Spoiler Discussion Thread

[Sunshine]

Same time next week maybe?

[Scribbles]

24 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

MG has referred to this as a game of chess.

There is your answer.  Prometheus = Carter Bowen.  In Season 1 we find out Carter was once the national chess champion.  Mystery solved, see ya in Season 6 where in a flash forward during episode one we find out that our villain of the season wants to destroy Oliver, and the city he loves, because this time it is epically really, really, really personal.  It will be game changing, just wait and see.

Is my snark showing?

[Sunshine]

I often think the easiest and quickest way for Oliver to save his city is to leave it for good.

[LadyChaos]

13 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

I often think the easiest and quickest way for Oliver to save his city is to leave it for good.

Except if Oliver hadn't come home than the Undertaking would have killed tens of thousands instead of just 503.   Damien Darkh came while OQ was gone with the intention of never coming back, and since Sara ditched the LoA's to check on her family after the Undertaking chances are they would have torn the city apart over her instead of because MM drugged Thea into killing Sara.

In all actuality the only villains Oliver is responsible for is Slade and this guy.

[Cleanqueen]

So I am guessing Felicity asks Helix for help regarding Oliver's impeachment and in return her debt to them increases ten fold. I know checkmate is the agency set up by Amanda Waller in the comics so perhaps the title has something to do with Argus. Maybe Helix wants something from Argus. 

[apinknightmare]

Yeah, I think she definitely asks for help with the impeachment stuff. Otherwise I just don't see how he would get out of it? I'm wondering if Helix gets some dirt on Chase or something - and that's why (assuming it's him) Vigilante goes after Oliver. Not that it should be that hard since it seems like he was directly involved in the cover up? Or maybe he has a hidden history of doing shady stuff and Felicity brings it to light making it look like Oliver was duped by a shady DA. I mean...surely by now the citizens know he's dumb enough. But if Chase had anything to do with a cover up and was Vigilante, I'm not sure why he'd be able to suit up after he got exposed like that, so...maybe Felicity exhonorates Oliver in some other way.

Her getting him out of impeachment however she does it would give Susan reason enough to keep snooping around the sitch - since Oliver conveniently gets out of something...again.

Edited February 24, 2017 by apinknightmare

[Sunshine]

21 minutes ago, LadyChaos said:

In all actuality the only villains Oliver is responsible for is Slade and this guy.

That's not enough? :-)

21 minutes ago, Cleanqueen said:

So I am guessing Felicity asks Helix for help regarding Oliver's impeachment and in return her debt to them increases ten fold. I know checkmate is the agency set up by Amanda Waller in the comics so perhaps the title has something to do with Argus. Maybe Helix wants something from Argus. 

MG said when he tweeted the cover page that it was not the agency.  I'm thinking checkmate is being used like the chess term.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Sunshine

[statsgirl]

I want Susan to be tied to someone, either Kovar or Talia  or best of all, Prometheus.  It's just too much of a coincidence that she happens to be investigating Mayor Oliver Queen to do an expose on him when the worst that has been known about  him up to now is that he was a lousy CEO.

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

. I think Pandora was provided to Felicity to help find more clues.  It led to his mother in Opal City.  This led to Pike getting a copy of the medical examiner's report.  I don't know if it was meant to get Green Arrow arrested and exposed.  He wasn't so now the cover-up has been leaked to the press.  (I don't think Susan did it. We keep being told she's good.)    Who was originally responsible for the cover-up?  Chase was.  Oliver just went along with it.  Next up, an impeachment hearing.  MG has referred to this as a game of chess.  Once Oliver/GA has been defeated my guess is that's when Prometheus plans to reveal himself.  The reveal is only a great twist if the person is someone we know and never would have expected.               

Chase was the one who covered up that GA killed Billy.  It seems a devious long game to cover it up then, and now release it to the press but it's possible, a slow torture.

