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SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

Arrow - Wendy Mericle to Become Co-Showrunner

23 Apr 2015

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59 comments:

  1. I don't see this making much of a noticeable difference on the show at all. Her hands are all over the show already.

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  2. Is she famous for doing any other show?

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  3. She wrote two of my least favorite episodes this season episode 7 "Draw back your Bow" and Episode 11 "Midnight City". First was the horrible cupid and Ray/Felicity kiss episode and the second was the second episode of Brick Saga where Diggle decided to take a siesta and not go on missions. So nothing good can happen when she is given more power.

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  4. Famous? I wouldn't say famous but she has worked on Desperate Housewives, Eastwick, and Eli Stone among others. She's worked with Greg Berlanti a bunch of times and has written plenty of Arrow episodes already.

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  5. I menat if she worked on other big stuff. So I liked DH and Eli Stone. I just hope she was part of the mystery section not emotional mess.

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  6. Nothing big that I can see. She seems write a lot of stuff on Arrow that involves Malcolm though.

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  7. Disagree. Citing one episode that lacked Diggle activity then trying to pin Ray/Felicity isn't even close to a legit sample size to credibly critique her work.

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  8. Episode 7 had Felicity fawning over her shirtless boss, a dress and a necklace. It had the most cliched storyline of Ray/Felicity kissing and Oliver witnessing. She also co wrote "Time of Death" in season 2 where Felicity got jealous because of Sara and wearing a leather jacket like her and going alone in the field to prove a point. I disliked these episodes and the writing in those. These are few of my most hated Arrow episodes. So I do critique her for that.

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  9. ODA


    she wrote Seeing Red, aka the episode with the best ending ever!
    Actually she wrote some pretty good episodes (Darkness at the Edge of Town, Damaged, The Magician, Nanda Parbat, The Fallen....I'm actually biased here because she does write well for my favourite character it seems....she did write two stinkers though: Draw Back You Bow and Vertigo)

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  10. You do realize that there is a good chance she was told to write that stuff. Writers more or less just write the words. If you ever seen a writers room it's just basically a meeting with all the writers and they come up with the episode and the showrunners says that certain things need to be included.

    That Felicity stuff was all Guggenheim.

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  11. Episodes are not written this way. They are first drawn by all writers together on the drawing board, and the main points are decided based on the season long plot. Then the writer(s) of the particular episode takes all those points and expends them till reaching the first draft of the episode. Then there could be editing and the show runner and/or the network could ask the writer to re-write certain scenes..

    Thus, just because she wrote a certain episode doesn't mean she was behind the scenes you disliked in this episode.

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  12. Well then I take back my criticism. Its just these two episodes really annoyed me.

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  13. Fawning Felicity is part of her character not specific to any one writer. Felicity being insecure about Sara's new role on the team was understandable and harmless. It was the same episode she took a bullet for Sara if I'm not mistaken which was pretty damn cool.

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  14. Well she does write Malcolm well. I have to agree on that.

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  15. Well, I guess this had to be done. Guggenheim will probably be busy with the spin-off, Kreisberg is busy with The Flash, Berlanti is busy with too many shows and was never their showrunner.. So someone has to take that role on Arrow. I hope they continue to be as involved with Arrow though as they are today.
    Arrow and Once are two shows where I'd like to keep the same showrunners till they end.

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  16. Is Nutter gonna direct the pilot for the spin-off?

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  17. Rheinmeister09 .23 April 2015 at 21:56

    Yeah Draw Back Your Bow wasn't one of my favorites. And what did you think of the Fallen? Or does your absence of a comment after the show ended last night speak volumes about what you thought about the show?

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  18. I liked it, I just figured I'd try an experiment and watch the show today instead of watching live. So I went drinking with friends while the episode aired to go cold turkey.


    I wanted to see how the shipper-fandom influenced my opinion of each episode with "wablewablewable Olicity wablewablewable" comments. And I'll say: I didn't mind the sex scene, loved the fight scenes and enjoyed the soundtrack. I liked it.


    I don't know....usually other fans react fairly emotional to my pro-con points and get kinda touchy, so I guess....I did good :P

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  19. Well, this might be good news. At least Marc won't be the sole showrunner anymore. Maybe nothing changes, but this could be a positive sign.

