Spoiler Discussion Thread: The Final Countdown

[tv echo]

[tv echo]

[tv echo]

Per IMDb, 809 guest cast includes Wyatt Fossett as "Club Partier," Caitlin McCarthy as "Paparazzi" and Anoop Randhawa as "Paparazzi"...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9700188/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Per IMDb, 810 guest cast includes NIcholas Dohy as "Vigil Citizen (uncredited)"...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9700192/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Edited November 18, 2019 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Arrow's Katherine McNamara Weighs In on Mia's Bid to Earn Oliver's Respect, Teases an 'Iconic' Series Finale
By Matt Webb Mitovich / November 18 2019, 8:16 AM PST
https://tvline.com/2019/11/18/arrow-8x05-preview-katherine-mcnamara-mia-oliver-russia/ 

Quote

TVLINE | Given how things ended in that episode, are we going to get sliiiightly warmer moments between them moving forward?
Slightly. Slightly. But tensions are running high in the multiverse at this point, and anything could get in the way of that. Also, Oliver’s not used to having his kids around when he’s “working” per se. He’s not used to having to think about their well-being in the midst of battle. That presents an opportunity for their relationship to change, but it’s also an opportunity for Mia to show off what she does best in front of her father, which is a welcome surprise on his part.
*  *  *
TVLINE | What is going on in this week’s episode, “Prochnost”?
So, this is one of my favorite episodes of the season, largely because when I watched the show, I was such a huge fan of Anatoly, and getting to work with David Nykl for an episode was a dream come true. [Laughs] But also, it’s the first time you really get to see Mia and Oliver interact one-on-one for an entire episode. You get to see both of them “on the job” and whether or not they see eye-to-eye. They’re both used to being in charge, they’re both used to being the one with the plan and the one who carries it out, and they’re similar in how strong they are, so moving forward it’s a bit of a power struggle. But also, you get to see a bit of their banter for the first time and that comes from the fact that Mia’s sense of humor is very similar to Felicity’s. So those interactions become really interesting, and I think, you know, harken into the spirit of Arrow, as it were.

TVLINE | I don’t suppose Mia picked up any Russian there in the year 2040, did she?
Not Mia. But somebody certainly did….

TVLINE | At the end of the last episode we saw a Monitor approach Laurel and make a pretty enticing offer. Is anybody on the team going to get a sense that Laurel is grappling with an internal conflict?
I… don’t think I can actually talk about that. But Laurel does wrestle with that, and actually there’s a really lovely scene with Mia and Laurel in this episode. But Mia has bigger fish to fry in this episode; it has certainly become an emotional struggle, as well as a physical one, to make it out alive, and it’s the first opportunity for Mia also to show her dad what she does best. She takes every advantage to show off her skill. Whether or not she succeeds is a another story.
*  *  *
TVLINE | When I spoke with Charlie Barnett (who plays JJ/Deathstroke) a couple of weeks ago, he said pretty much nothing about the backdoor pilot episode except that he’s in it. Can you share a bit more?
[Network publicist on call intervenes, slams down the Cone of Silence] No. I can’t really say anything. I can say it’s really exciting and it’s very different, and there are going to be a lot of things that are quite unexpected within that.

TVLINE | OK, then give me three words to describe the series finale (airing Tuesday, Jan. 28).
The series finale? OK, you’ve got to give me second because I want to make this right…. I would say the series finale of Arrow is iconic; I would say it is about community; and it’s a farewell.

Edited November 18, 2019 by tv echo

[Josh371982]

2 hours ago, tv echo said:

Arrow's Katherine McNamara Weighs In on Mia's Bid to Earn Oliver's Respect, Teases an 'Iconic' Series Finale
By Matt Webb Mitovich / November 18 2019, 8:16 AM PST
https://tvline.com/2019/11/18/arrow-8x05-preview-katherine-mcnamara-mia-oliver-russia/ 

Yeah sorry Kat after the last Laurel/Mia scene I dont give a fuck about Mia/Laurel scenes. Mia shouldn't be smirking at BS making a comment about Oliver being a Dick when Laurels done worse than Oliver has 

[Starfish35]

11 minutes ago, Josh371982 said:

Mia shouldn't be smirking at BS making a comment about Oliver being a Dick when Laurels done worse than Oliver has 

Well, in Mia’s defense, she really has no idea what exactly Laurel has done (unless I’ve missed something, which is very possible).  All she knows is that she saved her in the future, that she’s on her dad’s team, that she’s one of the Canaries, and a vague comment that she used to play for “Team Villain.”

But yes, the audience knows, and now that I’m watching again this season, I continue to be surprised (though I shouldn’t be) about much they’ve given Laurel the Regina Mills treatment. 🙄

[Chaser]

19 minutes ago, Josh371982 said:

Yeah sorry Kat after the last Laurel/Mia scene I dont give a fuck about Mia/Laurel scenes. Mia shouldn't be smirking at BS making a comment about Oliver being a Dick when Laurels done worse than Oliver has 

I got the impression Kat doesn’t either. 

