Laurel Lance: Black Canary, Black Siren.

[looptab]

I did notice. *

I'm not saying she hasn't been nice, I'm saying that I don't believe KC when she plays nice. Actually I don't believe KC, period. I don't buy her scenes, I can see she is acting. 

 

*To clarify, I am not putting the doubles being visible on KC. Just that from S3 on, the quality of the action scenes has taken a dip, including in transitions from the doubles to the actors, that became so much more evident, for everyone. So I can see why that may bother some.

Edited March 11, 2016 by looptab

[dtissagirl]

Blaming the audience for Laurel's failure as a character, take seventy billion. Here we go.

[Sakura12]

While CL won't be winning any Emmy's I think she's improved as an actress. Plus the biggest thing an actor has to do is make you like and root for their character. CL was able to do that, while KC has not. So it's not just about CL doing stunts. She made Sara a rootable character for most us. The stunts are just a bonus. 

 

Laurel may be more tolerable now but I didn't see her gain any more popularity. While Sara's popularity is growing over on LoT, most reviews call her the best thing about the show. 

[Genki]

I think compared to Iris who is also cast in a thank-less LI role, KC's acting does not rise above the bad writing, whereas CP's definitely does. There is a warmth and believability to CP's acting that I don't get from KC's.

 

If they had written to KC's strength's and made Laurel match in-text what was shown on screen, her acceptance as a character may have been higher. I wish they had go down the villain route that they seemed to be hinting at at the end of S2. Instead they still insist that LL is a nice/good person while having her do the following.

 

• Bait a an abuser and basically paint a bigger target on his victim's back
• Use blackmail to get her job back
• See that her sister has been through massive amount of trauma, and she makes it about her ex-boyfriend
• Use a trama victim who is suffering, to get access to the LP, when she knows there are consequences to her actions
• Not tell people that a crazed, bloodlust filled, trained Assassin was on the street for a whole week, murdering, beating up and terrifying people because she didn't want the judgement

[ComicFan777]

Personally, even when LL was being nice, something in her body language, facial expression, or tone came across as condescending/snobby/insincere to me - maybe it's just me though.

Edited March 11, 2016 by ComicFan777

[bethy]

Not just you.

[Delphi]

You know, the blackmail for her job thing doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's morally wrong, but I probably would have done the same thing in Laurel's position.

[Genki]

You know, the blackmail for her job thing doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's morally wrong, but I probably would have done the same thing in Laurel's position.

 

If Laurel was an acknowledged schemer like Blair Waldorf, who gets  wins and losses and is called out of other bad behaviour, I would be cheering this a as victory.

[wonderwall]

You know, the blackmail for her job thing doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's morally wrong, but I probably would have done the same thing in Laurel's position.

The problem with this is that we're often TOLD that she's 'angelic', the 'moral center', the one who seeks 'justice', the 'just'... So what annoys me is that what we are told about Laurel doesn't match what we get. It makes me really dislike Laurel even more. If she was intentionally portrayed as morally grey, I'd root for her, but unfortunately what we're told about the character and what we see is completely different.

Edited March 12, 2016 by wonderwall

[Chaser]

The blackmail thing wouldn't have bothered me if she had been fired because her bosses were corrupt, but she was fired because she was an addict and showed poor judgement. They have a legit reason for letting her go and not re-hiring her. She should have been working to earn her position back. Instead she acted like she had a right to that position. 

[Delphi]

The blackmail thing wouldn't have bothered me if she had been fired because her bosses were corrupt, but she was fired because she was an addict and showed poor judgement. They have a legit reason for letting her go and not re-hiring her. She should have been working to earn her position back. Instead she acted like she had a right to that position.

I get that. But if someone basically tells me that I have my job back and uses me in some sort of horrible sting operation that leads me to being a hostage I would totally feel entitled to it.

[looptab]

 

I think compared to Iris who is also cast in a thank-less LI role, KC's acting does not rise above the bad writing, whereas CP's definitely does. There is a warmth and believability to CP's acting that I don't get from KC's.

 

If they had written to KC's strength's and made Laurel match in-text what was shown on screen, her acceptance as a character may have been higher. I wish they had go down the villain route that they seemed to be hinting at at the end of S2. Instead they still insist that LL is a nice/good person 

 

Funnily enough, I liked her in Gossip Girl. Her character was scheming and doing all kinds of terrible things, but when it was shown that she was out for revenge on behalf of her brother, I even empathized with her!