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  20. good question, kind of tradition to have Nutter direct pilots for successfull CW shows (Smallville, SPN, Flash, Arrow). Would be odd if he didn't

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  21. Holy shit Mac. I was actually worried you were gonna quit the show after the last episode :/ Pls don't quit the show, as much as you frustrate me when you talk about shippers, I love our verbal spar sessions :)

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  22. Is Marc going to run the spin-off?


    If so I actually got some big hopes for s4 :D

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  23. Thanks for explaining.

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  24. She's bad when she's teamed with Beth Schwartz. They should never be a writing team ever again. But she's decent with other writers. Check out the episodes you hate, I"m pretty sure they're the episodes where she and Beth Schwartz co wrote

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  25. Thanks for the explanation. It grates me on my nerve that two women wrote the episode where Felicity looked materialistic.

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  26. I guess Cordon is likely to get picked up cause Nutter is directing it.

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  27. I didn't, I accepted the ship-stuff for what it was and hey...we got to see some skin :P


    Truth be told: not sure if I ever could quit the show, season 3 had me on the verge a few times but as it stands I just love the show too much for what it was (season 1), what it has (fantastic action scenes,Laurel, Nyssa, Merlyn, ninjas, some good actors, Paul Blackthorne,Diggle) and what it could be (on par if not better than Daredevil).


    Maybe at some point I will quit, maybe my frustration will get the best of me but currently Arrow has done a good job to keep me

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  28. good sign for the show, plus it's an adaption of a...russian or norwegian show (not sure where but it's an adaption) so it has that going for it as well (also Julie Plec being involved is a sign for a pickup)

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  29. often writers live through their characters. Maybe that's what happened?

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  30. He did co-create the spinoff unlike The Flash, which he is not involved in.

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  31. that's very interesting, Marc has been a thorne in my eye for all his script teases and (in my opinion) shipper pandering on social media. I'm not sure how much he lets himself influence by the fanbase, so some fresh air could be good in the decision-making room.


    I'm really sad that Kreisberg pretty much abandoned Arrow, I get that he loves the Flash but he did bring something to Arrow Marky didn't manage to bring into the show himself

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  32. I think it's Norwegian. Julie Plec is not really a good sign for me. I hope the show is as dark and brutal as TWD/The 100.

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  33. Julie got a lot of flack for TVD but I love what she and Narducci did for The Originals. As far as I'm concerned the closest we have gotten to an actually Buffy/Angel replacement on television.

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  34. Same. I hate what's going on, but what's keeping me is: Oliver, Diggle, Felicity, O/F, Nyssa, the action scenes, and the promise of what's to come (HIVE, Felicity's Dad).


    We're both suckers aren't we? :p


    Last nights episode was really good for me as a Felicity and O/F fan, I tend to overlook the LoA stuff because at this point it's utter nonsense to me. But yeah, the only episodes I've enjoyed were: 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 14, 16, 19, 20. That's not a lot. Which is kind of sad :/ 10/20 episodes. YIKES! I feel like this is why we should get 13 60 minute long episodes instead of 23.

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  35. O/F? Olicity or something else? Just never heard that shortening.


    I'm kinda convinced that HIVE and Felicitys dad go hand in hand, in fact I do believe that he was the guy that sent Deadshot to kill Andy. Just to make for good drama and some MUCH NEEDED (hear that Marc?) character evolution for Felicity.


    To me it was the opposite, the LoA stuff was cinematically really well done (the choir when lowering Thea into the pit? Eerie). As for Oliver/Felicity, I'll never be fond of them as a couple and would've preferred to keep them as "the two co-workers that can't help but constantly flirt". Keeping their RL strictly business/friendship-ish. I just can't manage to get behind them being romantically involved, wich is sad because the romance part is really lowering Felicitys value to me (she used to be the only girl too good for Oliver, now the only chick in his life he hasn't banged is his own sister). But I get that people like it.


    Hmmm, to me it was 3-4-9-10-11-12-15-18-19-20
    Actually (looking at the episodes), it's picking up steam to me. The Oliver-free Brick-trilogy was great IMO and brought out the best of each supporting character.


    That's theCW for you though, WB considers Arrow a potential money pit and for that the show has to hit syndication numbers.


