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rappaccini · 4 months

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What are the wips that ended up in Arachnophobia?

(from this)

oh man like... over half of them. tbh the reason why it's so fucking huge is it's a dozen fic pieces stitched together

first of all, to lose all my senses was the original version of arachnophobia. started writing it straight out of the theater. it was canon-compliant with atsv and roughly followed this scenario where gwen's on a suicide mission to redeem herself to miles because she's fully internalized the idea that she doesn't deserve to be a hero and the best she can be is a good loyal love interest who's remembered well after she's killed. except unlike in the scenario, it ends in a gwiles endgame where gwen's stuck in comphet hell, trying to convince herself she's happy. i didn't finish it because it was too depressing and i got too mad. all the salt ended up in arachnophobia.

as below, so above and the thief of life are companion fics told from miles and hobie's perspectives, like something more is for margo. same continuity, same timeframe, same eight-chapter structure, just going into their own canons and what they're up to while gwen's off punching walls and having a psychosexual friendship with gayatri. i might write these, but if i do it won't be soon-- hobie's fic might happen before btsv, but miles's definitely won't bc i want to wait until btsv gives us a canon personality for miles-42 and shows us what the fuck's gonna happen with the spot.

on a related note, ready to fly, ready to die and i may not be around were both earth-138a wips. i've already talked about the first, but i may not be around was about hobie's relationship with gwen-138a, and how she essentially shaped his ideology as a punk and was the founding influence of the revolution he starts. neither will ever be written because most of the details would be added to the thief of life, assuming i get around to it.

give it a hundred years, aka the bittersweet ghostpunk tinfoil hat fic where i go super deep into how whenever gwen and hobie have a significant interaction across different continuities, they're moving closer and closer to each other and to endings where they get to change their narratives for the better (aka the 'in every other universe we find each other, and it hasn't worked out yet but maybe it'll be different someday' dynamic the spiderverse writers think they have with gwiles actually belongs to ghostpunk. i will write you an essay on this.), might still make it into the thief of life. we'll see.

as for the e-65 fics...

melt my wings and call it fun took all the known details about earth-8, including the ugly implications about miles and gwen's relationship, and tried to piece it together. all the earth-8 backstory in arachnophobia (and as below, so above, if i ever write it) comes from this outline. however this outline did not give miles and gwen the benefit of sympathetic reasons to abandon their worlds, cash out on their identities and try to make their situation work. it also didn't put them on equal footing in private. it's just a very fucked-up story about gwen pretending she's one half of a power couple when she's essentially a trophy wife to a guy who's too immature for her, and trying to convince herself that being surrounded by nice things and having a good reputation are enough to justify the progressively shittier and shittier things she and miles are doing to each other to keep them (including a 20yr old gwen manipulating a teenage miles into a relationship he's not old enough for and miles pressuring gwen into agreeing to two unwanted pregnancies; oh my GOD earth-8 is terrible and fascinating and could've been so juicy if bendis realized what he was writing.) and telling herself the whole time that she has control over a situation that is definitely skewed in miles's favor bc that's absolutely how bendis imagined earth-8 when he created this relationship.

waiting for the sirens was about gwen, right after the lizard killing, coming to terms with the reality that peter65 was a terrible person. half-written, abandoned and eventually added to the gwens' conversation about peter parker in arachnophobia.

the pull of another is about gwen and her symbiote (her TRUE love interest tbh) learning to live together. recycled into arachnophobia, when gwen-b gets hers.

sixth sense of a calling was about gwen-617 founding the council of spider-women. recycled into arachnophobia's ending, where gwen-65b does it instead.

with a heavy heart's the sad ghostpunk fic. basically it's about gwen and hobie having a doomed relationship that ends in hobie doing what he'll probably do in btsv and encouraging gwiles to get together because in the end he doesn't think he can stop The Narrative. got the idea because thinking about the gwiles-8 wedding playing out with hobie sitting in the front row having to smile through the whole thing made my blood boil. never finished because i hate characterizing spider-punk that way. a lot of it's in pieces in arachnophobia and the thief of life-- but more in the sense that those fics are taking that idea out behind the shed and shooting it.

a million miles and running's the happy ghostpunk fic where they do actually survive and beat their tragedies together. never got past the outline stage because it was lifted pretty much entirely for arachnophobia and the thief of life.

