doesntworkonwood

It's frustrating because no one on the show has actually called Oliver out on his lie, not even Felicity herself. It feels like we're moving on to the fallout without acknowledging what actually happened. With the way that people (like WM and SA) have been talking about the relationship, I doubt that BMD will actually be brought up (and to a certain extent I don't actually want it brought up), but that just leaves us with a lot of ambiguity and no actual closure on that particular chapter. I've been enjoying the Olicity scenes so far, but there's certainly a sense of 'weirdness' attached to them just because it is so difficult to see where they actually stand and how they're going to get to the point of being together again (which I have no doubt they will get to). Everyone has sort of moved on from it. I think I would have much preferred it to be Oliver or Felicity that had left instead of Digg at the end of the last series just because it would have allowed us to come back to a place where I still understood what was going on with their relationship.

Looking through the thread, it looks like the writers of that book don't know how arabic works. It's right to left guys...

I hate Wild Dog so much. At the end of the episode I was hoping Church would kill him. Honestly he's not just stubborn and selfish, he's also incredibly rude and that's the worst. How difficult is it to be polite or at least civil? They're not going to redeem his character for me. At least Evelyn had more lines this week, though still no personality.

I think it's that he's gone private. Only his followers can see his tweets now. He's got 1.58m though, so I'm sure we'll be informed if he says something stupid again.

All that talk about needing to trust Oliver and for Oliver to trust him and then he went out and put Evelyn in danger by essentially lying to her. How can you trust someone when they do that?

I think I might be in the minority in that I really don't think Wild Dog will grow on me. There's stubborn and then there's being an idiot, and he's very much falling on the idiot side for me. I do like Rory, and I like how his story with Felicity is going. We didn't really see much of him last week so I'm glad we're seeing more of his personality. Evelyn is just... there. Her combat skills are a bit ridiculous considering she's only 16 and her only training is gym. It makes sense when jumping from buildings, not so much when punching bad guys. Curtis's mask was pointless. It just looked like a bit of black facepaint, you could still very clearly see it was him. I liked him in his scene with Felicity, but every thing else was just no. Do NOT like the reporter. I just wanted her to go away during the entire episode. The new ADA really should get a proper pair of trousers, and learn to walk properly too. I did like the Diggle storyline, though I did find the ending a bit of a stretch. I love Lyla and I can't wait for next week because breaking Diggle out of prison is should be super fun!

They had the best tumblr tags. Looking through it now, whilst the tumblr is still being updated, it's a bit too detached which is a great shame.

For the last few years Olicity fans attempted a trend on twitter every week just before/during the Arrow episode. These were well planned and often successful trends (in the US at least), and they happened with every episode throughout the entire season. Even the ones with little Olicity (and stuff like Ray Palmer/BMD). Essentially, there was no risk to take because there was a general idea that Olicity would trend on twitter just because that's what the fans did and what they always had done. Except fandom doesn't work like that, and it's clear from the promotion that the Social Media Team don't really understand fandom. Olicity fans weren't happy, and now the trends are not being organised at all, because they don't want to give promotion to a show that's not catering to them (which is fair, why put effort into something you don't care about or even actively hate?) All of this wouldn't be a massive deal if we didn't live in 2016, where twitter is essentially the best form of mass communication. I'm pretty sure that some of the show runners even admitted that the CW told them that they needed to make twitter accounts because it is that important to them. It doesn't take a lot to get something trending, but when it does it exposes your show to a lot more people in a significantly shorter amount of time than an advert on a tv channel does. It also engages people outside of the 'bubble' that a five year old show would create. It allows writers and producers to see what people are thinking about a show without having to wade through tons of fan mail or navigate through forums. And (because it is such a large platform) it also takes into account viewers who may only have a passing interest in a show, rather than just those who are big fans of the show (i.e. the people who would have spent a lot of time writing fan mail even just 10 years back). I'll admit, the reason I started watching the show is because I saw a gif of Felicity on tumblr. It's not a show I would have watched at all otherwise, because all I'd known about Arrow at the time was that it was a weird Robin Hood type thing, and it wasn't shown on any of the 5 major channels in the UK so I wasn't able to be exposed to it through traditional Media beyond that. Social Media is important because that's how people communicate nowadays, and I've no doubt that people take into account stuff like twitter trends when they talk of the promotion of the show. But they're not very good at hitting it right.

I feel like Bamfords directing is like when you're in primary school and your teacher puts a massive list of synonyms for 'said' on the board and tells you to write a story without using the word said. And you write the story and your mom and dad tell you they love it, even though they kind of cringe when they read it. And that's okay because you're seven and eventually you'll learn that said is usually the best option, and maybe even one day you'll learn that you can just let your characters speak for themselves. Except Bamford isn't seven and he's been given the reigns over the first two episodes of a major season of a very popular international show. But he doesn't know how to use said, and only knows how to cause people migraines.

Can someone tell Bamford that the camera does not have to move all of the time? For the record I am #TeamOliver on the new recruits. He doesn't know them. They don't know him. I don't want to know them. And lets face it, his training exercise wasn't that bad. If you can't take on one guy as a team, or even pose the slightest threat to him, maybe you shouldn't be a vigilante? Wild Dog is just a whinger, I do not think I am going to warm to him at all. I mean, it took me all of season 4 to warm up to Curtis, and I'm still not happy that they're giving him a mask. I just want Diggle back :( I get that he had a side plot this episode, but I need him front and centre. Or at least just behind Oliver. As far as Felicity and DTH goes, it was so obvious that the only reason the machine broke down was so we could get exposition on their relationship. All I got from it was that even Felicity thinks he's irrelevant. And that he's a dumbass. But he's an SCPD police officer, and they're not the smartest bunch so I expected that.