While I want Susan tied to Prometheus, I'm less sure about Helix, Prometheus would have gone after Oliver Queen but finding out about Felicity Ghost Fox past would be very difficult and he wouldn't have known if she was working with Oliver back when his father was killed.  I can see wanting to go after Felicity because she's Oliver's ex fiance but to go back 8 years into her hidden past seems like a lot to do. 

Is he going to go after Lyla too?

[EmilyBettFan]

11 hours ago, LadyChaos said:

Some chatter I've been having with a few other people, we are wondering since the ratings have been at an all time low for Arrow, esp with the .5 last night.  If maybe the network might have or will start to step in to force the hands of TPTB..... I think the network probably already knows they intend to renew Arrow for s7 and possible longer if they can get the actors to sign new contracts so they may step in and tell Guggie and the Scooby squad to fix themselves. 

Someone noted that while its too late to fix the plots, there are a few things they could fix.....

Some fan complaints all season have been:

the lack of QL or TQ in or out of foundry

the huge focus on the B squad

Little to no focus on the OTA.

Then suddenly in 514 we get TQ, and QL in the bunker....and while this might supposed to have been a Tinah focus ep, the B squad and Tinah kind of took a back seat.

Someone even suggested that if the network did step in, if TPTB were planning on getting Olicity back together in 523 or 601ish.....that we might now see them getting together in 519-521 area before the finale to bring the ratings back up for the end.

While I want to agree so bad with this they would be to fix those freaking previews to. Because 5x14 preview was all Tinah and fighting crap.

[LeighAn]

4 hours ago, EmilyBettFan said:

While I want to agree so bad with this they would be to fix those freaking previews to. Because 5x14 preview was all Tinah and fighting crap.

And then she only amounted to like 3 minutes of screen time.

[apinknightmare]

I saw someone mention on Twitter that maybe Susie made her laptop easily hackable as a setup for Oliver & Co.

I like this idea.

Maybe she's not so dumb? Maybe she figured Oliver might not be willing to admit that he was the Green Arrow, and suspected that if she confronted him about it he'd have his computer whiz ex-fiancee take care of things for him. So she set a little bit of a trap to get her suspicions confirmed that way? 

Maybe she went to her bosses and told them that she thought something might be coming down the line and that she was getting ready to break something big, so disregard any attempts to discredit her? And the reason it seems like she's reporting next episode is because she is - she lied about being fired. 

That would make her a snake, and a good reporter, and still not necessarily an awful person. And either she's in cahoots with someone wrt the leaked cover-up, or she leaked it herself as part of her story, or things just worked out really great for her - since nothing would make that story juicer than Oliver as mayor covering up a crime that he committed as Green Arrow. 

She could ultimately decide not to publish - so Oliver doesn't look like a TOTAL moron for trusting her. Or maybe he agrees to participate in the story, ultimately outing himself at the end of the season.

Hmmm....

Edited February 24, 2017 by apinknightmare

[ComicFan777]

I was thinking that Susan could disprove the plagiarism if she looked into those docs that were planted in her laptop more carefully.  Plagiarism would assume that these docs show that she took words/ideas from someone else - those docs would be attached to authors - either fake people that don't exist or real people that she didn't actually take words/ideas from.  With a little investigating, she could disprove it by showing records that these docs are from fake authors that don't actually exist (and most likely never published anywhere else) or from real people that she could contact and get affidavits from them stating that they didn't actually write these articles.  That way, she could get her credibility/job back.

[apinknightmare]

I mean, this is Arrow so the logic doesn't have to wash, but...IIRC correctly, Felicity said that she just planted stuff on Susan's computer without knowing what it was. To doctor up plagiarism claims, Thea obviously had to make up articles from non-existent people (since there's no way she could've worked up real plagiarism from real investigative reporters - unless somehow she found someone who had been plagiarizing Susie, since that's the only way for a real printed article or broadcast report to match up enough for her to be fired). So...if Felicity just placed these docs on her computer, did the news station not try to verify it at all? Because like...that stuff would have to be online or somewhere in print to stand up? And it wouldn't have been unless Felicity put it somewhere to be verified?