[apinknightmare]

6 minutes ago, Starfish35 said:

All she knows is that she saved her in the future, that she’s on her dad’s team, that she’s one of the Canaries, and a vague comment that she used to play for “Team Villain.”

Yeah. I guess she figures it can't be all that bad if the team is willing to consider her an ally now (oh, sweet summer child).

[insomniadreams88]

5 hours ago, Starfish35 said:

Well, in Mia’s defense, she really has no idea what exactly Laurel has done (unless I’ve missed something, which is very possible).  All she knows is that she saved her in the future, that she’s on her dad’s team, that she’s one of the Canaries, and a vague comment that she used to play for “Team Villain.”

But yes, the audience knows, and now that I’m watching again this season, I continue to be surprised (though I shouldn’t be) about much they’ve given Laurel the Regina Mills treatment. 🙄

The problem is the show has wanted us to forget all the evil this Laurel has done from the moment Cayden said she “hesitated” to kill Vince. But we can’t. We remember her killing when she didn’t need to. I don’t know why the show refuses to acknowledge the full extent of her villainy when it could and still have her be a hero now. (Well, actually I do know: it’s the way the Arrowverse writes every Laurel — without a care, really). 

I’m really not looking forward to any Laurel/Mia or Dinah/Mia scenes. I preferred the antagonistic Dinah/Mia scenes we got in the FFs in S7. 

Still wish the Canary Network had been evil. Green Arrow vs. the Canaries could have worked too... 

[Starfish35]

6 minutes ago, insomniadreams88 said:

The problem is the show has wanted us to forget all the evil this Laurel has done from the moment Cayden said she “hesitated” to kill Vince. But we can’t. We remember her killing when she didn’t need to. I don’t know why the show refuses to acknowledge the full extent of her villainy when it could and still have her be a hero now. (Well, actually I do know: it’s the way the Arrowverse writes every Laurel — without a care, really). 

Oh I know, and I sympathize - it’s why I said the show has given her the full-on Regina Mills treatment (although maybe only Once Upon A Time viewers will get that reference).  I’m just saying....from Mia’s point of view, she doesn’t know any of that.  🤷🏻‍♀️

Edited November 19, 2019 by Starfish35

[scarynikki12]

11 minutes ago, Starfish35 said:

 it’s why I said the show has given her the full-on Regina Mills treatment (although maybe only Once Upon A Time viewers will get that reference).

Not to worry they've seen me complain about Regina plenty in these threads. And, yes, Siren's been given a lighter version of the Regina treatment. There's no chance Siren will end up being voted Dictator by her adoring victims. She just gets to join them on missions so it's more like she's Regina in 3A.

[way2interested]

First clip for 805

https://www.eonline.com/news/1094088/colton-haynes-returns-to-arrow-in-new-sneak-peek

And EW interview with KM 

https://ew.com/tv/2019/11/18/arrow-katherine-mcnamara-russia-season-8-episode-5-preview/

Quote

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was it like getting to finally work with Stephen Amell? Was there anything that surprised you?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: I was so excited to get to work with Stephen. Having watched the series, I was a fan of his work. And then when I shadowed [director] James Bamford during the premiere episode of this season, I really got to watch Stephen work. I got to see how he carries the show. I have such respect for that. So getting to work with him and to build this relationship is really wonderful because there’s such a lovely aspect to both Mia and Oliver in this in this moment, in that Oliver doesn’t really have much experience being a parent and Mia has no experience with her father. So the two of them are at their most vulnerable together in this. Even though they are connected and they are a part of each other, they’re strangers, and they’re having to work through so many difficult, emotional, personal things while not knowing each other at all. There’s such a beauty to the fact that they’re both so uncomfortable and vulnerable and are forced to confront all of these things head-on.

In this week’s episode, what’s their main challenge on the mission to Russia?
[Laughs] First of all, Mia is very much used to being in charge, and she’s very much not in charge on this mission. So Mia’s will, and how headstrong she is, is their biggest challenge, just simply given that Oliver wants to protect his kids but they’re on a mission for the first time together. It’s that struggle of, “How do I protect my kids? But also how do I trust them and how do I utilize them and their skill sets on this mission?” What Oliver doesn’t realize is that he has two extremely headstrong children who don’t always follow direction well, particularly Mia. Her free will definitely plays a lot into the obstacles and advantages in this episode.

We’re going to see Oliver and Mia enter this fight club together. What was that experience like shooting those fight scenes?
For Mia, it’s the first time that her father really gets to see her skill set, and she gets to show her father what she does best. But alternatively, having just lost Zoe and gone through her first major loss as a fighter, she’s shaken and she is kind of off her center a little bit. That’s a struggle for her going through this episode. Whether or not she is as successful as she wants to be remains to be seen.