[Chaser]

I get that. But if someone basically tells me that I have my job back and uses me in some sort of horrible sting operation that leads me to being a hostage I would totally feel entitled to it.

I completely forgot I was going to respond to this. Sometimes I remember I have a life.

 

I think it depends. You could say that they owed her because they used her in this awful way. Or you could flip that and say that she owed them big after coming to work in her state and risking both past and future cases. Basically, Laurel should have taken the high ground and gone back to the CNRI (or a program like it). It would have worked better character wise and been a better set up for Buckles IMO.

 

She goes back to helping the disadvantaged, but makes no head way because everything is corrupt. She feels guilt because she could have made a difference as an attorney but she made terrible mistakes. etc..

[BkWurm1]

I think it depends. You could say that they owed her because they used her in this awful way. Or you could flip that and say that she owed them big after coming to work in her state and risking both past and future cases.

 

I think they had a right to fire her, but they didn't have a right to put her life in danger.  And I do think they knew it was a real life threatening risk,  if it wasn't, then they would have used one of their non-fired lawyers.  It was really despicable. And cruel.  I had zero problems with Laurel using their actions to secure her old job back.  I'm not a lawyer but even I know she could have sued them for using her as bait and possibly also for breach of contract because the ONE business law class I took was very clear that verbal contacts are enforceable AND even though the DA later claimed he was acting without authorization, he was authorized by someone to set up that sting (he works in City Hall, not a vacuum) and a case probably could be made that therefore his hiring of her fell within the duties that he had been authorized to do.  Or some other lawyerly BS.

Edited March 17, 2016 by BkWurm1

[Chaser]

Ignoring the legal things, because the show does too, I still have zero sympathy for her.

It just puts her and them in the same light. Two forces willing to be terrible human beings to get what they want. Instead of making a huge fuss about how awful their actions were and how the city deserves better then them, she used their actions to get what she wanted.

[BkWurm1]

Ignoring the legal things, because the show does too, I still have zero sympathy for her.

It just puts her and them in the same light. Two forces willing to be terrible human beings to get what they want. Instead of making a huge fuss about how awful their actions were and how the city deserves better then them, she used their actions to get what she wanted.

I guess I don't see it as all that bad since she just asked for what she'd been promised.

Now of course, that's my interpretation sans Laurel getting congratulated for her ballsy move and hearing her saying that really odd line about letting the darkness inside and it never coming out. I tend to block it because her making them keep what she was promised didn't seem dark to me and of course nothing ever came of the line.

[EmilyBettFan]

Caity surely didn't fail in the acting department if she got countless people to feel for her even though she cheated with her sister's boyfriend. Also she surely isn't a bad actress if they wanted her back so bad for her own show.

I never liked Laurel from the start of season 1-Ep1. She completely killed herself to me ever feeling sympathy for her when she said "I wished you rotted a lot longer than that." Or however it was put. Completely classless and that's how I found the character moving on.

It had nothing to do with who smiles more and tells jokes. I'm just glad they found a dynamic trio that could sustain a show.

[KirkB]

I've been thinking back to the early days. In season 1 I didn't hate Laurel. I didn't like her either. I was really apathetic toward the character. I didn't think she brought scenes down when she was there, she just didn't add anything. I had to have it pointed it to me there were episodes where she didn't appear because her absence did not alter the narrative in the slightest. In season 2 that no longer worked, because they started trying to push Laurel more to the forefront while simultaneously not knowing what to do with her once she was there. She had legitimate reasons for being angry but they were always undercut by the way Laurel was acting, especially when she blamed them for things like being shipwrecked and tortured for five years messing up HER life. Ultimately this turned me against the character and made me actively dislike and even hate her, and her becoming Black Canary did nothing to change my mind, though at least she seems to have settled down somewhat. I have since split the blame between KC and the show runners. My biggest issue has been the show telling us one thing about Laurel while KC and the actual episodes show us something else. Laurel has a sense of entitlement and tends to be bitter and rude to people, who makes herself feel better by beating up people, while Quentin and Oliver are always pointing out how much she believes in truth and justice and is trying to save the world. She is out to help people yet seems more concerned with getting the credit. The thing is, I would have no problem with a Laurel Lance who is all "Me and mine is what matters!" if they would only acknowledge that as her character rather than constantly telling us she is something she clearly is not.

