History Headscratchers / Arrow

** Well, whether it makes sense or not, there *is* an emotional aspect to it. She is literally a doppelganger of a close friend and teammate - in Oliver's case, a person whom he "loved for half his life". And for Lance of course, she was his daughter - as he told Oliver "this parallel universe crap is *crap*. So they would certainly like to believe that she can be redeemed, and in that way, honor the original Laurel. They are also trying to honor Lance, who believed that Laurel could change. And she *did* spend most of Season 7 helping the team, including and especially getting Oliver out of prison, and helping the team get deputized. So the team hoping for redemption for Laurel is not *that* far-fetched.

** Well, whether it makes sense or not, there *is* an emotional aspect to it. She is literally a doppelganger of a close friend and teammate - in Oliver's case, a person whom he "loved for half his life". And for Lance of course, she was his daughter - as he told Oliver "this parallel universe crap is *crap*. So they would certainly like to believe that she can be redeemed, and in that way, honor the original Laurel. They are also trying to honor Lance, wh believed that Laurel could change. And she *did* spend most of Season 7 helping the team, including and especially getting Oliver out of prison, and helping the team get deputized. So the team hoping for redemption for Laurel is not *that* far-fetched.

** It seems unlikely Oliver and Tommy went to public school, maybe Laurel attended their private school somehow and met them there. It's mentioned Dinah married Quentin against her parents' wishes, so maybe they were wealthier, disliked Quentin's middle class profession and paid for private school for their grandchildren. Or maybe Laurel was on a scholarship as she's portrayed as pretty intelligent. Or Quentin and Dinah scraped together to give Laurel the best education possible. That would explain a lot of Laurel's characterization: Pushiness, arrogance, workaholic nature, originally going to take the fancy San Francisco lawyer job, even her slight GoldDigger tendencies (planning a life with Oliver even though he was cheating on her etc.) Going to a private school she grew up feeling slightly inferior and out of place and so is always fighting to be the best. Maybe she attached herself to Oliver and Tommy because they were the cool kids and/or the type of people she aspired to be. Even explains how she's always forcing herself into Team Arrow, she see's them as yet another elite group she wants to be part of.

* For starters, like Oliver says himself, she's ''not well''. Cupid is ''mentally ill'', and not in a CrazyAwesome way; you don't put her in a team like that where she's likely to be killed or traumatized (and thus, further damage her mental state) so she can 'at least be useful', you put them in a mental institute until they can medicate her illnesses. This really was a dick move on Ollie's part, and the others for not calling him out on it.

*** Your analysis of Laurel's relationship with Oliver and Team Arrow is a bit exaggerated. Along with "Damaged", the next episode "Legacies" revealed Laurel went to high school with Oliver, Tommy, and the also rich Carter Bowen. A tie-in comic further confirmed she and Sara went to a private high school. From personal experience, it's not uncommon for children of families who are at least a little above middle-class to attend private secondary school for its education quality. It makes perfect sense for Laurel and Sara to do this, and Laurel is especially implied to have been an academically successful student. Whether she attended private school from middle or high school, I can see her having been classmates with Oliver and Tommy, which is how she befriended them.

** The device is called the sonic bracelet and Sara just received it in "Lost Canary" from Felicity, who made it by upgrading Laurel's Canary Cry choker. At the end of the episode, Sara did give the bracelet to Dinah, who used it a couple times in place of her sonic scream. In the new multiverse, Dinah has her powers back so she doesn't need it anymore. Also, the bracelet is meant to be a symbolic representation of Laurel's legacy. Sara is her own hero and has since moved on from her sister's death so she doesn't need it, and it wouldn't make sense for her to use it.

*** Your analysis of Laurel's relationship with Oliver and Team Arrow is a bit exaggerating. Along with "Damaged", the next episode "Legacies" confirmed Laurel went to high school with Oliver, Tommy, and the also rich Carter Bowen. A tie-in comic further confirmed she and Sara went to a private high school. From personal experience, it's not uncommon for children of families who are at least a little above middle-class to attend private secondary school for its education quality. It makes perfect sense for Laurel and Sara to do this, and Laurel is especially implied to have been an academically successful student so a scholarship is possible. Whether she attended private school from middle or high school, I can see her having been classmates with Oliver and Tommy, which is how she befriended them.

