User blog:Eobard95/Arrow Season 5 - how it should be (updated)

This is an updated version of my previous post of my idea of what Season 5 should be like. I think I can safely say that Arrow has lost it's touch in the past 2 years. Here's a show that 4 years ago could do no wrong and for the last 2 years has done every wrong. Since the producers, respectfully, just can't see to get their game back, this is roughly what Season 5 would be if I were the showrunner. Note, it's quite a long read.



6 months have passed since the H.I.V.E. plot and Oliver Queen / Green Arrow continues to protect the city and act as the beacon of hope with his girlfriend Felicity Smoak / Overwatch. He also fights to maintain the city’s image as mayor and general stability in the city has become much more improved than it has in the last few years, and people are finally feeling safer with Oliver protecting it as mayor and Green Arrow as its superhero. In the ensuing months Oliver and Felicity have gotten back together and have become re-engaged with a set wedding date in mind and everything appears to be falling into place and Oliver finally seems to achieved balance in his life. But the peace is not to last.

Oliver, as Green Arrow, is targeted by various mercenaries/assassins with unique skills, some of them are even metahumans, all working for a mysterious employer but none of them know the identity of said employer. Though the first waves of attackers are easily dispatched they progressively become harder to deal with alone. However Oliver doesn’t want to call Diggle and Thea back as they’ve finally broken away from the life, but when the mercenaries become impossible to defeat alone Oliver is left with no choice.



John, having finished his 4th tour, however, is uneasy with the concept of fighting for the team again because of a near death experience during his tour. Though this isn't his first brush with death in a warzone, it's Diggle's his first expierence since having a child and during this time he realized that if he dies his daughter grows up without a father. This is only further stressed when Lyla announces she’s pregnant with another child (Connor Hawke from Legends of Tomorrow). However because of the mercenaries Diggle isn’t able to stay away and let Oliver fight them alone so he conditions that he’ll help him defeat this threat, but this will be his last mission with the team. Oliver actually tries to discourage it all together but knows that Diggle is too stubborn to talk down and accepts his conditions.



Likewise Thea is very hesitant to join the team again as she has been spending her time away with Roy, under the aliases “Jason Todd and Mia Dearden”, and the two actually have started to build something of a normal life together. Like Diggle, Thea is forced to reconsider when she sees what the mercenaries are doing to Star City and she rejoins the team to help Oliver but Roy is unable to rejoin due to being publically dead and they are forced to part ways again. Quentin however has been unable to come back to Star City because of too many memories of Laurel and is actually happy with the life he's built with Donna in Las Vegas, which the team respects, but Donna is not the only reason he is staying behind.



With the team forced back together they set out to find out what they can about this mysterious employer but they turn up nothing. Even Malcolm is unable to turn up any information on the employer. Though it is mostly large groups of hired guns opposing them most of them are lead by a single mercenary. Among the attackers would include Captain Boomerang, Double Down and The Huntress, though by extortion, while new threats from the comics would include the Electrocutioner, as well as League of Assassins characters Lady Shiva and David Cain, though in my version they'd be released members of the league who have now become mercenaries.



The team also encounters a still-alive Deadshot, found by A.R.G.U.S. after his supposed death and brainwashed into becoming their most lethal assassin, a project authorised by Amanda Waller. However since Amanda's death he has been kept imprisoned at a secret A.R.G.U.S. facility not even Lyla knows about. To conceal the extensive burn marks sustained in the explosion Deadshot now wears a white helmet, referencing his comic counterpart. However Deadshot is broken out and sent to kill Green Arrow. However Diggle manages to get through to Deadshot reminding him of his daughter Zoe and he breaks the brainwashing, but Deadshot is still imprisoned at Iron Heights for his prior crimes.



