apinknightmare

To be fair, he said that before the season even started. There's plenty in this season's narrative for us to know how Oliver feels, and *I* think there's enough for us to know how Felicity feels and why she's not being forthcoming about it.

But the killer (or someone standing with the killer) actually said her name. So the only way the killer didn't know it was Sara is if they were wearing earplugs while the other person spoke (if there were two people on that roof) or were under some kind of mind control.

Right, but how is she to know that? He didn't take it back, but he still hasn't done anything with it. He still hasn't said it. He's given her maybes and backwards confessions, nothing absolute. We know he loves her-we were privy to his conversation with Diggle. But to her, he's given every indication that he's not ready to commit. Why is she expected to put herself out there when he won't? She fights for this man in every other aspect of their life together because she knows he has his insecurities. Is she not allowed to have hers? Is she not allowed to guard her heart when she has every reason to believe he'll break it? Should we not expect him to fight for her in the one area she seems to be tentative and unsure about?

We don't know what Felicity's feelings are, because she hasn't ever told Oliver what they are. And why would she? So far, he's: given her a fake "i love you" to trick Slade; flirted with her alllll summer and backed off immediately after he got the balls to ask her out; told her "maybe" he was wrong about being able to be with someone he could really care about; told her he was scared of what would happen if he allowed himself to be Oliver Queen; told her "maybe" at some point it could happen, but definitely not now; told her he loved her by refusing to tell her he didn't love her. He hasn't even given her a clear indication of his feelings. Why on earth would she lay her heart on the line to him at this point? Everything about Oliver screams WARNING SIGN!!! What exactly is she supposed to fight for? Oliver never once gave her any indication of what exactly he was wanting from her - he's been wishy-washy from the start. She's right to guard her heart - it isn't safe for him to have it right now. They are writing her 100% to character as far as I'm concerned - moving on is exactly what I would expect from the Felicity I've grown to love. We know she has abandonment issues - she told Oliver as much last season. To me, I think it's powerful stuff that this woman can trust Oliver with her life, but not her heart. If that's writing her out of character, then I hope they keep doing it. Felicity pursuing him after he's given her every single indication that he's not serious about her is absolutely pathetic.

Whoever killed her knew it was her. Before he or she shot the arrow, they said, "Hello, Sara."

Why wouldn't Felicity date someone who is similar to Oliver? She loves him, why wouldn't she be attracted to someone like him? This show has trouble juggling the characters and storylines it has outside of Felicity - no way are we ever going to get to see her dating randos from the grocery store or some nobody nice guy she meets at yoga. There are gripes to be had with that for sure, but story time is precious, so we need a game changer. Ray? He's a game changer. Not for Felicity necessarily, but for Oliver, most definitely. He needs someone to come in and get him off his ass - he's perfectly comfortable dangling those maybes in front of Felicity, because she's always been around. Someone like Ray who comes in and takes charge and appreciates her brains and gets her out? That's going to get him thinking, and that's the point. We have absolutely no idea how the "date" comes about. We have absolutely no idea how it turns out. It's unfair at this point to compare this situation to Laurel/Tommy/Oliver. Felicity hasn't even had the chance to go back and forth yet - she hasn't even gone out on a date with Ray yet, like...just give it half a second, damn. I mean, I get not liking Ray, because he does have creepy tendencies, but let's maybe hold off on judging the girl until we have a better feel for where this is going. Yes, it could be going in the cliche love triangle direction, but maybe it's not?

Why, though? Oliver told her it wasn't going to happen; he's the one who's the problem here. Felicity can love him and hope for things to be different as much as she wants, if he's unwilling or unable to be in a relationship with her, why shouldn't she try to move on and be happy? Those actions don't reflect on her feelings for Oliver, because he told her it couldn't happen. She loves him, but he made himself unavailable to her. We know it won't be forever, but she doesn't know that. In fact, his relationship history is a mess. At this point, what's to stop her from thinking she's just another blip on his radar? He fooled her into believing he loved her once, now he's backing off again. For all she knows, he'll move on to someone else. It's easy for us to look at it and say that she doesn't love him, because we know the reason why Ray's around. What does Felicity know? That Oliver took her out on a date and ran the second it got difficult. The he doesn't care enough about her to get over it and be with her. So, she can either mope about it, or she can get back in the business of having a life and try to see if there's someone who can give her the things that Oliver can't and/or won't.

