#i would prefer batman didn't work with cops but also like

[kitkatt0430]

Hi! If you're still doing the character bingo, may I ask for Oliver or Lena? Ooh, or Caitlin! (Sorry if that's too many!)

I'm still doing this :D It's a lot of fun and a great excuse to keep rambling about all my blorbos.

Alrighty, first up is Oliver Queen:

Oliver Queen, the guy who started it all. We wouldn't have the Arrow-verse without him and even when I want someone to smack him hard enough he gets an amnesia arc, I'll always have a special place in my heart for his character. But he's got... a lot of issues he needs to work out. And he desperately needed to stop losing character development from one season to the next. How many times can a guy learn 'keeping secrets is bad' and promise to do better and then the following season start keeping secrets again.

I'm not a fan of Olicity, but I like a lot of the other popular ships for Oliver. Including Barry/Oliver. Which amuses me so much since their comic book counterparts seem to barely tolerate each other at best.

I think my biggest problem with Oliver, though, is that the writers didn't really understand the comic book character. They wanted Batman, they couldn't have Batman, they picked another rich, white, cisgender superhero with a dramatic, globetrotting backstory and... what makes Oliver Queen an interesting comic book character ended up getting lost. But the best example of the show writers not understanding the character is that comic book Ollie says 'fuck cops' and show Ollie says 'lets join the cops' in the final season. *waves hands dramatically* What the hell, show writers???

Now on to... Lena Luthor!

Lena deserved a better family. So much better. And she deserved to be treated better and trusted by her friends too. Imagine how much better it would have been if Lena had known from, say, late season two or early season three that Kara was Supergirl?

(Okay, so was Lena's plans during the front half of season 5 not good? well, yeah. Do I care? Nope. She has trauma about being manipulated by the people she cares about and about uneven relationships and was massively triggered. She didn't actually end up going through with anything nefarious in the end and chose to continue standing up against her brother.)

The fact that the excellent chemistry between Lena and Kara was never fully capitalized on really sucks too. Those two deserved to kiss on screen. Like... I remember there being genuine reason to think that might be where the show was headed for the series finale and the sheer frustration that there was no follow through even on the very last episode. *sigh*

Last, but not least, Caitlin Snow:

So Caitlin Snow is aspec. She's ace-spec and aro-spec and I am completely right about this. I will not be taking criticism at this time. (Or ever.)

Okay, so aroace headcanons aside, Caitlin is very much a character with wasted potential. And she's kinda complicated in fandom spaces, which I'll talk about first. She was one of the show fandom's first female non-Iris ships for Barry. Which is understandable. Iris was dating someone else (whom she had excellent chemistry with), Barry's actual girlfriend that season is Wally's wife in the comics, and Barry and Caitlin's friendship was rather sweet. But some fans were propping Caitlin up by tearing Iris down. And while most people pushed back against the racism by blaming the people being racist... I've also seen the occasional push back in the form of people insisting that shipping Caitlin with Barry is inherently racist. Fandom can certainly be a wild place, that's for sure. (That all aside, I actually prefer shipping Iris with Caitlin. Which is generally a safe fandom niche to be in too.)

As far as Caitlin's wasted potential on the show, see the season 4 retcon. Season 3 ended with the implication that going forward Frost was a mix of Caitlin pre & post powers who would spend the next season finding herself and rebuilding Caitlin's relationships with Team Flash, but on new footing as the person she'd become. And S4 wasted that set up. While having Frost as a separate character was interesting and the dual characters really let Danielle show off her acting range... it was still incredibly jarring to go into S4 and realize the parts of the S3 finale (and the season at large) got chucked out the window. And, honestly, the last time Caitlin had an interesting character arc was when Icicle was still around. I was hoping the return of Ronnie promised in season 8 might draw me back to the show, but the fact that the show reverted to 'throw love interests at Caitlin but she's still hung up on her dead husband' characterization for her was... not a draw after all.

#kitkatt0430 answers #character ask bingo #character ask meme #the flash #arrow #supergirl #oliver queen #lena luthor #caitlin snow