#sara rewatches legacies

[userlaylivia]

I'm rewatching legacies ofc and I'm on 2x03 and god Lizzie's character development was so incredible ahhhhhh just seeing her grow and evolve over 4 seasons was amazing! also I'm not on 204 yet but can I just that lizzie being the first one to remember hope was iconic and just so perfect and ahhhhh so many feelings!!!

[oktxvia]

I’m rewatching Legends and I’m on season 6 and I just need to say, Sara as clone was the worst decision the show ever made imo. Sara went through hell, died, was resurrected, fought so very hard for herself to make it through it all and to be where she is—and then they just turn her into a clone. It’s disrespectful to her entire journey and renders everything she stands for essentially irrelevant, and I hate the writers for it. She’s been my favorite arrowverse character from the moment she showed up in Starling City and them just shoving her into a clone body feels so very wrong to her legacy, no matter how bonkers Legends is as a show. I’m actively ignoring the whole thing and pretend like she’s the same old human(!) Sara because just no.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hi aj! Ive been rewatching gsr moments from csi Vegas and it just got me thinking about grissom and sara’s current relationships with the old members of the team. Brass is obviously there (love sara basically scolding him for not telling them about his condition in the beginning of the season) and they mention catherine often enough. There’s the fact that grissom and sara apparently are in california most of the time now, so it makes me wonder if they see nick now and then. And then there’s greg who I’ve always thought of as sara’s closest friend besides grissom. What do you think of their status now given that the show hasn’t really given us much?

hi, anon!

since the show doesn't really give us much information to go on besides the few implications that you mention, this issue is a matter of headcanon.

and i'll be honest with you: i don't really have a headcanon on this one.

the main reason why i don't is because the whole "grissom and sara ride off on a boat" ending is one that only comes about as a result the s13 divorce storyline, and the s13 divorce storyline is one i completely ignore in my own imaginings of the show, so i just haven't spent a lot of time thinking about the everyday ins-and-outs of the nautical lifestyle for grissom and sara.

i prefer to devote my brainpower to thinking up an au where the divorce never happened.

however, the other reason why i don't have a headcanon on this issue is because i don't really think the scenario lends itself to a happy outcome where "continued team contact" is concerned.

the reboot didn't actually specify that grissom and sara spend a lot of time in california—that's just where they happened to be at the time when they got called in on the hodges case.

while they may occasionally dock there, the impression i got was that they more often tend to move around, following the animals they're researching (like the jellyfish sara sends grissom to collect off the coast of panama in csi: vegas episode 01x01 "legacy").

and if it is the case that grissom and sara are truly "science nomads of the sea," then chances are they don't actually have a ton of contact with their friends.

the maximum distance for ship-to-shore calls is about 15-25 miles from shore, and cell service and wifi out at sea is often of poor quality/unreliable/prohibitively expensive, which means that unless they are close to the coast and/or in port, grissom and sara's options for making contact with their friends/family are likely fairly limited.

then, even when they are close to the coast and/or in port, logistics such as time zone differences, roaming charges, and the unpredictability of their travel schedule could further interfere with their communication with their old teammates.

it might be difficult for them to fit in more than a few facetime calls a year or an email or two every few months.

while nick lives in a coastal city (san diego) and might therefore be able to more easily meet up with grissom and sara when they sail his way, brass and presumably catherine are landlocked while living in vegas, as is greg living in chicago, so they might only very rarely get to catch up with grissom and sara in person.

personally, i don't much like the idea that the found family the team built during their 9+ years of working together completely dissolves once they all no longer are employed at the lab; however, any scenario where grissom and sara spend the majority of their time living on the open ocean seems to point toward that outcome.

hence, i just don't spend much time thinking in that direction.

i stay in my little au world, where team graveyard stays close for life, even after they start to move in different professional directions.

so.

all of the above said, if i have to bend my brain around the scenario canon presents us with, then i'm going to be stubborn about it.

and unrealistic.

i think sara—who already lost her bio family and isn't about to lose her found one, too—absolutely refuses to fall out of contact with catherine, nick, greg, and brass, seagoing lifestyle be damned.

she puts in the work and makes sure grissom does, too.

every time she and grissom dock somewhere, she's sending postcards and letters from both her and grissom by snail mail, firing off emails, making arrangements for phone calls—which she will stay up until ungodly hours to facilitate (depending on time zones).

she also arranges things so that she and grissom are in san diego no fewer than four times a year to see nick, and if she ever gets word that catherine or greg is attending a conference anywhere within 100 miles of a coastline, then she makes that place the ishmael's next port of call.

at least once a year—usually while the boat is being maintenanced—she and grissom make a trek inland. go on a "grand tour" for a couple of weeks at a time, visiting brass and catherine in vegas and greg in chicago, putting in quality "family time" while also running their "land errands" (like getting their driver's licenses and passports renewed, having their annual physicals and dental appointments, in her case completing continuing csi education certification courses, etc.).

she also will go out of her way to attend big events in her friends' lives—like when nick wins some big award from the city of san diego, she and grissom are there, front row, at the ceremony, cheering him on; and when greg graduates from his phd program, they show up to see him walk.

while grissom would perhaps be more naturally inclined to just let socialization fall by the wayside, she encourages him to make time to zoom with catherine and even—if you can believe it—keep up his correspondence with heather, and he (ultimately) is grateful that she does, because even though he tends toward reclusiveness, he does still love his people and realizes that staying in contact with them makes his life richer.

anyway.

it's not very realistic, given the actual logistics of their life, and neither is it very well thought-out, as, like i said, i don't spend a lot of time mentally inhabiting the post-s8 canon story world, but that's what i've got.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[oatmilkovich]

i rewatched episode 6 (i like to torture myself) and the scene of wille getting ready to give the statement. it absolutely kills me. how he's so anxious and alone, yet pulls himself together and makes himself do it, does what's expected of him. maybe he thinks it'll be okay, because it's the only way. it'll be even worse if he doesn't do it. and after he puts himself through it, it does get worse 😭

i would love to hear what your favourite scenes are, acting wise!

okay anon i also just rewatched ep 6 also and i am in pain 💔god that build up to him giving the statement, the way his whole resolve just drops in the car as his mum talks him into denying it – the worse thing is like, we know he doesn't believe that it was the only way – we know that he thought that he was going to be able to talk his mum around and get her to understand...

now the acting. this may get hella rambley so i'm going to shove it under the cut because i know the majority of my followers won't care lol <3

edvin's approach to wilhelm's anxiety is most likely my favourite acting aspect of the entire show – it's incredibly nuanced for someone of his age (not in a condescending way bc there's only like 5 years between us lol but like, you hardly see that degree of detail in a way that isn't over played or presented rather than experienced by seasoned Adult Actors). i know he's mentioned previously that it's something he relates to which is very clear in how personalised his work is. when we see wilhelm experience high anxiety it's honest to the moment because it's grounded in truth. he's connected it with his own anxiety and not in a way that lets his own experience do the work (which is method and that's 👎imo) but that it informs the decisions and motions wilhelm goes through in the scenes.

one of my favourite scenes where we see his anxiety manifest is in the scene in episode 5 where wilhelm tells him that he doesn't want to lose him.

the way he's clearly so distressed at the idea of losing simon that you can hear the emotion in his voice from the beginning of the conversation but as the scene goes on, his resolve begins to crumble and the anxiety he's been holding back comes to the surface when they hug. the way edvin let the anxiety inform the scene rather than direct the scene was so impressive – we can see and feel wilhelm's emotions but they don't take over the scene. omar plays wonderfully off them also and the hug they share is heart wrenching.

another scene i find myself rewatching over and over is the one where he confronts august in episode 6. immediately when wilhelm walks into the room you can feel the anger and fury radiate off of him. i really love how it wasn't approached as this huge screaming confrontation – whilst his definitely does yell at him (deservingly so) it again doesn't overpower the emotional drive behind the dialogue. wilhelm isn't just angry here – he's heartbroken.

august was one of wilhelm's last proper connections to erik – we know wilhelm looks up and trust's erik's judgements more so than anyone else so to be betrayed by that, by someone erik loved so much, it's heartbreaking. he was told he could trust him, he was told he would do right by him and he was wrong. all of this pain wilhelm is going through his partly because the queen wants to protect erik's legacy and give his death meaning, and here august completely spat upon it all. edvin does a phenomenal job w the line deliveries, they're clear and devastating and cut right to the heart.

i was going to end the post here, but i'm going to quickly highlight omar's work in The Break Up scene because they both work off of each other beautifully.

there is such a quiet devastation to omar's line delivery here - simon's clearly heartbroken but he's determined to stand up for himself and stand his ground (i just realised that maybe he took sara's words about letting people piss on him truly to heart). the dialogue comes out slowly and not in a way that drags or is over played for the drama, but for the audience to truly understand how difficult it is for simon to say these things AND how important it is for wilhelm to hear them.

i'm now going to end the post otherwise it's gonna get super long lol and i'm not even sure who else is going to read this but! the acting on this show is phenomenal (particularly from these two) and i could probably write many, many posts about it! it's only been a week since i first watched it and i've watched it through maybe 4 or 5 times since then because i can't get enough of the acting. it's truly something special.

thanks for asking anon! ❤️

[its-a-geeks-world]

Sara "i-was-supposed-to-come-help-for-a-little-bit-and-be-on-my-way-instead-i-got-into-a-dangerous-situation-on-my-first-night-back" Sidle, ladies and gentlemen

rewatching S10 (again) and i can't stop thinking about how Sara came back to Vegas from Paris and like that same night she was involved in a potentially deadly shootout and then a decade later she does the same freakin' thing almost getting hit by a car like gurl you're gonna give your man a heart attack one of these days

Can you imagine the phonecalls? 'so listen honey, this happened today at the lab, don't flip out" *flash forward to 2021*' hey gil how're the jellyfishes? so listen this happened today at-" "NOT AGAIN"

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation S10 E01 'Family Affair' / CSI: Vegas S01 E01 'Legacy'

[filmmakerdreamst]

Gabrielle, Xena, and their wlw legacy 25 years later

“Before I met you, no one saw me for who I was. I felt invisible. You saw all the things that I could be. You saved me, Xena.” – Gabrielle, “The Ides of March”

The story of Xena is remembered as many different things. A heroic saga, a tale of redemption, a campy romp. It’s a series that truly had it all, and that’s why it remains iconic a quarter of a century later. Yet it is perhaps best remembered for the series-long slow burn subtextual love affair between Xena and her “traveling companion” Gabrielle.

While Xena and Gabrielle never became a canonical couple throughout the show’s run, producer Liz Friedman was (and is) an out lesbian and she, along with many of the writers, are on record as having worked to push queer themes throughout the series. Though studio executives refused to allow an openly queer relationship to flourish in late 1990s all-ages programming, looking back, they got away with a lot. While the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle remains the most talked about element of the show with good reason, something that stands out during a rewatch is that Gabrielle’s story is a queer narrative from the very start.

In the pilot episode, Gabrielle and her fellow villagers are taken hostage by henchmen of the villainous Draco. Despite being “only a bard,” Gabrielle is a brave young woman, and tries to stand up for the others, but to no avail. She is, after all, a storyteller, not a warrior. At that fortuitous moment, Xena arrives and defeats the warlords effortlessly, and it changes Gabrielle’s life forever. Not only is her life spared, she has found a new purpose – Xena.

Gabrielle is immediately smitten and attempts to follow Xena out of town when the other villagers, knowing her reputation as a ruthless killer, demand that she move on. Xena is jaded and prefers to travel alone, but Gabrielle trails her. She is committed to proving to Xena that they need each other. She even saves Xena’s life by thinking on her feet and keeping her cool under pressure so that Xena finally, grudgingly feels compelled to hear her out. When Xena threatens to send her back home, Gabrielle immediately replies, “I won’t stay there,” and makes an impassioned plea to Xena to allow her to accompany her on adventures.

