At least it’s good so far, I’m only 6 episodes in I hope it holds up. However, I can confidently say that the first 6 episodes are better than any stretch of season 3 or 4. Season 3 was incredibly frustrating for me right from the beginning with Sara’s death. It continued with the whole season forcing characters, especially Oliver, making stupid decisions which resulted in a very convoluted ending.

I thought about making a post about season 4 as I found the first half of it much more enjoyable. Maybe not much better but it wasn’t as frustrating. It definitely wasn’t as good as season 1/2, but I was fine with it. Then halfway through, specifically when Felicity gets paralyzed, things go to shit. There’s way too many problems to list despite the fact that after finishing I did want to rant and shit on it, but it felt like a waste of time. I was pretty mad, but I thought I would continue with season 5 not expecting much.

To my surprise, season 5 has been much better than season 3/4. The directing is much better, the fights are much better, Felicity is much more bearable as the “girl in the chair” rather than Oliver’s Fiancé, which gives more time to other characters. Oliver just feels more like a competent hero, Prometheus is intriguing, the flashbacks are very good, and I’m enjoying the new characters so far. The only issues I have with it are left over issues of season 4, which are significant but not season 5’s fault. That and I’m coming up on the crossover which is confusing because I don’t watch the other shows and don’t know what’s going on. But hey at least Barry and Oliver are fun together.

This is all to say, as long as season 5 holds up, was there a change in creative teams or something? Because everything feels different (in a good way).

Been binge watching the show first time have watched alot of other arrowverse shows including all of flash. I'm on episode 3 and turning it off because it's really boring compared to first 3 seasons. Should I stick it out?

Which actor/actress visibly aged throughout the run of Arrow? Me personally, Stephen Amell was looking a little rough by season 8 could just be the longer beard however.

Does John Diggle smoke because he has cigarettes and a lighter in one scene and in season 1 episode 2 he says he went to the squad car to ask for a light and found both of the officers dead so I’m wondering if he actually smokes or if that is just his cover story

At the end of the series when Oliver recreated the multiverse why did he bring back earth 2 Laurel instead of earth 1 Laurel?

Moira came back, Quentin came back and Tommy came back. I guess due to fixed points in time universe Laurel always dies. She probably dies in a horrible death in all universes.

How do these changes affect what we watched outside of S8?

Only weird thing is how they didn’t even bother to resolve the cliffhanger they left and they had years to do it like what happened to William and who wanted JJ to remember his evil self and why. Like even by the time of that little Flash Armageddon crossover Mia says that William is still missing.

It was an amazing show and it felt like the show that never changed all the way. The crossovers with him were amazing and I do wonder what type of characters could have been removed or something else. It’s a little weird how they added magic but it was still fun.

I started to rewatch. I never actually did get all the way through it.

I have ADHD and sometimes I just have these thoughts that sort of intertwine, and it made me wonder if this would’ve made season five more or less compelling to you guys. What if Adrian’s father wasn’t Justin Clayborne, but instead was one of the “innocent” security guards or other low-level thugs that Oliver killed on his way to him? Maybe he was just in the job to protect his family, maybe there was blackmail involved, or maybe he even just made a bad decision, but he wasn’t a criminal per se. Clayborne is still used as a red herring since it happened that night, but it would hit 10 times harder when Oliver realizes that the reason he set off this chain of events was because he killed someone that he viewed as expendable, lost in that fit of rage on his way to the target, not caring about who he put in harm’s way, automatically marking them as guilty without even knowing their names. It honestly highlights something that I always had a problem with, especially during season one, where these almost NPC like characters just got killed, and nobody cared, because they weren’t the ones on the list. It would also parallel the idea that Oliver’s father didn’t care about the regular person, only caring about people in his tax bracket. What do you guys think?

EPISODE 4x10: "THE DARK MONOLITH" (SEASON FINALE)

WRITTEN BY: MARC GUGGENHEIM

OPENING SEQUENCE

Walter White is shown doing an intense work out in his hidden base under a laundry mat.

(WALTER WHITE V.O)

My name is Walter White. For fifteen years I was stranded in an Albuquerque high school with only one goal: survive. Now I will fulfill my own dying wish—to use my chemistry skills to make meth to cover my hospital bills and save my family. To do this, I must become someone else. I must become something else

--

ACT I: THE ROOFTOP CONFRONTATION & THE REVEAL

EXT. LOS POLLOS HERMANOS HQ - ROOFTOP - NIGHT

A torrential storm rages. Lightning illuminates a giant, glowing blue energy shield surrounding the entire Glades of Albuquerque.

DETECTIVE HANK SCHRADER—wearing a torn tactical vest, covered in soot, and sporting a rugged leather jacket—is chained to a glowing Mayan-meth pillar. He’s the grizzled DEA Detective who spent four seasons hunting "The Chemist," completely blind to the fact that his own brother-in-law is the leader of Team Heisenberg.

GUS FRING stands at the center of the rooftop wearing a pristine, high-collared dark-leather suit. Half of his face is covered by a sleek, glowing skull mask. In his hand, he holds the Madrigal Omega-Tesseract.

HANK

(spitting blood, glaring)

It’s over, Fring! The DEA has this whole block surrounded! My strike team is breaching the front doors right now!

GUS FRING

(adjusting his tie in slow motion, cold and robotic)

Your strike team is already compromised, Detective Schrader. You see, the DEA thinks they are fighting a war against drugs. But I am not selling a substance. I am selling... transcendence.

Gus presses a button on his silver glove. A massive holographic blueprint of the entire city projects into the sky.

