Arrow continues to disappoint in its fifth season with the latest installment coming in “Fighting Fire With Fire,” where we learned Prometheus’ (not-shocking) identity, Thea was sent away, and Oliver became even more annoying than he ever has been.
Our Fangirlish writers Alyssa, Lizzie, Nora, and Sarah are breaking down this week’s Arrow, which has us fuming over how far Arrow has sunk so far this season, including assassinating Oliver’s character, the Susan storyline, and the lone bright spot of Felicity and Diggle.
Describe your thoughts about “Fighting Fire With Fire” using just five words.
Alyssa: This just keeps getting worse.
Lizzie: Why am I even watching?
Nora: Arrow, I just can’t anymore.
Sarah: Arrow, what have you become?
Describe your feelings about “Fighting Fire With Fire” using a gif.
Alyssa:
Lizzie:
Nora:
Sarah:
Oliver Queen has been virtually unrecognizable this season. Would you say that Arrow has assassinated Oliver’s character?
Alyssa: One of the benefits of having a long-running show like Arrow is that you come to know these characters so incredibly well. So when your lead hero — a character you know pretty well at this point — ceases to be recognizable it’s not only frustrating it’s disappointing. This isn’t the first time that I’ve watched a hero I thought I knew pretty well be ruined. It happened with Barry Allen in last year’s season finale when he was so unrecognizable with his selfish intentions that it’s taken forever for him to even begin to attempt to win me back. Oliver Queen is rivaling Barry in that regard. Perhaps because Oliver is a character we’ve known longer; perhaps it’s because Oliver’s story is more complex; perhaps it’s because the complete shift in character is so jarring that we can’t help but cry OOC.
I find myself confused because at this point in Oliver’s story — the final year of Oliver’s Green Arrow journey — he should already be well on his way to getting to that endpoint. But instead, he’s regressing to his pre-season 1 self where he knew absolutely nothing. The way Oliver has seemingly put Susan before his family — Thea, Felicity, and Diggle — doesn’t make sense even in the slightest. You can’t even attempt to make it make sense without sounding moronic. But not only does Oliver not recognize himself anymore, he doesn’t recognize his friends and family. He doesn’t recognize that what Thea was doing was in his best interests to protect his secret from a woman he’s known all of five minutes. He doesn’t recognize that it’s ridiculous and awkward as hell to ask you ex-fiancee — the woman you love — to fix your relationship with a woman that blackmailed you and slept with you for information. He doesn’t recognize that he’s completely lost himself.
And hey, maybe that’s the plan. Maybe Prometheus’ plan is to destroy those that Oliver cares about, as well as himself. Prometheus’ plan was to separate Oliver from his inner circle, and it’s working. But at this point I have to wonder if it was really worth it — to sacrifice Oliver’s character for the sake of this storyline? Because Oliver has become the villain of his own story.
Lizzie: Yes. And I don’t think it has anything to do with Prometheus and everything to do with bad writing, bad planning and probably a terrible sense of what exactly the audience wants and what they’d been supporting and/or enjoying. And I’d also say it has a lot to do with a lack of respect for the character Arrow had created and developed for four seasons. Because the thing is, they made Oliver Queen into who he was. And he’s made questionable choices before, but they’ve managed to explain all of those in a way that was congruent, that furthered his character. And then Season 5 came and they just – did a hard reboot. This was Earth 73 and this Oliver Queen we were seeing was a new version, one we didn’t recognize but that we were told was the same. But it wasn’t. We’re not blind.
Why? I don’t know. They fell in love with a plot and decided to throw characterization out of the window for it? That’s about the only thing that makes sense, and I’ve given this a lot of thought. Either that or Oliver is going to be revealed as pod-Oliver from the aliens episode. At least that would catch me off-guard.
