Perhaps more than any other broadcast networks, shows on The CW are well-known for their unbelievably passionate fanbases, the majority of which skew incredibly young and incredibly female.
As the network has come of age in the advent of social media, these young, like-minded fans have truly found the ways they need to converse with one another, and even reach out to their idols, whether in the forms of cast members, show runners, writers, and more.
No matter the intensity of these young fans' passion, however, that doesn't exactly mean that shows that air on The CW truly represent the pinnacle of quality art.
Often filled with plot inconsistencies, out of character behavior, shoehorned love triangles, and many more basic faux pas of writing, these shows infuriate their loyal fans just as often as they entertain them - and sometimes, even more frequently so.
Since these shows are riddled with problems and inconsistencies, it's safe to say that they've become the prime targets for analysis and ridicule in the digital age. After all, what better way is there to offer pithy commentary than through the use of the meme?
You could spend literal hours scrolling through all the great memes that have been made for any of these shows, so we've gone ahead and compiled some of the most brutally accurate ones right here.
Here are the 15 Fierce CW Memes That Only True Fans Will Understand.
Barry's not so brilliant dating logic
From the first episode of The Flash, even if you had never so much as touched a comic in your life, it should have been obvious that the writers would be plodding their way toward the inevitable pairing of Barry and Iris.
However, since the show airs on The CW, it would also have been readily apparent that the series would be throwing any and every wrench into the works to keep the future lovebirds apart as long as possible.
For most CW series, that would have consisted of different love interests being introduced -- and to be fair, that did happen a few times, including characters like Eddie and Patty.
However, for The Flash, they also had the opportunity to have Barry continually screw up the timeline, reversing any progress he had made with Iris time and again until he got things right.
Oliver and Dean have had a hell of a time
Oliver Queen has made no secret of the fact that he spent five years of hell on the island Lian Yu. In some of Arrow's worst sequences, viewers are even treated to some of the gruesome events that occurred in the wilderness of that island, events which compelled his transformation into the Green Arrow.
When you compare what Oliver went through in Lian Yu to what another CW character has endured, however, you start to realize that maybe Oliver should be grateful for how he turned out in the end.
Over on Supernatural, Dean Winchester spent 40 years in Hell between season 3 and season 4. While the time that passed on Earth may have been only four months, the four decades the elder Winchester brother spent in Hell changed him irrevocably and left him fundamentally more damaged and darker than he ever had been before.
The Vampire Diaries: Oprah edition
They do say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but sometimes, there really can be too much of a previously good thing.
From the beginning, The Vampire Diaries focused on the doppëlganger storyline involving Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce/Katerina Petrova. It allowed for some genuinely gripping sources of conflict, particularly concerning the differing relationships both Elena and Katherine held with the wildly different Salvatore brothers.
However, as time went on, more and more doppëlgangers would be added to the mix, including doppëlgangers for other characters as well. Spanning thousands of years, it soon became impossible to keep up with the seemingly endless list of carbon copies of immortals -- and at some point, honestly, who even cares anymore?
Sorry, Sara: Rip's logic is pretty flawless on that one
The debate over which Lance sister is more deserving of the mantle of Canary is one that has divided fans from the start. Sara Lance was killed off from Arrow in order allow her sister, Dinah Laurel Lance, to assume the title of Black Canary through a hero's journey all her own.
However, that didn't sit well with some fans, prompting The CW to launch Legends of Tomorrow with Sara Lance as the White Canary... and to kill off Katie Cassidy's Black Canary from Arrow, replacing her with a new Black Canary soon afterward.
The whole thing has been, frankly, one of the biggest messes in CW history, and arguably the biggest mess that The CW's DC universe has dealt with.
Making it even messier is the fact that Legends of Tomorrow revolves around time travel in order to save those in need of saving. So sorry, Sara, your sister is apparently off limits for this one. Why? Because the writers said so.