But for me going into this episode, I was so excited. I fell in love with fighting on screen during Shadowhunters. I had such amazing stunt coordinators on that show that really took time and taught me how to fight. I was so thrilled to be able to carry that skill set into this show, and even more thrilled that the stunt coordinators on this job have given me so many opportunities to use those skills. In this episode in particular, I’m really proud of [the fact that] I had the opportunity to do most if not all of my fighting in the episode. There were a few little aerial trick pieces that are way beyond my league, but the majority of the actual fighting was all me in this episode.

Russia holds this really significant place in Oliver’s life. It’s a place where he wasn’t at his best. How does Mia react to being in Russia and, presumably, learning what he went through while there?
Well, if there’s anything we know about Mia, she thrives on a seedy environment — and Mia loves Russia. She takes to it like a fish to water. It’s fascinating to her. For Oliver, as any parent would, he wants to protect his kids from learning about the dark side of his past, and he quickly learns that’s a lot more difficult than he expects. That becomes a huge challenge for them, but it gives Mia an opportunity to understand her father a bit more and to really see the difficult choices that have been put in front of him his entire time being the Green Arrow. I think it allows her to come to terms a little bit more with the decisions that he’s made and with her blaming him for abandoning her, in a sense, to be this hero. She’s slowly starting to see his perspective a bit more, just as he’s starting to see hers. They bond in a sense because they start to realize how similar they are.

Of course Mia met most of Team Arrow in the future, but is there anyone she’s bonding with now that she’s in the present?
There’s a lovely little scene with Laurel in there, and I think Anatoly has quite an interesting interaction with Mia, given that he was so instrumental in Oliver becoming who he is. Seeing those qualities in Mia, it’s fun for him to not only watch Oliver try and be a parent but for him to see sort of an Oliver Jr. in Mia. I’m also am a huge David Nykl fan, so getting to work with him was just a dream because I love Anatoly so much. I think he’s such a great character, and having that interaction with so great.

But in particular, Mia and William are starting to bond on another level as well because, yes, Mia has a lot of things to work through with Oliver, but so does William. The two of them are both trying to find some kind of solid ground, and they become each other’s rock, in a sense, as they try and sort out their father issues together.

Mia has an interesting relationship with the Diggle brothers. Last season hinted there was potentially something more between Mia and Connor, and in the season 8 premiere there was a brief spark between Mia and J.J. before she found out who he was. Can we expect the next episodes to dig into that and what, if anything, is going on there?
Let me put it this way: The Queen family and the Diggle family are always connected. We’ve seen the bromance with Oliver and John, and there’s definitely something going on with Mia and the Diggle brothers as we move forward, but I can’t really get into that now.

[Trisha]

[apinknightmare]

25 minutes ago, way2interested said:

and there’s definitely something going on with Mia and the Diggle brothers as we move forward, but I can’t really get into that now.

I hope this is something other than an icky sibling love triangle. I thought (hoped) Arrow grew out of that after the second season.

[way2interested]

9 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

I hope this is something other than an icky sibling love triangle. I thought (hoped) Arrow grew out of that after the second season.

Same, but the least they can do if so is make Crisis make JJ not a psycho who killed her teammate in front of her after almost murdering her.

[Trisha]

MG is really doubling down on the “Oliver is dead in the future” talk tonight. Cause showrunners love spoiling their endings on Twitter, right?

[way2interested]

I don't even get a freakout for that. It's not really spoiling anything as of right now. 722 in 2040 shows that Oliver is "dead," 809 takes place in 2040. Ergo, as of right now, in 809 Oliver is "dead." What else do people expect him to say? They didn't even confirm 804 changed things yet.

[Primal Slayer]

1 hour ago, Trisha said:

boo, was hoping they'd just keep it in present day. Going to the present once a year for the crossovers will seem really contrived. But lets see how they can make things interesting.

[Trisha]

11 minutes ago, way2interested said:

I don't even get a freakout for that. It's not really spoiling anything as of right now. 722 in 2040 shows that Oliver is "dead," 809 takes place in 2040. Ergo, as of right now, in 809 Oliver is "dead." What else do people expect him to say? They didn't even confirm 804 changed things yet.

Yeah, he’s just trying to stir stuff up (and he probably knows some people are spoiled that the future has changed because of that statue sighting). It’s weird that he’s acting like they confirmed Oliver’s death in the future though; in the last episode didn’t William and Mia say no one knows exactly what happened to him when he disappeared?

[way2interested]

1 minute ago, Trisha said:

It’s weird that he’s acting like they confirmed Oliver’s death in the future though; in the last episode didn’t William and Mia say no one knows exactly what happened to him when he disappeared?

