Arrow Season Three

Media Type: Television
Title: Arrow
Released: 2014-2015
Watched before?: No

Hey peeps and welcome to a review of Arrow, season three. It’s a season of badly written romantic drama and the inability to pronounce a character’s name correctly. Also, a complete lack of follow through on what was the “lesson” of the season. Were there any positives for the season? Maybe.

Season three sees Oliver grappling with the fact that he might not actually be helping Starling City to the best of his ability, as well as losing his identity to his masked persona. He believes that he cannot be the Arrow and Oliver Queen, a fact he reiterates a ridiculous amount of times. Going by this logic, it’s true. The person, Oliver Queen, doesn’t have a story in this season. The only storyline that could count is the romantic drama between him and Felicity. Other than that, Oliver’s story revolves around being the Arrow. His interactions with other characters hinge on the fact that he’s the Arrow. Even when he doesn’t have the mask on, he’s still operating like he does. This doesn’t touch on him “losing” his identity when he joins the League of Assassins late in the season. That gets put in quotes, since it’s revealed that he was never brainwashed in the first place.

This would be an interesting concept, if Oliver ever tried to regain control over his identity from behind his mask. Instead, he tried for twenty minutes in the first episode of the season and determined that it was too difficult for him. The only reason he reclaims the Oliver Queen identity by the end is because he was forced to give up the Arrow and he couldn’t figure out how to continue. The show never makes a case that he wants to be Oliver Queen except when it comes to being in a romantic relationship with Felicity. There’s no desire to be a better friend to Diggle or Laurel. There’s no desire to be a better brother to Thea. There’s no desire to help Starling City outside of being a vigilante. If he has those desires, it’s as the Arrow.

This doesn’t get into the concept of identity and Oliver’s relationship with the League of Assassins. It starts when Oliver takes the blame for Sara’s death in order to protect Thea. This starts as an instinct to protect Thea from the wrath of the League. Yet, it becomes a death wish for Oliver. He knows that he cannot best Ra’s al Ghul in combat. He would rather die than try to grapple with his existence. It’s these qualities that cause Ra’s to recruit Oliver into the League, to eventually take over his leadership. Not quite sure what qualities Oliver possessed over other seasoned members of the League that would cause Ra’s to court Oliver so heavily. After Ra’s destroys the Arrow’s identity and his reputation in Starling City, Oliver gives himself to the League. The audience is led to believe that Oliver has become brainwashed into the League’s doctrine but it’s revealed that Oliver was cognizant the entire time. This, at the pretend expense of his relationships with Team Arrow and the season long lesson that he needs to ask for help.

Ra’s grand plan for Oliver, what was it exactly? He stated that he was going to destroy Starling City to convince Oliver to join the League. Then, he continued with this plan after Oliver joined. Was it to set up the very obvious big bad of next season, Damien Darhk? There was no reason for that last minute exposition of Ra’s nemesis except to set up a villain for next season. Was it to make sure that Oliver was committed to the League? Ra’s should’ve been smarter than to think the month that Oliver spent with the League would have meant he has committed himself. Also, mostly because I don’t know the lore of the League of Assassins and Ra’s al Ghul, what happens to Ra’s after Oliver ascended to his position? The dialogue never made it sound like Ra’s was supposed to die for Oliver to take the position. It always sounded like a voluntary action on Ra’s part. Once Oliver was in the League, it seemed like Ra’s was making up a plan as conflicts arose. That’s not the calculated mastermind that Malcolm so feared throughout the season.

Yet, the biggest issue present in the season is the inconsistency in which the name Ra’s is pronounced. Shame on the writers, directors, and creative team for this. There was absolutely no reason this should have been an issue. No one on Team Arrow pronounced the name correctly, even after Ra’s pronounced it himself. They all say it like they’ve only ever seen the name written, so that’s the pronunciation that they use. They haven’t. They know the name because Nyssa has said it. Ra’s himself has said it. Malcolm can pronounce it correctly if he gets to refer to himself as it. The onus is on the creative team to make sure that a character’s name is pronounced correctly for the audience. Especially when it’s a character that has been in other DC properties. There is no excuse for such a blatant error.

The other major issue of the season was the relationship drama surrounding Oliver and Felicity. The writers did a lot of telling this season about how the two feel about each other. Oliver stated multiple times that he loved Felicity. He was openly jealous about Felicity’s relationship with Ray Palmer. The show did not show that Oliver loves Felicity. When it came down to it, the show constantly had Oliver yell at Felicity for having emotions. For placing herself in dangerous situations. For not being able to hack better than the villain of the week. He never confided to her the dangerous situations he endured during his five years away, something he has told Diggle in some capacity. When Oliver fights the League in Starling City, he tells her that he would have dreams in Nanda Parbat about her. Yet, the audience sees him hallucinate Diggle. He doesn’t show that he trusts her. He says that he does but words aren’t everything.

