fantique

Oh I love them! Especially everything about settings in Dorne. I was so happy when I heard they chose Sevilla for Dorne. I also think that having all these featurettes and BTS stuff helps expand the world of GOT without it taking up screen time. It was mart of them to have it all out by the beginning of the season because now the Unsullied get more of that background info that book readers get to take in and would take to long to set up in the show. It also builds up quite the hype. I think that with all the dynamics shifts happening at this point in the story, they are trying really hard to make sure the viewers understand the stakes and get to the action as fast as possible. Character set ups can be fun but explaining the entire story of Dorne, its culture and their misgivings would be awkward but with all these extra bits, the Unsullied already are in the zone. They probably got inspired by how awkward the Dornish plot intro was in the book. Answer to John Potts

Hiya peeps, finally gave up and came over to the dark side, I am now a Bookwalker! I actually like her dead eye stare thing because so far, AFAIR, she only ever uses it when she is retreating inside of herself and is trying to appear strong and impassive. It's not as if it's happening in scenes where she is meant to display outward emotions. I also think that Stannis comes off better in the show for me for two reasons. 1) the show makes it clear that he is following Mel/R'hllor 's guidance because it will give him what he wants (Renly/Stannnis confrontation where Renly very much implies his conversion wasn't for religious reasons). 2) He seems far less whiny and up his own arse about why people don't follow him. He also has less irritating reactions with people trying to help him (although I give him props for listening in the end). When would he have met her before she left for KL? This. I think people often forget about the fact that these are medieval times. Unless Robert carried his crown, sigil and war hammer, most people wouldn't even know who he is. There is no mass circulation of portraits. Even if bannermen went to Winterfell often (which has never seemed to be much the case), they probably focused in Ned and Robb. To further add weight to this evidence, Yohn Royce in episode 8 has to be told from Sansa about when he came to Winterfell to accompany his son to the Watch to really believe Sansa as she gave him details. If one time was enough for visitors to remember Sansa, wouldn't he have gone "Of course, I recognise you. You look like your mother!" as soon as she said she was Sansa Stark? To us it's obvious when a character is an imposter, but for in-universe people, there is often nothing much to point them in that direction. The whole FArya thing is proof that people don't necessarily know their countrymen's family intimately. First, there was doubt that Jeyne was Arya simply because Arya is believed to be dead at that point. Also, quite a few of the Northern Lords knew Ned personally. Some of them rode to battle during RR with him, yet no one pointed out the fact that the only Stark child rumoured to look exactly like Ned (and that is gossip that would make its way around) looks absolutely nothing like Ned outside of being dark haired? And with the famous Stark eyes not present? Even then, they don't outright say: "that can't be Ned's daughter" because Theon said she is. IDing people then was hard and being 100% sure of someone of someone's identity is extremely rare unless they are close family members or interact daily. That was just about not killing a drunk knight and the Hound backed her up. It was also something she blurted out and almost got beaten for. Not the same level as convincing the North to still rally to the cause of a girl claiming to be a Stark and the Boltons to step aside. I would call BS on that unless it's a long, arduous, season long process with a 50% victory outcome. Littlefinger is a non-starter when it comes to the North. Not only is he slimy and was present when Ned died, without trying to help him, but his brand of power play is not how the North rolls. The Boltons are more in his lane and look at the lack of success they are having in Dance. That made me laugh. Although, in the show, he is in quite the glass house as he had Arya Stark as his BFF for who knows how long and never connected the dots. I'm the same way. I only read the books this past christmas and the first thing I checked for in them was to see of my theory of R+L=J was hinted at. That first episode was basically telling us the status quo is not what it seems. In the same episode we discover there was a war that caused a regime change and that Ned, his sister and Robert were at the centre of it, we find out the current queen is having an affair that warrants killing a child to keep secret. It drew me the following conclusions; 1) Robert's kids aren't his. 2) there is a precedent for people having secret children and royal bastards can be uncovered. The rest of the season pretty much helps with that theme. Also after witnessing Robert as a husband, the idea that his fiancée was "kidnapped" seems less believable, couple that with Ned's reluctance to go after Rhaegar's remaining family and the whole dubious way Jon's mother's identity is handled made me believe there was something more to it. Also, the way they beat us over the head with "The honourable Ned Stark" cheating being such a big deal just clashed with the idea of Jon being his actual kid. Ugh... I'm sorry. I always end up rambling about this so I put most of my thoughts in the spoiler tag, if you want to read it, please do. I guess, while I'm ok with people not having a problem with her treatment of Jon or finding that in the context of ASOIAF it's not that bad, I always get a bit ticked off when people reduce the impact of her attitude towards him or act like Jon is a drama queen for being perceptive in recognising the fact that Cat wishes he never existed. I mean, Cat herself thinks about how the one thing she will never forgive Ned for is not sending Jon away when he was growing up, that doesn't exactly point to a merely dismissive attitude towards Jon. This is a general sentiment; not specific to the poster I am quoting BTW.