    I do have a solid way to do that though: two plots and major villains per season. Like OUAT is doing it, splitting its season into two. God knows that the DCU has a LOT of enemies and a lot of stories to tell.

    They could easily split each season into 11 episodes with a different style and tone ....but who am I kidding? They would never listen to me :P

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  36. This season has been a mess and Marc's overhyping of literally every episode ("It's really epic" or "It's a game-changer") does not help. When Andrew, and to a lesser extent Greg, were still around the show was much better (seasons 1 and 2). Season 2B was when Marc slowly started to take over as Andrew (and Greg) were probably busy with The Flash pilot, you could notice a slight decline in quality. I must say though that this decline was not as big as the decrease in quality from season 2 to season 3. Having said that, Marc is not to blame for everything as the latter episodes of 2B (especially episode 18, ending of 20 and 21-23) were indeed epic. Also, I was not a fan of the season 3 premiere, which was co-written by Greg and Andrew, and which set the stage for the rest of the messy season.

    All in all, I think it's good that Wendy Mericle is becoming co-showrunner. She might bring a clear vision of the show and maybe she can tone Marc down a bit with all the hyping.

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  37. I still fondly remember his "I know I'm prone to hyperbole" line from a producers preview, at least he's self aware.


    Actually 2B was a bit better than 2A to me, the first half felt a bit...odd for being a follow up to season 1 (wich is the only season I can safely say is actually flawless). But 2B made up for some of its flaws.
    But yeah, 3 is really messy. Wich I don't know who to blame on but Marc is a good person to pinpoint since most decisions are indeed made by him.


    I really hope that Mericle thinks ahead of the season and breaks it better than 3 was. The whole murder mystery was solved poorly

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  38. e7 was harmless to me, and Midnight City was actually a pretty cool episode if you can get past not using Diggle, which you can't, and I'm not saying that in a mean spirited way; if you don't buy an aspect of one episode, it makes harder to suspend your disbelief. I do believe it makes sense for Digg not to be in the field, I wish they would explain it. but beyond that, Midnight City was a enjoyable new dynamic.

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  39. Yeah, O/F is just a shortened version of Oliver/Felicity :p I like using that more than Olicity. IDK why, I prefer O/F more.


    I think Felicty evolved a bit this season, I just HATE how her arc revolved around the guy she wants to be with even though all throughout the season it's obvious that it was always going to be O/F. Such a useless arc, especially the contrived love triangle between R/F/O *rolls eyes to the next century*. But yeah, this season showed the audience that Felicity was human, not perfect, makes mistakes, which IMO added some depth to her character. I know that humanizing Felicity made more people hate her, but it made me love her all the more. I accept her good sides and bad. Although sometimes I do get annoyed by some of the things she does.


    I too think the HIVE/Felicity dad thing will go hand in hand too. IDK I'm weirdly optimistic about this because it could offer Felicity/Diggle's friendship some much needed screentime and it could offer Felicity more evolution.


    As for O/F I think that sort of dragged them this season was the writers insistence on keeping them apart which 90% of it was contrived. But hey, it's all preference, I suppose. They resonated with me because they make each other better people, they push each other, they accept each other for who they are, and their relationship was built on a foundation of trust, loyalty, and friendship. They make each other happy, and I think that's all that matters to me. They bring off a lighter side in each other. And personally I hope that this season ends with them together because Felicity really does make Oliver lighter and makes him smile a lot more. And I need Oliver to be lighter next season.


    What I don't want out of their relationship is constant angst. I just want them to be in a happy relationship and friggin' focus on other things so the unnecessary angst doesn't take away screentime from building up the villain of the week/season.


    IMO It's picking up steam for me as well. I'm excited for the last few episodes! I can't wait to see where it ends.


    Also I'm not a fan of OUAT. I think it's become total trash this season. I honestly am bored by everything that's going on and can't seem to care which is sad because I really loved it seasons 1-3. But I agree, splitting up the season and having more than one villain of the season would be beneficial. It would be like we're getting two seasons in one lol

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  40. I think this is good. Having another showrunner would give some fresh ideas or not....two brains are always better than one.

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  41. it won't make a difference two showrunner in charge may help a bit in ideas and plotting the season

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  42. So is this an attempt to solve Arrow's inability to write good storylines for women? If so, there may be hope for Katie Cassidy's Laurel/Black Canary.

