TimetravellingBW

Also KC's comments during S2 that "Felicity might be around as a fling" and "bring it on, Laurel's got this.” (Lauriver is end game). Plus her admitting that the Felicity & Laurel friendship was "not a relationship that she really put too much thought into" before S3. (Felicity is temporary). But during S3 and S4, it was "Felicity and Laurel are BFFs!!" (Olicity is going full speed ahead). Seriously, KC wanted/knew Laurel was going to join Team Arrow - so she should have considered Laurel's relationships with other members like Dig and Felicity, not just Oliver. Unless she expected them to disappear the moment Laurel came on board. Which would explain so much about how she played her introduction to Team Arrow.

Yes, if nothing else you have to admire KC's resilience in sticking with her Laurel/Oliver love story despite everyone else - from the media to the directors to the wardrobe department probably - telling her otherwise. But that does explain why SA/Oliver seem to give off such defensive vibes during their scenes: He was probably trying to counteract her interpretation. Initially KC's headcanon might have been an attempt to get back her main love story, but why she's sticking with it now LL is dead - who knows. agree with @Thundercatmary about it making LL seem false. Even if Laurel is the nicest, more selfless person on earth concerning past relationships - and her reaction to Oliver and Sara's returns show she's clearly not - it's hard to believe she could hang out with Oliver everyday and not hope for something to happen. Yes she told Oliver she hoped he and Felicity would get back together - but that's undermined by the fact she carried that freaking photo with her everyday. The scene just reads as "Well, I'll give it a shot and maybe he'll fall back into my arms. If not, I'll just say I hope he and Felicity work out to save face."

Just playing catch up, I find all the spec really interesting as well. KC's confirmation that she influenced her "you're the love of my life" deathbed confession - whether it was outright suggesting the line or years of badgering MG about soulmates meant he threw her a bone - makes you wonder how much she pushed her view behind the scenes. And how much it annoyed the writers/producers/other actors? For SA, his cast mate was actively undermining the romance he was playing on screen. (If KC's been playing Laurel in love with Oliver the whole time.) And DR and EBR seem to support Olicity and OTA, so would KC wanting it to become the Lauriver Show feel awkward? Let alone MG and Wendy and the other producers who have spent three seasons moving away from Lauriver and building a new love story. It's just odd that KC is so vocal about her Lauriver headcanon - both at cons and behind the scenes - when it undermines the rest of the show and her co-workers roles. Especially now the battle is essentially over. I can see why she'd hold onto that headcanon when she was still a regular: Becoming Oliver's love interest would give her more screentime/regain her female lead status. That was just her looking out for her job's best interests. (Kinda.) But when she knew she was being written off and there's no chance of returning to Lauriver? How would that line help her? Pushing the "love of my life" stuff only annoyed people and damaged Laurel's character. Idk, it just seems like a very uncomfortable situation and it would be interesting to know if the writers thought about her behavior when weighing up the "Who's In The Grave" question. I doubt it was the determining factor, but if killing Laurel meant they got rid of a cast member who was playing a different show to everyone else, that might have gone in the pro Laurel column.

Yeah, that move would feel OOC for Felicity. So fingers crossed James is a villian and not brining more angst. Given how badly previous Olicity roadblocks worked out - the Ray triangle and BMD - hopefully they'll tone it down in S5.

Putting Quentin in the role of fighting on the public front and connection to Star(ling) government would be good, though I'm not sure he needs to be mayor. They could just focus on his position and responsibilities in the police force, which means he could be around for both black tie events and action scenes. It would be a good way to tie him to the main plot without crowding the lair more. It was disappointing he lost his S2 role of team liaison when Laurel found out Oliver's secret, police force connects more naturally than ADA.

I hope "James" isn't Sidney, I don't see what introducing another Palmer will add to the show. James could work as a villain fighting Oliver and Felicity on the public front like Blood and Isabel in Season 2. But please no Ray 2.0 as the "better" Oliver and/or Felicitys love interest in another triangle. (No more triangles show. Just No.) The show is good on heroes for S5: They've got OTA, Thea, Curtis and Lance. It needs more villains and shady characters.