Nora: I literally don’t recognize Oliver as a character anymore. His character development has essentially been shoved out the nearest window. Between getting angry last week at Felicity and Thea trying to protect his secret to just everything he’s doing with Susan Williams, Oliver isn’t just a shell of his former self, he’s a completely different character. I used to stand behind Oliver and the decisions he’s made, yes sometimes they rode a fine line of morality, but he was my main protagonist and I supported him. Now, I honestly don’t think I can ever stand behind him again. He’s so far removed from the man he became last season beside Felicity and going through the process of “finding the light.” As if I thought his character development couldn’t tank anymore than it did last week, Arrow manages to make things worse. Oliver is so unrecognizable I don’t even know why I liked this character to begin with. I feel like we’ve backtracked all the way past season 1 and if the show started with this version of Oliver, I don’t know if I would’ve liked the show to be honest.
My biggest pet-peeve with Oliver this week actually deals with Arrow trying to make Susan Williams a victim yet again. Oliver goes crawling to Felicity for helping with winning Susan back. First of all, why would Oliver ever think that it would be okay to go to his ex-fiance for help with his current girlfriend? Dude, feel the room.
Sarah: Yes, they might as well taken his character, all its development wrapped in a trash bag and set it on fire in the middle of a field. That’s how much damage I feel like I’ve seen done to Oliver Queen over the course of the 5th season. They coined this season as a “reboot” but all they did was restart a character that didn’t need it. The writers spent the first four years building his character naturally (as in writing it in a way that made sense) and decided that a hard turn was the best decision and tried to convince the audience of that. News flash: it wasn’t a good decision, all it did was completely tear Oliver Queen away from everything good and frankly that made sense about his character and turn him into what we see on our screen today.
Which is basically anyone but Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. I wish I could understand the bad writing decisions and the loss of perspective that plot could ever become more important than staying true to the characters especially their lead but those bad choices are on you Arrow writers.
- Describe what you’d like to do or say to Oliver right now using a gif.
Alyssa:
Lizzie:
Nora:
Sarah:
Arrow once again was trying to portray Susan Williams as the victim, whether it was her losing her job or what it appears to be having her life in danger by Prometheus at episode’s end. Do you even care a little bit?
Alyssa: It’s funny how some people want to point to the fact that Susan is dating Oliver as the reason a large portion of the fanbase hates her. It’s not. I’m not going to say that it doesn’t annoy us a little — because it does — but the fact that Susan Williams, a journalist — a respectable one as far as Arrow is concerned — can blackmail someone and then sleep with a person in order to get information is deplorable. It goes against her morals as a journalist; it adds to a negative stigma about women in the media; and it glorifies this entire thing. And leave it to Arrow to continually attempt to convince its audience that Susan is the victim in all of this. Sorry to break it to you, but your audience is much smarter than that. Perhaps the worst part is that Susan herself believes she’s the victim. Cry me a river, Suzie. You dug this hole yourself.
Susan is kidnapped by Prometheus? Her life is in danger? Ask someone who cares. The fact that no one gives a damn about her well-being completely takes away from this cliche move by Prometheus. Dear lord, can you imagine Prometheus? He’s probably so confused by why Oliver cares so much about this stranger. So he’s like, Screw it, let’s kidnap her and see where it goes. I don’t care even a little bit. Unless he kills her. Then we’ll talk.
Lizzie: Short answer: no. And that just speaks to how badly written Susan Williams is, as a character. The whole point of this cliched trope of kidnapping the love interest is for us to suffer. Except, at this point, I’m pretty sure there might be people throwing Prometheus a party to thank him for taking Susan Williams away. That’s how bad it’s gotten.
And the people who actually like this development (I mean, those must exist, right? Or is it just the writers?) will say this is a ship thing, as if the fact that we’re women means we can only think of little hearts and be petty when another woman comes into the picture. It’s not, though. It’s about a character they’ve portrayed as self-involved, manipulative and unlikable suddenly being the reason why Oliver does anything. It’s about a romance so heartless and paper thin that all I can think when I look at Oliver proclaim his affection for Susan is how much of an idiot he’s become.
Show, don’t tell is the first rule of writing. And I feel like, with Susan Williams, Arrow has done a whole lot of telling and NO showing. And I’m not buying anything of what they’re selling.
