Team GATV Roundtable: The Arrow Season 3 Road So Far

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What has fallen flat?

MATT: Frankly, Oliver’s story is the most shaky part of the season so far. I think that comes down to a slightly more nebulous overall theme arc for him. That got a bit of a boost in “The Climb,” and perhaps his believed death will actually serve to strengthen that. The Hong Kong storyline also has been a bit too on-the-nose and not very interesting to this point.

STEPHANIE: The fact that they are once again making storylines out of characters keeping these huge secrets and lying to their loved ones is bothering me. It’s a very “season one” idea, so reusing it now doesn’t fit well with the series and with the character development that’s happened since then. I completely understand why Thea is keeping her training with Malcolm a secret from Oliver, but it makes me judge her a little when I remember how adamantly she hated being lied to in season one. On the contrary, I don’t agree with Laurel that her dad’s heart condition is a strong enough excuse to keep Sara’s death a secret from him. When he finds out, because there’s no way Laurel can reasonably think he won’t, it’s going to be an even worse blow to him. And it’s going to harm his relationship with her.

On another note, the reveal to Oliver that Malcolm is alive did not have an impact. The audience has known for so long that Malcolm was back that I forgot that this wasn’t common knowledge.

DEREK: There just hasn’t been much of a plot, honestly. But I’m most disappointed in how Thea’s plotline has been so stagnant. Granted, I’m positive it will explode in a big way going into the rest of the season, given the events of “The Climb.” And I’m normally okay with slow burn storytelling. But there’s a difference between putting a story on hold and backtracking. Outside of a couple of really solid, but brief, moments, Thea hasn’t been much different than she was last season in most of her scenes. Not sure we’re supposed to see her inner darkness while she’s serving drinks and talking to cute boys.

CRAIG: The teen silliness where they brought in Austin Butler as a DJ seemed to be just a random excuse to give Thea a “normal life,” but so far, it has only served to regress her character from what they made it at the start of the season.

As I’ll talk about later, I’m also really not feeling the Hong Kong storyline.

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