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murphystartedthefire · 6 years

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“oh nooo!” it’s the 5x13 Murphy/Memori meta

So the first thing I wanna get out of the way is this is more about Murphy in that little exchange than Emori, and mainly that’s because... tbh this moment didn’t exactly do justice to her in the way a lot of the rest of the season did. I’ll be the first one to complain that as gorgeous and vindicating as this was for the shipper in me, it didn’t actually resolve the problem that the rest of this breakup storyline has been about at all. They still seem to need a crisis to be their best OTP selves, and whether they’re gonna try again to translate that into a peacetime relationship is... unclear.

That said, I don’t see this I Love You, Dumbass moment as unearned at all. To me there’s no mystery of how Emori got to this point, because she’s been there all along -- we know that she loves him, we know that she wants him to live, she already refused to leave him in danger a full 8 episodes ago even while they were fighting. And I previously wrote about how I took this as partly her trying to Motivate Him to fight and survive, ‘cause they both know he’d do that for her as much as for himself or even more.

My issue is more what comes AFTER this - are we supposed to think things are still rocky between them and will be addressed again next season, or that they’re just a couple again now? I’ve seen fans take it both ways! But if it’s the latter, I’m left feeling a tad let down by the payoff of all that angst, like their conversations in 5x06 and 5x08 never actually went anywhere and nothing really changed on *her* end of the hurt-feelings.

(Personally I would’ve loved to get a post-surgery or pre-cryo moment, even a brief and snarky one where he was like “soooo the Man You Love, huh?” and she was like siiigh, we’ll talk about this in the morning 10 years from now. Something to indicate they still had stuff to work through! If not only for me, then for the several people I know who said their ability to root for Memori was genuinely damaged by this season. I would love for there to be a reason why it was handled that way and touched on Very Legitimate issues if they were gonna land right back where they were before the time jump. But as usual I can’t expect a ton from this show and might just need fanfic to fix that. *g*)

SO ANYWAY, that’s my little complainy disclaimer but what I REALLY wanna talk about is this:

There is so much emotion going on here, MY HEART.

First of all, every time he’s pulled the self-sacrifice thing this season there’s been a sort of resignation to it, and nobody’s really *stopped* him or anything. Emori already did stay behind with him once and he was pretty shocked, but even then it was not like this; it wasn’t about his *certain* death, it was just another adventure in the woods and caves, their thing. This is the first time he is really and truly doomed and knows it.

I remember Richard saying in an interview recently that Murphy almost doesn’t *believe* he can die at this point, he’s made it out of so many close calls that he's not even really afraid in situations when he should be. But here? He’s never gotten shot before. He knows the bombs are coming in 9 minutes. He’s a terrible runner when he’s NOT bleeding to death. He’s definitely got an awareness of his mortality right then, the reality that death was coming very soon for..... maybe the first time since he ran out of food in the lighthouse? Or losing oxygen in the last finale (hey remember when: Emori kept wanting him to be the last thing she saw as she died, while he had to tear his eyes away the second she passed out because he couldn’t handle it).

Anyway what was I saying? OH YEAH HE WAS MORE CONVINCED IT WAS FINALLY OVER FOR HIM THAN FANDOM WAS.

And as soon as he knows he is doomed, he absolutely knows that they are going to leave him behind. Why wouldn’t they? He hears Niylah say it. They need to go survive, and he’s pushed them away a whole lot on top of it, and this is the part where his worst and most inevitable fear happens and he Dies Alone.

And then Emori tells him there’s no way in hell that’s going to happen. She of all people - someone he was fairly convinced hated him for a while, who told him in their last serious conversation that he was gonna fall apart on her, Emori his true love and simultaneously the gaping void of all his hopes of being a better person than he is - is determined to either will him to do the impossible or die romantically alongside him.