Thanks for the link! I never heard of that show so I don't think I would've seen it!!!!!! I want to be her when I grow up...

How are you supposed to pronounce it?

I second that! This episode was 2/3 written for him since he basically copied backwards the series premiere episode (also an episode he wasn't on originally). Seriously, the crazy, the taking the prisoner away, convincing en route, Headless finds the mentor and kills him, while the weirdo is in prison, they in time person finds clue to their veracity. All the work was done for him. I think it was co-written because the dialogue reflected a respect and affection for both Ichabod and Abbie that is absent whenever he writes alone. The pacing was really well done and he never wrote a well paced episode (I found the first 2 episodes of season 2 to have really bad pacing and 2.11 was a mess), I am 100% sure someone else wrote the teleplay. If I'm wrong, then I would be even more pissed because that means we wasted all that time for nothing. Even if he indeed does have the talent, it still means he's the type of showrunner to ignore narrative logic and integrity for wish fulfilment. Also, if KW is getting cut because of the Katrina mess then so should be the person who made it so. It's not fair for her to lose her spot and not him. I had problems with her interpretation and really think she fits a different type of show but she should not bear the burden of failure alone. Not saying she should stay on permanently because even if they kept her, Katrina as evil is bound to be redundant if she's a regular. Great evil characters only work in small doses (cough - Jenry - cough). Just saying that the only scenario I'm against is with Goffman still in. I agree with this and many posters have coherently argued why IMO. I also think that it's completely inaccurate that Abbie is the one who is always reaching out. Yes, in the Witness business she has her eyes on the prize while he is flailing about but as for their friendship I would say that Ichabod is the one that shows more openly how important she is to him. She has her ways of letting him know she appreciates him but she's not that demonstrative with her affections.

This episode made me feel like the writers don't like Oliver Queen or maybe never wanted to write a green arrow TV show. Or maybe out of the group the ones that weren't as enthusiastic about it are now at the helm while others like Berlanti are with the flash and probably Supergirl. I know what bothered me in the scene where Felicity was trying to reason with him about Merlyn. 1) While she was trying to make her, extremely, freaking valid point, Laurel cut her off and quite literally pushed her to the background. 2) They should've just had her stay silent and angry while watching Oliver give stupider and stupider responses and just show her walking out as the others kept on trying. I guess, I am ok with her and Oliver having issues holding her back from each other but I don't appreciate it when it's portrayed as if her importance to the team is lesser. The proof that she's not being petty is that when he asked her to find Merlyn once he heard Thea's plan, she did it because she understood he was thinking of Thea. Her trigger is Oliver doing dumb shit for Malcolm for seemingly no real reason. His struggle over the Fall finally offered an acceptable explanation (for me) but she doesn't know that. The whole point of her even considering touching Ray with a ten foot pole is that she feels Oliver is a lost cause, her not saying anything and basically saying f*** it would've been better. It might even had made me more receptive to her seeking out Ray, someone who actually respects her opinion and expertise. The fact that even with all their efforts to make him seem better, all I see him is as a poor man's Oliver with Iron Man envy is a testament to the writers' incompetence. Basically when they love a character and want to tell his origin story, they screw it up... I will concede them one thing, with her disillusion over Oliver seemingly betraying his principles by working with Merlyn, I can understand why a socially inept, boundary ignoring with zero ability for deceit would be an appeal. At least Ray will be as advertised. Just had a Eureka moment: You know how Oliver has had like 2 shirtless (AND NO SALLY) scenes max all season for some unfathomable reason? I just realised it was probably because if we had Oliver fresh in our mind and then they show Tony St- oops, I mean Ray with his 1-pack and his mini salmon ladder, we would be like "That's what triggered her physical awareness of him? She is more likely pinch his cheeks for being in the junior league". Disclaimer: not calling BR inadequate in any way, he has nice arms I guess. I just don't find his physique exactly impressive enough to be able to distract a girl, though EBR sells it well. I don't know...

