Arrow How are you liking Season 3 so far?

[B:TAS]

I am personally really digging it so far. Probably better then season 1, not quite as good as season 2, at least so far. But I've been seeing a lot of hate on this season on the internet. Overall, how are you liking it?

 

[Daltonio]

Apart from the forced Olicity drama, I'm very much enjoying this season. It's not my favorite one, but I don't think there's been some drastic decline in quality like some people claim.

 

[That Guy]

I have a feeling that it will be liked better after it has finished. Season three is about Oliver being humbled. He has been defeated but never to the degree that he has before in season three. He now knows that he still has a lot to learn in order to become the hero that he wants to be. A lot of the current nit picking is really minor problems that also existed in seasons one and two.

 

[haephestus]

It's my least favourite season of Arrow to date.

I thought season 2 was very good. I had hoped that Arrow would continue to improve upon the story-telling seen in season 2, but I've been very disappointed with season 3.

To be fair, I think The Flash is having an awesome first season and comparisons between the two shoes is inevitable. Each week I look forward to watching The Flash to see what will happen. Each week, I also begrungingly watch Arrow with the hope that it will improve and once again instill me with the same level of excitement and enthusiasm as I felt during season 2.

 

[B:TAS]

It's my least favourite season of Arrow to date.

I thought season 2 was very good. I had hoped that Arrow would continue to improve upon the story-telling seen in season 2, but I've been very disappointed with season 3.

To be fair, I think The Flash is having an awesome first season and comparisons between the two shoes is inevitable. Each week I look forward to watching The Flash to see what will happen. Each week, I also begrungingly watch Arrow with the hope that it will improve and once again instill me with the same level of excitement and enthusiasm as I felt during season 2.

Out of curiosity, why do you feel this way?

 

[Spider-Ock]

I am liking this season. The first couple of episodes up until the magician were good, but then it kind of stagnated with 3 really meh eps. But, I think the show found its groove again with the midseason finale and the trilogy of episodes after that.

The Positives
+Ra's Al Ghul kicking Ollie's behind almost to Oblivion
+The Action Scenes in the last three episodes
+More screen time to develop supporting cast (in particular Roy and Laurel)
+The Black Canary Arc
+The larger plotline of Oliver vs. Arrow

The Negatives:
-Overexposure of the Felicity character
-Olicity drama
-The whole plotline of Lance not knowing the secret
-The whole Sara Murder Debacle

I remember giving Season 1 a 7.3/10 and Season 2 an 8.5/10. Overall, up until now, this season is likely a 7.5-7.8 range for me, with potential for improvement.

 

[The Sarge]

It's not good. It had potential, but so far it's squandering it. How does Ollie survive? He just kind of does. Somehow being stabbed through the chest, and pushed off a cliff shirtless in freezing temperatures just doesn't kill him.
And he seems unbothered by Malcom Merlyns crimes. The man that killed his Father, Sarah, brainwashed his sister, 500 other people including his best friend, and tried to kill him as well. Almost like, "dealing with Merlyn is hard, so I'm just going to not."

There's other problems, but the rest really boils down to the fact that it's retreading the same ground. Why don't they just bring back Grundy already or something?

I this sums up my feelings as well.

Each week I look forward to watching The Flash to see what will happen. Each week, I also begrungingly watch Arrow with the hope that it will improve and once again instill me with the same level of excitement and enthusiasm as I felt during season 2.

 

[Human Torch]

In all honesty,I've been enjoying the last few shows pretty much.

Look,I agree that this season is a step down with numerous slip ups,but I've been trying to see the glass half full. I'd probably rank this season over S1 at this point. It's still not as good as S2.

It depends on what you're willing to forgive.

I couldn't care less that they didn't revive Ollie with the Lazarus Pit. I didn't think they would nor should have. The hand wringing over that will continue no doubt. But I'm at my breaking point of shouting "Get Over It!!!" at this point.

Hated that they killed Sara, but the dye was cast on day one. I'm not going to stop watching because of Laurel. I've never had a problem with Katie or even with her becoming BC. But they could've kept Sara alive as White Canary or something.

They continue to put Ray in the background,when this guy is just a treat to watch in every little scene he's in.

