Walking into my inbox like...

because of this article. LOL Thanks for all the heads up my friends. I didn’t know it existed. Yes, I read it. Yes, it sounds like I wrote it. No, I did not write it. Some wonderful person named Lynsey Neill did. However, it’s possible we mind melded unbeknownst to us. She uses pretty words like “fully realized superhero” too. 

Dear Lynsey,

We should grab a virtual coffee and talk all things L*urel L*nce.

Love, 

Me

Put me down for cosigned. This is actually a really positive article on E1 L*urel L*nce. It articulates a lot of the reasons why I loved LL’s character. I don’t agree with all the points made, but the vast majority hits the nail on the head for me. I was invested in this character for many years too. 

The L*uriver section is particularly stellar:

Ladies and gentlemen, if your boyfriend cheats on you with your sister and in the process she gets killed (or is presumed dead) would you ever think of them the same? Yeah, in that hypothetical scenario, they swiftly and irrevocably become someone you can’t rely on. They aren’t your person anymore, and probably never were. #TeamLaurel

SAY IT FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!!

My biggest issue with L*uriver was I never wanted to see L*urel kiss Oliver again. Their relationship reminded me of something I really disliked about Oliver - he cheated. Any time he made a move on L*urel I was instantly reminded of the fact that he banged her sister on the regular for years. YUCK. 

However, this section really brings the article home for me.

But they both moved on, Laurel forgave Oliver and they remained friends. For like a season in and a half. A good chunk of season 2 through season 4 they were just indifferent. Sometimes they would get into the occasional screaming match that required popcorn. However, if your relationship with the main character is indifferent, what’s to stop the audience from feeling the same?

Yes, indifference is exactly how I felt about L*urel by the end of Season 4 and Ms. Neil captures why I felt this way perfectly.

As far as Bl*ck S*ren’s redemption this sums it up for me:

All the sane and rational humans maintained that Black Siren was not the Laurel we lost. She was fun and stirred up trouble for our heroes. She had so much potential to just be a character thats unapologetically a bad person. Sure, everyone has their moments, but for the most part we want a ruthless female antagonist who has the face of a dead friend.

The fun of Bl*ck S*ren is she wears the face of their dead friend. All the drama comes from this angle. You run the risk of putting Bl*ck S*ren’s character back to where L*urel L*nce’s character ended by redeeming her: indifference. A character arrives at indifference when the writers A) are no longer invested or B) they’ve run out of story ideas. I think both happened to L*urel’s character. 

Oliver is as indifferent to Bl*ck S*ren as he was to L*urel, which automatically puts her character on an uphill battle. 

The main character rejects Bl*ck S*ren entirely because she is not his L*urel and never can be. The only real tangible connection these two characters have is when Bl*ck S*ren is wreaking havoc on Star City and Oliver is forced to contend with her. He truly does not give a damn when she plays white hat and any interaction between the two plummets. 

So... how is a redeemed Bl*ck S*ren any better than L*urel L*nce? It doesn’t solve the main issue which is the character lacks any real connection to the star of the show.

Bl*ck S*ren playing lawyer and apologizing starts to strip her of the very things that make her interesting. There is no way this character can ever be E1 Laurel. They are simply different people. Any attempt by Bl*ck S*ren feels like an insult to our L*urel. It’s like saying LL is replaceable with a look alike copy cat and the essence of who she was can simply be mimicked. Umm... NO.

Imagine for a moment it was Felicity who was killed off 

(I know I know. The horror but just roll with me for a second). Let’s say an evil version of Felicity exists out in the multiverse. (All evidence to the contrary but let’s fake it for the purpose of this hypothetical.)

If an evil Felicity came roaring into town, murdering people and causing general havoc, would we believe for a hot second she is our beloved Felicity? NO.

Would we accept any world in which this evil version is redeemed and therefore a replacement of the character we lost? OF COURSE NOT. That’s like saying Nazi Oliver can be our Oliver. 

The only point I disagree with Ms. Neill on is I do believe there is a way to fold Bl*ck S*ren into Team Arrow, without losing all of the drama. If Bl*ck S*ren retains her darker tendencies, sarcasm and biting edge, then she can be to Team Arrow what Spike was to the Scooby Gang (before he got his soul back). 

Team Arrow can openly hate on Bl*ck S*ren and shade her all day long. 

Source: @ebett​

Bl*ck S*ren can rip on Team Arrow while being a constant chaos causing unknown element for the team. Yet, they work together because their goals meld. Say for example Felicity and Bl*ck S*ren teaming up to stop Diaz. This can create A LOT of really fun scenes.