As always, it's tough to know if this is a legit thing to be thinking about, or if it's a convenient plot contrivance to make things work.

Actually it's not tough to know, because there's never more there, haha.

Edited February 24, 2017 by apinknightmare

[dtissagirl]

Yeah, Thea would have had to go through Susan's articles, write articles plagiarizing her, and hack into online publications to put up those plagiarized articles there -- backdated to before Susan did any of her reporting. So in this scenario Thea is a writer and a hacker too. OR she hired writers to do the job [and a hacker who isn't Felicity], and paid them off to confirm the plagiarism claim when Susan's employers investigated.

I'm assuming nobody in the writers room thought this through at all, though.

[apinknightmare]

Just now, dtissagirl said:

I'm assuming nobody in the writers room thought this through at all, though.

Yeah, probably not. Ugh.

[Morrigan2575]

27 minutes ago, dtissagirl said:

Im assuming nobody in the writers room thought this through at all, though.

Usually the safest bet. I think fans tend to over think and try to.logic stuff out. Meanwhile the writers just look at the end goal and come up with a way for it to happen.

Laurel back in DA office? Have her blackmail her way in.

[Chaser]

I honestly think Thea is going to go to Felicity and ask her to wipe everything or leave something to clear Reporters name. Felicity does (though I hope she also leaves something to monitor Reporters activities). Reporter gets her job back and her and Oliver talk and continue to date. Everything is peaches until Reporter Snake makes another surprise-Oliver-is-still-an-idiot move.

[apinknightmare]

Yeah, I expect Thea's going to try to right that wrong. 

[Chaser]

If they go into a break with Oliver and Reporter reconciled..... LOL

[apinknightmare]

I mean, ultimately I know Oliver's going to be in the right, so...she's gonna be "trustworthy." And he had plausible deniability with the hack since he really didn't know anything about it, so...maybe I could see Susan buying it for whatever reason. But now Susan pretty much has confirmation that he's Green Arrow and didn't trust her enough to tell her, and she knows that he was involved in a cover up (even though he did tell Chase to stop - he agreed to it at first) for a murder that he committed...so Susan taking Oliver back at this point would seem like she's doing it (again) to get at a story, and would make Oliver look even more stupid then he already does? The thought of them getting back together now is so laughable to me because it makes no sense, but this is Arrow so making sense is not a requirement. 

I hope they're done romantically though, and she continues to slither around the city because she refuses to drop the story, just generally being a thorn in Oliver's side out to expose the truth. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by apinknightmare

[insomniadreams88]

18 minutes ago, Chaser said:

If they go into a break with Oliver and Reporter reconciled..... LOL

Well, it is only a one-week break...

But yeah, I really hope Oliver and Susan are done for romantically because if they're not? What's the point? 

I think the real hiatus cliffhanger is going to come at the end of 516, perhaps with Prometheus unmasked (for the audience, but not for the team) and that's going to be when we have a couple weeks between episodes?

[Chaser]

Feelings. Reporter is going to dismiss everything because feelings and Oliver just forgives it all cause hope and optimism. I'm worried he is going to go to her with the exclusive on his identity at the end of th season. That's worst case for me.

Best case is the romantic aspect is over and she is a total antagonist or if they want her to be "trustworthy" she just pops up as an actual Reporter. 

I think they will go full stupid though. 

[Chaser]

6 minutes ago, insomniadreams88 said:

Well, it is only a one-week break...

But yeah, I really hope Oliver and Susan are done for romantically because if they're not? What's the point? 

I think the real hiatus cliffhanger is going to come at the end of 516, perhaps with Prometheus unmasked (for the audience, but not for the team) and that's going to be when we have a couple weeks between episodes?

If the spring drop has already started for Arrow, a week long break isn't going to help them too much. 

Reporter seems to be the one storyline every agrees is terrible.

[Mellowyellow]

4 minutes ago, Chaser said:

Feelings. Reporter is going to dismiss everything because feelings and Oliver just forgives it all cause hope and optimism. I'm worried he is going to go to her with the exclusive on his identity at the end of th season. That's worst case for me.

Best case is the romantic aspect is over and she is a total antagonist or if they want her to be "trustworthy" she just pops up as an actual Reporter. 

I think they will go full stupid though. 

Oh can you imagine how many viewers will just be DYING to come back to watch his budding relationship with the feral reporter who NO ONE cares about! Oh the ratings! 

It just does not make sense! I agree with you they could totally do this but it does not make sense from a good TV perspective! Hell hooking him up with Dinah for the rest of the season would make more sense since I know at least some people will appreciate this. I do not understand why they must persist with this reporter that is like a wart that won't go away! WHY?????

[tangerine95]

I'll never understand them pushing this reporter storyline through 2 sweeps periods. There was zero excitement for that, it might actually be the one relationship of Oliver's that no one seems to like and it's pretty much hated all around.Whatever the whole storyline turns out to be imo it won't be worth it that they wasted time on this character, her boring investigation or her gross relationship with Oliver. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by tangerine95

[LadyChaos]

I'm hoping that the romance angle with Rita Skeeter is over, that she goes after Felicity and Oliver has to step in and protect Felicity from Susan, and then Prometheus kills Susan.....

[apinknightmare]

21 minutes ago, Chaser said:

Feelings. Reporter is going to dismiss everything because feelings and Oliver just forgives it all cause hope and optimism. I'm worried he is going to go to her with the exclusive on his identity at the end of th season. That's worst case for me.

Best case is the romantic aspect is over and she is a total antagonist or if they want her to be "trustworthy" she just pops up as an actual Reporter. 

I think they will go full stupid though. 

I think the only way to not have her be a shitty reporter (in the dumping the story for penis way, and not dating her subject for a story way), and for Oliver to not look like a complete and utter moron regarding her is to agree to an exclusive to out himself. That way she actually doesn't drop her story because feelings, and he's a willing participant at that point in what she's writing (even though it didn't start out that way). 

I think the show started laying the case for Oliver outing himself this past ep since he managed to convince the chief of the ACU that he shouldn't be arrested for Billy's murder because he felt super bad about it. So...since that seems to be the only murder that counts at this point - all the others were big time baddies or goons, and the ones before were erased by the Arrow going to jail and then dying there, he won't have anything to fear from law enforcement, so he'll be in the clear. I'm guessing the show will ignore the accomplices/accessories part of the whole thing regarding the team. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by apinknightmare

[insomniadreams88]

4 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

I think the show started laying the case for Oliver outing himself this past ep since he managed to convince the chief of the ACU that he shouldn't be arrested for Billy's murder because he felt super bad about it. So...since that seems to be the only murder that counts at this point - all the others were big time baddies or goons, and the ones before were erased by the Arrow going to jail and then dying there, he won't have anything to fear from law enforcement, so he'll be in the clear. I'm guessing the show will ignore the accomplices/accessories part of the whole thing regarding the team. 

It's because it's not just his secret anymore and he'd be putting everyone else at risk that I hope if he even considers this, the rest of the team holds an intervention for him. "Oliver, we've called you here today because you've been stupid lately..." 

[LadyChaos]

3 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

I think the only way to not have her be a shitty reporter, and for Oliver to not look like a complete and utter moron regarding her is to agree to an exclusive to out himself. That way she actually doesn't drop her story because feelings, and he's a willing participant at that point in what she's writing (even though she didn't start out that way). 

I think the show started laying the case for Oliver outing himself this past ep since he managed to convince the chief of the ACU that he shouldn't be arrested for Billy's murder because he felt super bad about it. So...since that seems to be the only murder that counts at this point - all the others were big time baddies or goons, and the ones before were erased by the Arrow going to jail and then dying there, he won't have anything to fear from law enforcement, so he'll be in the clear. 