** It seems unlikely Oliver and Tommy went to public school, maybe Laurel attended their private school somehow and met them there. It's mentioned Dinah married Quentin against her parents wishes, so maybe they were wealthier, disliked Quentin's middle class profession and paid for private school for their grandchildren. Or maybe Laurel was on a scholarship as she's portrayed as pretty intelligent. Or Quentin and Dinah scraped together to give Laurel the best education possible. That would explain a lot of Laurel's characterization: Pushiness, arrogance, workaholic nature, originally going to take the fancy San Francisco lawyer job, even her slight GoldDigger tendencies (planning a life with Oliver even though he was cheating on her etc.) Going to a private school she grew up feeling slightly inferior and out of place and so is always fighting to be the best. Maybe she attached herself to Oliver and Tommy because they were the cool kids and/or the type of people she aspired to be. Even explains how she's always forcing herself into Team Arrow, she see's them as yet another elite group she wants to be part of.

** As of Eleven Fifty Eight clearly some of these slaves are so loyal that they have decided to remain in service to a group that no longer formally exist. Which means at least some of the former League either never accepted Nyssa's rule or at the very least took the disbanding as advice and went straight to the last guy who wanted to be in control. We have no clue how many remained loyal to Malcolm. It could be just the handful we saw or the entire organization we have no way of knowing at this juncture.

* Where the hell has Thea been living? Diggle said that she hasn't been living in the Queen mansion. So, she's been living with Roy. Except theres a 50/50 shot his place was destroyed in the Undertaking. So they both moved into Verdant. But then how did Felicity renovate the lair without them noticing?

** Likely, it's to distinguish him from 'the Hoods', the copycats in the first episode of Season 2. Notably, it wasn't an instant thing; some people still called him 'the Hood' for quite a while, and IIRC some still do, it's just the more mainish characters call him the Arrow now.

** It doesn't happen overnight though. Oliver tells Quentin his new moniker, so he starts using it, and presumably the name just filtered through the SCPD from there.

** There's a throwaway line in season one where Oliver mentions to Diggle that he had a side entrance installed.

** Its not so much BlackAndWhiteMorality, as its his mother told him that there were no ore secrets. He's annoyed that she continues to hide little details and lie about them (and while he does that too, being a bit of a hypocrite concerning this stuff is an acknowledged flaw in his character, one he's called on more than once). Its also possible he's annoyed that, thanks to this, if Thea should find it it would destroy her, so its his protectiveness over Thea kicking in. He's also possibly annoyed that she tried to blackmail/threaten Felicity into staying quiet about it, especially after seeing how much turmoil it caused her to do so.

** He just lost his mother. He's traumatized more than he's ever been, and he just wants it all to end. He's not thinking clearly, he just wants Slade to kill him and end this,; it's not him being dense, it's him being completely at Rock Bottom.

** There's a few reasons why Ra's would want Malcolm dead once the exact nature of The Undertaking was revealed. First, if the League of Assassins is anything like in the comics, they're big on eliminating any of their members who go for RevengeBeforeReason. The [=LoA=] is big on subtlety (or, at least, plausible deniability) when killing someone and earthquakes appearing where there aren't usually earthquakes will get attention. Another possibility with Ra's, DependingOnTheWriter, is that EvenEvilHasStandards and that while Ra's can forgive a personal vendetta when honor and family is involved, he will not tolerate the random slaughter of innocents. The well-planned slaughter of innocents in the name of tradition, as in Season Three, is something else entirely, FromACertainPointOfView.

** Mostly true. However, early on, he didn't even use it when talking to Detective Lance (see ep.3 for example), y'know, ''his ex's (exes'? TooSoon?) father''. How Lance, who by this time had previously seen the Hood's chin, didn't make the connection at this point, is anyone's guess (yeah, I know, see ClarkKenting and all, but still.). As for why he doesn't have it turned on all the time, hey, he already loses enough time putting on the suit and that damn eye 'makeup, if he knows it's not necessary, that's a few seconds that can help [[BigDamnHeroes save someone's life.]]