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  43. Laurel deserve my screentime she has like 60 secs in last two episode where Felicity has too much screentime......we see if it balance out

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  44. You of all people condemn a season soley based on a minor storyline? How the tides shifted.


    You see, Laurel/Tommy/Oliver was a thing, however it only "really" became a thing towards the end of the season, the triangle was never as prominent, never as focused on as this seasons romance.


    Of course it was terrible but unlike oh-so many terrible other storylines this season, season 1 only had the romance to tear it down. Wich is not much.
    It had a perfect villain with a rock solid motivation, it set up everything perfectly and exectuted it brilliantly.


    You really turned into a shipper megaphone, *liked by Shannon

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  45. and to make matters worse you blame me for liking a season despite its flaws.


    A bit hypocritical since you always try to ignore the ships, wich in season 1s case I barely was....man, really...that's kind of emberassing for you here.

    Because right now you seek the conflict my friend

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  46. Just remembered something: wasn't there a "What Show Most Needs a New Showrunner" poll a few weeks ago? I definitely said Arrow...and I think it finished very near the top. Maybe the CW noticed.

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  47. I actually enjoy the fandom. I mean, not the crazy people, but the Olicity fandom from my experience has been welcoming and full of really talented, funny, smart, and dedicated individuals. And I'm on tumblr. So I occasionally see some crazies from both camps (L/O and O/F and the ridiculous Laurel defense squad which is filled with people who pretty much viciously attack almost everyone who criticizes Laurel even when she's being problematic).


    I don't think that she's devolved as a character, nor has she really evolved (although I could make a compelling argument that she has grown stronger with all the crap that she's been put through this season). I think she's still who she was in seasons 1 and 2, but this season focused on Felicity's faults which further provided some depth to her character. I wish they had a better balance between showing her faults and her strengths, but it is what it is. I'm actually sort of glad that they're exploring Felicity's darker side.


    And lmao I don't think she's obsessed with Oliver? She's in love with him (and he's in love with her), but I don't see what obsession has to do with trying to hold onto what you love when you feel that it's slipping away. I think it was a human reaction and a sort of hail mary. If Oliver were in Felicity's position he would've done /everything/ in his power to help save Felicity. He wouldn't have just accepted it just like Felicity didn't accept it. I think Oliver loved her more for it because he would've done the same. And that she at least /tried/.


    Felicity received backlash in episode 5 for the virus (she beat herself down a lot for that), she received backlash from Ray when she crossed the line in episode 10, she is still receiving the cold shoulder for her decision to help Laurel keep Sara's death from Quentin (although Oliver is getting the brunt of the backlash for this, unfairly, I might add), and in this episode for her ill thought out plan, she received backlash in episode 17 for keeping Ray's secret AND Oliver's secret from one another (unfairly, she was put in between a rock and a hard place)... She's received a fair share of backlash this season, I feel. -- So I don't really know what you're talking about lol

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  48. Dude I heavily enjoyed season one, I just hated the romance. Don't try to reverse this shit. Yet it was toxic, and turned Oliver and Laurel into assholes and they were a thing the entire season.

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  49. Mac I'm not a shipper megaphone. I just don't ignore one ship and hate another, whilst claiming that I hate when a ship affects a show, but ignoring the toxicity of Laurel and Oliver and saying season one was perfect.

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  50. I don't ignore ships I just don't think most are as bad as you claim. I like season one a lot, but you fail to ever critique season one for Laurel and Oliver in season one, despite the lack of chemistry, toxicity of it, impact on Oliver and the show, and just all around being awful in your previous post.

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  51. Cordon is a Belgian show. It was actually quite good. People just didn't really like the ending because it had an open ending.

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  52. How dare I dislike your ship more than the one you dislike?

    Oh my,


    now, I hate both Laurel/Oliver/Tommy and Olicity. BUT there is a major difference here that makes me dislike Olicity more, Oilcity is clear cut. There's no conflict but will they/won't they wich we all know is "they will" eventually. With Laurel/Oliver/Tommy we had some conflict, between the three there was some character evolution to get there.


    It was annoying but at least had a point. Meanwhile Oicity is just blatant romance for the sake of it. No evolution, no nothing. Only soft-cooking the characters.