The only reason I like the Thea as the brainwashed murderer of Sara is because I think it would add a legitimately interesting dynamic to Laurel's crusade because, what? Oliver's going to sit back and let her take revenge on his sister? It really would put the two of them at odds for actual good reason. I don't think the show's going there though.

She's not even settling for anyone though. She's dating, she's seeing what her options are. She spent time with Barry, now apparently she's going to be spending time with Ray. Maybe it will end badly, but what's sitting around and waiting for Oliver going to do for her? Absolutely nothing. If she's at a point where she wants to see what life has to offer her, that might include a relationship. It definitely included a relationship when Oliver was an option, now...who knows? She's just living her life and seeing what's out there, and I have no issue with that whatsoever.

She's not waiting for Oliver to do anything. She's going out and living her life like she said she would. She's spending time with people whose company she enjoys and trying to move on from a guy who is too selfish to let her go and not strong enough to fight for her. Why should she always be the one fighting? She's always convincing him not to give up. She's always convincing him that he's a better person than he thinks he is. She is always fighting for him, and I'm glad she's finally had enough. That she wasn't going to just accept what he was willing to give her, and wants better for herself, that she wants someone who wants to live and love and do all the things Oliver isn't ready for yet. He's got to decide to do those things on his own - no amount of fighting or trying to convince him otherwise is going to make him ready to commit to her. He's got to deal with that himself.

I don't think it's meek acceptance at all. Oliver gets to have a choice because he's one half of the relationship. It'd be different if he was making a decision FOR her that only affected her, but he's not. He doesn't feel like he can commit, so he told her he can't. He's well within his rights to feel that way. I personally think she is strong by accepting it and moving on. She wants him, but he doesn't want her enough to fight for their relationship (yet). She wants him, but she doesn't NEED him. She wants a relationship, so she's going to go out and find one with someone who wants her back, who can be there for her in ways that Oliver won't or can't at this point. That's what makes her strong, not fighting to change Oliver's mind when he says he can't be with her. That, to me, is pathetic.

So, Laurel suits up in 3x10 - I'm assuming (HOPING) she's going to be sure of who Sara's killer is at this point, so she's going to go out to murder them or whatever. I really do think this "emotional" scene between her and Diggle is going to be Diggle trying to talk her out of the revenge route - he has experience with that as far as Deadshot goes. It would also work with those anvil-y parallels this show loves to do, as far as being "left behind" when someone you love is murdered, and how difficult it is to deal with that. As for Felicity and Ray - Felicity mentioned that she was terminally single during her fight with her mother, so I think we're to believe that she hasn't had very many long-term relationships. And I guess I'm in the minority - I don't have a problem with her dating someone if she's in love with Oliver - he's taken himself out of the equation. She told him in 3x02 that she wanted more out of life. If she wants to share that life with someone, I don't have a problem with her finding someone who is available to her. I just want it to make sense for the story (and would prefer if her chosen guy was, you know, not creepy). I guess it all depends on a) why Oliver's leaving, and what this great moment between him and Felicity is. I'll wait it out to see what happens before I get worked up.

His most emotional scene is going to be a parallel between his wanting revenge for Andy's death and Laurel wanting revenge for Sara's. Hopefully he tells Laurel to stop being such a failure at it.

I think it will be in person - this might be the one AK was present for when he tweeted that EBR and SA were "acting their butts off." If it was a goodbye over comms, I don't think they'd film it together at the same time.

