TV Underdogs: Will ‘Arrow’ season 4 give more love to Laurel Lance?
In many ways to us, “Arrow” season 3 was the year that Laurel Lance came into her own. Some of the darkness of the past was behind her, and in its place stood strength, resolve, and of course a costume to kick butt in as the Black Canary. She had a really great year, and she’s now front and center for most of the action on the show.
With that said, what can be done with Laurel out of costume to make her even more effective when she’s in it? In our latest chapter of our TV Underdogs series, we investigate some potential ideas to give Katie Cassidy more screen time, and also ways to beef up this character into someone who can easily carry a show in her own right.
Why she’s an underdog – For one, she certainly started out that way. She had to learn to go from someone being attacked in her apartment several times a season into someone nobody would ever want to mess with. She’s gone through addiction, disapproval, and rejection and has become a formidable force on the other side of it. The show has worked hard over the past year and a half to make her into a strong character, and she’s every bit of a hero now as anyone else on the team. What better definition of an underdog is there?
Why we don’t see more of her – So far this season, it’s circumstantial. Oliver and Felicity are going to command a ton of airtime now that they are together, and we’ve had big plotlines for Diggle, Thea, and even Laurel’s father Captain Lance. With all of that plus a scene-chewing villain in Damien Darhk, there has really not been too much room to give us lengthy stories for her beyond Sara’s resurrection, which is probably over now that she is on “Legends of Tomorrow.”
Ways to give her more airtime – The first thing we’d love to see with Laurel is her work in the District Attorney’s office translating more into what Team Arrow does in the field. She’s good at her job, so why not show her finding leads and using those connections more? Felicity has the resources of almost everything that can be found electronically, and Laurel has the personal connections and the access to make things easier for the team. We’d love to just see more of her life, her friendships away from the team (if she has any), and if dating is something she’d be interested in at this point. We’d groan at the idea of a love-interest story for her if this was one year ago, but they’ve shown now since the start of season 3 that Laurel doesn’t need a boyfriend to be happy. With that in mind, anyone who turns up will have to be awesome enough to fit into her world.
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theapplefour
January 10, 2016 @ 6:08 am
They probably won’t because the Arrow writers can’t see past Felicity and Olicity, which are ruining the show. It’s a shame they can’t write enough good stories for Black Canary in a show about Green Arrow, pathetic really.
Littleone63
January 10, 2016 @ 4:51 am
I think adequate time has been provided to Laurel in each season of Arrow. 1st season was the love triangle (from hell which was an epic fail IMO), her working at CNRI, and her being a lawyer who actually went to court. 2nd season was her as an ADA, an alcoholic and drug addict, a vengeance seeking lover (trying to capture the Vigilante/Arrow cause she blamed him for Tommy’s death) and ADA, and dealing with the return of Sara and everything that entailed. 3rd season was her dealing with Sara’s death AGAIN, lying to her father, training and quickly becoming the Black Canary (in doing this the show pretty much removed Oliver (from his own show -he was recuperating from his wounds) and Diggle to give her a lot of focus. 4th season rolls around and yes her story line revolved around Sara again. IMO Laurel has had a lot of screen time devoted to her and the overall Lance family drama. I think this season she should be more of a background contributor so the show can devote some screen time to the other cast members as well.
BTW I don’t think my idea of an “under dog” is the same as yours. I think Laurel made some bad decisions and had some very bad things happen to her but that doesn’t make her an “under dog” in my opinion.
Lilah Lys
January 9, 2016 @ 11:30 pm
It’s actually sad how the writers of Arrow treat LL and BC. A character with such history and they treat her so badly with non-nonsensical arcs like the arc of the start of this season, I guess they had to introduce Sara back, but there were better options for it, many better options.
I hope that eventually the writers wake up to what a great character LL and BC is.
JustGotLittUp
January 9, 2016 @ 9:25 pm
Not a fan of LL so I guess I’m okay with how she doesn’t have more focus this year. She’s had a lot of personal & independent arcs the past 3.5 seasons, it’s time for the other characters who haven’t had that opportunity to get their due (mainly Diggle, Thea, Felicity).
RCM
January 9, 2016 @ 12:48 pm
Laurel will pobably be viewed as one of the worst characters in the history of television when all is said and done. Some people still want her to get more screen time? It’s like you want the show to decline in quality.
Akary Tun
January 8, 2016 @ 5:42 am
Great article. Love Laurel so much and really wish that Arrow would treat her better.