Arrow Season 4, Episode 18
Let it never be said that Arrowdoesn’t know how to pull off the Main Character Dies, Motivating The Rest of the Characters Into Action plot. They do it every season around this time. It was most effective in season 2 with Moira Queen’s death when we hadn’t yet had time to figure out the pattern. Things were rawer then, the stakes less predictable. The Arrowverse was still one little show, with no commitment to anything outside of the confines of its narrative. Two seasons later, the strings on the puppet that it is this plot device — the strings on the puppets that are most Arrowplot devices — are much more visible, but damn if Laurel Lance’s death at the end of “Eleven-Fifty-Nine” didn’t hurt something fierce. Once Laurel was freed from the impossible confines of her role as Romantic Interest, Arrowreally didn’t know what to do with her for an entire season. She was a guilty, drug-addled alcoholic trying to come to grips with Tommy’s death. It wasn’t a good look on her, but it actually made for some pretty great television, at least in my book — and, given all of the stuff this woman had been through, was pretty understandable. It also led to one of the best scenes in season 2: Oliver, standing in Laurel’s hallway, telling her that he has loved her for years, but he was done chasing after her. This is what character development looks like, people, and season 2 was rife with it. In season 3, Laurel was one of the few consistent brights spots. While other main characters suffered from uneven writing and unclear character motivation, Laurel was on a clear path of vengeance straight from her sister’s death to becoming the Black Canary. She was taking no prisoners and, when not training to become a badass vigilante, she was speaking the truth to Oliver in the way only old friends who mostly love you, but also kind of hate you a tiny little bit can: “If there is anyone who is using adrenaline to hide the pain of real feelings and real life, it’s you.” “I am not the love of your life,” Laurel tells Oliver. “But you will always be the love of mine.” She carries that photo that Oliver dragged to and back from Lian Yu around with her because it reminds her of simpler times: when Oliver loved her, even when he didn’t respect her, and when Star City was called Starling City and people actually wanted to live there, and before her sister died and came back to life and died and came back to life again. Laurel has been through so, so much — second only to Oliver and maybe Thea, she has probably had to deal with the most crap on this show — and she (eventually) chose love and justice in all aspects of her life. She may have turned to anger and grief and bitterness following Tommy’s death, but she ultimately chose to be a forgiving, empathetic, strong person — and there’s something incredibly inspiring about that. About someone struggling to find the right path, even when it isn’t easy. Oliver is recognized as a hero for it. Why shouldn’t Laurel be? It sucks that we had to wait until Laurel’s death episode to see Laurel really get her due and for Laurel and Oliver to have an honest, raw conversation about their past relationship, but that’s what happened. If I’ve learned anything from this episode and the last, it’s that Arrowneeds more episodes that focus on the other characters of this ensemble — the Not Olivers. Feel free to throw the flashbacks behind those supporting character-centric episodes, too. Because, as much as I didn’t hate the flashbacks in this episode for the first time in while, the present-day plotline might have been better served by a flashback storyline that focused even more on Laurel. Much like the flashback details of this episode, I was pretty under-invested in Darhk’s escape from Iron Heights. As amazing as Neal McDonough has been in the role of Damien Darhk, I still can’t manage to care about this villain. Because Arrowhas done so little to contextualize his actions, nothing he does has meaning because I can’t understand the motivation behind it. Sure, he killed Laurel to prove to Lance that he follows through on his terrible threats, but we already knew he was a major jerk who has absolutely no qualms killing, so this doesn’t really give us any new information. No, the real meat on the villain plottage this week came in the form of the Oliver v. Diggle face-off that Andy Diggle’s character incited. As I mentioned in last week’s episode review, I really wish that Arrowhad put a bit more effort into selling us on this Andy Diggle subplot. Dude pretty just popped up this season when Team Arrow needed him to sell a drastic narrative turn. Would it have killed the show to throw in a few scenes of him eating Big Belly Burger with the rest of the gang? Though the Andy As Potential Traitor storyline doesn’t have the emotional context it needs to really work, the confrontation between Diggle and Oliver certainly does. Though Oliver and Diggle are best buds again, I totally believe that Diggle would point a gun at Oliver to prove his point. (Pull the trigger? That’s another question…) Not only has John always had a serious big brother complex, we can’t forget where Oliver and Diggle’s relationship was at at the beginning of this season… “You don’t trust. You don’t love. You were able to fool The League because, inside, you are every bit as dark as they are.” Diggle said this to Oliver in the season 4 premiere, still pissed that Oliver kidnapped his wife and threatened to kill her during his League of Assassins phase in season 3. Though Diggle and Oliver has rebuilt much of their trust over the course of this past season, the fracture that formed because of Oliver’s actions in season 3 may never fully heal. So, when Diggle goes off on Oliver, it totally works with his character: “Not all men are like you, Oliver. Some of us change. Some of us grow. Some of us evolve.” Diggle actually has some pretty great points re: Oliver. He may be a bit harsh on the not changing at all thing (he’s talking to the guy who used to communicate to the viewer mainly in voiceover because he never actually voiced any of his true feelings out loud to another character…), but when he tells Oliver that Felicity broke up with him because he is “stuck in your pity and your self-righteousness,” he’s not so offbase. Unfortunately, Arrowundercuts this truth-telling by eventually letting Oliver be right, which is kind of the cowardly narrative direction to go, if you ask me. You don’t always have to contrive plot to make your main character the heroic martyr, Arrow.In fact, it’s often more affecting when you don’t.
From the quiver…
“Some guy with perfect teeth and a missing hand.” Best Merlyn description ever. “The only thing Darhk should be planning on is getting convicted at trial.” Is it just me or has Oliver gotten snarkier in recent episodes? “You really love not talking about that place, don’t you?” Laurel on Oliver and Lian Yu. You’ve got to love that, even when they are great terms, she’s still pretty bitter about Lian Yu. “Oliver, Andy is a standup guy.” As much as I believe Diggle’s lingering mistrust of Oliver, his reaction to Andy this season has given me character whiplash. “This place truly is hell. It makes monsters of us all.” Taiana on the flashbacks, basically. “Be district attorney by day, Black Canary by night.” I would watch this spin-off. Bring Thea, too, Laurel. “A magician never reveals his secrets.” Damn you, Merlyn, and your smarmy charm. “This is about keeping us safe.” “No, this is about you controlling everything and everyone around you.” “One last time.” PSA: Guys, never say this. It ensures you’re about to killed off. “It was really a hop, skip, and a jump from Diggle to you to your little sister to your ex-girlfriend.” Darhk’s “Duh, of course Oliver Queen is the Arrow speech” was magic. “Her name is Laurel Lance, and she was my home before all of this.” Gah, see you guys April 27th or whenever. Until then, I’ll be worrying about Diggle and Detective Lance…
