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S04.E18: Eleven-Fifty-Nine


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Laurel's speech was stupid as hell, but frankly, after all the propping every other character on this show has constantly had to do to make Laurel seem like an important, useful character, I couldn't care less that some of her last words were spent propping Olicity.

 

And for the record, I don't even consider any of what she said to be "propping." I personally wish that conversation had never happened and they'd allowed Laurel to die with her dignity intact instead of reminding us of the disaster that was Lauriver. That said, in the context of her telling Oliver he was the love of her life, it made sense for her to acknowledge the reality that she's not his and to deflect any awkwardness by wishing him well with the person who is. That strikes me as a normal thing someone might say to an old love. It was only cringeworthy to me because I can't believe the writers never allowed her to move on from her shitty relationship with Oliver.

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(edited)

No but how sweet would it have been if Laurel had asked for her wallet or whatever and pulled out a picture of Sara instead and just wanted to look at it before she fell asleep...and died. That would have been more emotional for me actually. Why oh why did they have to bring up the Lauriver crap I will never understand. *shakes head*

Edited by Guest
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This. I'm also not keen on the idea that I have to regard comic books as some sort of homework I have to do, or framework I need to keep in mind, when I'm watching the show. And technically I could do that because I know the material, but I DO NOT WANT TO WATCH TV LIKE THAT.

This is where we differ. I LOVE seeing shows mine their comic canon for story fodder... I know they will typically make a few changes or bring different canons together in a unique way and I LOVE watching for hints and clues with the source material to see where they will take it. That was one of my favorite parts of The Flash last year (and to a lesser extent this year)... and one of my fave parts of The Man of Steel (because that came from 3 different graphic novels: Secret Origins, Earth 1 and Birthright). I LOVED seeing how they wove all of that onscreen.

For me - this is the best part!

But even with that - I think comic shows need to still be accessible for newer fans who don't know all of the comics - but that doesn't necessarily mean sh!tting on canon either. There can be a balance. Marvel has proven that. Hopefully DC's movie universe will clean up its act after NOT doing that in the BvS movie (gah) and do better in the future ones.

I personally wish that conversation had never happened and they'd allowed Laurel to die with her dignity intact instead of reminding us of the disaster that was Lauriver.

I agree.

That said, in the context of her telling Oliver he was the love of her life, it made sense for her to acknowledge the reality that she's not his and to deflect any awkwardness by wishing him well with the person who is. That strikes me as a normal thing someone might say to an old love. It was only cringeworthy to me because I can't believe the writers never allowed her to move on from her shitty relationship with Oliver.

But you can't really allow the audience to "move on from the disaster that was Lauriver" and then in the next breath do the pining thing and Olicity stuff. Because all that does is remind us of Lauriver... when they should have just not gone there at all.

I think the writers were trying to please 2 fanbases and pleased none at all. They tried to have Lauriver prop Olicity to please Olicity fans and then tried the pining to please BC/GA or LL/Ollie fans. Neither worked. Epic fail. They should have just gone the strong woman route - but as Sakura has pointed out - they never do that with any of the women on the show.

I guess I just didn't care about that - since it's BC! Sorry - I keep hinging on that - I'd be the same way if they ever tried to kill Lois Lane off of anything I watched (she's still alive in the new 52 I believe).

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I feel like I'm being misunderstood by a lot of people here who are projecting comments/ideas onto me that I haven't said... or even fan-love that I've never expressed. My concern has always been for BC and my sadness at how she was killed off - and also (though I didn't express this clearly) that she never got to the level of BC that I knew and loved.

I think other posters were put off because you started out saying DC Comics and WBTV would punish The CW and Arrow for not respecting comic canon. We have evidence of the WBTV president pushing for a bigger role for Felicity from when they filmed episode 103 -- which was a major comic canon disruptor -- three months before the show even premiered. So in a way, Arrow never respected comic canon at all, and had the blessing of the WB to do it.

And this forum cares about behind the scenes stuff. I understand that you don't, but the nature of the discussion here is heavily based on production and external issues that affect the writing, and storytelling decisions.

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KC wanted the character she was promised. She played Laurel as the character she was promised. In the end that was a sad girl who could have had a good thing with Tommy. She could have moved on a number of times but she didn't. That's how KC played her. I have not issue with KC's death conversation. Only with her being froze when she was stabbed. That's what I would change. Laurel knew Oliver moved on and was happy for him and hoped he would find the happiness she wanted for the man she loved. She was a bit sad for herself because she couldn't move on and maybe if she wouldn't have died she might have finally move on after this. But life is short and when you waste it pining for a simpler time that never really was you often die alone. But Laurel didn't lie alone. She had her friends and her purpose. She knew she made the right choice in being BC because it made her happy. That's what I took from the episode. 

