Why does any conversation about Laurel require Felicity/Olicity being brought into it and vice versa? How does Oliver running for Mayor preclude him or become some kind of sign that he doesn't care about what his sister is going through? (Especially when recent spoilers indicate that Thea is supportive of his decision to run for Mayor) Laurel's actions are Laurel's actions, if it was Oliver bringing Felicity back after a year of being buried in the ground they would be Oliver's actions alone with nothing to do with Laurel.
Now if we want to compare Oliver's decision to bring Thea back to Laurel bringing Sara back then there is more ground because they are actual comparable situations. But I think for a lot of people this comes down to perspective and informed decisions- what perspective and information did Oliver have going in to make his decision, what perspective and information did Laurel have going in to making her decision?
Both their reasons are understandable they love their sister, they want them back as hey felt they didn't deserve to die. I think some people are just offended that Laurel chose to raise Sara after her family and loved ones had spent a year dealing with and moving on from their grief, where as Oliver's was a more spur of the moment action when Thea as near dead or brain dead not literally dead like Sara. Also though Oliver was warned that Thea might not be the same if she was raised from the LP Oliver had not seen the evidence of that- in fact he had seen that Ras had survived hundreds of years on the LP and seemed relatively normal. He hadn't seen the effect of the LP first hand. Laurel had via Thea.
Though I would argue that Laurel's perspective gave her the impression that whatever Thea was going through it was manageable and therefore she felt that if she is there for her sister she would be able to manage whatever side effects Sara had, but she didn't realise that Sara was going to go through a lot more because the side effects are a lot worst because Sara has been dead a lot longer.
She made a bad call, maybe even a selfish one. She is not the first character on the show and she wont be the last but like all the other characters on the show who have made bad decisions or selfish decisions she will have to pay the consequences, pay her dues and grow from them.
Anyway Im watching the episode now and very excited to see how everything plays out. Thoughts on the episode to come later