 

On a separate note, the most recent episode brings back my conflicting view of the show runners. They make an episode where Laurel Lance, not the Black Canary, is going to be front and center in the courtroom. Where she should shine, to remind viewers that her first love is the law, and that the leather fetish came later. But that's not what happened. Laurel is made to look almost buffoonish. So once again I am left wondering, do the writers really love Laurel or hate her? Since I'm not watching an actual legal trial on CNBC or something I don't expect courtroom scenes to be entirely, or even mostly, accurate. They really just need to be understandable and seem realistic. If nothing else, since half your episode is going to be set there it's obviously important to the plot, so I would at least imagine they would want the one character in their entire cast who is supposed to be a lawyer to be a good one. Competent. Especially since she seems to be the only major, publicly seen legal representative in the city. Yet Laurel seemed to fail on every measurable level, and they only managed to keep Dark in jail by Quentin throwing himself under the bus, which he was more than happy to do. Why make one of your stars look incompetent? I mean, it has to be on purpose, right? Otherwise they would have her be good at her job wouldn't they?

Edited March 25, 2016 by KirkB

[Chaser]

I'm at the point where I think the writers are apathetic towards her. They needed to get Lance on the stand, they probably didn't give a thought to how Laurel was being written to achieve that goal.

[statsgirl]

They wanted to get Quentin on the stand so the episode's death anvils could be about him and about Laurel as he reminds everyone that DD threatened to kill her.

 

Laurel's lawyering was just collateral damage.

[kismet]

Random Thought ~ So do we think we will finally get KC/LL/BC on the salmon ladder before the end of the season??

 

I was reading a fic where FS does the ladder and it cued my memory that KC had really wanted to prove herself and do the salmon ladder... I just wonder if there is enough time this season to squeeze it in ...

[EmilyBettFan]

I hope not. I don't really want to see that.

[bijoux]

When and why did Laurel lose the voice modulator? I completely forget she even had it, but it was there in season 3 when she was in the field. Does she really want to be exposed?

[Password]

She had a voice modulator? When did that happen?

 

And what did she sound like?

[bijoux]

She sounded like this.

 

 

So I guess it happened while she was pretending to be Sara. And I assume if it was ever explained on the show, it went away because Lance found out it was her. Not like a voice modulator would help with not getting recognized by any street thug she might have prosecuted in her role as ADA.

[Password]

Oh right yeah I skipped Laurel's Black Canary arc. But thank you for the video.

[bijoux]

No problem. I did watch it, but completely forgot it was there. I wanted to see how Felicity dealt with Oliver's death and came across this.

[wonderwall]

I've been seeing this around everywhere... But there are claims that LL was mentally ill..... DId the show ever support that? IDK where this is coming from

[Sakura12]

I think she was because of her delusions, first with her fantasy world she created for her and Oliver before he left on the Gambit. Second her thinking she can just put on a costume and be a super hero with no training, then her seeing feral animal Sara and thinking her dad would be so happy to see his daughter like that and finally finding out that she never gave up her fantasy world for her and Oliver by keeping a let's be honest a probably smelly dirty picture of herself that Oliver had with him on the island. That he gave back to her because he didn't want it anymore. 

 

It's just my opinion but I think Laurel Lance needed some serious medical help. 

[kismet]

I don't think that there has been any in-show confirmation of mental illness. But there has certainly been some evidence in the show that could support some mental illness. There was a whole conversation here about it during the Resurrection Arc. If you go back, I think you could find evidence from s2 on. I think she definitely had a personality disorder, but I'm sure you could find some Axis I (major mental illness) throughout certain seasons.

[quarks]

I've been seeing this around everywhere... But there are claims that LL was mentally ill..... DId the show ever support that? IDK where this is coming from

 

Yes.

 

Laurel spent the first half of season two struggling with depression which she tried to self medicate with alcohol and booze, as well as minor PTSD from getting kidnapped so frequently, especially in "Broken Dolls." She was depressed during "Crucible," "League of Assassins," "Blind Spot," "Heir to the Demon,""Tremors," and "Time of Death," and she mentioned severe self-hatred during "State v. Queen."  Her addiction and depression were why Oliver asked Sara to return to Starling City, and part of why Quentin tried to get her some help.

 

Unfortunately, as so often on Arrow, not only was the word "depression" or "depressed" not really mentioned outside of interviews, which is not where we should be learning about what happened on the show, but the plot line was rushed, to put it mildly, and apart from the booze/pills, many of the actual issues with depression were never brought up. And of course she had the same miraculous one episode cure that Felicity got this season.  And this entire plot seems to have been forgotten this season, even in this past episode, which might have been a perfect time to bring it up - "Yes, Oliver, but when I was trying to do things legally and work with the DA's office, I got very depressed and turned to alcohol/booze. Now that I'm the Black Canary, I'm mentally stable enough that I can refrain from hitting you when you do things like like to me about your kid or worse, rebuild an evil idol in our lair leading to assassins jumping down on my head. I know we need eyes on Ruve, but...."  

