"Arrow" Death: Showrunners, Stars Discuss How [SPOILER] Ended Up in the Grave

[twincast]

One issue I have wirth the way Laurel was killed, was though Darkh had legitimate reason to hold a grudge against Laurel, he held a grudge with all of them. Since there wasn't a single hero who could do anything against him when he paralyzed them all, he should have just killed everyone who was there. Why just Laurel? Yes it would tick off her father, and it would tick off Arrow, but Arrow dying would have ended it, and ticked everyone off as well. Same with Diggle, same with Thea. Heck when they were paralyzed Diggle's brother could have opened fire and killed multiples of them. The setup though of having one of Olivers friends in the crosshairs and it being used as a reason for Oliver to get angry is becoming a bit overdone. There are other elements to a story besides death. I do like the show and the cast, so to me they shouldn't try killing off anyone, unless absolutely necessary. Most of the deaths I've seen on the show (male or female) have not been.

This.

And

I would have been happy about this if it were two seasons ago. Felicity should have been the one in the grave. Make her next.

this.

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We really need like buttons.

[HA HA!!]

Didn't Darkh make it clear he would kill Laurel if her father betrayed him? Clearly Damien Darkh is a man of his word.

[The Kid]

Hard to believe how Arrow dropped in quality so much. It used to be my favorite superhero show of all time and now I'd easily take Daredevil, Flash, Jessica Jones, Gotham, Legends, Shields and Supergirl over it. Just really disappointing that the showrunners decided to pander to the shippers

[kumagawa]

I will start off by saying I stopped watching after Felicity was paralyzed. Now, "Women in Refrigerators" is a phrase used to describe women being killed to progress male characters. Oliver's Mom died to progress a revenge plot as well as try to tighten the relationship between Oliver and Thea. In addition, her death was her crowning moment of heroism so Moira is good. Sara (going off her death at the beginning of season 3) died to jump start the main plot as well as bring some conflict between Oliver and Laurel as well as progress the characters of Oliver, Laurel, and Captain Lance in addition to Malcolm's plan. Her death is in a "Women in Refrigerators" moment. Thea died to progress the plot and Oliver's character so she is a "Women in Refrigerator" also. Felicity is also a "Women in Refrigerator" since her death was meant to make Oliver angrier and more desperate to stop Darkh. Not only does this series often indulge in this negative trend, but remember that all of these female characters died at the hands of men. Moira was killed by Slade. Sara was killed by Thea being controlled by Malcolm. Thea was killed by Ra's. Felicity was shot by male thugs under the order of Damian. Laurel was killed by Damian. There's a reason I quit this show.

Of course they where killed by straight white men, straight white men are the easiest bad guys to use because you don't have any complaining about "portraying women/racial minorities as bad is sexist/racist".

[Osiris-Rex]

Of course they where killed by straight white men, straight white men are the easiest bad guys to use because you don't have any complaining about "portraying women/racial minorities as bad is sexist/racist".

Is that just limited to superhero TV shows? Because on other TV shows like Hawaii Five-O, Major Crimes, Rizzoli & Isles, Chicago PD, Bones Grimm, Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, etc. there are plenty of murderers, rapists, kidnappers, and other evil doers who are Black, Asian, Hispanic, - both women and men.

[dzub]

I would have been happy about this if it were two seasons ago. Felicity should have been the one in the grave. Make her next.

as much as i want that to happen...i can't imagine the backlash to it

[Blacksquare]

You, moralist AA groups and everyone else who believes that dangerous propaganda should read some actual science on this.
A) Vast majority of consumers don't become addicted - to alcohol, other drugs or anything else. (Point raised for the sake of completeness.)
B) Those who do, do so because of unrelated issues. (Something the media generally get right with alcohol but not with other "evil" substances.)
C) Most so-called addicts can return to social drinking etc. unless they get guilt-tripped for every little sip etc. onward as a shameful relapse.

A) Never said majority of people become addicts. I know they don't
B) And yes there are several reasons one becomes an addict.
C) And yes many can return to social drinking.

All true. HOWEVER... none of this applies to Laurel because her father is an addict too, who returned to the bottle So its not just trauma for her, its genetic. She is predisposed to becoming an addict. Current addiction research shows 50% of addiction tendencies are attributable to genes. So again PREDISPOSED. Add the trauma of losing a sister and what she said about feeling alive as being Black Canary. It's an addiction for her. There is science to back it up.

