CliqueClackIs Arrow’s Speedy a spoiled, stuck up baby? Yes.
What is wrong with Arrow’’s Speedy? Thea is a spoiled rotten kid who can’t stop whining about how terrible her life is. HELLO! It’s TEN times better than those around her. Grow the hell up!
I have had it up to here with Arrow’s Speedy. I know, I know — Green Arrow’s original sidekick was a drug addict. But, I never read the comic featuring his drug use. I remember his character before the drug abuse, the character after, and the character in his recent relapse, but for some odd reason I never read the original during, so I can’t comment on Arrow’s faithfulness. But, I just can’t deal with Speedy’s “issues” anymore.
Seriously, what is wrong with this kid? For all of her 18 years she lived nothing but luxury. Everything terrible in her life turned itself around. She thought her brother died, BUT HE CAME BACK!!! She thought her father died. He did. But, she also got a kickass stepfather. ON top of that, she had her mother, her brother’s ex-girlfriend and her brother’s best friend ALL surrounding her and supporting her. But, WAH, she’d rather wallow in her misery than thank her familial blessings.
Her mother throws her the best 18th birthday party ever, gives her a convertible, and surrounds her with her friends. Of course, the minute she thinks her mother’s having an affair with the incredibly skeevy guy next door she does drugs AND then hops in a car to endanger others. REALLY?! First off, hasn’t she noticed that her mother gets handsy with everyone? The numerous shoulder rubs Moira provides to Oliver give me a creepy Oedipal Hamlet feeling. PLUS, didn’t she let the dude into her mother’s bedroom WEEKS ago without batting an eye? Either way, her mom maybe cheating isn’t enough to justify her actions. Random, thy name is Speedy.
Almost everyone in this show had a worse life than her, but aren’t messed up like she is.
- Laurel’s mother is gone. Her boyfriend cheated on her WITH her sister who is NOW dead. Her job has no MONEY which means she must whore herself out to every rich guy with a crush. PLUS, her current boyfriend’s her ex-boyfriend’s douchey best friend with daddy issues.
- OLIVER was TORTURED, watched his father MURDER another man, watched his girlfriend’s sister die a horrible death, survived a pseudo-deserted island, and possibly experienced betrayal by his only island ally. PLUS, he KILLS people on a nightly basis.
- Diggle’s BROTHER is dead. He has a crazy crush on his sister-in-law. He survived war overseas only to partner with a man who LIES to him at every turn. And, his former best friend kidnapped his sister-in-law and threatened him.
- Moira’s first husband died. Her second husband is kidnapped. And, the man she partnered with wants to destroy the city.
- Even TOMMY has a worse life story. His mother was murdered. His father abandoned him to become a murdering archer. He was CUT OFF from HIS OWN trust fund. And, now he works for his elusive best friend.
Speedy’s complaints just don’t measure up, considering everyone keeps bending over backwards to make her feel better. You think you’re brother’s dead, so you’re upset. Your brother’s back, you’re still upset. Your brother starts cleaning up his act, you get even madder. Your brother tries to spend time with you and throws a holiday party for you. You sleep with a douche during the party to get back at him. Like the girls in Girls, I just can’t with you, Speedy.
Willa Holland does an excellent job portraying you. But, seriously, girl, grow the HELL up and, stop expecting your family to bail you out. Don’t make me put you on a dessert island with a bunch of arrows to make you mature. So, GET it TOGETHER, girl!
6 Comments on “Is Arrow’s Speedy a spoiled, stuck up baby? Yes.”
An 18 year old who thinks her problems are the worst in the world. Film at 11.
Totally agree — I think the writers are going the easy, obvious, and trite route with her development. How hard is it to have teenage girls be portrayed as level headed and not ridiculous for once? The only character I can think of immediately is Alexis on Castle… I miss Rory Gilmore.
Thanks, Nancy! I think Willa Holland’s doing a great job with the character, but I’d like Speedy’s drug abuse to have a stronger catalyst than just teenaged angst. Then again, I never read the original “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” arc, so maybe it’s similar. And, you’re right, TV does get too much mileage out of the pouty, over dramatic teenaged female –
Sounds like they should have used Artemis.
“Artemis Crock was born and raised in Gotham City. She is the daughter of Sportsmaster and retired villain Huntress, and the younger sister of Cheshire. During one of their crimes, her mother, Paula was crippled, and as a result took the fall for her husband. Paula spent the next six years in prison, during which Artemis was raised alone by her father, as her older sister ran away the same year due to their father’s emotional and verbal abuse.” -DC YJ Wiki
Although, Artemis actually only currently exists in Young Justice, the current running show. And all of her characterization is from Young Justice since she was created by their producers. So it might be difficult to use her. They could maybe use her in later seasons.
With this Speedy it sounds like she needs some real issues instead of these lame ones. They could write in her family towards a crash. With how good her life sounds and how all of her problems are “Drama”, maybe they could write her to fall and be a villain when “her Life is RUINED” by wearing an identical dress to prom or her step-father and her mother actually being villains. Some of the best things about sidekicks is that they don’t have to stay around forever and you can always make new stories with new ones.
lol @ the prom dress smackdown.
Surprisingly, I never watched the Young Justice cartoon, but I’ll assume Artemis is similar to the female Speedy in the Young Justice comics. However, the Young Justice comic Speedy had SERIOUS issues happen to her, which TV speedy can’t hold a candle to.
I understand what the ‘Arrow’ producers wanted to do with Speedy – show the results of a character who undergoes abandonment and what she might turn to when seeking solace. Unfortunately, we never see TV Speedy experience any abandonment. She comes across as an entitled brat who expects everything to happen to her. And when it doesn’t occur 175% the way she expected, she causes harm to herself and those around her. Willa Holland chews up the scene as Speedy, but man, I’d rather give her a character a good smack, than see her pick up a bow and arrow
Artemis Crock aka Artemis in Young Justice out of a want to be good, moonlights out as an archer hero. When Speedy(Roy Harper) gets pissed from secrets being kept from him runs off and Batman and Green Arrow start tacking him down. Bruce and Ollie come across Artemis trying to track down Roy. They figure out she’s trying to be good and Bruce and Ollie bring her to the team and Ollie takes her in under his wing because Roy wants to go solo under Red Arrow. Artemis keeps her Artemis AKA instead of taking Speedy.
*Spoilers* Eventually we find out this Roy was a Clone and the real Speedy was frozen for like 8 years *END Spoilers*
Eventually everything leads to Ollie having lost his confidence in taking on sidekicks and that he is a poor mentor. We haven’t seen where this leads to yet since we haven’t seen him since episode 3, but we should have a recap of his story within a few episodes.
There’s also Mia, who’s prob the female Speedy that you’re talking about. She’s the “modern” Speedy but I don’t believe she has appeared since the reboot, but She hasn’t appeared in YJ either.
I think Arrow could get interesting, but I love YJ’s characterization that he feels like a poor mentor for all the losses he has between him and his sidekicks. It’s something that might be too much to do to Batman who has had that happen to him after Jason Todd and it didn’t work well for him. But it did for Ollie or at least does. I just want to see this story line where a hero has lost his confidence as a mentor. It feels like it has something to it that hasn’t been explored. I just sorta hope Arrow goes there. If they don’t, it’s their show and I hope for them they take it somewhere good.