Do I think this packs as much punch as evil Bl*ck S*ren? No. I think the best use for the character is to go all in and make her the Big Bad. She’s a powerful meta human who wears the face of a woman Oliver once loved. She can make Oliver’s life a living hell if the writers embraced all the power this character has.

Unfortunately, they are constantly reeling Bl*ck S*ren in by making her a victim or someone who needs to be saved. It’s ridiculous. 

If Bl*ck Siren achieves redemption I have no doubt K*tie C*ssidy will play her in a different way from E1 Laurel or evil Bl*ck S*ren, so the arc itself doesn’t really concern me in any way. It’s more wishing the writers would take the character in another direction I find more interesting. 

Do we need a third version of this character on top of Dinah Drake’s BC? No. The cast is pretty bloated as is and we run the risk of these supporting characters taking up space without having anything to do. This is the reason LL was killed off in the first place. 

It’s not the first time I’ve disagreed with the writers on the characters KC plays and it’s it probably won’t be the last. Worst case, I’ll end up at indifferent again but my hope is the writers can still make this character interesting whether she’s redeemed or not.

Oh yes. I heard.

So let’s talk about it.

Who Is Prometheus?

It's been awhile since I've done this, but I thought I'd dive back into the world of spec. Bear with me. We might be rusty, but this is a natural byproduct of talking Arrow with @callistawolf​ for over an hour. The brain swims with possibilities.

I've made no secret about my frustration over the Prometheus storyline. 

Primarily because A) we didn't get a reveal in the midseason finale and B) the back story on Prometheus was, in my opinion, spectacularly lame.

My reasons are thus: The Big Bad is always a crucial element in Arrow's season arc. He/She is the dark half of Oliver's hero's journey for that season. It is monumentally important that the audience connect to the Big Bad. It is monumentally important that we are allowed to get to know him or her, so we can understand his or her motivations. This ultimately leads to a greater understanding of where Oliver needs to go in his overall evolution.

Not revealing who Prometheus is essentially keeps a wall between him and the audience. His more of an archetype. A voice box, with a skill level to match Oliver, who's more of an omnipresent figure than an actual "face to face" opponent. He's the Arrow equivalent of the Boogey Man. We saw some of this with Ra's Al Ghul in Season 3 and Slade in Season 2, but Arrow revealed their characters in both mid seasons finale to allow the audience to connect to the them and move beyond the omnipresent archetype.  They have not done that with Prometheus us and failing to reveal his identity simply prolongs this disconnect.

Arrow then tries to temper this disconnect by providing us with some information about Prometheus. He is the son of  Claybourne, a man who was on Robert Queen's list. A villain Oliver killed in Season 1. I had both my mother and husband, both ardent casual viewers, ask me if Claybourne was someone we knew about in Season 1. Nope. Never heard of him. They just plucked a name from obscurity. The connection to Season 1 is... thin. Even, Diggle's "you're killing can lead to unforeseen consequences" statement was so heavy handed it was cringe worthy. This all just feels plopped in.

And that's my beef. We've been told over and over and over again how Prometheus is a villain they had to wait FIVE YEARS to do. This places some mythological like level to S5′s Big Bad, like he's been lying in wait and Arrow has just been waiting for the right time to pull the trigger.  So this all boils down to Prometheus needed five years to train? Eh.

Then, of course, there's how Team Arrow discovered Prometheus was Claybourne's son. They only discovered this information because Prometheus wanted them to. 

It was like a play. He set up the scene and Oliver was merely an actor in the show Prometheus was directing. None of it felt real and yet... Oliver and team believed it hook line and sinker. Prometheus reenacts a kill from Season 1. He provides a baby photo and Claybourne's ashes and TA DA! We have the identity of our bad guy. There wasn't a lot of critical thinking from Team Arrow. This was all handed to them at a very specific time and in a very specific way.  And everyone's just all, "Cool. Makes sense."

WHAT??? Where's my beloved Scooby Gang? Where's the examination? WHERE'S THE DISTRUST OLIVER? At the very least I'd expect that from you, but homeboy is "Prometheus is, above all things, an honest foe."

MADNESS I TELLL YOU. MADNESS. Hence the screaming and throwing things at my television.  Then there's the overly dramatic, almost Greek like tragedy way, Prometheus orchestrated Billy's death.  

True to his name! Dude is a Drama Queen. He's not particularly concerned with killing Oliver at the moment, but he's going to make his life a soap opera. Why? THE FUN.