They only way this works though, is if Susan decides not to publish the article because of feelings otherwise how else would he be able to back peddle it to keep his identity secret for the remainder of the series.  He can't change his name again.  So he would have to out himself, and she not write the article because feelings or she dies before she can release it.  Or her arc is going to a different direction.

[Trisha]

18 minutes ago, insomniadreams88 said:

Well, it is only a one-week break...

Is there another break coming in April or something? It's really common for the CW to take pretty lengthy breaks in the spring, and season 5 didn't start any later than usual. Assuming the finale is mid-May, that gives us 13 weeks for 9 more episodes. Maybe they'll just take a week off here and there?

1 hour ago, dtissagirl said:

Yeah, Thea would have had to go through Susan's articles, write articles plagiarizing her, and hack into online publications to put up those plagiarized articles there -- backdated to before Susan did any of her reporting. So in this scenario Thea is a writer and a hacker too. OR she hired writers to do the job [and a hacker who isn't Felicity], and paid them off to confirm the plagiarism claim when Susan's employers investigated.

I'm assuming nobody in the writers room thought this through at all, though.

Maybe it's just my background, but it drives me NUTS that they don't seem to have a handle on what kind of reporter Susan is. She was clearly introduced as a TV correspondent but it seems like Thea planted plagiarized newspaper articles on her laptop, and in the stills for the next episode she's carrying a print reporter's notepad.  In j-school you have to pick your stream (broadcast, print, radio, etc) and go from there. I've never known anyone who's jumped around because on-camera to newspaper are completely different jobs.  I know logic isn't really present in this show anymore, but nailing down what kind of a reporter she actually is should have been a pretty basic step when writing her character.

[LadyChaos]

In the photos released with Thea, it seems to me she is saying she is leaving.  Does it come across that way to anyone else?

[apinknightmare]

14 minutes ago, LadyChaos said:

They only way this works though, is if Susan decides not to publish the article because of feelings otherwise how else would he be able to back peddle it to keep his identity secret for the remainder of the series.  He can't change his name again.  So he would have to out himself, and she not write the article because feelings or she dies before she can release it.  Or her arc is going to a different direction.

Not really.

Oliver doesn't need to keep his identity a secret for the rest of the series - I'm assuming the reason the groundwork is being laid now is because he either reveals it in the season finale or the episodes leading up to it.

At this point it could go a few ways. There's a built-in excuse for Susan not publishing what she has right now: she was fired from her job for plagiarism and all of her info was discredited. 

Assuming Thea does somehow right this wrong and Susan gets her job back, she still doesn't have any proof that Oliver is the Green Arrow. She either needs a few more episodes to get that evidence, or she'll need him working with her in order to get it.

If Thea doesn't manage to right this wrong, then Susan still has no credibility, and she'll need Oliver's cooperation to give her claim legitimacy, which it seems he'd be totally willing to do since he thinks Thea wronged Susan, and he doesn't seem to give much of a shit about keeping his identity secret anymore anyway.

And this is Arrow, so if they need to stretch it out until they're ready to deal with it they will, regardless of whether it makes sense  - like Felicity not trying to find information to exonerate Diggle until episode 11 because plot.

Edited February 24, 2017 by apinknightmare

[Chaser]

Had a thought.

Im actually surprised that Reporter was exposed so soon. I thought they would be dating longer so his reaction would have more substance. What if they weren't tone deaf to the earlier reaction to the Reporter and sped up the storyline? They do break up but CP is still signed on for so many episodes so they continue with whatever Russian storyline.

[apinknightmare]

7 minutes ago, Chaser said:

They do break up but CP is still signed on for so many episodes so they continue with whatever Russian storyline.

Maybe that's why they had her mention that she was working on another story when she found information about him. Seemed like bullshit at the time, but maybe she was working on something to do with Russia/ the Bratva / whatever. 

