Time to Talk
Alright everybody, I’ll try not to be biased. Lauliver sucks and Olicity is awesome.
Kidding! (…well, more or less)
If I let my Olicity part write this article, probably I would have already said everything that needs to be said. Actually, I wouldn’t even mind writing anything, since I’ve never liked to state the obvious. But I’m sick and tired of reading all the same bullshit against Olicity. Or worse, hear about people who talk about the GA comics, even without having ever read a single page of them. So, I decided to write something, letting my unbiased part have a say about it all.
The part that looks at the facts and leaves any kind of personal opinion aside.
The part that is a fan of the comics and loves Dinah and Oliver’s relationship, but that is also a fan of the Tv show and loves Felicity and Oliver’s relationship.
I think that at this point you are all wondering – what kind of benzos I took – how on Earth I love both, or why it’s not possible to love Dinah and Oliver in the comics and a completely different couple in the show.
Right?
Wrong!
It’s very possible, because if you think about it, the only things that the comic versions of Dinah and Oliver share with their Tv fictional characters are names and destiny. And I’m not talking about ending up together, which is something they’ve never done (I’d really like to know who spreads this kind of info).
I’m talking about becoming both heroes. This is everything they have in common. As for anything else, they couldn’t be more different.
That’s why I may like Dinah and Oliver’s complicated lovestory in the comics and at the same time trying not to throw up when a Lauliver scene comes up. (I just said I would be unbiased, not a liar).
Anyway, before starting with the real article, I think I should explain a concept that not everyone may have grasped.
Oliver Queen was designed and created as a single playboy.
Unlike Clark Kent or Barry Allen, who both have a soulmate, respectively Lois and Iris. Oliver was made to be a hero, alone, who just bangs every woman getting in his way, be her a friend or an enemy.
Black Canary is not a part of Green Arrow’s plan. She’s not like Roy Harper, who was written on purpose for Oliver Queen’s story.
Black Canary’s path begins in the Flash Comics no. 86, in which Dinah Drake Lance (Golden Age) fights crime in Gotham City, joins the Justice Society, falls in love with Larry Lance and marries him. Then she watches him die in the battle against Acquarius, and that is when she gets the Canary Cry. After that event, she stays in Earth One (?), ends up becoming the leader of the Justice League (replacing Wonder Woman) and starts a relationship with Green Arrow.
All this to prove to those always saying things like ‘they are meant to be together’ that it’s not true. They are not meant to be together.
It happened, the fans liked it and their story continued to grow and change with other versions. And all this leads to Dinah Laurel Lance, to her lovestory with Oliver Queen, which, for the record, ends.
There is no comics where the two of them have a happy ending. This is why the couple canon is about them having a complicated relationship, with him repeatedly cheating on her and a final break-up.
Then, beware of those talking about the comics and saying things like 'they should follow the comics and the canon’, since of course they’ve never read a single line of the comics, and on Arrow the part related to the Lauliver canon lovestory was already put on screen.
Oliver and Laurel are in a complicated relationship, he cheats on her with basically everybody - her sister included – and they finally break up.
Not to mention that 'they should follow the comics’ is so error-prone, because the whole Tv show differs from any comics released.
Oliver Queen himself is a totally different characther from his comic version.
Sometimes I also read things like 'They get married in the comics, so they are endgame’ and every single time I ask myself if these people have really read the comics or if they’ve just stopped at the special number showing their wedding (in which all the villains try to ruin the ceremony and all the heroes intervene to save it). They haven’t clearly read what happens next, in The Blackest Night, in which Oliver as Black Lantern, tells Dinah he fell in love with Shado (lond-date comic enemy) and that she gave him a son, Robert. This leads to their divorce and the ultimate separation of the couple.
Dinah comes back to the Birds of Prey and their story ends here.
(There are no versions of their story that happen after this one)
I think you may now be wondering if I truly love Dinah and Oliver in the comics, since I stated multiple times that their lovestory ends every time.