And Felicity forgives him for all of this. Every single time. At least two or three times, this season alone, she tells him that she’s done with how Oliver treats her and the rest of the team. Then, she’s back twenty minutes later, being his morality pet. She’s there to tell him that he’s a better man. To tell him how grateful everyone is for him. To tell him to not give up his beliefs (unless it’s to kill Ra’s...but not to kill Ra’s if it involves teaming up with Malcolm). Oliver doesn’t grow from any of these interactions. The only reason he changes by the end of the season is because he’s forced to stop being the Arrow. They both deserve better than for everyone to tell them that they belong together. No character, male or female, should be solely defined by their romantic leanings. The problem is, this season stunts both Oliver and Felicity with the underlying romantic drama. Yes, they have other stories beyond this but every other character also comments on this drama and how in love the two are. It’s worse when other characters have to tell you that two characters are so in love with each other. The audience should be able to see that without the extra commentary. The writers rather write those moments than show them.

Unfortunately for Felicity, she’s completely defined by romantic drama. Even her episode that showcases how she became a hacker is defined by her former boyfriend going to jail for using her virus. Yes, she’s a highly intelligent computer genius. That’s all the show cares to really give Felicity. She’s developed no fight or weapons skills, despite working in a very dangerous environment. It seems like, since Thea and Laurel have both developed fighting skills, they still needed to have a damsel in distress character for when things need to get personal. That gets tired because it only rehashes how much Oliver “cares” for Felicity. If he cared, he would make sure that she could deal with these situations in some small manner. Of the female characters, she’s the one most likely to attract male attention. Thea, minus random League member, has been attached to Roy since season one. Laurel hasn’t had anyone since Tommy’s death. Felicity has Oliver as her main love interest, Barry when he popped in for season two, and now Ray.

The show did more leg work to prove that Felicity and Ray have a better relationship than her and Oliver. From my perspective, it’s hard to see what attracts Felicity and Oliver together aside from sexual chemistry. The only thing they have in common is the vigilante business. No, couples don’t need to share every interest but they should share some common ground besides work. They establish that with Ray. They’re both awkward and nerdy. They help each other create technology. He valued her skills to give her a real position in his company, unlike Oliver who made her his secretary. The show throws this all away for Oliver and Felicity to get together. I am pleased that the show didn’t choose to have Felicity cheat on Ray because it could have easily gone in that direction in Nanda Parbat if a break up hadn’t occurred five hours before. It just doesn’t make sense for the show to invest the groundwork in a relationship that isn’t going to last instead of laying a better groundwork for the endgame relationship.

Let’s shift gears onto other characters, like the treatment of Laurel. It seems like once the writers decided that Laurel wasn’t Oliver’s main romantic interest, they decided to see how miserable they could make Laurel’s life. Seemingly, every episode Laurel appears in, she’s getting yelled at for doing something she’s not supposed to be doing. No, she shouldn’t have been appearing as Black Canary without proper training. That is something to critique her on. Yes, she probably should have told her father about Sara quicker than she did. But the show wants to punish her for these decisions instead of resolving them. She’s the one routinely getting beat up at night because after the boxing gym closes, no one is training her. She’s the one that has to deal with the brunt of her father’s anger because she doesn’t get to hide behind a mask, not fully. She’s the one who gets chastised for playing the hero. Nyssa is the only one who sees value in Laurel as a hero, which is wrong considering she was helping Team Arrow during Oliver’s absence. But as soon as Oliver throws a fit about it, the tides turn against her. By that point, he should have realized that she wasn’t giving up the idea of being a vigilante and helped, at least, train her a bit instead of yelling at her for being an idiot. Of course, she was being reckless but she could have been less reckless if any of them had actually bothered to care to train her. By the end, I was surprised to see that they even remembered to take her to Nanda Parbat with them the second time, considering her finding out about Oliver joining the League is a minute long scene at the end of the episode.

