poetgirl925

I don't think Diggle should be more important to Oliver than Felicity, and I don't think Felicity should be more important to Oliver than Diggle. I think they're each equally important to Oliver, and I've enjoyed watching the three of them build trust and partnership into Team Arrow. As others have said, we saw a big shift in the Felicity/Diggle friendship in S2, and I loved it. They obviously stuck together when Oliver skipped town for five months, and this is why (if well written) a Felicity/Oliver romance doesn't have to constantly sideline the team or Diggle. I'd say Diggle would be more involved since he has a solid friendship with both of them. I think we'd see more of that with Oliver + anyone else (he was certainly sidelined more when focus shifted to Oliver/Sara/Laurel.) Since this is the CW, we can't get around the romance subplots and when they happen, Diggle will likely lose focus sometimes (which I'm okay with as long as it's not a constant thing.) I mostly tune in to watch Team Arrow as a whole each week, but I like that we see how the dynamic changes when the focus is on just two (Oliver/Diggle, Diggle/Felicity, Felicity/Oliver) as well.

I still think killing Sara was their original plan for the end of S2 and they wisely thought better of it. I am a little afraid Quentin won't make it to S3 - he's the law enforcement connection to Team Arrow and without him, Laurel has more reason to be involved. But I agree that would also be a mistake because right or wrong, I'm still blaming her a little for Tommy's death. Story wise it would make sense that she'd want to train to better be able to protect herself so no one else dies protecting her, but it won't endear her to people who are either on the fence or already don't like her. I also think they need to consider changing her image for S3 because the wardrobe/hair/makeup choices definitely took me out of her character. Like others mentioned here, I too noticed that the rings were a KC thing, and I'm assuming the other stuff might have also been KC's influence since the change coincided with the launch of her fashion blog. I just don't think these things fit Laurel's character at all based on how she was established in S1, and they certainly didn't fit the new job. I watched the pilot again today and relived that awful first meeting between Laurel and Oliver. It made me wonder if the writers realized that we might compare that scene to her anger over learning Sara's alive. On the one hand, it makes a little sense. I got the impression that burying herself in school and then work was a coping mechanism, and coping only works for so long. Sometimes anger does build up, there's a trigger, and people blow in a spectacular fashion. Here the triggers were learning Oliver was alive and then learning Sara is alive, and following this reasoning it makes more sense that she's angriest with the person she loved most (Sara.) The problem is that she wasn't first happy and then angry - I can excuse that with a cheating ex but it's harder to do with her sister. In both cases, it's 'I wish you'd stayed in hell longer than 5 years' and 'You ruined my life' before she's expressing that she's happy they're at least alive. I do see glimpses of a more loving bond between Laurel and her father, and they worked a few nice Sara/Laurel moments into the script. The problem is that the first meets really do color how I feel Laurel views her relationships with everyone around her. I've also been thinking about the blackmail. Was it really OOC? If we look at who the producers and even KC say Laurel should be, then it's definitely OOC. And yet we've seen examples of her being manipulative in the past. IMO the flashbacks firmly established she was manipulative. If we believe Sara (and I do because they never showed me another side) Laurel manipulated her relationship with Oliver right from the beginning. In another flashback, she was emotionally manipulating Oliver into going along with her plans to move in together. In both these cases, she could have justified it by telling herself Sara was too young for Oliver and they'd get each other into trouble and that Oliver would be better off if he settled down. She's not necessarily wrong in her reasoning, but the fact that she felt it was okay for her to decide what's best and that it should include her being with Oliver are both signs that she's very self-centered. When you gave this type of personality, I think it's not really a big leap to blackmail. She was able to justify the blackmail too - the ADA nearly got her killed and she was trying to help her father. The only one that really bothered me was the first one because she didn't lose her job due to the arrest - those charges were dismissed. She lost her job because Donner asked her if she was an addict and she couldn't deny it. The fact that she never questioned whether she deserved to get her job back bothered me more than the blackmail. It's really hard to believe these writing choices weren't deliberate, which is why contradicting interviews are so confusing.