[dtissagirl]

Alcoholism in itself is classified as a substance abuse disorder, and modern medicine considers those part of mental illness scope, so yes.

[statsgirl]

I've been seeing this around everywhere... But there are claims that LL was mentally ill..... DId the show ever support that? IDK where this is coming from

That's one of those tough questions -- is there in-show evidence that she had some mental illness problems?  Yes, as quarks has so well argued.  Did the show mean to suggest that she had a mental illness?  No, I don't think so.  Her addictions were touched on only when it served the plot and resolved when they were no longer needed (unlike Oliver who showed PTSD for years which was confirmed by the EPs in interviews).

 

She was depressed in s2 but Tommy had just died.  I know Oliver is now the love of her life but that's not what she said in 2x01.  So at that point, grief and depression would be natural rather than abnormal, although treating it with drugs and alcohol wouldn't.

 

The addictive personality idea came up when she said that hitting people is the only thing that quells the fire in her although I don't know if that was intentional or not.  The idea of violence as part of addiction was addressed in Canaries, but again I don't know if it was meant to be a thread of something thrown in by the writers of that episode (Jake Coburn and Emilio Ortega Aldrich).

 

So I don't know if the show meant to suggest she had an mental illness or if its an artifact of plot + fanwanking.  It would have been interested to have Quentin, Laurel and Thea all talk about addiction and the need for adrenalin.  I think for Quentin it was depression because of the loss of Sara but Laurel and Thea strike me more as wanting the adrenalin.

Edited April 8, 2016 by statsgirl

[kismet]

How is it supportive though when she told him he was the love of her life when she thought at that moment that she was going to be fine? What did she expect to happen next? I do not understand the logic of it.

 

They not only did Laurel a disservice with that confession but they tainted this supposed friendship they'd been rebuilding between O/L because it looks like she was always hoping for more at some point. Naw, son. 

I think she was supportive with a little bit of inappropriate pining until her deathbed when she went full out confessional. In her defense she had just had a near-death experience. So maybe she thought it was the perfect time to let the truth out regardless of the fall out.

 

I do agree it was illogical and would have made future encounters awkward as hell... but people don't think about that after coming back from the dead and likely hopped up on meds.

 

And yes the entire scene did her character a disservice, and frankly it definitely confuses me as to why they went that direction.

 

If they wanted to hint at L/O getting back together they would have had to make him do a effort as well. You can't have a relationship if only one person wants it.

The problem is she confessed her love for him when she thought she was supposed to be all right so that made it look like she was telling him she was available and I can't help but have the same thought looking back to their previous interactions in the last episodes that now are tainted for me. It looked like she told him she knew she wasn't the love of his life to get him to contradict her.

I would view it differently if she told him that to come clean before dying but she thought she was going to be fine.

I don't think they wanted to hint the couple actually getting back together. I think they just wanted to make it seem like LL wanted and believed it to be a possibility. And in that regard I think they were consistent with LL, since for 4 seasons her having residual feelings and hope to get back with OQ is a solid reason why she stuck around. OQ has made it pretty clear since s2 that he really wanted little to do with LL and yet she hung around uninvited and then weaseled her way into his group. Her still being in love with him, now makes sense even if it makes no actual sense in reality.

 

LL was an opportunist. I could see her using the break-up & her near-death experience as collateral to get OQ to find his inner feelings. Whether or not her confession was to get him to confess his true feelings or not we'll never know. I also think its hard to really figure it out because I feel like they wrote the scene & KC acted like it was a deathbed scene even though they implied that she was going to live ~ so there was some interesting wording and acting choices.

 

They started showing Laurel being delusional and pathetic about her relationship with Oliver in S2. 

Yep... that is how I read LL since about the time she started snarking on FS in Verdent and throwing herself at OQ any chance she could get in one way or the other. I know they intended to write her as a strong independent woman. But that is not how I perceived the majority of her scenes, especially when OQ was around.

[bethy]

I also think its hard to really figure it out because I feel like they wrote the scene & KC acted like it was a deathbed scene even though they implied that she was going to live ~ so there was some interesting wording and acting choices.