Are we talking about the guy who went straight from having sex with her to go on being a rip off of Iron Man? I have zero comics cred, I waited two years to watch the Avengers (not impressed) and I still knew that was a complete and utter copy of Tony Stark. My problem with this is that it's Ray. If Felicity had gone into a bar, got chatted up by someone and ended up sleeping with him, I would not care. I object to the partner being Ray. Olicity is like tertiary to me in importance. This is annoying because they won't be able to change how I feel about Ray and how they made Felicity orbit around his story instead of him being a part of hers. They should only do one major comic book origin story a season, it should have been about Laurel becoming BC and then A.T.O.M for season 4. With the storyline allocation problems they displayed both last season and this one, one would think that they would avoid over crowding especially when I think about us losing Moira and Sara and "gaining" 50 Shades of Ray. Ridiculous.

First impression: What the bloody hell is happening!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I am so confused right now.

That makes me sad... She is so freaking adorable and bubbly... >:( I saw her on an episode of afterbuzz and the people watching live seemed to love her though. She also has so many fans on twitter sending her so much love I am shocked there are people who feel this way. I know I was pissed before the show started and people already decided Iris would be like Laurel (no offence to Laurel sympathisers) which means Caitlin would be the Felicity of Flash. I wasn't even sure I'd watch it but I definitely got on my soap box about it. Crippling the poor girl with Arrow's handicap was unfair. Also, IMHO, GG and DP certainly don't have 1/10 of the SA/EBR chemistry that just almost forces you to reconsider the relationship. Although I get that after the Lauriver fiasco, they're scared about putting all their eggs in one basket but I get annoyed when the show is trying to have its cake and eat it too with the deliberately open ended interactions with Caitlin. The thing is, when the script is not calling for it, their acting so buddy-buddy I just get zero vibes between them. I get them when the actors are consciously layering it in (which means it wouldn't be terrible if it happened, for my eyes at least) but that's obviously not chemistry that comes naturally. I have to assume that their characters don't organically feel that sort of connection in their mind, so the actors don't bring it to the table in daily interactions. My hope is that we will finally have a straight guy being friends with a straight girl for the entirety of the show's run and they don hook up. Cross my fingers. Now though, nobody can claim Arrow PTSD, Iris is clearly way more likeable and interesting than Laurel. Also, they're endgame so I'm ok with the show taking its time and really building their romantic relationship. Unless something crazy happens, Flash will be here for a while, they don't need to rush (insert Arrow viewers side-eye). I mean Caitlin and Ronnie are so much mmore clearly a thing that is still

How does talking about race reflect racism? That's my number one alarm, when someone feels uncomfortable calling me black and uses euphemisms like "with your skin tone" or "dark skinned". It's like yeah mate, I have a skin tone and it's dark but since that is used for someone who tans well and for actual black people you've got to be more specific. I get a sick pleasure out of getting it out of their mouth. I'm simply horrified that these people are actually speaking so openly on a public forum. I have contempt so deeply ingrained towards racists/bigots of any kind that it is mind boggling that these people actually, openly express those views. I mean, everywhere I grew up until coming to University in the US, if anyone figures out the identity of such commenters they would be shunned. I am getting second hand embarrassment on their behalf. Such lack of civility and decorum is so undignified. Honestly, racist people need to understand the new status quo: keep their crazy inside the house. If someone is racist, I want them far away from me, my name off their lips, their faces out of my sight. Such failures at human decency don't get "freedom of expression" in my book. They can get an education and a functioning brain first.