Finally getting around to a rewatch. I watched the pilot a couple of times back during S1, so this is the third or fourth viewing for me. The only actor I was familiar with was Paul Blackthorne. I'd never heard of the others before Arrow. I noticed right away that it was going to be much darker in tone than Smallville, but I liked that. I liked Smallville, but occasionally it descended into comic booky territory that didn't translate so well to the small screen. They really did pack a lot of story into the pilot, and I thought they did a good job of beginning Oliver's story. I never had a problem with Amell's acting either. I always assumed he was playing Oliver as a bit wooden and mechanical because he was shut down emotionally. The voice overs were terrible - really glad they got rid of those. That chase scene with the parkour stunts was awesome though. Diggle was easily my favorite character as soon as he appeared. I liked Tommy okay for most of the episode, but that 'roofied anyone lately' line that Quentin threw out was a big turnoff. I can remember being worried that we were going to find out he and Oliver were date rapists back in the day. I was already struggling to like Oliver. Pre-island Oliver had obviously been a spoiled, entitled douche, and present day Oliver was straight up murdering people. Frankly I was a little taken aback by just how dark the show was going, from Robert shooting himself in the head right in front of Oliver to the present day killing. Moira was the character I was most interested in because of that shady ending. I really think she and Diggle were the ones that pulled me into episode 2. Then there was the romantic backstory. I knew the comic book history but even if I hadn't, I could see that Laurel was supposed to be the love interest. Unfortunately, I was over it before it ever started because of the 'Oliver ran off with her little sister and then she died' backstory. It was just so awful, and I can't imagine any way that the writers can dig themselves out of this hole they dug before we ever met Laurel. I also remember I wasn't pleased with the casting for Laurel - she didn't really fit my image of comic Dinah, and she was so angry. I mean, yes, she had a right to be angry, but it was off putting. Then she inexplicably got over it by the end of the episode - that's when she started to irritate me, actually. I didn't love her before that, but I didn't dislike her exactly. Oliver just does nothing to improve her character - rather, he drags her down even in the beginning.

You know, Colton is an example of how interviews can make me like the character more. I used to find Roy annoying, and now I like him a lot more. Of course his story improved a little, but I think a lot of it is due to how personable he is in his public appearances/interviews. Pairing him with Emily is just icing, really - they're so funny together!

I hate to say this, but you may be right. I'm on messenger with 3 friends who are casual viewers. Two of them didn't read anything special into that scene. When I mentioned that the jacket being passed to Laurel probably means she's taking the Canary role from her sister, they were surprised. (They both think it's a terrible idea.) Basically they figured that her knowing all the secrets means she'll be helping the team but not necessarily in a hero role. One still hopes she'll be an antagonist. It's my third friend who's worrying me. She also hates Laurel and has since the beginning of the show. But when I asked her how she felt about Laurel at the end, she said she thought Laurel got better at the end somehow. When I asked her why, she couldn't think of a specific reason, just that for some reason by the end she forgot she hated her. She said it might be because she stopped crying and knew what was going on. But she did think the jacket meant we're being forced to accept the character. She said she wants her to go evil and doesn't want to see her doing superhero stuff. But it's entirely possible that my friend represents a part of the audience who may think Laurel improved by being let in on the secret. I don't think so because we still see a lot of the character flaws from before - particularly selfishness, but some viewers may not waste a lot of time thinking about her other than 'She 's really annoying here, but she's less annoying there.' I hate to think such lazy storytelling might fix certain character complaints for some viewers, but it might.

I agree that most of the TV reviewers probably don't read comics. But unless they're living in a black hole wherein they don't look at Arrow related topics online or even read the comments on their own articles, they probably know Laurel's comic book destiny on the surface. And if you have that knowledge, it's a lot easier to read into that scene. Casual viewers at home may not have placed any particular importance on this because unlike Sara and Oliver and Malcolm and Roy, Laurel has never really lost anything. Tommy, yes - but it still does not compare because she went back to Oliver the first chance she got instead of continuing to try to work things out with Tommy. Other than that, she had real world losses, like her parents split up. Sara and Oliver are both alive, so she regained some things she thought she lost. With Sara, Oliver, Malcolm, and Roy, there were very specific circumstances that set them down their paths to hero or villain. I don't see how anything in S1 or S2 that could be used as a stepping stone for Laurel to BC if I'm only looking at the story. Without prior knowledge, I don't think I would ever see Laurel as a hero type.

