Arrow I will never understand why the fandom attacked Laurel in season 2.

[Kster95]

Saint Sara was the farthest thing from a saint. I love her but its very true. Laurel's whole family has treated her like crap.

• Sara had an affair with her sister Laurel's boyfriend Oliver
• Sara ended up dying on the gambit because of it.
• Dinah let Sara be a ****e (She was) and ruin her sister's life by not stopping her from getting on the gambit. After Sara died she left the family.
• Lance lost his daughter who was a trouble maker (Sara) and completely ignored his good daughter (Laurel) who had to take care of him when he got into the bottle. He also referred to Laurel as 'the daughter that lived'

Laurel got the worst end of the stick when Sara died but still had to take the rest of her family's crap. Not only did she have to grieve Sara's death but she was also extremely angry with her. But even with that she got her degree and became a lawyer so she could help people.

5 years later Sara went through ALOT. Laurel has no idea what Sara went through, for all she knows Sara just didnt want to come home. The lance's have a family dinner and WHO does Sara bring along? Oliver the guy who she cheated on her sister with. Sara made Laurel blow up by bringing the person who single handily ruined her life 5 years ago, Sara was a complete idiot in this situation and backed Laurel into a corner. Who wouldnt have blown up at this point?

And then Oliver puts her in her place which was complete BS. Oliver had no right to be there and was just plain stupid for coming.

Sara never truly apologized to Laurel for all she did.

Sara, Oliver, Dinah and Lance all deserved the **** Laurel gave them and more. So I will never truly understand why people were mad at Laurel in season 2. It was just illogical hate.

 

[JC00]

This again?

People are allowed to have an opinion. Also it was not illogical hate. People had/have legitimate reasons why they dislike(d) her.

 

[Kster95]

This again?

People are allowed to have an opinion. Also it was not illogical hate. People had/have legitimate reasons why they dislike(d) her.

Lol but hating her for being mad at that time is illogical no matter what. It was not her fault in the slightest.

 

[mr. peasant]

I think the root cause for people's complaints about Laurel stems from her not being the character they expected or wanted; irrespective of her plot developments. Everything else was just rationialisation after the character was unable to win them over.

 

[godisawesome]

One of the other disadvantages the writing had with Laurel for a while in Season Two was removed from the rest of the story lines, and thus felt like a waste of time. We had Olliver with the A- and B-plots of the episodic conflicts and the Island flashbacks, both times flanked by strong ensemble casts with Diggs, Felicity, Lance, Slade, and Shado, then we had the C- and D-plots dealing with Moira and the Queen family (still including Ollie) and the Team Arrow Jr. (which had two Speedies and Sin). Most of these were written very well and since they had ensemble casts for each, you had skilled actors with chemistry bouncing off each other.

There were a few episodes where Laurel occupied an E-plot, where she was mostly by herself crumbling from the consequences over two seasons by getting drunk. And that was about it. When Lance showed up in her subplot, it was mostly to chew her out. And her subplot had to deal with Sara's sporadic season arc, which would end up involving a lot of the cast and featured what I would argue was a more traditional Canary personality than even the one we have now.

All of this mixed with the new interpretation of the character, who is very different from Black Canary in the comics, to create a storm where the audience has three groups who Laurel had in uphill battle with in Season Two: casual fans who are engaged on multiple story lines but bored with Laurel's, shipper fans who are just a headache for everyone, and comic fans seeing a confident and sometime gleeful Canary and comparing her to an adaptation of Dinah Lance where she's not called Dinah (nit-picking problem, but we are talking about geeks here), isn't anywhere near skilled at the time (count me as the guy still flabbergasted by the decision to give her some weapons like a shotgun and some skills but only have them demonstrated to be incompetent), and lacks most of the comic version's personality.

It wasn't exactly fair for the character or the actress, but it was also far from a wise direction to take the character during what was otherwise still the best season of Arrow.

 

[Jedi Arrow]

I agree Laurel had it bad, and I am not as hard on her as some others are. She shouldn't have been popping pills or drowning herself in alcohol, but she did have every right to be mad, especially what with Tommy dying recently in addition to her family issues.