^^^^^^^^^^ This is spot on. This fall has brought about huge disappointments and very pleasant surprises and the pleasant surprises came from shows that finally understood what we (general audience) are not here for. Also, I don't get the obsession with 18-49 male demo, when it's been said for a long while now that there is a lot to be gained from 18-49 female demo. How the corp guys ignore that household income distribution and allocation is 9 out of 10 times dependent on the females of the household is mind boggling to me. They need to identify what we find compelling story telling. We don't always need to be happy about everything, but when the writers are treating us like idiots who don't know better and focus on the least opportune character story wise, well of course things go sideways. Also, I keep being surprised at those silly attempts at generalisation of what the viewers want. Even if their money maker was the male demo and all male wanted the same thing, to think that to get more male viewers all they needed was stick KW into a corset was weird. The one generalisation that I think is slightly fair for guys is they love action, not simpering harlequin romances. Hot chicks with boring storylines lose them just as easily as chick flicks. It's the hot chicks + explosions/guns/swords/action that get them. Speaking broadly of course, and being intentionally over simplistic, I know there are sophisticated viewers in each category that will look below the shiny surface but since they cared about the more "casual" viewers, I don't understand why they went for that drag of a SL. TV people need to wake up and realise this is 2015, everyone is a smarter viewer now. They just have to show goodwill (and will receive it in return from the viewers) and respect the contract they enter in with the viewer. Have broad outlines they know they can rely on, not go back on their premise and try to BS the viewers to make them accept some plot driven nonsense that we know is coming out of nowhere.

Lol, yeah. These current writers who were new to the table probably didn't watch the first season, I swear to God. That's how the "Ichabod will be delighted" comment happened. The writers didn't know it was "established" (I want to start a new thing where I relay sarcastically/doubtfully any "fact" by Miss Katrina Van Tassel) that she only found out after he died. It's such a point of contention between the couple that the only way they forgot was that they never payed attention, heck they didn't even doubt it and go back to check. Also, why the hell did Katia not say anything? I mean, shouldn't she be concerned with continuity stuff that actually alters her own characterisation? Unless she forgot too Speaking of Katia, one of my biggest problems about her acting was more prominent this episode and thank God, she fixed it even though a bit too little too late. She finally acted like a mother seeing her baby boy and wanting to be part of his life after a long separation. When they were talking by the bell and she was telling him she shouldn't have left him alone and saying he gave her back her soul, I was like "if she doesn't take his head between her hands and act like a proud soccer mom soon, I'm going to throw my iPad". I've always been exasperated that while John Noble acts the petulant child perfectly, she never acted like a mother who is heartbroken about her child hating her. She always acted frightened or threatening. When Katrina was having the Jenry argument a bazillion times, her whole spiel was "this is my baby, I know he can be saved!", well tell that to your face and body language when you guys are together. That said, I am so glad she finally made it seem genuine and her crazed eyes are gold. That seems to be her strong suit, although I am still waiting for the woman to stop whispering. Her "bitch you didn't" face when Crane says it's not her fault was hilarious though. That poor idiot seriously can not buy a clue, I can not wait for him to tell Jenny about Abbie. "Miss Jenny, it appears we have lost Miss Mills to the past, where my crazy ex(?) wife went to ensure I die for good." Rewatched the bit where Abbie almost gets run over by a carriage... Man the production team and the crew are good on this show. It was such a cool moment that even on rewatch, I got excited at the possibilities though I knew what was coming. I also miss that feeling of season when I wanted to rewatch the episodes a billion timees and each viewing experience drew my eye to new stuff on the screen. Now the craftsmanship is still there but the story is mostly so infuriating, I really don't need a repeat performance of all this idiocy. That's when I really want the show to be renewed because this crew is fantastic, although I guess we might lose them anyway since the shooting would be moved to Atlanta :/.

