.

Could be, but if we go from this hopeless, depressed, considering-Ra's-offer Oliver to a more Green Arrow Oliver, I'm going to be pissed that we'll miss that development on screen too. I'M NOT BUYING MORE COMICS TO SEE IT.

Yeah, maybe that's it. Because if he was going to be pitted, wouldn't they need to show his body? So, he'd at least have to be on set, even if he was "dead."

Fingers crossed!

I wonder if Colton's trolling with that tweet or if he's in a flashback/playing a dead body.

It's weird, because in the stills released for 3x17, Ray and Oliver are standing in a place with lights all around that look a lot like this. I wonder if that's a coincidence or what? Or does Ray need to go to a power plant to do something in order for his suit to work?

No, this guy is wearing a Starling City Hydro uniform, so this must take place at some kind of plant, because there's a pic of Ray trying to punch this dude and they're both standing in from of a cell/cage that looks like this and seems to be in some kind of concrete courtyard.