But as to Oliver setting her straight in that dinner scene–no, he was right. He needed to say that because it was something Laurel needed to hear. I think that ultimately, that was partially what helped her come out of her slump (along with finding out Oliver was the Arrow).

 

[mr. peasant]

Yeah, she shouldn't have used drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms. Nor should she have blamed the Arrow for Tommy's death. And the show made a point to show all of that, and for Laurel to realise it. It's part of having a flawed character and giving them character development.

 

[Jedi Arrow]

Yeah, she shouldn't have used drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms. Nor should she have blamed the Arrow for Tommy's death. And the show made a point to show all of that, and for Laurel to realise it. It's part of having a flawed character and giving them character development.

Yes, exactly! It was a character arc.

 

[b_boy]

I think the problem was that they cast Katie Cassidy most know from her Ruby days in Supernatural, where she was a blond ass kicking (and very liked) demon, so ppl expected her to be Black Canary right from the start, but instead they delayed that until S3.

In S1 she had the ocasional self defense moments and the lawyer moments where she was trying to help others, so it was ok. But in S2 they removed the self defense moments, removed her lawyer moments (putting her to prosecute Oliver's mother) and brought Sara as a fully capable Canary. We know how crazy fandom can be, so I think ppl over reacted, but luckly S3 Laurel was a big improvement

 

[Primal Slayer]

I rewatched Season 2 this weekend and while Laurel didn't have the greatest storyline, it certainly wasn't as bad as some people made it out to be. Overall it was an ok season for her, not to mention that she was treated pretty badly by half the characters in S2.

But they could've given her more to prop her up and prepare her to be Black Canary in Season 3. Sin should've been a Laurel storyline, Ted Grant could've been a big storyline for her during the 2nd half of the season.

 

[Boy Scout]

I understood it when she irrationally pursued The Arrow in a misguided attempt to avenge Tommy's murder. Most of what she said and did under the influence of drugs and alcohol, which 1) came a little later and 2) she started abusing out of grief, were typical of a person under the influence of drugs and alcohol. It's nobody's fault but her own that she became an addict, but at the same time, nobody seemed to understand that she was borderline (if not outright) unstable. A lot of the hate she got at that time was unnecessary and overblown (in my opinion), and it persists to this day.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

I think if Ted Grant was introduce in the second half of season 2. He could probably help with Laurel drugs/alcohol problem by teaching her to fight or something as a different way to grief

 

[Primal Slayer]

I think if Ted Grant was introduce in the second half of season 2. He could probably help with Laurel drugs/alcohol problem by teaching her to fight or something as a different way to grief

Exactly, that would've been perfect for her during the 2nd half of the season. After Tommys death and being targeted by baddies and Saras return, it would've made perfect sense.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

Exactly, that would've been perfect for her during the 2nd half of the season. After Tommys death and being targeted by baddies and Saras return, it would've made perfect sense.

They could use Sin be the one to introduce Laurel to Ted Grant. Since Sin is a street kid and Ted Grant could have got her out of trouble.

 

[Jedi Arrow]

I think if Ted Grant was introduce in the second half of season 2. He could probably help with Laurel drugs/alcohol problem by teaching her to fight or something as a different way to grief

That could've worked. Maybe even have her go out on one or two vigilante ventures and have mixed results, only to run headlong into the Arrow and Canary. She is injured during the fight and they are forced to take her back to the Foundry and reveal that they are Oliver and Sara. They beg her to give up her vigilante life because they don't want her to be like them, but after Sara's death she becomes more determined than ever.

I do love what we got, though. I think Laurel finding out Oliver was the Arrow from Slade was the exact push Oliver needed in the final episodes. It was that she learned this and did not get angry at him or hunt him down that he realized he was a hero.

 

[Avenging Angel]

I think most were just not a fan of Katie's acting.

 

[Primal Slayer]

That could've worked. Maybe even have her go out on one or two vigilante ventures and have mixed results, only to run headlong into the Arrow and Canary. She is injured during the fight and they are forced to take her back to the Foundry and reveal that they are Oliver and Sara. They beg her to give up her vigilante life because they don't want her to be like them, but after Sara's death she becomes more determined than ever.