 

 

I think this is the entire issue with that scene. They wanted to have a fake out AND a deathbed scene. So, instead of making a choice, which would have resulted in in a coherent ending for Laurel, they decided they would do both. Plot over character, as always.  

[Angel12d]

I think she was supportive with a little bit of inappropriate pining until her deathbed when she went full out confessional. In her defense she had just had a near-death experience. So maybe she thought it was the perfect time to let the truth out regardless of the fall out.

 

I do agree it was illogical and would have made future encounters awkward as hell... but people don't think about that after coming back from the dead and likely hopped up on meds.

 

And yes the entire scene did her character a disservice, and frankly it definitely confuses me as to why they went that direction.

 

I'll give it to her that she had just had a near-death experience and probably wasn't thinking clearly. That's very true. But I still think the whole thing was terrible and unnecessary and bought up a relationship that didn't need bringing up. O/L were dead years ago. They even had that scene in early s2 (I think it was actually 201) where they essentially said their goodbyes and said they couldn't go back. It was done. Bringing it up now was pointless and only made me think Laurel was pathetic, not only for hanging on after everything he did to her over the years but after he quite clearly had moved on in a big way and was very happy.

 

Not really what they should be selling in that moment tbh. 

Edited April 11, 2016 by Angel12d

[AyChihuahua]

They had their we can't go back moment in 2.1, reiterated by Oliver to Sara in 2.4, Oliver PHYSICALLY PUSHING HER AWAY in 2.5, telling her he was done running after her in 2.14, pretty much telling Slade if he's gotta kill her, he's gotta kill her in the S2 finale, and telling Lance "Well, sucks to be her" also in the S2 finale, showing zero romantic interest in her while he was definitively single in S3 (and leaving her out of everything that he possibly could), getting engaged to another woman in front of her (which, TBF, Laurel seemed fine with), and not AT ALL responding to her declarations of undying love.

 

Just really embarrassing for her, and I am floored that KC wanted that for her character.

[Sakura12]

From what I've seen and heard, KC didn't seem to put much thought into her character beyond the surface. She never had any insight into the character of Laurel. She would just repeat whatever the writers/EP's said in interviews or what her character description was in Season 1.  

[Midnight Lullaby]

I think she was supportive with a little bit of inappropriate pining until her deathbed when she went full out confessional. In her defense she had just had a near-death experience. So maybe she thought it was the perfect time to let the truth out regardless of the fall out.

 

I do agree it was illogical and would have made future encounters awkward as hell... but people don't think about that after coming back from the dead and likely hopped up on meds.

 

And yes the entire scene did her character a disservice, and frankly it definitely confuses me as to why they went that direction.

 

I don't think they wanted to hint the couple actually getting back together. I think they just wanted to make it seem like LL wanted and believed it to be a possibility. And in that regard I think they were consistent with LL, since for 4 seasons her having residual feelings and hope to get back with OQ is a solid reason why she stuck around. OQ has made it pretty clear since s2 that he really wanted little to do with LL and yet she hung around uninvited and then weaseled her way into his group. Her still being in love with him, now makes sense even if it makes no actual sense in reality.

 

LL was an opportunist. I could see her using the break-up & her near-death experience as collateral to get OQ to find his inner feelings. Whether or not her confession was to get him to confess his true feelings or not we'll never know. I also think its hard to really figure it out because I feel like they wrote the scene & KC acted like it was a deathbed scene even though they implied that she was going to live ~ so there was some interesting wording and acting choices.

 

Yep... that is how I read LL since about the time she started snarking on FS in Verdent and throwing herself at OQ any chance she could get in one way or the other. I know they intended to write her as a strong independent woman. But that is not how I perceived the majority of her scenes, especially when OQ was around.

I don't think they wanted to hint at L/O getting back together. I was saying that IF they wanted to throw a bone to the L/O shippers before killing her off they would have had to at least make it look like she had a chance, while Oliver always appeared to be in love with Felicity and smiled at Laurel only when she mentioned Felicity.

I'm disappointed because I believed the writers were trying to sell her as an independent woman who wasn't bitter anymore and truly wanted to be a friend to Oliver this season but they threw all of that away in one scene.

Now looking back I wonder if she still was the girl who got her little sister grounded so she could get the guy she knew Sara liked for herself. I don't know if I believe she wanted to be supportive of Oliver after the break up because she cared about him or if she was doing it in hope she could get him to forget about the woman he wanted to marry and get back together with her. All of this while being friends with Felicity too and just after they ended an engagement.