The villains have been consistently entertaining. Ra's, Brick, Nu-Vertigo and even Cupid have ranged from decent to very good. (I probably couldn't make that claim in S1 TBH)

Slightly more focus on the supporting cast. Making Laurel tolerable/Roy getting the spotlight...somewhat/At least attempting to give Diggle an ongoing storyline (since they dropped the HIVE thing like a hot potato)/ Thea finally seeming to have some purpose beyond brooding 'nobody tells me the truth'.

The Malcolm thing is both remarkable and confounding at the same time.

And finally, I'm going to put the Felicity romance in the plus column. I actually do find myself liking her scenes with Oliver more often than not.

Just my observation.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

Perhaps if the bad decision made it would be stronger season plus less romance on the show would help.......and Ra's lack of presence in the first half as a threat. I think the writer are doing a different way to introduce villains. It a strong season and it get heated up as the season wears down...the final 8 episode should action packed and intense

 

[Deltron3030]

Would love more LoA and Ra's back history for people who don't know much about them. For being the big bad, they just aren't on screen a whole lot. Slade's presence was felt a lot last season. They could have or should have incorporated more Sara and her flashbacks with the league after she died, or before she died.

 

[Fincher]

I'm not (I'm up through Midnight City from last week). I don't like:

- Losing Sara (my favorite) and Laurel trying to replace her

- "Olicity", which didn't click and is too dramatic, with almost none of the fun that I would have expected, since it's Felicity we're talking about

- The show getting increasingly more fantastical

- The Flash crossover others raved so much about

- Other issues here and there (the fight choreography in Midnight City seemed particularly poor).


There's been good things as well, the Hong Kong flashbacks, Ra's al Ghul, Ray Palmer (personality-wise), the murder mystery element, Thea not feeling like a third wheel... but it hasn't made up for the problems. And I loved the first two seasons.

 

[Nathan]

It's slightly getting irritating to watch for me, because of all the nonsense logic, the stupid twists, things being dragged out, like keeping Sara's death from Lance and going through crazy lengths to keep it from him. Previous seasons had some nonsense as well, but not to this extend.

So far, I think Flash's Season 1 wipes the floor with Arrow's Season 3. It's a much better weekly experience at the moment.

 

[Seb]

I don't hate it, but I can't love it the way I did last season, or the second half of the first. Honestly, it feels like the first in levels of quality, but during the first season the quality was rising, now it feels like its floundering. Also, I don't understand the people who say "just wait, they'll pull it all together and it will have been worth it." For me, in TV especially, it's all about the journey. No matter how great the destination, numerous episodes of jarring character shifts and unexplained actions hurt the journey badly.

Choices that I understand but don't like:

-Sara dying

-Thea being Merlyn's groupie

-Laurel hiding Sara's death from her father

-Oliver coming back so quickly


Things I don't understand at all, and therefore hate even more:

-Oliver being stabbed and tossed off a cliff, followed by an actual CG sequence demonstrating how dead he should be, then going 'LOL, he's pretty much OK'. If you don't have a convincing solution to a problem, don't write the damn problem.

-Oliver defending Merlyn 'for Thea' back before Merlyn showed him the blackmail video

-Ray being introduced, being awesome, then being mostly ignored for the majority of the first 9 episodes

-Laurel, despite hiding it from her father, telling her mother and Thea (!?!?!) about Sara's death

-Thin characterisation for Ra's and the LOA (apart from Nyssa)

-Brick's fluctuating power levels


Things I actually do like:

-More of Roy and better Laurel (though both only really happened in the Canary trilogy, so I'm concerned about how well they'll maintain it)

-Brick's presence as a threat

-Ray Palmer

-The flashbacks, though the material is thin and only really grabs me every other episode


These are all off the top of my head, there are probably more things in all the sections. End of the day, I'll still watch the show, but I have a lot of free time and have quite a low threshold for quality. That low threshold doesn't stop me from complaining about it, especially when a show has demonstrated that it is capable of better.

The Olicity stuff meanders between all three sections.

