apinknightmare

At this point if he doesn't officiate, I have to admit I'll be disappointed. I'm looking forward to Reverend Ray. Rayverened, if you will.

I'm gonna need Reverend Ray to pull a Joey Tribbiani and forget half of what he's supposed to do. Like Oliver says, "Rings?" and Ray's all, "Oh, crap." Otherwise I'm scared this will be boringly perfect, but Diggle and Lyla deserve perfect, precious babies that they are. I'm conflicted.

Ray didn't steal anything. He put in a bid and the board chose him because he a) has a track record of actually being a successful businessman and b) probably actually bothered to show up to work and c) knew what he was doing. I love Oliver to death, but he has no business running that company and even HE was smart enough to realize that after he lost his bid. He admitted as much. And maybe Felicity asked Diggle if it was okay for her to bring Ray as her +1 and he said yes? Not out of the realm of possibility. She'd have to RSVP and everything so until we know otherwise it probably wasn't a surprise and Diggle would've said something if it bothered him, and if it bothered him I think Felicity would've understood and left Reverend Ray at home. Plus, SA said that Oliver wants Felicity to be happy. If he thinks she's happy with Ray, I don't see why it would be an issue.

To be fair, if the show keeps up with real time like it tends to, they would've been dating for a month at least. And Diggle doesn't seem like the kind of guy to hold a big enough grudge against someone who hasn't done anything to him (and Oliver even said QC was in better hands with Ray - and he wasn't wrong) to the point where he'd tell a close friend she couldn't bring her boyfriend to his wedding.

I'd really love it if they do manage to do this somehow. MG said that Oliver finds out that Ray and Felicity are dating in 3x16, so maybe Ray and Oliver have some interactions in that ep where the Mr. Perfect angle can be seen a bit by Oliver, and then perhaps he does an MP thing or two before he mentions that he's a minister at Digg's wedding (if that's indeed what he does). Maybe that somehow plays into the name Oliver calls Ray (is it in this ep?) that MG said he loved so much. I hope it's a play off his name like RAYbound or RayboCop. I know, it's too much to ask. Just let me have it.

I would like it if his Gary Stu-ness was mentioned in the show as some kind of tongue-in-cheek thing where someone teased him mercilessly about being so "perfect," but the show would have to be self aware enough to realize they're writing him that way and be doing it on purpose, which I don't think they are, and it would also require someone other than Felicity to point this out, but no one else knows him, so... Anyway, I'd appreciate the Mr. Perfect angle if it was going to be played for laughs against him, but sadly, that won't happen, because I'm pretty sure he's supposed to actually BE perfect.

But if she didn't, who would marry Digg and Lyla (and probably deliver a baby at some point during the reception)?

I don't think she pulls it off unfortunately, although the dress itself is nice.

TABLE, GRANT ME STRENGTH

I think it'd be cruel if Oliver had been pining for her and she had repeatedly put him off, but Oliver's been the one repeatedly telling her how he feels and then pulling away, so I think Felicity bringing a date is fair, especially since it seems like she and Ray will actually be dating at that point. He's not just some random she brought to hurt Oliver's feelings.

He's probably doing both. Something will happen to the officiant and he'll step in and save the day. The only thing against this theory is that there's not an empty chair next to Felicity where he would've had a seat at some point.

I'm actually really curious about what kind of plot contrivance gets him there. Did the officiant have a well-timed heart attack? Did Ray lock him/her in a tower somewhere so he'd be able to save the day? Was he/she abducted by a goon?

I guess that "is there anything he can't do?" was not hyperbole.

OMG I didn't notice Ray there. He does seem to be officiating. Yikes.

That pic of Oliver and Laurel and Felicity is so hilarious to me. Oliver looks like he's feeling Laurel up and Laurel looks like she's about to snatch that bouquet. Felicity's like, "oooh, flowers!" And if Ray is there as Felcity's date (not sure why else he'd be there since he doesn't know Diggle,) why isn't he sitting next to her? ETA: Never mind. Seems he's...officiating? LOL Also, my God that pic of Digg, Lyla and baby Sara is precious.

Seems like most of the photoshop work was put into whitening his eyeballs to near glow-in-the-dark levels, yikes. I find him yum though, even if that poster or whatever it is makes me want to fall asleep.