While in custody Diggle visits Deadshot who reveals the mercenaries apparent leader: Slade Wilson / Deathstroke, who appears to be continuing out his vengeance plot from 3 years ago, though Oliver is confused as to why he’s sending mercenaries and hanging back when he is more than capable of killing all of them single handedly by himself since he knows their identities. Rightly assumed, it’s shown that Slade is not the mastermind of this plot but is being used by someone who’s holding leverage over him to force his co-operation, though Slade still wants Oliver as dead as he always has.



Meanwhile it is shown that Quentin’s true reason for remaining out of Star City is because he suspects that Laurel is still alive, given a string of sightings across the country through Central City, Keystone City and even Las Vegas. However Roy also picks up on the same trail and begins following up on it, but both happen upon the same scene where they finally find Laurel. Unfortunately what they find is not the Laurel they loved but her Earth-2 doppelganger who none of them were aware of because Barry never told them of her, who recently escaped after a S.T.A.R. Labs pipeline breach. Upon finding her Laurel-2 instantly attacks Quentin but Roy, exposing himself by accident, saves him but Laurel-2 is able to escape. However Roy and Laurel’s fight calls attention to her and the employer finds her, and it's also revealed that the employer was the one who broke her out of the pipeline for his mission but she proved uncooperative and fled and he's been after her since.



Eventually Slade finds Laurel-2 and on orders of his employer threatens to expose "her" survival to the world. Though Laurel-2 tries to explain that she’s not Laurel-1 it does little good. Slade has already been informed of where she's from, though admits to not really understanding it, but also knows that to everyone else they would assume she's Laurel and footage of her in public sent to the press would mean everyone would think Laurel-1 is alive and would be looking Laurel-2 as a result. Not wanting so much media attention on her she agrees to kill Oliver. As the employer planned when Green Arrow confronts Black Siren he hesistates as she looks exactly like the woman he loved and lost, an action which lets Black Siren practically destroy him in their fight. When she tries to finish him however she is overpowered while caught up in her recklessness and Oliver imprisons her in their newly designed metahuman cell in the Arrowcave, courtesy of Cisco.



Oliver learns that she was also sent by the same employer but is unwilling to send her to Iron Heights, out of stubborness because she looks like Laurel-1. However Laurel is unable to provide information on the employer himself and briefly escapes captivity and goes on the warpath against Slade’s men out of vengeance, but gets nowhere and almost gets herself killed until Oliver saves her. Taking pity on her because she is another version of Laurel, Oliver offers his help but Laurel immediatley declines, uninterested in being a hero, but Oliver reminds her that Slade is still out there, and has no doubt pissed him off by attacking him and will be sending more men to kill her now just like him, since we all know how deeply he holds his grudges.



Though Laurel argues that she’ll just disappear and find him first Oliver reminds her that if Slade found her once he’ll do it again, and with no leads or anyone to help her find him, there is no way she’ll find Slade until it’s too late. But Team Arrow is capable of finding him first and with enough time they can stop him together, or she's on her own and Slade will find her. Realizing that to survive she does need help she, reluctantly, accepts but makes it perfectly clear that she is not Black Canary and is no hero, which Oliver acknowledges. However Laurel is, at first, basically using the team to save her own skin.



However her presence causes tensions among the team to see Laurel walking around though it’s not really their’ Laurel, and this Laurel is more aggressive and uncaring compared to her Earth-1 counterpart who becomes more reveling with the prospect of punishing enemies rather than saving people. She also doesn’t get along with Felicity as she finds her geek talk irritating and often insults her intellect by ignoring her, even during missions, in contrast to Earth-1 Laurel who adored her. Laurel even starts using Felicity's computers without permission trying to find Slade herself, leading to more bickering. Laurel-2 has a werid reltationship with Quentin as she is his daughter but not technically his daughter but he still tries to be involved in her life, though Laurel-2 doesn’t want anything to do with him as Quentin-2 wasn't exactly father of the year. Also because Laurel-1 is dead Laurel-2 is stuck inside the Arrowcave unless suited up as Black Siren, which means wearing a mask, which causes issues between her and Oliver when she continually sneaks out to get wasted at clubs.



