apinknightmare

I'm so glad they cut that. It would've mad Oliver look like a huge (HUGER) asshole for that "trick," and my anger would've been mighty. That said, the whispering? Gooooood. The I love you? Gooooood. The kiss? GOOOOOOOOOOOD

Yeah, if Malcolm wants him dead, why go to Team Arrow at all? He could just kill the guy, it's not like he needs their permission. What are they going to do, go after him for killing a dude they were trying to take down anyway? The only thing I can think of is that Malcolm's going to offer them something in exchange for their teamwork, and letting him kill Brick is his condition. Although what he could give them, I don't know. Maybe he promises something to do with Thea? Then, of course, there's the problem of why he'd go to them and offer them anything in exchange for letting him do something he could do on his own. Unless he's trying to trick them into owing him something down the line, or...something to that effect, I don't know. Which will just make me angrier, because what morons.

He definitely could. I just can't imagine that if it was some kind of ARGUS-sanctioned release that the bomb in his head wouldn't be set of lickety-split. Maybe it is by the end of the ep? And we don't know that Diggle sides with Laurel at all. I hope he doesn't. It could lead to an interesting rift between Diggle and Felicity/Roy and Laurel, but I'm just letting myself expect the worst. And the worst, to me, would be Diggle agreeing to that mess.

Well, Slade does get out somehow in 3x14.

Malcolm told Oliver that no prison could hold him, SO WHY BOTHER?!

Same. Ultimately, if I were interested in Laurel at all, I'd want her to earn her Canary-ness in a linear, sensible way that was explained in the story and not just a culmination of her finally "getting her due" or whatever for being a good sport or team player. But the thing is, I don't care about Laurel, so I'm not interested in watching her train or slowly earning the title, or watching her get her ass kicked up and down the street while taking her knocks. I don't want to watch another one of her ridiculous "crucibles" that doesn't actually take her down a heroic path, I don't want to watch her hit rock bottom again, I'm tired of watching her cry and be angry. So, if we can fast forward that stuff and she can just fight or whatever? That would be my preferred way of dealing with it, since her story isn't one I'm ever going to be invested in. It also doesn't lessen anything that Oliver or Sara went through (to me) in any way, because I'll always see them both as superior to her. I'm much more distressed by the fact that people I'm supposed to be rooting for would ever even consider trusting the man who was a) responsible for the murder of 500+ people, b) responsible for the murder of his own son, c) responsible for the murder of their friend/sister/teammate Sara, d) drugging their friend/ex-girlfriend/Oliver's sister into MURDERING PEOPLE (and that's only ONE thing we know that he's drugged her into doing, who knows if there are more), and e) MANIPULATED THEIR LEADER/PARTNER/FRIEND INTO GOING OFF TO FIGHT RA'S AL GHUL SO MALCOLM COULD GET OUT OF HIS BLOOD DEBT. There isn't a level of desperation large enough for me to ever believe that any of them would even consider it. If they do agree, I really hope Felicity takes off, because what a bunch of f-ing dumbasses. God.

Personally, I wasn't equating badness to the amount of screen time Laurel gets. When they say she's front and center, I expect that she is front and center, and I'm glad they're being up front about it now because I like to know what I'm getting into. I just don't think it'll be as bad (and by "bad" I mean ridiculous/boring/nonsensical) as the scenarios I've worked up in my head. This show rarely is as bad as I think it'll be, because I prepare myself for the worst and usually end up being at least somewhat entertained. Obviously, or else I wouldn't be watching it anymore.

Ah, okay. I didn't know he was doing that - I thought he wrote on Tumblr that he wasn't able to give out scripts (or something like that). Lucky people!

Same. I'd rather know what I'm getting into. And I suspect it won't be as bad as I'm thinking it will be, haha.

Right, but like I wrote, I'm pretty sure the script she won was lost in the mail (or something happened with the shipping) and he sent her the script to 3x01 as a replacement. I'm like, 99% sure I'm not making up that story - I remember seeing her tweeting him thanks. There was a big to-do when she posted that the kiss was described as a "true love" kiss, and she wound up posting a pic of it with a bunch of other stuff blacked out because people on Tumblr were calling her a liar. Assuming the same person posted this screenshot, of course.