#asks #arachnophobia fic

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v-arbellanaris · 2 years

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hennyways its extremely telling to me that ww/dits fans are going on about how ohhh the vamps were always horrible blah blah blah and like yeah! they were! im not upset because they were horrible, i fully expected it. but guill/ermo had the fucking balls to say it was wrong for the vamps to be feeding baby colin out of a fucking dogbowl or whatever the hell else and yet in a twist of irony, lectures na/ndor on how he’s “making it all about himself” whilst idk. making it all about himself, too. NO ONE. at any fucking point in this ENTIRE SEASON has given a shit about ma/rwa. which is expected for the vamps but for GUILL/ERMO???

and like sorry not sorry but it’s so telling the differences between how the narrative treats minor characters like je/sk and se/an and whoever, who have horrible awful things happen to them FOR SURE but the narrative usually somehow resolves it to some extent, vs how they treat the one. single. woc they had on the show. how they resolved her arc, after i had to sit there stomaching na/ndor bitching about how she just agreed him w over everything and the way he treated her the entire season and after she showed in the last ep that under that selfish wish she still had her own desires that she was STRUGGLING to express, only to essentially get erased in order to “become” freddie

and that’s not even including the fridge horror of like. if ma/rwa is still consciously present under freddie’s consciousness, because nan/dor’s wish didn’t get rid of ma/rwa and create an entirely new clone of freddie but rather the wish was specifically to change ma/rwa further -- how she looks, thinks etc, and the prev ep established that she was conscious and present underneath that wish (by making na/ndor’s “room” her own room and locking him out). and throughout the ep, it’s emphasised again and again that under the freddie veneer, it’s still ma/rwa in there. and freddie’d ma/rwa then getting together with actual freddie is either a result of her being forced to act the way freddie would or, worse still, if she’s STILL bound to agreeing with what na/ndor likes underneath all that and so is "stealing" freddie like na/ndor would.

so literally like fuck this and fuck the fans who are acting like oh yeah well i should’ve seen it coming because na/ndor is horrible and its my own fault for trusting him and the writers have done something revolutionary here and im just too stupid to appreciate it. your superior tone & smugness is fucking infuriating and you haven't understood the point at all. na/ndor is a fictional character who doesnt have any agency, i dont give a shit what he does. i fully expect him to be horrible because he's BEEN horrible about ma/rwa the entire fucking season. i didnt trust na/ndor, i trusted the writers to resolve the mar/wa storyline maybe not in the best way or in an satisfying way bc they hadn't with other minor characters but i trusted that they wouldn't continue to shit on her the way they have been the entire fucking season. instead, she got the absolute most horrific “resolution” that frankly has just pissed me off beyond belief. and now i have to sit there and listen to you trying to justify it like shut the fuck UP. and you guys are STILL going "i hope gui/llermo kills na/ndor" i hope marwa kills them ALL for what they've done to her

#don't rb /#im not interested in debating this just needed to vent im literally shaking w rage lmao #wwdits spoilers

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caden · 5 years

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i feel we should examine the whole idea of “do spoilers matter” or not at a deeper level then ‘people who complain about spoilers are annoying so spoiler warnings are stupid’. like the idea that a lot of you guys seem to have of “if having the plot spoiled ruins the movie for you then the plot wasnt any good anyways” seems sort of... not fully wrong but also underdeveloped to me. like, there are tons and tons and tons of stories that are widely considered to be amazing and have clear artistic merit that you absolutely wouldn’t want spoiled. Like, you wouldnt want to know darth vader was lukes father. you wouldnt want to know bruce willis was a ghost the whole time. For drama to be effective you need tension, and a very very efficient way of keeping the audience engaged is by putting them in a mindset where they’re unsure of what will happen next, or by revealing a game-changing plot twist, or by suddenly putting a character into an unexpected position. It seems totally disingenuous to me to be like ‘well it shouldnt matter to the audience whether or not they get to be surprised by what happens in the film they’re watching’. You can’t honestly believe that to be true. Being able to be surprised by a story is like one of the fundamental draws of good storytelling and probably has been for all of human history. Imagine how much worse US or Get Out or any Shakespeare play would be if you knew exactly where the plot would go before you saw it. I know there’s some research that suggests people actually enjoy stuff more if they already know what will happen but you can cast a lot of doubt on that data-- i think that it indicates more that people are more likely to appreciate a good plot once they understand it more thoroughly, hence why you might like a great movie more the second time you watch it. That doesnt mean there isnt value in the first time, it’s just a different way of viewing it.