The answer is yes, I do. But I love Dinah more.
Their lovestory, mainly in Mordern Age is complicated. They hook up, then break up. He cheats on her a lot, but at the same time, when she gets kidnapped and tortured (losing her Canary Cry and the chance to have children), she is so devastated that she can’t fight anymore but he helps her overcome this hard moment.
To make a long story short, he gets both hatred and love, from Dinah and the fans of the couple. Their story is like being on a rollercoaster
which you don’t want to get off despite that feeling of nausea.
However, you finally get off. And you do it because you end up on Dinah’s side without even realizing. Her strength, not only as a hero, but as a woman, is overwhelming. At the end of the day, when you’re not mad anymore 'cause you didn’t get a happy ending, you realize it’s right this way.
You realize that she deserves better.
Which is why I always say that if you are a Dinah fan, you cannot ship her with Oliver. And at the same time, if you are a Laurel fan in the show, you absolutely cannot ship her with Oliver.
And I’m not saying this as an Olicity fan, or Laurel fan (which currently I am not) I’m saying this as a woman! Damn it, he cheated on her with her sister. WITH HER FUCKING SISTER!
And he was sober. He hadn’t drunk anything, he didn’t have a gun pointed at his face. The only explanation (if you wish) is that he was a dick. Many will say he was a dick in the comics as well (he IS a dick in the comics as well). He cheats on Dinah multiple times, so why do you love their story, but not Laurel and Oliver’s?
Simple.
You get to see the first time Dinah and Oliver meet. You understand they are attracted to each other, even though Dinah can’t stand Oliver’s lack of respectfulness. You watch them fight crime together, have each other’s back. You see their first kiss. Well, you see them falling in love with one another. Then, he starts to cheat on her. When you already love the couple. You have to keep in mind that it’s just the fact that he cheated on her so many times that makes you accept easily the end of their lovestory.
Whereas the first thing you get to see of Laurel and Oliver’s story is that he cheated on her with her sister.
You don’t see their first kiss, or when they first meet. You don’t know anything. All you know is that he cheated on her with her sister, who died on that boat and that Laurel’s family was destroyed.
How can you love such a couple? How can you even think to ship something like this?
These questions shouldn’t even be asked, because in a perfect world nobody should think that a story that starts like this will be epic. But we don’t live in a perfect world. And there are people who believe they have an epic lovestory. So, these questions have to be asked. But you should also accept the fact that these questions will never get reasonable answers, they’ll just lead to other questions.
Now, I am not a judge that tells you who to ship and who not to. I believe that each one of us, on every show, is free to ship whoever they want to. And that there is no right or wrong love, but just people with different ideas.
But at the same time, there are things that we learn since childhood.
Things that are rules of what’s right or wrong. Do not touch the fire. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not pick your nose. Do not cheat on anyone.
Whether we follow these rules or we don’t, is not important. In any case, they are wrong deeds.
Cheating on someone is wrong. Cheating on someone when you’re perfectly aware of what you’re doing, is really wrong.
Cheating on your girlfriend with her sister, is utterly wrong!
Someone once said: “We accept the love we think we deserve”. I don’t think that Laurel or any other woman deserves the love of someone who cheated on her with her own sister. And I also think that no woman should get back to this kind of relationship.
I know that actress Katie Cassidy more than once referred to the couple as “soulmates”.
Now, I don’t know what her idea of soulmates may be, but if a true soulmate is someone who cheats on you with your own sister, I’m hoping to never meet mine.
Single is better than cheated on.
And I say it again, this has nothing to do with shipping Olicity.
Because if in an AU we watched the same show without Felicity Smoak, this idea would not different.
If he cheats on you, he’s not the love of your life.
If he cheats on you with your sister, he cannot be the love of your life.
And pay attention, I mentioned just his cheating with her sister.