Nora: I’m sorry, it’s not because she’s dating Oliver, I just don’t care about this character AT ALL. I feel like Susan’s character development was rushed and she was thrown into a relationship with Oliver because Arrow couldn’t let Oliver be single. As far as I’m concerned, Susan is one of the villains this season. Like Thea, I don’t think Oliver should be trusting Susan so willingly with his secret. Susan’s character is simply being attached to Oliver because Arrow seems to think we will all explode if Oliver is single for even a second. At the end of the episode, it looks like Prometheus will kidnap Susan, in order to get to Oliver, and I honestly don’t care. Prometheus can have Susan. When these kidnapping storylines happened involving Laurel, Felicity and Thea I would care and I know Oliver would literally die before anything happened to them. I don’t feel this urgency with the possible kidnapping of Susan. But of course, Oliver will all of a sudden feel an utter need to save Susan and do anything in his power to get her back. I just don’t care and I don’t understand why Oliver should care either.
Sarah: As harsh as it might sound, not in the slightest. It literally has felt like she was shoved into the plot since the beginning, and their bad writing choices are all over their decision to make her Oliver’s love interest that was written to stereotypically take advantage of him. Everything that happened with her was so easily predictable and therefore bland the audience never had any kind of inclination (myself included) to connect with her character.
It’s an extension of how bad their writing of Oliver has gotten that he’s openly defending her against his sister who’s been on his side for four years and repeatedly risked her life to help him and his cause to save the city. The fact that she was kidnapped doesn’t make me scared for her, but impatient to get this story over with and her character permanently out of here since I never thought she belonged there in the first place.
Describe your feelings towards Oliver going to Felicity for help fixing his romantic relationship with Susan using a gif.
Alyssa:
Lizzie:
Nora:
Sarah:
The lone bright spot of this episode centered around Felicity and Diggle’s interactions — all two of them. (Hey, progress.) What were your thoughts on Diggle’s concern for Felicity and that dynamic in general?
Alyssa: The heart and soul of Arrow has always been the core trio of Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity. While we’ve gotten to see plenty of Oliver’s relationships with each individually, we haven’t gotten nearly enough of Diggle and Felicity’s relationship. These two have been in each other’s lives for five years. They’ve become a family. Felicity is Diggle’s little sister, and there is nothing that he wouldn’t do to protect her. And vice versa. But we’ve seen what Felicity did in order to protect Diggle. Right now, this is about Felicity’s spiral.
This was something that I was really excited about with Felicity’s dark spiral — that we’d get to see Diggle become involved with his concern and the fight to get her back. Eventually I’d like Oliver to join in — because Felicity has saved Oliver countless times — but right now I’m content in having Diggle voice his concern. But it’s more than that. Diggle is shaken by Felicity’s flirting with the dark side. This is a woman that he has said on multiple occasions is the best person he’s ever known. What she represents; what she fights for. Diggle — who lost his brother and Laurel last season — couldn’t even fathom losing Felicity, even if it is to the dark side.
Arrow has ignored Diggle and Felicity’s bond far more often than it’s remembered it. Not only is there a nice rapport between David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards that ignites this bond, but there is backstory. There are real moments that these two have experienced together. There is a real love there that transcends all of this superhero stuff. At the end of the day, it’s just about these characters and the people in their lives that shape them to be real life heroes.
Lizzie: I feel like I’m the most negative around here, but even these scenes, which I enjoyed and were a much needed bright-spot end up not mattering that much in the grand scheme of things because the rest is just so bad. Also, because …is this what Diggle has been reduced to? Nothing more and nothing else than sensei? Why do I get so much Curtis/Wild Dog/Dinah backstory and Diggle just sits there without doing much? Why?