All that said, the stuff with people not wanting spoilers for endgame has different wrinkles to it. (dont worry im not about to spoil anything). It can’t all be chalked up to ‘people care super deeply about the characters and plot and the writing is always so unpredictable and engaging that they dont want to know a single thing before going in’. Ive spent a lot of time recently thinking about the way infinity war and endgame are constructed, and they’re made in such a way that REALLY facilitates them being ‘spoiled’. because they’re written around moments. The plot isn’t so much a naturally moving thing with motivations and momentum of its own as much as a connective tissue between various cool things happening. Like, whoa, spider-man just met the guardians of the galaxy. oh sick, theyre in wakanda. holy shit, half of them died. Endgame goes REAAAAAALLY hard on this style of writing. And as a method of milking emotion from the audience, it really really works. Assuming the moments themselves are all effective, you’re guaranteeing constant engagement because every three minutes another epic thing is gonna happen. And I think when people fault marvel fans for being obsessed with spoiler warnings, this style of filmmaking is really what they’re trying to critique. because there’s a suggestion that if your movie is just jumping from crazy twist to shocking death to funny reference to epic fight, you’re losing the thing that should actually be the connective tissue of a film-- its themes, character arcs, ideas, setting... etc. And while I personally don’t think those things are mutually exclusive, (bc i do believe that infinity war and endgame genuinely have themes they try to discuss), i would also agree with the argument that reliance on shocking moments over actual ideas is bad writing. But as I mentioned earlier, a filmmaker like Jordan Peele whose works are generally agreed to be very good also uses this writing style-- his plots escalate via twists and turns and are expertly constructed to keep the audience wondering what’ll happen next, and he does a really great job with it.

Now, i DEFINITELY think there’s an argument for ‘disney intentionally plays up the spoiler warning angle in a way that’s ultimately toxic to the filmmaking process’. Like I don’t believe that the “tom holland doesnt get to read the script” stuff is true, I 100% think it’s all a publicity stunt-- but they shouldnt be setting a precedent that makes people think doing something like that to a lead actor is acceptable. It’s not how films should be made, and the only reason I’m sure its all fake is because I have enough filmmaking experience to know itd literally be impossible to efficiently shoot a big-budget film under those conditions. Of course all the buzz about endgame spoilers is HUGELY beneficial to their marketing teams, so obviously they’re gonna go hard as hell on enforcing that narrative. Like they 100% WANT everyone to both be spoiling the movie and getting anxious about having the movie spoiled, because its all free advertising for them. But in terms of ‘big movie studios having greedy practices that harmfully affect the artistic process and make their films worse’, its incredibly low on the list of bad stuff that studios do imo.

So, like, if you’re gonna critique all the various aspects of that, I think you should A) put your efforts towards exposing all the spoiler panic through the lens of how it affects the way that films are produced and consumed, or B) put your efforts towards analyzing the media itself, watch the film and ask ‘is this film more engaging and well-made because of its reliance on moments that can be spoiled? If no, why is that not working? If yes, is that engagement coming at a cost or is it justified? Essentially, I’d like to feel that the criticism was either coming from a social angle or an artistic one. And if that were the case I think i’d have less of an issue with it. Just saying “people are dumb for caring about spoilers” is silly. Maybe it’s dumb, but that’s not the point. People will consume media however they want to and if they want to care about spoilers then they have a right to care. You guys aren’t wrong if you think marvel shit is stupid and badly made, because art is subjective and no opinion on it is wrong. But other people also aren’t wrong for liking and caring about it, and being like ‘we should spoil it for them to teach them a lesson” is gross and totally unproductive. I know 99% of it is jokes but you gotta remember that some people have spent a very long time being very excited to see this movie and doing something that wrecks that for them is just mean and inconsiderate. It’s not about whether them feeling that way is stupid or not, because yeah, it’s stupid to be that invested in superhero movies. It’s about it not being cool to intentionally hurt someone just because you can. And the reason i don’t have a lot of tolerance for it is because I feel like saying “caring about spoilers is stupid” is a kneejerk, surface level attempt at media criticism and we can do better. I obviously care pretty deeply about the way we consume and criticize pop culture and i think it’s in everyone’s benefit to have more productive discourse about this stuff. No ill will towards my friends who are saying the things that i’m ragging on, i obviously don’t think it’s coming from a malicious place or anything-- this is just my read on the situation. Was gonna post this like two days ago but then decided someone would prob message me a spoiler because of it lol

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jbuffyangel · 7 years

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Happy Mid Season Premiere Week!!

