You Fool!

So, I started watching Arrow.  The thing that has annoyed me most in the show is that every time Laurel Lance goes off on Ollie for how selfish he is and how shallow he is and so on… you can hear the writers laughing.  Like the amusing thing is how wrong she is.  The things she says may be accurate, but since she does not know it is all an act?  We are expected to wag our fingers and say, if you only knew The Truth!

It is painfully unfunny…because the person we are laughing at (or supposed to be) is being kept in the dark, and the only information they are given bolsters their concerns.  It is the troubling nature of the secret identity going back to Superman.  No matter how competent and smart the individual (especially in the case of a love interest) is, they are the butt of a joke they have no power in.  It is problematic in the best of cases.  But it usually just ends up allowing the viewer to feel superior to the person who is “unfairly badgering” the hero.

Also, what is it with DC shows and the mundane nicknames the heroes get dubbed with?  The Hood? The Blur? the Streak?  How long before Constantine is referred to as “The Trenchcoat”?