Anatoly did ask Oliver to take care of something for him in Star City while he was in Russia in 5x12...

I'm just not sure if that could tie back to Susan since that would indicate that Anatoly knew someone was onto them, and Oliver went back to Star City and slept with her, giving her access to the information she'd need to tie Oliver to the Bratva (the tattoo). And while maybe I could believe there was some kind of a ruse going on for a long con, that would make Oliver trusting her not to report out on him being the Green Arrow all the more stupid since clearly he'd have reason to be suspicious of her if Anatoly was. 

Unless the Bratva have something on her and Oliver's convinced that will keep her quiet. But...if they did then he would've revealed that when Susan came to his office. Or it's Arrow and it makes no sense because plot. 

Why do I keep doing this to myself.

[dtissagirl]

For me it looks like their typical schedule -- all sorts of relationshippy stuff [good or bad] almost always happens during Sweeps on this show. So all of the Oliver/Susan stuff is happening now because February Sweeps.

[Morrigan2575]

46 minutes ago, Trisha said:

Is there another break coming in April or something? It's really common for the CW to take pretty lengthy breaks in the spring, and season 5 didn't start any later than usual. Assuming the finale is mid-May, that gives us 13 weeks for 9 more episodes. Maybe they'll just take a week off here and there?

 

There will most likely be another break as there usually is 2 breaks in the Spring.

In S1 they took a 2 week break after Feb Sweeps and then another 2 week break in April. In S3 they took 2 weeks after Feb Sweeps and then another week in April. In S4 they took 4 weeks after Feb Sweeps then another 2 weeks in April, the also ended a week later than normal (In May) . I skipped S2 because that was messed up due to Winter Olympics.

For S5 it looks like they came back a week late from Winter break, which leads to only a 1 week break after Feb Sweeps (there's there normal 2 weeks).  They'll probably do another 2 weeks in April and then end at their normal Mid-May date. 

Perhaps CW has finally learned that long breaks kills their ratings.

[Trisha]

Not sure if this is how I'd use the phrase "juicy tease" but ok. Wonder if it's Talia who goes back with him?  http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/24/spoiler-room-arrow-shield-blacklist/

Quote

We know that Oliver is going to end up back on the island this season on Arrow. Is there anything you can tease about how he’s going to get back there? — Breanne
Here’s a juicy tease: “I can tease that it will either be by boat or plane,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim tells me. “I can also tease he won’t be going back alone.”

Edited February 24, 2017 by Trisha

[LadyChaos]

1 hour ago, Chaser said:

Had a thought.

Im actually surprised that Reporter was exposed so soon. I thought they would be dating longer so his reaction would have more substance. What if they weren't tone deaf to the earlier reaction to the Reporter and sped up the storyline? They do break up but CP is still signed on for so many episodes so they continue with whatever Russian storyline.

It's completely possible....rumors are floating that TPTB had been talked to by the network to make changes....

However, I've been on the mindset that their relationship would only last 4-5 episode and that whatever eps she was in after that would be fallout.  I expected her to be around for the whole season all alone.

1 minute ago, Trisha said:

Not sure if this is how I'd use the phrase "juicy tease" but ok: http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/24/spoiler-room-arrow-shield-blacklist/

I wonder if its both present and flashback that he goes.  They did say something about Slade Wilson.

[finnaire]

7 minutes ago, Trisha said:

Not sure if this is how I'd use the phrase "juicy tease" but ok. Wonder if it's Talia who goes back with him?  http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/24/spoiler-room-arrow-shield-blacklist/

Maybe he's going back with one of the monks from that monastery we see in the opening credits they never got around to explaining.

[lemotomato]

1 hour ago, Chaser said:

Had a thought.

Im actually surprised that Reporter was exposed so soon. I thought they would be dating longer so his reaction would have more substance. What if they weren't tone deaf to the earlier reaction to the Reporter and sped up the storyline? They do break up but CP is still signed on for so many episodes so they continue with whatever Russian storyline.

