Arrow - Season 2

[Hound of UIster]

^Also BoP!

I think it was interesting that the original plan was for a son of Ra's to appear before they switched it.

Felicity's dad is probably also Calculator.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Yeah, at this point I really hope they don't go down the "kill Sarah and make Laurel Canary" road that I expect. Sarah is such a better character than laurel. Laurel has just become completely unlikeable, and I find myself sighing ever second she's on screen hoping for some better character to come along.

Also, I join the chorus asking what the heck is going on with Diggle? He's had nothing of substance for a long time. No Roy this week either. Thea appeared, but I don't think she had a single line. I love this show, but maybe the cast is getting a bit too big for them to handle. Was this the first episode to be completely without island flashbacks, too?

 

[CorporalClegg]

There's a very simple solution to the Laurel problem: Sarah's middle name was conspicuously missing from her headstone. It wouldn't be that implausible (or even unheard of) for a mother to use her name as the middle name for both her daughters.

 

[Marc]

Felicity? Where does she fit now? We keep getting reminded of her unrequited attraction to Ollie. Reminded for a reason, I'm sure. What reason? Now that we know Sarah is bisexual....

We do?

You missed the best part of the episode.

Way for the writers to tease us with with Sarah "dying".

Realized that I'd no so much missed the best part as missed the episode completely.

Thankfully my PVR was programed to record it automatically.

 

[JD]

^That's been my thought/hope as well.

This was probably one of my favorite episodes of the season, if not whole series. When they first had Sarah and Nyssa kiss, I kind of groaned, but they actually made the relatioship work to the point that a small part of me almost wish they would end up together. We got some really great stuff for Sarah overall this week.
I have to admit, this episode has made me change sides in the Sarah/Laurel Black Canary debate. Pretty much up until this week, I'd been all for them killing Sarah and making Laurel BC, but after this week I'd rather see that flipped, and have Laurel get killed.
Nyssa is coming back later, and this makes me happy because I liked her a lot.

IGN has a post ep interview, and they do address the lack of Roy this week.

One semi-odd aspect of “Heir to the Demon” was not seeing Roy Harper, given he had just learned Oliver Queen’s identity and been taken into his lair at the end of the last episode. The producers revealed Roy actually was originally in the episode, with Kreisberg explaining, “There was an amazing sequence in here that we actually had that unfortunately we just had to cut for time because this episode was just so jam-packed. But we actually had Oliver tell Roy, ‘I want you to go down to the hospital and keep an eye on Laurel.' When Nyssa and her goon kidnap Mrs. Lance, Roy actually confronts them. Nyssa shoots him with a dart with snake venom and says, ‘A normal person would be dead by now. You're stronger than you look,’ and he says, ‘I get that a lot.’ Then they have a fight, but the venom starts to affect him, and she takes him out. It's a great sequence, and they're great in it, but it wasn't propelling the story forward. It was just a really neat moment. But yes, the next five episodes -- in addition to everything else that's going on -- it really charts Oliver's attempts to keep Roy on the straight and narrow.”
The producers indicated we’re likely to see that Roy vs. Nyssa fight sequence on the Season 2 DVD.

 

[Corran Horn]

Interesting on the explanation for the lack of Roy.

Laurel is dead weight at this point. It's like they can't figure out what to do with her. Same with Thea, really.

 

[Sketcher]

Just to add more fuel to the Laurel becomes Canary fire

"Everyone knows that Laurel Lance is the Black Canary. That's the way it is in the comic books, but how we get from A to B is the story of our show. In the same way that Oliver, when we meet him, is the vigilante, but this season he's going to becoming the Arrow, that's the step of his journey to eventually becoming the Green Arrow. Laurel Lance right now is a lawyer with a lot of heart and a lot of humanity and courage. But it takes more than that to put on the mask and go out and fight crime. Our series is the evolution of that. People will see how Caity Lotz fits into Laurel's journey along the way. For us, it's very emotional and surprising and exciting. I would say to everybody, we haven't let you down so far. Keep going on this ride with us."

https://www.blastr.com/2013-7-19/arrow-exec-attempts-explain-confusing-black-canary-casting

 

[sojourner]

Yep, that's an old interview.

 

[Sketcher]

True, just thought there was some merit in bringing it up considering everything happening with the Lances as of late.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Old interview, but they are not changing their mind. They had a plan for Laurel and have been sticking with it. Also Sara is not going to assume Laurel's life. That is absurd. People know what she looks like. The description for the next new episode "Time of Death" shows that there is a welcome home party for Sara. Everyone will know she is alive

ROBERT KNEPPER AND ALEX KINGSTON GUEST STAR — Oliver (Stephen Amell) brings Sara (Caity Lotz) into the Arrow team. Watching Oliver and Diggle (David Ramsey) spar with Sara and talk old scars, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) starts to feel left out. The team is investigating a villain named William Tockman, a.k.a. The Clock King (guest star Robert Knepper), who is a brilliant thief armed with technology that can open any bank vault in Starling City. After The Clock King infiltrates the computer systems in the lair, Felicity feels pressure to prove her worth. When she gets a lead on Tockman’s whereabouts, she heads out without the team, putting her in peril. Meanwhile, Oliver throws Sara a welcome home party, but Laurel (Katie Cassidy) refuses to attend. After Lance (Paul Blackthrone) makes his case for a family dinner, Laurel acquiesces, but when Oliver shows up with Sara, she loses her temper on both of them. Nick Copus directed the episode written by Wendy Mericle & Beth Schwartz (#214).