But, fine – back to the good. Diggle’s words to Felicity are important, not just because they’re very in character, but because they remind us of what Felicity is – not just to us the viewers, but to the other characters. Ages ago, Felicity was not only Oliver’s light, but Diggle’s. She was the one pulling them back from the edge of darkness. And now Diggle wants to be there for Felicity, to try to be for her what she’s always been for him. That’s just not perfect, it’s necessary. We all need outside perspective. And though we know Felicity still has a long way to fall before she can hit rock bottom, when she does want to get out, she’s going to need Diggle. And, presumably, Oliver. Can someone go find Oliver?
Nora: I’ve been waiting for these scenes since Arrow announced that Felicity would have a darker storyline going into 5B. While Felicity is the light and voice of reason for Oliver and Diggle most of the time, Diggle is always the voice of reason for Felicity. Rickards and Ramsey have a great relationship with each other and I was so happy to see them have these scenes together. Diggle seems to be the only one that notices that Felicity is going through something. Even Oliver doesn’t seem to notice that Felicity is broken on the inside. She’s trying to find a way to patch up the hole’s this job has left on her heart. From Havenrock to Laurel’s death, Felicity has also been through alot and no one seems to be noticing. I’m glad Diggle says something to her and is genuinely concerned about the path she is going to venture down. I hope Diggle is the one that will pull Felicity out of this when Arrow eventually gets to that portion of her story. While I’d love to see Oliver pull Felicity out, I don’t want this version of Oliver to go anywhere near Felicity, in case she catches a dose of “bad character development.” I’m excited for more Felicity and Diggle moving forward.
Sarah: The scenes between these two were the only reason I didn’t completely hate this episode with the passion of a thousand suns. The dynamic between Diggle and Felicity is still so natural and believable (Thank God) in large part to the performances and familiarity between the actors. Diggle’s concern for her is understandable and completely true to his character at the choices she’s been making lately especially in regards to using Pandora as her backpocket *gulps* Trump card. (That feels so wrong to write but it fits dang it) In her mind she’s using what she has on hand to get what they need accomplished, but Diggle was right (and wonderfully gentle David Ramsey you act so well why can’t you get a proper storyline?) in that when you fight fire with fire you risk getting burned every time.
Truthfully I’d enjoy this story more if the rest of the characters (especially the so called lead Oliver) caught even a hint of what kind of path Felicity’s going down. I’m praying the writer’s do her island justice and have it play out at a natural pace (aka not rushed please don’t rush it) and let her character have the spotlight on overcoming the darkness they’re facing down.
Felicity officially agreed to join the hacktivist group Helix. What are your thoughts on where Felicity’s mindset is at this point? And what do you foresee happening next?
Alyssa: Obviously Felicity is someone who has experienced an immense amount of emotional trauma over this past year. It’s never been something we’ve gotten to see too much (and why?, I’m still wondering), but it’s all been building up to Felicity’s island that it manifesting itself in the form of her joining Helix. Felicity finds herself testing the waters in terms of how far she can go to get results; how much fire she can play with before she gets burned. We forget that her journey as a hero began back in college when she was a part of one of these hacktivist groups. That was her first attempt in being a hero. So I feel like this is a callback to that. It’s why this was so easy for her to do, to join up with this group. But I also feel like Felicity feels a disconnect with the team.
Given everything that Helix has done for Felicity this season — all of the information and resources — it only makes sense that they’re going to want something in return. And I feel like this is going to really test Felicity; this is really going to show Felicity paying the consequences for her actions; this is going to show Felicity embracing her dark side. One of the things that has always kept her grounded has been the people in her life that have looked out for her. She’s had Oliver and Diggle for five years, as well as Roy, Laurel, Thea, and Rory over the years. But even Diggle (and Oliver if he cared at this point) can’t stop her descent into this darkness as the rush of emotions from all of the tragedies she’s dealt with comes raining down on her.
Felicity was shot and paralyzed; she had to break up with the love of her life because he lied to her; she had to watch her friend Laurel die; she got fired; there was drama with her father; there was the tragedy of Havenrock; she had to find the courage to move on with Malone; she had her brother, Diggle, be incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit; she learned that her ex-fiancé was manipulated into killing her current boyfriend.