I can say with 100% certainty that at least a few people didn't read anything into that scene. I have a few friends/family members who aren't on social media and don't read comics. None of them are thinking that Laurel will be BC in S3. When I pointed out the jacket hand off to one of my friends, she thought that was written for humor because Quentin said "Don't get any ideas." So yeah - she laughed at the idea. When she started watching, she made me promise not to give her comic spoilers, so I haven't told her anything. But when I pointed out that Sara leaving meant maybe someone would need to fill her boots, she said, "But Laurel's a lawyer, not a superhero. Maybe Lyla will do it." So there you go - this is what the majority of the audience is probably thinking. The jacket scene was there as a cutesy moment for comic fans. Even I might have read it that way if not for the actress running about and seemingly confirming this is what we're getting in S3.

Omg - how did I not know Andrew Kreisberg was responsible for my least favorite GA/BC arcs? Good grief - Arrow is actually that horrible GA/BC arc come to life on my television because someone gave a fanboy stuck on the idea of BC as sidekick/love interest creative control of the show. Honestly, if I had known that then I probably never would have watched Arrow in the first place. That explains SO MUCH about the horrible backstory and the way they've used Laurel on the show, not to mention the way the story has undermined her character. My brother was always more into GA whereas I was more into BC, but we both actually hated that arc. God it sucked. Most comic fans I knew didn't like it. I was actually really happy when Dinah left him and went back to Birds of Prey. BC was always best when she wasn't tied to GA IMO. I'm so glad Gail Simone is on record stating the problems with that story. I feel sure she, like me, is not a fan of Laurel on the show. My friend and I are still arguing OOC behavior for Laurel. If we only look at S1 then I think her sleeping with Oliver so suddenly in the finale was OOC because the second half of the season showed that she was investing in her relationship with Tommy. She even went to Oliver to ask him to help her fix it (which I hated because women DO NOT involve exes in their current relationships unless they're playing games or trying to cause trouble.) Then Oliver suddenly wanted her and she lost all backbone and essentially rolled over for him. I lost a lot of respect for her here. But if we take the S2 flashbacks into consideration where it's clear that Laurel had a habit of turning a blind eye and taking him back after bad behavior, I'd reason it's not OOC. Stupid, yes, but not necessarily OOC. This is a lot of the problem - the CW audience is, I think, mostly women. Smart women don't do the things we see Laurel do, or if they do then they're self-aware enough to learn from their mistakes. I also think her suddenly apologizing to Sara at the end of Time of Death was OOC. Her anger may not have been fun to watch but it was consistent with what we'd seen of her before. Had we ever seen Laurel apologize to anyone before this? Sudden forgiveness, being the only one to apologize, and later giving relationship advice to Sara and Oliver all seemed like I was watching a body-snatched version of the character. I guess if we go by what the producers say Laurel is supposed to be on paper, everything about her is OOC. The worst thing is that she really does seem to elicit OOC behavior in everyone else. Blind Spot was possibly the worst writing I've seen on the show.

This was true for me. I grew up doing really physical things with my family (whitewater rafting, water sports, hiking, mountain climbing, etc.) I started gymnastics in grade school because I needed it for cheerleading. Then my brothers started taking taekwondo classes and since I never let them one-up me (only girl syndrome) I signed up too. Once I got my black belt I took judo classes and later on at university I took unarmed self defense classes and kickboxing classes. I did yoga, Pilates, and then power yoga. The more fit you are, the better it feels when you push your boundaries. But I can say from personal experience that none of this means you can really fight well in a real life situation. I did manage to take down a guy twice my size and weight one night when he followed me to my car and tried grabbing me when I ignored him. But in his defense, he was a little drunk and surely not expecting a 5'2" 115 pound girl to turn on him, and the police arrived before he even thought of getting up lol. My brothers were proud :) Caity Lotz is like my hero though. She looks like she could kick ALL the asses :). I'm going to be so disappointed if she doesn't return as Canary.