If there was ever a proper focus of the show, it’s not about the tragedy and triumph of Oliver Queen and his family. It’s about the tragedy that befalls the Lance family because they know the Queens. This season, it’s the tragedy of Sara being murdered by Thea via Malcolm drugging her. The show never makes it quite clear why Sara had to be the one murdered in order to set in motion Malcolm’s grand plans. Of course, this meant the show killed a female character in order to further the pain of the rest of the characters. Oh, and the character was bisexual which adds a whole different trope to the mix. There are arguments to make here about the validity of those statements. That’s not the main focus. What is the focus is that the show has to put the Lance family in some state of tragedy. Sara’s murder. Captain Lance’s heart condition. Laurel and Captain Lance’s tenuous grasp of alcoholism. The show even acknowledges this yet chooses to continue down a path of tragedy with very little reward for the Lances. For the Queens, they can turn their tragedy into a road of peace. Moira’s death doesn’t hang as spectre over Oliver, unless the script needs it to. Thea can still run Verdant despite the Queens having a tarnished name. They lost Queen Consolidated but they really don’t care about the company after they lose the bid to Ray. Thea can almost die because Ra’s stabbed her with a sword but she gets to be resurrected in the Lazarus Pit. The Lances don’t get any of that. They continuously lose Sara, first to Oliver and the boat crash and second to Malcolm’s plans. Laurel essentially loses her father for her neglect in telling him about Sara and her vigilante crusade. Quentin had it right when he was talking to Oliver in the prison transport. He is a villain, in the eyes of the Lances.

The show should have ended this season, with the choices they made at the end of the episode. Any plot threads they set up for next season weren’t worth anything. The only ones that were a tad interesting is the explosion Ray caused while working on his Atom suit and Diggle losing complete trust in Oliver. After all of the yelling in the season finale about how none of them were ever going to trust Oliver again, for good reason, Diggle was the only one who had the conviction to not trust Oliver. He left them to die in Nanda Parbat. He attacked Diggle’s family. Unfortunately, I’m wary that the show will quickly resolve this plot in the next season, considering how quickly everyone else forgave him for almost murdering them. Love is not a cure-all for the terrible things he did to them. Malcolm becoming the next Ra’s is ill-conceived. He never faces true repercussions for his action, especially this season. Team Arrow hates him for what he did to Thea and Sara. They, very reluctantly, work with him to defeat Ra’s. Ultimately, he gets everything he wanted when his villain story should have concluded a while ago. Having Oliver and Felicity ride off, away from a life of vigilantism, is where the show should have ended. It wouldn’t have been a spectacular end but it gives hope for the future because none of the above plot threads needed to be absolutely answered.

Odds and Ends

• Why can they not cut flashback Oliver’s hair? It was a better wig this season but it still looks ridiculous.
• Maseo and Tatsu were great. I found myself drawn to their story more than Oliver’s. Even though you could see, quickly, how the two ended up apart in the present day, it didn’t make the revelation of Akio’s death any less heartbreaking. The only reason I support the flashbacks continuing is that they add interesting characters to the story. At least, ones that are better than hearing Oliver bitch about how he needs to go back to Starling City.
• Speaking on that, why in the world did he ever step foot in Starling in the five years? I mean, I know why. I watched the episode. It was ridiculous how much that flashback meant nothing but to actually show us how the rest of the cast acted in the interim period. It felt like the show wanted to tease Oliver returning to Starling early only to have it wrenched out from us. Instead, it was annoying because it’s very clearly established that Oliver was gone for five years.
• It’s great that Thea has learned how to defend herself. Granted, the show decided that when she came back to Starling, she wasn’t really allowed to use most of that knowledge in a combat scenario. It felt like the show wanted to make her Speedy quicker than they did but couldn’t justify it. So, instead, she just has to learn the terrible truths about everyone with slightly better mental fortitude.
• Not sad to see Roy leave. I imagine he’ll pop back in the show one day. The show didn’t know what to do with the character. They couldn’t just have him be Thea’s boyfriend. Sin was almost non-existent. The only story they could seem to come up with was him almost killing various people. Just like every character, Roy had potential. They just sacrifice that potential for Oliver’s pain and suffering.
• Can we talk about the before boat wreck picture of Oliver? The one with him and Robert in front of the Queen’s Gambit? He looks like a goddamn serial killer in that photo. Like, that’s the photo the media uses when talking about the darkness that lurked within them. I get that they were probably going for smarmy but that’s not the look they got. Also, Felicity called him cute based off of that picture. That only added to my annoyance of the romantic drama plot.
• It’s nice that the show not only acknowledges the Flash and crew but actually shows them. That’s one thing that’s always annoyed me about the MCU, both in the movies and TV shows. The MCU never made it feel like the other heroes were in existence unless the story called for it. Here, they make plenty of references to Central City and the problems that they’re facing. As they add more shows to the Arrowverse, I don’t know that this trend will continue but it’s nice to see them attempt it for now.