Yeah, but the Monitor told Oliver he dies and it looks like he remains gone (at this point) through 2040, so, at this point in the narrative, it's not about the what happened. He's gone after Crisis, the Monitor said he dies, there's a tombstone, Oliver's repeated that he's going to die every episode this season, so the audience is supposed to believe he's just dead and gone, like what they're doing on Flash (keeping the "how" on Barry's death super vague and just focusing on "yep, he's definitely going to die").

I do think the "what happened" will totally come into play, though. It's more of at this point the narrative's still going, so that's what MG's pushing

[Josh371982]

1 hour ago, way2interested said:

First clip for 805

https://www.eonline.com/news/1094088/colton-haynes-returns-to-arrow-in-new-sneak-peek

And EW interview with KM 

https://ew.com/tv/2019/11/18/arrow-katherine-mcnamara-russia-season-8-episode-5-preview/

UGH I DO NOT WANT BROTHERS FIGHTING OVER A WOMAN(I'm assuming they make JJ a good guy after the Reset). I HATE love Triangles especially ones with Siblings or Family members fighting for the same woman or Man. Christ there are already warped people who ship Mia with POS JJ who just killed Zoe. 

[Josh371982]

1 hour ago, apinknightmare said:

I hope this is something other than an icky sibling love triangle. I thought (hoped) Arrow grew out of that after the second season.

I really dont know what else it can be at this point. I'm actually Interested in the potential spinoff and a gross JJ/Mia/Connor Love triangle is something i wont wanna watch. I still dont understand why or how people get entertained by that or why Show Writers/Producers do them. I wanna like Mia not despise her stringing BROTHERS along when the writers can do better and they must have a stupid love triangle not have siblings or family involved

1 hour ago, way2interested said:

Same, but the least they can do if so is make Crisis make JJ not a psycho who killed her teammate in front of her after almost murdering her.

And that's another reason why I dont get warped people shipping her with JJ

[statsgirl]

I really want a JJ/William ship. Come on, be a bit original.

[Mellowyellow]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

I really want a JJ/William ship. Come on, be a bit original.

But he's so evil while William is bouncy and cute like his Ma.

[Featherhat]

I guess maybe some people were hoping it's a full on "Oliver and Felicity raise the kids in the mansion or somewhere" after Mia and that room? However even if that happens it wouldn't be something they'd spoil over twitter and they still have an episode to go after the backdoor pilot. Whatever "not death" they actually have planned for Oliver it's probably not going to be that simple. Still think it's going to be some version of a different dimension. 

If they ever have Laurel bring lasagne to a team meeting/group of her victims and act sad when know one wants it, I'm out. However I don't think they're going as full throttle on it as Regina because they don't care about her has much as the two on OUAT clearly wanted Regina to be the centre of the universe and just needed to get all their other pesky characters to agree. It will be interesting to see how Reset plays out with Quentin and Oliver and Laurel's scenes though. They haven't had very many so far, I was expecting a lot more. 

I didn't really like the Mia/Laurel scene for a number of reasons but Mia wasn't ready to talk to Oliver and they wanted to build that relationship much more slowly than Oliver and William so Laurel it was. I don't get the feeling it was one Kat was particularly excited about given SM stuff. 

[RS3]

With how much MG's talking about the 2046 timeline, I'm afraid the crossover might be one giant serving of possible timelines, with each timeline resetting again and again. And we won't know what the final timeline is until the 810, which means they could go a completely different way for 809 (if it's as unaffected as Beth claims it is). 

side note... I never in a million years thought I'd be talking about time travel for Arrow's series finale. Times like these is when I remember how right SA was when he said the show ended in 722. 

[tv echo]

If Oliver is really dead dead (as MG tweeted above), then are we to understand that Felicity also died at the end of S7 when she went through the portal? If so, what a bummer ending to the series.

Edited November 19, 2019 by tv echo

[tv echo]

‘Arrow’ Star Katherine McNamara on the Final Season, Those Spinoff Rumors, and ‘Shadowhunters’
Christina Radish   November 19, 2019
https://collider.com/arrow-season-8-interview-katherine-mcnamara/ 

Quote

Collider: How did your first day on the show compared to what has now been your last day on the show?
KATHERINE McNAMARA: Well, it was very different. My first day on the show, I was fighting in a cage with a black eye. And the last day on the show, I was having a very heartfelt scene with someone, having a conversation about my feelings, which is a very different road for Mia. She goes through a lot, and she grows quite a bit, over the course of the seasons. That’s been really amazing. That’s an actor’s dream is to get to play a character that actually goes somewhere.
*  *  *
What have you always loved about playing Mia, and what have you grown to appreciate about her, that you didn’t necessarily know was there, when you signed on?
McNAMARA: I love how fearless she is and how much she will just jump into anything, head on. She’s not afraid to get her hands dirty, when it comes to a fight. But what I’ve really grown to love about her is that, as she’s gone through all of these situations and been forced to confront her biggest vulnerability, standing right in front of her, in her father, is that she might have the hardest exterior, but on the inside, she’s just a big old teddy bear. She’s just like the rest of us. She just wants a family. She just wants to be loved, and to find that connection. Getting to see her slip into that space of vulnerability is really beautiful. She’s got a big old heart under that hard exterior, and we really get to see that come out, in full force, in these last few episodes, of the season.

