Characters on Olicity

[BkWurm1]

Good writing makes a good character.

So if the writing is bad for Laurel, she is a bad character?

[Dagenspear]

So if the writing is bad for Laurel, she is a bad character?

It's poor for all the characters.

God bless you! God bless your family and everyone else in your life!

[evaba]

It's poor for all the characters.

God bless you! God bless your family and everyone else in your life!

That is a very astute observation! I'd like to add that the issue of "poor writing", and which character is poorly written is also in the eyes of the beholder. It is not a fact that "the writing is bad for Laurel" (and that she hence is a bad character) just because BkWurm says so. As becomes evident in the Felicity Smoak thread, there are posters on this forum who feel that Felicity is poorly written and almost unbearable right now, but I doubt that BkWurm would agree with that!

So, standards and preferences vary, but in general I'd say that the "Arrow" writers are not very skilled when it comes to giving their protagonists good, consistent character arcs. Oliver's characterization in season three was IMHO totally botched, out of a need to keep Merlyn as a main player in the season three plot. The "Arrow" writers also often go for sensationalistic "game changers" rather than consistent character portrayal, as when they made Thea Sara's killer. So, if bad writing makes for bad characters, Laurel is by no means the only victim. In fact, I think her season three character arc was the saving grace of a pretty disappointing season.

[BkWurm1]

It is not a fact that "the writing is bad for Laurel" (and that she hence is a bad character) just because BkWurm says so.

Forgive me, I couldn't resist. I was making a sly reference to a discussion where Dangenspear and I went round and round and round and round and round and round with Dagenspear saying Laurel's issues were the fault of bad writing and me saying eventually the bad writing becomes her character to which there was stanch disagreement from Dagenspear. I couldn't resist poking the bear since bad writing = bad character was basically my argument in our earlier discussion and suddenly Dagenspear seemed to agree with me. Lol. I knew better though.

[Dagenspear]

Forgive me, I couldn't resist. I was making a sly reference to a discussion where Dangenspear and I went round and round and round and round and round and round with Dagenspear saying Laurel's issues were the fault of bad writing and me saying eventually the bad writing becomes her character to which there was stanch disagreement from Dagenspear. I couldn't resist poking the bear since bad writing = bad character was basically my argument in our earlier discussion and suddenly Dagenspear seemed to agree with me. Lol. I knew better though.

In those discussions I said the writing is poor for all the characters. They're all bad characters.

God bless you! God bless your family and everyone else in your life!