I enjoyed the pilot for the most part. I found Gustin to be likable in the role, and the cast all played well off each other. The story was okay as origin stories go, but I really don't want this to be a meta human of the week show like Smallville was. Right now I'd say the Arrow pilot was better, but the characters are lighter and more charming, and the cast seem to have better chemistry. I nearly quit Arrow 2 or 3 times in the first season because I wasn't crazy about the main characters and the lack of chemistry was just uncomfortable at times. My favorite part was probably when the crazy weather guy was talking about himself as God and Det. West was like "Shut the hell up!" Lol. I think I'm really going to like Jesse L. Martin in this role. I really like the actress playing Iris, but the writing was super bad for her character. We didn't learn anything about her really - she works at a cafe, she's working on her dissertation (don't know for what), she stress eats, she apparently knows nothing about science and has no interest in the topic (I'm extrapolating here from her scene in Barry's lab), and she's dating Det. Thawne. Keeping her in the dark re: Barry seemed contrived, but I'm not a fan of the Lois Lane trope in which the love interest is blind to the hero, and I'm afraid this will end up making Iris the DiD as a way to involve her. I hated this in Lana and Lois in Smallville, and it was even worse on Arrow with Laurel. I also think brother-zoning him was going a bit far, and that they grew up in the same house is a bit off putting since I have a stepbrother. I did like their friendship and the scenes they had together. The only thing I'm going to say is that besides the fact that I don't like the idea of Barry pining over someone who clearly doesn't feel the same way, they need to be careful giving Iris too many 'I know you so well' lines. Because if she's kept out of the superhero loop and she's not even aware he has a crush on her, lines like that will start to make her look foolish. Better to read her in early IMO and let their friendship grow/evolve naturally instead of too much pushing based on unknown backstory. It's always better to show the audience the story instead of telling them something and hoping they buy it. I liked Team Flash. Caitlin was a bit wooden, but a friend of mine and I agree she was playing it a bit like Dr. Brennan from Bones. No-nonsense scientist is fine, but going too far would be a mistake because that sort of thing works best on character driven shows that take the time to explore it. I thought she and Barry had good chemistry in the scene where she dropped some of her backstory. But then again, I also know they wanted me to feel that way because the music changed there. Oh, tricky CW shows lol. I think Caitlin intrigues me the most, but that's because of the comic history of the character and me wondering if she'll evolve in that direction. The Grodd Easter egg made me giggle, especially since Wells was in a wheelchair when they passed the sign on the bent up cage. But Dr. Wells is a tricky one as well. Obviously he has a connection to the future - good guy or bad guy? Is he there to help Barry become a hero or hurt him? Or maybe he's a Malcolm Merlyn type who thinks he's ultimately helping humanity with his actions when he's really the villain. Cavanaugh was good in this role. The Arrow cameo felt ALL wrong. Since when is Oliver up to giving pep talks about being a hero? I know that there will likely be some crossovers if The Flash does well, but they need to keep the characters consistent from one show to the other. Barry fit with what we saw on Arrow, but the reverse was not true here. Also, the world building they've done for Arrow and Flash are completely different, and I don't want one bleeding over too much to the other. So basically what I'm saying is if they go the meta human and time travel/alternate universe route on Flash, it needs to stay on Flash. They've spent two seasons grounding Arrow in a darker and more realistic world, and I don't want them changing it now based on what's happening on another show.

I've been reading all the interviews and viewing all the panels I can find. I really think most of my reason for thinking Laurel is BC in S3 has to do with KC and how she's handling promoting her character, how she's answering questions about other characters - it's sort of in direct contrast to others being rather quiet on what's coming. They either say they don't know or they can't answer. I can't find anything where any other person has teased 'Laurel may be BC in S3.' I can't even find any post-finale producer interviews. Is anyone answering these questions other than KC? While I can't imagine KC would make such a big deal about it if she didn't know SOME details, she's also on record saying there's nothing between Oliver and Felicity while others (the actors, producers, the network) directly contradict that. The CW seems to be promoting it as the main ship atm and haven't teased anything Laurel related at all.