I got sick and have rewatched Game of Thrones S1-S4, THREE times. Now this might be my grumpy, runny nose, puked out self talking but this episode pissed me of for some reason. Hear me out: The episode was going well. Unlike most I have zero problems with him not being on the Island for the whole time and even coming back to SC (the whole not recognised thing was a stretch but I liked that they made fun of that because hey it's TV). They were more than one occasions even all the way back to season 1 when Oliver would say something and Diggle would be like "Umm... Weren't you Crusoe'd for 5 years? Why the hell do you know about X/Y/Z?". I understood since then that they would show that he wasn't stationary and also that made me give them a pass. I liked Laurel in flashbacks, I liked the Oliver/Thea combo. I liked seeing Slade back and assessing how strong he is without the Mirakuru. I even like the military tangent in the flashbacks and can't wait to see how this new guy screws Oliver over. I love Maseo more and more. Malcolm's crazy is showing and that's fun although it is getting a little redundant for him to always be orchestrating everything. Then there were two times where the episode screeched to a "ARE. YOU. FREEEAAAAKING. KIDDING. ME?" halt. The Felicity thing*: 1) Oliver looked like Dexter's less able to hide his freaky side younger brother and sidekick. Seriously, I could imagine the scenario when the picture was taken: Robert had to hold Oliver up and right after the shot he keened over and shared his last meal with everyone. 2) UGGGGHHHH, can we use a modicum of subtlety in this story telling, really that's all you can come up to sell a potentially healthy, mutually beneficial romance? The "written in the stars" angle? 3) I always fantasised that Felicity would verbally punch "Ollie" in the face. Do they have to try to suggest she would've liked him even them. Pitied him? Yes. Seen through his façade as a coping mechanism? Yes. But all "Sigh... All the good ones are either taken, gay or dead." GMAFB, you think you're being cute Arrow but you're just pissing me off. What was the point? Just have Felicity in the episode babbling about stuff, if they thought we couldn't live without her in the episode. The Laurel thing: STOP MAKING LAUREL OBNOXIOUS! After the whole episode of seeing her being cute with Tommy and caring for daddy dearest, she had me really. The fact that Lance opted to die with Sara instead of rebuild with Laurel must have hurt. It was touching that he was grumpy about her leaving SC for fat cats instead of helping the downtrodden. It even cleared up why she was at the CNRI, and I will even give them that she's supposedly that good of a lawyer and ignore her lack of professionalism in season 1 because I actually find S3 Lawyer Laurel way cooler. WHY DID IT HAVE TO END? Seriously, and the fact that she used the one point that made me give her some respect to justify her dumb BC everything just annoyed the hell out of me. Really Laurel, he knew? Are you seriously trying that at your secretly dead sister's grave whose death EVERYONE knew about except for your father? Seriously!? The sister you impersonated to fool him a bit longer and whose hero identity you are now taking over? Writers, stop it. After you realised Laurel was coming across as unlikable because she was being obnoxious and then rewarded, making her obnoxious and then shut down is not that much better. As tiring as it gets on this site, in-script Laurel bashing is not cute. Especially because unlike us poor sods, writers actually have the power not to make her obnoxious. Welcome to the land of self-awareness writers, next destination is character building seminar! And give Laurel some of the self-awareness please, it only works if it stick for more than an episode. *PS: other than being a grumpy sick person, what the Felicity is really about are two things that unsettle me. 1) the fact that "Ollie" is absolutely repulsive to me. He reeks of Daddy issues and douchebaggery and that hair is so not cute. Basically, pre-Island Oliver makes me want to slap him. 2) I am scared that this weird trend of throwing the shiny Felicity glitters in our faces while hitting us in the back with the inconsistent plot bat. I'm pretty sure the feedback is indicating that most people are not going for that but it's still making me nervous. Also, the draw of Olicity is a healthy balanced relationship with, hopefully, little internal drama once they get together because it's supposed to make both of them better and happier. Not the twu wuv, "fated to be" angle. If they don't even know why people want/don't mind this couple then they will keep making mistakes and I'd rather both Felicity and Oliver are preserved than Olicity. So far the problems I see have not been because they're trying to write Olicity so I'm reserving judgement... That's mostly because there's been little Olicity though but that can be good because after the getting together, they should just carry on business as usual and have cute fillers once in a while. No bringing it into the lair and Team Arrow.

^^^^She could've become touched after she got her papers...

YOU GUYS ARE NOT ALONE!!!!!! I totally loved that dress! I am also tired of reducing issues to bigotry, unfortunately life is not as easy as that.