I didn’t talk about the fact the he cheated on her even before, with the girl that everybody knows as babymama (that in the show is similar to Shado, who gave Oliver a son in the comics). We know about this only because of the kid. Who can tell us that Oliver didn’t cheat on her other times during their relationship?
Well… I guess it’s also a matter of personal preference.
I like stories about love, not cheating on your beloved, that’s why I ship Olicity and not Lauliver.
Then, this is the main reason why I immediately got far from this couple and I will never want them to be back together. And I know this is what many other people think out there.
Another reason is that the Lauliver story ruined my favorite female DC hero.
Black Canary.
Either in Golden Age as Dinah Drake Lance or in Modern Age as Dinah Laurel Lance, Black Canary has always been a strong independent woman, who fights for the weak and sacrifices herself for the good of others. A badass who led the Justice League and the Birds of Prey through heroic deeds.
Not on Arrow.
On Arrow, the only version of Black Canary who comes near the comic one (for now) is Laurel’s sister: Sara Lance, who doesn’t exist in the comics.
The first time I saw Sara Lance on the show was in an Oliver’s flashback, in which both of them were cheating on Laurel. Needless to say, I thought she was a slut.
Laurel was inconsistent in the first season, but she was still better than her sister, with whom Oliver used to cheat on.
But when Sara came back in season two, I changed my mind. Her strength and suffering soul were the same things we found in Oliver at the beginning of season one. As her story was becoming clearer and clearer, I was starting to understand better and like her character.
She was not Dinah Drake or Dinah Laurel, she was another version. But I didn’t dislike her. On the other side, Laurel would cry and give up hope because of what was happening to her, always blaming everyone but herself. Sara had really been in hell, paying at great cost for her betrayal but she survived.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that crying is for weak people. I’m not judging Laurel because she cries, I’m doing it because heroes don’t waste all their time feeling sorry for themselves. And they don’t blame whoever is close to them. Heroes get up from their tragedies. They change, fight back. Crying is not wrong. What is wrong is doing it on every single episode for an entire season, taking pills, drinking alcohol and blaming everyone.
I know. It was her path to become a hero. I get it but… COME ON!
As a Dinah fan I was bitterly disappointed when I saw her just as the 'love of the main character’ on season one. And on the second, when I saw her as a drunk who just feels sorry for herself and constantly blames everyone.
Not to mention those who state to be her fans and the only thing they say is 'she has to be with Oliver. They’re soulmates’.
Quoting Severus Snape’s words: “I may vomit”.
Well, wanna try to be with someone who’s just cheated on you for half of your life? Be my guest.
Dinah Laurel was Oliver Queen’s wife. She was an important love.
But Dinah is a badass hero with or without Oliver Queen! Her story doesn’t start and end with just loving Oliver Queen. Her story goes on. Her story is much bigger than this and belongs entirely to her. She was not meant to be the love of Oliver Queen’s life. Actually she was meant to be with Larry Lance. Oliver Queen found himself in her way, which the fans liked a lot, and this gave life to Dinah Laurel, who is primarily a DC hero; something that yet hasn’t been displayed on Arrow. Or rather, this is the true reason why MANY PEOPLE can’t grow fond of Laurel.
They can’t see her as a hero. Because in reality, after two seasons and a half nobody knows who Laurel Lance is. Everything they improperly know is that she is meant to become Oliver’s wife.
But besides this, who is she?
Let’s sum up what we’ve watched on Arrow so far.
She is a lawyer who believes in justice, in what is right and wrong. And up to this point, nothing to object. My first impression watching the pilot was positive.
I really did believe that I could have had my favorite hero in a tv show, but… some episodes later contradictions started.
Laurel is a lawyer who believes in justice, but she also believes in the vigilante. The vigilante acts outside the law.
The vigilante is a killer.
So how can you believe in justice and at the same time in someone who has his own justice and gets to decide who lives and who dies?
I remember I asked this question once and a Lauliver fan told me something that in that moment seemed a good and romantic motivation.