That's the one part I'm failing to put together. If Oliver is missing, be it either because they think he's dead or because they don't know where he is, I can't think of a conceivable reason for Felicity to have moved on romantically with Ray, 6-7 week time jump or not. So maybe she decides she's not ready after their "date" or the brakes get put on somehow, until after Oliver's back? I'm having a really tough time figuring out the relationship timelines here. Even with Ray and Felicity going on a date/possibly kissing in the next ep, with the crossover in 3x08, and then this big Olicity scene in 3x09 (which has to be something romantic), I just can't figure out how she could move on to Ray if she truly loves Oliver and thinks he's either dead or missing, even if it's just a rebound type situation. And I don't mean that in the judgmental, anti-ship, she needs to put her life on hold for Oliver kind of way, I just mean that with the story they've told so far, I just can't believe Felicity would be with Ray at that point, if she had feelings for Oliver and he's like...gone. Was there a spoiler that she and Ray get closer in the eps where Oliver's missing, or is that just speculation? I can't remember.

^Hey, they're called "smart wearables!" ;) I wish I had never had the idea because now I want it to be a tech necklace so badly and I don't want to be disappointed.

I thought Oliver was telling him he didn't want him in the field, not that he should leave the team. But he was definitely telling Diggle to leave the team, since in the second episode Diggle told Oliver that he was back until they find Sara's killer. If Sara hadn't died, I think Diggle would've been off the team for good.

I really like this story too. It's one of my favorites! My only gripe is that I don't understand why some of the chapters are posted as side-stories, especially since they're relevant to the plot of the main story, and are actually required reading if you want to understand what's going on in the main story.

I was just trying to figure out a way for him to give her the necklace that wouldn't be creepy. Although that WOULD be creepy, it'd be creepy in a different kind of way, and I figured since the EPs said we'd have a clue of what Ray was up to at the end of the ep, maybe that could play into it, although...I'm not really sure how that would work. And he'd have to give it to her specifically to get information at whatever dinner they're going to. It'd be a great twist though, so I don't have much hope, haha. They tend to do a lot of the relationships on this show half-assed, so I'm not sure if we'd be able to tell if it was on purpose or not!

Maybe that necklace Ray gives Felicity is one of those smart wearables he makes and they're testing it out by getting super close and...yeah, I'm gonna get off this crazy train (also because I just remembered she's not wearing the necklace in the pics where they go in for the kiss). WHAT IF THE NECKLACE IS A SMART WEARABLE AND FELICITY DOESN'T KNOW AND SHE GOES DOWN INTO THE FOUNDRY WITH IT ON... (^ sorry for the all caps, I got myself all excited)

Sadly I think the "greatest Olicity scene ever" is going to be them saying goodbye to each other. They're going to lay it all out on the line because they think it's the last chance they'll have to do it, I'll bet.

I think it depends on how it's presented. Since Oliver buying Felicity that dress wasn't shown, we can't really be sure how it went down. I can imagine Felicity telling him that she didn't really have anything appropriate on such short notice, and Oliver being all shoulder shruggingly nonchalant about it, telling her he'll buy her something. It's in a different context for me because I don't think there were feelings at play, and I fully believe Oliver provided both Diggle and Felicity with anything they would've needed to complete a mission for him and his crusade back when he was financially able to. I'm 100% sure Felicity picked out that dress and Oliver just paid for it. With Ray...did he just have the dress or surprise her with something she didn't pick out herself? It looks like he did, but we'll see. To me? A little creepy. Did he have to give/loan her a necklace? That's got some romantic overtones so...again, we'll see how it plays out. The promo pics have the distinct feeling that Ray's wooing Felicity, although it could play out differently on screen. There's no doubt in my mind that Oliver was only providing Felicity with a dress for an event that he absolutely needed her to attend, no hidden agenda whatsoever.

Personally, I wasn't particularly attached to Sara (although I did like her and her origin story), although I was attached to what her presence meant, which was the hope that I wouldn't have to watch Laurel fail her way into becoming a vigilante/hero/whatever.

If Oliver and Felicity had an "I remember everything" moment? I don't think my heart could take it.The "it was red" was close, but that dance...yeah. I would be done (in the good way).

At first I thought he said "you should've bought me a bed," but he does actually say "I let you buy me a bed." They show the bed in the long shot of Felicity at her computers at the beginning of the show. It is an issue that sometimes the dialog is difficult to understand, and it's also an issue that they overlook small things like the fact that Oliver HAD a bed down there in season 2. But I guess I can handwave that a mirakudude jumped on it until the springs broke or...something.