Fans only get vocal to the point of course corrections when the writers have shown they are incompetent and don't know how to develop a character properly. Nothing about the handling of Katrina was artistic integrity, it was all about wish fulfilment. They changed the show they had started to write with no discernable reasons the scripts can denote. If they announce a change in reins and writers (I want season 1 writers back), I'm sure people will chill out. It takes a lot for TV viewers to actively tell the writers they need to change, it's more a measure of the failure of the writing team than anything else. TRUE! THAT! It is a worrying trend, I don't know what the hell is going on. I mean, I get wanting to showcase a character you like but in all those cases, TPTB seem to always choose the absolute worse way to make that character more relevant. I think it comes down to them assuming their loved characters is popular so when they push them at the forefront for no reason, they think people will overlook the mess because it's a popular character. ARROW is learning a bitter lesson about making characters do OOC things because... reasons. Even if a character is liked, when you make them do ridiculous things that have been established as OOC, people will first frown in confusion, then get frustrated at the new pattern emerging and finally start disliking a previously liked character because the new version can only come across as a self-contradictory mess. I did think it was weird AND nobody commented on her wearing trousers. Also, while she was standing by that notice board, we should've seen a bunch of extras pointing at her and giving weird/disdainful looks. YESSS, silver lining. I have a question for people, why would it be a bad thing for Abbie to be treated the way she would've been realistically treated if she lived in that time period? I'm not saying they should use the bad word or like whip her but there should at least be a certain undercurrent of inequality and conversations that show what her status is in that time period. I know there is this huge concern about being offensive but it's also ridiculous to pretend she would've been treated like an actual citizen even if she was emancipated.

I will sound petty but I'll go ahead anyway because it's simply the truth. Yes, this episode was a mess, next week will be them caught with their pants down because they treated Abbie like a tertiary character. It will probably be awkward, and thinking rationally will probably ruin it for the viewer BUT it's about them proving they know what they did wrong and they've learnt their lessons. Not to be rude, but with your posting history, I think Sleepy Hollow can afford to lose you if for every fan of your persuasion, they get back the tens that said "adios". I remember thinking at some point, when I was trying to make it work in my head, that maybe Abbie was actually born sometime around Ichabod and all they needed was to meet. It came from the fact that Washington was fighting back then as if the Apocalypse was coming during the Revolution. Maybe the bad guys realised they were losing and someone from the bad coven sent Abbie to the future. As has been discussed on ARROW, does fan service always equate bad writing? A TV show is about giving the fans something to consume, if the writers spend time insulting our intelligence telling us someone is awesome while all witness (ha!) is their failure...Well, fan-service might then actually save the damn show. Honestly if you conceive fan-service as a bad thing, you should want Katrina to have been reduced. The most fan-service thing this show has done was stick KW in that corset longer than necessary and have Katrina be praised every episode so her fans feel vindicated. Let's be real here. There was never a legitimate narrative impetus to have everything centre around Katrina, at least with Ichabbie at the centre of the show, they are actually following the damn premise of the show.

Just caught up since yesterday was President's Day... I was bored. All I can describe this last third of the season is: cop out. They want the results without putting in the work. They thought they would just give us the results without a believable journey and it's mess. It's all unearned and rushed. All we needed were signs of recovery, not hastily written conclusions. The storylines covered since January should've taken up 2/3 of the show, not 1/3. Katrina's descent should have been more drawn out, Irving's wishy-washy I'm evil, but I'm not, but I am was tiring and ridiculous. It was embarrassing and unnecessary. Funnily while catching up, I thought: "Oh they are totes going to send Abbie to an alternate timeline where the Headless wasn't stopped, the British won and there is chaos abound". Wasn't that far off. At least this is an easy way to start off fresh if they have another season (doubtful) but watch me be wrong and next week she is back to the present and they will conclude her story way too quickly like they always do. Sigh Also, why the hell are all witches suddenly evil? Why would Katrina's coven being back a bad thing? They were the relatively good guys. That was stupid. I wanted them to ring the damn bell and have a witch war on their hands as all those witches' descendants break off into factions. That would've way more fun.

Did he seriously misspell rodeo? He is a writer...right? I will be in my room, rocking back and forth and crying in the corner. Bye.