Given the ugly history between Ollie and Laurel before, I never understood why past-Laurel always stayed with Ollie or took him back before.  What was going through her mind when she knew that Ollie cheated on her repeatedly and she still took him back.  Did she want the Queen name or was she a gold digger?  I just didn't get it.

 

I assume that the show wanted the audience to see that after the five years after Oliver was gone, that Laurel has changed from that naive girl to a strong woman who respected herself.  Just a few episodes ago, Laurel was hurt and shocked by the fact that Ollie slept and impregnated her friend - I figured if anything, on top of Ollie sleeping with her sister, that would have completely shattered her picture of Ollie and make her realize what a douche he was in the past.

 

With a single declaration, Ollie will always be the love of her life - LL just turned out to be a delusional girl with no self-respect.  It makes me sad that KC had so little respect for her character to even have this headcanon, and that the writers went along with it.  I never liked LL, but I would have expected them to at least give LL a little dignity in her last scene.

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(edited)

I think other posters were put off because you started out saying DC Comics and WBTV would punish The CW and Arrow for not respecting comic canon. We have evidence of the WBTV president pushing for a bigger role for Felicity from when they filmed episode 103 -- which was a major comic canon disruptor -- three months before the show even premiered. So in a way, Arrow never respected comic canon at all, and had the blessing of the WB to do it.

I don't really consider Felicity to be a huge disruptor in the grand scheme of things. Especially since GA was a playboy who ran through a lot of women in canon... so BC/GA wasn't like Lois/Clark to me. It feels like people think I'm a Lauriver shipper (LOL - not). I'm not. I'm actually not a shipper at all for anything on Arrow - I loved it for the action and the team dynamic.

No, to me, killing off BC was the major disruptor. Why couldn't they just write her out of the show? Let her go off to do her own thing and then bring her back recast?

 

And this forum cares about behind the scenes stuff. I understand that you don't, but the nature of the discussion here is heavily based on production and external issues that affect the writing, and storytelling decisions.

Okay - but that still has nothing to do with me. It's not going to sway my opinion when all I want to do is discuss what I saw onscreen.

It's funny though... some people don't like canon - but I think their "canon" is all of the behind the scenes stuff. For me, a luxury when watching a show is when I don't have to pay attention to what happens BTS (or keep up with years and 50 million interviews and snippets) because what's onscreen is enough. And canon is enough. Different strokes I guess.

This is why animated series rarely let me down with comic shows. Few to no BTS shenanigans, lol.

Edited by phoenics
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Okay - but that still has nothing to do with me. It's not going to sway my opinion when all I want to do is discuss what I saw onscreen.

 

I think the disconnect is that some of what we see is influenced by the actors desires for their own characters. I made a different post that expands more on that. 

 

If I find something so egregiously offensive in how a character I love is treated, the BTS stuff helps me understand that better. It helps me decides if I will just ignore the X stupid thing on screen in a moment vs an entire character deconstruction or just change HOW I absorb what they put on the screen.

 

I've been MOST upset with what the show has done to Oliver Queen. Hell, I've seen comments in this very thread that maybe Oliver actually killed Laurel.  They dumbed him down, made him weaker than all his opponents and other things that are just NEVER explained and much of that happened to elevate Laurel's totally inorganic ascent to Black Canary. 

 

I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say anymore LOL

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(edited)

I don't really consider Felicity to be a huge disruptor in the grand scheme of things. Especially since GA was a playboy who ran through a lot of women in canon...

The disruption wasn't romance-related, it was superhero plot related. Their original plan was The Hood and Laurel fighting crime together, and their proximity setting up the villain arc for Tommy to become the Dark Archer. Which was much closer to comic canon. They scraped those plans and instead went with Diggle and Felicity being Oliver's sidekicks, which resulted in the storytelling getting farther and farther away from the comics as the seasons passed.

And the reasons why this happened are all 100% behind the scenes -related and external to the narrative, so I won't get into them because you don't care.

Edited by dtissagirl
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On the Arrow board, The Flash is so much better because it adheres to comic canon, and on The Flash board, The Flash is THE WORST bc Iris and Barry are doing whatever latest sibling-esque non-romantic dance they are doing when they should be together because COMIC CANON.

 

Hilarious.

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This thread is to discuss Ep 18.  