Meanwhile Curtis continues to aid the team with his technical support and learns more computer hacking from Felicity. Roy meanwhile also decides to help the team by looking into whatever leads he can in other cities nearby trying to find this myserious employer, though he will ensure he’s not seen publically. Oliver is meanwhile further challenged when the mercenaries begin attacking places in the middle of the day, unwilling to wait until night to attack him to draw him out, forcing Oliver to suit up during office hours, making it harder for him to be mayor and Green Arrow. Eventually one of his advisors starts to get suspicous of him and begins looking into his history and starts to unravel the mystery.



Thea reopens Verdant, you know the club she owns? However she finds herself conflicted with her approach to heroics because of Slade’s return. Though she has always supported Oliver’s way of showing mercy she also begins to realize that letting the bad guys go, allows them to come back and harm others.This has been brought on by Damien Darhk killing Laurel and then Lonnie Machin / Anarky killing her boyfriend Alex, both were in situations where it was possible to kill either of them and prevent Laurel and Alex' deaths. Now again with Slade killing her mother and because Oliver showed mercy now he’s now back and killing more people.



However she also knows that using that approach is how Malcolm became the monster he is and showing mercy is what made Oliver a better person, but Thea has gotten tired of losing friends and family. This is further pushed when Anarky continually evades capture and comes back to haunt her, and as she feels vengeful towards him for killing Alex (her season 4 boyfriend) and struggles to restrain herself, though Anarky tries to encourage her to embrace her to embrace it. This often leads to conflicts between Oliver and Thea and eventually Thea decides she's had enough and leaves the team to go solo and do things her way.



Eventually Oliver and Felicity decide to marry each other but the event is interupted in the mid-season finale when Slade launches another attack and kidnaps Thea and plans to execute her in front of the city, unmasked as Speedy. While Oliver and the rest of the team are out searching Laurel becomes dissatisfied with the lack of results to her employer's identity but realizes that she’s starting to grow closer to the team and is uncomfortable with it and arranges to fake her death, allowing herself to vanish once more so she can go find the employer herself. Meanwhile Slade’s plan is interrupted when Oliver and Malcolm team up to oppose Slade and Thea is able to escape but seemingly kills Slade in a fit of rage for her mother, though Slade uses a decoy but Thea becomes haunted by the fact that she still tried to kill Slade and succeeded in killing someone else. However as the team is surrounded and hopelessly outmatched but as it seems that they are about to be killed, Laurel returns to save them having begun to have a genuine change of heart. Following this Oliver and Felicity pick up where they left off and marry each other.



Around that time it’s revealed, to the audience not the characters, that the employer controlling Slade is David Graves (named after a Justice League comic enemy, though this version has altered origins for story reasons). Graves is a former A.R.G.U.S. agent who sees Green Arrow as a false hero who doesn’t inspire hope but inspires despair, mainly causing the death of his entire family under circumstances unrevealed for sometime, and is hell bent on ending him. It's revealed that Graves' mercenaries are being sent not to kill Green Arrow but to test him so Graves' can devise a strategy to outsmart him. It’s also revealed that Slade is working for Graves because his son, Grant, is being held hostage and Graves has threatened to kill him if Slade doesn’t obey. Trying to kill Thea however was not part of the plan, as Slade was still out for vengeance, but having witnessed Malcolm come to their aid Graves realizes he doesn’t know who he’s truly up against, and instead makes learning Green Arrow’s identity his number one priority. Slade however neglects to tell Graves his real identity as he desires to kill Oliver and no one else and begins pulling strings to ensure that Oliver’s identity isn’t exposed, all so he can kill him later when he’s ready.

