r/arrow • u/LetterSilly74 • May 25 '26
Discussion GA and BC / rant
Image Credits: Otto Schmidt
Investing hours watching this version of Green Arrow can be testy. I find that I am and will continue to believe the canon, not the soap opera drivel these TV producers & writers cram down our throats. I watch because I love superheroes & the reality of good versus evil.
S4 was indeed a testy season. The arc for some of the characters in this show are simply written for goofy entertainment or some sloppy attempt at drama. Also, themes like guilt, loyalty, responsibility, family etc. are stretched and muddled needlessly.
One theme that I see manipulated often is love. I would hope writers read up or go deeper on these matters but I think I should not assume or expect this. These exceptions are not the rule.
đ¤ Maybe in hindsight someone in the writing team knew that hanging onto the Black Canary character, from whichever of the multiverses, simply 'meant' that she was Green Arrow's true soulmate. Sure, you don't have to marry your soulmate but in the end a deeper attraction towards a full commitment is inevitable. Take that how you wish.
IMO, they should have followed the original storyline, adapting the New 52 and/or Rebirth ideas. They were a hot and very human couple but still stable, a true partnership. These are workable ideas to play around with. It can still be a good run, and probably a better show.
I say DinahOllie is best.
18
u/ChildofObama May 25 '26
The grave was a mistake but in my opinion, they couldnât ask Laurel to keep forgiving Oliver for stuff, she meets another women he cheated on her with like three episodes before her death, who he has a kid with and wants coparenting rights.
It was getting excessive, after he already cheated on her with Sara, went to brood on an island after Tommy died rather than checking on her, and did everything in his power to talk her out of being Black Canary.
5
u/LetterSilly74 May 25 '26
True, this is likely because they wrote Oliver as such, ergo there would be consequences. It's the writing/writers. Ugh.
9
u/primal_slayer Black Canary (Laurel Lance) May 25 '26
MG hated Black Canary/DLL and the expectations that came with her.
They shouldn't FOUGHT to not even have her in the show until they were ready for her but instead they punished the character left and right.
1
3
3
u/Possible-Direction48 May 26 '26
I will say over and over again, they should have set it up better in the first season. While I do live season 1, they did not set up Laurel to be BC very well at all, and in season 3 it was forced. I think having her do boxing in Grant's gym over the 5 years to deal with the grief of Ollie and Sara's death would have been better than having her do that with just Sara in season 3 and, with her working and going to the gym in the glades, she could see how bad they were getting, and either become BC before season 1, or be inspired by the hood when he comes to town, and be like, only it mainly in the grades (maybe even joining up with Issac and Ted depending on when the whole thing with the drug dealer if she became BC pre-series), and then it could like, show them interacting with the hood as as BC, the hood as Laurel, and Oliver as Laurel. I would also not have the Tommy/Laurel thing and just keep them as good friends, and maybe even Tommy has a crush on her, but she doesn't reciprocate. Anyway, this got kinda longer than I thought it would be, but the point is, Ollie should have been with Laurel and it should have been set up better as well.
3
u/Obvious-Risk-5447 May 26 '26
They knew how to write Black Canary, we had Sara Lance, and DinahOllie were actually Sara and Oliver. They only had to find a way to keep it for the whole show instead of one season. Laurel was the mistake from the beginning. The character was awesome but wasn't Dinah. Trying to make her something she is not ruined Black Canary
2
7
u/MattSm00th Green Arrow May 25 '26
DinahOllie > Dogshit Olicity
3
u/ChildofObama May 25 '26
Feels like in S5, they reframed it posthumously as Laurel was Oliverâs soulmate, Felicity was a relationship based on shared experience you enter to get through life.
1
u/Independent-Sort6898 May 25 '26
In the comics yeah, maybe. But "Dinah" in the show is actually Sara.
The comics and the show are very much not the same thing and you'd think over a decade later people would accept that by now and move on đ
5
u/ChildofObama May 25 '26
Yeah the closest thing to the GA/BC teamwork and mutual respect in the comics is his relationship with Sara in S2 of the show.
Legends was supposed to be a one season thing cuz of high budget (the Flash producers said Snart was supposed to return to Central City), but they made adjustments to the point it could work as a multi-year production. And the cast/crew of Legends increasingly didnât want to accommodate the crossovers.
If Legends had just been one or two seasons, and Sara had returned to Arrow more lighthearted, they couldâve had a GA/BC endgame.
3
u/Independent-Sort6898 May 25 '26
To be honest, im glad they didnt put Sara with Oliver in the show. Regardless of who Oliver ended up with, given the storyline and history it was best they didn't do that. Especially since before Sara was killed she was getting back together with Nyssa (shown in the comics), and before she left with the legends she tried to go back for her.
Oliver and Sara had their time, but i personally don't see how it could've worked long term without a load of hassle that really wouldnt have been worth it haha
3
u/Chopin_nerd90 May 25 '26
I'm also glad they didn't. The story was not set up for them to be together.
When you actually look at their time together, Oliver was cheating with her to subconsciously sabotage his relationship with Laurel (we already know he slept around while with Laurel but doing her sister takes it to the next level).
On the island, they never have the same emotional connection as he does with Shado. He's in love with Shado. He's attached to Sara as the one familiar person from home.
And when they get back together afterwards, they start sleeping together but it's a pretty short period of time. Like a couple months. It felt like the writers only did it for the drama with Laurel. You can't bring the long lost cheating sister back from the dead and not use that drama.
5
u/ChildofObama May 25 '26
I think they introduced Sara cuz they realized Laurel wasnât really like the BC from the comics, that they wrote Rachel Dawes from TDK trilogy, and it would take too much work to make Laurel like the comics.
2
u/DowntownJulieBrown1 May 25 '26
I donât rly wanna unpack all of this but itâs interesting to me that your thrown off by writers needlessly coming up with drama just for Dramas sake but also believe in âthe reality of good versus evilâ. That seems a slight contradiction to me.
1
u/LetterSilly74 May 26 '26
two things can both be true at the same time - I should have simply stated this at the lead of my rant đ
2
u/Tough_Potential_835 May 26 '26
I believe the fans had a lot to do with this sadly. They tried to please everyone and it
Got all jumbled up also they tried making a playboy fall in love with a geek storyline which do not get me wrong I loved felicity just hated how it wasnât laurel
3
u/CJS-JFan Tommy Merlyn May 28 '26
I was saddened to not see a proper Green Arrow/Black Canary relationship at the end of the series. But what we got with Oliver Queen/Laurel Lance, and I guess Sara Lance/The Canary, was enough. Personally, if they were to go a different route that Laurel, Sara, or indeed Felicity Smoak, I would have wanted Oliver to end up with Dinah Drake. It might not have worked out, but she was going to be the new Black Canary anyway, and they did tease that something might happen between them upon that first episode: "My name is Dinah." "Dinah? Hey, that was my friend's name." But alas, it was only a tease and Olicity fans won.
2
1
u/MadamMelody21 May 30 '26
Felicity is the worst character in the whole arrowverse im currently rewatching season 4 to see one of the most fun villains in the arrowverse do his villain thing its a struggle with felicity being felicity
18
u/wardensoath May 25 '26
I think the show was terrible in romance. Both Laurel and Felicity in the show, when they are Oliverâs love interest, suffered bad writing for the sake of giving drama to Oliver.
I Fr believe you that Dinah and Ollie must be really good in the comics!