I don't like her... But I would actually pay to read a tell-all book by her. I think JB is one of the least likely to tell all after the end of Arrow. I know that he likes to tell his funny BTS stories, but he is very professional. I'm pretty sure I've never heard him say anything negative about his previous cast mates. He seems to know the business quite well. 'He's apologised in his own way.' WTF does that mean. I swear these writers have no understanding of how actual conversations work.

I think the problem isn't just Bamford, the problem is that he seems to epitomize the lack of diversity in the directors seat. The problems are a mishmash of things like a) Lexi has already indirectly stated that Arrow has a bro culture and is unwelcoming to women b) Berlanti said that they were 'trying' to increase the number of women and minorities c) But then he said that the reason women didn't want to work in Vancouver was because they didn't want to be away from their families (WTF?) d) Bamford, despite having no directing experience before Arrow has been given the reins for the important episodes, the premier and the crossover. And his directing is not very good (though I admit that is subjective). This all points to Lexi's statement being very accurate. The frustrating thing for me most is that they have acknowledged that there is a problem, but haven't done anything about it. I felt the same frustration two years ago when they'd just cast Matt Nable as Ra's, after they stated that they were working to increase the number of minority roles across the Flarrow universe. They've had opportunities to hire more women, and the fact that they've essentially ignored that to the point where they've hired 1 woman out of 8 episodes, and for the other 8, 3 are being directed by Bamford. Like, come on! You've admitted there's a problem, you've said that you're taking steps to fix it, and then you've just chosen the same guy to direct a third of your episodes?

I love Lexi's twitter rants. They give me an insight into backstage Arrow that I'd have to wait for the tell all book for otherwise. Seriously though, Arrow has been lacking in diversity both in front of and behind the camera for a while. I thought season 1 was wonderfully diverse, but it's just gone downhill since then. Now they're so lacking in diversity that you can't even tell the white guys apart. I get that they've been going for almost 5 years, so they've got their core gang, but anyone who wants to create the best show they can should be looking at getting other viewpoints from outside the show, and not just hiring the same guy over and over again. I'm glad Lexi has spoken up about this issue. I think directors are sort of hidden from the public, so you don't really notice it at all (unless it's BamBam, then you notice every camera angle).

Don't forget the lace gloves! I wonder if those will get passed on...

All through Oliver's speech, the only thing I could think of was 'JUST PLANT HER A FUCKING TREE OLIVER'. Would have saved money and been a whole lot less creepy. I'm going to ignore the rest of the episode, partly because the directing gave me a headache and partly because I didn't really care about anything that was going on. And partly because I really couldn't tell any of the cops apart, so I'm going into the next episode pretending Detective Mayo is dead.

Honestly, every time someone mentions Detective Mayo, I want to gag a little. I think this is an awful idea for a storyline. I mean, if they needed connections to the SCPD why not just make him her friend? Instead you've got Felicity, who was willing to marry Oliver less than six months ago, inviting another guy into her apartment, that she shared with Oliver less than six months a go, and kissing his tiny hands, which is just weird. I'm going to see how it plays out, but it's not looking positive.

I am a bit miffed she's coming back, but only because she detracts from my enjoyment of the show. That said I a) doubt she's going to be there for more than three or four episodes (over the course of the season) and b) think we're going to be able to get a significant amount of snark and meta from her appearance. So if I don't enjoy the episode, I know I will enjoy the commentary.

She tore the scar tissue from her mastectomy.

This is likely (and by likely I mean it's what I really really want). There was a lot of talk about how things about Felicity can't be spoiled because they'd be major spoilers. 'Felicity has a boyfriend' is less of spoiler than 'Felicity's boyfriend is evil', especially if they introduce him at the beginning of the episode. And, to add to that hope, Wendy Mericle kept saying that Oliver and Felicity are still in an ambiguous place when we see them again. How is Felicity having a boyfriend ambiguous? That's a pretty big sign that Felicity has moved on. Unless both her and Oliver are in on it as a means of getting information.

The writers tend to go for the predictable route, so I'm hoping for Oliver/Human Target being the kiss. Otherwise, I'm not really sure how they can come back from this (Olicitywise)? Especially by the end of this season.

Just a bit of a quibble, the King or Queen are always his/her majesty, HRH is reserved for other members of the royal family who aren't the monarch. That would be really interesting, but I don't think there are any articles like that. However, Victoria's diaries are all on this website, so it might be really fun to follow along that way! You can browse the journals by date, and since most of them are written in Victoria's hand, you'll be following along without getting spoilt. And for the record, Victoria did call Melbourne Lord M

So people who love Felicity are going to love her, and people who hate Felicity are going to hate her? And Tuesday comes after Monday.

I actually quite like the poster. I think it's a nice change from previous years where everyone was head on. And I don't mind it all being about Oliver. I'd rather it be about him than any of the newbies. Must have been a fun shoot for SA though...

He was on Drake and Josh on Nickelodeon which, in all fairness, was a pretty good show. It ended ~10 years ago, but he's still riding the coattails of fame from it, or at least attempting to when he's not being a douchebag on twitter.

Drake Bell is probably Top 10 on the list of people I'd never want to hang out with.