Obviously, Mia, William and Connor clearly didn’t expect to end up in the past, face to face with their fathers. Now that she’s maybe had a little bit of time for that to sink in, how is she dealing with that?
McNAMARA: Oh, there’s a long road ahead of us, to deal with all of that. Honestly, the biggest desire she’s had, in her life, is to have that connection with her father. And yet, his choices are also the reason, in her mind, that she’s had a difficult life. And so, she does blame him, in a sense, for all of the hardships and setbacks that she’s had. Having to deal with that is rather difficult, but when tensions run high in the multi-verse, so do emotions. Things come to a head, in a way that won’t always be amicable. In this episode, I was so excited because it’s the first time that Mia gets to show Oliver what she does best, and get to really be in her element, in the ring, and get to fight with her father. I think it surprises him, in a lot of ways, the skill set that she does have. Alternatively, Mia has just been through her biggest loss. Being one who claims that she doesn’t lose, having lost a teammate, and then having it be her fault is really jarring for her and throws her off center. So there’s a bit of a rebuilding of confidence that has to happen, in this episode, as well.

It seems like there might also be a little bit of humor involved when you end up at a fight club with your father. That’s unexpected and unusual daddy-daughter bonding.
McNAMARA: Oh, for sure. But you know ? What better for the Queen family than a little cage fight in Russia. That’ll bring the family together.

What else can you say about what we can expect from this next episode and the trip to Russia?
McNAMARA: What’s great about this is episode is that, for the first time in awhile, we get to see Mia in her element. She loves a good seedy dive bar. Russia is her wheelhouse, in a sense. She takes to it, like a fish to water ‘cause it’s where she’s comfortable. But also, she’s dealing with all of these issues. She’s on mission with her father, for the first time, and she’s having to take a little bit of a back seat, when she used to be in a leadership role. And on top of that, Oliver’s struggling with, what trust do I put in my kids vs. how do I protect them? And he’s also trying to shield a bit of his dark past from his kids, which becomes increasingly difficult, when you have two very headstrong children who don’t always follow instructions, particularly Mia. What’s great about it is that you get to see the two of them interact, and because Mia has so much of Felicity’s sense of humor, their banter is really lovely, as well. The fact that they butt heads because Oliver and Mia are so similar, it’s a very nice interplay. 

How and when did you find out about the possibility of a new Arrow spin-off, and that it would focus on this crime fighting team of The Canaries?
McNAMARA: The spin-off was always a rumor, but so many things change, in television and in this industry. I try not to get too excited about things, until they’re actually real. But it’s been really exciting, though, to get to discover what the possibilities for the future are, and what this new world could be. I think people are going to be rather surprised by the direction that we take with it. I’m hoping for the best.

In the same way, now that you’ve come to the end of Arrow, regardless of what happens with that spin-off, do you feel like there is a sense of closure to this chapter of Mia’s life?
McNAMARA: As much closure as you can get, yes. There’s a lot that she has to work through, over the course of the next five or six episodes, depending on how you count it with the crossover. There’s a lot that happens, and it’s barely the tip of the iceberg, in Episodes 4 and 5, as to the journey that she has, to come to that sense of closure. With any series that has so many characters and so many storylines, it takes a lot to try to wrap it up. I really credit the writers for giving the show the ending that it deserves, and for really honoring everything with the entire cast and crew, but Stephen [Amell], who has built this character, the Green Arrow, and what that legacy means. It’s a really beautiful finale, and I hope people enjoy it.

What would you say Mia’s biggest strength is, and what would you say her biggest weakness is?
McNAMARA: I would say that they’re one in the same, and I think it’s her heart. There’s a reason she fights so hard for what she believes in, and there’s also a reason that she is so shaken by moments of vulnerability. She puts her all into it, and the people she loves and the things she believes in. She may have a very thick shield, but once you get past that armor, she’s just a bleeding heart, just like her father.

It’s been so fun to watch this trio of Mia, William and Connor, as this next generation of superheroes. What’s it been like to get to explore their legacy while also watching them come into their own?
McNAMARA: Well, what I love so much about this future Team Arrow aspect is that it still plays on that familiar superhero trope that Arrow audiences have come to love. You have the brooding vigilante, you have the best friend who’s the moral compass, and then you have the expert who mediates between everyone and provides a little bit of levity into the situation. But as opposed to the accepted stereotypes that would fill that role, you have a tiny blonde girl as the vigilante, and you have a villain’s son as the moral compass, and you have William who is an enigma, in and of himself, who’s the expert on the team. It really becomes a nice balance. It’s familiar but fresh, and it really turns that that classic relationship and that classic triangle on its head, in a way that’s really poignant. It’s very 2020, and it’s very 2040, as well.