Throughout the course of the rest of the season Team Arrow continue to deal with regular threats in the city, recurring foes such as Anarky, Cupid, Vertigo, Brick and several new ones. Thea's struggle is further pushed when she tries to kill Anarky and succeeds in crippling him, though it takes Oliver to restrain her from finishing him though Malcolm continually tries to influence her to ignore Oliver. John regains his passion for fighting crime in the city and reconsiders his original deal which Lyla encourages though is still undecided.



Laurel-2 also begins to grow fonder of Quentin after he saves her from one the mercenaries, almost taking a bullet for her, and finally she sees that he is a much better man that her Quentin was, and the two begin to form a father-daughter like bond, as they technically are father/daughter but technically aren’t. You know. Laurel-2 also starts to develop feelings for Oliver, as she never personally met him on Earth-2 as she moved to Central City while Sara-2 dated him instead, only to die with him on the Queen's Gambit. However Oliver isn’t entirely returning of Laurel's affections, aside from being married to Felicity, as Laurel-2 looks exactly like the woman he loved and lost which is why he feels guilty when he later admits he does feel something for her. After all we all know CW loves to do love triangles. Slade continues to attack the city but Graves has Slade stealing various technologies and planting them across the city, appearing to be building a device of some king and only engaging Green Arrow whenever their plans are discovered though Slade continually looks for a way to save Grant.



While at a press conference Oliver is attacked by more mercenaries, not working for Slade but rather a still-alive Vandal Savage (a younger version than the one who died in "Legendary"). While the team isn't that shocked to learn Savage is alive, as they learned from Ray that Savage would return to conquor the world in 2166, they are shocked when they discover that Malcolm collected his ashes which allowed him to come back sooner than he would have. Malcolm reveals to have done this trying to learn the source of his immortality to harness it himself, now that he no longer has a Lazarus Pit. Savage targets Team Arrow for revenge for his last defeat, and because killing them would make killing Kendra and Carter easier, and plans to do the same to Team Flash. However his interests conflict with Slade's and both end up in a street war killing countless civilians in the crossfire, including a friend of Thea's from High School. Eventually Oliver and Thea confront Slade and Savage but Thea actually "kills" Savage out of vengeance for her friend, though of course he will simply regenerate (inside an A.R.G.U.S. facility that is). However this causes tensions between Oliver and Thea for using lethal methods. What scares Oliver most is that losing loved ones (Robert, Yao-Fei, Shado, Akio and Taiana) is what made Oliver the ruthless viglantie he was in the first season, and fears Thea is falling down the same path.



Felicity and Laurel continue to get on each other's nerves and bicker about almost everything, much to Oliver's frustation, but Felicity soon finds out why Laurel hates her so much. During all the chaos erupted due to the attacks Werner Zytle / Vertigo takes advantage and sets up his drug buisness again. When Laurel confronts him he assumes shes Laurel-1 and seeks revenge. This involves a new strain of the vertigo drug one which not only makes it's victim expierence their fears but also forces them into a coma so they physically live it. When Laurel is affected she dreams that she is back on Earth-2 with Earth-2 Sara who in contrast to being a delinquient turned assassin, was nerdy but very shy and awkward. While Laurel herself was more the deinquent than Sara she always adored her but the two had a falling out, then a few days later Sara and Earth-2 Oliver died on the Queen's Gambit and Laurel became overwhelmed with regret, so Laurel resented Felicity because she reminds her of her sister but after confessing this they actually begin to form common ground and turn more into frenemies, as they still find things to bicker, but general tensions dwindle between them.



Oliver also encounters the Earth-2 Robert Queen / Green Arrow who comes to Earth-1 in search of Laurel-2 for her crimes against Earth-2 Starling City. However Oliver opposes Robert-2 trying to plead that Laurel isn't beyond redemption but Robert, even more a cynic than Oliver, doesn't believe him which briefly leads to conflict between them over their differing apporaches to heroism. However Oliver and Robert are opposed by Robert's archenemy from Earth-2 Tommy Merlyn / Dark Archer who follows him through. Oliver and Robert are forced to team up to oppose Tommy and eventually defeat him. After this Robert sees that Laurel has found her place on Earth-1 and lets her go while he brings Tommy back to Earth-2. Before leaving he admits he was wrong about Oliver and Thea's tactic to show mercy and admits he respects them for it, and tells them that though he's not their real father he'd be proud to be, and is inspired by Oliver to try things his way and show mercy.