Haha - I can remember my uncle and brother complaining about some Hulk changes lol. I got my first comics from my uncle, and he was a BC fan as well. Dinah Drake was the original BC and debuted in The Flash back in the 40s I think. She wasn't a meta human - no Canary cry as far as I can remember. She wanted to be a cop but wasn't allowed to; since her father had trained her in fighting techniques, she used them as a vigilante instead. The retcon you're talking about happened in the 80s to explain why there was suddenly a much younger BC with a Canary cry and involved a super weird story in which Dinah Drake's memories were transferred to Dinah Laurel. That Dinah Laurel was also not a meta human - she was cursed as a baby. Then there was another reboot in the 90s and again in the 2000s, both of which had meta Dinah Laurel born to original BC and training to follow in her mother's footsteps. The current BC in the New 52 is back to Dinah Drake, so technically Laurel doesn't exist in current comic canon at all. (Can someone please tell KC this?) I love the comics, but I've always been fine with changing canon in reboots because it's a new story involving familiar characters. If they were all the same, what would be the point? This is why I hate when people ask "Why should Laurel be BC?" and the answer is "Because comics." I find it really infuriating, and none of this canon can be used to explain anything on Arrow involving Laurel the show character. Going back to Laurel though, a writer friend and I were discussing whether or not we found anything about Laurel to be out of character during the past two seasons. I'm arguing no because in two seasons, I'm not sure her character has been firmly established. She tends to tilt whichever way the script calls for. I could maybe say her suddenly sleeping with Oliver in the S1 finale was OOC, but she was so wishy washy before that it's iffy. I can definitely think of instances where other characters were behaving OOC because of a scene or plot revolving around her though, especially this season. Anyone want to weigh in?

I don't understand comic purists anyway. There's not a single, set canon for Oliver or Dinah in the comics which means they're in favor of limited canon at best. I mean, I might only support BC when she's not connected to GA at all - in that case, am I still a purist? They act like the only canon that ever existed is the one they support, but there are many continuities having nothing at all to do with Dinah Laurel or GA, and that includes the New 52. I'm surprised so-called 'purists' even watch Arrow tbh - it's so different that it must drive them bananas. These are the same dudes who want a cheesy comic knockoff straight down to Oliver's goatee and Dinah's fishnets, both of which would tank the show. If comic purists were enough to keep a live action comic based show on the air, there would be a lot more of them on TV.

I didn't realize they were shopping a BoP spinoff around. Way back when I first heard that Arrow would include Dinah Laurel Lance, I hoped for a BoP show. I used to collect BC and BoP comics, so I went into this show highly predisposed to liking the character. It's really bad they can't sell this character to someone who wanted to like her. I'd definitely watch BoP if it included Sara, but I'll never be on board with a show headed up by Laurel/KC. And while the producers might be deluding themselves, I really think the network execs know better. They rarely promote Laurel. In fact, I don't think I've seen anything promoting Laurel since the infamous 'Laurel shoots a bow' pics/video. I saw those pics during my break from the show and I remember thinking "Well, glad I'm not watching that this week!" Even at the end of S1 when I really despised both her and Oliver, I was still trying to think of ways the character could be improved. Then S2 happened and I'm pretty much done. Even the one thing I was hoping for - that she'd be smart enough to figure out Arrow and the woman in black once Sara showed up - didn't happen. Instead of looking at how that reveal could benefit Laurel, especially after they forced her suspicions of Blood, they made that information part of Slade's plan. That made no sense to me because Slade had a lot going on and that was just a tiny part of what he was up to. Something that could have been written to show Laurel in a better light ended up making her look really stupid, and not just because she answered her UNLOCKED DOOR without checking who was there and then just stood there like having him show up was no big deal. If Arrow were a horror movie, Laurel would be dead a hundred times over by now, so yeah - this is not the Black Canary I was hoping for and somewhere in the comic world, the real Dinah Laurel would probably love nothing more than to smack everyone involved in creating such a mess of a character. It's a bad sign that they can't even sell this character to someone like me who was actively looking for reasons to like her. I really can't think of anything they could do with Laurel next season that will change how I feel now. Bad writing has been compounded by (at best) mediocre acting. I've never actually seen KC in anything else - I've never heard of her before Arrow - but I agree with others here that the way KC portrays Laurel is a big part of the problem. After 2 seasons, I doubt her portrayal will change even if the writing improves. Since BC started out in The Flash universe, I'm sort of hoping they'll send her over there and then teleport her into the future -I can dream, right?

