apinknightmare

Unfortunately, probably none that we want to know, haha.

Thea already knew that Robert knew she wasn't his and didn't care - Oliver told her that last season. I suppose it might be comforting to hear it directly from him, but still..retread. Ugh. And I'd have to call shenanigans on Oliver not being curious enough to know what his father wanted to say to his sister, so yeah, that probably will happen. I wish this season would just end already.

I thought there was a good chance of Thea going evil before, but now I don't really see it. She's purposely pushing away from Malcolm and she's angry at him for turning her into a killer. She's upset about what she did to Sara and even though she had a reason and an opportunity to kill Slade, she didn't. Granted, that could be a set up for some kind of "shocking" twist and I wouldn't put anything past MG, but I think Slade was just screwing with Oliver with his mention of Thea and also with Felicity. Although I do think Oliver is definitely going to lose Felicity to Ray for a bit so-to-speak, as much as he can "lose" her when he had a hand in pushing her away. I'm beginning to think though that whatever reason Felicity/Mama Smoak are in the hospital is probably not anything major. If it's anything like the Green Arrow "Public Enemy" storyline, maybe MS and Felicity are in the hospital for some kind of small thing when a doctor starts killing patients and Felicity does something to try to help? Maybe she asks MS to hide? That could be one of the reasons why she doesn't have any scenes with anyone else.

To disguise herself from the League or the SCPD maybe? Or it could be that she was in the makeup trailer screwing around with wigs and that hairstyle has absolutely nothing to do with anything that's happening on the show.

Since that general is the leader of the Creature Commandos, I'm interested in seeing what they're going to do with him. I can't imagine they're going to have him heading a group of soldiers that include a vampire, a werewolf, Frankenstein's monster and such although with this show at this point...who knows. Maybe they'll just have an abnormally hairy dude, someone with long incisors, and someone with a misshapen face or something and all of them have tongue-in-cheek nicknames?

If there is an Atom spin-off, I wish they would move Felicity over there. It would kill half of the reasons I watch Arrow in one fell swoop, and then I could probably drop it. I could just catch up on what Oliver and Diggle were up to via recaps for as long as I still cared to know. Sadly though, I don't think there's a chance of them fully moving Felicity over to an Atom show if one ever exists. Regardless of what demo the CW really cares about, regardless of which ultimate endgame romance they have in mind for Oliver, Felicity herself and Oliver and Felicity's relationship especially garner so much free buzz for the show that every money man from the bottom of the chain to the top would have to lose their mind to let her go from Arrow.

He might've meant Ray, but I'm pretty sure he said it in a response to a question about Roy.

Yeah, Robbie talks about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr01hKdIsP8#t=24

Do they tell any original stories at all, or...

I think she was being facetious about being "contractually obligated" because Felicity's (and Diggle's) appearance in the flashbacks were of the fan service variety, since it's highly unlikely that Oliver would nearly run into the two people he was going to work so closely with in the future.

This is especially stupid because if the only reason he lost is because he hesitated, what does he need Malcolm for? The whole point of Oliver signing on with him was so he could teach him to beat Ra's. If he only lost because he hesitated, then he already knows how to beat Ra's, he just needs to make himself kill again. But The Return showed us that he's not willing to kill again, and neither is Thea. So what's the point? But yeah, I saw what you saw: Oliver getting his ass beat.

Indeed. I've never seen hair have SUCH an effect on whether or not someone looks like a douchebag. SA definitely needs the shorter hair and stubble.

I feel like whatever Ra's offers Oliver, Oliver has to say no to it. We're getting far enough in the season now where Ra's has to start unleashing the fury. MG said Oliver was going to wish for the kind of trouble Slade gave him, so the bad stuff has to start soon. What I don't quite understand is what exactly is offered for what? Oliver's gone so far to save Thea, I can't imagine what the line is. Is it joining the League? Something more than that? I think Oliver and Diggle must flat-out escape. Maybe Maseo helps them?

99.999% sure that's fake.

My guess would be that Malcolm threatens to expose Thea as Sara's killer to Ra's or at least Oliver thinks that he might. That's probably where the "because of his love for Thea" comes in with regards to going to NP for Malcolm. I'm guessing that Ra's will call off his vendetta against Oliver and Malcolm (and maybe Thea, if he finds out) if Oliver gives him something in return. His loyalty, a year of his life, who knows. And then Oliver's gonna have to turn him down.

Hey, he breaks free at some point!

I'm glad Diggle finally ventured out of either a)the lair or b) a vehicle. And damn, Malcolm is chained over hot coals. ROAST HIM. And I'm with you - if Oliver puts his or anyone else's life in danger for that POS, I will riot. Also, Ray continues to look stupid in that suit. Although hello to his shaggy workman look, mama likes.

I think she was just moving the wig out of her face and sliding her hand down. There were a few in another set that show her pushing the hair out of her eyes.

The Felicity thing was totally unnecessary, but I liked it. It seems like I'm in the minority about not thinking that it's a retcon of sorts. Why would Oliver remember her? It's not like he got up close and personal with her or even really saw her face. Yeah, the babble might have clued him in when he first "met" her, but who's to say he'd even remember what happened two+ years after the fact? It was five seconds in time right after he found out his dad left himself and Thea messages from beyond and thought he might get caught. He did god knows what for Waller after that, and then joined the Russian mafia. He was beyond preoccupied. Like...a five second blip where he overheard something that made him smile for a nanosecond? It doesn't change a thing for me. I don't think he remembers that and is somehow being untruthful for not telling her or that it means that he specifically went to her with his laptop because of it. She didn't even do anything in the clip that would lead him to believe she knew anything at all about computers.

Those were BTS pics of Emily filming Flash 1x18. It's airing in the middle of April.

Probably a QC prototype or something.

One thing that struck me, thinking back on Laurel hiding Sara's death from Quentin. Why did they give him heart trouble at all? We'd been shown previously that he fell into the bottle after Sara died the first time and was an absolutely mean drunk and his life went to shit. They reiterated that last night. If they weren't going to have him keel over from a coronary right when she told him, why didn't they just have her be scared that he was going to relapse? She herself is an addict and she's been through it - hell, we even got a brief moment of her considering drinking in Sara IIRC. Why didn't they just have her be afraid that he'd fall back in that pit and not be able to get out like he did the last time? i still wouldn't have thought it was okay for her to keep it from him, but...that seems like a much better reason than being worried he was going to have a heart attack.

It's weird that this ep isn't on iTunes yet - I bought a season pass over the hiatus (terrible decision) and usually they're up by the time I wake up the next morning.

It doesn't have to be a double date for them to be dating. I just want everyone to be prepared, haha.

Yeah, if it means they skip over another summer of relationship progress that I want to see, I'd rather they not get together at the end of the season. I liked the idea someone had (sorry I can't remember who it was) that Felicity leaves to Central City with Ray at the end of the season (to expand PI?) and then comes back at the beginning of S4. Then again, after everything that's happened, gah. I really would like to end the season with some kind of hopeful resolution on their part. It'd be okay if they were willing to leave things on an actual cliffhanger and picked up where they left off in October. Fat chance though, I know.