Hello fandom family! Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA. Tried to keep up the posting but it was a bit quiet out there. Hiatus is so looooong.

NOT TODAY THOUGH!!!!

Today was an Olicity Marketing Blitz day and boy it was fun. About damn time.

Stephen and Emily were playing together on Twitter.

The CW Network was promoting Olicity on TWITTER.

And Marc did a big interview with EW. There were lots of goodies!

Today was the marketing equivalent of an ex sending flowers.

They are sorry fandom. Here comes the woo.

So, I wanted to talk a bit about the interview with Marc. There so many times I talk about interviews when they seem negative or are negative. I thought it’d be a nice change of pace to focus on a really great interview! As usual I have lots of thoughts...

I’m going to address the questions/answers I found most interesting.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Now that Oliver knows Prometheus’ vendetta is personal, what’s his next move?

MARC GUGGENHEIM: He learned two critical things in the midseason finale that will help him track down and identify Prometheus: He learned that Prometheus and he share a trainer, and he learned that Prometheus obviously was Justin Claybourne’s illegitimate son. That gives him two good clue trails to be following. He’ll be doing that in fits and starts as the season kicks back up.

Prometheus is OBVIOUSLY Justin Claybourne’s illegitimate son?

I readily accept this is probably wishful thinking on my part, but isn’t that part of the problem? That it’s so freaking obvious that it’s too obvious? Marc’s use of the word “obvious” feels like a hard sell to me. I don’t buy this Justin Claybourne backstory. No sir. Ashes and a baby picture and TA DA????? No. I’m calling shenanigans. There’s more to this. I sense a misdirect.

How does Prometheus force Oliver to reassess his decisions?

This goes to the larger arc of the year, which is Oliver questioning the consequences of his actions in general. What has been the prevailing theme of the season is Oliver is trying to grow and develop as a person, but the actions of his past keep literally haunting him, so it’s going to affect Oliver in a very big way going forward for the rest of the year.

I could meta on this alone, so prep for a long answer. I feel like this is Marc speak for “Oliver is becoming the light.” In reality, what season hasn’t Oliver’s darkness or past haunted him in some way? Pretty much every season right? The point of this season is trying to move him across the finish line of this five year journey. Part of that process is regression. We watch Oliver regress every season. In fact, his development as a hero and as a man has been a painfully slow (and frustrating) process. It’s one of the reasons I’m excited to drop this five year arc because I think it will free Arrow up a bit narratively.

However, this season has seen a lot of emotional progress from Oliver. He’s inherently more hopeful. He’s been more TRUTHFUL. The one area Arrow hit the rewind button on a bit is the kill/no kill vow because they wanted Oliver’s evolution in that department to be a bit more pronounced. This started in Season 4, with Laurel’s death and killing Damien Darhk. In the season where Oliver was trying to live in the light, he chose to kill. Doesn’t necessarily make his choice wrong. Damien Darhk was seriously evil. Nukes = bad news. But it does provide a layer of “grey” in the development of his moral code.

This season, the Big Bad is literally a creation from Oliver killing. That’s intentional. Arrow has often used the kill/no kill philosophy as a metaphor for Oliver’s evolving morality. They stuck him in a squarely grey zone at the beginning of the season because I think they want him to end this year with a much firmer moral code.

That’s not to say that Oliver will never kill again - because yes there are bad guys who need to be killed. But they specifically echoed the first kill in the pilot. Thea even argued with Oliver over the necessity of killing that man in 5x01. She specifically didn’t join the team because she wasn’t prepared to do “whatever it takes” like Oliver now is (because of Laurel’s death).

Oliver strongly feels that he needs to kill Prometheus - as will Felicity. So, this is going to be a nice push/pull effect on him and part of that process is seeing the effect the “Darkness” is having on his loved ones (Felicity & Diggle). It may ultimately push Oliver to a point where he’s toeing a much brighter line. Different in a way than Season 2, because a moral code is bigger than just killing or not killing. But I think Oliver will reach for the moral high ground in a way he never has before because he HAS to. Those he loves need him to because they are losing their own way.

How different is Talia to Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law)?

