Arrow s4 ep 18

Arrow: A Tribute To a Fallen Character (thanks to the writers)

By Anthony Zarazua

This tribute is full of major SPOILERS, so don’t read if you haven’t seen the episode.

Last night on Arrow, many fans, including myself finally witnessed the death. The one death that was teased at the beginning of the season. Many speculated on who would be in the grave. Many fans jumped to the conclusion that it was Felicity Smoak, given that besides Oliver Queen, she pretty much has the second most screen time and is genially hated by many of the fans. Others in the pool were John Diggle, Captain Quentin Lance, or even Oliver’s younger sister, Thea. While none of those were close (Felicity dodging the bullet there…not literally though in a another episode), the one character that met the demise was one that the writers pretty much gave on. Here’s where the spoilers start.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 

Yep! The writers actually killed her! Laurel Lance is dead and while i was slightly happy, i was about 90% disappointed and sad. You can say i don’t like Laurel. That is true. I hated her in Season 1 because she was really annoying. I am not writing this to bash her. I want to talk about why this death was a disappointing one that the writers should have thought of before going forward. 

In the episode “Eleven Fifty-Nine”, Laurel was offered a job as the new D.A. of Star City by winning mayoral candidate, Ruvé Adams, the wife of Damien Darhk. She had considered taking the job as it would put her in Ruvé’s inner circle and could acquire information on Damien Darhk. Of course, Captain Lance felt this would be too dangerous. It was later in the episode that Andy Diggle had betrayed Team Arrow and Darhk had started a riot in Iron Heights Penitentiary. Before the mission, Laurel declares, while holding her mask, that she’s ready for one last time. The mission comes to fail as Darhk reacquires his abilities and uses one of Oliver’s arrows to stab Laurel in her abdomen. She is taken to the hospital by Oliver as she is bleeding to death. Finally, she is gathered by Team Arrow as they wish her best health. Finally, Oliver and Laurel lay it all on the table. Afterwords, she is seen going into cardiac arrest and flat lining at 11:59 p.m. (hence the episode title). 

In all honesty, Laurel was so underused. I had stated that i was annoyed by her in Season 1, but in Season 2, she had really great character development. After the death of Tommy in Season 1, she went through a crucible. She had started to abuse drugs and alcoholism. This was a great subplot! Unlike the others, Laurel was the most human character during that season. She had started going to AA to better herself. Katie Cassidy, who portrays Laurel, had won an award for her portrayal of her crucible stage and the complications of drug abuse. In Season 3, Laurel had lost her sister, Sara, and was motivated to find her killer. During the midseason, when Oliver went away, she had taken over Sara’s role as the Canary, dubbing herself the Black Canary. Of course, she had little screen time due to the writer’s love of Olicity. Season 4 was pretty much the same for her screen time wise, but last night had a lot of Laurel and one Felicity scene. I wonder what prompt the writer’s to write a good episode? 

One thing that i took away from the episode was the performances from Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy in the ending scene. I felt the emotion as soon as Oliver found his picture of Laurel from his time on the island. When she told him that he was always the love of her life….i seriously started bawling my eyes. I don’t even see real emotion like that from the scenes between Oliver and Felicity. She truly is an amazing actress.

Thank you, Katie Cassidy for your portrayal of Laurel Lance/Black Canary. It’s not going to be a Green Arrow show without Black Canary, but that’s the writer’s fault. I hope whatever project you find next to work on is something that makes you shine. Who would have thought the departure of your character would make me consider to stop watching Arrow. Again, thank you. Now when i re-watch Arrow, i will see you in a different light. Let’s just hope the writing improves because i’m pretty sure next season, there will not be a lot of viewers. I will probably be one of them.

Things I want right now: - WB announcing a Birds of Prey movie. - Recasting Katie Cassidy as Dinah Laurel Lance A.K.A Black Canary - Gail Simone writing the script for the movie. - Arrow getting cancelled next season. - DC and Marvel firing Marc Guggenheim.

Dear Marc Guggenheim...