 

[Pingfah]

I'm a few episodes behind, but I am very glad they finally got rid of that stupid makeup and gave him a mask. It''s still a terrible disguise, but at least it is a disguise.

 

[Icemizer]

Yes the mask is a huge improvement on many levels. I believe it helps the acting as well as he can now look at people instead of the ground which was always odd looking.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Episode 16 is Diggle-centric. Team Arrow's getting a bit crowded now. I don't know how they're go to juggle them all. Can't wait to find out tho.

 

[kirk55555]

I haven't seen the latest episode yet (although I'll probably watch it today) but I did see the titles of some of the upcoming episodes, and i'm dreading Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey (especially BoP). I hope BoP is just Huntress returning, and the title is just a comic reference. I don't know if Sara is still around, but it would suck if they teamed up fake Black Canary with unrecognizable Huntress.

As for Suicide Squad, that idea was ruined when they went with super skinny Waller anyway, plus Bronze Tiger is really stupid leaving Deadshot as the only halfway decent SS character in Arrow. Knowing Arrow we'll get more characters introduced, but theyll be nothing like the actual characters. We'll probably get a male version of Plastique who hates explosions, a Catman that is actually a were-cat, and Rick Flag, jr who'll turn out to be Robert queen's secret identical twin brother who was taken from his family at birth and raised by the Flag family They'll also probably throw Count vertigo in, because a drug dealer with no powers was such a perfect version of the character that he just needs to be used again.

I do think its funny that Arrow used a fairly obscure connection to Ra's Al Ghul in the last episode (I haven't seen it, but I saw her name mentioned with the last episode and looked it up). I had never even heard of this character. Honestly you'd think Ra's would have more kids. He's immortal and doesn't seem incapable of it, you'd think he'd just keep trying until he got a boy. After this, I'm betting that someday we'll see on Arrow Merlyn's third cousin twice removed on his mother's side that turns out to be a character once briefly mentioned in a golden age Green Arrow story

 

[sojourner]

You poor, poor misguided soul. I weep for the pain you're going to go through watching the last episode feeling as you do.

 

[Taylirious]

Last EP was okay. They do need to do a better job of juggling characters and having something for everyone to do who are actually in the EP. The writers must hate Laurel. How much lower can she go? Most of the time she is irrelevant. It is a shame cause I love Katie Cassidy.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I haven't seen the latest episode yet (although I'll probably watch it today) but I did see the titles of some of the upcoming episodes, and i'm dreading Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey (especially BoP). I hope BoP is just Huntress returning, and the title is just a comic reference. I don't know if Sara is still around, but it would suck if they teamed up fake Black Canary with unrecognizable Huntress.

As for Suicide Squad, that idea was ruined when they went with super skinny Waller anyway, plus Bronze Tiger is really stupid :

Your objection to Bronze Tiger is what, exactly? He's not that far removed from the comics version.

 

[Corran Horn]

Last EP was okay. They do need to do a better job of juggling characters and having something for everyone to do who are actually in the EP. The writers must hate Laurel. How much lower can she go? Most of the time she is irrelevant. It is a shame cause I love Katie Cassidy.

I figured they brought in people for bit parts (like Felicity) that ended up having some real chemistry with the other actors. I almost feel that way about Digg - season 1 I thought he'd die any episode - but maybe they saw the chemistry and kept him on. Same reason they dropped the Tommy character.

 

[Thestral]

You poor, poor misguided soul. I weep for the pain you're going to go through watching the last episode feeling as you do.

This was an excellent episode. I really like Sarah, and hope she just stays around as Canary. I mean, it suucks for Ollie/Felicity shipping (unless... considering Sarah...) and I don't even know what to do about Laurel, but yeah, that's where I'm at. Her story with Nyssa was really strong, and there's obviously plenty of unresolved issues there.

I feel bad for Katie Cassidy cause I like her, but they're not doing her any favors with Laurel - this show doesn't suffer for a lack of good female characters, and at this point I like even Summer Glau's nonexistent character better. Addiction is a disease, not a moral failing... but they keep making her take the worst possibly choices. They could stand to give Thea more to do for that matter, running the club is good but she's not doing a whole lot storywise.

Ollie going off on Moira like that was weird and over the top IMO, but we'll see where it goes.

 

[Marc]

Last EP was okay. They do need to do a better job of juggling characters and having something for everyone to do who are actually in the EP. The writers must hate Laurel. How much lower can she go? Most of the time she is irrelevant. It is a shame cause I love Katie Cassidy.

I figured they brought in people for bit parts (like Felicity) that ended up having some real chemistry with the other actors. I almost feel that way about Digg - season 1 I thought he'd die any episode - but maybe they saw the chemistry and kept him on. Same reason they dropped the Tommy character.

From what i've read felicity fits your theory but I think Diggle was planned to be there from the get go.