Arrow was once a well-written show with loads of potential. Okay, well-written as far as CW shows go. Moreover, Arrow represented the exciting launching point of a viable DC Universe on the small screen.

The first two seasons were somewhat solid. The frequent flashbacks made sense and connected to the present-day storyline in a non-convoluted way. While Season 3 wasn’t bad, it’s easy to argue that Season 1 and 2 of Arrow were better.

Season 4 represents a cringe-worthy tipping point in the series’ history. The show’s massive ratings drop could inspire some emergency changes to the writing staff and direction of the series. I’m doubtful. With Supernatural around to set the gold standard in “shows that would have been canceled years ago if they were on any network besides CW,” there’s no reason to expect Arrow to be canceled no matter how bad it gets.

In other words, Arrow is headed down a dark path, at the end of which we can fully expect it to become a poorly written, unfunny, and not-so-fun parody of itself.

Before addressing the irredeemable mess Arrow is likely to become, let’s look back at the massive red flags that led us to this point.

The first warning sign actually seemed rather innocent at the time. The better Arrow writers were shipped over to The Flash to get that series off the ground. A Reddit discussion revealed that not only was there a shift in writing quality during Season 3 (about the time The Flash debuted), but the lead stunt choreographer also moved to the newer show. If you were wondering why fight sequences have become messier and less satisfying, there you go.

The lesson here is that it’s probably better to bring on top talent to replace quality showrunners rather than allow a subpar staff to sail the ship indefinitely.

Stephen Amell Says Arrow is Best Without Superpowers - https://t.co/BLRxlBhkYe pic.twitter.com/r8tYHrFT6W — Screen Rant (@screenrant) May 20, 2016

The above is almost entirely to blame for a mistake that CW shows have made one after the other: Fandom pandering. That’s what happens when a show tries to drum up support and ratings by going out of its way to cater to a segment of fans. In the case of the CW, I think the disastrous controversy surrounding The 100 demonstrates the risk of having a fan-baiting tactic go horribly wrong.

Arrow is on the other end of the spectrum; it represents the possible consequences of having fan-baiting go horribly right.

Of course, I’m talking about “Olicity.” If you don’t know what Olicity is, it’s the cutesy name for a relationship between characters Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. Before I get besieged by bloodthirsty Tumblr-dwelling keyboard warriors, it’s not the idea of these two hooking up that’s terrible.

What’s genuinely awful is that the show was hijacked by this relationship to the point where Black Canary’s dying words were pretty much, “Team Olicity!” That such a thing was allowed to happen to the most prominent DC heroine after freaking Wonder Woman is a disgrace.

The Mission: Black Canary's DC Comics & "Arrow" Legacy, and the Heart of a Fan https://t.co/0HLMxkp3zL … via @cbr pic.twitter.com/8Pz0B60wFQ — SuperheroesInColor (@HeroesInColor00) May 20, 2016

Speaking of which, I understand that Arrow is working hard to maintain an audience of non-comic book readers. Still, it’s really annoying that Laurel Lance was thrown under the bus to please a group of people who have no idea that her sister Sara was a character created exclusively for the show (because having a middle-aged mom be a former superhero was a big ask apparently).

After the massive outrage over Sara’s death, Arrow writers “fixed” the problem by introducing the Lazarus Pit solely for resolving fan outrage. It was conveniently destroyed after Sara Lance was revived, leaving no such out for the sister who worked so hard to bring her back from the dead.

Despite going through hell and high water to make her family whole, Black Canary was given no such reciprocation by Arrow.

In a particularly hilarious turn of events, the Arrow character was given a far better send off on The Flash, where writers even found the effort to give her a real “canary cry.” It seems we’ve truly come full circle as Arrow circles the drain.

Look familiar? Check out the Black Canary's doppelganger, Black Siren on a new episode of #TheFlash NOW. pic.twitter.com/k1707lcRzO — The Flash (@CW_TheFlash) May 18, 2016

There’s nothing to look forward to in Season 5. I don’t care what happens during the finale; we have reached the kind of crisis that can only be solved by Supergirl punching reality so hard that everything shatters into rebootable bits.

The good news is that CW actually has Supergirl now, so a “Crisis on Infinite Earths” type story is possible. It might be the massive crossover that’s been hinted at. And you know what? That could be a great thing for Arrow. Allowing the fading series to benefit from a game-changing series of events could help Arrow avoid becoming an entirely unwatchable mess in the near future.

Do you think Arrow can be saved? Share your thoughts below!

[Image via the CW]