I think it's clear now that while they had a 5 year plan to tell Oliver's story in flashbacks and present day, they didn't have one for Laurel. I guess hardworking attorney with a heart of gold looked good on paper, and they had a vague idea of her being Canary in the future. But really - if they intended to put her in the role so quickly they should have started setting the background in the pilot or at least, as you said, by the S2 premiere. Since they didn't, I wonder why the rush to hand over the jacket now? I wonder if they realize the backlash the character has gotten with that one move. Lol - I'd forgotten about that TMZ clip from the pilot. I imagine the L/O story comes up again when Oliver finds out he has a kid. Can you even imagine being this character? Honestly, if I were Laurel I'd have cut Oliver out of my life like a cancer by now. They really did make a colossal mistake by presenting her entire story as being mixed up in Oliver's. That backstory has made me angry with everyone involved at one point or another.

At this point I don't want to see her as BC. I can't picture the actress in the role, and there's no way Laurel's origin story would rival Sara's. I don't even know why Laurel would want that role -I understand why KC wants it, but what would Laurel get out of it? Whether they meant to or not, they firmly established Sara in this part. I was actually really afraid they were going to kill her off to pave the way for Laurel, but thankfully they didn't. If it ever did occur to the writers to do this, they thought better of it (and for good reason.) I agree with others that Laurel is a better fit for a morally ambiguous Manhunter at this point. I do wonder what the actress, the writers and the producers see that I and so many others don't, though. It's baffling to read their interviews, KC and Kreisberg in particular. All I can figure is that Katie doesn't understand Laurel either and so she tells people what she's been told? It's strange when actors like Stephen, Manu and even Barrowman give solid answers to character questions. Manu even admits sometimes the writers don't have time to explore things enough (why he suddenly loved Shado, why he hated Oliver if it wasn't the Mirakuru.) But after two seasons of terrible story, I'm not convinced they can salvage the character. Just making her part of the action won't be enough.

