Production for Arrow: Season 5 recently began with the series returning to the CW on Wednesday, October 5th at 8 pm. Many individuals, including myself, were disappointed with the Season 4 Finale, let alone the entirety of Season 4. I have always tried to find the best in Arrow, and have continuously watched the series trying to give it the benefit of the doubt. At the conclusion of Season 4 I began to compare all of the seasons. Obviously seasons 1 and 2 were the best, but I began to think what it was that attracted me to the series during those seasons.

Season 1 was great because it was the â€œoriginâ€. I looked forward to the island scenes wondering how they would escape, and would then be eager to see how the flashback scenes meshed with the current timeline, which they did. There were two story lines, but each one gave the audience pieces to the overall plot. The audience also knew that â€œThe Vigilanteâ€ would have to turn good somehow, but we were left trying to figure out how Oliver would fight the darkness from the island. Comic Book lovers also knew that Slade Wilson would eventually turn into Deathstroke, but were constantly guessing how he would turn into the character we all know and love. The death of Tommy was truly gut-wrenching, and I personally thought it was going to be Lance who met his demise until they actually showed Tommy in the destroyed building. There was constantly a sense of curiosity as to what would happen next. This was also displayed in the methodical revelation of Malcolm Merlin as the Dark Archer.

Season 2 brought the audience Deathstroke, and it did not disappoint! Manu Bennett did a wonderful job portraying the character, and was even made stronger as the conflict extended outside of Arrow and Deathstroke into Oliver and Slade which, once again, worked in tandem with the island scenes. Even though the overarching conflict of â€œtaking down the cityâ€ was somewhat repetitive, it was in a different way as Malcolm felt the city needed cleansing, and Sladeâ€™s main focus was revenge and doing whatever it took to truly crush Oliver.

Seasons 3 and 4 was where the changes began. The focus was no longer on Oliver. There were too many â€œsupporting charactersâ€ who had just as much, if not at times more, screen and story time than Oliver. The anticipation was gone, and the plot was somewhat repetitive. The previous seasons offered subtle information which made viewers continue to watch each week in order to put the pieces together. Finding out Sara was alive was shocking, but then the audience began to wonder how she made it off the island and how did she end up with the league? The big twist of Season 3 was that Oliver was stabbed by Raâ€™s. Seeing as it was the mid-season finale, yes, the audience knew Oliver would be back. We may not have known how, but it was quickly answered. The flashback scenes were alright. We were able to see how he gained more of his killer instinct, but the scenes still werenâ€™t as pleasing. The ending of both seasons was the typical â€œtake over the city / destroy the city / cleanse the cityâ€ we had seen already. I get it, the city is Oliverâ€™s to protect, but there has to be a different focus. Once the focus turned from Oliverâ€™s story to the supporting characters and magic, Arrow began to lose itself, and its ratings.

I donâ€™t even need to go into details about â€œOlicityâ€â€¦

Below is a list of ways that can help mend some of the irritated fan issues and restore some of the ratings, and hopefully the series.

Use Flashpoint to Start Fresh