“Gabrielle doesn’t elaborate on the details of her alienation, but any queer viewer would be able to relate.”

Even from the very first episode, Gabrielle knows she does not belong in her hometown. She knows she does not fit in, and the heteronormative plan that has been laid out for her by the people in her life seems akin to torture. She doesn’t elaborate on the details of her alienation, but any queer viewer would be able to relate. Xena is moved by this, and she finally agrees to accept Gabrielle into her life. For both of them, this proves to be the most important decision either of them would ever make.

This is all within the very first of the one hundred thirty-four episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess, and it truly set the standard for what we would see going forward. Gabrielle would have some romantic interests outside of Xena over the course of the series, but there is no questioning that her life revolved around the Warrior Princess from the moment she met her. Xena struggles with myriad romantic attachments throughout the show, conflicted over her past loves like Marcus, and the god of war, Ares, who sees the bond between her and Gabrielle as a threat and consistently attempts to break them up. For Gabrielle, she is briefly married, but her husband is little more than a plot device who is then almost immediately killed. She is trailed after by Joxer, but has no interest in him. In contrast, she is dedicated to Xena, and rarely questions the strength of their connection. Though it isn’t always explicit, by the end of the series, it’s difficult to view their relationship as anything but a love story.

Looking back, what was mandated a platonic relationship by censorship comes across more like a highly successful polyamorous relationship, in which the two grant each other space and understanding while remaining fully committed to one another. By the end of the story, they appear to be in a more monogamous arrangement, with Xena ultimately choosing Gabrielle as her one true partner, but it’s important that they allowed each other to express outside interests without anger as they grew together.

Indeed, though Xena’s affairs are many, Gabrielle’s strongest outside interest is with the Amazons. This, of course, is not without its own subtext. In the episode “Hooves & Harlots”, Xena focuses on trying to solve a murder mystery while Gabrielle trains and bonds with the Amazons. The Amazons emphasize sisterhood and they give Gabrielle a greater understanding of who she is as an entity separate from Xena. In “The Quest,” we learn that if Xena were to perish, Gabrielle would go to live with the Amazons rather than rejoining her old village or even pursuing her career as a bard. Though the Amazons are also never confirmed as queer despite the obvious queer elements of their story, Gabrielle’s emphasis on surrounding herself with a community of other queer people is important. In the Amazon episodes, the Gabrielle-specific subtext is as strong as it ever gets. In “To Helicon and Back,” Gabrielle politely notes that Xena will have to leave because a pending ceremony is Amazon-only, and Xena graciously agrees with only a trace of apprehension, quipping, “Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.” Xena supports Gabrielle and encourages her to form close bonds with other women, but they always come back to each other.

In “The Ides of March,” the villainous Callisto teams up with Xena’s cruel ex Caesar to usurp rulership of Rome from its tenuous democracy. Xena has seen a prophecy warning her to never set foot within Rome lest she risk her own death, but when Gabrielle is captured, she feels she has no choice. They nearly escape, but she is paralyzed by Callisto in the middle of a fight to free Caesar’s prisoners. Gabrielle spent much of the last season on a quest for peace, but when she sees Xena fall, she does not hesitate to unleash her full rage on the Roman guards. She fights valiantly while Xena begs her not to, fearing the cost to Gabrielle’s spirit. After they are both captured, they are imprisoned together and sentenced to death. When Xena weakly apologizes to Gabrielle, asking her forgiveness for making her break her vow of non-violence, Gabrielle insists that it’s meaningless, as nothing has ever mattered to her besides her life with Xena. The two of them are crucified together, and they die gazing into each other’s eyes. Though they return to life in the next season, we see that even in death, their souls were just as intertwined as their lives had become.

Gabrielle’s struggle with violence and the inner peace she ultimately achieves in concern to it is generally what people focus on when talking about the importance of her story, but that all happens alongside her journey to acceptance of herself as a queer person. She and Xena are not an immediate item but rather a slow burn love story in which they both must prove their love and devotion while struggling with their own inner demons. Yet still, at any time throughout the series when the two become separated, Gabrielle is not well until she is reunited with her partner. Xena, for her part, grows to depend on Gabrielle in a way that is, at first, completely alien to her. Though Xena has had many loves, none of them went to the lengths that Gabrielle went to in order to be with her. Leading up to her catastrophic death in the final episodes, her commitment to Gabrielle is agonizingly apparent. Even in death, the two of them will never be separated.

Without Gabrielle’s queer subplot, textual or not, Xena would not have been the show it was. Xena’s story involves a lot of conflicting feelings and ends with her making amends for who she was before ultimately letting go of it all and finding her own peace. Gabrielle’s story is about holding on to her faith and her kindness regardless of what she goes through. Together, these stories combined to be one of the greatest love stories in television history. Though the comics would later portray their relationship as openly queer, the fact that it didn’t need to be canonical within the show to be as important as it is to queer audiences only further proves the impact of the series, the vitality of Gabrielle’s story, and the poetic beauty of her complicated, but all-encompassing, love for Xena.

- Gabrielle, Xena, and their wlw legacy 25 years later by Sara Century

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Watching ‘Hanssen Is As Hanssen Does’ now, hell yeah. First time I’ve seen the whole thing in a while - obviously I’ve rewatched the Henrik scenes but I think it’s been a few years since I last saw the full episode.

Edit: FUCK I’D FORGOT THERE WAS A MAJA MENTION. “How was she?” “She needed you to be there.” :((

Also, it really frustrates me how they used the Fredrik/Sara relationship and the John/Henrik one as parallels but didn’t actually address the similarities when they brought Sara back in 2019.

Edit 2: Interesting scene with Jac and John, where Jac talks about the pain she’s been experiencing and John asks her why she took the stairs that day then. Jac avoids giving him a direct answer, then eventually says something about needing to “test” herself.

Edit 3: GUY HENRY WAS SO FUCKING GOOD IN THIS EPISODE.

Also I really adore the ‘Henrik visiting Ric’ scene.

Edit 4: Lmao at Meena saying “I just take it one day at a time” and then the episode after this is called ‘One Day At A Time’.

Edit 5: Awww @ Henrik wanting to defend Ric even though it could ruin his reputation.

Edit 6: Interesting directing choice when Henrik’s visit to Ric ends - the guard closing the door is shown from the inside, making it look almost like Henrik’s the one locked in a prison cell.

Edit 7: Roxanna and Henrik really had ZERO chemistry. I hate that they had to shove the “they were in love all along” retcon in there because it makes it hard to appreciate their scenes as friends.

Edit 8: Ollie only recognising Henrik’s photograph AAAAAAAH.

Edit 9: JOHNRIK INTERACTIONS FUCK YEAH

Also, another future episode title reference - “We need to find a way to bring [Ollie] back into the light.”

Edit 10: Also, I love the suit jacket Henrik is wearing here.

Edit 11: Absolute dick move from Roxanna pushing Henrik to talk to Ollie and then just walking away, leaving them alone, despite knowing Henrik is upset.

Roxanna straight up admitting she doesn’t understand Henrik too. John asks how she thinks Henrik’s coping, she says “With Henrik, it’s impossible to tell”. God. She clearly did care about him as a friend but she did NOT get him well enough to have any kind of functional romantic relationship with him. But people gloss over that because she’s a woman and therefore she’s allowed to make as many mistakes when interacting with Henrik as she wants. While of course Russ gets raked over the coals for a few mild mistakes. Sigh.

Edit 12: This is a James Anderson appreciation account.

Edit 13: MORE JOHNRIK FORESHADOWING THROUGH FREDRIK/SARA.

Sara: “I wish I’d had the chance to stop him... all he ever said he wanted to do was heal people. ...Do you think he meant it? [Henrik: I prefer to believe that was the case.] Now this is his only legacy.”

Edit 14: Henrik being suicidal after Fredrik is not news, I think we’ve all assumed he was, but I’d forgotten just how strongly they implied it. Sara asks him how he’ll survive this - he says nothing.

Edit 15: The scene between Essie and Sara feels so raw and realistic. Kaye Wragg and Dana Smit were incredible. And the writing was so good.

Edit 16: Guy Henry’s acting in that little scene in Henrik’s office when he’s trying to write a speech. Gaaaah.

Edit 17: Awww, this Jac and Sacha scene :’))

Also, weird how they set up the whole thing of Henrik avoiding Jac because of everything and then never really went anywhere with it. Actually, when was the first time they shared a scene post-Fredrik? (I guess I’ll find out when while doing this rewatch.)

Edit 18: JOHNRIK

Edit 19: I only watched this scene where Henrik’s trying to give the speech and then runs off a few days ago, but it still absolutely wrecks me.

Edit 20: So weird seeing John like... actually being relatively (very relatively) stable and being friendly with people.

Edit 21: The scene with Henrik and Sara in Henrik’s office, Henrik actually crying... OW. :(

Edit 22: Not the fucking ACDC metaphor scene. The lengths these writers went to to avoid the word “bisexual” was truly insane.

Edit 23: Henrik in the last scene always breaks my heart. :(

[spooner-cruz]

I rewatched Green Arrow and the Canaries (Arrow s8 e9) again and I have thoughts ™️.

(Arrow spoilers... duh)

First of all GAY GAY GAY

If GAATC had gotten picked up Laurel and Dinah would’ve been together and you can’t convince me otherwise !

I know it’s the CW and they’re quite the experts on Queerbaiting ™️ (especially being a CW Arrowverse show *side eyes Supercorp*) which was probably the case, but I chose to believe they would’ve gotten together! I mean ffs their first scene this episode is the gayes thing ever.

Laurel’s eyebrow raise and smile when Dinah notices her kfhdkchsjd

The director/writer/ whomever, decided to put this DinahxLaurel interaction so that the lyric “I’m in love with you” matches up with Dinah’s reaction to Laurel. That was fully purposeful! Dinah had a whole ass piano solo after that lyric where they couldve put their interaction, but nooo

The lyric:“Im in love with you”!! WHAT WAS THE REASON!! The songs original lyric is “I love you” and I could not find a single other version or cover that uses “Im in love...” instead. I know Dinahsiren fanfic writers picked up on this (as they should) and it’s an often mentioned fact in Dinahsiren fanfic (and i love it) but the thing is we would’ve overanalyzed it just the same had they kept the original lyrics. I’ve heard arguments that “it’s not that big of a deal” AND THATS EXACTLY THE POINT, if it’s not that big if a deal why would they change it??? We would’ve lost our minds even had kept the original lyric, but they made this change so it was noticeable!! So this was either them leading up to a Dinahsiren relationship or very detailed and precise queer-baiting, I chose to believe the former.

Anyway that’s it from Dinah and Laurel because every single one of their interactions with his episode was gay and they deserve their own separate post + I don’t want to make this one longer than it will be.

who do I have to contact in order to know who the big bad of this show would be???

I’ve got theories, as I’m sure many do! Please feel free to share your theories I’d love to know!!

What we know:

She’s a woman.

She kidnapped and planned on killing Bianca Bertinelli, which would’ve brought crime and disorder back to star city

She kidnapped William, which is probably how the GAATC would’ve gotten even more involved with all of this

Her “minions” wore the Deathstroke mask and seemed keen on reviving the Deathstroke Gang

THE HŌZEN!! In Buddhism, it symbolizes reconnecting, in Arrow it was shown to be a symbols of the Queen family, passed from Oliver to Thea to Roy than Thea again then to Felicity and finally William. However, it also symbolizes Lian Yu. The Hozēn was used in 2040 1.0 to bring William to Lian Yu, where Hōzen was initially found around a dead soldiers neck. And before the Hōzen came to symbolize the Queen family, Shado had it and wore it around her neck, which brings me to my theory.