Edited November 19, 2019 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Reading the below tweet reminded me of a past KC interview where she said she had pitched to MG that she wanted E1 Laurel and E2 Laurel to meet. However, it also led me to this horrible thought - assuming there's a paradise dimension, what if that's where 'dead' heroes go, and what if E1 Laurel is waiting in that paradise dimension for Oliver when he 'dies'? That would mean Oliver & Felicity would have to deal with E1 Laurel hanging around them for eternity...

Edited November 19, 2019 by tv echo

[tv echo]

ARROW: David Ramsey on the Eighth and final season of the super hero series – Exclusive Interview
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN  November 19th, 2019 
https://www.assignmentx.com/2019/arrow-david-ramsey-on-the-eighth-and-final-season-of-the-super-hero-series-exclusive-interview/ 

Quote

AX: Do you have any other projects going on that we should know about?

RAMSEY: I’ll be directing Episode 6 [scheduled to air Tuesday, November 26], and besides that, I’m concentrating on the finale.

Edited November 19, 2019 by tv echo

[apinknightmare]

23 minutes ago, tv echo said:

Reading the below tweet reminded me of a past KC interview where she said she had pitched to MG that she wanted E1 Laurel and E2 Laurel to meet. However, it also led me to this horrible thought - assuming there's a paradise dimension, what if that's where 'dead' heroes go, and what if E1 Laurel is waiting in that paradise dimension for Oliver when he 'dies'? That would mean Oliver & Felicity would have to deal with E1 Laurel hanging around them for eternity...

Katie posted a BTS pic From crossover filming with David Ramsey and Glen Winter with smeared blood on her face and a bloody gut wound in the area where Laurel had hers, so I don’t think it’s a paradise dimension thing (or only that), unless they keep you all bloodied up in death in that dimension. 

[tv echo]

^^^ I wonder if both E1 Laurel and E2 Laurel will appear in the crossover...

Edited November 19, 2019 by tv echo

[Velocity23]

11 minutes ago, tv echo said:

^^^ I wonder if both E1 Laurel and E2 Laurel will appear in the crossover...

I think Guggenheim was pretty clear its only E1 version. And Katie was missing from all the important filming where we saw JH, Rick and David.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Velocity23

[apinknightmare]

23 minutes ago, tv echo said:

I wonder if both E1 Laurel and E2 Laurel will appear in the crossover...

It’s possible that Katie had taken off her wig for that pic. 

[way2interested]

Sneak peek #2

[apinknightmare]

I love that mentioned his misdeeds - acknowledging your past shittiness sincerely and with remorse goes a long way!

Also, Oliver's face when William busts out his Russian his great.

Edited November 19, 2019 by apinknightmare

[JJ928]

Am I the only person that thinks the spin-off will use the same Arrow season 1-5 formula of flashbacks? It's based in 2040, but they flashback to the creation of the canary network and use the fbs to fill in whatever blanks. Then in the 2040 timeline they'd have Team kids and Zoe running the canary network, they can have old LL and DD, instead of having anyone stuck in an alternate time. I don't know, I just don't think these same group of creators are gonna be too adventurous lol. I expect Arrow 2.0. So until proven otherwise, that's my guess 2040 with flashbacks to 2020.

Also, EWW and NO to a Diggle bros triangle. It didn't work for Arrow, and it won't work here it's just nasty.

Edited November 19, 2019 by JJ928

[apinknightmare]

1 minute ago, JJ928 said:

Am I the only person that thinks the spin-off will use the same Arrow season 1-5 formula of flashbacks? It's based in 2040, but they flashback to the creation of the canary network and use the fbs to fill in whatever blanks. Then in the 2040 timeline they'd have Team kids and Zoe running the canary network, they can have old LL and DD, instead of having anyone stuck in an alternate time. I don't know, I just don't think these same group of creators are gonna be too adventurous lol. I expect Arrow 2.0. So until proven otherwise, that's my guess 2040 with flashbacks to 2020.

I've considered that too. I guess it'd be easy enough to do if they wrote everyone we know out of Star City to make excuses for their absence in the spin-off (personally, I think that built-in excuse of it being in the future would be one of the draws of setting it there). 

[JJ928]

2 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

I've considered that too. I guess it'd be easy enough to do if they wrote everyone we know out of Star City to make excuses for their absence in the spin-off (personally, I think that built-in excuse of it being in the future would be one of the draws of setting it there). 

 They could have LL/DD relocate to start their Canary Network. Assuming there's still a team Arrow for Star City and Rene as mayor of the Glades, maybe those two start over together. That said, depending on crisis it may be easy to write off Oliver and Felicity, and I am sure they can get Rick back to guest star. 