(x) (Look it’s the same gif again but prettier)

And part of him *wants* that so badly. It is an overwhelming reassurance to him that Emori loves him. She won’t accept this terrifying fucking thing happening to him. I saw one person compare his tearful forced-smile to this scene when Bellamy apologized to him, which I wouldn’t read too much into except Murphy does that when he knows the tears are coming and desperately doesn’t want to cry.

He’s wanted Emori to be his again for months, in fact he wanted it *even longer* than that while their relationship was disintegrating and she no longer needed him to survive. And now she’s telling him that she does need him like that, and that she loves him more than her own life and it’s at the worst possible time. A time when he knows he HAS to let her go, because the one thing he wants even less than dying alone is to have her die trying to save him. To kill her the way he killed his father. “I’m not gonna do that to you,” he says. Ffff punch me in the face, it would hurt less.

OH HEY DID YOU THINK I WAS DONE BECAUSE THEN HE LOOKS AT FREAKING *MONTY*.

Monty “You don’t like to be called useless, do you, Murphy?” Green, Monty “secret badass” Green, Monty who when their positions were reversed six years ago was *grateful* that Murphy carried the machine first and came back for him later, THIS SAMWISE GAMGEE MOTHERFUCKER WANTS TO PUT HIS LIFE ON THE LINE FOR HIM TOO. The *disbelief* of it, how much he wants and doesn’t want this from them at the same time, and then he throws like a full pain tantrum while it’s happening.

Murphy had a family who loved him once, until he didn’t anymore, and he has spent every year of his life since then wanting it back and not trusting or knowing what to do with it when he has it.

And this is the one thing I wish was textual, as much as I’m happy to fanwank it - I just wanted one line where he tells Emori some version of “I fucked it up, the life-is-more-than-survival thing, I wasn’t good for you, you were better off without me, you were right that this is all I know how to do.” Like, a genuine apology and less manipulative version of that now that I typed it out. XD I dunno, it would be SO EASY to fit this scene more satisfyingly into what his actual arc this season was and I’m frustrated that it didn’t quite go there.

But the bones of it are there -- Murphy wants to die here, on the ground, and let Emori and Monty and the rest of spacekru go back to space where they were happy and he couldn’t keep his shit together. But Emori, and Monty, and even Bellamy stubbornly refusing to give up as the clock runs out back at the ship are like “hell no" to that. They will carry him screaming on their backs (ok, one of them more literally than the others) if they have to, to make him believe that he is worth something to them, that he might still get a happily-ever-after even if it’s hard.

#the 100 #the 100 meta #john murphy #emori #memori #that boy's a fighter #meta #cute for a thief #space family

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cogentranting · 7 years

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My post on Taiana blew up with a huge Susan Williams discussion (why how) and I don’t have the time or energy to respond to each bit of individually and the original post was getting really long so I’m just going to give my full take on Susan Williams (and to some extent 5a in general) here and I’ll tag the relevant people (or try to, there was a lot going on).

First let me note- to all the people saying that season 5 began with 5x17 for them, that irks me. I know it shouldn’t because it’s just your opinion, but it does. I LOVE season 5. All of it. I think it is either the best or second best season of any Arrowverse show. 5x09 is one of the best episodes of the series. 5x01 is possibly my favorite season premiere since the pilot. 5x06 was really really interesting and different with the mind games. I loved seeing Oliver figure out how to be mayor. 5x08 was a fabulous 100th ep. They made me fall in love with Rene and Rory and Evelyn’s betrayal was a great twist. 5x12 was an incredible episode. I have no major complaints about it, there were no episodes I disliked, I felt like they were doing great things with all the characters (apart from restrictions put on them by Willa Holland’s adjusted schedule) and I felt like everything was extremely well written. So to try to start off a conversation about this part of the series with me by saying that you completely discredit that portion of the season... It irks me. But again I know it shouldn’t.