So, I'm calm now. We've watched the aftermath of Billy's death. We're seeing the path Felicity is going down. 

There's been some incredibly telling things revealed about that journey. So, instead of accepting Prometheus at face value (as Arrow so desperately wants us to do), I decided to actually acknowledge the man for who he is... a Puppet Master.  This is all one, big, massive misdirect. It is elegant. It is cunning. It is twisted. And it will touch everyone in Oliver's life.

The reason why Arrow didn't reveal Prometheus' identity is because this is the season long mystery.  The identity reveal is their big card. It's the "Who's in the grave?" reveal. It's the "What is the Undertaking?" reveal. They aren't letting us connect to the Big Bad because WE ALREADY KNOW HIM. And when he is revealed it will be a light bulb moment. A moment worth five years waiting for.

A lot of this has been theorized by many other people for many other months. I’ve seen so many specs I can’t remember them all, but this was the most recent. Added a layer to the Prometheus myth I missed and I loved it. However, I think Calli and I have pieced together a couple of the holes that were hanging us up on a few items. So, let's dig in...

Okay. Let’s talk TVGuide. Yes. I have read it. Here’s the question/answer that is blowing up the fandom:

Katie Cassidy did sign a deal to be a series regular across all Arrow-verse shows. What ways might we see her appear in Arrow outside of just flashbacks? 

Mericle: I can tell you that we're really excited about having her back. You will see in the episodes where she appears - Episode 510 definitely, our midseason premiere. Keep your eyes out for that. We're so excited about getting to work with her again and her willingness to come back. It's one of the fun parts of the show. People can leave and get killed and you can still find new and crazy ways for them to come back. I can definitely tell you that there's a way we're going to bring her back and she's going to be alive and well. And Flashpoint might have a little bit to do with that. 

The spoiler game is ON my friends. Me thinks Wendy Mericle is out to have some fun with us... so who's ready to play? Let's dig in...

swanismycaptain submitted: I’m not going to lie, your conversation with Marc disappointed me a little. I used to be a hardcore Olicity shipper but when they started to override the story in season 3 I opted out. It felt like overkill. I feel like Arrow got even worse when they killed off Laurel. I completely understand if you and many others felt the way that Marc does but I don’t like that you invalidated fans of Laurel Lance who were upset by her death, as if it’s completely ridiculous. To be honest it frustrates me because if Marc killed Felicity the Olicity fandom would’ve had a similar reaction and tbh I still would’ve been mad. But the only difference between Laurel and Felicity is that Felicity is Oliver’s love interest and that’s what saved her. Not because she’s an important character in her own right, but because she’s too important too Oliver, and honestly that’s my problem with this show: the prioritisation of male characters over the female ones. It was just such a shitty reason for Laurel to die and the fact that you basically told Marc that it was okay there was nothing wrong in the way he handled it rubs me the wrong way. It’s like you said, they could’ve moved her to a different show, or even just written her off like they did with Roy. But she honestly did not need to die. By all means, agree with Marc, but I just would’ve expected you to at least say that you could understand why many fans were upset with her death instead of brushing it off and invalidating the way a large group of people felt for very good reason. 

Wow. Really. Just... wow.

First of all... why are you on my blog? Seriously. I’m curious. Because I am one of the most vocal proponents of killing LL ALL SEASON LONG. I said Katie was leaving Arrow after SDCC last year. I said they were killing LL after the 4x01 premiere. I never wavered in my belief that’s what Arrow was doing. Nor did I waver in my believe that’s what they SHOULD do. So, of course I’m thrilled they did it. I didn’t say there was anything wrong in the way they handled it because I don’t believe there was anything wrong with the way they handled it. I love the way they handled it. It was a great storyline and I said so on the blog and to Marc’s face. I wasn’t there as some ambassador of the Olicity or LL fandom. I was there as myself. A fan. Sharing MY opinions with Marc.

I didn’t invalidate the LL fandom’s feelings. I SAID I understood why they were so upset and I acknowledged that I would feel the same way if Felicity died. I actually said those words to Marc Guggenheim and he agreed with me. Nobody was invalidating their sadness. So, before you accuse me of something it’d be nifty if you’d actually read the post. What is ridiculous is the amount of vitriolic hate that fandom sent Marc’s way. You can dislike a storyline, but there’s no excuse for berating, harassing and bullying someone on Twitter or Tumblr to the point they have to leave the forum. I don’t care who they are. It’s just wrong.

The Captain is back with a Facebook Live chat that focuses primarily on Arrow. Check it out. Some interesting spoilers. Highlights and thoughts below the cut: