





In many ways to us, “Arrow” season 3 was the year that Laurel Lance came into her own. Some of the darkness of the past was behind her, and in its place stood strength, resolve, and of course a costume to kick butt in as the Black Canary. She had a really great year, and she’s now front and center for most of the action on the show.

With that said, what can be done with Laurel out of costume to make her even more effective when she’s in it? In our latest chapter of our TV Underdogs series, we investigate some potential ideas to give Katie Cassidy more screen time, and also ways to beef up this character into someone who can easily carry a show in her own right.

Why she’s an underdog – For one, she certainly started out that way. She had to learn to go from someone being attacked in her apartment several times a season into someone nobody would ever want to mess with. She’s gone through addiction, disapproval, and rejection and has become a formidable force on the other side of it. The show has worked hard over the past year and a half to make her into a strong character, and she’s every bit of a hero now as anyone else on the team. What better definition of an underdog is there?

Why we don’t see more of her – So far this season, it’s circumstantial. Oliver and Felicity are going to command a ton of airtime now that they are together, and we’ve had big plotlines for Diggle, Thea, and even Laurel’s father Captain Lance. With all of that plus a scene-chewing villain in Damien Darhk, there has really not been too much room to give us lengthy stories for her beyond Sara’s resurrection, which is probably over now that she is on “Legends of Tomorrow.”

Ways to give her more airtime – The first thing we’d love to see with Laurel is her work in the District Attorney’s office translating more into what Team Arrow does in the field. She’s good at her job, so why not show her finding leads and using those connections more? Felicity has the resources of almost everything that can be found electronically, and Laurel has the personal connections and the access to make things easier for the team. We’d love to just see more of her life, her friendships away from the team (if she has any), and if dating is something she’d be interested in at this point. We’d groan at the idea of a love-interest story for her if this was one year ago, but they’ve shown now since the start of season 3 that Laurel doesn’t need a boyfriend to be happy. With that in mind, anyone who turns up will have to be awesome enough to fit into her world.

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