I'll admit I quit Arrow mid-S2 and just caught up last week, and those Laurel-heavy/Lance drama episodes were a big reason. Honestly, I'd just had enough. Ironically, it was anticipation for her character that brought me into Arrow. And I'll admit I had expectations that may have been too high. I had this idea she'd be a cop like the original canary wanted to be, but then I thought lawyer worked too. I liked that she was working for the downtrodden. The problem is that we never really saw the downtrodden, just pointless scenes of her in her office. I thought we might see that she'd turned to martial arts as a way of working through her anger. It would make sense because she worked in the Glades and it would have given us a glimpse of what she did in her free time. I imagined a Wildcat type character acting as a father figure, I guess, since her family imploded after Sara 'died.' I thought we might see her develop a relationship with Sin, but instead she got pulled into a love triangle that made her look flaky and only served to move Oliver's story forward. After the Glades fell, I imagined her to be working there over hiatus - rolling up her sleeves and digging in. Maybe her dad would take her to the gym, and we'd see her working out her problems on a punching bag (I've finally let go of this idea *sigh*). But then S2 premiered and she didn't even look like Laurel anymore - all perfectly coiffed with fingers full of rings and pointless cocktail party scenes. How was this down-to-earth no nonsense Laurel? It all served to make her even more inaccessible IMO. That said, there were a few things that I found interesting about her character in S2. 1. The idea that she wasn't such a goody two shoes in the past and the hinted at sibling rivalry were both interesting. This was highlighted by her vitriolic reaction to Sara being alive. She wasn't happy first and then angry. She didn't even try to pretend she wasn't mad as hell. That actually felt real to me. The worst thing (for me) was having her apologize and get over it so fast. And her 'Please don't hate me' speech honestly broke the fourth wall for me since it felt like the writers addressing the audience rather than Laurel talking to her sister. The complexity of the sisters' relationship might have been interesting to explore as long as it didn't involve Oliver. Oliver does nothing but make Laurel a slave to whatever plot is going on. 2. I was intrigued that she was able to shoot that guy in the back without hesitation since most people who need to use a gun in self defense usually hesitate unless they're cops or military. This tied into the darkness she mentioned (maybe?) but she didn't grapple with it later for reasons I don't understand. Even if he was a bad guy, she killed a man. It was jarring for that to get dropped when the whole season has been about Oliver finding a way to avoid killing. It should have presented a moral dilemma for someone like Laurel. 3. She apparently has no problem doing things that I saw as pretty shady - prosecuting her ex's mother when she should have recused herself, blackmailing people, and considering outing Oliver as the Arrow when it suited her purposes. She appears self-serving, but everyone insists she isn't. The problem is that they ultimately never expounded on any of these things, and most of her episodes had gaping plot holes or OOC behavior - a consequence of throwing Laurel and Oliver together when there was no need for it (Blind Spot, Heir to the Demon, Time of Death.) The only reason I can figure for dropping that 'Sara loved Oliver first and Laurel knew it but went after him anyway' bomb was to burst the 'Laurel was a goody-goody' bubble. I guess they could have done it to make Sara more sympathetic, but it doesn't make sense to assassinate the lead's character to prop up a guest star unless you plan to explore that as a character weakness for the lead. I thought we might see flashbacks or it might have been brought up in the present, but nope. The flashbacks just served to show Sara knew Oliver better than Laurel, who for reasons unknown thought it was a good idea to plan happily ever after with a womanizer who was dropping out of various universities and repeatedly getting arrested for DUI and peeing on cops - or was it cop cars? I mean, Quentin must have hated Oliver even back then, and Laurel must have known that. That's not something the perfect daughter does. A definite missed opportunity was the Lance family dinner. Without Oliver's OOC presence, that blowup could have been Sara and Laurel going toe to toe, dealing with each other's betrayals (imagined or real) and perfect Laurel being given a wake up call by someone who probably knows her a hell of a lot better. I'll also never understand why the writers chose to force Laurel into Streets of Fire and even go so far as to write a scene where she got to shoot a bow (so unearned after watching two characters slap water in a bowl first) when they could have made her the hero of the finale if they truly wanted her to be relevant. With a few writing tweaks, they could have had Oliver give Laurel the cure since he could figure that Slade would go after her. He leaves her at the mansion to keep her safe - no declarations necessary since Slade was already fixated on the idea that Oliver loved her. Slade takes Laurel, we think she's the DiD, and bam! She injects Slade and we find out that was the plan she was in on all along. Instead they made Felicity the hero and Laurel was window dressing here. But wait guys - black jacket handoff! She's gonna be a superhero! That moment ruined the whole scene for me and felt like pacification since KC watched her lead part slip away in this episode. My guess is that the writers are smart enough to recognize it would have felt unearned to the audience. She discovers Oliver's secret and suddenly she's the hero of Team Arrow? But Oliver trusting Felicity with such an important part felt earned because it highlighted the partnership we've seen develop since mid-S1. I think there have been a lot of missed opportunities to give Laurel a story that mattered, but the biggest problem is they continue to present her as flawless when quite a lot of her story shows she's definitely not. They also need to stop forcing the idea that Laurel and Oliver know each other so well when it's painfully obvious they don't. This really makes Laurel look foolish. If they told me that she deliberately turned a blind eye to Oliver's faults in the past because she thought she could fix him and fit him into her life plan, I could buy it because that's a character flaw and some women really do this. Even her addiction arc made her look too perfect - perfectly groomed, no consequences and she is apparently a model AA participant lol. I laughed at her sitting in a bar giving relationship advice to the people who betrayed her after one AA meeting. What a mess. They give her speeches about how everyone leaves, drowning, darkness and how she knows Oliver so well despite so much evidence to the contrary. Her monologues seriously undermine her character at every turn because instead I see an ambitious, ruthless and often arrogant character who'll climb over people to get herself from A to B if necessary, and she's not going to waste time reflecting on it either. That would be okay with me if they went that direction because I can get behind female characters like that. I loved Moira. But I've stopped hoping they'll ever make sense of Laurel or make her relatable. I just don't care anymore, and that's a shame. Mostly I want to fast forward her scenes - I guess in a way that's a character consequence. Any way you want to look at it, this season served to strengthen Sara, Oliver and his relationships with his team (particularly Felicity) and Team Arrow as a whole, and they threw Laurel under the bus a few times in the process the same way they threw her under the bus during S1's awful love triangle. Laurel was like some kind of weird afterthought for half the season followed by a scramble to say "Look! We're doing something with Laurel! It makes no sense, but she's important damn it!"