“She believes in the Vigilante because even if she doesn’t know he’s Oliver, she feels it in her heart” Great answer, romantic and even right… but, wait a second.
Episode 4, season 1. Laurel tells her father “I looked him in the eyes. He’s a killer”.
Now, I’m not an expert, but if you look in the eyes of someone that is supposed to be your true love, you shouldn’t see the killer, you should see the hero. You should see the good in him.
And, don’t be mistaken, I’m not saying that Laurel was wrong. Oliver was a killer then. But it was also something else.
As Shado said in a flashback “Everyone has a demon inside of them. The “dao de jing” recognizes the yin and the yang, opposing forces inside all of us. The darkness and the light. The killer and the hero”
If she really did believe in the vigilante because for some reason she felt that he was Oliver, so she should have seen the hero, not the killer. But that’s not what happened, so all the “I’m a lawyer who believes in justice but at the same time believe in a vigilante that acts outside the law” is the first big contradiction that the character has. Yes, you got it right. The first of a very long list.
Don’t expect me to write down all the contradictions because, believe me, it would be a process so long that I didn’t get to celebrate New Year’s Eve… but I can tell you some.
Starting with the fact that first she’s furious with Oliver (rightfully, he cheated on her with her sister) but in episode five she kisses him in a passionate way.
At the beginning of season two she tells him they cannot be together and then, few episodes later tries to kiss him. In the first season she kicks ass (remember that guy that attacked Oliver and Tommy in the nightclub) she was a badass, and we discovered her dad made her take self-defence classes. But wait, in season three a drunk managed to knock her out with a bat?!?
In season two she states the Arrow is a killer, it has to be stopped. Then in season three she wants Oliver to kill Malcolm or whoever seems to be a suspect for her sister’s murder.
So, who’s Laurel at the end of the day?
Does she believe in the justice of the law or in self-justice? Does she think killing is right or wrong? Does she love or hate Oliver? Can she defend herself or not?
The first comic Dinah did believe in the justice system regulated by law, but she put her mask on and acted outside of the law ‘cause she didn’t manage to be part of the legal system. The second one put the BC mask ‘cause she wanted to become just like her mother and therefore honor her.
What about the Laurel of the show? She was already part of the law. She was a lawyer.
I can understand that NOW in the third season, with her sister’s death, her concept of justice has changed or presents anyway some contradictions, but before? In the first season it did not make sense that she believed in the vigilante, so why make her believe in him?
Simple. The love story.
The classic part when the hero meets the woman he loves and she helps him or trusts him. A cliché that usually works, but not in this case. This time it made Laurel Lance the least understood character.
Actually as you can see in the episodes of third season in which Oliver is absent, Laurel had more success. She was not anymore the betrayed ex-girlfriend still in love, that one day will marry Oliver. They rebuilt her character, and it’s working!
This proves that, unlike lauliver that cannot work in this show, Laurel can make it! She can become a badass hero and honor in her way the comic version of BC.
Why do I believe this despite all I’ve said? Simple.
While in the comics the characters already have defined features and are heroes, in the show the character are on their path to become heroes. Arrow, unlike the comics, does not tell the stories of a hero, but its origins.
The origins of Oliver Queen.
The origins of Felicity Smoak.
The origins of John Diggle
The origins of Roy Harper
The origins of Laurel Lance.
So, just like the others, she is on her own path. And even if is not that clear now, we’ll all understand, she included, who is Laurel Lance (in this tv-version).
Clearly I cannot know if we’ll like or not the final outcome, but the writers always gave me good reasons to trust them. One of these reasons always wears glasses and a ponytail.
Yes, I’m talking about Felicity Smoak.
Because even if Arrow failed ‘till now my favorite female hero in its tv version, it gave me another.
Just like Lois Lane, Felicity is a hero that does not need to wear a mask.
She guides Oliver and also many other heroes, towards their most important part: their humanity. And not just that. She is incredibly smart, more than anyone, and kick the villains asses. A courage that leads her to save lives, more than once endangering herself, and an ability of hacking that challenges Barbara Gordon. Along with her humor and her bubbling.