Slayer2, What I don't get is why did you have to bring EBR into this? People are talking about A shirking a commitment, and you bring in B saying : "Well B doesn't even pretend to commit and then let people down"... I can't even respond to this because I don't know what the logic is here. PR wise, it's a bad look on KC that's she breaks her commitment for reasons that are then proven to be lies. This is a page talking about public appearances, I didn't realise that it has to be addressed only if we want to see her. There is a pattern of her making a commitment and cancelling, of course it's going to be talked about. Just like people are talking about SA's Facebook chronicles and I'm pretty sure most of us like him as an actor. I don't know about the others but my point here isn't that I would go to a con to see her, it's that she is making a PR faux pas, repeatedly. If she's nervous about cons, she should just not sign up for them. It makes no sense to pretend to go and then not go, and then do the same at the next one. She is not contractually obligated to go to these so she has no excuse for signing up if she doesn't want to go. Nobody (reasonable) would criticise her for that, I sure wouldn't. However, it makes me lose some respect for her if I hear that she signs up for a con, cancels at the last minute for a reason that appears completely understandable and then hear she was actually in the city where the con was held doing something that was not cited as the reason for her absence. You bet I'm going to side eye her. I don't hate her, I've liked her in other projects and I've liked her a bit more lately on Arrow so I don't have an agenda or anything. As for being a EBR fan, it doesn't mean I think she shits gold, it means that she has shown me that she is an actress that takes her job seriously and doesn't feel the need to do the "extra" parts of the job. I don't even follow her on twitter since it's rare she tweets about her professional life, I visit her page from time to time, but she hasn't given me any indication that she's an unreliable person, she keeps it on the DL so of course I'm not assuming that she is being flaky. I'm getting the vibe that she's just chilling when off work, and if that's the type of actress she wants to be then I have no right to hold it against her. She is staying out of the media hype and good for her. My point is, people aren't criticising EBR because she did not publicly break a commitment by lying about why she couldn't be there. NOT because they think she can do no wrong. If she were to cancel all her next commitments, then please reopen the discussion but at this stage the comparison between them makes no sense and seems a little petty. I think it's possible to defend KC without dragging EBR in the discussion. You've established that you are a fan and wouldn't care of she did this, fair enough, there was no need to even mention EBR.

Coming out and saying it, writers. I love Felicity because she is not perfect. Because her happiness and her strength was not conferred to her by the Heavens as she was born as a being of light and fluffiness. She had choice and she decided that she would be positive. She decided that her life should have a purpose and that she deserves happiness and that she has the rights to have terms. There are lines she has carefully drawn and crossing them is no fucking joke. She can and has done wrong and I am ok with it because she's a human being. The Felicity I signed up for is someone who knows her strength, knows what she wants and MOST IMPORTANTLY knows what she can and can't give up. I was so happy because I thought that the writers understood why we like Felicity after her episode. Not because she is undoubtably string and has no cracks, but because she knows being weak is being human and that what matters is persevering. The blubbering and the crying this season has been taxing but at least in 305, I liked it because Felicity is ok with showing emotional pain and she doesn't have to have nerves of steel to make me appreciate her? I am so disappointed because I thought I had dodged the Olicity bullet threatening Felicity's character and sincerely believed the writers understood her appeal. I guess not. This Laurel situation hurts because Felicity just said something awful about someone whose death was instrumental in her making changes in her life. Someone she looked up to and took a bullet for, someone to whom she confided in about not having found a place in the world. A disparaging comment about someone who was her surrogate family, that is too shocking for words. All they needed to do was exclude that "light" metaphor and it would have been perfect. It would made clear for me why these two women's dynamic can work. They relate on being someone who wants to do more and feels less powerful than their peers in a certain domain and Laurel fighting with them when Oliver was gone made her accept her as part of the team. Instead we got Felicity saying Sara was the poor man version of Laurel and trading in for the new BC because of... reasons? I said I could take a lot from this show, all they have to do is not fuck up Felicity. How hard is that not to freaking do? Huh? I have taken a lot: Felicity being apparently shallow and seeing Ray "in a new light" after seeing him doing the Salmon Ladder version Light. Her being ok with tricking poor Lance into thinking his daughter is still here Being ok with jumping to conclusions and throwing Roy under the bus for Sara's murder Telling Laurel to freaking fight when she is a liability on the field for her other teammates Now they want to shove this in my face? Her basically solely existing to justify Ray and Laurel's presence in this fucking show? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I am going back to taking a break. I will check back in at the end and decided if this is my last year being an Arrowhead, because I am not here for that. I adore SA/EBR/DR, I really do, but I don't know if I can stay even for them when the writers are pissing on me and telling me it's raining. I refuse to be complicit in this insulting storyline any further.