Yeah. I think they could've avoided most comparisons by keeping Sara alive and having her be unwilling/unable to carry on being a vigilante in SC. It doesn't help that Laurel's reasoning for putting on the mask is shaky (is it because it makes the pain go away? Or because she wants to honor Sara? One's more noble than the other, but she's mentioned both so IDK). I don't mind the possibility of a Laurel/Felicity friendship at all. I like the idea of it theoretically speaking but like many things this season it's all too fast and not given its due. And it is very one-sided to Laurel's benefit thus far. Maybe if we'd seen more of them together prior to this season it would be better? I don't know. I didn't think Laurel was particularly dismissive of her the first time they met (seemed like a run-of-the-mill 'I don't know this girl' kind of scenario to me), especially given Oliver's past with women. But their interactions in S2 left a lot to be desired. And for me, I think her introduction as BC would've gone better if her attitude had somewhat matched her skill level. She's had a very delusional level of self-confidence regarding this whole thing, which I guess is somewhat needed in order to go out there and get your ass handed to you on a fairly regular basis, and I could kind of admire that about her if she admitted that maybe she was a bit out of her element and it stuck and made her seek out help to get better. The couple of times she's admitted that she might not know what she's doing have been to Felicity, who immediately talked her out of that (why, I don't know - seems like she'd be the type to say, "yes, you don't know what you're doing. But I admire your drive and let's see about getting you some help so you don't get yourself killed?"), and she's been very curt and cocky in her interactions with people who ARE experienced (like when she told Digg "that's not how this is going to work," and made that smartass comment about whether her form was off when Oliver was watching that video of her punching Vertigo 2.0). Again, that's the kind of attitude that can get you through adversity when everyone around you is telling you not to do something you believe in, but we're missing the other side of it, some vulnerability that we get to see that can make the audience relate to and root for her that are more than just one-offs that are solved by a quick pep talk. But we're never going to get that on this show, so it is what it is, I suppose.

Yeah, this might be my issue with him too, now that you've brought it up. I'm rooting for Oliver because he's constantly swimming upstream (too much at this point), but Ray's just breezing on through. He was even able to fly without incident on his first try. FLY.He doesn't need a 5-year plan like Oliver to atone for his sins or whatever, because I don't think that everyone needs a particularly dark journey in order to be a 'hero.' I actually liked that he was doing it to combat that feeling of helplessness he had because he watched his fiance die and was unable to do anything about it. But then they dumped that in order to fit in a Raylicity beat, and now his motivation is meh and he's just succeeding all over the place. And I'm not really in it for his struggle, so I guess that's a blessing as far as him being on Arrow is concerned, and that could be something that's explored over on the other show, but it seems like he'll be a hero by the time he leaves Starling City, so...what's left to struggle with?

I like BR, and I actually like Ray as a character, generally speaking. I'd like him better if he was just Felicity's quirky boss who went to her for help with his suit - it's the romantic business that's messing everything up for me. And it's not even a ship issue, it's just creepy behavior aside, I don't think this "relationship" or whatever brings out good things in either one of them, and it's just generally unpalatable to me because I'm having to read comics to see relationship developments between Oliver and Felicity, two people who have earned those developments over the course of two years, and I'm having to watch her actually get those things on screen with this dude who's only been around for a couple of months. If he'd been around from the start, I think I'd feel differently. So, remove that issue from the scenario and you've got an eccentric guy who seems to be goodhearted and wants to do good, and it could be interesting. He's good with banter, as long as they keep him on the helicopter keys side of things instead of the Queen Consolidated boardroom in The Calm side of things (BEE-TEE-DOUBLE U). I think BR does fine with what he's been given, and I think if they put him on a show where he could be developed more it could get better. He's not a complete turn off for me, I don't think. The problem for me is that I'm not really interested in learning anything more about him at this point because I find him a little skeevy and I don't know if I can ever get away from that. Factor in that I'm not really interested in Martin Stein without Ronnie Raymond (I liked Victor Garber's and Robbie Amell's scenes together), and I personally don't care about Sara's return (I'll be honest and say i was attached to her because of what her presence meant for Laurel's storyline - now that Laurel's BC and Sara can't be anymore, I don't really care if she comes back or not) and I don't find Captain Cold to be a particularly enjoyable villain, I won't be watching this show. Although I would tune in for crossovers, depending.

Either MG or SA (I can't remember who - I *think* it was SA) said that 3x17 is half Suicide Squad, half Arrow vs. Atom with Felicity stuck in the middle, because they're clashing on how to deal with a villain. If I had to take a guess, judging on how things have been going for Oliver thus far this season, I'd say Ray's "heroic" moment might come in that episode, because I'd be willing to bet that he'll come out on the "right" side of whatever that issue is.

KC was there (she posted a pic of EBR) with JB too, so it's probably a "new" team Arrow activity in present day.

I'm already not wanting to watch, so I'm nervously awaiting MG's next Tumblr spree in response to the new summary.

Yeah, Mama Smoak likes Ray, and she must know Felicity feels some kind of way about him if she feels the need to come to town to support her after he gets hurt (not going to side eye the fact that she didn't do this after Oliver "died" - even though Felicity might not have told her exactly what happened, she had to know her girl was down, but whatever). MS hasn't seen Felicity and Oliver together but for two seconds, so I don't think she's going to enlighten Felicity about her feelings for Oliver necessarily, unless she says something that makes Felicity realize she doesn't feel the same way about Ray. Honestly, I don't even care that much at this point. This show has beaten all the hope out of me. I really miss the Felicity that hacked into prison system networks and generally got shit done. I really hope she's pivotal to trying to catch whoever this is and doesn't spend the whole episode in some kind of bedside vigil.

I feel stupid for thinking that MS was coming back for something other than to keep Felicity company while she holds a bedside vigil for Ray - maybe she gets out of the hospital and does something useful for the team? Is that too much to hope for (yes, I know)? And I'm guessing Oliver's going to comfort Felicity by promising to catch the dastardly villain who dared mess with her man? Ugh. How does "public enemy" play into this?

The hell does Ra's want with Lance?