There’s no need to say that she’s the most loved character in the show (according to the polls even more than the Arrow himself). The credit of course goes to incredible Emily Bett Rickards (as the writers have said many times). She bring to life a Felicity that is impossible to replicate and her chemistry with Stephen Amell changed all the plans they had made when the show began.
Because it doesn’t matter if you’re favorite character is Laurel or Felicity.
Just look at the facts and you’ll realize that, in the show, Felicity Smoak is Oliver Queen’s true love.
First season.
The original plan saw Laurel as the love interest for Oliver. We are led to believe that in those five years, he only thought about her, regretting everyday cheating on her. But for most of the audience their story was absurd and unacceptable. The main reason was, of course, cheating on her with her sister, that I already analyzed before.
We all know the writers set up the show along with the airing, keeping in touch with the socials, to see what works and what doesn’t, especially in the first season of a show.
So the authors, on half of the show, knew exactly what did and didn’t work. They knew Lauliver wasn’t working. The couple, the original plan, was not accepted by the majority of the people who watched the show. At the same time, they realized what was working. Felicity Smoak and her interactions with Oliver Queen. And guess what happens in the second half of the season?
The two of them not only got more interactions… Oliver share his secret with her and she joins the team.
But the very big decision comes at the end of the season. The authors suddenly run towards a lauliver finale, they end up in bed together but none of them say the three magical words. I LOVE YOU.
Oliver doesn’t say it, neither does Laurel.
How’s that? Wasn’t Laurel the love of his life? Why in the end they don’t pronounce those words? But, above all, since when a couple that is meant to be the endgame in a show get together at the end of season one?
This is the first big signal that something changed.
The second one? Felicity’s words.
“You know, I used to think the vigilante was a criminal, too. But, it seems to me he’s willing to sacrifice an awful lot to help the people of city.”
Arrow is a show of a hero. But it does not tell the hero’s adventures, tells the origins of the hero. The people who believe in him are fundamental and above all who they choose to say these particular lines?
No Diggle who was the first to join the team and believe in him.
No Laurel, the supposed love interest of the character.
Felicity Smoak.
A simple guest star that, according to the original plan, was supposed to appear in just one episode.
And then, cherry on top, when Laurel needs to be saved, it’s not Oliver who saves her but Tommy. Tommy is the hero who saves the girl, who tells her he loves her.
They could’ve send Oliver in the Arrow suit, she would’ve asked him why was he saving her and he could’ve removed his hood and told her revealing his secret identity and tell her he loves her. But they chose not to.
The authors decided to end the love triangle of the first season with a curious twist. Tommy is the one who really loves Laurel.
They made the change, and they kept doing it in season two.
Let’s start with the fact that in those five years Oliver did not only mourn his Laurel, like they made us believe in season one. He loved Shado, than Sara, again and God knows who else that we still have to see! So they made this clear.
And then, in episode four, guess who comes back? Sara!
Let’s just admit it: Goodbye Lauliver!
I found hilarious when people say something like “ In season two the only love story I’ve seen is the Laurel/Oliver/Sara triangle. Now suddenly, here comes season three and Oliver loves Felicity. That’s ridiculous”
I suggest to anybody who thinks like that to go back and re-watch the all season. Possibly with eyeglasses and hearing aid this time.
What the authors did in season two was closing that triangle and, at the same time, building a closer relationship between Oliver and Felicity.
Laurel and Sara finally found happiness in their own relationship. Laurel found her light in her sister, leaving behind that dark spiral she was into and on the other hand Sara, after those six years of hell that changed her in a darker way, found again the light with the love for her sister.
And with Oliver? Both the Lance sisters put an end to that chapter.
Finally Laurel and Oliver had a real argument on all the mess they caused and they’ve become out of all their mistakes. They let each other go.