I haven't accepted them in an, "okay, this makes sense" kind of way. But it's not going to make me stop watching the show, and there's nothing I can do to change whatever they're doing, so instead of being angry or annoyed about it, I'm choosing to accept it because I had been expecting things to unfold in this fashion for a while. Yeah, she's not going to be angry with Thea. I guess maybe she's going to commandeer Sara's "no woman should suffer at the hands of men" philosophy and either go after Malcolm (and absolve Thea) or work with Thea to get Malcolm. As for "Canaries," could White Canary be showing up too?

No, and I don't necessarily expect it, but this is just blatantly stupid.

I think she won one of the scripts that SA auctioned off on eBay for charity, and there was an issue with the shipping (I think it might've somehow gotten lost on its way to her), so Stephen sent her the script for 3x01 as a replacement. Although I thought she'd said several times that the material wasn't hers to release since it's property of Warner Brothers, so she wasn't going to do it. Hopefully this doesn't discourage SA from auctioning off other scripts in the future.

Honestly, the most disheartening thing I've read about the upcoming episodes is the idea that any of these people even considers for one second teaming up with Malcolm Merlyn. Roy and Diggle (I'm holding out hope that Diggle says no, but I'm pretty sure he's going to agree to it) know he played a role in Oliver's death, they know he's been DRUGGING THEA, they know he can't be trusted. Laurel might not know that he's responsible for Sara's death, but she definitely knows that he was responsible for the earthquake that killed 500+ people including Tommy. It's a comic show, so I expect a fantastical element to it, and I don't always expect things to make perfect sense or for people to realistically come into their skills (I've accepted Laurel's Insta Canary status), but for fuck's sake, PLEASE HAVE ONE SHRED OF COMMON SENSE. Even if they were that desperate, even if Brick and his dudes were bringing the city to its knees, why on earth would they ever, EVER trust him to do follow through or keep his word? Stuff like that just drives me batshit insane.

They all show up five minutes after she rescues her own damn self. I know it's going to be much more benign than whatever scenario I've worked up in my mind, just preparing myself since I think her not being good is going to be a short-lived situation.

How? If she uses it to escape some situation? I still don't think that's something she should be able to do.I won't judge until I see it. Maybe she barely hangs on or...something.

I really hope this helicopter stunt doesn't involve Laurel. I knew we'd have to deal with unbelievable/unrealistic levels of Insta-proficiency, but come on. Please.

I don't think there's any outright confirmation, but Stephen did film for episode 12 IIRC, towards the end of shooting (I could be wrong about this - it was a while ago, and my memory ain't what it used to be). I'd actually rather she said something that dented the ship to someone other than Oliver while not knowing he was alive, but that wouldn't be as dramatic. Well, unless maybe he is around and overhears it. But then he'd know she thinks he's dead, so...IDK.

I wonder if they're going to give Felicity an "Oliver" moment, where something happens and her mom gets hurt and she feels like it's all her fault, and she and Oliver can switch roles, with her being the emotionally devastated one and him trying to bring her back. It'd be a good moment of character growth for him. This, of course, is assuming that Ray's Smoak (tear) Detector wasn't blaring to the point of him going to her to console her and offer his patented platitude/sensitive guy routine.

Assuming that he returns to town at the end of 3x12 and actually alerts anyone to the fact that he is still alive (and it's not just a shot of him, I don't know, walking into the foundry or something where we know he's back but they don't yet), I think the likelihood is high that scene is with Felicity. If he didn't go to the team first, he'd go to her (normally I'd say Thea, but I think he'd stay away from her until he found out what she'd been told about his absence). Whatever she says to him is probably just an emotional reaction to finding out he's alive after going through the pain of losing him. I can see her wanting to/trying to distance herself from possibly having to feel that again.

He did, R.I.P.

I wouldn't put it past him to tell everyone it'll be on the S3 DVD or something. It's being released....just not for another 8 months (insert maniacal laughter).

Well, she's not gone for long considering she's back in 3x12 trying to convince at least Laurel and Roy to not be dumb shits and accept help from Merlyn. Hopefully it's just a knee-jerk reaction to finding out Oliver's dead and she comes right back, like...two scenes later.

Then he found out Merlyn drugged his sister to murder Sara and set him up to fight Ra's which led to him getting run through and kicked off a cliff. Oliver's probably not such a big fan.

Yeah, I was thinking Oliver would side with Felicity.