Eventually Graves, while researching the possibilities on who Green Arrow is, discovers Felicity and though she checks out (Felicity having covered her tracks) he discovers her father is Noah Kuttler / The Calculator and researching his misdeeds, discovers that he was in contact with Roy the previous year and discovers that Roy is still alive. Graves realizes that Noah is the key to finding Roy seeks out Noah and forces him to find Roy again, using Felicity as leverage and kidnaps Roy while laying low and tortures him until he gives up what he knows about Team Arrow, hoping it gives him some clue as to Green Arrow's identity or at least the identity of his associates. However Noah gives away their location and Green Arrow, Speedy, Spartan and Black Siren come to their aid and after realizing his cover’s been blown Oliver has Roy relocated back to Star City for his safety, but is unable to be Arsenal as they know Graves has eyes on them everywhere.



However Oliver's advisor mentioned before discovers the truth about his identity, though Malcolm kills him to keep it safe, but Malcolm realizes that Graves will never stop looking for Oliver and if Graves can learn that Roy is alive, it won’t be long until he discovers Thea’s connection to the team. Also if the advisor can learn Oliver's identity others can too and if Graves learns it from one of them, and Graves will show no mercy to anyone affiliated with Oliver. To keep Thea safe, Malcolm meets with Graves and agrees to tell him who Green Arrow conditioning that he lets Thea live. Though Graves agrees he also knows that Slade has been playing him and knows Slade is already aware of Green Arrow’s identity and will need another enforcer after he plans to kill Slade, and manages to extort Malcolm into working for him instead when he threatens to expose his survival to the world. He also reveals to know his true name: Arthur King (Taken from the Arrow: The Dark Archer comics written by John Barrowman himself) and threatens to expose everything on him if he declines. Reluctant, Malcolm agrees. Soon after Graves tries to have Slade disposed of but is unaware he has the Mirakuru serum again, and he survives but comes to believe Graves has killed Grant and becomes hell bent on killing him too, more so than killing Oliver.



After this Graves reveals himself to the team personally and admits to being behind the mercenaries and he commits the unthinkable and murders Felicity right in front of Oliver, hours after announcing that she’s pregnant. This sends Oliver down a path of vengeance greater than anything he’s known and becomes a full on war machine of what he used to be, and stops at nothing to find Graves and kill him. However the rest of the team becomes concerned for Oliver's well being as vengefully hunting down the man who killed his wife, is how Malcolm became the monster he is now. Felicity’s death also sends Noah off the deep end and he tries to expose Oliver’s identity to the public but Curtis is able to stop him by deleting all his evidence and imprisoning him in their lair until they can find a more suitable method of imprisonment.



While hunting Graves yields not results for the team Slade approaches them and offers his assistance to help them find Graves. Slade reveals that Graves plans on attacking the city and killing everyone in it and then leveling the city with a nuke built underground, aiming to finish Darhk’s work, which Slade has been secretly gathering the parts for, though even he doesn't know the bomb's exact location so the rest of Team Arrow will need to remain behind to defend the city while he and Oliver alone go confront Graves. As expected Oliver is hesitant to form an alliance with Slade (although it's not like has hasn't worked with Malcolm every other week), but reluctantly accepts and the two head to his facility, based on Lian Yu. Graves has taken it over and used it as his base threatening the guards there to kill their families if they don't report all clear to Lyla when asked. On the island however after Oliver and Slade battle their way to him Graves pulls his wildcard and reveals Grant is still very much alive, but will kill him unless Slade kills Oliver which he tries with no hesitation.