You say the narrative doesn’t show Susan as someone who actually cared about Oliver (note I said and have always said cared, not loved)? No it absolutely does. You don’t have to like Susan, but the argument that she was written as a sneaky deceptive character that either the writers should have known better about, or was intended to be hated, is simply not supported by what actually happens in the show or by the way Susan, Oliver and Thea are played by their actors. Dislike her all you like, but here’s what the actual narrative is:

Susan's attack on thea was demonstrated to be entirely not personal- she was doing her job in a particularly ruthless way but not out to get Thea. It’s actually a very Thea/Moira like move. And honestly- I don’t think the sweet school teacher you suggested is Oliver’s type so much as a cunning reporter- he’s dated a medschool student/warrior, a lawyer who became a crimefighter, an assassin, a cop, a mob boss’s daughter, and our very own master hacker. Oliver doesn’t exactly go for the super sweet and innocent type.

The very first meeting between Susan and Oliver you can see her watching him. She doesn’t like him from an external perspective but even with a few minutes of actually knowing him, she softens, just a tad. Oliver starts talking about the need for affordable housing etc and you see Susan give a little nod of approval and a tiny smile that’s almost surprised. This guy actually cares about this. And then Oliver messes up with the politician he’s talking to and you see Susan give him a sort of “tough break” look. Oliver calls her in the next day to try to win her over. Extra Oliver Queen charm. And Susan laughs at his jokes, smiles a lot, says “you seem like a nice guy, but you’re not a real politician” she likes him, but doesn’t support him from a professional standpoint- she truly believes that he is going to hurt the city for being underqualified and he seems to respect her for standing by that “I respect the fact that I haven’t earned your trust yet”. He proposes the one month deal and she smiles to herself agrees, and then offers her number to him. Because she likes him. And he smiles when she leaves and keeps the number (5x05).

Next time we see her, she’s living up to her end of the deal, going easy on him in an interview. And she takes the opportunity to flirt with him again, with a little smile as she walks away. And Oliver is slightly flustered but smiling (he found out about Billy shortly after their last conversation). He even smiles privately to himself after she walks away. Thea and Quentin both attest that he was flirting back. Oliver is interested, especially since the door to Felicity seems closed. (5x06)

Next, she has an interview with Oliver, she’s waiting in his office. They’re fairly casual- he apologies for being late, she tells him not to worry, he tries to get to business and she’s put out “so formal, that’s no fun” and then gets serious when he says he’s busy. She asks him about some killings, he asks her to leave it alone, and she agrees, very clearly because of a personal connection to him. She decides not to pursue a story about a serial killer terrorizing the city because Oliver asked her not to. And then the business side of things is dropped and Susan hangs around and Oliver lets her. “I know being mayor’s a hard job but you look more in need of a drink than anyone I’ve ever met” He laughs and confides in her about some of the things that are stressing him. He even feels comfortable enough to express doubt in himself. She expresses sympathy and then invites him to go to a pub or something that night “I’m gonna buy you that drink you so desperately need” “I appreciate that but I don’t... need a date.” “No, but you need a friend. Maybe even more than you need that drink.” the tone is teasing, friendly, not suggestive, not pressuring and her body language indicates earnestness. And Oliver looks conflicted but softens. And you know what? Oliver goes. No one makes him, but he goes to have that drink with Susan. Because Felicity is distant, Thea has her own troubles, Diggle is in hiding. And he DOES need a friend, and he DOES trust Susan. And Oliver doesn’t trust many people. And when Oliver gets there, Susan doesn’t press, just offers him a drink and Oliver starts pouring his heart out (in a typical guarded fashion, but he clearly wants to talk to someone). And Susan listens, asks questions (typical, ‘what’s wrong’ ‘tell me more’ good listener stuff). He’s incredibly vague and Susan doesn’t press for any kind of information. Instead, she makes him laugh and gives him encouragement “I think you’re all this city has. So however you go about your business, keep doing things the right way. Even if it takes longer to get the job done, you’ll know. And so will this city.” He seems to feel better, he breaks into a smile. Susan grabs his hand and Oliver looks surprised. “Stop being so hard on yourself” and then Oliver smiles again and flirts with her, accepting her offer of affection “technically that’s your job” “damn right” with a laugh and a smile. Oliver gets a call and both look disappointed, but before he leaves Oliver corrects her “Mr. Queen” with “call me Oliver”. A few days later, Oliver is leaving his office when Susan shows up. He sends away his security so he can talk to her. She says she had one of his workers text her about when Oliver was leaving- both she and Oliver laugh about this. He thanks her for the drink and the advice the other night. She says now he owes her a drink and Oliver suggests they go right then. She looks surprised and pleased and they sneak away from Oliver’s security laughing. (5x07)