I’m from the UK so it hasn’t happened yet, but Laurel Lance has officially been fridged by you so-called Arrow ‘writers’. Marc Guggenheim, you honestly think that killing off Laurel (one of the best characters on the show, who’s been more or less ignored by you) over Felicity (who was once a fantastic character, but has now been ruined by you and is now ruining the show via Olicity) makes me seriously question your ability as a writer. Not only this, but you believe that this was the best option without repeating a storyline, GEEZ IVE NEVER SEEN THE LANCE FAMILY SUFFER A DEATH BEFORE. I mean, clearly you hate the Lance family so much, why didn’t you kill Quentin? I’d have hated to see him go, but that would’ve been a more unexpected choice, that could have an impact on some of the characters. But, no, not only did you fridge BC purely for shock factor, you used her final words to prop up the ship that has been destroying the show since S3. It wasn’t about her, it was about Olicity. It wasn’t about her progress, it was about Olicity. It wasn’t about Tommy, Sara, or anyone else in her family, it was about fucking Olicity. You even had the audacity to make Oliver the LOHL despite the amount of times he fucked her over. I’m not saying this specifically as a fan of Laurel; if you had killed Diggle, Thea, or even Quentin in this way the fans would be just as mad. (Notice how I excluded Felicity because 1. You wouldn’t dare touch her 2. You would give her a decent send off) Despite this, I’ll continue watching Arrow till the end of this season and make my own decisions about continuing to watch it. I’ll continue with The Flash, LOT and might even start Supergirl because as far as I can tell they know how to respect their characters. But kindly, Fuck you, Mr Guggenheim, You Have Failed This Fandom (Sorry this isnt really PJO related but i needed to vent)

Arrow

I’ve decided I’m going to finish watching this season. I still want to see how they are gonna wrap this shit show of a season up, and I want to know whether they’ve been fucking with us about Laurel. I won’t be watching it live though.

That being said, I will be taking part in the Arrow blackout/protest/boycott thing where we don’t watch the episode when it comes back on April 27th. I want the producers to notice it. I urge you to take part in it too. Just don’t watch it right when it airs.

At the beginning, I loved Arrow. I love DC Comics, and Arrow was the only show on at the time, and the first DC show for me (I didn’t get into Smallville). For the most part, I gladly watch DC stuff regardless, while still being critical. Now that I actually have other things to turn to (Flash, LoT, Supergirl, the DCEU), I don’t have to rely on Arrow for the DC superhero thrill.

Unless something happens by the end of the season finale, I won’t be returning for season 5.

what she says: im fine

what she means: laurel lance was such an important character and shes been treated like shit from day one EVEN though her story was one that many people identified with not to mention ICONIC (bshes BLACK CANARY?????? she has suffered so much and never gets recognition for the things shes achieved and overcome. i cant believe they didnt let her FATHER say goodbye to her but instead used her shittily written death to prop up a fanservice ship and als

arrow has officially taken my heart and soul, from my body, and delivered it to satan himself in hell

If the Arrow writers killed Laurel JUST so Felicity could become Black Canary so help me god….

A lot of negative stuff is going on, and I wish I could protect you guys from it, but sadly I can’t. Sadly some things are worth being part of, no matter how negative and awful it is. The recent trends towards CW and Arrow are worth it. Letting people know the extent of your unhappiness about fridging female characters is important, even if it’s a cesspool of terribleness, of dealing with bullying from both the fans and the writers, as passive aggressive as the latter is. 

But it shouldn’t be all negative.

So guys, we’d love it if Laurel fans wrote a post about why they loved Laurel on their blog, and tag it #laurelismyhero. BLACKCANARYSOURCE will reblog it, and collect little pieces of positive, empowering, inspiring posts from people who loved Laurel, and who were empowered and inspired by her.

I’ll be constantly checking that tag until 4x19 airs, so keep posting as many of your thoughts on Laurel’s character as you want. 

Oliver: From now on, we will be using new code names. You can address me as Eagle One. Laurel, code name: Been There, Done That. Felicity is: Currently Doing That. Ray is: It Happened Once In A Dream. Roy, code name: If I Had To Pick A Dude. Diggle is Eagle Two.

Diggle: Oh thank God.

You know what they say: keep your friends close, your enemies closer, your fiancee at arm’s length and your illegitimate child in an unknown location.

Oliver Queen, probably (via fangirlfromthenorthcountry)

Hmm. The worst Chancellor? The absolute worst one in all of history? Are we sure there couldn’t possibly have been a slightly worse one, Mirror?

Reblog and put in the tags which iPhone you have

(I want to start making iPhone lock screens but I don’t know which iPhone’s dimensions to use)

Pillowtalk is driving me inZayn

Domhnall Gleeson & Carrie Fisher presenting the award for Film Not in the English Language

Kylo Ren: “I will finish what you started”

Anakin Skywalker: 

I'm happier imagining myself with her than asking her and risking throwing it all away. What does that make me?