I agree with you. After watching the episode, I think its a fake out of some sort.
Spoilers Arrow - Season 4
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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I agree with you. After watching the episode, I think its a fake out of some sort.
But let's remember, these producers don't always tell the truth. Since at least part of the internet always guessed right at big reveals in the past, they've been trying a whole lot of misdirection. People guessed Wells was really Eobard Thawne, and the producers flat-out said "No, he's a new character". On "Supergirl", they gave J'onn J'onzz the human name of a very different DC character with glowing red eyes, and without any real evidence to go on, some people still guessed right.
And then, there's this:
CBR| New "Arrow" Synopsis Hints That -Spoiler- Might Not Actually Be Dead
When did Stephanie Brown join the cast of Arrow?
Hah, I had the exact same thought when I read the title of the article.
You need to read more carefully. Several of us posted that suggestion back on Wednesday. But the interview with the producers addressed it and seemed to refute it. That doesn't guarantee they're being truthful, of course, but it does create some uncertainty.
I don't get all the doom saying. I'm enjoying the show this year more than ever.
I don't know about more than ever, but I would say as much as ever.
It's still on the "Don't miss" list for the family
I considered that but it'd be pretty hard to get around everything that was said in the article. Guess we'll see.
I was surprised when I saw that the next episode will be called "Canary Cry".
Maybe that episode will be the fake-out, letting us think she's alive and giving us a little false hope.
Probably a wordplay -- cry as in weep, grieve, etc.
And yes, I'm confident that what you suggest in the spoiler box will be the case.
They are already undermining the import of Laurel's death by talking about her roles in Vixen and her Earth-2 character coming to The Flash. So Laurel is dead, but really not dead. And the producers did say something like death doesn't mean good bye. What makes me skeptical about this death is how they cut away from Laurel and Oliver's conversation. Plus the doctor had said before she would be fine, but then they cut away and she's then in convulsions. Seems sketchy to me.
I do think though that Amell sold his shock and grief as well. And Paul Blackthorne did a great job as well.
Overall when you have time travel, magic, and Lazarus Pits, no death is really final it seems these days. I wonder if Tommy, Shado, or Moira might come back later on.
They may have included that just as a way of hedging their bets in case they decide later on to retcon her death. It might not necessarily mean that they currently intend it to be a fakeout -- just that they're leaving themselves the option to reverse their decision in the future.
Or maybe it really is what they suggested in the interview -- that it's a setup for some future storyline motivated by what Laurel said to Ollie on her deathbed.
That sort of thing does happen, unfortunately. A patient can seem to be on the mend and then take a sudden fatal turn due to unexpected complications. That's sort of what happened to my father at the end of his life, only more gradually.
In the comics, Ollie fakes the death of Canary's adopted daughter Sin in order to stop assassins coming after them, and leaves Canary out of the loop because her shock needs to seem real (which is a bit daft, since she's a better actor than he is...). So this could be something similar.
Didn't realize that Sin was a comics character that had that type of relationship to Canary....
So S2 Sara really was the most comics-true representation of Canary so far, in every way....
So S2 Sara really was the most comics-true representation of Canary so far, in every way....
It's a rather sad commentary on the state of a fandom when someone who isn't a fan of Laurel's character is able to sum up exactly what worked about her storyline through the course of her time on the series and why her death matters while the people who actually ARE fans of the character are having a collective rage freakout:
http://jbuffyangel.tumblr.com/post/142408071103/when-its-all-over-1159-arrow-4x18-review
http://jbuffyangel.tumblr.com/post/142408071103/when-its-all-over-1159-arrow-4x18-review
^ It's a perfectly accurate analysis of the character as presented onscreen. You might not agree with it, but that doesn't make it any less accurate.
The writers very well could be hedging their bets. It's that ambiguity that makes me skeptical that Laurel is really dead. Why not play it straight?
Arrow, I don't think this show pays much attention to reality, even much less so than the first season. Why have the doctor say Laurel is going to make it and then kill her off? There was no need for the doctor to even say that. It adds to my skepticism.
Though it very well could be setting up something, mission Oliver can go on for Laurel.
Because, as you said, they're hedging their bets. That expression means to reduce your risk by giving yourself a fallback position or a plan B. TV writers don't always know what will happen in the future. An actor who left might want to come back, or they might come up with some great new idea that can only work if such-and-such a character is alive. So they kill the character off and intend for them to be genuinely dead, but they leave themselves enough of a backdoor that they can reverse that decision if it later becomes desirable. But just because they leave the option open, that's hardly a guarantee that they'll use it. On the contrary, it means they understand how unpredictable the TV business is, which is why you want to hedge your bets in the first place.
What they said in the interview is that they were looking for a way to do a character-death story differently than they'd done before, and giving the characters false hope and then dashing it is a way of doing that. Heck, a lot of stories use that dynamic. Either there's a sudden setback that seems to spell disaster and then the heroes pull out a last-second victory against all odds, or the heroes think they've saved the day and suddenly there's a shocking and tragic twist. It's a way to add an element of surprise, to increase the impact of an event through the sudden reversal of expectations.
^
Actually I got the hedging their bets thing from you. Since they created that back door it leaves the situation ambiguous enough for me that Laurel isn't dead. Granted she might not ever return to Arrow, but as you said the TV business is unpredictable.
The false hope thing, yeah, I could see that, even though I don't think it worked well here. Though I'm saying that based on I knew who was going to die going into the episode. So if I hadn't known it might have hit me hard, that is if I cared that much anymore. And now, with Arrow I don't. It's like I watch it out of inertia as much as genuine interest in the characters or story. That being said, I still like many of the actors and some of the characters still on the show. I just don't care for the direction since Season 3.
Actually I got the hedging their bets thing from you. Since they created that back door it leaves the situation ambiguous enough for me that Laurel isn't dead. Granted she might not ever return to Arrow, but as you said the TV business is unpredictable.
The false hope thing, yeah, I could see that, even though I don't think it worked well here. Though I'm saying that based on I knew who was going to die going into the episode. So if I hadn't known it might have hit me hard, that is if I cared that much anymore. And now, with Arrow I don't. It's like I watch it out of inertia as much as genuine interest in the characters or story. That being said, I still like many of the actors and some of the characters still on the show. I just don't care for the direction since Season 3.
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