The main antagonist would’ve been Shado.

All the symbols used by our villain relate to Shado. The Hōzen being the main reason why I think this, before it was a symbol of Oliver’s family, it was a symbol of Lian-Yu and Oliver’s way to remember Shado. The Deathstroke mask adds up too. Slade loved Shado, everything he did was to avenge her death, and though she didn’t reciprocate his romantic feelings she obviously cared about him too.

What I see happening is that maybe Shado was brought back to life after crisis (they explained why Robert Queen wasn’t brought back but they never did explain why Shado wasn’t brought back) somehow she ends up in 2040. So Shado is alive and in 2040, and she wants revenged on Oliver for her would’ve-been death (and his legacy— hence the destroying the city and kidnapping William). It would also make sense for her to honor Deathstroke, especially if she had found out about her friends similar mission to avenge her. Plus she was one of the people who trained Oliver to be the Hood, so she would’ve definitely provided a challenge for GAATC

Also she’s pretty and I miss her and that would’ve been so cool

I do have a few plot holes about GAATC and just crisis/the 2040 kids in general that I noticed this rewatch and they really bother me:

Did they not restore Zoe’s memory of Crisis?? (2020 Zoe that is).

I fully understand why they didn’t restore William’s memory seeing as he wasn’t actually there during Crisis and JJ was a baby so it’s not like he had memories to be restored.

But Zoe was there through it all. Yes we didn’t see her in crisis, but she had to have known about it, at least in crisis-prep season 8. Rene and Dinah both seemed pretty vocal about their vigilantism when they were interacting with Zoe, and even if they didn’t tell her about Crisis, she would’ve noticed her dad leaving for an island in the North China sea or how he probably acted all sad and shit after he found out 2040 version 1.0’s Zoe died. Plus she definitely would’ve seen grown Mia and William at least once during season 8 even if what just passing by. Also after Crisis happened, even if they didn’t restore her memory, she would’ve noticed Dinah suddenly disappearing?? Or that people that used to be dead were suddenly alive (which is another crisis issue! Moira and Tommy didn’t seem to have their memories restored yet they knew in some version of reality they would’ve been dead, so did the people who’s memories didn’t get restored just accept that dead folks were coming back). At the very least 2040 Zoe would’ve 100% recognized Dinah and Laurel (so would William for that matter wtf).

Then there’s the Diggles.

So baby Sara seemed to have been brought back, as show in the last few scenes of Arrow. Why was she not in 2040? Would she have been included in GAATC or were they just glaze over how John and Lyla suddenly had a daughter who was conveniently the same age as JJ.

Then also the whole thing with Dig being the Green Lantern, I got to say I’m completely out of the loop with that, but it’s what Arrow seemed to have been leading up to, which just bring me to ask why tf are Digs kids the way that they are? I mean it’s not the most ridiculous thing ever, that the Green Lantern’s kids grew up to be a drug addict, and a socialite who ended up being evil, but it just doesn’t rlly add up that Diggle was the Green Lantern yet his kids are like this.

Also they whole thing with JJ being evil again makes no sense?? Yes he was reminded that in a past life he was evil, but now tf would that make him want to be evil again. Mia was struggling with embracing her past life vs her current life because she had a great life and yet felt a responsibility to live up to her father and be a hero, understandable, but JJ??? He had a great life in 2040 version 2.0, and he moved on so quickly from that when he regained his memory simply because is some past life his dad was kind of an asshole?? Idk doesn’t make sense to me.

[softlass27]

💕Robron Tag Game💕

Thanks for the tag @damnitiloveyou 😘

1.) Indicate your preference (feel free to explain)

2) There are two free questions for you to ask people you are tagging (you can ignore - no pressure). The idea would be that everyone could contribute too, and make it more interesting! Let's see if it will work haha.

3) Tag as many people as you want!

Affair era or Husbands era? Argh that’s so hard – they’re my top two! I think I’ll have to go with husbands era, because I’m a slut for that soft domestic shit. And husbands era is generally my favourite time to write fic for, so there’s that.

Floral shirt or Brown leather jacket? Neither are my favourites but I’ll go with brown leather jacket.

Purple hoodie or Overalls? Overalls 🔥🔥🔥

Wedding 1.0 or Wedding 2.0? Wedding 2.0. While there are a couple of scenes in Wedding 1.0 that I would die for (mainly the scenes that are just Robron without any other characters heh), overall I’m pretty *meh* about it. Call me a massive cynic, but I just remember watching it when it first aired and being like, “You two have... way too many communication issues to be getting married what the fuck”. Rewatching it now, after having seen them go through the inevitable breakup and more healthy reunion, I can enjoy it a bit more, for what it is and what it adds to their overall story. But at the time... yeah, I was CONCERNED lmao.

My other issue is... I mean that episode is mostly just another “Dingle Do”, innit? And that fact that it was a “Dingles only” knees up in the family pub meant that, other than Victoria and Diane, everyone in the room was just there for Aaron. They were there to celebrate Aaron getting married rather than AaronandRobert getting married, which isn’t how a wedding should be, really. Then there was all the nonsense with that sodding welly and “welcoming” Robert to the family (which as we know, counted for fuck all), the whole thing just makes me 🙄🙄🙄

Whereas with Wedding 2.0, the fact that it’s actually a properly planned event means that people other than the Dingles got to attend, and you really get the sense that the whole village are there for both Aaron and Robert equally. It was the right time for them, it looked beautiful, it felt earned, and it was nothing less than our kings deserved.

Liv or Vic? Vic. Anyone who’s perused my blog probably knows my feelings about Liv by now, so there’s no need to get into it lol.

The Sugdens or The Dingles? Sugdens. Again, I imagine anyone who knows me isn’t surprised by this answer. 😂 I love watching the Sugdens (even the ones I dislike), their family dynamic is just so interesting and often very realistic. Not to mention the fact that they’re the original legacy family of the show and deserve to be treated as such. I hate that there’s so few of them left :(

Other than Aaron (who barely counts as a Dingle – especially these days lmao), the only valid Dingles are Cain, Marlon and Charity. And even then, I enjoy those characters more when they’re either alone or with their non-Dingle family eg. Cain with Moira and their kids, Marlon with Billy and Ellis, Charity just... away from the rest of them.

The lodge or Christmas 2017? Love the lodge but it’s gotta be Christmas 2017. 

Chrissie White or Rebecca White? Chrissie! The writers 100% killed the wrong sister and I hate them for it.

Reunion 1.0 or Reunion 2.0? REUNION 2.0 IS MY FAVOURITE ROBRON EPISODE OF ALL TIME

Alex or Mike? Aw, Mike. He was sweet (and had a nice accent) and I hope that the next time he went out on the pull, he found himself a nice bloke who wasn’t already pining for his soulmate. Alex was a waste of oxygen.

The Love We Stole or Make You Feel My Love? The Love We Stole. Partially based on my personal musical preference and partially because I think the lyrics just fit Robron perfectly – to the point where I almost can’t believe the song wasn’t written for them. No offence to Adele, but Make You Feel My Love is so generic that it could work for any romantic couple really. And to me, the fact that The Love We Stole was the song to play during Robron’s final scene/montage just cements its status as their song.

Lay-by or Barn? Ohh this is tough... I adore the barn but I’m gonna have to go with the lay-by!

Proposal 1.0 or Proposal 2.0? Proposal 2.0

2016 or 2018? 2018! The reunion 2.0 buildup of January/February was fantastic, and while some of the plot later that year was... lacking (thanks to inferior characters like Liv, Rebecca and Chaddy), Robron being reunited and actually in a happy, healthy relationship was everything. It felt like a reward after all the heartache they’d gone through in previous years. 2018 is also the year of Robron being parents to Seb, the three of them being a proper little family was just *chef’s kiss* (until Rebecca once again ruined things).

As for 2016... other than January/February (which I actually tend to see separately from the rest of the year, in my head those two months are more like an extension of late 2015) and SSW, it’s mostly trash in my eyes. Boyfriends era was... yeah, unless you want this to turn into an essay-like rant, I’ll stop there.

Chas or Diane? Diane all the way. Chas can just 🔪🔪🔪

Boyfriend era or affair era? Ahaha I feel like this answer is obvious after my answer to 2016 vs. 2018, but affair era. A god tier time in Robron’s story.

I shall tag @nooneelsecomesclose17, @luststricken, @dinglemingle, @saras-almanac and whoever else fancies it :)

[missbrunettebarbie]

4, 15

4. Magical Girls

(I am choosing to read this as ”women who have magical powers”

1. Rikki Chadwick (H20 Just add water) - A mermaid counts, IMO.

2. Willow Rosenberg (BTVS) - witch of my heart

3. Davina Claire (The Originals) - Another gr8 witch that was an inspiration for my OCs

4. Paige Matthews (Charmed 1998)

5. Mel Vera (Charmed 2018)

15 - I want to rescue from their horrible narratives

1. Rebecca Pearson (This is Us) -Ughhh...just ughhh, her story is a tragedy and she doesnțt even see it

2. Lizzie Saltzman (Legacies) - She’s too good for this show

3. Bonnie Bennett (TVD) - I am rewatching and seasons 3-4-5 were pretty horrible to her even by usual TVD standards

4. Prue Halliwell (Charmed 1998) - She deserved so much better than what she got.

5. Sara Lance (Legends of tomorrow) - see above

[userlaylivia]

MY HANDON HEART HURTS!!!!!! THEY DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER I'LL ALWAYS BE BITTER OVER THEM UGH

I'm on 2x11 and landon choosing the epic love arrow and him saying he's never dreamed of finding a love like theirs and god that bathroom scene is my favorite handon scene and then when they kiss and fly in the air ahhhhh my babies!! at least s1&2 they cared about them ugh

[nandivina]

I was tagged by the lovely @satans--accountant to expose my truths. There you go, Anke, feast upon all this knowledge 🤲💖

The rules are “answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better”

I’ll tag @lilyveins, @s-4-fira, @lonedeewolf and @nieryen

Name/nickname: Fernanda/Nanda

Gender: Woman

Star sign: Sagittarius 

Height: 164cm I’m never sure what that is in feet

Time: 21:30

Birthday: 29 November

Favorite bands: I used to always say Aerosmith, but  don’t know…. Florence + the Machine??? don’t know

Favorite solo artist: this is so haaaard… I’ll say a few, Sara Bareilles, P!nk, Nando Reis

Song stuck in my head: Explosion - Zolita

Last movie: Just rewatched Coco and I cried my eyes out again

Last show: Finally started Community and I’m liking it so far!

When did you create this blog: end of 2014

What do I post: I mostly reblog stuff, but I also post art and occasionally post other things

Last thing googled: how to find out when I created my blog lol

Do I get asks: hardly ever.. last time was that stupid ivy-hating bot again

Why I chose my url: I’m terrible at naming things, a friends suggested it, cause it was a joke nickname he gave me

Following: 284

Followers: 310 (tho who is the bot and who is the man? no idea)

Average hours of sleep: around 7, I think

Lucky number: 13

Instruments: I wish

What am I wearing: shorts, old shirt and flip flops

Dream job: broadway star lol idk

Dream trip: Greece

Last book I read: a re-read of Breaking Legacies

Favorite food: Vatapá, idk

Nationality: Brazilian

Favorite song: can people actually answer this? lol

Top three fictional universes: Thedas, Mass Effect Universe (does it have a name?) and…. Pawnee lol. There was a time when HP universe would be here, but JKR killed it for me

[addictedtostorytelling]

Lately I’ve been watching CSI with my mom, who used to watch it years ago when it first aired. We started watching a few months ago, just after CSI: Vegas premiered. Since then, I’ve become addicted. Last night, we got to the season 8 finale. Although Warrick wasn’t my top favourite character (that rank belonging to Sara, Greg, and Nick), and even though I knew he was going to die (by reading spoilers on his Wiki page), I was still crushed. I watched 8x17 in tears, and couldn’t bring myself to watch 9x1.