She’s definitely her own person; she’s not a Nyssa clone, by any stretch. You can definitely sense a familial resemblance. Having Ra’s al Ghul as your dad, it’s likely to forge a very specific kind of person. They’re close enough and different enough that I would love, at some point, to do a story with Nyssa and Talia. I think that would be a lot of fun.

Just gonna say I am excited about Talia. My Batman adoration demands it.

Can you talk about how the team will react to Laurel’s return?

I would say they react pretty positively. Obviously, this is wonderful news. We have a very good explanation as to how Laurel returned. The team is, by and large, pretty happy. Bear in mind, there are a few members of the team that didn’t know Laurel, so it’s fun to see their reaction, especially when they learn that time travel played a role in it.

Isn’t it cute when Marc blatantly ignores that the promo department ruined his episode?

Again, another misdirect. I think in a similar vein to the “obviously.” It’s not Laurel. It’s Black Siren. Sure, time travel had something to do with it, but it’s not bringing Laurel back. To all those worrying that somehow this is a huge redemption storyline for Black Siren and they are bringing Katie back...

Listen... if they wanted Katie on the show they wouldn’t be hiring a new BC. That’s just the ugly truth. Furthermore, they are trying to launch the new BC which gets tricky if Katie is around every few episodes. My bet? They used this guest contract to bridge the gap between LL and the new BC for the comic purists in hopes they could draw them back in. Anywho, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Arrow side of her contract is closing out and they shift her to Legends for a couple guest spots.

What can you tease for Felicity moving forward? She wants revenge on Prometheus over the death of Malone (Tyler Ritter), so how dark will she go and how far will she go to get it?

This is something we went into the season with. At the beginning of every year, we figure out: What do we want to see our characters go through? What are their emotional journeys for the season? We were intrigued by the idea of Felicity flirting with the dark side. The reason I say flirting is Felicity is very much the light of the show; she provides a lot of lightness in what is otherwise a very dark drama. One thing you don’t want to do is you don’t want to tell a story where she suddenly starts becoming this dark element. You don’t want to tell a story where all the reasons why people love the character are gone. It’s this delicate balancing act.

In the wake of Malone’s death, she’s very influenced by her prior four years of watching Oliver and Diggle — and Laurel, Roy (Colton Haynes), and Thea (Willa Holland) for that matter. She’s been watching Team Arrow respond to darkness with what I would describe as moral compromise. What we’ve done is we’ve found a story where Felicity could be tempted by taking moral shortcuts in the name of the greater good, which is very much in keeping with the central dilemma at the heart of the whole show, which is becoming judge, jury, and executioner is the ultimate moral shortcut. She’s not going to become judge, jury, and executioner, she’s not going to become a killer, but we found the Felicity version, or the Felicity equivalent, of making a moral compromise in order to accomplish good.

Many have heard me complain about Arrow’s “Don’t Mess With The Rainbow” mentality when it comes to Felicity and this entire answer makes me feel a lot better. I think it strikes the perfect balance. First, it seems Arrow is recognizing that Felicity has been through a lot (DUH) and they really haven’t allowed her experience the effects of those events on a big level (also duh). It seems they are going there. FINALLY. It’s time. It needs to happen. I am thrilled.

BUT... we don’t need Felicity to be Oliver’s version of dark. Or Diggle’s. Or Laurel’s. Or Thea’s. We need Felicity’s version of dark to be like everything else with this character: Felicity’s darkness should be uniquely HER.

What struck me, for the first time that I can think of, Marc came out and said “judge, jury and executioner” is wrong. This applies strongly to OTA. Oliver, obviously, has embraced the “judge, jury and executioner” mentality. Diggle, who normally was the moral compass for Oliver, chose to be “judge, jury and executioner” for Andy. Both of these men are morally justified in their actions, but Marc stating flat out that it’s a moral shut cut is extremely telling. They are pushing all the characters, not just Oliver, to be BETTER. To be heroes. Heroes draw the moral line in the sand and they HOLD TO IT. Because at the end of the day, that’s all that separates them from the bad guys and it’s what keeps them from becoming the bad guys. It’s not always easy. In fact, it’s often the much more difficult path, but it’s the right one to take.

It’s why Prometheus is having such a strong impact and why he’s the perfect villain for S5. OLIVER IS THE VILLAIN in his eyes. Oliver needs to come to a place where that perception cannot happen. Where even the bad guys cannot deny he is the light.