Sure, Iris
It's the refrain that launched thousands of fan eyerolls across the internet -- Iris West tells Barry, with utmost conviction, that "we are the Flash." In an upcoming episode, this cringe-worthy proclamation will even become momentarily true, as an alternate universe envisions a world where Iris is a speedster, just because.
However, what really matters here is the fact that, out of all the characters that the show has explored who have the right to claim the Scarlet Speedster title for themselves, Iris is nowhere near the list.
So far, characters such as Barry Allen himself, Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Jesse Quick have been shown worthy of being considered the Flash. Therefore, until we get that fantasy fulfilling episode, Iris should not at all be considered privy to join that exclusive club.
Turns out the Upside Down isn't so bad after all
Any fans who fall into the target demographic of both Stranger Things and Riverdale have surely noticed that the ill-fated Barb and the awkward Ethel Muggs have both been portrayed by the same actress, Shannon Purser. In the wake of the near obsessive #JusticeForBarb campaign, you'd have to be pretty oblivious not to, after all.
However, the commonality of casting choices made for a pretty cheeky observation and joke for some shared fans, who decided that no, Barb hadn't been killed by the Demogorgon in the Upside Down -- she'd just relocated to Riverdale, and was perfectly fine.
However, as one keen user pointed out, Riverdale really isn't that much better than Hawkins and the Upside Down. With serial killers, murder plots, and betrayal abound, maybe Barb would've been better off sticking it out in the Upside Down.
Clueless Quentin
For better or worse, most CW superhero series seem to have a character who's more or less a bumbling oaf. Clueless but lovable, kind-hearted but ineffectual, these characters are either on the hero's side or opposed to them, depending on what the narrative most needs that week.
For Arrow, that's none other than Detective Quentin Lance, a man so perceptive he's able to determine the identity of Arsenal... but who struggled, for much of the show's early run, to figure out who the Green Arrow himself was, despite his own close connections with Oliver Queen.
Sure, every series needs a few characters who are in the dark about the hero's primary identity. However, when you have a character figure out a tertiary character's secret identity, it just makes things all the more belief-straining.
Betty's not the only one who's confused
On a network known for over the top dramas and out of this world conflicts, it's really saying something that Riverdale has quickly made a name for itself in terms of being the best at producing darkly soap opera-esque plots.
With secret babies, illegal affairs, shocking paternity twists, creepy sibling relationships, assault, and death all on the table, it's probably easier to think of something the teen soap hasn't been willing to cover.
However, with the introduction of the alleged Black Hood serial killer, Riverdale has finally taken on a storyline that's just too confusing -- and potentially disappointing -- for its own good.
The cliffhanger of having Fred Andrews, a beloved good guy character, shot at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe was definitely a great one, but the followup and the ensuing confusion has been anything but satisfactory.
Dumb and dumber: Vampire Diaries edition
More than any other CW series, The Vampire Diaries defined itself almost entirely in terms of its central, generation-spanning love triangles.
The Salvatore brothers once both fell in love with the charming yet manipulative Katherine Pierce, and the apparently witless brothers once again fall for the wiles of the mousy Elena Gilbert -- Katherine's identical copy -- centuries later.
While Elena may not have thought of either of them as idiots, it's pretty clear that Katherine considered them pawns in her own all too easy game.
For immortals who are superior to humans in allegedly every way possible, it sure seems like they don't really have much in the way of brains about them. Perhaps they're so busy supplementing their blood intake, they've forgotten to stop and think about the consequences of their many, many bad decisions, romantic and otherwise.
Come on, you were thinking this all along, too
For ten seasons, Smallville fans found themselves dreaming of a world in which they'd see Tom Welling's Clark Kent finally don the super suit and fly off into the world of Metropolis to fight crime.
While the show's series finale offered a glimpse of that becoming reality, the show's strict "no tights, no flights" rule prevented that from ever happening.