However, I noticed that in the Paramount+ description for the episode “For Warrick”, it states that the producers later regretted killing Warrick off the show. I was wondering, what are your opinions? Do you think they should have killed him off? Do you think there were better ways to write off his character other than by having him murdered? Personally, I’m too heartbroken to have an opinion at the moment, but I’d love to hear your thoughts!

hi, @mcuwitxh!

those episodes are absolutely gutting, even rewatching them years later.

i have a bit of old meta here that talks about the decision to kill warrick off and some of the backstage politics that played into it.

suffice it to say, that whole process was messy as hell, and off-camera considerations definitely played a role in the final outcome.

as for my opinion on the matter, not only do i hate that the show killed warrick off period, but i hate how they chose to kill him off—that the writers seemingly went out of their ways to muddle his legacy as a character and make his death not so much heroic as just plain cruel.

warning: here be saltiness about the writing decisions surrounding warrick's death storyline. read at your own discretion.

__

while of course gary and the other cast members performed warrick's death arc to perfection, narratively speaking, warrick's story had always been about redemption—about a character who had learned from his past mistakes and overcome his personal demons in order to become a leader to his team and pillar in his community—but his death completely undermined that theme.

though he wasn't ultimately guilty of the most serious crimes of which he stood accused prior to his death, his death was still ignominious in other ways—tied to his worsening prescription drug habit and in large part a product of him getting in over his head while dealing with shady enterprises, a la his earliest characterization on the show rather than what he later evolved into.

sure, in the end, he wasn't a "rogue cop"/vendetta killer, but he didn't come out of the whole gedda affair smelling like roses, either.

the writers didn't let him.

though as far as we knew, warrick had learned all the way back in s1 better than to take part in extralegal activities or deal with unscrupulous figures all on his own (see episode 01x04 "pledging mr. johnson"), the gedda arc sees him regress from this development.

to be clear: warrick isn't to blame for his own death at all—that's mckeen, through and through—but the writers do seem to go out of their ways to show him behaving poorly prior to his death, to the point where, with the exception of the breakfast scene at the diner, just by itself in a vacuum, it's difficult to wring out anything good or hopeful from the last few hours of his life.

contrary to his later seasons characterization, warrick goes behind his teammates' backs (and against grissom's orders) to continue pursuing the gedda case after the events of episode 08x09 "cockroaches." he deals with a shady private investigator, instigating a barely-legal investigation into something he never should have poked around in without his friends there beside him. he shows up to the club without backup. he runs his mouth at times when he should keep quiet.

in short, the writers make sure to write his final days as complicated ones, replete with examples of him remaking the same old mistakes we'd seen him make back in s1—ones that he had supposedly long-since outgrown.

not only is his death senseless in terms of how abrupt it is and how much it is a total waste of his character, but it's also senseless in that it negates so much of his previous character growth and leaves one feeling as if things perhaps needn't have turned out the way they did had he behaved more like the most mature version of himself than like his earliest iteration.

by s8, one would expect warrick to turn to his teammates if he felt like he was on the verge of uncovering a criminal conspiracy (potentially even involving members of the lvpd). if grissom in particular weren't receptive to warrick's concerns—which, given that he is in the depths of depression and has a much shorter fuse than usual on account of sara's recent departure from vegas, he might not be—then warrick could turn to catherine or nick or even, in a beautiful reversal from the the antagonism of their early seasons relationship, brass instead.

to have warrick start the show as a guy whose impulsivity gets him in too deep into the underworld of the criminal justice system (with judge cohen) and does cost an innocent girl (holly gribbs) her life and nearly costs him his job only to then leave the show as a guy whose impulsivity gets him in too deep into the underworld of the criminal justice system (with lou gedda and jeff mckeen) and does cost an innocent girl (joanna krumpsky) her life and nearly costs him his job just feels like such a waste, like such a steamrolling of his character arc—and especially when we know that in-between point a and point b, he actually does develop and change and become a genuine hero; the writers just nerfed all of his hard-won growth in the end, is all.

there were absolutely better ways to get him off of the show than to get him hooked on sleeping pills, send his behavior back in time to 2000, and then have a (white) police officer mercilessly shoot him (the only black main character on the show) to death for the shock value.

that's just an unnecessarily ugly ending for a character whose story should have been about hope.

honestly, if the writers had been really sold on the idea of killing him—for actual storytelling reasons, as opposed to because they simply wanted to stick one to the actor in question—then they could have picked a death for him that was more reflective of who he was in s9.

but, ideally, they never should have killed him at all.

he should have gotten a walk-off ending.

maybe he quits the lab to be a full-time father to his son. maybe, like nick later does in s15, he gets a leadership opportunity at another lab. maybe he, like grissom later will, decides that he needs to move on to something else. maybe he and tina reconcile to raise eli together and he switches to day shift so he can have more time to be with his family. maybe they move someplace else together to get a fresh start.

whatever the writers chose to do, to my mind, it should have been something that spoke to the essence of warrick's character: that despite his troubled past, he had finally made good; that he was someone reliable and stalwart, who had mastered himself and his world.

certainly the door should have been left open for a potential return.

i mean, his ending still could have been sad or bittersweet, had the writers been inclined to do things that way—but it could have been so in such a manner that it didn't involve denigrating his character or leave a permanently bad taste in the mouths of the fans.

fourteen years on now, and i will never not feel like the show did warrick dirty.

he deserved an ending that was true to him, and that's not at all what he got.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[thebulletgirl]

Quarantine Survey

Tagged by @ttiva sort of

Where are you isolated?

In my flat in England

What are you currently reading or watching?

Rereading some of my older books and lots of fanfic, and we’ve watched a lot in the past 8 weeks.... Including: TVD Season 1-7, Originals S1-2, Legacies S1-2, Never have I ever S1, The 100 Rewatch S 1-3, POI Rewatch S1, FTWD Rewatch S1-2, Dead to Me S2, B99 Rewatch S1-2, Big Family Cook Off S1-2. (Listing all these out makes me feel ashamed, esp since am working full time too) 

If you can go outside, what do you like to do during this time?

Long walks around the town for our daily allowed exercise, cleaned up our patio space, reading in the sun/eating breakfast on our patio 

Any fascinating concept you’re studying?

I mean it’s not fascinating but I’m doing another degree in my spare time, so everything on that course!

What kind of acts of creativity/forms of art are you currently doing?

Uhh some B99 photoshop stuff I have yet to post, does baking/coding count?

A song that resonates with your state of mind at the moment?

Idk, I’ve legit just had my Natasha Romanoff/Sara Lance/Rosa Diaz playlists on the whole time lmfao. Any song about being tired and restless would fit tbh.

Favorite impulsive/’bad’ coping techniques?

Waking up 10 minutes before my morning meetings lmao, also forgetting to eat until 2pm, drinking too much coffee but that’s nothing new

Favorite healthy/’good’ coping techniques?

Holding weekly family quizzes with my family up north/in NZ to stay connected, small work outs, cooking, reading, spending lots of time with my gf 

Tagging: Anyone who wants to do it!

[jbuffyangel]

The New Eve: Arrow 7x16 Review (Star City 2040)

“Star City 2040” is a backdoor pilot and I loooooooooved it! GIMME.

Let’s dig in…

Mia, Felicity and William

The nice thing about backdoor pilots is if the episode is not announced as a backdoor pilot and the show isn’t picked up or doesn’t happen for some reason, then the episode can just be a regular episode. However, if the spin off does get picked up, then the audience will point to this “regular episode” as the one that launched the new show.

This is the situation we find ourselves in for “Star City 2040” and Mia Smoak. There’s no official word yet, but there’s been some buzz about a potential spin off centering on Katherine McNamara’s character and Beth Schwartz signed an overall development deal with the WB. Throw in this episode, add it all up and it spells

“Star City 2040” is setting up Mia’s backstory and the writers don’t waste any time. We open on Felicity delivering the PRINCESS THAT WAS PROMISED (yes that is her nickname) in the Olicity love cabin. Y’all I want the back story on this love cabin. How long did Oliver and Felicity stay there? How much sex did they have?  I’m only asking for the important details. For science.

There is a beautiful shot in the mirror as the camera pans into the room where Felicity is laboring. 

Source:  feilcityqueen

Oliver’s bent forehead is resting against Felicity’s head as she struggles to bring their daughter into the world. Labor and delivery is one of those deeply intimate moments in life no matter who is in the room with the mother. It’s such a simple yet profound moment of devotion from Oliver.  

Maybe it means even more because we know Oliver is missing in the future. Felicity is going to raise Mia entirely on her own, but in this time and place Oliver is here, witnessing the birth of their daughter. He is loving and supporting Felicity any way he can. In this moment she is not alone and they are in this together.

Source: oliverxfelicity

Facts. Your affection towards the man who impregnated you dramatically increases once labor and delivery is over. During delivery it may be a different story. For me it was weeks upon weeks of never ending pain, so by the time the doctors knocked me out for the c-section I was pretty much done with everyone.

Source: oliverxfelicity

Felicity squeezes Oliver’s hand tight, her wedding ring shining in the sun, as she pushes one final time. This image of them holding hands as she brings Mia into this world is a powerful symbol of where their story began and what their love created.

The reason we wear wedding rings is because they are an endless circles. The commitment we are making to our spouse is forever.  We wear our ring on our fourth finger of our left hand because the Romans believed the vein in this finger lead directly to a person’s heart.  Love is eternal.

Their daughter is entering the endless loop of love that resides within Oliver and Felicity’s relationship, the commitment they’ve made to each other and their children. 

Source: oliverxfelicity

Mia will always be wanted and adored. Oliver and Felicity’s marriage is forever and, as we’ll soon learn, there’s nothing they won’t do to keep their family safe.

Source: oliverxfelicity

This child represents so much of what Oliver believed he could never have. He was a lost soul who thought life was merely about survival and he didn't deserve one worth living for. Oliver couldn’t fathom being worthy of love let alone creating new life from that love. 

And yet he found himself hoping and dreaming.  Mia is the final piece of the Queen family and Oliver Queen puzzle. She is proof sometimes dreams come true.

Of course, Oliver and Felicity’s daughter is born in the morning with the sunlight brightly shining on them. 

It’s always the light. Oliver lost his innocence long ago, but this child is a new beginning. We can recapture what was lost because children open and fill places in our hearts we never knew existed. Mia shines her light the moment she was born. This is why children are a gift.

Felicity whispers a soft and perfect, “Hi,” as she welcomes her daughter to the world. As the tagline in the 7x16 promo said, “A hero’s legacy is born.”  This is how the story continues. What Oliver and Felicity built can live beyond them through Mia. She has her own hero’s journey to walk, but this is how the light never fades.  

Source: oliverxfelicity

We watch as Mia grows from a small child, to a tween 

Source: ebett

and finally into a young woman through a series of training scenes with NYSSA AL GHUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Source: ebett

YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!! 

I screamed with delight over Nyssa training Mia. Do you believe Mia is a badass? Damn right you do because she was trained by the best. Nyssa trained Sara, who was under her tutelage with the League of Assassins for years. 

Mia spent even longer training with Nyssa than Sara did. She has something no other character on Arrow has, including Oliver. Mia was trained to fight almost as soon as she could walk.