 

Place to discuss Arrow/Green Arrow in Comics:  "Green Arrow in Comics" thread

 

Place to discuss the Flarrowverse generally:  "Mind Your Surroundings" thread.

 

Place to discuss other people's feelings towards comics canon:  Your own personal blog or Tumblr. 

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The disruption wasn't romance-related, it was superhero plot related. Their original plan was The Hood and Laurel fighting crime together, and their proximity setting up the villain arc for Tommy to become the Dark Archer. Which was much closer to comic canon. They scraped those plans and instead went with Diggle and Felicity being Oliver's sidekicks, which resulted in the storytelling getting farther and farther away from the comics as the seasons passed.

And the reasons why this happened are all 100% behind the scenes -related and external to the narrative, so I won't get into them because you don't care.

I didn't know any of this. What were the bts reasons?

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I think KC's headcanon should make her fans question all her choices in the way she played LL. Because if she did tell the writers to write that in for her at the end about Oliver well then it's her fault. What she said to Oliver was word for word what KC said in her interviews. So if she was adamant for those to be some of her last words on screen then she never had respect for the character. That's just my opinion though.

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Just see someone upthread mention that SA suggested the Oliver as a father storyline, but that's not correct, he simply pitched a way the show could bring that back up, i.e., seeing Samantha again during the crossover, and the show went with it.

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(edited)

Just watched this and, without wading into the growing cesspool that is Black Canary's death, I will say this was one of the worst episodes of television I've seen and definitely one of the worst ones of Arrow. The plot was rushed, garbled, full of holes and too driven by this magic/spirituality bullshit. It's actually forcing me to type this sentence "Black Canary is dead because of a piece of rock". Are they fucking kidding me?

 

I don't know who directed it but they insisted on some of the most egregious over-acting I've seen from these people in years. It had to have been the director because I've been watching these actors for over three years and I have never seen them turn in such sub-standard performances.

 

This was actually painful to watch. Now, I don't pay attention to anything behind the scenes. I just watch a show based on its merits. I never know things like someone leaving the show so character deaths are genuine surprises to me. Laurel's was so telegraphed in this episode I knew she was dead about 15 minutes in. Andy's betrayal was so telegraphed that my father - who was visiting me and who I unfortunately forced to watch this piece of crap - said "he's a bad guy" 10 minutes in. He hasn't seen the show since the first half of S1 and he was gobsmacked by how bad this episode was. I had to apologise about 50 times.

 

Now I know this show can be variable but this is not the fist episode this season where the plotline was so rushed and garbled. I sense a trend.

Edited by AudienceofOne
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I think the writers were trying to please 2 fanbases and pleased none at all. They tried to have Lauriver prop Olicity to please Olicity fans and then tried the pining to please BC/GA or LL/Ollie fans. Neither worked. Epic fail. They should have just gone the strong woman route - but as Sakura has pointed out - they never do that with any of the women on the show.

I guess I just didn't care about that - since it's BC! Sorry - I keep hinging on that - I'd be the same way if they ever tried to kill Lois Lane off of anything I watched (she's still alive in the new 52 I believe).

Lol, I as a fan of Olicity refuse to accept they were attempting to please me when they had Laurel bring up Oliver being in love with Felicity.  Yes, they had to include the caveat before Laurel could say she say Oliver as the love of her life but that should have been the moment the writers realized that hell no, Laurel should not say Oliver is the love of her life.  It was awful and embarrassing all around.

 

In regards to Lois - I rarely want any character dead but boy oh boy did I want Lois on Smallville gone.  It's pretty much the same problem I had with Laurel, she didn't meet my expectations for the character so I wanted her gone.  I went into this show expecting to root for the seeming canon couple and I liked them from the animated stuff I'd seen, but once that disconnect hit, I stopped caring about comic history.  I want what works soooo much more than what happened in the comics or the past.  But then I'm one of those people that still thinks they should have redeemed Kahn on the Star Trek reboot because that would have been the better story swerve. 

 

On this show what worked best for Laurel was her relationship with her father and to a lesser degree, her intense feelings for her family (Sara).  In her send off, that is what they should have focused on. Oliver being forced into being the focus of her final moments was a mistake that IMO will be talked about for the rest of the series.  

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Just see someone upthread mention that SA suggested the Oliver as a father storyline, but that's not correct, he simply pitched a way the show could bring that back up, i.e., seeing Samantha again during the crossover, and the show went with it.

 

Oh...well my bad...I heard differenlty. He still influenced part of the storyline regardless

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(edited)

Lol, I as a fan of Olicity refuse to accept they were attempting to please me when they had Laurel bring up Oliver being in love with Felicity.

