Arrow Arrow General Discussion Thread - - - - - - - - - - Part 24

[mr. peasant]

Cop was clearly Stardust in disguise.

 

[raisethe3]

I don't get why people are upset if Laurel is the one in the grave. I mean, this show is called Arrow, thus Green Arrow? It would suck if she does end up being it. But....they always can bring back the Lazarus Pit....

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

serious post or joking?

 

[TheRedWraith]

He can't shoot them in the knees or shoulders? Barely uses the bow these days. Might as well not even have it.

If he just brought in more trick arrows like flashbang, smoke, gas, taser, bolo and weighted tip unsharpened roundish ended impact arrows he wouldn't have a problem.

 

[TheRedWraith]

Again, I agree with a lot of that. I would prefer if more people posted their complaints in a similar manner, rather than just using hyperbole. What you said about H.I.V.E also applies to the LOA. What you refer to as "common grunts", I refer to as motiveless papier-mâché henchmen t:. They could have done so much more with both, but they chose to just focus on some of the characters (Ra's Nyssa and Maseo with LOA, Damien and his wife this year, with another member rumoured to appear). I also think Felicty's screen-time should be reduced, I do not think that she is interesting enough to justify it. She doesn't ruin the show for me though. Anyway, good post.

They could negate some of the genericness if they just gave the ghosts/league/henchmen ambient dialogue amonst themselves that suggested that they each had a separate personality and character and weren't mindless drones as well as establishing some memorable lieutenants with the ghosts/organizations.

 

[Gintoki]

They should make an adaption of 'Arrow Vengeance' as a mini series.

I'd watch the hell out of it.

 

[TheRedWraith]

This just makes it even more apparent how important Katie is on and off the camera, were she not around Stephen would have been in Jail!

 

[Gintoki]

The twitter I linked to yesterday, interviewed Katie today (who was 3hrs late...yikes) and Katies attitude about the whole thing just puts another notch in her being dead.





https://***********/Felicitys_Arrow

Sigh....it's more or less confirmed now.

 

[SpideyVille]

I don't get why people are upset if Laurel is the one in the grave. I mean, this show is called Arrow, thus Green Arrow? It would suck if she does end up being it. But....they always can bring back the Lazarus Pit....

They destroyed the Pit and the producers have said this death is final.

 

[AspieXLDS]

@Daltonio: thanks for the link.

@raisethe3: Can't speak for everyone else, but for me the reason is that while BC may not always be connected to the GA, when she shows up in a GA comic or, in this case, TV show you expect her to play a decent role, if not a prominent one. The showrunners decided to make Laurel's evolution from lawyer to Black Canary a part of their show, so they either need to stick with that plan or stop putting, "based on the characters from DC Comics" because the show has no basis in the comics aside from names.

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow doesn't give a damn about the little guy, just going through the motions so he can go home to quirky IT girl Felicity (and at least for the time being we won't see him moving beyond the realm of Olicity since the next two episodes have an Olicity twist).

Roy Harper/Arsenal has been written off the show.

Thea Queen/Speedy (based partly on Mia Dearden) has more of a mentor/student relationship with Laurel than anyone else.

Laurel Lance/Black Canary is barely used except as a sounding board, normally for how Oliver is feeling about Felicity, and when she does get the chance to shine its usually overrode by Olicity melodrama.

Finally, the two members of the so-called Team Arrow are two OCs created for this show. Sorry, Felicity counts as an OC. She was intended as a one-off, they didn't give her a backstory until Season 3, and before that she was basically Naomi Singh: a hacker sidekick with no backstory. Both she and Diggle were only introduced to the GA comics in the New 52 after "Arrow" became a success. I don't know about Dig, but Felicity was written out of the continuity after the run she appeared in was done.

 

[Slade W]

Tbf, it is a good thing that Roy was written off. They are struggling to make the most of all of the characters right now and to find something to do with them, it would be worse if Roy was still there. He wasn't very interesting either IMO.

 

[Omegabat]

Tbf, it is a good thing that Roy was written off. They are struggling to make the most of all of the characters right now and to find something to do with them, it would be worse if Roy was still there. He wasn't very interesting either IMO.

That's because they gave him nothing to work with. Harper was once a secret agent,he had a romantic relationship with Cheshire,he had a daughter,he was faster than Ollie,he was a perfect shot with every weapon,he used guns,he was a drug addict,he lost his arm and got a bionic one like Winter Soldier, had a brother/sister type relationship with Canary and so forth. I haven't even started on his history with the Teen Titans and Jason Todd.
Meanwhile John Diggle has a fodder brother,a token family,a Batman villain who's gone and that's pretty much it.
Felicity on the other hand is a part time Barbara Gordon ripoff with an annoying mother.
Roy could have effortlessly been interesting if they had given him a fair shot.

 

[SpideyVille]

The thing about Roy was he was only contradicted for a short bit, unlike most of the rest of the cast, which is contracted for 5-7 years. They basically knew Colton was going to leave after season 3, so the question is, did they hold him back because of that, or did they just not know what to do without killing him off?

 

[JC00]

Tbf, it is a good thing that Roy was written off. They are struggling to make the most of all of the characters right now and to find something to do with them, it would be worse if Roy was still there. He wasn't very interesting either IMO.

Hard to give all the characters justice when 90% of the show is focused on only 2 of them...

 

[JC00]

I don't get why people are upset if Laurel is the one in the grave. I mean, this show is called Arrow, thus Green Arrow? It would suck if she does end up being it. But....they always can bring back the Lazarus Pit....

Because what it represents. Which is Olicity continues on to the detriment of the show and the only two Green Arrow characters outside of Oliver will have been written off..