Arrow has a bad habit of characters learning skill sets it took other characters (cough*Oliver/Sara*cough) years to learn in a few short months. I’m not just talking about L*urel. Thea and Roy were guilty of this treatment too. However, Oliver trained Roy and Malcolm trained Thea. It took a slightly smaller logic leap to believe those characters could get up to speed in a few months because of their instructors.

L*urel was a mess though. BOXING?

She went from barely being able to throw a bunch, falling off cars and incapable of handling one guy with a knife to taking down five assassins in a matter of a couple weeks. REALLY?

The only mildly believable explanation for her newly acquired skill set was Nyssa trained her OFF SCREEN. 

We watched more training with Mia than we ever saw with L*urel and it occurred in a believable time frame. Way to learn the lesson, Arrow writers. BRAVO.

Ready for some petty? I legit cackled, yes CACKLED, they went out of their way to bring back Katrina Law so Nyssa could train Mia. Katrina has another television show and just had a baby. One would think it’d be easier to use an actress already contracted with the show.  So many of the antis were convinced Bl*ck S*ren trained Mia or maybe even raised her. After all, Felicity and L*urel have a burgeoning friendship in Season 7, but noooooope! Classic.

I love the shot of Felicity holding a cup of coffee and watching little Mia intently as she trains with Nyssa in the backyard of the Olicity love cabin. 

Source:  hollandrooden

First, her hair is long again and swept up like it was in 2x08 and I LOVE THAT HAIR STYLE. 

Fair warning, Felicity’s hair is really important to me this episode. I’m bizarrely excited she grows it long again in the future.

Second, keeping Mia safe requires more than keeping her hidden. Felicity turning to Nyssa to train her daughter so Mia can protect herself is a direct result of everything she went through with William while Oliver was in prison. 

Witness protection wasn’t enough. The bad guys always find a way. When Diaz came for Felicity and William they barely escaped with their lives. Felicity gave as good as she got and saved William, but the only reason she survived was because A.R.G.U.S. showed up.

Felicity Smoak is a badass in many ways, but her fighting skills don’t compare to Oliver’s. That’s just facts. Felicity was never more acutely aware of this fact than when her husband sacrificed himself, went to prison, and left his family wide open for the wolves to feed on. 

Felicity can’t depend on the love cabin to keep her daughter safe anymore than she could depend on A.R.G.U.S. or Witness Protection. If Mia has to deal with all the dangerous consequences of being Oliver Queen’s daughter than her mother is going to make damn sure their daughter can fight like her father.

Source:  felicittysqueen

This might make me the stupidest person on the planet, but I was really jazzed when Nyssa broke out the bow and arrow. 

Source:  ebett

We haven’t seen Mia with a bow yet, so I wasn’t entirely sure what her choice of weaponry would be.  Listen, sometimes I don’t know stuff and am easily surprised by this show. It happens. 

Mia had to work her way up to the bow. She learned all the hand to hand combat first. I feel like it went in the opposite order for Oliver. Didn’t he learn the bow first from Yao Fei and then Slade taught him how to fight later? I need to rewatch Season 1… and maybe write some reviews (ducks as people throw things at me).

Honestly, Mia’s life with Felicity in the love cabin seems almost idyllic in many ways. I’m not saying Oliver missing is unimportant. Of course, he is a huge gaping wound, but when you think about all the ways the writers could have written a miserable childhood for this girl I was surprised by how regular it seemed. The character descriptions for Mia included a wildly unpleasant sounding past, but essentially she grows up in a small town and doesn’t ever venture into the city.

Neither does Felicity. She runs Smoak Tech from home because she is a mind blowing genius who can run can operate a multi billion dollar corporation from a forest.  

Felicity’s aging makeup is practically nonexistent 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

because if you came from the gene pool of the immortal Donna Smoak you’d look banging at fifty one too. 

Also, Felicity Smoak is the Queen of DCTV and as such it is mandatory she look amazing in any timeline.

How much do I love her hair let me count the ways? It has a very Moira Queen vibe and I dig that. 

I questioned if it was Emily’s real hair for a second, but @callistawolf assured me it’s a wig. So it is possible for Arrow to create good wigs. This might be one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. PREPARE YOUR SOULS.

Future Felicity is very… chill. There’s a reserve to her twenty years later. It’s almost a quiet calmness. Still waters run deep sort of vibe. There’s less babble and exuberant cheerfulness, but she’s still Felicity. 

Source:  lucyyh

She talks boys with her daughter, weaving in all the Wizard of Oz references, without missing a beat in her rapid fire delivery, but there’s a measured tone to it. This is older and, if possible, even wiser Felicity. Life has taken its toll, but it hasn’t stolen her light. Felicity is still our girl and she’s created some kind of happy life with Mia. No matter where Oliver is this is what he would want for his wife.

But Mia is getting antsy to spread her wings beyond the small town of Bloomfield as young women often do. If Oliver was the hero Felicity claims then why does she have to keep it secret? Why can’t she scream she’s Mia Queen from the mountain tops? Yeah, I wanna know that too. Unfortunately, we aren’t offered an answer other than Felicity ticking the “It’s complicated” box.

Source:  olicitygifs

Mia shatters a photo of Oliver and Felicity holding her as a newborn. One perfect, happy moment when life seemed limitless and their family felt complete captured on film and frozen forever. The arrow goes through the apple Mia was aiming for and straight through the glass picture frame. 

This photo constantly reminds Felicity what she’s fighting for, which is why it leads to the Overwatch lair. Extremely on brand Ms. Smoak. I totally fist pumped when the arrow short circuited the tech and revealed the secret door GoGo Gadjet style. The whole room has a very Dr. Claw vibe, except we know Felicity is not evil, so it’s more like Penny grew up and got herself a do-gooder lair once her uncle retired or something.

The screen savers on the two computer screens are photographs – one of Oliver dressed as the Green Arrow and the other of William with Felicity. The same photograph Oliver kept with him in prison at the beginning of the season. 

If you feared William was out of sight and out of mind think again. He was with her every moment of every day.  Everything Felicity lost and is fighting to get back encompassed in two photographs. Both are powerful images and we realize how much Mia doesn’t know about her mother.

I love the shot of Mia sitting down at the computer. She is sitting directly in the middle of the split between screens like a missing puzzle piece. The past meets the present and Mia is split between the seam. For the first time all members of the Queen family are represented in one room. The screens are connected and angled at a point. It almost looks like the photos and screens make the shape of an arrowhead and Mia is the shaft.

Mia tries to get into the system and immediately an image of old man Rene and resident Flash Forward bad buy Kevin Dale. We first met Dale in 7x10. Rene had a meeting with Dale to inform him the Canaries have “the plans” and questioned him about Felicity Smoak’s death. More on Rene later though.

The system starts to shut down and Felicity overrides the self destruct protocols. The cat is out of the proverbial bag and Felicity tells Mia she’s been trying to take down a corrupt company in the city as Overwatch. Except, she’s not Overwatch because there’s no team so it’s a totally different thing!

Yeah Mia ain’t buying that either.  She gets angry fast and furious style. There are multiple levels to Mia’s anger, which took me a couple viewings to understand because the writers were throwing so much information at us so quickly.

Bottom line is Mia feels betrayed. Oliver being a vigilante is the entire reason Mia was never able to go to a normal school or go anywhere outside Bloomfield. It’s also the reason she grew up without a father. Oliver wasn’t killed in a car crash. He isn’t living in Zurich with his new wife and family. Regardless of what happened to him we know it was vigilante related because that’s the show.

Now her mother, who is the only person in the world Mia loves, is engaging in the same type of behavior that cost Mia her father annnnnnd Felicity lied about it. 

Just switch hacking with snorting cocaine. It’s like Mia walked in on Felicity doing a line. Extremely dangerous behavior Mia thought her mother had left behind. She thinks Felicity is a vigilante junkie.

Source:  olicitygifs

Of course, we know different. We know being a hero is who Felicity truly is, but to Mia she’s just Mom and she feels betrayed. Felicity tries to explain the promise she made with Oliver, but she can’t really get into what she’s trying to save beyond “the city.” 

Listen, I get saving Star City is the entire mission of Arrow, but it doesn’t really pack the same punch as, “I’m trying to save the city so we can be reunited with your brother.” Am I right? Unfortunately, William is another secret Felicity is keeping from Mia. I am confident all of these decisions are to keep the kids safe, but the lies can’t stop the relationship between mother and daughter from cracking.

Mia cannot understand why the lies are necessary if being a vigilante is so honorable. She’s starting to believe the “propaganda” as Felicity calls it, which is more evidence that Oliver working with the police and the city accepting Team Arrow doesn’t last long. Eventually, the city turns against Oliver AGAIN. Ungrateful twats.

Mia is fed up with being kept on the sidelines while her mother plays vigilante. She feels like Felicity has lied for her entire life. Eh.  I mean… kind of? 

I love Mia but I’m automatically programmed to defend Felicity Megan Smoak at all costs. The writers needed Mia to separate from Felicity, run off to the city, and become a bitter and cynical soul to throw us off the Olicity baby scent. This scene doesn’t entirely work for me in terms of creating a wedge between mother and daughter. It feels a little bit like Mia throwing a temper tantrum, which hey happens with the youths sometimes. I had far less issues with this scene once the episode ended and I’ll explain why in a bit.

Just to play devil’s advocate with my own brain (cause it’s fun), Mia’s reaction isn’t any different than Tommy, Quentin or even Diggle’s when they found Oliver was The Hood. All three were spectacularly ticked off and did not view Oliver’s nightly extracurricular activity as a good thing. Of course, they all came around (some faster than others) and viewed Oliver as the hero he truly is.

Mia is struggling with what she sees and what she’s been told in the same way. She’s been told vigilantes are heroes by her mother, but everyone else is telling her vigilantes are to blame for all the misery.  It’s not a difficult to understand why Mia would start to believe vigilantism is to blame for everything wrong in her life too. Also, Felicity lied and her daughter is just ticked off about it.

She runs away from home and writes Felicity a letter that’s basically a neon sign blinking “MY HERO’S JOURNEY STARTS NOW.” We meet a rougher, darker and far more depressing Mia in Star City.

Source:  ebett

She chooses the name Blackstar because she wants to be erased. Whatever light we see in Mia isn’t really there. It’s already faded to black.

Yeesh, girl. You don’t need to be as broody as your old man. At least Mia hasn’t skinned anyone for practice, but she’s getting a tattoo and is generally pessimistic about life. Close enough. The cage fighting pays homage to Oliver’s Bratva initiation. The writers want to make sure we really see the parallels because OLIVER AND MIA ARE THE SAME.

In case you missed the Bratva parallel, they follow it up with two more. Mia is doing handstand push ups and she pulls her bow from the case just like Oliver did in the pilot. But they aren’t thinking about a spin off. Nope. Nothing to see here!

Source: mia-smoak-gifs

William and Mia join forces for another brother/sister team up. First up is scaling the wall to enter into The Glades undetected. 

Source:  ebett

I feel William on a spiritual level in this scene.

This polar-opposite-yet-so-much-in-common thing between Queen siblings is really working for me. Ben Lewis is hysterical and he’s the perfect funny man to Katherine McNamara’s straight man err woman. They are way more fun than Oliver and Thea. I say this as someone who deeply loves the OG Queen siblings, but we never quite found our way to fun with those two.

I also appreciate the begrudging mutual appreciation of one another’s skills. 

William marvels at Mia’s physicality while she is thoroughly impressed with whatever tech he’s cooked up. 

Source:  ebett

Yeah, I could do this for another eight years. Sign me up.

William finally gets annoyed with Mia’s whole anti vigilante shtick. Listen, my little lemon drop love child. You are on a vigilante show. You are the offspring of vigilantes. You are going to star in a vigilante show. It’s time to get on board with vigilantism, Mia. It’s in the blood baby. Listen to your big bro.