Damn writers keep getting this fanservice stuff wrong!

Oh...well my bad...I heard differenlty. He still influenced part of the storyline regardless

I mean, he surely was way excited about the storyline - though the consensus, at least on these boards, it's that he was anticipating and enjoying the opportunity to play Oliver as a father (which eventually he didn't even do, but that's another story), more than  how the storyline unfolded. But the idea was all the writers'. Edited by looptab
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They put as much effort into Laurel's death as they put into her life. 

 

They hit the main points but didn't bother connecting anything. The DA position was her dream job she had been working towards for 3 in a half years? I'm pretty sure she had to be reminded she is a lawyer. If the choice was her dream job v being a vigilante, they should have actually made it a dream job. They should have had the job offer come from another city. DD was behind bars, the city was safer. It could be framed as a new beginning. Instead they had Mrs. Big Bad offer her the position. She would still be working with the Team, she would just be undercover so to speak but even that didn't make sense. I had a difficult time understanding why she would need to give up being BC if she was the DA but Oliver could still be GA as the Mayor. It made no sense.

 

And Oliver and Laurel. I didn't hate Laurel bring up Felicity and Oliver; friends want friends too be happy. It would have played a lot better though if she brought up Thea and Diggle as well. I absolutely hated that Laurel told Oliver he was the love of her life. Not only did it make no sense given the last two and a half seasons, but it tainted whatever friendship they had been trying to sell this season. It did not put Laurel in the best light at all. I get that Oliver is the lead and they wanted to give them a moment, but her most important relationship was with her father and then I would say Thea. Oliver was pretty far removed. 

 

Outside of the deathbed speech there were some more weird choices. Oliver was against her becoming BC and as soon as she looked like she would consider hanging up the mask, he jumped on it. He was quite politely pushing her out of the cave and giving his stamp of approval to Sara being the BC. I couldn't figure out if thats how Oliver was supposed to come across or if SA was just filled with glee. I was so surprised they didn't have Oliver give her a speech about how BC is who she is in her bones.

 

As for the actual death, I actually wanted it to be super brutal. I think they needed DD to be super brutal. That being said, it would have been so much better if it was hand to hand combat. The way it went down was problematic. And poorly acted. Awkwardly acted. It reminded me of Laurel on vertigo with the staring into space. 

 

Everything around Laurel felt like fan service but at the same time it felt like they were mocking fan service. They completely missed the mark.

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Oliver was against her becoming BC and as soon as she looked like she would consider hanging up the mask, he jumped on it.

Oliver wanted her out of the lair. Why are we attacking him?

 

*snicker*

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(edited)

With that idiotic deathbed scene, I'm half convinced that Oliver started to at least subconsciously feel that Laurel was vibing him and wanted to push her away because it was uncomfortable. You can't tell me it's not canon that the Oliver who is in love with Felicity gets freaked out when other women check him out. Even normal women like Iris on last year's crossover. 

 

13cd6158a3d7ccdbed84d94e274b12347c882795

Edited by bijoux
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(edited)

 

Ouch. That was way harsh, Diggle. I understand why he wanted to believe Andy had changed, but I’m shocked he let his guard down that much. If the season doesn’t end with Diggle putting a bullet through Andy’s head, I’m going to be wildly disappointed.

 

Better Diggle should put a bullet through his own head.   Laurel's death is on him. 

Edited by millennium
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(edited)

With that idiotic deathbed scene, I'm half convinced that Oliver started to at least subconsciously feel that Laurel was vibing him and wanted to push her away because it was uncomfortable.

Especially since at the point they were supposed to be thinking that Laurel would be fine.

I'm hoping that one of the main ramifications from Laurel's death will be that Oliver realizes his new outfit is dumb. Maybe they'll all have to redesign their costumes since Darhk outed their identities to all the criminals in the city!

Edited by bethy
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(edited)

This is his expression between when Laurel says she knows she's not the love of his live  and that he will always be hers.

 

34jI0RF.gif

 

Notice how his mouth twitches and a frown almost surfaces.  Looks worried to me, lol. 

Edited by BkWurm1
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At least he didn't run off to get her jello.

 

I'll give this to the show - this episode was the first of the season that gavee me a scene with the four masks in the field which I enjoyed. It was their play-by-play of Lance punching Pike. No sense of urgency that was needed, but I found it funny.

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I'm trying to adopt the head canon that it was a sign of forgiveness, that she'd let go of all the pain of their past and just was keeping the good memories since she's in a good place now but then I remember last week's cheek touch and cringe.