So when Supergirl took flight on The CW for its second season, and announced that they would be casting Kara's cousin Clark for a recurring role, fans everywhere flocked to social media to clamor for Welling to reprise his role as the beloved hero.
Unfortunately, Welling did not, and the role went to Teen Wolf's Tyler Hoechlin. Sure, maybe Hoechlin is adequate for the role that Supergirl needs him to serve -- but there's no denying that Welling would have been in a class of his own, drawing old fans and new alike to the now struggling CW series.
One Tree Hill: a summary
The basic premise of One Tree Hill concerns a family at war with itself -- half-brothers who are pitted against one another in pursuit of success by their egotistical father, now determined to live out his former failed glory through his unwitting sons.
Had Dan Scott not existed within the overarching narrative of the series, One Tree Hill would have been a remarkably different show. Possessive, abusive, and jealous beyond reason in the majority of the show's run, Dan goes out of his way to hurt everyone around him, even his own family such as when he kills his own brother, Keith, in cold blood.
It's each and every one of Dan's failures that allows these central Scott family characters to define themselves: his sons, Lucas and Nathan, define themselves in opposition to him, both growing up to be remarkable men. Also, his exes, Deb and Karen, find strength in friendship with one another no matter the pain that he caused in their lives.
With great power comes great irresponsibility
One of the biggest complaints that fans of The Flash have had over the series' run has been how many problems the show addresses have been of Barry's own creation.
In the name of saving those he cares most about, Barry has the tendency to totally alter timelines, for better or -- usually -- worse. Like clockwork, these things seem to happen in season finales, so fans can always find themselves anticipating each new timeline with dread and perverse curiosity.
However, what should we expect, really, from a show all about a man who runs so fast he can travel through time? It was only a matter of time before the laws of time travel were horribly bent and broken -- but if the show could avoid relying on the universe reset trope for once, that would be great, too.
Seriously? This was the best Gossip Girl could come up with?
For years and years, Gossip Girl fans everywhere dedicated themselves to poring over each and every last clue as to the identity of the vengeful blogger determined to ruin the lives of the Upper East Side elite.
Yet when the reveal came in the show's series finale, it couldn't have felt like more of a slap in the face to all that theorizing. Dan Humphrey, who had himself frequently been the subject of these scathing web blasts, was somehow revealed as the one and only Gossip Girl.
Even further, he had humiliated his friends, and the alleged love of his life, for years and years and years... and somehow came away from it all unscathed, even marrying the girl of his dreams in the finale's closing moments.
How that was the decision the writers made, we'll never know.
Good writing really does make all the difference
When it comes to adapting comics, whether in television or in film, writers pretty much have two clear choices: adhere to the storylines laid out in the comics, or stray from them enough that you create your own narrative.
For the most part, The Flash has remained faithful to certain iterations of the comics, inserting plots here and there for dramatic effect. However, when you look at Arrow, it's almost unrecognizable compared to what devoted comics fans know the Green Arrow and Oliver Queen to be like.
Perhaps this is due to fan pandering, with the loud and proud fanbase on social media clamoring for the promotion of their favorite female character, Felcity, and the fan-created ship Olicity to become central to the show.
However, sometimes, it's hard to even remember that this show was meant to be about the heroics of the Green Arrow, and not the soapy nonsense that comes from his out of character relationship with Felicity.
Well, when you put it that way...
Supernatural has covered a whole lot of truly out there plots in its many, many years on air. With resurrections, celestial beings, and trips to Hell in spades, the show has all the makings of a genre hit -- out of this world fare that you really can't find anywhere else.
However, when you strip all of the dramatic happenings away from the narrative, what you're left with is pretty simple. According to the Cards Against Humanity card used in this meme, Supernatural really does just boil down to "My life is ruled by a vicious cycle of demonic possession and daddy issues."
Seeing as Supernatural began with two estranged brothers searching for their demon-hunting father... Well, this meme really does speak for itself, doesn't it?
---
What are your favorite savage memes about The CW's shows? Let us know in the comments!