Felicity’s coordinates lead directly to Galaxy One. Their headquarters is in The Glades and they are one of the richest and most powerful companies in the world. It’s safe to assume this is the company Felicity was trying to expose as Overwatch. 

William and Mia assume Felicity is being held there and they are gonna break her out by going undercover. YASSS! Let’s do this 1x22 style. 

Where’s the elevator shaft?

William pretends to be a CEO while Mia is his executive assistant 

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

and this is such a feels inducing and hilarious callback to Season 2 Olicity my heart almost burst. William had Oliver’s smug arrogance and pragmatic thinking down cold while Mia adamantly refuses to be anyone’s assistant. Like mother like daughter! But someone needs to tell these kids a single cup of coffee is one of the main reasons their pine tree of a father realized he was falling in love with their mother.

William, as CEO, gets through the body scan just fine, but drops bombshell information on us. HIS NAME ISN’T CLAYTON ANYMORE. IT IS HARRIS. 

I know a lot of people have been concerned with the William side of things. If Oliver and Felicity went to such great lengths to keep Mia safe why did they leave William hanging with the grandparents in Central City?

Like I’ve been saying you don’t keep two precious jewels in one spot. It seems anywhere outside Star City was safe, which is why Felicity kept Mia in Bloomfield for her entire life. If we follow that same logic then William should be fairly safe in Central City or anywhere other than Star City. Perhaps, Oliver instructed the grandparents and William to change their last name. If Olicity is afraid enough for their baby to go into hiding and not tell anyone about her existence, I’m thinking requesting a name change for their son wouldn’t be too outside the realm of possibilities.

Connor shows up at just the right time and he’s done recon on the Galaxy One building. He thinks Felicity is being held on one of the sub levels, but they need the CEO’s DNA to get through security - Kevin Dale. And it all starts connecting.

As William works Dale he reveals the name of his company is Harris Consolidated. Immediately, I feel a flood of warm fuzzies as I remember the dynasty which made the Queen family their billions. But then it hits me.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. (Yes. I type all my thoughts. I’m weird. )

William changed his name from Clayton to Harris. How much do you want to bet that when Arrow is all over William changes his last name to Queen? Perhaps he changes the name of his company to Queen Inc. It could be the reason we’ve seen the name Queen Inc. in The Flash’s future newspaper. 

All this time I thought Oliver would get the company back, but nope it’s William’s company.  I suppose Felicity and William could also merge their companies to form Queen Inc. when Arrow ends and Felicity wants to retire to Aruba with her husband. Of course I could be wrong, but the use of Consolidated in William’s company’s name feels more than just a nod to the past for me. 

As William flirts with Dale, so Mia can steal the necessary DNA, he explains the quick success of his company was due to an angel investor named City of Emerald’s Capital. I legit yelled, “It was Felicity, William,” but he couldn’t hear me. 

Source:  smoaktechs

I’m a tad disappointed a boy this bright hadn’t figured it out yet. Of course, Emerald City is a nod to Felicity’s love of the Wizard of Oz as Mia explains later, but also EMERALD = GREEN. She hung a sign out there kiddo. Pay attention.

Connor has some technology that can replicate a DNA signature and fool a full body scan. Yeah, I don’t really get it, but Connor says it works and where he goes so goes my nation. I’m sold buddy. Also, take of your shirt please while hero-ing. Why didn’t we put that in Joseph’s contract? Someone get me legal!

This feels like more technology Felicity invented and is somehow related to Archer. Diggle did say A.R.G.U.S. would love to get their hands on her technology. If the tech sounds awesome then it is safe to assume Felicity invented it.

Source:  smoaktechs

There’s some fun brother sister banter in the elevator because that’s the family way and Mia actually admits to caring about William. QUEEN SIBLINGS FOREVER.

After battling their way through some security goons the trio finally finds Felicity. It is such a great reveal.

Mia: Mom.

William: You are alive.

Felicity: I told you not to come!

Me:

QUEEN OF DCTV IS ALIVE AND IN THE FLASH FORWARDS.

Dear antis and annoying anons in my inbox insisting Felicity is dead,

These writers would rather write the show in the depths of hell while burning in eternal torment than kill Felicity Smoak.

Love,

Me

The Flash Forwards immediately felt 800% more hopeful with Felicity’s presence. God I missed her. The writers must never again keep her out of a timeline for sixteen episodes. It is just wrong and hurts my soul. There are only a few episodes left and I demand my goddess in all show timelines. I shall not be deprived of Felicity Smoak goodness any longer. Yes, I am saying this in my very best Scarlett O’Hara voice.

Of course, she gives the classic mom response which immediately ticks Mia off, but it is William’s reaction to Felicity that touched me the most. 

He hugs her and his forgiveness is almost immediate. 

Source:  felicittysqueen

William truly believed Felicity was dead (thanks for nothing Dinah), so whatever mistakes she made seem smaller in comparison. William is so much like her. He wears his heart on his sleeve and is guided by his compassion as much as intelligence. Felicity never forgot her son. She watched over him and has been fighting every day to be part of his life again. This hug is twenty years in the making.

Twenty years apart is awful. I agree Oliver and Felicity deserved to raise their children in peace together. But this is Arrow and the story is not going to end without a big sacrifice because there is always sacrifice in a hero’s story. Oliver hasn’t “deserved” any of the horrible things that have happened to him. That’s not really the point. 

The point is suffering can be redemptive. Good things can come from bad things happening. The upside is the really bad thing already happened. Oliver and Felicity have made their sacrifice, so there’s no way the future isn’t going to end happily for them.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the reunions in the future knowing this family has been separated for so long, but I found myself quite affected by William and Felicity’s hug. I didn’t have to live through the twenty years. They’ve been separated for a couple of episodes in terms of actual hours spent watching Arrow.  I don’t know if relieved is the right word, but as I watched Felicity and William reunite I thought, “Okay. They are together now. They can at least begin rebuilding whatever damage has been done to this family.”

Source: arrowdaily

As Mia watches her mother hug her brother there’s a mixture of feelings on her face. She is happy, angry and maybe even a little jealous. Mia can’t forgive as easily as William and I think part of her envies the way he can access all of his emotions so easily. Mia doesn’t know how to do that yet. It’s almost as if she shut down a part of her heart after her fight with Felicity because the betrayal hurt too much. Sound like someone we know?

Mia is furious Felicity wants to stay and dismantle the bombs because, once again, she is choosing being a vigilante over her family. 

Felicity doesn’t deny sacrificing her safety and her family for the greater good. That’s the job. 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

Being a hero is who Felicity Smoak is and selflessness requires sacrifice. She can’t shut that part of her down because she’d only be half alive. This isn’t just Oliver’s hero’s journey. It’s Felicity’s too.

Yes, Felicity is a mother, but her love for her children is not all she is. It’s okay Felicity has a purpose beyond her family because women are not just one thing. Fighting for Star City is what fuels Felicity and it is the life she chose. It’s why we love her. Felicity does what others can’t or refuse to do. It’s what makes her a hero.

William, as Felicity 2.0, chooses to help his mother stop the bombs. It is a team up worth waiting twenty years for. Not so long ago, Felicity was explaining to William what it was like loving a hero, the strength it requires and the sacrifice. 

As furious as young William was at Oliver for being the Green Arrow and being unable to provide the normal life he craved, he also understood who his father was. Oliver’s heroism is what William loves most about his father and what he hates most. It’s the same with Felicity.

Derek: You stood in front of a bullet for me. I know why you do all of it. It’s what I love about you.

Meredith: And what you hate about me.

Derek: Yeah.

I love these lines from Grey’s Anatomy so much, and I quote them often in these reviews, because it perfectly encapsulates what it is like to love a hero.  William and Mia love their parents very much, but it doesn’t mean loving them is easy.

Rene shows up to tell the team the bombs have already been moved off site. I thought it was weird how he used the phrase “impeccable genetics” when describing his daughter, but then I realized the writers wrote it so Felicity could use the same terminology when she dropped the bomb on Rene.

Source:  feilcityqueen

LINE. OF. THE. SEASON.

Felicity needs to destroy the brain of the bomb, which is the cube Dale was fidgeting with during the meeting with William. Rene gets the team into the masquerade party in The Glades where Dale will be.  Everyone wears a hooded cape and mask, which is a fun homage to Mia Dearden’s superhero suit in the comics.

Felicity and William track Dale

Source: ebett

and Mia zeroes in on him prepared to take him out all on her own. 

Source:  dcmultiverse

This is another one of those “this feels like a pilot” moments, because Mia’s fight with Dale and his goons is almost exactly like Oliver’s fight in Adam Hunt’s office in the Arrow pilot. 

They even turned the lights off. It’s a great scene and proves Mia is just as capable of taking down twenty guys just like Oliver Queen. Plus she gets to throw on her cape in a very superhero way at the end, which is just nifty.

Dale escapes so Team Arrow ditches the capes and a fight breaks out in order to find him. Mia zeroes in on Dale and Connor tosses her the bow.

Source:  felicittysqueen

The lights of the party stream behind her as she takes aim at Dale. Mia Smoak looks like a star and she’s anything but faded. 

Source:  mia-smoak-gifs

The light seems to stretch out infinitely as it guides the arrow along its path. She destroys the cube and stops the bombs from detonating just as the party fireworks explode in the night sky. 

Source:  lucyyh

Once again, Mia is illuminated like a star in the night sky and looks like the hero she is destined to be – just like her parents.

The bomb plot is foiled, but the team still needs to take down Galaxy One from the inside. Rene will continue to play patsy and has issued a dead or alive reward of ten million dollars to capture Arsenal, Bl*ck C*nary and The Calculator. Galaxy One’s plan was to remake Star City just like The Glades, so they could expand Archer globally which is like Skynet launching the nukes. We don’t want computer programs going global. It always ends badly in television shows and movies.

Felicity thanks William for holding on to the hozen and answering her prayer. 

Source:  feilcityqueen

It’s a little too much emotional family bonding and makes Mia uncomfortable, so she walks off in classic Felicity Smoak style 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

fueled by her Oliver Queen genetic broodiness. I love this kid.

Mia and Felicity have an outstanding mother and daughter scene where they hash out all their issues. Mia hated vigilantes because she hated her mother. She hated her mother because Felicity lied to her. But no matter how much Mia hated the lie, she also understood why Felicity did it.

It’s reminiscent of the hospital scene in 5x20 when Felicity forgave Oliver for lying about William. 

Felicity had to walk in Oliver’s shoes to understand his perspective (and vice versus), which is exactly what happened with Mia in “Star City 2040.” She walked in her mother’s heroic shoes. Mia finally understands the danger, responsibility and sacrifice this life requires, which is how she finally reaches compassion. 

Source:  oliverxfelicity

Because after everything her parents sacrificed, including a peaceful life with their children, the city turned their backs on vigilantes. Welcome to the Star City Is A Bunch of Ungrateful Twats Club Mia. Have another scotch, honey.

The break in Mia’s wall gives Felicity the opportunity to tell her what we’ve all thought and needs to be said. 

Mia Smoak is just like her dad – a stubborn, lethal, compassionate, badass with a heart of gold. Mia loves deeply and when she’s hurt it cuts just as deep, so she shuts down. But she cannot wall her heart off forever anymore than Oliver could because love is what fuels the fire in Mia. Her light is not extinguished. It shines brighter than she ever realized possible because of course it does. Mia is Oliver and Felicity’s girl.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

As independent as Mia claims to be, she also yearns for what any child wants. We all want our parents to be proud of us. As much as Felicity wishes she could keep Mia away from this life and these choices, she also recognizes it is her daughter’s decision to make. At the end of the day, Mia stepped up. She is so much like both her parents. As Felicity and Mia find some healing between them, somehow it feels like Oliver is in the room with them too.

