apinknightmare

If Oliver does come back different, I don't think it'll last more than an ep, maybe two. it doesn't make much sense for them to show us Oliver losing his humanity in the past while he loses it (again) in the present. We've already seen that.

Yeah, that is pessimistic. I think if they're retconning anything, it's O/L as love interests. They've tied Felicity to Oliver's humanity - Oliver's said that outright. No way is Laurel taking that spot.

I'm fanwanking the comms thing too, because IIRC, he doesn't always have to tap his chest to communicate, and it would just make sense for his end to always be open since he could get seriously injured or need help and not able to do that. Also, he and Felicity did just have that big emotional scene, but they've never once let that kiss or the fallout get in the way of working together for the city. So, since he suited up to meet Barry, maybe he did let her know he was going out to patrol the city (which is probably what he did after he left) and she watched out for him, or maybe she has some kind of alert to let her know when the suit leaves the lair, and she listened in to make sure he didn't need help or get hurt and got intrigued when she heard who he was talking to. I don't blame her-she thought Barry was in a coma. Honestly I'm willing to believe anything that doesn't involve her following him somewhere.

I think the reason Quentin really doesn't want to know for sure is so he has plausible deniability. He called off the task force, but he could still be considered an accessory to vigilantism if he *knew* and didn't turn Oliver in. I wouldn't mind seeing Oliver revert back to his S1-ish self as long as it's only for one episode as an after-effect from the Pit or however he comes back. But you're right, it wouldn't make sense at all with the flashbacks.

Yeah, I don't get this part either. So, Laurel doesn't want to tell Quentin because she's worried about his heart, but she has no issues with suiting up to fight crime (assuming that's what she does as BC, which...why wouldn't it be), even though he has already vehemently asked her NOT to do that because her first go resulted in her being hospitalized. So, she thinks telling him Sara's dead will kill him, but her going out and risking her life is a-okay? Her whole BC storyline is so stupid, and it really didn't have to be.

Suzanne Gomez tweeted about KC and PB's scenes in the second ep of the BC arc, so I think he finds out in 3x11. Or 3x12 - whichever the second ep of the trilogy is. He's got to find out soon.

There's more than one Lazarus Pit - they're not just located in Nanda Parbat. And since "Canaries" is when Count Vertigo reappears, I'm assuming that if we see any kind of hallucination regarding Laurel, it'll be of her worst fear variety (like Oliver's in The Calm), and if it involves Sara, it probably won't involve her saying nice things to her. Could be wrong about that though. I don't really think that her suiting up to clean up the city is disrespectful to Quentin - he's not able to keep all the criminals off the streets - if he was there would be no need for the Arrow. Her putting on a suit to fight crime doesn't really line up with what they're trying to sell us regarding her motivations, but that would fit in perfectly with her questionable narrative since no one seems to be able to figure out if she's training because she wants to become a vigilante or if she really gives two shits about finding Sara's killer. And if it does have to do with Sara's killer, who exactly does she go out to fight? Does she find out it's Thea and try to take her on? LOL.

"Awhile" is probably a relative term to him - it couldn't have been that long because we got pictures of him dressed as Arrow shooting a scene with CH only a week or two before he said that.

Yeah, I could not care less about Laurel, but the very last thing I want to watch is her getting beat up. Or losing constantly. At this point with her it's like...jesus, that's enough. I can't imagine how people who are actually fans of her will react to her not being able to hold her own. Unless they're overselling that to ease the minds of the fans who aren't looking forward to her, and she winds up being better than they're letting on.

Well, that's kind of my point. You put Black Canary in the description, people who tune in for that are going to expect to see a competant Black Canary, not someone who gets their ass kicked. If she's not taking up the moniker in the show, then it shouldn't be mentioned in the description. They're just setting people up for disappointment. Could MG maybe be overselling her ineptitude?

To what, watch her get her ass kicked? They shouldn't have mentioned anything about Black Canary until she was somewhat competent at fighting. Makes no sense.

Yeah, I don't think her putting on that suit is going to have anything to do with Sara. It's either going to be to fool Quentin or because she thinks she can help with the city since Oliver's gone. That's why killing Sara off to fuel her journey was so stupid - everything she's done she could've still done if Sara was alive. They should've just had her lose her faith in the justice system and start taking criminals on herself. But this isn't the bitterness thread, so I'll stop right there, haha. I'm guessing 3x15 is going to wind up being another flashback-heavy episode, which...no thanks. Especially if it's not even Oliver's. I'll wait and see before I get too deflated about it though.

I think Laurel suiting up so soon lends to her not being very good and having to find another way to be a hero, or however MG put it. And I think the NP episode might have to do with flashbacks of how Malcolm joined the League?

I posted some pics of Emily I found on Tumblr in the Behind the Mask thread - figured this discussion would be best here. Anyone know why people seem to think she cut her hair? I first saw speculation about it when she posted a selfie on Instagram of herself in a hat, but she's since posted pics where you can see her hair is still long. Are there other pics somewhere where it looks short? Because the ones in the BtM thread just look to me like she's got it tied back in a bun or something with the longer pieces in the front hanging out.

Emily on NYE

Yeah, I think the excitement is for seeing the "true" Canary or whatever, and I have seen some bloggers and commenters excited that she finally has something to do. I wonder how the fans will react to her being the worst fighter "of the people who fight" or however MG phrased it. It seems like they're setting her up just a bit. I guess we'll see in a few weeks.

I don't think they care about women enough to keep one around for any reason. But if they'd keep anyone, it'd probably be her.

Ah, I missed the "her." Never mind! :) He engineered the circumstances so that Oliver would fight Ra's to save Thea so it would benefit HIM. He set his daughter up to save his own ass. That's why I think they'd believe him, because his plan failed - he has absolutely no reason to lie to them, because Oliver's loss is also his.

Why would he do that? It's not like they don't all know he went to duel Ra's, and he brings Felicity the sword.

Regardless of who tells them, they're not going to have a body. So I guess I've just resigned myself to not caring, haha.

But they really don't have any reason to believe Malcolm would be in cahoots with Ra's. They know Sara was in town tracking him on behalf of the League, they know Nyssa and the rest of the League is after him. They know Malcolm was shitty enough to use his own daughter as bait to manipulate Oliver into fighting Ra's to erase both of their debts...maybe they don't believe him at first, but they know Oliver went off to fight one of the deadliest guys in the world and he hasn't come back and someone brought them a sword with his blood all over it. He may have something else too, who knows. I won't be upset if they do buy it.

I wonder if they'll accept it because they know that Oliver was also doing Merlyn a favor because his debt with Ra's would be cleared if Oliver killed him. So, if that's part of it, then I would understand them believing him, since, in their eyes, he wouldn't have any reason to lie about that. Oliver winning would've benefited him - Oliver dying presents a challenge.

Yeah, I hope there's some more proof or an explanation of what happened to his body, but I don't think it'll bother me tremendously if there isn't.

Yeah, I think that's what he meant too. So, if there isn't a time jump within the episode, then...I really am afraid Laurel putting on that suit is initially going to have something to do with Quentin. I'm guessing he might find out soon though (HE BETTER FIND OUT SOON), based on Suzanne Gomez's tweets about the second part of the "arc."

Whenever we get actual video of Laurel in her costume, someone needs to make a gif of it with all the buckles next to a gif of Caitlin saying, "By the time (s)he gets there, it'll be over," from the Arrow part of the crossover, haha.