So, it’s essential that Felicity be pushed this darker place too. Where she is judge, jury and executioner. Where she takes moral short cuts. She’s on a hero’s journey as much as Oliver and we need to see Felicity’s moral code tested as well. But it doesn’t have to equal killing. It’ll be Felicity’s version of dark and immoral, which should strike a contrast to Oliver’s. Yes, she is so often the light, but the whole point of pushing Felicity to the dark is so that OLIVER is forced to be the light FOR HER. It’s pushing them both to a place where they absolutely need to go.

Having been through situations like this himself, will Oliver be able to help Felicity navigate this? Or is she pushing everyone away?

I don’t think she’s really pushing everyone away, but she’s definitely on her own path. The best answer to the question is it’s neither one or the other fully. Oliver for sure will be trying to — not help her — but give her some guidance. In episode 12, both Diggle and Felicity, for different reasons, are flirting with some darkness in their lives. Oliver basically, in this really great moment, tells both Felicity and Diggle, “Look, I’m basically a dark dude, I do bad things, but the ship has sailed with me. The whole reason I am aligned with you guys is because you guys are fundamentally just better people, you guys are more moral than I am.” Part of the fun of that episode is seeing how that advice to both Diggle and Felicity operates on them. It’s not necessarily going to operate on them the same way.

I’ve been harping on this concept of Oliver and Felicity walking in each other’s shoes this season. Being able to understand your partner’s perspective, in a real way, is a great catalyst for change. Thus, the shift in roles is absolutely necessary. First, this show is about Oliver Queen. He is destined to become The Green Arrow. He’s suppose to be the light for everyone and that INCLUDES FELICITY. In many ways, Felicity is echoing Oliver’s darker path in S3. It was Felicity who wanted to live life to the fullest and held the line even when Oliver lost his way. She harnessed the light within Oliver and he found his way out of the dark... and back home to her.

Now, they are shifting roles in S5. Felicity was always a voice of guidance for Oliver, but Oliver always made his own choices. I believe it will be the same for Felicity. What’s interesting about Marc’s “the ship has sailed” dialogue, is the impact that it will have on Diggle and Felicity. I predict two things: One, Diggle will toe the moral line again more immediately. Felicity will not. Diggle’s darker spiral is ending. Felicity’s is just beginning.

It’s not going to be enough for Oliver to say, “I’m a dark person. You guys are have always been better than me,” this time. That’s the status quo with Oliver and Felicity. Felicity won’t shift her behavior post 5x12, which will probably lead to whatever deception Oliver discovers in 5x15. It could push Oliver to realize that the status quo has to change. He has to set the example this time. He has to provide the guidance through action, just like Felicity has always done for him. The ship can’t sail for Oliver because that means it will have sailed for FELICITY. I don’t think Oliver can abide by that.

In the end, of course, Oliver will harness Felicity’s light just like she’s always done for him. She will find her way out of this darker place. My bet is all of this is the foundation for Smoak Technologies and she’ll find a renewed purpose in what she wants to do outside of Team Arrow, just like Oliver has found in being mayor. Seeing the change in Oliver (in action - his hopefulness, his truthfullness, being the light, etc), understanding his darkness on a deeper level because Felicity will recognize her own darkness in herself, maybe even Oliver’s forgiveness for whatever deception there is... this all leads back to one singular concept: Felicity will find her way back home to Oliver in the end. Only this time... he will be the man she’s always deserved. He’ll be ready for her in every way. It feels like they are on opposite paths, but those paths are actually a ying/yang effect. They aren’t separate. They are connected... and it all leads back to one another.

Diggle seems to be facing the consequences of being set up by his C.O. head-on now. What’s next for him?

Coming into the second half of the season, we felt a very strong impulse to basically bring the whole General Walker storyline from the beginning of the year to a conclusion. There’s a reason why we returned Diggle to prison and it’s all to set up what will be a climactic episode. We’ve dedicated basically a whole episode to resolving the General Walker storyline. What’s nice about that episode, that’s episode 12, is that it ties into Oliver’s Russia storyline, it ties into Felicity’s storyline, and it even echoes back to the Diggle storyline with his brother last season. So a lot of threads get tied together and some threads get tied up in that 12th episode.

