Arrow: 6 Reasons Why Laurel's Death Was Actually A Good Thing

6. Too Many Death Fakeouts

Arrow developed the unfortunate habit over its first four seasons of not keeping dead characters dead. The Dark Archer - AKA Malcolm Merlyn - turned out not to be dead. Sara Lance comes back from the dead all the time. Slade was never dead. Ray and Roy only seemed dead. Oliver wasn't even dead after being skewered and kicked off a mountaintop. Thea was brought back from certain death thanks to a magical pool of resurrection juice. Andy Diggle hadn't actually been killed in action. The show had established a world in which "dying" doesn't necessarily mean being gone forever, and that was a status quo that completely ruined the stakes for a lot of the conflicts. The danger didn't feel as real if resurrection was a possibility.

Laurel's death was established right away as one that is sticking. Nyssa even confirmed to Quentin that there are no more known Lazarus Pits that could be used to bring her back, and magic was never seriously explored as an option for undoing her death. Arrow killed Laurel with no clear intention on bringing her back, and the stakes are nice and high for the good guys in Star City once more.