metaphysician
Not a Side-Kick
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- Mar 10, 2012
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A lot of people think season 3's writing has been. . . iffy. I'm certainly one of them, and I know I'm not alone. Most of the complaints have to do with the main plot, and how the motives and actions of various people don't make sense and come out of nowhere. Now, the simplest explanation is that the writers just crapped out, perhaps after being distracted by working on Flash. However, let me present an alternative theory. . .
Originally, the plot for season 3 was different. Sara was still going to be murdered, but the murderer wasn't Merlyn. The murderer was *Amanda Waller*. She had Sara assassinated either as petty vengeance against Ollie, a way to rile up the League of Assassins and get them going at someone she framed, or both. She has the assets to arrange a hard-to-trace murder. What's more, she is also the main villain of the flashbacks, which spent the first half of the season showing how much of a complete monster she is.
So, what happened? Sometime before the actual reveal of the murderer, but after at least a few episodes had been filmed, the writers changed their mind. Or, to be more accurate, were forced to change thing, by orders from on high. Somebody at WB said "No, we don't want you using Amanda Waller as the main villain, pick someone else", and the Arrow showrunners had to abandon their original plans partway through. Thus, Merlyn was inserted as the real murderer, with Thea as his tool, via the sloppy and out-of-nowhere mind control drug. Merlyn's own plan, as well as Ollie's actions and Ra's reactions, barely make sense because they were last minute rewrites. Hence why the other subplots, like Laurel's, seem to have more consistent writing.
Oh, why would WB order such a change? Possibly because the movie people are making a Suicide Squad movie, and someone involved pulled rank. If the Suicide Squad on the big screen are the protagonists, perhaps they didn't want their leader to be portrayed as a horrible monster on the small screen. Note that we know WB *has* interfered with the plotting of the show this season in other ways: Ted Kord got nixed and replaced by Ray Palmer on orders from on high, albeit probably at an earlier stage of the screenwriting.
Now, I admit that this is a conspiracy theory. Its not the simplest possible explanation. It also has a bunch of blank spots, as I'm not clear myself how much of the post-break main plot was originally intended ( and now messed up ), or hastily written from scratch. Still. . . thoughts? Additions? Disbelief and mockery?
Originally, the plot for season 3 was different. Sara was still going to be murdered, but the murderer wasn't Merlyn. The murderer was *Amanda Waller*. She had Sara assassinated either as petty vengeance against Ollie, a way to rile up the League of Assassins and get them going at someone she framed, or both. She has the assets to arrange a hard-to-trace murder. What's more, she is also the main villain of the flashbacks, which spent the first half of the season showing how much of a complete monster she is.
So, what happened? Sometime before the actual reveal of the murderer, but after at least a few episodes had been filmed, the writers changed their mind. Or, to be more accurate, were forced to change thing, by orders from on high. Somebody at WB said "No, we don't want you using Amanda Waller as the main villain, pick someone else", and the Arrow showrunners had to abandon their original plans partway through. Thus, Merlyn was inserted as the real murderer, with Thea as his tool, via the sloppy and out-of-nowhere mind control drug. Merlyn's own plan, as well as Ollie's actions and Ra's reactions, barely make sense because they were last minute rewrites. Hence why the other subplots, like Laurel's, seem to have more consistent writing.
Oh, why would WB order such a change? Possibly because the movie people are making a Suicide Squad movie, and someone involved pulled rank. If the Suicide Squad on the big screen are the protagonists, perhaps they didn't want their leader to be portrayed as a horrible monster on the small screen. Note that we know WB *has* interfered with the plotting of the show this season in other ways: Ted Kord got nixed and replaced by Ray Palmer on orders from on high, albeit probably at an earlier stage of the screenwriting.
Now, I admit that this is a conspiracy theory. Its not the simplest possible explanation. It also has a bunch of blank spots, as I'm not clear myself how much of the post-break main plot was originally intended ( and now messed up ), or hastily written from scratch. Still. . . thoughts? Additions? Disbelief and mockery?