Quite frankly, I am floored they resolved the fissure in Felicity and Mia’s relationship so quickly. I was mentally prepared for Mia to hate her mother at least for all of Season 7 and perhaps well into Season 8. I love that I was wrong. This is the reason why I have fewer problems with their big fight. It may have felt rushed, but since it was resolved within the hour I’m bothered by it less. Now we get to watch Felicity, William and Mia become a united force and find a way together to bring Oliver back to the family he loves more than anything else.  

Maybe Oliver is dead and will be resurrected (although I really doubt the writers killed him at this point). Maybe Oliver is simply missing and cut off from his family. We may not know what happened or where he is, but we do know how this family will be reunited. Felicity told us tonight. It’s what she said to Oliver not so long ago, when they were first falling in love, and they often repeated it when whatever struggle they were facing seemed impossible.

“There’s always another way.”

The Yellow Brick Road and the Garden of Eden

There are many references to the Wizard of Oz because it is Felicity’s favorite story. Her Scarecrow remark to Roy in 3x19 wasn’t a toss away line. The reason Felicity Smoak loves the Wizard of Oz is because she loves heroes and that story is one of the great hero’s tales.  There are a lot of really important lessons in Wizard of Oz, which we can apply to “Star City 2040” and ultimately Oliver’s legacy.

The Glades/Star City is clearly Emerald City. The twist in Wizard of Oz isn’t when Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch of the West. It’s when she pulls back the curtain and discovers there is no wizard. There is no magic man granting wishes.

All the characters already had everything they needed deep inside their souls to be exactly who they wanted to be.  William, Connor, and Mia all have what it takes to be heroes even though they may not fully realize it. 

They need to tap into what’s already there just like Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion did. Just like Felicity, Diggle, and Oliver.

Source:  lyricalarrow

The grass is not always greener on the other side, which Mia quickly discovers when she leaves Bloomfield for Star City. Dorothy realizes she had the power all along to go back home. She simply had to choose the people she loves. Mia makes the same choice as Dorothy when she forgives her mother and accepts what Felicity has been telling her about vigilantes is true.

The Yellow Brick Road is symbolism that lacks any real subtle because it’s literally the road Dorothy walks on her hero’s journey. It can’t get much clearer. Dorothy never wavers on the road. She is determined to find the Wizard so she can go home, despite all the trials and tribulations the Wicked Witch throws her way. Felicity is Mia’s home. She will always be home and Mia stopped at nothing to get her mother back.

Trust is another massive component to Dorothy’s story. She made friends in the unlikeliest of places and their success was truly a team effort. Each person had special gifts, which proved vital in the defeat of the Witch and ultimately the salvation of Emerald City. Mia is so much like Oliver and she is always ready to go it alone, however she couldn’t this time. She needed William and Connor to help save Felicity. And she will need the whole team to save Star City and her father too.

Honesty is freedom. Once Dorothy pulled back the curtain the Wizard was free of the lie. He no longer had to live behind the curtain hidden away. I view Oliver as the Wizard because what happened to him is shrouded in so much mystery. However, the Wizard is just a man who wants to return to his normal life like Dorothy does. The Wizard wants to be free of the curtain as much as he needs it. This is no different than Oliver needing the hood and wanting to be free of it someday.

Mia: I need to find out the truth about everything. About who our family really is. What I’m meant to do with my life. I can’t hold back anymore. I need to forge my own path.

Mia may mourn for what was lost like Oliver does, but she is at the beginning of her Yellow Brick Road whereas Oliver is at the end. Salvation for Star City is not the eradication of crime. There will always be another Wicked Witch. So, there must always be a hero lighting the road in the dark.

The gift Oliver Queen will give the citizens of Star City is hope. His legacy will live on when someone else chooses to become that hope.  And then Oliver will be free to find his happiness at the end of the Yellow Brick Road.

This brings me to Galaxy One being a front for Eden Corps, which is a supposedly defunct terrorist organization that nuked cities at some point. Since Dante funds terrorist organization I feel the Chart of Evil will ultimately connect from Dante to Eden Corps to Galaxy One. It’s all fruit of the same poison tree.

The name Eden is not coincidental. Mia shatters the family photo aiming for an apple. The arrow goes through the apple and directly into the family photograph, which opens Felicity’s secret lair. Eden is from the Garden of Eden or the paradise Adam and Eve lived in until they disobeyed God’s command. They ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil after being tempted by the Devil. Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and were cast out of paradise.

Galaxy One’s goal is to eradicate vigilantes and create a new world order with the Archer program. This new world is promised to be a paradise behind walls and Galaxy One/Eden Corps decide who lives or dies. It’s like extermination based on zip code rather than religion/ethnicity like the Nazis did in World War II. This biblical reference feels somewhat similar to Damien Darhk’s Genesis plan in Season 4. It is mass genocide in exchange for paradise. Not unlike Malcolm Merlyn’s Undertaking in Season 1. The ends justify the means to these villains.

No one can say with 100% accuracy what kind of fruit Adam and Eve ate, but the apple is the fruit most commonly depicted in popular culture. Mia shoots an arrow through the apple and it immediately launches her hero’s journey.  She discovers Felicity’s lair, they fight, and she leaves for Star City. Then she must enter The Glades to save her mother. Mia’s eyes are opened to the truth about her mother even though she doesn’t fully grasp what that truth means in the moment. She leaves her idyllic life in Bloomfield for the harsh reality of Star City.

Mia is essentially at a crossroads in “Star City 2040.” She can either continue alone as a fading star or she can embrace the truth of her past and let it lead her towards a righteous path. The greatest gift God gave us is free will. Every hero has to decide to be a hero at some point.

I often say superheroes are Christ like figures because of their pure hearts and willingness to sacrifice for others at the expense of their own happiness and/or lives. I’ve been teasingly calling Oliver Jesus this season because he is a fully realized superhero. We are witnessing an evolved Oliver who has grown leaps and bounds from the man we first met in the pilot.

Oliver no longer lives in a black and white world. He sees the grey and operates from a true sense of justice where killing has no real place. He lives openly as the Green Arrow, which means no more lies. Oliver has embraced his team and is leading from example. He is far more patient, understanding and accepting of others, particularly when it comes to opinions which differ from his. Oliver has accepted he deserves love and has embraced it. He’s living life fully as a husband, father, brother and friend. Most importantly, Oliver is trying to save his city by instilling hope and honor through his example. His light shines on the darkest corners of Star City.

Do you know what Jesus is also called? The New Adam. Christians believe Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again in fulfillment of God’s promise that one day we’d be delivered from the sin Adam and Eve introduced into our world. Our souls are saved because God loved us so much that he sacrificed his only son. Jesus’ mother Mary is sometimes called the New Eve. She was born free of original sin and remained sinless until ascending body and soul to heaven.

But this a superhero story, so it’s not going to be an apples to apples comparison (HA! Get it?), particularly since this is coming from the CW and not the Vatican. However, the writers are using biblical symbolism for a reason. Star City has gone to hell in a hand basket without Oliver. Eden Corps is essentially the Devil and Star City needs their superhero-Christ-like-figure to deliver their souls from the eternal torment of hell. Cool right? Oliver is that deliverance. He is the Christ like figure. Oliver Queen is the New Adam.

Arrow is not stopping with Oliver Queen. Saving Star City will be a family effort. It’s impossible for Oliver to eradicate crime just like we can never truly eradicate the evil Adam and Eve’s sin allowed into the world. But there is promised salvation.

Oliver may save the city, but he cannot be the Green Arrow forever. He doesn’t want to be the Green Arrow forever. What Oliver wants more than anything is to hang up the hood and live his life in peace. However, in order to do that he needs someone to take up the mantle of Protector of Star City. There must be a new superhero waiting in the wings. Not the New Adam, but the New Eve like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

Mia.

SmoakNHawke

DID Y’ALL HEAR THAT? IT’S THE SOUND OF MY SHIP SETTING SAIL! 

Connor gets Mia through security scan because he’s AGENT Hawke. Umm… say what? Honestly, I don’t know why I was so shocked by this. Both of his parents were A.R.G.U.S. agents, but I’m wildly excited and dumbfounded when any of these children pick up their parents’ tools of the trade. I AM JUST SO HAPPY FAM! I’m overwhelmed by the wealth of goodies.

Connor started working on credentials and clearance once he realized Mia and William would be heading directly into the belly of the whale. It’s 100% apparent Connor is going to be the planner in this group. He obtained a pass to Galaxy One as an agent for Knightwatch, which is the good version of A.R.G.U.S. It seems A.R.G.U.S. goes all evil no matter what timeline we’re in.  

The details on Connor and Knightwatch are fuzzy for a reason because the writers don’t want to fill all the blanks in the backdoor pilot. Then there’s no show. However, I think it’s safe to assume Knightwatch may be perceived as anti vigilante, otherwise why would the Galaxy One security guard release Mia into Connor’s custody? However, the reality may be Knightwatch is operating on some kind of undercover/double cross capacity.

Long story short – Connor is one of the good guys and he has a badge. So he’s hot and useful. Excellent.

He apologizes for not telling Mia the truth and she responds by slamming him up against a wall. 

Oh my friends, scenes like this are how ships are made. Get it girl. I was not expecting this line to come out of Mia’s mouth though -

Source:  mia-smoak-gifs

WHAT DID YOU SAY CHILD? DID YOU SAY “WAS ANY OF IT REAL?” MEANING Y’ALL WERE HOOKING UP? IS THAT THE REAL WE’RE DISCUSSING? JUST SO I AM CLEAR – REAL IS A EUPHEMISM FOR SEX?

SmoakNHawke is definitely a go and more importantly THEY’VE ALREADY HAD SEX. You could hear my screams for miles.

Yeah, I know we didn’t get to see anything YET. Listen cupcakes, this is what the spin-off is for. They’ll fill in the blanks. Arrow uses flashbacks and flash forwards. The probability is high the spin-off will too. I ain’t worried about it.

The backdoor pilot just gave us a canon ship to root for without a disastrous backstory like sleeping with sisters or foster siblings hooking up. I wasn’t expecting SmoakNHawke to happen this quickly. The OTA babies falling in love is a wonderful idea the fandom cooked up and I was sure the writers would either ignore completely like most of our good ideas or let it simmer for years on end. We just went from zero to sixty with one sentence. This is a moment to rejoice.

More importantly, if the spinoff doesn’t happen, and this is where the story ends for the Flash Forward characters too, then the writers made damn sure Mia and Connor were a thing before Arrow went off air. They understand the importance of Diggle’s son and Oliver’s daughter being together. It’s Christmas y’all. All we do is win.

Connor assures Mia “all of it” was real and I’m swooning. Felicity asks what Mia’s type is in a later scene and I yelled, “HER TYPE IS CONNOR HAWKE.”

As angry and hurt as Mia is, she still couldn’t let Connor get his ass beat and saves him from a couple of the security goons. I love this flip of gender dynamics.  Not that Olicity remain rooted in traditional roles, quite the contrary. However, it’s not all that often we see a female hero saving a male.

Mia is too angry with Felicity’s choices to help her with the bombs.  William leaves with their mother, but Connor stays with Mia. He is ride or die. If she wants to help then he’s there. If she wants to leave then he’s cool with that.

They have a pretty epic fight too. Mia can’t decide if she’s angrier about the lying or Connor believing she needed protection.

Mia defines whatever is between her and Connor as a relationship, so I feel they are more than just a hook up, but short of boyfriend and girlfriend. Connor is sorry he lied, but he’s not sorry he stuck around and kept an eye on Mia just like his father instructed because he truly cares about her.