I know many are frustrated about the lack of OTA and I understand. I’m ready for them to key up more OTA eps too. However, I look at Oliver, Diggle and Felicity as the three main leads. The fact that Arrow’s primary season arc is connected in an obvious way to all three characters gives me a lot of hope for 5B. 5A is always set up (and to a certain extent 4B). I think 5B will finally be the follow through that connectively binds these characters on completing each of their hero’s journey. Oliver isn’t the only one who is going through a five year arc. I think they are preparing to launch Arrow into a new phase come S6. That said, Diggle needs more attention so I’m glad he’ll be getting some. Sounds like 5x12 will be a HUGE OTA episode which is fantastic because it’s such an wonderful call back to one of our favorite OTA episodes of all time... the trip to Russia in 2x06.

What can you tease for the introduction of Tina Boland and what we’ll be seeing for her?

You’ll get a glimpse of her at the end of the midseason premiere. It’s funny, I don’t want to tease too much about her. There’s a lot of stuff that’s out on the internet in terms of casting breakdowns, which I hate talking about because a lot of the casting breakdowns we release are false because we know they leak. But I think we have a really wonderful character here. Juliana [Harkavy], who plays her, is a terrific actress. We’re going to be doing some new and different kinds of things. Because of the internet, I guess I’m very tempted to — as always — I’d prefer to let the story tell itself and play out, and then people can make up their minds.

It’s really interesting that Marc mentioned the leaked sides for Tina again. When they first came out he tried to pretend it was all fake, but of course, this was the casting side that was sent out to all the actresses who were auditioning for Tina. So, it became pretty obvious they weren’t fake. He also tried to pretend the character’s name wasn’t Tina. So, when the character’s name was revealed to be Tina I think many took that as a sign that these “sides” would be actual scenes in Arrow.

The reason it had so many concerned is because there was a “chemistry” read with, presumably, Oliver. Many concluded Tina will be a love interest. Also, the BC comic history reared its ugly head in combination with a subtle/back burned Olicity and its led to a lot of concern. Here’s why I think it’s interesting that Marc mentioned the sides- if these scenes show up in Arrow it’ll be very easy to point to his interview and say, “Ummm... they aren’t false.” So, I’m feeling pretty confident those exact scenes won’t be in the show. I think his larger point is that some of the assumptions the internet is making about Tina’s character, based on the sides, isn’t necessarily true and we’ll see that when the show plays out.

So, I continue to stand my belief that Tina is not a love interest for Oliver.

We know Oliver is going to end up back on that island. We know Susan Williams (Carly Pope) is investigating Oliver’s ties to Russia. How are those two storylines going to intersect as we head toward the finale this season?

There’s going to be a very cool and awesome payoff to Susan’s investigation of Oliver. That payoff is going to come sooner than you think. In other words, it’s going to come sooner than the season finale.

Susan discussion, yes, but she’s at the end of the article and it’s a blurb at best. Vast improvement promotionally speaking. Marc just flat out told us that Susan’s investigation is going to blow up BEFORE the season finale. IMDB has Carly Pope slated for 5x12, 5x14 and 5x15. Perhaps the investigation blow up is happening around these run of episodes? Especially coinciding with the Bratva focused episode in 5x12? Methinks yes.

I think some are wondering how Oliver and Felicity can “rebuild” if Susan is still around. This isn’t an either or situation in terms of storyline my friends. It can happen simultaneously and it will happen simultaneously. Think back to Ray and Sara. Oliver and Felicity were very much “building” their relationship (and where it was headed) throughout the full season WHILE they were dating other people. As Oliver and Felicity grew closer, Ray and Felicity fell apart. Sara was slightly different timing wise, but she imploded around the mid season as well, with Oliver finding his way to Felicity in the end. It is possible for Arrow to “rebuild” Olicity while Susan Williams is sharing screen time with Oliver. Susan can be playing a role in that rebuild in her, ultimately, failed relationship with Oliver and what it will teach him. Think of it as multiple lanes of traffic eventually converging into a single lane. Multiple storylines eventually push to one singular end. That’s what is happening this year. That is what happens every year. ALL ROADS LEAD TO OLICITY.

So don’t fret about when Susan is leaving or when she and Oliver will be done. They will be done. She will leave. It will happen. Understandable if you don’t enjoy the storyline and would rather it be sooner than later, but the end result is still the same.

Psst... did you notice? Not a word about the newbies other than Tina. Nice change in pace! All in all... I am very pumped for the rest of the season!!

#arrow #olicity #arrow spoilers #spoiler theoretical #felicity smoak #original team arrow #john diggle #oliver queen #arrow 5x12 #susan williams #tina boland #anti katie cassidy #anti laurel lance #arrow interviews

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