Oliver asks Susan to be his date to his christmas party. She comes, they flirt, share a kiss, he compliments her dress, some banter. Thea is clearly unhappy and a bit passive aggressive, Susan responds politely. Thea leaves and Oliver apologizes for her, Susan is gracious, admitting that “I didn’t make the best first impression” to which Oliver responds “Well, I of all people realize that sometimes doing your job means pissing people off”. And Susan comments his optimism. (note- Susan’s first impression, just doing her job, inspired by real political sentiments, apologetic about it later, kind even when Thea is being rude). Billy murdering stuff goes down, and Oliver goes to Susan, turns up at her door in teh middle of the night and she is there for him. She lets him in, offers him a drink, lends an ear without really asking any questions. He tells her “I ruin the lives of everyone I come into contact with” and she says “I think that’s ridiculous. Everyone’s life touches everyone else’s. sometimes the result is good, sometimes the result is bad. But you are only focusing on the bad.” “My sister said something similar to that.” “Well she’s a smart woman. Look. Now matter what’s going on in your life Oliver, shutting people out is the last thing you should do.” And then they kiss. Scene cuts away but we know they don’t sleep together. She’s offering him great advice, really his lesson he’s supposed to learn throughout the season. She’s being kind, supportive, she’s showing yet again that she’s a great listener and Oliver is showing yet again that he trusts and values her. (5x09)

We don’t see her again until 5x12- at which point they’ve been dating over a month. She expresses regret that Thea is still giving her “looks of death” (note Thea is being rude to her, and she is not responding in turn). And brings up that they haven’t slept together yet. Some reporter stuff I don’t see as relevant. She’s friendly and supportive to Quentin as he comes back from rehab. More aggressive in interviewing Chase. Oliver comes back from Russia and we find him in bed with Susan. He says that “I think my past is what was keeping me from moving things forward with you.” “Looking at all this” she indicates his scars “I can see why. What exactly happened to you on that Island anyway?” “Things I’m not ready to talk about.” “Not even this crazy tattoo?I mean how do you even get something like this on a deserted island” “hey. hey.” “not ready to talk about it? right yeah. You, mean like, not now or not ever?” “not now” “maybe someday” “yeah” “I can wait for someday” a soft smile and a kiss. So this scene is a big talking point. First, her questions are fairly natural- your boyfriend has a bunch of crazy scars and a weird tattoo, you’re saying you wouldn’t ask? She’s not even as pushy as McKenna, who was genuinely just curious and was asking several months after his rescue, not several years. Susan also accepts his denial. She doesn’t really push him. The first question was about scars so she moves to what seems safer, the tattoo. When he still says no, she accepts that and says she can wait for him to confide in her. Nothing about this suggests that she slept with him in order to see him shirtless and ask about the tattoo (first of all, because there are easier ways to see Oliver shirtless- ask Diggle and Felicity.). The dialogue at teh beginning of the scene even suggests that Oliver came back from Russia and was the one to suggest/initiate sleeping together. However, she was curious about the tattoo and did seem preoccupied with it. The episode ends with Susan meeting her informant who is reporting back with information. He tells her he found out that all the guys in the picture with Oliver are Bratva, she mentions tattoos marking captains, he brings up looking into criminal activity and finding the Green Arrow. And she suggests that Oliver is the Green Arrow. However, if you watch the scene, she doesn’t seem smug or pleased, she seems shocked and a little upset.