EDIT: As a sidenote, I think that one of the problems with Ra's and the League as compared to Slade is analogous to the sophomore slump of authors and musicians. Slade was the culmination of two seasons of flashbacks and some present day stuff, Ra's was rushed out in a few episodes. We even saw more of Merlyn in season 1, and his personal relationships with the main cast made it easier to fill out his character. With Ra's, we've seen maybe ten minutes of him at the most. This is one of the reasons that using Ra's and the League as antagonists after killing Sara is that they got rid of their most interesting link to them (I mean, the whole Batman Talia angle between Sara and Nyssa would have been great); using Sara flashbacks to show us more of Ra's and the League would make them much more real, and I hope they can at least give us more Merlyn flashbacks to do the same job.

 

[kguillou]

I think his season is a clear example of why 23 episodes for a season is just too much. Theres too much filler and not enough cohesiveness. I think the writers have a plan for this season but I think they struggled to fill out 23 episodes worth. I think from this point forward we're going to see a dramatic improvement and the main storyline is going to kick in high gear. We still have 11 episodes left.

 

[Seb]

I think his season is a clear example of why 23 episodes for a season is just too much. Theres too much filler and not enough cohesiveness. I think the writers have a plan for this season but I think they struggled to fill out 23 episodes worth. I think from this point forward we're going to see a dramatic improvement and the main storyline is going to kick in high gear. We still have 11 episodes left.

Honestly I have to agree. It would be cool if they did what Once Upon A Time does, have the first and second half of the season have their own complete arcs (It's kind of like getting two short seasons each year instead of one long one.)

 

[Bats1690]

I've enjoyed it so far. I'm a much bigger fan of Ra's and the League than Slade anyway. Arrow has always had a lackluster first half in every season thus far. Season 3 is no different. When Ra's and the League start appearing more often (which is going to happen in the next few episodes as it was already said that Ra's would have a huge role in the 2nd half of the season) is when the show will dramatically pick up IMO. I mean the mid-season finale of season 3 was easily one of the best if not the best episode of Arrow IMO and that episode heavily featured Ra's and the League.

The biggest blunder in this season was without doubt Oliver surviving. I'm sorry but that choice just wreaked of bad writing. You don't have a sword shoved through your chest, kicked off a cliff, and have your body sit in freezing temperatures and manage to survive. Not to mention we've no idea what Tatsu used to help Oliver recover.

 

[The Batman]

Likes:

Ray Palmer: Brandon Routh has been doing a good job as Ray Plamer, even though this version of The Atom seems more like Ted Kord. I would like to see him tie more into the general storyarc of this season, however.

Arsenal: Roy is really coming into his own this season, and is definitely one of my favorite characters. I'm surprised he isn't more haunted about killing that cop during his mirakuru rage, but that's probably for the best.

Laurel's arc: The first time I've truly given a damn about Laurel. Her character's improved since starting on the path to becoming BC. Integrating her with Team Arrow means no more silly filler subplots.

Ra's kicking Ollie's ass: Their first encounter was exactly how a Ra's/Ollie fight should go.

Brick: A pretty cool character and great rival for the Ollie-less Team Arrow. If only Vertigo felt like this much of a threat.

Dislikes:

Sara's death and subsequent storyline: If Sara had to die, she should've just died at the end of Season 2, with a much more fitting death than being used as a plot device for the Thea/Merlyn storyarc. The whole "Quentin doesn't know Sara's dead" arc isn't very compelling either.

Ollie's "death" and return: This arc had so much potential. First off, it turns out he wasn't actually dead. Then, he gets revived in the most anticlimatic way possible. And then, he returns to Starling in the most anticlimatic way possible, in part because Team Arrow starting learning how to proceed without Ollie.

Olicity: They made an overrated ship an actual thing...and sucked the fun out of Felicity's character in the process.

Overall, probably the weakest Season of the show so far, and the existence of "The Flash" tv show only highlights this season's flaws even further.

 

[yonny616]

So far I've been disappointed. While it's been better than season one, it hasn't lived up to season two. I also feel Ra's has been a complete disappointment. I don't if it's the actor or writing, but he just doesn't have a presence like the Merlyn or Slade had in their seasons. The last few episodes have been some of the best this season, episode 13 looks like it'll be the best yet.

 

[Boy Scout]

This has so far been my least favorite season.

 

[The_Manhunter]

I really like it minus a few things (Olicity, Sara, Laurel lying to her dad). Season 1 remains on top though for me, it had no glaring things I didn't like.