Late to the party, but totally agree Laurel's deathbed confession and the flashbacks put her character in the worst context possible. On the plus side it does answer the eternal question of why Laurel stayed friends with her douchebag ex for so long. Because normally people just don't do that. You might cling to high school friends because a long-term/lifelong friendship is worth preserving - but not with a toxic fallout like Laurel and Oliver's. You send them a Christmas card, not make a nightly vigilante club together. I could never buy why Laurel wanted to see Oliver daily (he was clearly motivated by guilt and later did want her to just go away Laurel.) But if she was pining for him that at least justifies her butting in all the time. Unfortunately, as others have said that explanation made her look like a doormat. I mean since barging into Team Arrow she's watched him fall in love with, buy a house with, propose to and pine after Felicity. Night after night after night. Why would you put yourself through that? Why didn't she get a new job and move away? Join Barry's team? Go to vigilante in another city? Head off with Sara? Her confession wasn't just "I still love you", it was "you're the love of my life." Either her life plan was to stick around watching Oliver and Felicity raise their future batch of genius archers, or she was actively plotting to get Oliver back. Both options make her look terrible. Why writers why?

^ This. That's exactly why I haven't been interested in the writers "fixing" Laurel's character since the end of Season 1. I think the initial problem was poor writing: the terrible Oliver/Laurel backstory, excluding her from the A-plot, damselling her, putting her at odds with essentially every character over and over again. But there's never been any warmth in Laurel that made me want the writers to give her more screentime with Team Arrow or take a central role. KC just seems incapable of playing warm and gracious, so even if you take away all the writing problems and make her BFF"s with the rest of the characters, she's still not likeable. If she'd downplayed the bitter, angry and haughty moments, played more humble and friendly it would be easier to want her around even with the poor plot and dialogue. The scene that highlights this the most imo, was Roy's vs. Laurel being introduced to Dig and Felicity. CH played Roy as nervous, intimidated and humble: He knew this was their team, he was the new kid in the class and he wanted them to like him. He even had an instant moment of bonding when he asked if they were called "Team Arrow" and Felicity said she called them that occasionally, much to Oliver's *eye rolling* *deep sigh* response. He was acknowledging that they were an established unit, plus you could instantly buy Felicity and Roy teaming up to call the lair the Arrow Cave and/or joking Olive should have a superhero cape. Then you had Laurel strutting in and physically forcing Felicity to step aside, barely glancing at Digg and Felicity during the whole conversation, demanding they get out of the way so she could chat to Oliver and basically announcing she was now a member of the team ("I'm coming with you!") even though none of them wanted her there. (And to top it all, she claimed Oliver didn't care about Felicity and Diggle being safe - assuming she was some super special snowflake in his priorities.) Yes, the dialogue in that scene was terrible but if KC had acted softer, friendlier and less imperious it would have helped so much. It was a huge, pivotal scene, a massive shift in Laurel's role, an exchange some fans had been waiting for since episode 1...and played out as her barging in, while the other three began silently planning to build a new secret lair to hide from her. Instead of "thank god, Laurel knows his secret, now she can be useful!", it was "please never let her set foot in here again, she ruins everything." And that was largely because KC only plays bitter, haughty - and when it comes for positive emotion - smug and superior. (Hope I'm quoting and everything ok, still figuring out this site!)

Hi, new poster here :) I hope Felicity gets to keep her CEO and Palmer Tech/hopefully Smoak Industries role. I feel like the show needs more interesting "civilian world" storylines, rather than it being all Mask plot. Imo one of the biggest weaknesses of Season 3 - though there were a ton - was that it was all The Arrow brooding in the lair and on the streets, and nothing about Oliver Queen's life. (Or anyone else's apart from when Felicity took a break to hang out on The Ray Palmer Show). Season 4 has been better, but most of the action has still been in the lair, and hasn't had the complexity of interesting stories outside of the team. It's just been watching four masks suit up and punch things. Compare that to Season 2 which had a really great balance of civilian storylines with Oliver, Felicity and Diggle all having secret identities to balance, the Thea/Roy/Sin team up which was really fun and Moira being her great self. Or Season 1 which had interesting plots with Oliver rebuilding relationships with his family, Moira and Tommy's plots, even Thea's development - all on the civilian side of things. Just steer clear of soap opera bleurgh like the yearly Lance Family Drama and secret son debacle. It is possible to have interesting non-mask storylines. It just has to be decent drama, not melodrama - a distinction the writers seem to struggle with :/ In S5 would be awesome to see Felicity and Oliver power coupling it up as CEO and Mayor of Starling and rebuilding the city in the light - the show had attempted that already this season. Give Thea and Diggle civilian identities/jobs in Palmer Tech or the mayor's office. Bring back fancy galas they have to sneak out of and undercover missions in the day rather than endless dark warehouses and Felicity having to deal with corporate meetings while Oliver is scaling the building outside.