Arrow Season 5: 7 Ups And 4 Downs From 'New Recruits'
6. Using Laurel As An Example
While seeing Oliver casually lay a beat down on all three of Team Arrow’s new recruits was hugely enjoyable and some sort of twisted fun, there was also some seriousness and levity to the whole situation, too.
Despite the ever-eager Felicity quick to point out that these three hopefuls need a mentor and some training much in the same way that Oliver had help during his 5 years “away” (see: believed to be dead), Ollie is quick to point out Laurel Lance as a prime example of why nobody else should be joining his cause unless absolutely necessary.
As Oliver rightly points out, it took him 5 years of brutal training – training that we’ve seen take in three years cumulative on the desolate, unforgiving Lian Yu, a year in the slums of Hong Kong, and now grim, clinical Russia – before he was ready to protect the streets of Star(ling) City.
In the case of Laurel, she hadn’t had anywhere near that 5 years of training and wound up dead at the hands of a crazed maniac. Rightly, the death of Laurel Lance is never far away from Oliver’s thoughts, and it was good to see him using her demise as a logical reasoning as to why these newbies should be kept away from potentially doing themselves and others harm.