we’re gonna pause in our comprehensive review to talk about this. We’re now halfway through the season, Susan has been around pretty much since the beginning. This is the first time that it has been so much as hinted that Susan isn’t what she seems. She’s been kind, supportive, charming, a good listener, there for Oliver. This reveal, is a twist. At this point you’re supposed to distrust her for the first time- why? Because Susan Williams is a red herring. Because we as viewers are as paranoid as Oliver. We expect betrayal, so we see Susan investigating Oliver and immediately assume she’s gonna turn on him. She is held up as a possible threat.

The question, what will Susan do with this information, is let hang for an episode where Susan doesn’t appear. Then in 5x14, we get the answer, within the first five minutes- as soon as she has the information, the next thing we see her doing is talking to Oliver about it. How evil. Communicating with her boyfriend when she discovered a secret about him. We even learn that the reason she didn’t do it sooner, is because Oliver cancelled their last three dates because he was busy, forcing her to come have the confrontation at work, which was clearly not her preference. What’s immediately obvious about the conversation is that it’s not a power play- she’s geuinely upset. “Is everything okay?” “Yeah, yeah I think so.” not making eye contact and she immediately changes her tone “No. No definitely not. Uh...” “Whatever it is just... lay it on me.” “Are you the Green Arrow?” “yes.” “really?” “No. No, I’m sorry, i thought you were doing a joking thing so I did a joking thing back, are you not?” Susan is still visibly upset, because she is pretty sure her boyfriend is lying to her. “I was working on a different story, and, uh, well, some things came up that relate to you.” “And you just immediately jumped to the most insane conclusion possible.” “So that’s a no, for the record?” “no. For the record.” “well good, because I think our relationship is complicated enough already” and she looks uncertain and a little hurt. Because she’s pretty sure he IS the GA, and she’s pretty sure he’s lying to her.

Also lets point out the “I was working on another story”- if you think she’s lying, that she intentionally set out to investigate Oliver, why do you think this? where is it suggested? The informant does say that he looked up information on Oliver in Russia and was unable to find anything, but that only suggests that once the photo of him was discovered she continued to dig, not that she set out to find something on him. Certainly not that she initiated their relationship as a ruse for information. I see no reason to not take her on her word. I also see no indication in the actual scenes to suggest that she was ever planning on publishing this information. If she was, why would she bring it Oliver privately (and seeming quite vulnerable) before she published it, and not press or present evidence when he denied it, try and get him to say something?

Oliver tells Thea about it and seems relatively unconcerned “I handled it, I’ve been doing this a little while now”. Thea, who as I’ve previously noted, has not forgiven Susan for the stuff early in the season despite having Susan do nothing to confirm this impression, is much more bothered by it. She’s biased because she has a grudge against Susan and is defensive of Oliver. She gets Felicity to hack into Susan’s computer because “she’s not just gonna drop this” despite the fact that at this point Susan actually has dropped several stories because Oliver asked her to. They find what Susan put together- information she isn’t exactly hiding. And they freak out and overreact.

