Tangerine

I can only speak from my perspective and I get that on the one hand it's technically a completely "new" character. Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond thrilled CL is back. But given that there's such a dearth of diversity and representation, especially when it comes to WoC on these shows, it still grinds my gears a little bit that the White Canary we're seeing isn't Asian. And again, I love CL and I would watch her in anything. White Canary isn't exactly a well-known character or popular, so it's not like we were bound to see her on-screen any time soon but it still kind of sucks that they've given her name to someone else rather than making an effort to put more Asian women on screen. This isn't a problem exclusive to the Flarrow-verse obviously, but they certainly haven't helped. It's not as blatant and obvious as white-washing Sin, but still problematic. I don't know if that made any sense I hope it made sense...like I mean to say I'm not that upset about it, but I see how it's still problematic.

I'm really curious as to Sara's reaction to Laurel playing superhero. All I really want is for Sara to absolutely tear into Laurel for doing it, but I'm guessing that isn't going to happen and we're going to get more propping up of Laurel's character and validating her awful, awful choices.

The other thing that bugged me big time about Laurel and Oliver's argument- she was hostile and defensive right off the bat. She didn't show any guilt or regret over the fact that her actions caused Thea to be hospitalized and bunch of people to be killed. She just automatically went into a snit about the fact that she was being called out on doing something stupid. It's REALLY hard to sympathize or find somebody like that likeable. Like, acknowledging your part in all of this might have gone a long way in garnering some sympathy from me when Oliver was lecturing her. Because, yeah Laurel is right, Oliver's a hypocrite and judgmental despite his endless parade of bad decisions, but what Oliver did was under different circumstances. He did it because Ra's was basically pointing an arrow at everybody's else's head if Oliver didn't agree and Laurel did it because she could.

Exactly! A different filter, or scarier looking ghouls would've helped a ton. One thing I really liked was Oliver stroking Sara's hair after laying her down for the ritual. It was just a small gesture that was more convincing of their closeness than anything Laurel ever said about loving Sara.

That was the most anti-climactic vision quest ever. You would think bringing back somebody's soul would take a little bit more effort. But whatever, I'm happy to see Constantine again. I admittedly had a tough time warming up to the show when it first aired, but I loved everything about Matt Ryan's portrayal. You can tell he has fun with the role yet you never once doubt he bad-arse he is.

Laurel, to Oliver: "We've had some good times together haven't we?" Man, this reference just works on so many levels.

Times I've enjoyed Laurel as BC:

I loved everything Original Team Arrow, even if the constant referencing to it felt a bit forced, but whatever. I'm loving Echo Kellum in this role and think he's fitting in really well. Everything taking place in Nanda Parbat sucked. At this point, I just wanted Nyssa (or newly revived Sara) to lay waste to them all except Thea. Willa Holland was great in her scenes but everything else was painful. I wanted Sara back, but this was seriously awful.

Simon/Leanne? I guess when a show has been on as long as Corrie, repeating plotlines will be inevitable, but I feel like this rebellious devil child story has been done so many times in the past. We saw it with David, Chesney and Ryan Connor to a point. I mean given what the kid's been through he's bound to be messed up, but I would've liked to have seen it handled differently. I dread to think that we're probably going to see Max going through the same thing when he's older if they stick around.

Many people have mentioned it, but one thing that absolutely irritates me about this show is how it wastes great actors and characters. I thought Kevin Alejandro was great as Brother Blood, and that storyline had a lot of long-term potential but it was absolutely wasted. Same with Slade, Shado, Vertigo and many others. Jeri Ryan was totally insignificant, and I personally really enjoy JR Bourne, so I'm guessing he's just going to end up as a disposable villain next week. They have such a rich pool of characters and stories they can take inspiration from, and I will say Arrow tends to always nail it with the casting (with a few exceptions....) But the powers that be are so eager to play with new toys that the writing suffers.

You know, I kind of reached a place of acceptance and resignation with Laurel. She was here, she was going to do her thing. There were a few eye-rolly moments and whatever but at least she hadn't done anything completely heinous. And then the last 5 minutes happened.

I think Corrie really suffers when it focuses on one particular storyline and spend too much time on just a few characters. This stupid Callum story has been going on for over a year and is threatening to go even longer. The show has such a rich cast and great set of characters that they need to spread the wealth a little. I liked Kylie and David just fine before this, could've done without Sarah and Bethany and now I'm just fatigued by all of them. It was like a couple of years ago when the writers were in love with Michelle (and also Tina/Carla/Stella for a bit) and had her involved in literally everything and you just grew sick of her. Now I'm actually quite fond of her now that they've settled her a bit. The elder characters are taking a back seat to the 'sexier' storylines, but the gentler, mature moments with these characters is really what made Corrie stand out to me. Unpopular opinion: I like Carla and Nick. Then again I generally love anything involving Carla because I think Alison King knocks it out of the park with everything she's given. I like her and Nick because it's probably the most normal, calmest relationship she's ever had and it's refreshing that the drama she's involved in has nothing to do with the man she's seeing for once. And Nick, for all of his pettiness and immaturity before has really turned a corner for me. I like the Nazirs, but they haven't been given anything to do I find. Corrie hasn't been great with diversity, so I just wish they utilized these characters better.

So hard to pick a favourite episode! But somewhere along the way, Lassie became my favourite character. He was a bit of a nice reprieve from the constant over the top-ness of Shawn and Gus. I felt bad for him most of the time, sometimes it just felt like the writers were punishing him for whatever reason when in reality, he was really a great detective. I also really loved Juliet. I loved that she was a tough, smart, capable detective but also really genuinely sweet, kind, flirty and feminine. I just wished they had fleshed her out a bit more.

I just finished watching this series for the very first time on Netflix and it quickly became one of my favourite series. I just loved how much heart it had and there wasn't a single episode I didn't enjoy. Except for Season 8. I don't know if it was because we were close to the end, but everything about season 8 felt off. It was weird that Juliet left so early in the season and wasn't seen or mentioned at all. Still, I admit to getting very verklempt after the last episode.

All right, I'm back on the boards from a mini hiatus just in time for an Unpopular Opinion! I don't totally hate the new costume. I mean, the sleeveless is totally impractical, but if they are trying to inch closer to what the comic book look is this does scream more traditional superhero. That being said, there was an earlier discussion about this seeming divide between staying loyal to the comics. The thing is, TV is a totally different medium. I'm a big fan of the comics, but there are just certain things that won't work on TV. I think as long as you're respecting the spirit of what the characters are all about, then it doesn't matter if certain relationships or names might be a tad different. Which is why I am more pissed at what happened with Superman's character in Man of Steel more than anything Arrow has ever done to any of their comic counterparts. CL's Black Canary captured exactly what comic BC was all about (she will always be the one and only BC to me in the DCTV verse, I don't care what the show tries to tell me.) The thing is, in the latest Black Canary/Green Arrow comic book run... (Spoiler tagged for comic spoilers) Thought all the ladies looked lovely! EBR looks amazing in the figure skating dress, but I do agree it does seem like an odd choice for an event like this.