Sara let Oliver go too, realizing that she’s not the one. She’s not “the one who can harness that light still inside of him”.
And, about that, let’s open a parenthesis, shall we…?
I read the craziest comments on the “light” thing and, yes I get that when someone ships a couple they tends to read every detail as a positive sign for their two love-birds, but seriously, it seems to me THIS WAS VERY CLEAR.
In episode 2x21 Oliver is ready to give up his life thinking that was the solution, for Slade to have his revenge and to avoid other killings. He lost hope. Understandable, after seeing his mother die in front of him for a mistake that he made in the past.
So Laurel, who discovered Oliver’s secret thanks to Slade, intervenes trying to make the hero change his mind. Laurel starts by saying that she doesn’t know the Arrow, who he was or what he had done ‘till that moment, but that she does know Oliver like her own name. [I’m kindly keeping my sarcasm on these lines for myself out of the goodness of my heart]
Anyway, long story short, Laurel tells him to not give up, ‘cause it’s not what he does, to go fight to death and then she hugs him. But Oliver doesn’t hug her back, and does not change his mind until she reveals that Blood worked for Slade, the mayor is the man behind the skull mask.
This changed something: maybe there’s something he could do to defeat Slade. So, basically, he still wanted to die.
And then we go with 2x22.
Oliver is in the exactly same situation of 2x21. No more cure, Slade’s men took it and there’s no way they could defeat Slade and his army without it. Diggle tries “ There has to be another way” and Oliver goes “There’s no other way”. And there we go.
Now is Felicity’s turn to speak. She tells him he honored all the people he lost by fighting and he is not done fighting. She reminds him of all the villains that he defeated, that he saved the city and that he will find a way to defeat Slade. Oliver this time doesn’t say “I can’t” or “It’s too late” or “There’s no other way”. He says “I don’t know how”.
Felicity doesn’t know the answer, but she does know two things.
Then she hugs him. And that’s the moment. The camera first shows Oliver’s face, aware all of a sudden, and then focuses on his hand, which he poses on Felicity while a blinding light brightens the whole scene.
The authors presented a parallelism between Lauliver and Olicity with a pretty clear difference.
Laurel is able to rekindle Oliver’s hope thanks to a piece of info about Blood.
Felicity is able to do that without doing anything, with her simply believing in him.
This idea is even clearer in the parallelism of the two hugs. Both women hug Oliver but he only hugs Felicity back.
Look here lauliver scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN4tC6scDCo
The camera shows his hand that holds Felicity close to him.
I don’t know, did you want anything else? Some subtitles like 'she nourishes his light’?
It’s Felicity that nourishes his light. Just like it’s their relationship, Olicity, that was built throughout season two.
When Oliver Queen is to become a hero, the only words that truly inspire him to become such, are Felicity’s.
'Maybe there’s another way’.
You can’t find another way to say this, Oliver himself admits it was Felicity’s word of advice to lead him in the right direction!
Not to mention that the only person Oliver kills on season two is the villain who threatens Felicity’s life. He breaks the promise he had made to Tommy, to save her and not with just one arrow, with three.
And it’s one of the best archers in the world we’re talking about here, but he decides to use three, to eliminate the threat on Felicity’s life. Felicity might have been saved in any other way. Instead, we get to see him trying to do everything in his power to save her.
And what about his relationship with Sara? On the following episode their ending up together in bed is based only on Felicity’s jealousy and Lauliver’s closure! Oliver tells Laurel he’s done running after her. And Laurel turns her back on him and walks away.
Like, really, one thing is being a fan of a different ship and another is denying the obvious.
And after three years of the show, the only person Oliver Queen tells 'I love you’ to is Felicity.
Find an episode, in which he says these exact three words to another girl.
Oliver has said many times he loved Laurel, Sara and Shado. I think he also loved Helena and Mckenna. BUT there is no scene when he tells them ’ I love you’. Oliver Queen said these words to one person only.
