Team GATV Midseason Roundtable Part 2: Looking Ahead

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How about “Lauriver?”

CRAIG: At the moment, as romantic partners, I’m not seeing it, but as crimefighting partners? I hope so. Oliver and Laurel are very old friends, and I liked their cooperation at the start of the season, and I hope to see more of that.

Does Oliver love Laurel? Of course. But you can love someone without being in love with them. And who knows? Maybe the future of the show and the characters will surprise us in that department.

MATT: I think there will always be the consideration of Oliver and Laurel together, but I like that they aren’t focusing on that between them at the moment. Their individual paths and struggles, at this time in their lives, are very different trains of thought than romance.

In a certain sense, this feels like it is drawing them closer to each other as people than the earlier attempts at pushing them together as a couple. I’m very interested to see how they react to one another, especially as Laurel takes on this new life.

STEPHANIE: Because of the comics, there’s always going to be hope for Oliver and Laurel. However, if I were to look at the series on its own, I’m less inclined to give a hopeful answer. Between Oliver briefly trying to rekindle things with Laurel, having a relationship with her sister twice, and Laurel dating his best friend, there’s layers and layers of awkward to overcome if they were to have another stab at a relationship. There’s enough history and heartbreak between them that, at this moment, it would be hard to accept them as a couple. It may change down the line, but with Laurel taking up the Canary mantle, it would be too much of a reminder for him and for the audience of what he had with Sara.

DEREK: Kind of the same as my thoughts on “Olicity,” in that it’ll never not be a possibility as long as they’re both on the show. I have to say that I really enjoy their platonic relationship right now, and Amell and Cassidy seem to have more fun just firing back at one another. But I also wouldn’t have expected Laurel to be where she is now this time last year, so who knows what will change over time. As long as it makes sense and isn’t forced, I’m game.

In terms of the Green Arrow/Black Canary comics canon, I guess I have a hard time taking that into account, and I know I’m weird in that sense. I’ve never liked the “endgame” mindset, aside from a few things (Any version of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, and Chuck and Sarah from Chuck are probably the only people I’ve technically “shipped.”) But I’ve always felt like so much can change between now and the actual end of the show, which still isn’t necessarily the end of the characters’ lives. And as How I Met Your Mother’s disaster of a finale showed, forcing an endgame decided at the beginning may not work by the time the show has wrapped.

If the show runs long enough, we could see Oliver marrying and divorcing one and then getting together with the other. Who knows? So if you have a pairing you root for, that’s awesome. But like I’ve said, since the only pairing I personally yearn for is Slade and Oliver, and that’ll never happen, I’m down with whatever works for the story. Right now, I haven’t had much of a problem with how relationships with both characters have been handled this season, and I’m excited to see where they go.

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