Team GATV Midseason Roundtable: Arrow Season 5 So Far

How do you like the new recruits?

STEPHANIE: I don’t know if this is going to make any sense… I don’t particularly like the recruits, but I like that they exists. I enjoy that they’ve re-created the team atmosphere that perished when Thea and Diggle left the team, and it’s fun to see them utilize different abilities in order to get the job done. Some of my favorite scenes this season were the training scenes in “The Recruits” because it showed Oliver taking his role as their protector seriously, while also making them use their brains and brawn to fight.

Seeing Curtis with a mask is a little weird, and I’m not sure what his unique skill-set is out in the field. He seems to be the most effective when he’s in the lab or the Arrowcave, but I love the character and am glad to see him more often in whatever capacity.

Wild Dog has the potential to win me over if he stops being so stubborn and ignoring orders in a way that just makes the situation worse.

I loved Joe Dinicol on Blindspot, so it was a nice surprise when he popped up on Arrow, but he seems out of place on this show with several-thousand-year-old rags that can strangle you… I’m sorry, what?

Evelyn being a traitor didn’t surprise me as much as it should have because I never understood her reasoning for joining Team Arrow in the first place. She so strongly blamed the Green Arrow for her parents’ deaths, then so easily allied herself with him.

MATT: I like them but they still feel a bit like plot devices. I hope they really lean into Evelyn’s betrayal and the full extent of why she did more as the season progresses, but I also feel like it was undercut a bit by not really knowing much about her. The sense of why she switched, which apparently did happen between episodes rather than her having infiltrated Team Arrow as a mole from the start, feels underdeveloped and sort of lightswitched because we didn’t have a strong enough base with her prior to it. The interactions with Wild Dog have been good, but I look forward to them fleshing out more of his personality and motivation. Also, the tension between Ragman and Felicity felt resolved far too quick.

CRAIG: Mostly, I like them. I LOVE the costume design for Wild Dog and I was happy that one of my favorites from Reaper, Rick Gonzalez, was cast in the role. Artemis being bad surprised me, but in a good way. Joe Dinicol was another one of my favorites from his role on The L.A. Complex, so I’m glad Arrow found a part for him, even if it is a bit sci-fi. Curtis… needs some work at the superhero thing. He’s a medal-winning Olympian, but I feel a lot of “struggling on the job” stuff is material we’ve seen before from Laurel.

With that said, the lair IS getting a little too crowded.

MELISSA: Only Rory seems to fit team Arrow’s dynamic and he’s the guy wearing magic rags in the season that’s advertised as a return to the grounded and more realistic.

Havenrock makes Rory sympathetic and compelling and eventually tied into Felicity’s arc. Before that, he and Oliver bonded over a legacy left by their fathers. He’s been more than just a mask they hired off the street. I also think the actor does a great job of giving him a distinct, but likable personality and Rory comes with a completely unique set of skills. If I could only choose one to keep, Ragman would be it. Sadly, the rest of the new recruits don’t bring anything new or compelling to the team or the show.

Curtis I really enjoyed last season, but he’s suffered in his transition to the mask. If not for his comic history as Mister Terrific, instead of taking up the mask, wouldn’t it have been more true to the character we knew to take some self- defense lessons while he created wonderful gadgets for the team? Instead of bringing a unique skill set, he’s now just another set of fists.

I’ve also found Curtis kind of overbearing this season. Too many times he’s been the voice of the recruits as they self-righteously moaned and complained and too many times he’s been used to explain to Felicity things she’d in the past have explained to the audience. Either he’s a mask or he’s a tech genius. Why is he also now mansplaining for and to her? Still, my reserve of good will from last year keeps me from writing him off yet, even if many of his choices feel like plot points, not character decisions.

Evelyn’s transformation into Artemis was hugely disappointing. I’d complain that she was underwritten, but the episode where she was the focus, made me glad for her lack of focus. The only reason she’s the least bit interesting is because of her betrayal and even that makes little sense. (Oliver was a serial killer four years ago so in protest she instead aligns herself with someone that is currently a serial killer? Huh?) But she’s not the worst of the lot.

That award goes to Wild Dog. He’s every cliché wrapped up in a charisma free package.

I tried to give him a chance. I hoped I might be impressed by some previously unseen strength of character after he sacrificed himself for his team and was captured by Church. (Where he managed to make even that sacrifice look like a show of arrogance.) I thought, hey, maybe even though he doesn’t listen to anyone, constantly messes up plans by not following orders, refuses to respect anyone that can’t beat him up, and needlessly puts his teammates in danger, maybe I’ll be impressed by his grit and loyalty to Oliver in the face of torture Nope, he spills his guts.

Ok, maybe he’ll be humbled by his experience. Nope, he still doesn’t listen, follow orders or show respect. He also came off as a bigot in the crossover, hating people with powers (nice to know how he really feels about Rory). And the show hasn’t done him any favors by giving the least likeable character the most screen time of all the noobs. Nor can I stand the show’s not so subtle constant comparisons to Oliver or Rene just flatly claiming to be his equal or better.

The only nice thing he did is arrange for Dig’s son to come celebrate his birthday at the Bunker. (Don’t get me started on the show thinking it’s fine to erase a female of color from existence because she didn’t come with a comic destiny) Sure, arranging the party was a nice gesture, but you’re telling me that the people closest to Diggle (including his wife) didn’t think he’d want to celebrate his kid’s birthday? That the head of Argus needed help figuring out how to make it happen? Are you kidding me? If the only way to make the Wild Dud look good is to make the rest of the cast look bad, we have a huge problem.