However Oliver manages to beat Slade but is poisoned by Graves and imprisoned in the island prison where Graves explains his story: Graves' family lived in Havenrock which was destroyed when Felicity redirected the missle onto the city to stop Monument Point from being destroyed. Graves himself however was out of town at the time and when he learned of this, he snapped and sought vengeance. Using his former connections at A.R.G.U.S. he discovered Green Arrow's involvement, though not his identity, and blamed him for his family's deaths. However upon seeing Green Arrow be praised as Star City's hero and as a beacon of hope he sought to not just kill him, but to kill his legacy too.



Now that Graves has him imprisoned he unleashes his armies to destroy Star City, to ruin everything that Green Arrow’s fought for, and once the people are in a deep enough state of dispair his nuke hidden under the city will finish them off. Team Arrow is forced to oppose Graves’ men without Oliver, even with Laurel-2’s powers it proves to be a challenge, and the city is overrun when it's entire population of criminals are set free and them combined with Graves' men leaving Team Arrow hopelessly outmatched while Oliver is forcibly detained on Lian Yu by Graves’ men who make sure he stays alive. In the city Graves also stages one of his men as Green Arrow and has him killed by mercenaries to fake his death to spread the city further into chaos. After a while however Oliver manages to escape by killing the soldiers and escapes topside but is forced to re-embrace the darkness he sheltered for so long, to become the warrior he was once more to defeat the rest of Graves' men.



Following this Diggle comes to the island to rescue Oliver but he actually refuses to go insisting the island is where he belongs, where he should have died or else none of what is transpiring would have happened. Upon hearing this Diggle gives him a beat down for giving up, for betraying his principles. John reminds Oliver he joined his crusade because he saw what war can do and saw that Oliver would need someone to bring him back, in case he ever got lost and has never, ever, given up on that promise. He also reminds him that if Graves succeeds then everything he’s built to achieve will be lost and those closest to him Tommy, Moira, Laurel (Earth-1) and Felicity will have died for nothing. Upon hearing these words Oliver realizes how far he’s fallen and rises back up and the two return to the city to face Graves’ soldiers.



Meanwhile in the city Thea, Roy, wearing a different suit and using the name "Red Arrow" and Laurel-2 hold the line against the soldiers. During the fight they are aided by Slade, still wanting payback against Graves, and Oliver and Diggle return shortly after. Even Nyssa returns to aid the team. Additionally Sara and Ray briefly return from their mission with Rip Hunter to aid the team. Malcolm continues to aid Graves instead however so he won’t expose his past as Arthur King and his survival to the world. During the fight Thea has a chance to kill Slade after being buried under debris and he even encourages it but Thea spares him, not wanting to sucumb to Malcolm's level, though nothing is forgiven between the two. However during the fight Diggle suffers a severe injury and though alive, is practically incapacitated, and eventually Oliver confronts Graves but he realizes that he’s the symbol of hope and for his own sanity chooses to spare him.



Instead Slade murders Graves out of vengeance for kidnapping his son but before Oliver can take him down Slade escapes but leaves a message for Oliver: Slade makes it perfectly clear he does and always will hate him for what happened to Shado, but in return for Oliver helping him save Grant's life Slade won't cross paths with Oliver again, provided he does the same. Oliver accepts this and hopes that he and Slade will never see each other again. Of course this wouldn't last but it would allow Slade to appear in crossovers in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, which would also be awesome.



Also Thea decides to rid herself of Malcolm without killing him, and tired of his betrayals and truces, reveals Malcolm’s survival to the police and Malcolm is forced to leave Star City forever. Exposed and with no League of Assassins and no H.I.V.E. and now being wanted by the police, F.B.I. and presumably A.R.G.U.S. Malcolm then becomes a mercenary himself, but would grow to hate Oliver with every fiber of his being but in the meantime is unable to do anything because of the heat on him but would come back for vengeance later.