Characters left:
Diggle (made for the show)
Thea (made for the show. don't care if she is a "take" on Mia Dearden. She isn't Mia Dearden so she was made for the show)
Felicity (obscure supporting character of Firestorm)


If you are going to have a "Team Arrow" people are going to want Dinah and Roy to be a part of it..

 

[Slade W]

That's because they gave him nothing to work with. Harper was once a secret agent,he had a romantic relationship with Cheshire,he had a daughter,he was faster than Ollie,he was a perfect shot with every weapon,he used guns,he was a drug addict,he lost his arm and got a bionic one like Winter Soldier, had a brother/sister type relationship with Canary and so forth. I haven't even started on his history with the Teen Titans and Jason Todd.
Meanwhile John Diggle has a fodder brother,a token family,a Batman villain who's gone and that's pretty much it.
Felicity on the other hand is a part time Barbara Gordon ripoff with an annoying mother.
Roy could have effortlessly been interesting if they had given him a fair shot.

I agree. The writers clearly struggle to fit all the characters in and make use of them, they only seem to be able to do a good job with three or four at a time (and that is how it has been since the show began). The less characters there are, the better. You are not giving Diggle credit though and are trying to make him sound as uninteresting as possible. He is a popular character and for good reason. Your assessment of him is wide of the mark.

 

[Slade W]

Hard to give all the characters justice when 90% of the show is focused on only 2 of them...

Even in the early seasons, they struggled to do a good job with more three or four characters at a time. It has always been a problem for the writers in my eyes. In hindsight, maybe it would have been better to have had one side-kick at a time, rather than jam them all in at the same time. One or two seasons of Roy/Arsenal, one or two seasons of Thea/Mia Dearden and then one or two seasons of Black Canary, or something like that.

 

[Boy Scout]

The thing about Roy was he was only contradicted for a short bit, unlike most of the rest of the cast, which is contracted for 5-7 years. They basically knew Colton was going to leave after season 3, so the question is, did they hold him back because of that, or did they just not know what to do without killing him off?

I hope it's the latter, because it makes no sense to hold a character back when you know you aren't guaranteed to keep him for as long as you might want him.

 

[Slade W]

I hope it's the latter, because it makes no sense to hold a character back when you know you aren't guaranteed to keep him for as long as you might want him.

My guess is that they thought it would be more useful and better to focus on and continue to develop characters that they will be able to use in the future, rather than a character they will not be able to use or rely on in coming seasons. Maybe that is why they focused more on Thea and Laurel last season, because they would still be around.

 

[Paradox1]

Losing Roy was extremely disappointing cause there was still so much more story to tell with his character. I would of loved to see his connection with Vandall Savage explored.

 

[Jedi Arrow]

I don't think it's fair to say that Thea isn't Mia. Sure, she's been modified (made Oliver's sister and Merlyn's daughter), but isn't that what adaptations do? They don't copy directly but they adapt? Thea is clearly an adaptation of Mia. She's Speedy, a young female apprentice to Green Arrow, and her middle name's Dearden. She's Mia, or might as well be.

As to Roy, I don't see why everyone says he was mishandled. Underused in parts of S3, especially toward the end? Definitely. But his character arc, when you put it together from all 3 seasons, is awesome. I didn't see it until I went back and watched some episodes of S1, but it's there. Roy says in S1 "I can't explain why, but I feel like my life is tied to his," or something. This is followed up on, two seasons later, when he gives up his life for Oliver's. He also goes from an arrogant jerk loner to a mature, level-headed team player, even a leader or mentor (see how he interacts with Laurel when she first tries to become Black Canary).

One thing that gives me hope for the rest of this season is that the writers always bring their A game in the last 3 episodes of the season. No matter the previous content, the 3 ending episodes are almost always the best of the season. I think most anyone who dislikes S3 can still agree the last 3 episodes are excellent. I watched a bit of "My Name is Oliver Queen" and was more impressed than I remembered. It was actually really enjoyable.

Hey, just curious, can anyone remember the last time the "Arrow" riff played? I'm talking the electric guitar riff that plays whenever Oliver first enters a scene as the Arrow (examples being when he dropped in to fight Harrison Wells in S1E22 in Flash, or when Connor Hawke first appeared in LOT, IIRC). I can't remember it very often this season. It really added something to Oliver's presence. But now it generally just plays the "Team Arrow" theme whenever any of them jump in.

 

[SpideyVille]

I was really disappointed because when I saw he had finally suited up, I was really excited to see him on the team. Aside from the Brick story arc, he was criminally underused and was basically wallpaper.

What's worse is I felt the same about Thea and Laurel this season, so to see 2 of those 3 not being used and then getting "killed off," it's very disheartening as a longtime fan of the series.

 

[Slade W]

I really think that having one side-kick at a time would have been for the best, given how the writers have always struggled to do a good job with more than three or four characters at a time (perhaps I am being slightly harsh there). Even if they were only around for one or two seasons, at least they could have done more with them during their time on the show.

 

[SpideyVille]

I just don't think you need to show the full team operating at all times. I'd love to see Thea and Laurel out doing one thing while Oliver is doing something for the campaign, for example. Maybe Oliver is at a dinner while Diggle is running recon on an enemy.

It's just highly suspicious that they're always together everywhere they go and you rarely see anyone other than Oliver and Diggle, carry out missions on their own.

 

[O'Haire]

I just don't think you need to show the full team operating at all times. I'd love to see Thea and Laurel out doing one thing while Oliver is doing something for the campaign, for example. Maybe Oliver is at a dinner while Diggle is running recon on an enemy.

Works for Legends of Tomorrow. They pair off and work different angles. Come together when they have to.