This whole season was all over the place with plot and characters that it had me contemplating my reason for watching it week after week. I'm a big fan of the show and have been watching it every week since the beginning, but my love for the season wavered quite a bit and here are my reasons why. Spoilers ahead people, so continue with caution...
The other heroes...
1) It's no surprise that DC wants to expand their universe to build more tv shows and make more money and give the fans more to watch. The CW definitely isn't hiding heroes anywhere. In fact, it's quite the opposite. This season was the debut of the Flash, which was a big move to the network considering the essential pilot was during season 2 of Arrow. This gives the fans two things to watch on their network as opposed to just Arrow. Now while a spin off is perfectly fine to make due to a rising success of a show, you have to make sure that the original show doesn't suffer as a result of this. With the network focusing hard on pulling off crossover episodes to give the viewers action-filled episodes, I can't help but feel while this season of the Flash was fun and interesting, Arrow didn't quite hold up to how it did before. You can't just focus on the new baby with the old baby around. Both need solid attention.
2) The Black Canary was another big contender that was thrown into the universe this season. With the death of Sara Lance in the season premiere, Laurel Lance felt obligated to take up her mantle as she needed a means to feel close to her sister and do something with herself. While this is all said and done, the show really destroyed Laurel's character last season with her needless drug addiction and drinking, which was a deep hole to try and dig her out of. Let's not forget the fact that she had no idea what she was doing in the field. I feel like a majority of Laurel's interactions this season were of her either getting her face kicked in, or bickering with Oliver over her choice of becoming a vigilante when she was essentially a burden to the team. Now I'm not saying Laurel isn't a redeemable character and she can't be the Black Canary, I feel like she wasn't given a fair shot with the fans this season and she came across as a rebellious teenager going against her parent's wishes. There's nothing I love more than an underdog beating the odds and proving everyone wrong and Laurel could have been that, if the show let her. This whole arc could have taken a whole season worth of carefully weeding in making Laurel's story one that could be enjoyed rather than cheapen her character overall. So with that being said, we're just supposed to expect that she's completely taken up the mantle in such a short amount of time? In the span of 5 episodes she went from getting beaten up by a street thug to being able to stand toe-to-toe with members of the League of Assassins with a little help from Nissa? Sorry, but I don't buy it. There was plenty more they could have done with Laurel's character to make her a strong female figure to follow for the female viewers and it could have been done very well but definitely didn't go off smoothly.
3) The A.T.O.M... Now don't get me wrong. I loved Ray Palmer this season. He was my favorite character. Nice guy, determined, friendly face, and overall likable character that has a lot to offer. What I can't stand is how little spotlight he got this season really showcasing the A.T.O.M's capabilities. Sure his suit is a work in progress, and he's just learning the ropes of how to be a hero, but this was also a major story arc they should have spent more time on if they were determined to really give us a great character and not just some Iron Man spoof at this point. His whole story, while great and adorable to watch, didn't give us enough to really appreciate. I feel like they threw this in to give the Olicity story a bit of angst, but most of all to promote the Legends of Tomorrow show that's going to be airing next year. This really felt like a cheap curveball we were thrown that really left a bad taste in my mouth.
4) Arsenal. I'm very sad with this story. Roy Harper's ascension to Arsenal was a long time coming with this show. I was waiting two seasons to see Colton Haynes, who I might add is a pretty accurate representation of Harper, put on those red tights, and I was not disappointed with it this season. What I was disappointed with was how after all that time, they write Roy off before the season even finishes. We had him in costume for less than 20 episodes and just write him off because it has to be that way. Now I'm aware it was in Haynes' contract that he'd only be on the show for a short amount of time, but they should have given his character more time if they were going to send him off. The fans had no idea it was coming and it was delivered very sloppily as well. With the apparent death of Oliver Queen at the hands of Ra's al Ghul, we see Roy, Diggle, Felicity, and Laurel really come together as they learn that Oliver's mission has now become theirs. Roy has accepted his path as a warrior in Oliver's crusade and was determined to see it through to the end and then he leaves, faking his own death to protect Oliver from getting arrested. Really? I felt like the whole character of Roy Harper was thrown in the trash the moment they had him leave. I honestly thought when Thea went to look for him, she'd convince him to come back, or maybe Haynes would get his own city to protect, but to simply pass on the torch to Thea and leave everything he believed in to start a new life wasn't a good way to see the young hero go off.
5) The ascension of Thea Queen. Alright, this one was interesting, and I say if there was any character more deserving to get a costume it should have been Thea. We leave off the end of the second season with her leaving with Malcolm Merlin, her recently discovered biological father. Here we get a build up of a character working her way to the top from being a useless angst-filled character, to a heroic costumed hero who replaces Roy as the Arrow's sidekick. Unfortunately the audience is just given this in the last 3 episodes of the season and are just expected to be fine with it. So Oliver is fine with Thea being a vigilante but spends more than half a season complaining about Laurel fighting crime? Clearly Oliver doesn't quite care as much about his sister being put in harm's way over and over again as he does Laurel. Despite her excellent training, we see Thea get beaten and even stabbed throughout the season, and suddenly she's good enough to be a hero? The writers should have built the entire season around Roy and Thea contemplating their places as heroes in order to have the switch off be more impacting than just a simple farewell lay and a goodbye letter. Thanks...
6) The Suicide Squad. While not heroes per say, they still wasted an entire episode of my time bringing this concept back. The CW either needs to give this team their own show or leave it be. Because while we have fun seeing the rambunctious team strive hard to work together and become people again with the imminent threat of their heads blowing up if they don't, you're taking valuable time away from Oliver's story and wasting our time. While I'm a fan of Diggle and Deadshot, there is a time and place for this kind of plot and during such an important arc isn't one of them. Sorry Diggle, you'll just have to costume up like everyone else to get episodes dedicated to you.
It's one thing to test the waters out, it's another to have all these things happen in the same season. With everybody's entrance you run into the problem of too many things happening at one time with very little to understand, but simply be forced to accept. Roy Harper is gone but not forgotten, the A.T.O.M exists, Laurel is now the Black Canary and Thea is Speedy/Red Arrow/Arsenal/etc. While each of these big plot points serve as crucial parts of the story, throwing them all in there causes a lot of chaos that tends to steal the attention of what Oliver is trying to accomplish and how his plot is more of a subplot to this whole story.
The introduction of characters is really important to get the audience to enjoy them and want more, but what's also important is building the story around them in it rather than simply having them in the big plot because they are there. Let's hope the next season of Arrow focuses more on Oliver and less on spin offs, because we need our protagonist back.
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