In the aftermath Oliver grieves for Felicity’s death. Diggle is diagnosed with partial paralysis although he can still walk he can’t push himself too far, or he’ll worsen the injury and he is forced to retire from active field work as Spartan but chooses to stay and remain Oliver’s confidant helping any other way he can. Lyla also gives birth to their new son who Sara suggests they name him John Diggle Jr. Laurel-2 decides to remain with the team as she can have a new life, a new name and a new start on Earth-1 and expresses liking for being a hero, but also because of affections developed for Oliver, which Oliver would be implied to return but nothing would occur, at least this season, because of him and Felicity but not to say it couldn't happen later.



To cover her presence of looking like Laurel-1 Laurel-2 takes up the new name “Dinah Drake” (named after the Golden Age Black Canary) and is passed off as a long lost twin sister of Laurel-1. Or something not really sure but I'm sure the producers could think of something to explain it. Curtis also takes Felicity’s place as tech support utilizing all the skills learned during the year. Roy is forced to leave unfortunately as he’s presence could expose Oliver’s secret while Thea decides to stay to carry out her work, and the two are forced to part ways but remain in contact.



Likewise Sara and Ray are forced to leave to aid the team with their threat to time itself and part ways with them yet again, but before leaving they tell Oliver about the future (Star City 2046) and Oliver promises to keep an eye on Grant in the coming years. Quentin is reinstated as police captain for his part in helping save the city and arranges Laurel-2’s new identity for her while Anarky and Calculator are imprisoned on Lian Yu so they won't harm anyone again.

This is just what I think Arrow Season 5 should be and I, speaking modestly, think it would be awesome. Yes I haven’t entirely accounted for all characters but this is just a few ideas.



I understand that people might think the Earth-2 Laurel becoming a hero and taking Earth-1 Laurel’s place is a bit farfetched but I don’t think it’d be an impossible feet. Look at Mick Rory, a criminal and arsonist whose killed a lot of innocent people, and now he’s a hero and apparently is a member of the Justice Society of America in the future? Anyway if Mick can be redeemed why not Laruel?. Honestly I think this is a good opportunity to do the character differently and better this time because as devastated as most of us were when Laurel died, we can’t ignore that she wasn’t the best written character of the show. True she evolved from a lawyer who suffered many losses in her life and channeled her grief by taking on the city’s criminal underworld as a hero, and served as a role model for women. However Season 1 she more often felt like a plot device to Oliver and Tommy’s story, Season 2 she descended into drug abuse, Season 3 she kept Sara’s death a secret and was quite reckless taking on foes like Malcolm, Season 4 she brought Sara back to life despite knowing she’d come back different. It doesn’t make it any less devastating that she’s dead but if they introduce Laurel-2 to the team it’d be a chance to do the character differently and hopefully better, though not to say we forget Laurel-1 either. An Oliver and Laurel-2 paring might sound a bit off but then again so did Oliver x Felicity so I don’t feel as bad about having this idea, as I previously stated I don’t think I was being naive to assume Oliver and Laurel-1 would end up together at some point. Of course I would much prefer it if Laurel-1 were actually still alive but she's bascially all but confirmed to be dead, we saw the body we saw her burried and Rip Hunter all but confirms it by revealing that Sara and Quentin would have died also if he didn't recruit Sara to his mission. If Laurel-1 is alive I'd be happy but I'd be very confused as hell and it's be kinda pointless considering that people have gotten so angry with the writters that they've stopped watching it, something I considered doing too, and it'd be a pointless revelation.

I also do know I have used time travel and multiverse and yes Arrow is, well apparently, more grounded even though we've seen magic, strength ehnahcning drugs, hell Oliver and Laurel went to the afterlife to retrieve Sara's soul! Anyway Arrow is "More Grounded" but what's the point of having a shared universe of programs if they don't utilize each other's concepts?

Aside from that tell me what you think of it and be honest, I’d like to hear what you think of my idea.