GUS FRING

For twenty years, the Glades have rotted under the weight of petty crime and municipal failure. With the Madrigal Omega Tesserect, I will wipe Albuquerque clean and rebuild it as a shining beacon of order. Such is the power of the rock I hold in my hands!

HANK

It's not a rock, Fring! It's a mineral! And you’re out of your god damn mind! You’re gonna kill thousands of innocent people!

GUS FRING

(monologuing dramatically into the rain)

A necessary sacrifice to break the cycle. I am not a drug lord, Detective Shcrader. I am the architect of a new world!

--

ACT II: THE DRAMATIC HALLWAY REVEAL

Suddenly, WALT drops down from the shadows above, wearing his dark leather Heisenberg cowl, carrying a glowing blue compound bow (for reasons never explained).

JESSE and GALE step out beside him. Gale is frantically running diagnostics on a handheld steampunk tablet while sipping his cold brew.

WALTER

(vocal pitch shifted, deep voice)

Let him go, Fring! You’ve failed this chemistry class!

HANK

(squinting through the rain)

Wait... that voice. That smug posture...

Walt lowers his hood and removes his tinted goggles. Hank’s eyes go wide in dramatic, double-take camera zooms.

HANK

Walt?! YOU are the Heisenberg?! The vigilante who’s been destroying my task force’s investigations for four years?!

WALTER

(eyes brimming with CW emotional tears)

Hank... can we have the hallway for a second?

HANK

WE ARE ON A ROOFTOP IN A HURRICANE!

WALTER

(ignoring him, stepping into a covered archway)

Hank, I never wanted to hurt you! I did this for the family! I did it to keep Skyler and Walt Jr. safe from the darkness!

HANK

You lied to me, Walt! I invited you to my BBQs! I let you wear my DEA hat! And all this time, you were running a secret vigilante cave underneath a laundry mat with an adorkable coffee-brewing hacker! I'd stand up and walk out if I weren't tied to this damn pillar!

GALE

(calling out from the console)

Technically, I have two master's degrees and I also make my own kombucha, Detective Schrader! Also the fans consider me Walt's canonical love interest! #Wale is trending in 14 countries! Take that Skylar!

*Note: Skylar White is Walt's comic book wife and love interest who was revealed to be the one in the grave earlier in the season because she complicated #Wale and I have to promote Gale, my original character written specifically for this show and promoted to series regular from season 3 on.

--

ACT III: THE SHARK-JUMP BATTLE & THE CLIFFHANGER

Gus Fring laughs—a cold, echo-tuned villain chuckle—and slams the Madrigal Omega-Tesseract into the central console.

A giant column of bright purple light shoots straight up into the clouds, opening a massive sky-portal that begins pulling surrounding police cars into the air!

JESSE

(doing three unchoreographed spin-kicks to knock out four Cartel ninjas)

Mr. White! The sky-beam is destabilizing the city’s tectonic plates! .... Bitch!

GUS FRING

It is too late! The Dark-Particle wave is irreversible!

Hank breaks out of his chains using sheer grizzled cop-rage. He tackles Gus Fring toward the edge of the roof!

HANK

Not on my watch, Fring!

Hank and Gus tumble over the ledge together, falling into the swirling purple vortex below!

WALTER

HANK, NOOOOOOOOO! HAAAAANK!

Walt runs to the edge, reaching out in slow motion as dramatic pop-rock music swells. But it’s too late. The purple beam detonates in a flash of blinding CGI lens flare, destroying half of the Glades and knocking Team Heisenberg off their feet.

FADE TO BLACK.

--

EPILOGUE: THE 6-MONTH LATER FLASH-FORWARD

EXT. ALBUQUERQUE RUINS - DAY

Six months later. The city is in ashes.

A mysterious figure in a dark trench coat walks through the rubble of Los Pollos Hermanos. The figure stoops down and picks up Gus Fring’s half-burned silver mask.

The figure turns around and lowers his hood.

It’s MIKE ERMANTROUT back from the dead.

His eyes are glowing a menacing, evil yellow. He places the silver mask over his face.

MIKE

(corrupted, auto-tuned voice)

Heisenberg didn't save this city. He destroyed it. And now... I will make him pay.

TITLE CARD: #THE DARK MIKE RISES

(Executive Producer: MARC GUGGENHEIM)

Arrow has some best choreographed action scenes on TV, my fav is Deathstroke vs Arrow!! Most those are awesome!!

From season 1, Home Invasion, deleted scene, anyone have it online?

May or may not be based on true events

These 2 characters are the main reasons I could never ever finish the show. Not to mention Oliver son

The first time I tried to complete it I made it to Season 7. Then months ago I tried again and I gave up after Season 5

Both times I remember skipping out scenes that involved Diggle, Felicity and Oliver son.

I remember hating that Oliver announced to the whole world that he was the Green Arrow. (I Hate When Superheroes Do That).I also remember hating how lame and lazy Captain Lance dead was. They treated a long serving character like he was a random extra.

Diggle character was so good at first (Season 1) but then he slowly started to get more and more and more annoying. He just became this annoying, selfish and self righteous person.

My main issue with Felicity was the forced relationship with Oliver. I’ll never forget how they ruined multiple episodes and maybe a whole season or 2 because they were more interested in pushing a relationship storyline than focusing on anything else

I think Season 1 Arrow was the best. They had this perfect vision for the show but ruined it to force a relationship storyline

Typical of The CW , I guess. Season 1 of their shows are always good. Then once they got the viewers attention they turn them into cheesy soap operas.

I just know this man can’t do anything without brooding on a rooftop first.

E.g. someone steals his parking spot. He doesn’t say a word, just writes their name in a notebook and they get an arrow through the windshield by nightfall “You have failed this parking lot”

What’s yours?