    You see, we all have different opinions. I dislike Olicity more than the triangle, you do the opposite. But you seem to have an issue with me disliking something less than something you seem to enjoy more.


    Season one wasn't sucked dry because of its romance unlike season 3. Different opinions, you seem to take issue with people having other opinions. You thrive in conflict more than I do. Suddenly I say something positive about the show and you fault me for it.


    Correct me if I'm wrong: the way you comment soley pro-Olicity and against the triangle does make it seem like you're fishing for Oliciters to run into your arms. At least it appears this way

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  53. I don't reverse it, you are quite the little sh*tstain for trying to make conflict happen out of nowhere. All of a sudden I talk positive and you see your position as "the rational Oliciter" threatened.


    It was toxic but that forced all three characters to evolve into something else. I hated it with a passion but it left an impact and made for some solid storytelling. Unlike Olicity wich is, in my opinion, a pure romance that has no place on this show

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  54. Because I don't see it as an as major problem. You do, and you turn into a vile poster because you disagree heavily.

    I hated the ship but I can't deny that it forced Oliver, Tommy and even Laurel to grow as characters. We would never have seen Tommy run into his dads arms if it wasn't for the triangle, the triangle caused Tommy to die wich in return created some fantastic evolution for both Laurel and Oliver.


    Olicity fails to do the same to me, you appear to say what is popular here but hey, I have my own opinion on things, if you have an issue with that fine. But don't lash out at me for disliking your ship more than another. This is hypocrisy at its best.

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  55. Except season 3 has been driven by Sara's death, Thea and Oliver, and Malcolm and the league. Not Olicity. They haven't consumed the show in the way Oliver and Laurel's will they wont they shaped a lot of Oliver's decisions in one (but that triangle as I've said before did not evolve the characters their separate relationships with Tommy did far more). I have no problem with differing opinions, if you back them up with more than facts and evidence. Have Oliver and Felicity impacted each other and the shoe, yes. Oliver's more open and smiles more and Felicity's more confident and brazen (but again like most things on this shoe that's also due to each characters' experiences this year and the relationships they have with others like Roy, Diggle, Sara, and Thea). But saying season 3 is all driven by their relationship or sucked dry, is just plain untrue. That would be ignoring the impact of Sara's death, Oliver's love for Thea, and the arrogance of Oliver, Ra's ruthlessness and drive for an heir, and Malcolm's cowardly desire to escape justice. Which were the factors that have caused and driven this plot. Look if you don't like the attention it's getting or the way it's done, okay I can't fight that because it's your opinion and while I could argue it, I don't have any problem with that opinion, but it's irrefutable that screen time wise and plot wise it's insignificant to those aforementioned factors and more. It didn't cause Oliver to fight Ra's, join the league, or anything big like that. Look I'm glad you said something positive, but it just bugged me, because honestly I hated that crap more than Delena almost. And to me you not pointing that out regarding season one seemed hypocritical. But I'm sorry for being so damned combative. Fair I get why you think that. It's not my attention to curry favour with shippers or anything, I just honestly feel a lot that a lot of people lay too much blame on the romance aspect of season three whilst ignoring the much more impactful flaws story wise like too many characters, not a coherent enough vision, and problematic integration of stories and planning (though it still quite enjoy season three and think it works better if seen at once or more compacted than say spread out). Honestly any hatred of that triangle has nothing to do with Olicity (hell I didn't even view the two as possibly being anything other than platonic until the end of the back half of two.) I just really hated what it made Oliver and Laurel into, and was really unnecessary and unhealthy.

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  56. of course they were unneccessary and incredibly unhealthy at that point, however they were never at a point of redundancy than Olicity from a story perspective. They're pure romance, something that would be fine on OTH but the triangle actually had a point, it wasn't a motivator but an aggregator of many decisions that were made in the past.


    If it was my call to make McKenna and Oliver would still be a thing off screen, because I agree: the platonic relationship between Laurel/Oiver/Felicity would've been best.

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  57. and just to add: I don't need you to tell me wich is worse, because...both were bad. It's my decision what to dislike more.

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  58. They're not pure romance, or have you ignored the whole she's on Team Arrow thing, and the working together to take down villains, thing? Unlike Laurel and Oliver, or McKenna and Oliver (I liked her and them not much drama).

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