I do love what we got, though. I think Laurel finding out Oliver was the Arrow from Slade was the exact push Oliver needed in the final episodes. It was that she learned this and did not get angry at him or hunt him down that he realized he was a hero.

If anything they could've had her do that during Slades attack on the city.

 

[dude stannis]

I didn't like Season 2 Laurel for the same reasons I absolutely detested Season 3 Felicity and 'Olicity'.

They where there to generate (badly written) drama, which ultimately distracted from the flow of the story. But I'd give Laurel this, in Season 2 she was relegated to a background character and didn't infect the A plot and her Season 2 arc paid off when she was easily one of the few bright spots of Season 3.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I just couldn't believe that they decided to go there again with Oliver/Laurel/Sara and then have Laurel end up apologizing and being expected to just accept it.

 

[Loki882]

They were very inconsistent with her character (she seemed to make decisions randomly with little to no buildup) and then they started storylines with her only to drop them randomly. She hates/blames the Arrow for Tommy's death, then she gets over it really quickly. She's becoming a junkie/alcoholic, and then she just kind of gets over it offscreen with no real rhyme or reasons. She hates Sara, and then she doesn't. They make a big deal of her "heading down the dark path," (her blackmailing her boss the DA and Huntress's comments), and then completely drop it just as quickly (and conveniently off her boss so that she suffers NO consequences at all for the whole blackmail thing).

Basically, these decisions aren't necessarily bad in an of themselves. But they weren't properly developed and they were introduced and then dropped kind of randomly. Add onto that that many fans instantly latched onto Sara as being more likeable/having a more compelling story, and Laurel looks even worse in their eyes.

 

[Batsfan1]

They were very inconsistent with her character (she seemed to make decisions randomly with little to no buildup) and then they started storylines with her only to drop them randomly. She hates/blames the Arrow for Tommy's death, then she gets over it really quickly. She's becoming a junkie/alcoholic, and then she just kind of gets over it offscreen with no real rhyme or reasons. She hates Sara, and then she doesn't. They make a big deal of her "heading down the dark path," (her blackmailing her boss the DA and Huntress's comments), and then completely drop it just as quickly (and conveniently off her boss so that she suffers NO consequences at all for the whole blackmail thing).

Basically, these decisions aren't necessarily bad in an of themselves. But they weren't properly developed and they were introduced and then dropped kind of randomly. Add onto that that many fans instantly latched onto Sara as being more likeable/having a more compelling story, and Laurel looks even worse in their eyes.

She was a killer. How is that more likable?

Blackmailing is barely a dark path. Especially on a show where the main character is a killer.

It's really all bad writing. Season 2 had a lot of this with a lot of characters. Sara flip flops what she finds acceptable. Slade's characterization and motivation is an absolute work of parody. Isabel Rochev's motivation could have been a comedy skit. Oliver was relegated to making bad and/or stupid decisions for the sake of the plot, which no matter what the writers think can't be swept under the rug by him saying that he made them and not actually explaining why he made them. I'm not even gonna get into Felicity. Diggle was a background player for about 19 episodes out of 23. Quentin, he spent the season doing very little. I'm not even sure what his arc is. Roy hung around for 60 percent of the season, then left, and then was apparently captured by Slade after leaving, somehow, and spent the rest of the season until the finale in mirakuru rage or unconscious. Thea was just there until Slade kidnapped her.

Almost all the characters weren't well written. For some reason some people just don't like not very well written drama, instead of not very well written action drama.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Though it is funny that they had Laurel/Quentin flip flopping on their liking of Arrow. 1st season Laurel liked him while Quentin distrusted him, 2nd season Laurel was hating on him while Quentin trusted him, 3rd season Laurel was with him while Quentin was against him again.

 

[Batsfan1]

I think most were just not a fan of Katie's acting.

That's unlikely. Because she won an award for it.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

The Prism Awards... Yeah...

She's just a bad actress.

 

[Primal Slayer]

No awards prove anything imo, it's all subjective.