The nicest argument that can be made is that she was on meds and didn't know what she was talking about. And I know the writers were writing that scene knowing she was going to die but I can't disregard the fact that if we look at the scene in itself she thought she was going to be fine.

Being selfish and not caring about the feelings of others was what has always annoyed me about her and I could have done without the reminder when she was doing fine after the mess she did with Sara's resurrection.

[Angel12d]

Haha, they really did make it look like she was just waiting for Felicity to be out of the way. And I doubt very much that was their intention because yeah, they were writing that scene knowing she was going to die, but it just tainted everything. I still can't believe they did it. Actually I can because this is Arrow but wow. The bar is so low now. 

[theacostov]

Maybe when she was stabbed, her life flashed before her and her last thought was Oliver hence when she woke up and saw him she just had to tell him he was the love of her life *gag*.

However we saw who Oliver's last thought was when he was going to die and oops sorry Laurel it wasn't you.

I think they were trying to garner sympathy for her. I mean she's dying whilst never getting to be with the love of her life. Unrequited love, so sad. Except they forgot that Oliver treated her like complete crap and any self-respecting woman would not be pining after that.

[AyChihuahua]

However we saw who Oliver's last thought was when he was going to die and oops sorry Laurel it wasn't you.

Dude, Laurel wasn't even in a montage. She wasn't there AT ALL. Just embarrassing.

[kismet]

Let's face it Laurel was "That's So Laurel" until the very end.

[statsgirl]

I was reading the Variety article ‘Arrow’ Bosses and Star Discuss That Shocking Death: ‘We Knew That It Would Enrage a Lot of People’ and this struck me given what we had been talking about:

 

 

Katie, can you talk about the most memorable part of playing Laurel all these seasons?
 

Cassidy: Oh gosh. Obviously I think at the end of Season 2 … when I put the [black Canary] jacket on for the first time. I still get choked up talking about it because I was so excited. I remember trying on the jacket and I’d been waiting for that moment and I think that, for me, was sort of the turning point. And obviously Season 2 my character had a really hard time. I think, as an actor, the writers were writing so brilliantly and I think it was great to take on that challenge and go there — hit rock bottom and then come back on top. I think the end of Season 2, going into Season 3 and all of Season 3, even up to Season 4, up to now, every day going there, I was excited to be there and happy to be there. Also, being in training and fight training and getting to be a strong female character who is also out there kicking some ass, too, was definitely something that was cool and I had a blast, too.

Did you get to keep anything from the set?

Cassidy: Yes, actually. I asked for the jacket and mask and I didn’t think they would let me have it but, yes, I got to keep the Black Canary jacket and mask.

I feel kind of bad for her because it seems she wanted to be the Black Canary so much.

[Delphi]

Well its kind of a shitty situation for her.

"Hey, would you like to be the Black Canary? She's a really awesome superhero. "

"Sure! Where do I sign, this sounds so exciting! "

Later,

"So when do I get to become the Black Canary?"

"Oh that, never mind, we hired someone else for that, we're gonna make you a drug addict instead. Sorrynotsorry."

[Sakura12]

I think it was more along the lines of, "You are just not working in this position" 

 

She was cast for the CW not to play a super hero. For that she was miscast. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by Sakura12

[Delphi]

I agree with that and really don't want to get into the debate again, but here on the board we've discussed the numerous ways that the character of Laurel could have worked but honestly at the end of the day I don't think the writers tried very hard on her character at all. She was there, didn't work, minimized, became Black Canary, minimized again, practiced law and became friendly, killed.

[looptab]

She really loved that jacket!

[kismet]

Sadly I think KC loved that jacket so much that from her acting choices I would think that she loved it more than her sister.

[lemotomato]

I agree with that and really don't want to get into the debate again, but here on the board we've discussed the numerous ways that the character of Laurel could have worked but honestly at the end of the day I don't think the writers tried very hard on her character at all. She was there, didn't work, minimized, became Black Canary, minimized again, practiced law and became friendly, killed.

I don't think the writers try very hard for anyone. Look at how they treat Oliver, for example. The difference is that everyone else on the cast managed to elevate the material they were given. SA makes me still root for Oliver to be the hero he wants to be. CL showed enough vulnerability to make Sara sympathetic despite being a boyfriend-stealing assassin. EBR turned a couple of lines and a guest spot into a well-rounded character.

KC held on to the promises made to her when she first got the job and never let go, to the detriment of her character. That's on her, not the writers.

Edited April 13, 2016 by lemotomato