[statsgirl]

Will we find out how it is that a tech guy also speaks Russian, or is it going to be just a quick Easter egg?

Anatoli, I've missed you!

I hope they won't go full on Regina Redemption for Laurel because KC works best as the snarky anti-hero which is why E1 Laurel was such a mess. I didn't like the Laurel/Mia scene because it was dissing Oliver and I'm so over that, and also because I'd rather have Felicity talk sense into Mia rather than Laurel (the lack of which I blame EBR for).

11 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

But he's so evil while William is bouncy and cute like his Ma.

He's not really. Remember when he told Roy that all his relationships failed because of his commitment issues?

I think it would be more interesting to have William attracted to JJ and torn up about it while JJ fights his attraction to a good guy than the tired old Connor/Mia/JJ triangle they're hinting at.

Reading all these spoilers makes me so sad.  I've always been excited to know what's coming up before but now they just remind me that when I've seen the scenes, it will be all over.

[way2interested]

Maybe Mia will use a technically made boxing glove arrow!

https://www.tvinsider.com/833564/katherine-mcnamara-arrow-season-8-mia-oliver-canaries-spinoff/

Quote

Hey Kat, how's it going?

Katherine McNamara: Oh, it's going great. It's a little weird, we just wrapped up the show over the last couple of days. I feel like I just did this with Shadowhunters. [Laughs]

But I am sure you still have a lot to do even though the show has wrapped...you've done the backdoor pilot, right?

It was kind of crazy. We have so much to do and coming off of the crossover, everybody was already slightly at their wits' end. But this crew is so amazing. We had to build an entirely brand-new world in about half the time of shooting a normal pilot and they pulled it together. We figured it out and truly, truly made something that I hope people are going to enjoy.

I'm really hoping that it goes forward because you, Juliana Harkavy and Katie Cassidy together is just fire.

Thank you. It's really different. I think it's going to be more different than a lot of people expect, but I'm feeling exciting.

OK, so let's talk about this week's episode. I'm assuming you're still on our Earth... do you and Stephen get to get into it? Because these two have a lot to work out.

Oh, we do, trust me. This is one of my favorite episodes of the season, because it's the first real episode where you get to see Oliver and Mia interacting together, one-on-one, for an entire episode. But not only that, you get to see them on a mission together. You get to see both of them doing what vigilante Queens do best. [Laughs] It's the first time that Oliver gets to see Mia fight and it's nerve-wracking, but also exciting for her because she wants to make her father proud and she wants to show him what she can do. But also, Russia is no joke, so it presents challenges of its own.

And what gets you to Russia?

So the next kind of mission, as it were, that The Monitor has sent Oliver on is to go to Russia to retrieve [something] and we have a couple other things to do there as well. Like I said, Russia brings with it its own challenges but the best thing that Russia brings with it is David Nykl, who plays Anatoly. I have been such a huge fan of his since watching the series and when I found out we were doing a Russia episode and that I would get to work with David Nykl, I was so excited!

Did you actually get scenes with him?

Oh yeah. He's so wonderful and it is cool because Anatoly, having known Oliver for so long, sees a lot of his qualities in Mia. So they have a little connection as well as the episode goes on.

Sort of like how Laurel clocked the similarities in the last episode. Mia has all of his strengths and all his stubbornness, which means your character is really going to have to learn how to play differently with a new team.

Exactly! And that actually plays into a lot of this episode because Mia has essentially played the Oliver with her team and in those situations, well, you can't have two captains to a team like this. That kind of power play is interesting. And on top of that, this is the first time for Oliver that he's been on mission with the kids. There's an element of him wanting to keep them safe, but he also has to be able to use them for the mission. So what level of trust does he give to his kids?

And with Mia, she's just lost Zoe and her famous quote is, "I don't lose." Well, everybody loses sometimes, so how do I come back from this guilt and from this loss and how do I build my confidence back up?

On a mission with the father you're mad at! 

Yeah, who she also wants to impress. But also that's the thing with Mia confronting Oliver — her biggest desire in life is to have a relationship with her father and yet now that he's in front of her, she sees how his choices are the reason that she has a difficult life. And how does that duality play out within her and with Oliver, as well, because the two of them are so similar? They're bound to butt heads, but who better to give Mia advice on how to get through the difficulties she's having?

It's so nuts that you've been on the show for almost a year now and this is really the first time you worked with Stephen.

I know. And this episode is the first time you really get to see them have any meaningful interaction and really bond as father-daughter... maybe even side-by-side a little bit in a Russian fighting ring, I don't know. [Laughs]

Back in the ring, huh?

Oh yeah. [Laughs]

Nice. I got an early cut of last season's finale back in May and it included your giant fight sequence without all the effects. It was just you and the stuntman on the soundstage with wires and wind machines and you were amazing.