I think episode 14 was written before reporter showed up onscreen, though. If they already had plans for the relationship arc, I'm not sure they had time to throw it out and restructure her role.

[LadyChaos]

9 minutes ago, lemotomato said:

I think episode 14 was written before reporter showed up onscreen, though. If they already had plans for the relationship arc, I'm not sure they had time to throw it out and restructure her role.

TPTB have said numerous times they only write 2 eps ahead.  They would have been writing 514 when they were filming 512 and the she was already well introduced by then having been in 4-5 aired eps at that point, because it was filmed mid to late November.  Not only that but filming fell behind last year which would imply that there were delays in production.

Edited February 24, 2017 by LadyChaos

[Chaser]

19 minutes ago, Trisha said:

Not sure if this is how I'd use the phrase "juicy tease" but ok. Wonder if it's Talia who goes back with him?  http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/24/spoiler-room-arrow-shield-blacklist/

He's going to take Felicity back with him. 

Dont tell me otherwise. 

[LadyChaos]

3 minutes ago, Chaser said:

He's going to take Felicity back with him. 

Dont tell me otherwise. 

This is the moment the Olicity fandom has wanted since 103!

[lemotomato]

8 minutes ago, LadyChaos said:

TPTB have said numerous times they only write 2 eps ahead.  They would have been writing 514 when they were filming 512 and the she was already well introduced by then, because it was filmed mid to late November.  Not only that but filming fell behind last year which would imply that there were delays in production.

I'm guessing when episodes are written based on the writers' tweets. Brian Ford Sullivan mentions working on a script with Ben Sokolowski in early September. Turns out they were writing episode 10. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by lemotomato

[dtissagirl]

1 minute ago, LadyChaos said:

TPTB have said numerous times they only write 2 eps ahead.  They would have been writing 514 when they were filming 512 and the she was already well introduced by then, because it was filmed mid to late November.  Not only that but filming fell behind last year which would imply that there were delays in production.

This isn't how it goes. Even if filming gets behind, the writing is much further along than just 2 episodes. They usually start the season 8-9 episodes ahead in writing [501 aired when 508 was filming and 509 was in production prep]. After the holiday break, the gap closes a little to maybe 4-5 episodes ahead. But no way they're just 2 eps ahead in writing. The network would be staging an intervention if that were happening.

[LadyChaos]

Just now, lemotomato said:

I'm guessing when episodes are written based on the writers' tweets. Brian Ford Sullivan mentions working on a script with Ben Sokolowski in early September. Turns out they were writing episode 10. 

I know people who have spreadsheets recording this data.....they are useful.  :P

[Trisha]

In that EW Spoiler Room article, they link to their latest Superhero Radio podcast. If you FF to the end, Natalie Abrams says that she'll post part two of her SA interview next week but when she asked him about Oliver and Dinah, his take seemed to be that we expect that because of the comics but Arrow has never been beholden to the comics. So that's nice! 

Fast-forward to around the 49 min mark:

[AyChihuahua]

Quote

Here’s a juicy tease: “I can tease that it will either be by boat or plane..” 

As opposed to riding a fucking shark to the island?

God Guggie's dumb.

[way2interested]

At least if it's by plane maybe they'll remember to finally show us how Oliver learned to fly a plane.

Just now, Trisha said:

In that EW Spoiler Room article, they link to their latest Superhero Radio podcast. If you FF to the end, Natalie Abrams says that she'll post part two of her SA interview next week but when she asked him about Oliver and Dinah, his take seemed to be that we expect that because of the comics but Arrow has never been beholden to the comics. So that's nice! 

Huzzah, and pretty much the same Oliver/Laurel answer he's been giving since s2.

Edited February 24, 2017 by way2interested
not by boat, that ruins the point of the comment

[insomniadreams88]

4 minutes ago, AyChihuahua said:

As opposed to riding a fucking shark to the island?

God Guggie's dumb.

No, swimming the entire way back, of course.