Team GATV Roundtable: Talking Arrow Season 6 So Far

What is your impression of Arrow Season 6 so far?

CRAIG: I thought the sixth season got off to a very good start. The season premiere had me wondering what happens next, and the notion of John Diggle taking over as the Green Arrow was really interesting to me. Unfortunately, I do think that there were parts of that arc where the show got away from some of the familiar dynamics that make the show work best, and some reveals like the Vigilante thing and Cayden James have underwhelmed, for me, at least.

Obviously, first halves of Arrow seasons and second halves don’t always match, so I’m hopeful and optimistic that the show will really ramp things up. I mean, we’ll recall there was a time Adrian Chase didn’t seem like a big deal until we got *that* big reveal. I did really like the midseason trailer; it looked like the Arrow that I love.

STEPHANIE: Season six feels muddied and recycled. We’ve seen one of Oliver’s friends turn into his enemy with Slade and now with Anatoly. We’ve seen Oliver being betrayed by one of his team member with Evelyn and now with Rene. We’ve seen law enforcement launch a hunt for the Arrow with Quentin and now with Watson. We’ve seen a mysterious vigilante be unmasked with Prometheus and now with Vigilante. We’ve seen a villain motivated by revenge trying to destroy Oliver and/or his city with literally every big bad ever. Even with the similarities, this season has been done well enough to keep me interested. Stephen Amell has been doing exceptionally well this season, and I’m curious enough to see what’s going on with Dinah’s loyalties and with Black Siren. However, I’d like for evil club’s plan to become more clear, more threatening, and more unique.

MATT: Have to agree that I find the series appears to be showing its limitations in Season 6. I’ve enjoyed the season well enough so far, but I also don’t feel particularly charged or enthralled by it. It’s just kind of there. They do seem to be hitting a number of the same points that have already been well-covered by the series in the past. I understand that people realistically will encounter much of their same trials over life as they learn to cope and grow from them, but it gets a bit tired and stale to see the same issues and plot points churned over and over.

MELISSA: Overall, good. I’ve enjoyed the change up in team dynamics and am very happy to have Oliver and Felicity’s relationship settled on a good path. That’s not to say there haven’t been problems, but of them, two seemed unique to season six – a noticeable reduction of episodes in which Oliver has been front and center (nine episodes in and three of them weren’t primarily there to tell Arrow’s story) and more egregiously, wasting the suspense of season five’s cliffhanger.

Over the winter hiatus, I rewatched the season so far and was surprised how much more cohesive, well written and entertaining I found it as a whole without my earlier expectations getting in the way. That said, they were reasonable expectations.

While the season opener did actually do a very good job setting up the direction, relationships and issues that were going to be explored in the coming season, that was very hard to appreciate at first when what I really wanted and expected from a massive cliffhanger was the adventure of seeing the immediate aftermath as it unfolded and all the excitement and emotional highs and lows that a linear telling of that story could have delivered.

Sadly, it was not to be.

I’ll always believe it was a misstep to immediately jump in and set up the coming season instead of taking the time to let the story breath more naturally, but after a few months to accept what we got rather than mourn what could have been, I’ve come to appreciate that first episode much more.

I think the slowly unfolding plot in the rest of the season has been like that as well. There have been some standout episodes, plenty of great character moments, and the crossover was a blast, but much of the storytelling has been the show runners moving pieces into place. I was surprised how enjoyable it was to go back and watch it all evolve with the benefit of hindsight.

Plus Oliver and Felicity got married. I mentioned that right?

Squee!