“When you like someone, proximity is a good thing, regardless of how they feel about you." (Pacey Witter, Dawson’s Creek)

They sure fight like they are boyfriend and girlfriend. Connor gives a fairly epic speech about choosing to be a hero and learning how to selflessly share their superhero parents with the world. 

Connor didn’t like Diggle and Lyla choosing the city above their family time and again, but as he grew older it became something he admired in his parents. Their sacrifices only made Connor love them more.

Source:  oliverxfelicity

I’m curious about Connor’s backstory because he says he chose to be a superhero in training whereas it was more or less forced upon Mia. But today is the day she can make the choice for herself. If Mia walks out on Galaxy One then it is her decision. She can’t put the responsibility on Felicity this time.

Mia simply doesn’t trust Connor anymore and believes he has an ulterior motive just like Felicity and William. So, he uses a little reverse psychology. Mia walking away from danger is exactly what her mother wants and doing directly opposite of what Felicity wants is extremely appealing to Mia right now. God bless the rebellious youth. I swear Diggle must have discussed with Connor how to manage a Queen. This is straight out of the Yoda playbook.

Connor has to earn Mia’s trust back, but their story is just beginning and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Roy, Dinah and Rene

Once again I am the least interested in Team Newbie. Yeah, they are still Newbies after twenty years. I wish I could be more positive about Roy, but he listened to Dinah’s nonsense about Felicity being evil and dead. It’s swell they are all happy Felicity is alive and one of the good guys, but none of them get any points because they believed the worst about their friend who has proven to be a spectacular human being time and again. Dinah’s first inclination should have been Felicity is pretending to be evil to infiltrate a Big Bad because DUH. Morons.

They decide to finally look into Felicity’s death in EPISODE 16 and discover the shock of all shocks, “The case files are a mess.” YEAH BECAUSE SHE ISN’T REALLY DEAD YOU DINKLE TWITS!

Rene confessing he knew about the bombs isn’t a shock because we knew he was in on some kind of plan in 7x10. Galaxy One can expand The Glades in a fraction of the time and he thought Star City would be evacuated before the bombs. Rene being the biggest dumbass to ever live isn’t a shock. That’s just a regular Arrow Monday.

Rene aligned himself with Galaxy because he liked feeling powerful and respected. He was no longer living in the shadow of Oliver Queen. Now he was the mayor who saved the city. Unfortunately, aligning with the Big Bad at any point requires a redemptive arc. It’s great Rene is working undercover with Team Arrow now, but I am not expecting him to survive Season 8.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Dinah is thrilled to see Felicity alive, but she is not overwhelmed with joy over seeing Dinah. Felicity almost looks distrustful as Dinah hugs her. At the very least she’s ticked off Dinah believed she went all evil. There’s definitely more to the story and everything is not one hundred percent between these two.

The only other piece which interests me is Roy’s rage issues. It’s not Mirakuru related, but it’s completely possible he took a dip in the Lazarus Pit and banished himself to Lian Yu because he couldn’t control the rage. The fact Nyssa is available to train Mia for several years means the Lazarus Pit mission was over. Thea is LOA trained and Oliver’s sister. She would have been Felicity’s first choice to train their daughter, but instead it was Nyssa. This does not bode well for Thea’s fate. Everyone mentally prepare. Thea is dead.

Stray Thoughts…

It’s like Mia was tailor made for us. I will never tire of Arrow sticking it to comic book fans with lines like this. Yes, that’s right folks. The non comic book couple is canon on the TV show and they spawned a non comic book character to carry on the Green Arrow’s legacy. Suck it.  Source:  oliverxfelicity

It’s a little odd Mia’s first question wasn’t, “Hey! Who is the kid in the photo?” but given the potential canyon sized plot holes this storyline could have I’ll let it slide.

Itty bitty Mia was played by Bam’s daughter. I was wondering where you find a mini ninja and of course she is BABY BAM. Source: ebett

Clary Fray was a pretty physical role on Shadowhunters, but Katherine has really had to step it up as Mia and she’s doing a fantastic job with the stunts. She’s no Stephen, but he’s insane so we won’t grade her on that level of madness.

Oliver’s Yao Fei box keeps showing up everywhere. First it’s on Lian Yu and William digs it up. Now it’s in the backyard of the Olicity love cabin. This thing gets more miles than Delta.

WHAT DOES THE KEY TATTOO MEAN?

Where the friggin frack is Bloomfield? I’m sure there’s some comic book explanation.

The pairing of Mia and Connor romantically makes me smile because I always said Diggle was Oliver’s first wife. Hehehehe.

“Oh good now there are two of you.” William is Felicity 2.0 officially. It’s canon now.

Felicity’s mask was sparkly green. I was wildly excited about this color choice.

I love how Felicity pesters Mia about boys because Donna used to do the same thing to Felicity and it drove her nuts, which is proof we all become our mothers someday. Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

I’m still not over Mia’s loft being the same set as Olicity’s loft back in Season 4.

“No one gets to kill my mom except me.” I have a super great relationship with my mother, but I don’t know any woman who can’t relate to this line on some level. Sometimes your mom just drives you nuts, but she’s still your mom and only you get to murder her. Nobody else can mess with her.

Rene didn’t think Roy was alive. Thinking people are dead is like an epidemic with the Newbies. Not blown away by their powers of deduction.

So much same William. Source:  mei-pellegrino

Felicity blames herself for Galaxy One and Eden Corps because she invented Archer and somehow the bad guys get their hands on it. However, I do not think Felicity is blaming herself for Oliver. There’s two different trains moving at the same time on parallel tracks. There’s Dante/Eden Corps/the Ninth Circle/Archer and there’s the promise Oliver made to the Monitor. I believe the reason Oliver is missing/presumed dead etc is because of the deal he made with the Monitor. Perhaps Archer is a hurdle when Oliver is finally free to come home to Star City, but I don’t believe it’s the reason Oliver is gone. The reason Oliver was not around to help protect Felicity and Mia from Dante/Eden Corps/the Ninth Circle/Archer is because of his promise to the Monitor and Felicity had nothing to do with that. Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 7x16 gifs credited.

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[mysteriesofmilo]

More Phineas and Ferb references

So after rewatching the entirety of Milo Murphy's Law (again), I've caught several more Phineas and Ferb references, in both seasons. Some of these, I have mentioned in other posts, but not the one I previously made. I'll start with three that I found in season 1 but did not include in my previous list.

In Missing Milo, when Zack, Melissa and Sara knock on Orton's door, Zack remarks, "Whoa! You look like a really old Dr. Zone!" This could be a reference to the scene in Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo where Present!Candace walks into the Future!antique store and says "Mom! You're sooooooooo oooooooollllll..." and then Present!Phineas and Ferb walk in and Phineas completes the comment.

In Some Like It Yacht, Mort asks Zack and Milo, "Did you guys see the omelet station?" This might be a reference to the episode "Mom's Birthday," in which Phineas asks if Candace would like to man the omelet station, she refuses, and later comes to regret it when her instruments keep disappearing.

Also, the plot of that episode is very similar to the plot of Swiss Family Phineas.

Now we move on to season 2. Note that I did not count anything from The Phineas and Ferb Effect. I was also careful with the Doofenshmirtz plot over the course of the season.

In Snow Way Out, Milo and Zack build a giant slingshot, which they have to use before the whale closes its mouth. This references Summer Belongs to You, in which Phineas, Ferb and their friends build a giant slingshot to send their paper airplane over the ocean before the sun goes down.

In Picture Day, the school marquee says "There's are only 82 days of summer vacation... and that's 104 days away". Aside from the grammar mistake, this is an obvious reference to the theme song of Phineas and Ferb.

Also in Picture Day, Cavendish shows Mr. Block the picture of Milo, while Chad sends Amanda the picture of the yeti. This could be a reference to The Fast and the Phineas, in which Candace shows her mom the picture of herself screaming instead of the one of Phineas driving in the race.

Also, in general in season 2, Cavendish and Dakota (mainly Cavendish) try to show Mr. Block the evidence for some alien device they've found, only for it to backfire in the end. This is very similar to how Candace always tries to show her mom the evidence for what her brothers have done, only for it to backfire.

The episode Agee Ientee Diogee (which, by the way, is pronounced A-G-E-N-T-D-O-G) is basically Misperceived Monotreme, but with Diogee instead of a random platypus.

Dakota in Lady Krillers and Mr. Blunt in The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club are both heard singing "I'm Lindana and I Wanna Have Fun!"

In Disco Do-Over, we learn from Mr. Block some information that makes Doofenshmirtz's backstory even worse: that his father thought so little of him that he actually made him replace a lawn gnome made of alien droppings in their garden. (This also gives a disgusting new look into Phineas and Ferb's Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror!)

Also in that same episode, we see Doof's embarrassing "I am a superstar" video, first shown in Tip of the Day.

In The Ticking Clock, Victor Verliezer is launched away from the clock and gets stuck to a tree at the 28th annual substitute teachers' convention. This is a reference to Summer Belongs to You, in which Phineas and Ferb's paper airplane flies past the 27th annual substitute teacher day.

In Managing Murphy's Law, when the dancing ponies end up at Milo's house, he distracts them with music. The song is the instrumental version of Everything's Better With Perry.

In Dog Walker, Runner, Screamer, the anti-gravity device that Dakota and Cavendish find could be a reference to Phineas and Ferb's Anti-Gravity Fun Launcher. The sequence where Milo, the dogs, Cavendish and Dakota are all levitating could be a reference to the song "When You Levitate" from the same episode.

In the same episode, there is a lady who tries to cut the ribbon at a ceremony. This lady also appears at the Tiny Cowboy auction in Meatloaf Surprise with opera glasses, and she also appears at the adult party in Happy New Year! when she says "If those were my boys, they'd be so busted" and Candace asks her to "Please! Adopt me now!"

Near the beginning of Now I am a Murphy, when the family is packing up for the camping trip, Sara says "Sara out." It's likely a reference the several times in Phineas and Ferb when someone (usually Candace) says "[their name] out, peace!"

In Abducting Murphy's Law, after Doof has built his Murphy's Law tracker, and he tracks Martin on his way out of the house, he plans to offer the kids some snacks, and the scene plays out much like when Linda comes outside at the end of Phineas and Ferb episodes to offer them snacks.

Near the beginning of The Goulash Legacy, Doof sings to himself one line of the song Lunar Taste Sensation from the episode Moon Farm. It's worth noting that his voice actor, Dan Povenmire, is the disembodied reggae space voice that originally sings the song.

In Adventure Buddies, Doof complains about feeling like a third wheel between Scott and Mildred. Scott explains that the way he sees it, he and Mildred are like a bicycle, and Doof is completely separate on a unicycle. This is exactly how Candace explains her relationships with Jeremy and Stacy in The Baljeatles.

In Look at This Ship, Zack and Melissa play a guessing game, and one of the things they are guessing is "other dimension-ator." This is obviously a reference to Doof's Other Dimension-ator (and his other Other Dimension-ator) in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the Second Dimension.

In the same episode, Cavendish makes several attempts to show the alien ship to the world, but it disappears every time. This is similar to Candace's efforts to show her mom Phineas and Ferb's "big obvious ride" in Don't Even Blink.

In Cavendish Unleashed, the developer guy who wants to put up a desert-themed amusement park mentions that there is an actual desert only 6 miles away. This is most likely the same desert that Doof and Perry traveled home from in Road to Danville.

At the end of that same episode, Cavendish says "Great googly moogly!" which happens to be Major Monogram's catchphrase.

During the training montage in The Speech and Debate League of Death and Destruction Cross Town Explosion Event, Zack says that "Country music is better than western music" and Milo says "I did not know there was a difference," referencing Doof's scheme in Bubble Boys.