She’s experienced a lot. She’s pushed down a lot. It’s no wonder it’s all going to come rushing to the surface.
Lizzie: I want to say that I completely trust the writers to do this justice – but I don’t. Either way, I’m cautiously optimistic about the possibility of Felicity finally being made to confront her issues – and boy, does she have issues. Because this is not about her wanting to be a better hacker, this is not about her feeling that she’s falling behind, this is not about ego – this is about Felicity internalizing her loses and trying to find a way to be in control, to somehow, in her mind at least, prevent the tragedies that she’s been unable to prevent in the past.
This is about Felicity trying to make sure she doesn’t loses anyone else she cares about.
So, there’s been a lot of build-up. There’s a lot of things she has to work through. I just hope there’s enough of a payoff to all the issues Felicity’s been dealing with, not just since she met Oliver and Diggle, but for much longer than that. I just hope this is really Felicity’s island, and not like some sand dune that she’ll conquer in no time. And I hope she learns something from this. I hope she emerges on the other side better. You know – unlike Oliver.
Nora: My trust for Arrow and how they’ll portray their characters is out the window. I want to say they will make this storyline with Felicity stand out and allow me to see the potential I know this character to have, but I just don’t trust Arrow and the writers anymore. Felicity’s descent onto this dark road with Helix has been growing for several seasons at this point. She’s experienced a lot of emotional and physical tragedy in the last five years. She was shot and paralyzed, her father walked back into her life, Oliver lied to her and she broke up with the love of her life, Roy left, Laurel died, she obliterated Havenrock, Billy was killed and not to mention enough emotional trauma to last a lifetime. We’ve watched Oliver deal with these traumas, but Felicity’s fallout has all been swept under the rug.
So, it’s about time Arrow deals with what Felicity has been going through all this time. I’m excited to see her join Helix and hope this storyline doesn’t disappoint me. At this point, I think her mindset is that she’s broken and is trying to find a way to leave her own mark on saving Star City. She’s essentially been Oliver’s “hype woman” this season, which I have not enjoyed, so I’m glad she’s finally finding a way to save Star City using her own methods. Even though she doesn’t wear a mask, she’s still a hero in her own way. There’s no way Oliver and the rest of the team would be where they are today without Felicity. Although Diggle has talked to Felicity and shown interests in her safety, no one else has really stopped to ask Felicity how she’s doing. Helix came around at a perfect opportunity for her. A moment where Oliver and some of the other member of Team Arrow are taking her for granted. She needs to step up and carve her own path and Helix is showing her how.
This is Arrow, so there’s no way this is going to end good for Felicity. Something is going to happen that will finally cause Oliver to take notice to all the stuff Felicity has been bottling up inside and going through. I’m sure Diggle is going to have to hit him over the head like Rafiki in order for him to see this though. I’m excited to see Rickards play this version of Felicity and I hope this revitalized her character as we head into the final string of episodes.
Sarah: Everything Felicity has been through has taken her up to this point, it didn’t surprise me at all after what she’s experienced she’d one day confront her own “island.” As inconsistent as the writing has been, it’s been nice to let her character own her individual story outside of Oliver (considering they smashed that relationship & history to pieces as if it never existed but I digress.) Felicity has seen so many horrible events over the years, and seen nearly everyone she’s cared about involved in this mission in such danger multiple times it’s no wonder she feels justified to use every skill every tool she has at her disposal to aid their mission, but Diggle was right about her empathy. It’s not just a part of who she is, it’s one of the best gifts she’s given to the world and everyone she’s touched.
Unfortunately the pain of recent events (that were unnecessarily exaggerated by horrible writing choices once again Arrow writers on you) is drowning all of that out and driving her down this spiral without any regard of where it could lead her. Joining the Helix hacktivist group only re enforces the fact that despite what Diggle told her, she still thinks she can handle fighting fire with fire. I do look forward to the day she learns working behind a computer doesn’t mean you’re immune to getting burned, but only if they do the story and especially her character justice. I think she’s going to learn this one the hard way and when she does I know Diggle will be there for her (I hope Oliver will be too but only if his character gets his head out of his ass.) I can’t count on that whole doing a story justice comfort anymore so I’m left with praying to the writing Gods the Arrow writers get this one right.
