I may have to compartmentalize my viewing for the second half.
There's the Oliver's journey arc aka the only one that really matters, which I will see through to its end. There's the Dark Felicity arc, which could(?) allegedly give her more of the character development she has needed -- or it could be mere fuel for Olicity. They could try to do both to appeal to all, and it could just become muddled and please none. We'll see how it lands.
There's the Team Arrow: TNG arc, where they have actually done a half-decent job in trying to make some of the newbies more than mere placeholders. (In my books, the weakest of the newbies was the one who just turned heel and had the least development: Artemis). And finally, we have this Elseworlds journey of Next Canary who won't be BC to anyone who has even a passing familiarity to Dinah, BC and her legacy in the GA comics mythology.
She might be fine with the 'whoa, this chick can kick ass' crowd ... but this is replacing BC we're talking about. I guess what I'm saying (past midnight my time, yeah, I'm rambling) is there will be some S5 arcs and subplots that I'll be invested in -- does anyone think Oliver and Kovar's final showdown won't be appointment viewing? -- and then there will be those arcs that won't get that level of attention from me. I'm on board with seeing how Talia fits into the flashbacks and the current Prometheus arc (Lexa Doig is going to bring it, enough said) and how the new recruits' subplot plays out.
I'm thinking Artemis is going to be cannon fodder, and considering how little they did in developing her as a character I can't say I'd be affected either way.
I'm open to the Dark Felicity arc giving Felicity some much needed character development, if they manage to give her some (I know, no delusions here, a big maybe). But if it's there just to fuel Olicity fires, I'd be fine watching those scenes with glazed-over, indifferent eyes ... waiting for the flashbacks where Ivan Drago -- er, I mean Kovar -- menacingly tells Oliver that he will break him and fights only for himself.
There are two questions when it comes to Tina. Will she earn her place on Team Arrow in the general vigilante-on-the-team sense? This is where she may get some leeway from me. As for the next question that obviously consumes the fandom: will she earn her keep as a Canary/Next Canary/whatever the heck they call her, well I think this is where the BOP comics fan won't simply take what they're planning on blind faith alone.
There comes a point where we have to choose to be trolled by them, by tweets, by reviews, etc. -- or not. I didn't see Black Siren as a viable means to bring Laurel "back" because I've long felt that any chance to reverse Laurel's death and "sell it" had a narrow window, which closed IMHO at S4-19 (the ep after her death). Any means, real or fantastical, to reset it just looks to me like a stunt or a cheat.
While I can appreciate the fear/disappointment that we won't get Laurel "back", even as a redeemed E2 Laurel, I don't think I took the next step and made it an expectation of mine that they must bring Laurel back in this way to somehow fix things, make amends, call it what you will -- going on my previous premise that this window closed last season. Anything they do this late in the game will come off to me as less an ingenious plot twist and more like a Twitter/tumblr-driven stunt that they are gambling (and recklessly too) will pay off.
I saw the Black Siren cameo as a winter premiere stunt, nothing else. Ollie muttering something about wanting to save E2 Laurel just looks like they're toying, trolling or playing with us, when you consider that they already have a potential Next Canary in the on-deck circle. Worst case scenario would be if they actually have no idea how they'll pull it off and Tina is a live, by-the-seat-of-their-pants experiment.
As a BOP comics fan, I feel they've already used up their 'Continue Game?' tokens here re: BC. That's a given.
It's the more open-minded and tolerant 'not-wedded-to-canon' tv viewer in me, coming to a similar conclusion, which is regrettable.
There's the Oliver's journey arc aka the only one that really matters, which I will see through to its end. There's the Dark Felicity arc, which could(?) allegedly give her more of the character development she has needed -- or it could be mere fuel for Olicity. They could try to do both to appeal to all, and it could just become muddled and please none. We'll see how it lands.
There's the Team Arrow: TNG arc, where they have actually done a half-decent job in trying to make some of the newbies more than mere placeholders. (In my books, the weakest of the newbies was the one who just turned heel and had the least development: Artemis). And finally, we have this Elseworlds journey of Next Canary who won't be BC to anyone who has even a passing familiarity to Dinah, BC and her legacy in the GA comics mythology.
She might be fine with the 'whoa, this chick can kick ass' crowd ... but this is replacing BC we're talking about. I guess what I'm saying (past midnight my time, yeah, I'm rambling) is there will be some S5 arcs and subplots that I'll be invested in -- does anyone think Oliver and Kovar's final showdown won't be appointment viewing? -- and then there will be those arcs that won't get that level of attention from me. I'm on board with seeing how Talia fits into the flashbacks and the current Prometheus arc (Lexa Doig is going to bring it, enough said) and how the new recruits' subplot plays out.
I'm thinking Artemis is going to be cannon fodder, and considering how little they did in developing her as a character I can't say I'd be affected either way.
I'm open to the Dark Felicity arc giving Felicity some much needed character development, if they manage to give her some (I know, no delusions here, a big maybe). But if it's there just to fuel Olicity fires, I'd be fine watching those scenes with glazed-over, indifferent eyes ... waiting for the flashbacks where Ivan Drago -- er, I mean Kovar -- menacingly tells Oliver that he will break him and fights only for himself.
There are two questions when it comes to Tina. Will she earn her place on Team Arrow in the general vigilante-on-the-team sense? This is where she may get some leeway from me. As for the next question that obviously consumes the fandom: will she earn her keep as a Canary/Next Canary/whatever the heck they call her, well I think this is where the BOP comics fan won't simply take what they're planning on blind faith alone.
There comes a point where we have to choose to be trolled by them, by tweets, by reviews, etc. -- or not. I didn't see Black Siren as a viable means to bring Laurel "back" because I've long felt that any chance to reverse Laurel's death and "sell it" had a narrow window, which closed IMHO at S4-19 (the ep after her death). Any means, real or fantastical, to reset it just looks to me like a stunt or a cheat.
While I can appreciate the fear/disappointment that we won't get Laurel "back", even as a redeemed E2 Laurel, I don't think I took the next step and made it an expectation of mine that they must bring Laurel back in this way to somehow fix things, make amends, call it what you will -- going on my previous premise that this window closed last season. Anything they do this late in the game will come off to me as less an ingenious plot twist and more like a Twitter/tumblr-driven stunt that they are gambling (and recklessly too) will pay off.
I saw the Black Siren cameo as a winter premiere stunt, nothing else. Ollie muttering something about wanting to save E2 Laurel just looks like they're toying, trolling or playing with us, when you consider that they already have a potential Next Canary in the on-deck circle. Worst case scenario would be if they actually have no idea how they'll pull it off and Tina is a live, by-the-seat-of-their-pants experiment.
As a BOP comics fan, I feel they've already used up their 'Continue Game?' tokens here re: BC. That's a given.
It's the more open-minded and tolerant 'not-wedded-to-canon' tv viewer in me, coming to a similar conclusion, which is regrettable.
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