The same person he could think of before dying.
The first person he could see as a person.
The girl who was talking to his picture.
Don’t you realize that on the episode when Oliver comes back to Starling there’s no scene with Oliver looking at Laurel with nostalgia and love? (something that would have been quite understandable if we think that at the time he used to love her, right?)
But there isn’t. Nada.
Why?
Because Lauliver as a ship, has sunk. It’s dead. Gone.
It was not important to show a Lauliver moment on that episode; what was important was to show Marlance moments, since as I said the love triangle on season one ends with Laurel and Tommy.
Tommy was the man Laurel used to love.
And it was important to show a further Olicity moment. A moment when she talks to his picture and smiles.
They are building Olicity step by step and I understand if you ship something different from what the writers are focusing on at the moment, but… You would need at least something to ship. Unless, since the couple is un-shippable, those words like 'you’re an addict’ and 'go to hell’ were sweet love words (in Lauliver language). Which in the end it would be a perfect continuous for their love story, seen the way it started.
Getting back to the point. Felicity was certainly not the initial plan. But she became the final one.
Now, I know that to this speech of mine, which seems proven and pretty logical to me, any Lauliver fan would answer:
'Yours is just fan service’.
And should I think 'why on Earth didn’t I ask this to myself first?’
(Sarcasm begins…)
It’s clear that Olicity is just fan service. It’s not a love story that the authors are writing for the show. They are writing it just to please the fans.
This is not the aim of a Tv show, is it? The writers don’t set up a show to captivate a large audience to get good ratings and more money.
Nah, of course not!
The authors write a show without thinking if it may captivate the vast majority of the audience. They don’t care about the ratings and whether the show will be canceled. No, they just write shows, you know, it’s not a job after all.
A Tv show is a product that is sold by the writers and bought by the audience. Think of it like this. Like conditioner or cornflakes are sold.
These are products we often buy, aren’t they?
But there isn’t just a single kind of conditioner, there are quite a lot of them actually. Anyone chooses to buy the product he or she thinks it’s the best.
If I buy a conditioner of a certain brand and realize that it doesn’t really work on my hair, I won’t buy it again, will I? I’ll try another brand.
Tv shows work almost in the same way.
If I’m watching a show with a bad love story, I’ll keep zapping. If most of the viewers make the same choice as me, the show’s ratings will drop and the product will not be sold. This show will be canceled.
So, I’m saying this: every show takes into consideration what the fans want!
The authors write something that could captivate the audience. This means good ratings, thanks to which they will be able to keep on producing the show and earning money.
So, when you talk about fan service, you talk about the entire show.
Think about the boxing glove arrow scene with Ted Grant. It was made to honor the comics. Even this is fan service, because it’s done for a specific group of fans. The whole show is made to honor the comics and this means fan service for all the comics fans!
The show is built to captivate most of the fans.
Read carefully, MOST of the fans. This means that if you are not MOST of the fans, they don’t really care then. They can’t please everyone.
It’s impossible for a show to please everyone. Just like it’s impossible for everyone to like the same kind of cornflakes.
On Arrow, most of the fans are Olicity. And thank God! The world is an awful place already in itself, but it would be even more horrible if they were a lot of people who would consider a story where he cheats on her with her sister, an epic love story.
Finally, Gandhi once said “whatever you do in life will be insignificant” which means, I think, that everything I just wrote here will be insignificant. There still will be people who think Olicity is just fan service and people who see the comics as a reason to stay fixated on Lauliver canon, proving that they’ve never read a single page of said comics. There still will be people who think cheating on Laurel with her sister is acceptable and keep calling them soul mates.
Despite all that, I think it would matter to write these opinions of mine
that the very small part of the world who doesn’t ship Olicity, finally will.
Or at least that they’d stop being such a pain in the ass with their deluded and silly motivations that have the same logic a goat in a sweater drinking a beer out of a carton box would have.
Thank you very much for reading this far! Love you! Bye.