Following the events of this whole Susan Williams and blackmailing mess, Thea decided to resign and, it looks like, take a vacation away from Star City. What are your thoughts on Thea’s departure? Do you think it’s temporary? Or do you think it’s permanent?
Alyssa: While I’d like to say this is temporary — ala Thea’s break following the season finale last year — this feels anything but temporary. From learning about Willa Holland’s 14-episode contract for this 23-episode season to the way they handled Thea’s departure (because essentially becoming her mother scared her), it just feels like Arrow is ushering her out with these new characters that no one wanted. This entire season has been a disappointment in regards for Thea’s character — except maybe her standing up to Susan Williams like a BAMF. But Thea hasn’t had a story this season. The show took away her mask and stuck her in the mayor’s office. Sure, she was doing a lot of good, but it was never something we got to see too much. Arrow has forgotten what to do with her or they have no idea. The last time that happened? They killed Laurel. Now, I guess I should be thankful that she’s still alive and pray that the Arrow writers find a story for her in season 6. But this isn’t a season that has made me hopeful for the future. I guess Arrow is going to have to show me.
Lizzie: Again, trust. I don’t trust this show, not even a little bit. And I don’t even blame Willa Holland for wanting to get out of this sinking ship.So I have to say I think this is mostly permanent – they can probably get her back for an episode or two here or there, but I don’t think we’ll ever see Thea regularly again. And that makes me sad, angry and just …even less likely to watch season 6 of Arrow. I just hope they write her a happy ending with Roy. But hey, that would require caring about what the viewers want.
Nora: While I’m upset about all the character’s storylines and development this season (except maybe Diggle), Thea’s lack of a storyline and really a persona is most upsetting. Her character was such an underdog story for Arrow. She started as Oliver’s troublesome teenager sister and eventually grew to become the incredibly badass Speedy. This season, Arrow literally stripped her of her superhero identity and shoved her behind a desk. I think this is one of the biggest mistakes Arrow could’ve done. I know they wanted to introduce new characters, but taking Thea out of Team Arrow was so upsetting. She hasn’t had a storyline at all this season. Yes, she got rid of Susan Williams and helped Quentin, but I don’t count those. She hasn’t stood on her own and simply became a figure in Oliver’s mayoral office. I don’t blame Thea, I would’ve left as well, especially if my brother yelled at me for keeping his secret. With Willa Holland only being contracted for 14 episodes, this is starting to look like Holland’s slow transition out of Arrow. I’m upset about this, but if they keep writing her as poorly as they did this season, I don’t want to see her. I want Speedy and the strong Thea Queen to live on in my memory. The good news is, she isn’t dead and will hopefully turn back up.
Sarah: Given her story lines and episode contract count (why Lord why) this departure feels more permanent than anything before and it makes me sad this is the way they chose to do it. Like every other character the audience truly connected with and grew to care about over the first four seasons Thea was massively underutilized and subjected to their, at best questionable writing choices. If Willa Holland is wanting off the show, I wouldn’t blame her for a second but the fact is her contract and the damage they’ve done to Thea is not on her it’s on the Arrow writers. If her leaving means her character gets a happy ending off screen (my headcanon is living her own life free from insane danger and bad characterization), then by all means fly Thea Queen. You deserved better.
Finally, Arrow revealed the identity of Prometheus, who is none other than DA Adrian Chase. What were your thoughts on the reveal? Were you even a little surprised?