[Blacksquare]

The suggestion that Laurel was just some innocent unwilling, unknowing pawn in the power games of bag bad *gasp* men is slanted, agenda-driven spin.

Laurel chose to be Black Canary, [...] against the advice and wishes of, literally, everyone in her life, in large part to honor the memory of her sister.

Agreed, she felt worthless and useless and to get rid of the guilt and anger and addiction became the Canary. Its selfish of her frankly. She could of done more as ADA which Oliver finally made her see.

[Blacksquare]

Wow. Arrow really is becoming the new Supernatural in terms of it's treatment of female characters, ain't it?

Shado - Dead.
Ollies's Mother - Dead.
Huntress - Homicidal cop-killer.
Black Canary (1) - Dead (Only resurrected to appear on different show)
Kate Spencer - Unnecessarily name-dropped with no intention of ever being used as Manhunter. And then dead.
Ravager - Not Rose Wilson. Awful costume. Dead.
Black Canary (2) - The reason a lot of fans gave when justifying Sara's original death was that it had to happen because Laurel was the comic book Canary. Dead.

Shado's Father. Dead.
Ollie's father. Dead.
Maseo, went LoA and then dead.
Tommy. Dead and changed Arrow's killing policy and allowed for the entire rest of the series.
Slade. Jealous loser who couldn't get Shado.
Red Arrow. Written off to advance plot.
Ray Palmer. Killed and not killed to move to another show.

It's all the samething. Oh and the wife in the frig, is actually brother in the frig for Diggle.

Btw Kate Spencer would of just been another Laurel.

[Vworp Vworp]

Shado's Father. Dead.
Ollie's father. Dead.
Maseo, went LoA and then dead.
Tommy. Dead and changed Arrow's killing policy and allowed for the entire rest of the series.
Slade. Jealous loser who couldn't get Shado.
Red Arrow. Written off to advance plot.
Ray Palmer. Killed and not killed to move to another show.

You're reaching.

Ollie's father. Died in a flashback. In the first episode.
Slade - Major Bad Guy. Slightly dissimilar to comicbook version. Still alive.
Red Arrow - Left show. Still alive.
Ray Palmer - Never actually died. (Plus, Ray was written out with the intention of sending him to another show. That hadn't been the case with Sara).

At a push, I'll give you Tommy, Maseo and Yao Fei. But they're still not really comparable.

It's not just about who's been killed off, but how these characters are represented. We've seen Arrow name-drop significant DC female characters for no particular reason other than presumably they think it sounds cool (Ravager and Kate), but with zero interest in doing the characters properly. We've seen Huntress turned into a murderer because reasons. And finally, we've seen not one but TWO Black Canaries - one of the most kick-ass DC female heroes of the last twenty years - turned into a sidekick. And not just a sidekick, but a frequently inferior sidekick. OK, that was fair enough when the show had it's 'ideal' Canary (ideal for the writers, at least), a rookie Lauren who was usually out her depth. But when it was the LoA trained Sara who was also being frequently DoD'd, that wasn't right.

[kalorama]

Agreed, she felt worthless and useless and to get rid of the guilt and anger and addiction became the Canary. Its selfish of her frankly. She could of done more as ADA which Oliver finally made her see.

Well, that's not really agreeing with me, because I didn't say (and don't think) she felt "worthless and useless." I think she felt helpless and guilty, about her sister dying in her arms, about lying to her father about Sara, about not being able to do anything to bring Sara's killer's to justice. Sara died because she was part of a world that Laurel lance ADA wasn't a part of and couldn't live in. She felt (however misguidedly) like the only way she could find her sister's killers and honor her sister's memory was to become part of it.

[Asphyx]

Laurel maybe dead but there is one badass woman remaining that could take up the Black Canary mantle who also happens to be married to Oliver at the moment.

[Stromberg]

If Laurel is really dead and Katie Cassidy is really off the show for good, they need to just let the Black Canary character go and stop b@$tardizing this DC hero. Dinah (Drake/Laurel) Lance IS the Black Canary...not Sara, not Nyssa, certainly not Felicity.

[twincast]

Laurel maybe dead but there is one badass woman remaining that could take up the Black Canary mantle who also happens to be married to Oliver at the moment.

No.

Just no.