Thank you! Thank you so much. I credit all of that to the Shadowhunters stunt coordinators. They spent so much time with me on that show, they would train me three to five times a week. I was in the stunt room with them almost daily and they gave me those skills that I was able to bring to this show.

I'm so grateful to the stunt team on this show too, because they give me the opportunity to use those skills and to get my own fight scenes. This episode, in particular, is one of the ones that I'm most proud of because we actually had time in the schedule and the opportunity for me to do most of the fight pieces. Not the aerial fight pieces, because I'm not a martial artist by trade, that's not my forte. But a majority of the actual fighting is me in this episode, and I was really happy to be able to do that with Stephen, to dive in there and portray that part of the character. With a character like Clary or Mia, such a part of who they are is their fighting and their physicality and their sense of being a warrior. It's one of my favorite things to do.

I can only imagine the stuff that you did in the Canaries backdoor pilot involves all-new fight styles for the three of you?

Oh yeah. It's great. It's going to be a lot of fun. Moving forward, Mia is constantly getting new gadgets and skills. With a brother like William (Ben Lewis) who knows Smoak Tech, he is going to create [things for her]. And it's really interesting to see as she goes through the season and is confronted by new challenges, what skills she has learned from her father.

And how does William fit into all of this? Is he facilitating some sort of truce?

[Laughs] William is definitely the mediator between Oliver and Mia because he knows both of them and he understands both of them and he's the least hot-headed of the three of them. But Mia and William are not without their tussles as well, particularly as it gets closer to this ticking time-bomb of Crisis and what Oliver knows, or at least what he believes, about his life ending from what The Monitor has said. So the tensions only get higher from here.

You will get to see Mia and William get closer, as well, because both of them are having to deal with the fact that they have issues with their father. That's how they bonded initially, but now they're both going through the ringer, trying to grasp some sense of solid ground and dealing with this world that's ever-changing around them and they become each other's rock in a sense. And I love Ben Lewis so much. He's so wonderful.

Were you on set for the last day?

For the official-official last day with everybody, yeah. We had big group scenes that day, and Ben and I actually had a pickup day yesterday to shoot another scene from the backdoor pilot together. It was so lovely to get to wrap with him. But I gotta say, it really hit me. There was one scene where we had about, I think 12 or 15 actors in it and when it was done, we series-wrapped about 10 people and that hit me like a brick wall. I've made so many wonderful friendships on this show... and I know, yes, there is a potential for a future moving forward, but it's never going to be quite the same.

Right, it won't be this one.

Exactly. This show is lightning in a bottle just the same way Shadowhunters was. I feel like I just went through with this with Shadowhunters. But it's honestly, this has  been a huge gift for me because after wrapping Shadowhunters, I never thought I'd be a part of another show that is so iconic, that means so much to people . So to jump into Arrow for this little moment, to get to share this with them? I'm so grateful.

[apinknightmare]

She's really gracious in her answers to these people who ask about "the Canaries spinoff." 

[calliope1975]

16 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

She's really gracious in her answers to these people who ask about "the Canaries spinoff." 

KM could teach a masterclass in redirection and deflection.

[shantown]

56 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

She's really gracious in her answers to these people who ask about "the Canaries spinoff." 

More than I would be, that's for sure!

[Josh371982]

2 hours ago, way2interested said:

Maybe Mia will use a technically made boxing glove arrow!

https://www.tvinsider.com/833564/katherine-mcnamara-arrow-season-8-mia-oliver-canaries-spinoff/

This reporter/writer is seeing a different show then I amcause I don't see fire in scenes Mia shares with Dinah and Laurel. 

[insomniadreams88]

Can't wait to see the lame excuse for Felicity's absence in next week's episode and  the 1000 better ones that we can come up with. 

[lemotomato]

Felicity isn't there because EBR did not want to be involved at all in this season.

[insomniadreams88]

3 minutes ago, lemotomato said:

Felicity isn't there because EBR did not want to be involved at all in this season.

That doesn’t mean the writers can’t put about a minute of time into coming up with a reasonable explanation. In 804, they could’ve easily claimed that Mia couldn’t risk interacting with herself as a baby and Felicity couldn’t get anyone to babysit. 

[Chaser]

Honestly I don’t think any reason would work in canon. There is no way Felicity wouldn’t be involved, even if it’s just com work. I have to cut the writers slack here and just accept their limitations.

[calliope1975]

4 minutes ago, Chaser said:

Honestly I don’t think any reason would work in canon. There is no way Felicity wouldn’t be involved, even if it’s just com work. I have to cut the writers slack here and just accept their limitations.

Yep. She would have strapped Mia to her front/back and found the group ASAP whether they were in the bunker or Russia. No way Felicity sits any of this out. So I'll handwave any dumb explanation the writers come up with.