Arrow Season 3 in Review

Another season of TV's Arrow has come and gone. Despite the mostly flawless Daredevil by Netflix still fresh in the mind, DC made a valiant effort of saturating public TV with their continuing hit Arrow and the debuts of The Flash, Gotham, iZombie, and apparently short lived Constantine. With the future looking even braver and bolder (forgive the ref) for DC on the small screen with Legends of Tomorrow (Can't call it Justice League) and Supergirl (OMG a black Jimmy Olsen, please chill out Klansman), I guess I can be grateful Mad Men is ending because I don't know how I can possibly watch this much TV, but I'm here to account on the archery skill of Arrow: S3. Compared to it's second season, there was quite a bit to be desired, but overall Ollie and company did not "FAIL THIS CITY"!





Raging Bullseye

• More Masks- The addition of Arsenal/Red Arrow/Speedy complete with escrima sticks and comic book cool and ludicrous fighting flips should be the mission statement of the show. Later with the Atom, Katana, Wildcat, and Black Canary II (so sad to see Sarah Lance go, but wouldn't be DC without legacy characters) it was a thrill to practically see the Justice League cartoon in live action fill the screen!

• MacGyver Arrow- In the 3rd ep, "Corto Maltese", the ever resourceful Oliver could create a makeshift bow and arrows from the mattress frame of a hotel bed. Google MacGyver for those born after 1987
   
•  Flash Team-Up- What more needs to be said then the Flash saving Arrow from razor boomerangs thrown by Captain Boomerang?
  

  

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• Boxing Glove Arrow- About time, but also worth the wait! May I have some more trick arrows in a lighter in tone fourth season?
   
• Mountaintop Sword Fight- Without artist Neal Adams and writer Denny O'Neil Green Arrow never would have a show, never mind this excellent homage to the best sword fight shirtless desert sword fight in comics

•  Canary Cry- Although not a superpower as seen in comics, Black Canary's sonic scream elevates her battle prowess, and I hope we've seen the last of Laurel being needlessly beaten down
  

• Bruce Springsteen shout out- Every second to last episode title of the season is taken from a Springsteen song. "Darkness On the Edge of Town", "Streets of Fire", and "This is Your Sword" have made the list. Here's hoping I get "Thunder Road" next year with a drag out race between the Arrowcar and the Reverse-Flash 
• Katanna- "You come right out of a comic book"-- from Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon  

Make the Katana spin off! No brainer, CW

Missing the Mark

• Absence of shirtless training scenes- C'mon, try to top Ollie with a jackhammer vs. tractor trailer tire from Season 2
• Ray Palmer the Stalker- The writers really couldn't have shoehorned a relationship with Felicity without the creepy harassment done by Ray (it's okay if you're rich, white, or a virgin vampire to stalk women) in those early episodes of Season 3?
• Team Arrow as Riot Police- Hey, remember those 70s comics with Green Arrow as a authoritarian  supporter who used tear gas trick arrows to disperse filthy protesters? NEVER HAPPENED! I hope episode 5 didn't give Denny O'Neil a heart attack. I'm not expected the CW to show the adventures of a superhero anarchist on prime time, but it's indefensible to make Ollie a defender of corporate banking and riot squad tactics
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• Black Canary's Gimp Suit- I get that they want to show Laurel not living under the shadow of her sister, but Sara's costume had all the Black Canary elements going for it without becoming ridiculous cheesecake lingerie. Don't mess with good thing
• Deadshot's PTSD  back story- I won't launch into American Sniper being propaganda, but given it's success and it being property of Warner Bros, episode 17's "Suicidal Tendencies" came off as a poorly executed cash in. In the comics, although he has different and better developed tragedies in his past, Deadshot is basically an evil Bruce Wayne, and doesn't require a great deal of sympathy to tell good stories. The Arrow version's war time experience and PTSD was so rushed and emotionless it felt like a piss on veterans and that's seriously an injustice 
• Return of Killer Ollie- Season 2's vow to not kill anymore was what got into enjoying the show, but the writers really don't care if Ollie is a man of his word, do they? Let's ask Ra's Al Ghul... What excuse can there be for needlessly killing Ra's, while allowing Deathstroke, who killed Moria last season, or Merlyn, killer of Sara, to remain alive?

Works in Progress

•  Laurel Lance- Compared to the cliches burdened on the character last year, involving pill popping, AA meetings, and sibling jealousy, Laurel came a long way from irritable to kinda likeable. The writers still have to make amends for two seasons of abusing one of the strongest and coolest women of DC. 

• Wildcat RIP?- Well, did Vinnie Jones kill him or not?
• Diggle's Concealment- Give that man a mask!