 

[Frodo]

It just seems to kinda all over the place imo. Storylines are rushed and character motivations are pretty shaky and there still doesn't seem to be a strong narrative which is moving the season towards something. Now , its not unwatchable or bad, but the quality really has gone down from the first two seasons. The show needs to have a singular focus and less comic bookie everyone is a super-hero ninja type stuff they've been doing this season. I think they could still have 24 episodes but they have to have a drive and a story to tell , not just throwing as much at the wall as you can and seeing what sticks.

 

[Loki882]

It's underwhelming:

-Sara's death was badly bungled and the ensuing "mystery" wasn't really all that compelling.

-Malcolm's entire "plan" is overconvoluted and makes no sense if you think about it for more than ten seconds.

-Thea's characters has been terribly handled this season.

-It's obvious that they brought Malcolm back simply because he was popular and are now struggling to find ways to keep him plausibly involved. They keep resorting to massive plot contrivance in order to do so.

-Everyone apparently just forgetting that Malcolm is a mass-murderer who is responsible for HUNDREDS of deaths, including Oliver's dad, his best friend (and Malcolm's own son), and (implied) Roy's parents. Thea is apparently just fine with hanging around with him now (to the point of getting angry/offended if other's aren't ok with it), Oliver just lets him go in one episode (which was astoundingly stupid) and has now "allied" with him against Ra's, even though it's Malcolm's fault that Ra's is now their enemy to being with. And no one is really treating him like the butcher that he is. It's mindboggling honestly.

-Characterization is all over the place. Characters seem to change their views episode to episode, or even scene to scene in some cases. There's little consistency.

-The whole "Oliver dies" thing was badly done. His "survival" is ludicrous and he came back WAY too quickly, so him being gone left no real impact.

-The "Lance doesn't know that his daughter is dead, and everyone is keeping it from him" thing needs to stop NOW!! Laurel artificially imitating Sara's voice in order to fool him made me legitimately ANGRY! I HATED it that much.

-There's no consistent throughline. In Season 1, we had Malcolm and his Undertaking. In Season 2, we had Slade and his plot. With this season, we're kind of just jumping all over the place.

But it's not ALL bad:

-My issues with Malcolm's role in the plot aside, I'm still really enjoying John Barrowman's performance.

-Roy has improved a lot and, the irritating thing with her dad aside, I find Laurel to be much more tolerable this season.

-In fact, the actor's aren't really the problem this season. They're trying to make this work.

-Brick was an entertaining villain, as was Peter Stormare's Vertigo. Hopefully they keep bringing those two back from time to time.

-The Ra's/LOA stuff is pretty interesting and I hope that it becomes a bigger part of the plot moving forward.

I'm still going to give them a chance to turn this season.

 

[fire117]

This has so far been my least favorite season.

Agreed.

The only things I don't like about this season are as follows.

Sara dying

Laurel becoming the BC

Laurel lying to her dad.

Everything else I don't mind that much.

 

[Loki882]

Honestly I have to agree. It would be cool if they did what Once Upon A Time does, have the first and second half of the season have their own complete arcs (It's kind of like getting two short seasons each year instead of one long one.)

Or just do what Marvel's doing with Agent Carter or their Netflix shows, have shorter seasons. Instead of 22 episodes, make it 12 for example. That way you can cut out much of the unnecessary filler and focus on what's truly important. It's why I like AC more than AOS, AC feels much more cohesive and tightly focused. There's very little meandering like there tends to be with many other shows.

 

[Kar]

The Good:

- Laurel becoming Black Canary
- Roy becoming Arsenal
- Hong Kong flashbacks
- Katana
- Flash crossover
- I had mixed feellings about Ra's but his presense is okay so far
- The bold move of killing Sara although it could have been executed better
- Oliver's death. Bold.

Bad:

- Laurel becoming Black Canary so quickly
- Ted Grant not having the costume
- Roy flipping
- Komodo and Cupid...eh I could have done without them really
- Thea killing Sara so easily. Shoulda had her get jumped or something by the assassins
- Oliver's resurrection. Stupid. As ****.
- The Brick siege wasn't handled all that well in my opinion

Overall the season has been a roller coaster for me. One minute I'm like "Yes!" next I'm like "...herbs?" I gotta see where it goes though.