Marry me. <3 I think the episodes 10 through 14/15 run is where I never hold SA accountable because that's when TIIC suddenly figure out lame XYZ motivations because plot needs them and they just introduce completely BS elements that have no emotional ground from the previous episodes. He DID NOT just #coincidence us. He couldn't have, I mean... that would be moronically suicidal, right? RIGHT!? Ha! Thank you for that. I think people are just responding to the disturbing pattern where Laurel is only likeable and relatable when everyone else acts like a pod person and saying things that not only make no sense for who they are but also completely contradicts the show's own canon. Acting like Laurel has this noble motive as a vigilante is BS. Diggle saying she's capable is BS. Felicity discarding Sara's bravery and heart as comparison to make Laurel feel better is complete and utter horseshit. How I feel: I have been absent for a while just because I wasn't sure I could take this. I waited until 313 was out so I could just speed through the Laurelpocalypse arc and it couldn't have been worse unless they straight up had TA be blown up and renamed the show Black Canary. Actually, at least then I would be able to just walk away unburdened. Unfortunately while I dislike Laurel a less now because she doesn't walk around ignoring the absurdly gigantic cognitive dissonance that is her becoming a vigilante anymore, all this mini arc has proved to me is that Laurel doesn't bring anything extra as part of Team Arrow and more importantly her inclusion disrupts the flow of characters I love and am emotionally invested in. The getting the Glades to help itself idea was something that sounded like a Roy idea that was given to Laurel so she could contribute. The sudden Diggle mentorship when he was her biggest detractor all the way until 309 is an absolute retcon. The entire reason behind Felicity quitting and getting back in was to justify the BC and ATOM arcs. They still had some leeway because they introduced an emotional element that made sense: she doesn't want to see her friends drop like flies, but it was so obvious it was about validating Ray and Laurel that it left a bitter taste. Like John Campea said, I felt disrespected as viewer just like I did this episode. I only have one question for TPTB: What's the hurry? Why can't you give it time for us to adjust to Laurel as she gets used to the idea of working oustide the law, of seeing what it truly means to be a hero and getting a well earned introduction into hero status? It could have actually become a real situation where her lightness and the fact that she hasn't suffered like Oliver and Sara would be a well earned positive. Instead of a woe is me routine, we could have had a supposedly smart and good hearted woman realise that there could be more she can do for the city she loves. It could have included Det. Lance talking about how fruitful the police-Arrow alliance is and how an access to the law can be beneficial for both parties. Why, Arrow? Why are you in a hurry? Now all I have is a "hero" that's only there for an ego boost whom I genuinely don't believe to be a good person nor do I believe her to be selfless enough to make the sacrifice necessary to be a vigilante. She didn't give up anything to be BC. The one word that reflects the entire Laurel Lance character continues to be "Unearned".

My heart sang when they said they would use Sevilla for Dorne and I am BEYOND excited at this point. Sevilla is definitely in my top 5 places that I have been and seeing it, seeing that they chose El Alcazar was so perfect because that was exactly where I wanted them to shoot. Super excited! I love BTS stuff. :D ETA: Random question- I might not have been paying attention but are they keeping the Water Gardens as two separate locations or are they having the WG be a part of ?

. I have yet to get TWOIAF book but I have a feeling that they basically are the Westerosi family in power for longest time. Something must be ensuring the continued Stark leadership in the North. I wouldn't be surprised if there was something magical happening there. I definitely think there is more to it than just "Oh yeah, it's the North. They have little infighting just because you know...Winter is Coming"

RE: KW Tweet BULL-F**CKING-SHIT!!!!!!!!! During that interview on ABTV with Neil Jackson (they were shooting episode 12 or 13 and had the scripts for at least episode 14), he said that she was super happy with getting lots to do. He was specifically asked if she was happy with her storyline, he said yes without any hesitation and seemed even surprise by being asked that. If she had even a shred of integrity as both an actor and a self-respecting human being, she would just stay silent and hope to ride out the storm. That is just shameless. They also forced her to act like a puppet on strings whose only facial expressions are weepy eyes and blank stares? I didn't care one way or another about her before this but I am now officially disliking her. She needs to inhale a big dose of grace and humility. All she needed to do was to not comment and say if asked that she understood people's concerns and that she does/will do her best. I am embarrassed for her, seriously. She didn't have my attention/affection before and now she doesn't have my respect. How fucking dare she? She is literally the only actor that was done favours this entire bloody season and she is throwing stones. I hope everyone she ever works with remembers that attitude. Disgusting.