One of the most pleasant surprises of my entertainment-engaging year has been Arrow. I started watching the show over the summer, and caught up about 5 episodes into this current season. While no one will mistake it for The Sopranos, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t one of the most frequently enjoyable shows on television. The series gets quality acting from a passionate cast (have you read some of Stephen Amell’s comments?), and they handle the comics to TV transition just about as well as you could reasonably expect.

However, there have still been ups and downs this season; typically, the highs have been much more impactful than the lows, but it would be dishonest to claim the show is perfect. So, on today’s Countdown, I will walk you through some of my favorite – and least favorite – moments of the series this year, as well as how to correct/sustain them.

The Misses:



To be perfectly honest – this isn’t on the list because of poor acting, or decision making by the powers that be. This is on the list because, over the course of a season and a half, we have grown to really care about Laurel, and the show has been consistently dragging her through the mud. Getting her heart broken, losing her job, falling prey to addiction – it has been a bad year for the elder Lance daughter.

How to fix it: Let her have the rare moment of triumph – it’ll make the disappointments sting more, and it’ll give the viewers some hope. Right now, the show too closely resembles a blooper reel when it comes to Laurel.

4. The Demise of Count Vertigo

The Count was the first real recurring villain of the show, and he was being built up as a villain that would stick around and have a huge payoff at the end of his story. Except, that isn’t what happened. He went out with a whimper, not a bang. Sure, both Sebastian Blood and Deathstroke are more interesting villains, but there was room for all three.

How to fix it: Don’t let the same fate befall either Blood or Slade. Let them be players in the show for the long haul.

3. Moira’s Moral Ping Ponging

This season began as a story about the redemption of Moira Queen – no longer content on lying, she was going to face the music for her crimes against Starling. Well, now she is running for mayor, back to her devious ways. In fact, her main foil, Walter, has also completely lost his backbone and moral compass, around the same time Moira lost hers. I don’t think this is a case of them being brainwashed, or doing it for any reason other than self-preservation. It’s an interesting idea, but there has just been too much back and forth for what side Moira is on. It seems the only answer is her own.

How to fix it: Just let her pick a side. I know conflicted characters are more fun to write, but the show needs to find a role for her and stick to it.

2. Ollie Not Being Smarter

Look at the above image: we know Ollie’s rocking some serious abs. But what he isn’t rocking? Some serious brains.

Look, I’m not saying he has to be Mister Terrific, but he makes a ton of really, really stupid mistakes, he has blinders for certain people, and he openly disrespects/doesn’t listen to his most trusted advisors. I know this is the “young Green Arrow” story, but he won’t live to be “old Green Arrow” if he doesn’t shape up soon.

How to fix it: The character has grown a lot since the show started in how he interacts with his family – bring some of that evolution to his vigilantism, too.

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1. Diggle Doing Diddly



Quick – name four things Diggle has done this whole season. Can’t do it, can you? Because he’s not next to nothing. I know that his role has been diminishing since Felicity came aboard and, especially, since Roy showed up, but c’mon, man. The character needs to be utilized better than he has been lately.

How to fix it: I said this in my last review: let him train Roy. “Diggle never saw the effects of mirakuru blah blah” – shut the fuck up. He was in the military – give Roy some military training.

Or, go back to the trick pulled at least once in season one, where he goes out as the Arrow, letting Ollie and the Arrow make an appearance in the same place at the same time. Or, give him a buddy cop episode with Detective Lance. Let him worth with Sara. DO SOMETHING

The Hits:

5. The Island Means Something This Year

This season, the flashbacks have been less “Jack’s tattoos” and more “Locke was in a wheelchair?!?!?” Each episode is using their island sequences to really push the story forward – it has built up Slade as a tragic character, it has showed Sara as a deeper and more nuanced character than her sister, and it has showed why Ollie is the way he is in so many ways. Last season, every time they flashed back, I wanted to check out. This year, the opposite is true – those sequences remain some of my favorites.

How to sustain this: Make each year’s flashbacks feel unique. This year’s tone is much more collaborative than last year’s solo journey. Who knows what next year will hold?

4. The Villains Are Personal





What makes the “villains of the week” premise the show was toying with the first season fun was seeing random DC villains pop up. And while that is still fun, having the overarching baddies of Blood and Slade are much more interesting. When you make the puppet masters being major players in Ollie’s life, it just makes the whole show feel more epic.

How to sustain this: Don’t let both characters fizzle out at the end of this season. And, if they do, have someone even closer to Ollie take their place (like, say, Malcolm Merlyn?)

3. Felicity and Roy Have Been Better Used





Both of these characters were used decently in their first season, but both felt a little two-dimensional. Felicity was smart and useful (and, be still my heart, drop dead gorgeous), but seemed like there was more there under the surface. This year, she showed what was there: someone lonely, someone with a broken family, someone with a rock solid moral character.

Ditto Roy – he shows up as a common thug with a heart of gold, and was sort of Thea’s grunting boyfriend for most of his appearances. This year, between his character’s maturity and the mirakuru working its way through his veins, this is a character reborn. He has purpose, he was an affected brain that sometimes betrays his actual desires, and he is strong as shit.

How to sustain this: Don’t make this the end of their arcs – continue to deepen these characters. Diggle started off great too, and then the development just died. Learn from that.

2. Sara Takes Flight





Sure, it was a bit of a weird trick to re-cast Sara so that there is no way we could have recognized her as Black Canary, but everything else about her character has been aces thus far. Watching her and Ollie fight together has been like seeing a comic come to life – their martial arts training, mixed with the archery, has made for some really compelling television. Her character is complex and mysterious, but has, essentially, the same bottom line as Ollie – she’s trying to protect her family. She elevates every scene she is in, and adds something to Ollie’s character as well – she’s the only person who really knows what he went through on the island. Her presence empowers Ollie, destroys Laurel, redeems Dinah, and helps heal Quentin. She has made the show far more interesting since her arrival.

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How to sustain this: Fight the desire to spin her off into her own adventures. Sure, maybe she shouldn’t be an every week player, but she is a valuable member of the cast.

1. Barry Allen Changes the Game in a Flash

Arrow so perfectly played its Flash card, it is almost unreal. They cast a great fit, they brought him in without making it too obvious what his deal was, they gave him a metric shit ton of chemistry with Felicity, they gave him his powers in a (relatively) realistic way. They, simply, nailed this.

And by bringing in Barry, they opened the door to bring in so many other characters. This shows them that, yes, you can go outside of the typical players and get a little more mystical and superpowered. It is an excellent step in expanding the DC TV U and, if they ever decide to merge this with the Cinematic U, I can’t imagine a better Ollie or Barry being out there to cast.

How to sustain this: Learn from the successes of this season of Arrow to make The Flash the success all of us fanboys hope it can be.