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(edited)

It's especially embarrassing when you realize that she thought she was going to be okay and pull through. So what did she think would happen once she made a full recovery? Yikes. Awkward. I know we're not supposed to think about those things because she's dead now but I can't help it. I do. 

 

Edit: Or what @apinknightmare said. Doh! I didn't read before I posted. 

Edited by Guest
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I'll give this to the show - this episode was the first of the season that gavee me a scene with the four masks in the field which I enjoyed. It was their play-by-play of Lance punching Pike. No sense of urgency that was needed, but I found it funny.

The only intentionally funny moment of the episode. :)

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Better Diggle should put a bullet through his own head.   Laurel's death is on him. 

 

 

You might be confusing Diggle with Damien Darkh who is the person that actually killed Laurel.

I agree comletely. Diggle is more to blame than Andy and Malcolm who were working in cahoots with Darhk. The man who actually put an arrow through Laurel.

 

 

So Diggle who just wanted to believe in his little brother is more responsible for Laurel's death than the guy who killed her? 

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Laurel has been on a downward spiral since season 2. It's really too bad because she had all the makings of a great character in the first season (aka when the show was actually good). I don't think her death will change/impact anything on the show... so in that sense, it seems to be a rather wasteful plot point. But it fits with the trend of a show committed to lacking direction and using flashbacks to fill the lack of creativity.

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(edited)

I'm trying to adopt the head canon that it was a sign of forgiveness, that she'd let go of all the pain of their past and just was keeping the good memories since she's in a good place now but then I remember last week's cheek touch and cringe.

 

 

How about this

 

Laurel was super stoned on pain killers. She thought she saw Oliver and Tommy at her bedside. She was telling Oliver to be happy with Felicity and that she was never the love of his life and then...her eyeline shifts slightly and she says "but YOU were the love of mine" thinking she is saying it to Tommy.

 

Fixed it for ERRYONE

 

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Edited by catrox14
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How about this

 

Laurel was super stoned on pain killers. She thought she saw Oliver and Tommy at her bedside. She was telling Oliver to be happy with Felicity and that she was never the love of his life and then...her eyeline shifts slightly and she says "but YOU were love of mine" thinking she is saying it to Tommy.

 

Fixed it for ERRYONE

 

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

It's perfect cause I got nothing for the love declaration. I don't get why they pushed the whole "look they're friends now!" stuff only to have that come out of her mouth on her deathbed. The love interest stuff is what screwed the character in the first place. Oliver was barely interested in being her friend and she was pining for him the entire time?? No, thank you. Ghost Tommy fixes everything.

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(edited)

Saying that Oliver is the love of her life really does undermine every friendly interaction Laurel had with Oliver.  Now, it makes me wonder when Laurel would always inject in their heart-to-heart conversations that Oliver and her were in a relationship in the past, if she was trying to get him to think fondly of or yearn for the times they were together (which makes sense in that one conversation where she made it seem like the island was what made them separate and conveniently not mention the cheating).  In reality, it had the opposite effect she was going for - Oliver just kinda internally shuddered at the thought about past Laurel and went on with his sad panda face about Felicity.

Edited by ComicFan777
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I'm starting to think they really did let KC have her O/L head canon in her final moments but they also didn't want it to undercut Olicity so they threw in the mention of Felicity and being happy for them...and it was just all a big mess instead.

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The only thing I have to say about this episode is I thought it was hilarious that yet again, Malcom just waltzes into the Arrow cave with a dozen LOA who apparently did not get the memo about LOA being disbanded by Nyssa. Funniest episode of Arrow to date, they are all a bunch of morons. I adore this show for it's goofy idiocy.

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(edited)

I'm starting to think they really did let KC have her O/L head canon in her final moments but they also didn't want it to undercut Olicity so they threw in the mention of Felicity and being happy for them...and it was just all a big mess instead.

I think the whole deathbed speech, even the Olicity part, is all KC's suggestion. It's too similar to what she said in that IGN interview to be a coincidence. I think it was meant to show how saintly and forgiving Laurel was, like how she embraced BM in 415.

Edited by lemotomato
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I think the whole deathbed speech, even the Olicity part, is all KC's suggestion. It's too similar to what she said in that IGN interview to be a coincidence. I think it was meant to show how saintly and forgiving Laurel was, like how she embraced BM in 415.

Instead it gave the idea that she was trying to guilt Oliver into reciprocating her feelings and since she had feelings for him she hadn't been honest in pursuing a friendship with him. Great job! LOL

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