It Still Stings: The Laurel Lance Debacle on Arrow
Photo Courtesy of The CW
Editor’s Note: TV moves on, but we haven’t. In our feature series It Still Stings, we relive emotional TV moments that we just can’t get over. You know the ones, where months, years, or even decades later, it still provokes a reaction? We’re here for you. We rant because we love. Or, once loved. And obviously, when discussing finales in particular, there will be spoilers:
In the first three seasons of The CW’s Arrow, Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) had a powerful journey that easily resonated with viewers. She watched her ex-boyfriend return home after being presumed dead for five years, complicated by the fact that her sister also supposedly died while cheating with said boyfriend. She lost her new love, Tommy (Colin Donnell), spiraling into a life of self-medicating and alcoholism to avoid her pain, again further complicated when her sister returned to Starling City alive and… mostly well. Then, her sister actually died in the premiere of the third season, which inspired her to pick up her vigilante mantle, train, and finally take her rightful place as the Black Canary alongside Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell).
However, in the fourth season of the show, nearly seven years ago now, Laurel was killed as the writers’ anti-climatic answer to “who’s in the grave?” that was teased in a flash-forward at the beginning of the season. Before she passed on though, the writers chose to have Laurel proclaim on her deathbed that Oliver was the love of her life, even though she knew she wasn’t his as his relationship with Felicity started to become the focal point of the show. (And, this was despite the fact that there had been nothing truly romantic between Oliver and Laurel since the first season.) From there on out, Arrow was tainted by this unnecessary death of a character who had much more story to tell, and who was arguably the most heroic of them all.
Laurel had a hero’s journey in every meaning of the phrase, filled with demons and hardships that continually seek to throw Laurel into a pit of despair that she can never rise out of. But, with support from her loved ones and sheer determination, she does. She breaks free and becomes a hero who doesn’t carry the fate of the entire world on her shoulders. After her experience, Laurel is much stronger and more motivated than ever to be one of the city’s protectors—which she technically already was, as she used her law degree to attempt to make the city a better place for the less fortunate and underprivileged.
While her journey as a hero began with her being haunted by her past, she quickly left that behind, separating her from many of the other heroes in the universe. She simply wanted to help people, as a lawyer seeking justice in the courtroom and then in her role as the Black Canary to get justice when the system inevitably fails, as it did with her would-be killer Damien Darhk.