Arrow Season 3 So Far

Arrow Season 3 So Far

After season 2 and the whole Deathstroke arc I had big expectations for the return of my favourite television show. To me the first half of Arrow season 3 feels a lot like the first half of Arrow season 2. It’s good, it’s certainly entertaining and exciting and I’m definitely interested in where it’s going but I am fully aware that it’s building up to something bigger.

 

That’s not to say we didn’t get some huge moments though but more on that later. Team Arrow has been taking it easy for a few months between the two series. After the defeat of Slade they have become an unstoppable force in Starling City, a force no average criminal would dare oppose. Things will soon start to heat up though as new dangerous villains enter the picture and begin to push Oliver to his limits.

 

I have never read a comic book and thus have no idea what Oliver Queen is like in the comic but I can say I do like Stephen Amell’s portrayal of the character. All the action scenes in Arrow are fantastic and Amell manages to come across as intimidating and menacing as the Arrow. While he does borrow a lot from Bruce Wayne he’s not a complete copy of Batman. There is a light hearted side there buried deep beneath the Arrow persona. However he is for the most part a dark brooding character. He wants so much more than to spend his life like how he is but perhaps the most interesting part of his character is how afraid he is. He’s afraid of the people close to him getting hurt and as shown when he’s injected with vertigo he’s afraid of himself, what he’s capable of and what he may have to do.

 

While I am obviously an uber masculine badass I do think the romance aspect of the show is worth talking about. That said for the first two seasons I could really take it or leave it. It seems like everything has to have a romance sub plot these days and I think we’ve all just learned to accept that at some point two characters are going to have to stare into each other’s eyes for a moment and then kiss before returning to something that is far more important than their dumb romance. It didn’t help with Arrow that I’ve never been much of a fan of Laurel.

 

 In season one she was there just to be a love interest (I never enjoy these characters) and for most of season 2 I had no idea what the point in her being there was, especially when we had Sara involved but now in season 3 Laurel is actually likeable as she has a reason for being there. I get that she has been there from the start to turn into Black Canary but she’s had very little relevance for so long and it’s good now to see her with purpose. She is now incredibly driven for reasons I won’t mention here and now I’m really behind her, wanting her to succeed. 

 

As for the Romance aspect what I like is that it highlight a more Human side of Oliver. Watching him in the costume in the actions scenes is great but I do enjoy seeing the glimpses of humanity left in him. It’s an interesting contrast between him wanting to be Oliver Queen again and enjoy his own life and his struggle to use that as a façade as he commits his life to his crusade. This brings us on to Felicity. It’s hard to remember a time on the show without her as she has become the real heart of the show. While she has become more and more relevant to the plot as time has gone on she has always been our eyes into this crazy world. She continues to get most of the funny lines and it is particularly entertaining watching her stutter and blurt out things at what can be completely inopportune times. At times she sounds incredibly awkward and it makes me chuckle. That’s not to say she’s all jokes though or just there to be comic relief. Of all the characters on the show, except for maybe Oliver himself, she’s the character I have become most attached to. Her bubbly and cheerful persona only make us feel sadder when she gets down.

 

I’m looking forward to seeing more of Roy when the show resumes. I think Arrow did a great job in introducing a sidekick to the Arrow as we’ve been with him through good and bad times and he has very clear and understandable motivation. He’s certainly not just a clone of Oliver as he is clearly not as hardened as the green hooded vigilante. I can imagine him crying about Thea sometimes. It’ll also be interesting to see him continue to deal with the cop he killed in his mirakuru induced rage.

 

An aspect I am wary about is the Ray Palmer character. It’s not that I dislike the character but hope they don’t try to cram in too many characters and end up taking away screen time from the characters we have become attached too. With Laurel on the path to becoming a Vigilante and Roy probably getting an even more important role I hope that with the introduction of A.T.O.M we won’t miss out on some of the other characters, especially Diggle. Diggle has always been a personal favourite of mine and he seems like the least relevant character at the moment. He is often is the guy to keep Oliver sane with everything going on. Another character who may have to lose out on screen time is Quentin Lance who I’d hate to see fade out.

 

I’m about to talk about some important plot points from Arrow season 3 so there will be spoilers.

 

I’ll start with Sara’s murder. I was expecting Sara to die but not so early on. For Laurel to take over as Black Canary she was going to need a push in that direction. However having Thea kill her was something I don’t think anyone could have possibly expected. Having Roy think he was the killer I thought was a good move to expand his character. While we knew it wasn’t him having him live with the guilt and the revelation that he killed someone will be an interesting problem for him to have to deal with.

 

Arrows flashbacks have certainly undergone some major changes. Here we get to see more of the backstory of Amanda Waller someone who has remained an enigma since her introduction. It appears the flashbacks will link heavily into the present day story with the introduction of Maseo as a member of the league of assassins. It seems likely he will play a role in nursing Oliver back to health. I also look forward to his wife appearing in the present day.

 

Malcom Merlyn truly showed his true colours. For most of the time we think he cares about Thea like a real father would. While this still may be the case we saw that he will always have ulterior motives. At first I would have liked to have had him manipulate her into killing Sara willingly but thinking about it afterwards it’d be great to see her gradually begin to remember what she did, in a similar way to Roy. We may get to see an internal dilemma of her being loyal to what she thinks is her only remaining family left and anger at how he used her to escape the wrath of the league of assassins.

 

This brings us to my final point. Oliver Queens’s death. It’s a comic book show so he probably won’t stay dead, despite how impossible it would be to survive being stabbed through the stomach and kicked off a mountain. With the introduction of Nyssa last season, we all hoped it would only be a matter of time before Ra’s al Ghul himself made an appearance and while we haven’t seen much of him yet what we are aware of is how powerful he is. The battle on top of the mountain was the first time we have seen Oliver truly outmatched. This is by far the most threatening character we have ever encountered, so much so he even has Malcom Merlyn scared.

 

It’s unknown how Oliver will come back. I think Merlyn will have something to do with it, he clearly thinks Oliver is the best chance he has at freeing himself from Ra’s al Ghul. I liked that everyone realised Oliver was lying about killing Sara and while Ra’s may not pursue this any further after his honourable duel with Oliver but surely Nyssa will not just give up on discovering the truth. Either way it’ll be interesting to see how team Arrow copes in Oliver’s absence.

 

Arrow season 3 has been a blast so far. While I have enjoyed every episode, seeing everything set up is if nothing else intriguing and I can’t wait to see everything unfold. In fact the biggest problem I have is that since I live in the UK and watch Arrow on sky I have to wait until February for the series to resume.