When Susan is fired, she goes straight to Oliver to talk to him about it. “Really, did you get fired today too?” “What?!” “My producer called me out on the carpet. Apparently they received an anonymous tip, that I have been plagiarizing my stories for the past two years. And my laptop is filled with incriminating evidence.” “Your laptop?” (Oliver suspects Felicity) “All the fingerprints of a hatchet job” (hatchet job- a fierce attack on someone or their work, especially in print- because I had to look up the definition) “ok Susan-” “And I have to wonder about the timing because.. nothing like this has ever happened to me before I asked whether you were the Green Arrow” “Susan I swear to you, I didn’t have anything to do with this, I didn’t know anything about this” “And your going to stand there and swear to me that you’re not the Green Arrow” “I already--” “Because that tattoo on your chest marks you as a Bratva captain” “ok-” “I’ve got a photo of you with the Bratva in Russia at the same time that you’re supposed to be on a deserted island. I’ve got another photo, same time, of a man in a hood with a bow and arrow operating in Russia, and now of course I can’t go public with any of it, because I’ve been thoroughly discredited, so well done.” “Okay, lets just” “Unless the next words out of your mouth aren’t going to be a lie, I’d really just prefer you said nothing at all” Oliver says nothing. Susan looks disappointed and like she might cry and she walks away.

Oliver responds to this by going to Felicity and trying to figure out what she did. Note, he does not hold any of this against Susan. He at no point concludes that she was going to use the information against him. He at no point thinks what Thea and Felicity did was necessary to protect him. Oliver’s judgment has to be counted for something, and the show is framed in a way that we are meant ot side with him. Felicity also says Thea asked her to put stuff on Susan’s computer- so in case it was unclear, Thea and Felicity framed Susan for something she didn’t do. They didn’t reveal actual plagiarism- they lied. Even Thea refers to the action as “committed by own sin today”. When Oliver confronts Thea, he assures her that Susan “wouldn’t do that [out him as the GA] to me” which Thea doesn’t believe. (Also a clear instance of “my life my choice” applying to everyone but Oliver. Thea can blow up Oliver’s relationship against his wishes and she’s applauded by members of the fandom despite the show’s narrative clearly siding with Oliver) “I do care about her. I also care that you destroyed her reputation, She’s gonna have a tough time finding a decent job. She’s certainly not gonna find a job in journalism. You just blew up her life.” “honestly, I didn’t mean for it to go this far” “yes you did. You knew exactly what you were doing and that’s the part that I don’t understand. Who does that to a person?” Susan is teh one we’re supposed to sympathize with. Nothing suggests she was going to hurt Oliver, Thea destroyed her life out of overreaction and a little bit a vindictiveness. Later Thea apologizes and says “I know I screwed up” “and Oliver says “but you didn’t make a mistake, you made a choice” says it was something Moira would have done and tells her that moira was “a wonderful mother but she didn’t always make the best choices” this is part of an arc where Thea comes to feel that she is becoming someone she doesn’t want to be. She comes to see that this was like Moira in the worst way (the Moira who tortured Oliver or the one who hid his son from him or was complicit in the Undertaking). The narrative says that Susan was a victim here, lied to by her boyfriend, attacked by his friends, left with virtually nothing. (5x14)

“You need to make things right with Susan. You got her fired under false pretenses, Thea.” Diggle compares Felicity’s involvement in the same to her involvement with Helix (something consistently negatively portrayed). Susan is ignoring Oliver’s calls, but given what she has been lead to believe, that he just ruined her life, I’m not inclined to think she should be taking them. She’s not required to be supportive of a man who just completely sold her out and turned on her. To suggest she should be is ridiculous. Thea and Felicity’s actions are compared to blackmailing an innocent man by using his wife’s suicide against him. And By the end of the episode Felicity has fixed things. Susan then comes to see Oliver and tells him she got her job back. Oliver apologizes again and Susan points out that he didn’t know about it and as soon as he found out he made them make it right so he has nothing to apologize for. Oliver asks what happens next and Susan says “you mean about your secret? I keep it. I care about this city, and you’re working double time to make it a better place” (still affirming him and believing the best about him) “I do appreciate that, but I meant what happens next with us?” She smiles and takes a suggestive step closer, but chase interrupts. Thea then decides to leave town in part because of what she did to Susan which she compares to her bloodlust from season 4. The episode ends with the impression that Susan and Oliver are back together (Prometheus certainly seems to think so since he kidnaps her). Meaning that Susan, after having definitive proof against Oliver, not only decides/promises not to use it, she wants to be with Oliver still, despite the fact that there would be no possible reason for this if she just wanted to get information from him. (5x15)

