Cmtaylor531

Guys you won't be able to change each other's mind about the Laurel charcater write up. You can each have you own opinions. Just leave it there and move on. Also if you don't agree with someone just don't respond to them.

Another great video. They are all gonna kill me.

~AnastasiaGrey~

I hate to break it to you but what Arc? There was no arc for her.. Being a love interest, a drug addicted and then a mini hero for a short period of time and dies is not having an arc.

Having an arc actually means we see this character grow and happy. Season 1 and on she has been nothing but unhappy. The only time we saw glimaces of that is when she was on her dying bed. Now dont tell me that is not insulting what so ever

DigificWriter

From the beginning, Arrow has been about getting both Oliver and Laurel to a place where they could become the comics versions of their respective characters, and everything that's been done thus far has been in service of that endgame.

Laurel passed through a "crucible" just like Oliver had to (and still is in some ways) and emerged on the other side as a different person than she'd been before, figuratively "finding herself" in the persona of the Black Canary. Sadly, her "hero's journey" has been cut short, but the writers did aactually make it a meaningful one, as is proven and outlined by the article I linked to earlier.

~AnastasiaGrey~

If you want to believe that that is perfectly fine.

But many would disagree with because the show has NOT shown any of that period

Sunnyolaf

Thanks for sharing the videos, they make me miss her even more.

Katie did so much with so little if you ask me. Her addict storyline really hit me hard and even though I thought it could have been handled better it still really as an alcoholic hit me hard. So props to Katie for that.

Canary Frost

Some may find that Laurels journey being meaningful and that's cool but there are others like myself think that her journey was rushed half assed and cut way too short.

Sunnyolaf

You said it perfectly. I am firmly in the her storyline was rushed side. There was so much more they could have explored especially with the addiction storyline. I wish we had gotten meatier stuff for Laurel. Katie could have pulled it off.

You can't kill me!

Could not agree anymore with this

Charlone

It's really hard to watch those videos, I can't accept it! I still can't believe that she's the one who died. Thanks for posting the fanvids!

Hamburgo1001

I agree that on the surface, Laurel has probably had the most character growth of the main cast over the first 3 seasons of Arrow. However, that doesn't change the fact that all of her main character arcs have been very poorly handled. In season 1, her main purpose was to function as the center of a poorly-written love triangle, which made her look wishy-washy and therefore unlikable to a lot of people. We also got to see her working as a lawyer, but she seemingly couldn't win a case without the help of the Hood.

In season 2, we got a horribly written addiction arc. I get what the writers were trying to do (putting Laurel through her crucible), but IMO, they completely misjudged how most viewers would react to the storyline. The sad truth is that a lot of people have no sympathy for addicts because they don't understand addiction. Don't believe me? Just check out a couple of comment sections the next time a celebrity dies of an overdose. You'll be shocked at the kind of crap you are going to read. Knowing that Laurel was already walking on thin ice with a lot of people, making her an addict was a poor story choice - especially when one considers that the writers were never going to devote enough time to the storyline to make it worthwhile. The whole arc basically consisted of a random collection of scenes where Laurel was either crying or drowning pills and booze. The storyline had no depth whatsoever. I think there were only about 2 scenes that gave us some insight into Laurel's state of mind at the time, which made it even harder for people to understand and connect to her character. IMO, if the writers needed to put Laurel through a crucible, they would have been much better off giving her a life-threatening illness like cancer or cardiomyopathy. Would it have turned Laurel into a fan-favourite character? Probably not, but it would have earned her a lot more audience sympathies than the addiction storyline did.

Unfortunately, Laurel's BC arc was just as much of a failure to me because the writers half-assed it from beginning to end. First, they fueled the Laurel-hate ever further by killing off Sara in a truly disgusting manner when it wasn't even necessary. Then they cast a poor actor, who was already signed on to another show, in the role of Laurel's trainer. Not surprisingly, he wasn't available for the full season and a big part of Laurel's training had to be cut from the storyline. We never got an explanation as to how Laurel got her BC costume. As if by magic, it was suddenly laying there right on the table in the Arrow cave. Then, she started fighting with a tonfa when we had never seen her practice with it before. By the end of the season, Laurel was already going by the name Black Canary (without properly earning it) and using an electric Canary Cry when it really didn't make much sense as a human-build device.

And that's basically where Laurel's development ended because in season 4, she was languishing around without an arc of her own. We never saw her take up another form of martial arts, learn how to use different weapons, deal with a nemesis of her own or develop any of the rich relationships the character is known for (e.g. Birds of Prey, Sin, Roy) although the producers promised it in several interviews. The last point is particularly hilarious to me because the writers are trying to tell us that Laurel was oh so important that her death is going to have this HUGE impact on all the other characters moving forward when her character didn't warrant an independent storyarc in a year and her relationships with the core cast are completely underdeveloped because roughly 90% of her screentime consisted of standing around in Team Arrow group scenes where she was lucky to get 2 lines in. In short: Laurel's only value is as a corpse. I'm not sure what's supposed to be meaningful about that.

Cmtaylor531

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Sunnyolaf

Thanks for the gif set. It really breaks my heart in two.

You can't kill me!

Pretty much sums up my feelings about her arc's Katie and the character of Laurel/BC truly did deserve so much better!!

Those gifs are heartbreaking... Katie was amazing!!!

Charlone

Incredibly, she was saying goodbye before the worst thing happened. That's why, although I think she's truly dead at this point, I can't figure out what she said to Oliver. It's very intriguing.

You can't kill me!

I am almost scared at what she told Oliver... the writers better not have made it about anything other than Laurel herself.