pollock

Oliver being miserable, utterly sad and descending back into the unbridled rage despondent vigilante he was in season 1 is great "character development". Two enthusiastic thumbs up. (sarcasm) All Stephen's words by the way on how Oliver would react to Felicity's death.

Felicity is not just Oliver's light but the entire shows light. Like seriously without her around who is going to bring humor and lightness to the show. Not Oliver, definitely not Laurel, not Diggle, all three of which takes themselves way too seriously. Maybe Thea but not in the same vein as Felicity- so who? The show needs balance, it needs characters who don't wear masks who are relatively normal so they can balance out the characters on the show who do and so there is someone relatable for the audience to connect with who in turn makes the extraordinary of the masked heroes relatable.

Honestly I don't even know why Felicity is even a question of dying after 4x09- they aren't going to almost kill her in the fall finale only to delay and have her actually die like 6 episodes later. If they wanted to kill her she would be dead next episode- which she is not. Not to mention Emily/Felicity are beloved by the cast, the crew, the writers/producers and the President of the CW network. And she is probably the most popular character in terms of media buzz and cultural impact from the show. Id say slightly more then Oliver himself or at least fifty-fifty.

Laurel became a strong contender to me last episode when they had Lance basically utter the most foreshadowing line ever "I don't know what I would do if something happen to you" which generally is a shining neon light that something will happen. But it could also, and is most probably an anvil to make us think Laurel is going to die.

I think both Felicity and Laurel would be game changing deaths, in the fact that the audience would never see it coming, but game changing doesn't mean good for the show and good for the story telling or characters.

Either way I think there will be one less Lance on the show by seasons end and I would still put good money on Quentin. He would create an emotional resonance with the characters and the audience while leaving the least hole in the show line up.