“Your girlfriend. Wait are you and Susan William still dating? Gotta tell you buddy it’s been a little hard to keep track?” Prometheus says, prompting angry yell “What did you do to her?” Oliver still cares about her after the reveals of the last two episodes. Throughout the episode Oliver is concerned and the team acts in deference to the fact that Oliver cares about her. When Oliver rescues her, she’s slightly hurt, dealing with a psychopath and Oliver tells her to get out of the building because it’s going to collapse and her first question is “what about you?” (5x16)

She shows up at his office in 5x18. “They told me you were back, I had to see you.” They come together somewhat hurriedly and hug. Oliver apologizes to her for what happened. “This wasn’t you, Oliver, it was him.” He gives a ‘icreated him its’ my fault spiel’ and she replies “Don’t let him do this to you, don’t let that bastard inside your head.” They discuss the fact that she gave a statement against Chase but he had an alibi and the possiblity/impossibility of Oliver corroborating the statement. “Listen, Susan, I know that we never got a chance to resolve things. I can’t be with you, I apologize if that’s presumptuous” “O-oliver” she cuts off and reaches out to him but draws back. “This is not how i wanted my life to touch yours. I should have known better, and for that I am really, truly sorry.” Susan hesitates, looks like she wants to protest, seems upset, but reluctantly nods and leaves. Susan was there for Oliver, Susan came to care for him after he was hurt, Susan was willing to still be with Oliver, even after the relationship got her kidnapped by a serial killer. She was willing to risk her life to be with him, even when there was no possible devious information gathering reason to be with him. No reason except caring for him, genuinely.

So that’s the narrative of Susan Williams. How does the narrative not support the idea that Susan actually had feelings for him?? Where does it suggest you aren’t supposed to like or trust her? Where does it show that she is a bad person? Show me the scene. The overwhelming narrative of season 5 is that Susan was a genuinely good person whose only real fault was invading Oliver’s privacy. But in her defense he was lying to her about a lot. And her main role throughout the season is to be there to listen and support Oliver when others are not able to because of their storylines. And she consistently gives good advice that Oliver needs to hear.

This season deals with the idea that Oliver is trying to start trusting people again, and there are three main people this plays out with: Chase- he’s punished for trusting, The Team- half and half, some of them reward his trust but Evelyn also betrays him (twice). And Susan, and Susan is important because while it seems for a time that his trust is going to be used against him again, ultimately, Susan proves his trust was well founded because she will not use information against him. It’s important that Oliver’s growth is not punished on all accounts because that will arrest his growth. Susan is included to show Oliver trying to move on, and to show his trust in people (as Oliver this time, not the GA) be rewarded, to show that he can trust people at times.

You’re not supposed to ship her with Oliver. You’re supposed to want him back with Felicity. But you aren’t supposed to hate her, the narrative gives you no reason to. You are at times meant to distrust her, but that is uncertainty for the sake of plot and a red herring in the way that the narrative suggested Chase was Vigilante. Rewatching all her scenes to create this post, seeing all the moments free of the suspicion of what she might do, I even liked her this time around. I think, in another life, she and Oliver could have been a good couple. So yes, Guggenheim, Amell, myself, and the show say Susan Williams was not a bad person.

@almondblossomme @arrowiefan @nalla-madness @lyricalarrow @cruzrogue

#arrow #arrow metas #cogent metas #susan williams #putting the rant in cogentranting #Is this thorough enough?#I'm missing one scene where she first shows the photo of Oliver in Russia #but I spent enough time on this i'm not going looking for it #and I can't imagine that it does anything to change the fact that overwhelming the season portrayed her positively #sorry this took a long time coming #but church and stuff #and then it was just a long thing to type up

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