Alyssa: It was underwhelming because it was expected. Like I’m actually optimistic about Prometheus moving forward — and how he’ll go after Oliver further — but the reveal still wasn’t anything special. I keep coming back to the tease that this was as villain that they had to wait five years to do. Why? We’ve never met this Adrian Chase before. We’ve never had a reason to fear someone like this. There doesn’t seem to be the same build-up that we got with a Slade Wilson. While I knew this was never going to be Tommy (although I hoped desperately), that’s the kind of reveal that would’ve sent a shockwave through the fandom much like Slade’s reveal did. Because there’s a personal connection. Because there’s a gradual build-up. You can tell us that Adrian is Oliver’s friend all you want (they’ve only just met each other a couple months ago), but that doesn’t give this reveal the credibility you would’ve liked. With that said, I’m actually excited to see how Prometheus is portrayed. We now know who he is — the dramatic irony of it all in full effect — and I’m curious to see if he plays by this Joker-esque insanity/cruelty. In the previews he appears to be portraying this calm, in control psychopath mentality, which I’m actually very excited to see. Since the reveal was lackluster (much like this season), I’m hoping that how they handle this whole Prometheus being 10 steps ahead thing once Oliver figures out who Prometheus is.
Lizzie: OMG CHASE IS PROMETHEUS. I’M SO SURPRISED. Not. I mean, come on, after Billy died, he was the only one of the new guys who could actually be Prometheus. Thing was so obvious I was almost expecting Arrow to trick me somehow. Serves me right for giving Arrow too much credit.
I know that they think they pulled a fast one on us – Adrian Chase is Vigilante in the comics, so the fact that he’s Prometheus here is a HUGE SURPRISE. Except it’s not. 97.5% of your audience doesn’t read the comics, Arrow. At least 90% of them don’t even care about what happens in the comics. So kudos for surprising 2.5% of all your viewers. I bet THEY think this was brilliant. (Quick question – can the show go on with just 2.5% of the audience?). The rest of us are just here shaking our heads at you.
Nora: I was no surprised at all. I was actually extremely underwhelmed by this reveal. I do like Adrian Chase (but this might be because I’ve loved Josh Segarra on Broadway and in Chicago P.D), but this reveal was disappointing. Again, I don’t know why I expected for Arrow to surprise me after what has gone on this season. Yes Adrian Chase is Vigilante in the comics, but like Lizzie said, a bulk of Arrow’s fanbase doesn’t read older DC comics so there weren’t many fans to disappoint by not making Adrian Vigilante. While Oliver seems to trust EVERYONE these days, I never trusted Adrian. We don’t know his background, so I was always skeptical of him. While the reveal was nothing extraordinary, I am excited to see Segarra play Prometheus now that he’s been revealed. I can’t wait to see how Prometheus is always ahead of Oliver and why he has this desire to kill Green Arrow.
I still wish Prometheus ended up being Tommy or better yet, Oliver from Earth 2! I think that would’ve been SO amazing and completely shocking. Having Earth 2 Oliver get through a breach like Black Siren and he wreaks havoc on Earth 1 Oliver would’ve been SO amazing. Even Tommy being alive would’ve been EPIC, but because of Colin Donnell’s Chicago Med schedule, I knew this one was a little less likely. But c’mon, could you imagine Stephen Amell playing the an evil Earth 2 Oliver! It would’ve been epic and honestly, would’ve saved this season. I guess, I had too much hope for Arrow and their surprise tactics.
Sarah: I watched the reveal and said out loud “Wait is that it? Are you kidding me?” They spent all season building up to this and the surprise had about as much strength behind it as a 5 year old trying to sneak up on you while being really loud, obvious and *not at all surprising*. I would have been more surprised if it had been Susan Williams and her character’s writing was as typical as you could get. The fact that it was so underwhelming just took the rug out from what they’ve been trying to go full throttle at and I really doubt it’s going to get any more interesting from here which is sad because this could have been as shocking as the twist that Thea (under the influence) was the one who killed Sara back in season 3. But alas it seems the days of having true blue jaw dropping twists on Arrow is a thing of the past.
Arrow returns with new episodes Wednesday, March 15 at 8/7c on The CW. Join us the following week for another Arrow roundtable.
