Just like many other fans I was really disappointed with the season finale, and the season as a whole. There are two things that haven't been much discussed, but that I find troublesome, in the finale and in the later seasons in general. This is a cross-post, hope that's OK!
First of all, the good people of Star city were portrayed as a bunch of mindless goons in the season four finale. Their families and their city are on the brink of being annihilated by a nuclear bomb, and what do they do? They take to the streets and start fighting with each other, and they probably would have done some looting as well, if their Lord and Savior Oliver Queen hadn't appeared and given them HOPE! It seems as though every time there is a crisis, the Star city population somehow become mindless brutes. To me that is not a normal reaction, and even if I understand that the writers/directors don’t have the time to dwell on more realistic reactions from people who are facing an imminent death, the question remains: if the writers lack the means to portray a city on the brink of a nuclear attack, why on earth would they concoct such an Armageddon-like scenario in the first place? Pick a more realistic threat, something that can be portrayed with SOME verisimilitude.......that way you won’t have to resort to ridiculously easy and unrealistic ways of neutralizing this threat either!
Anyway, to return to the crowd scenes. In earlier seasons it was usually the residents of the Glades who behaved in this irrational and brutish manner. I personally found that insulting, because it seemed like a dig at the same poor and downtrodden that Oliver/the Hood had sworn to help/protect. But I guess it's a general flaw in the writing; the writers/producers just cannot portray a realistic crowd reaction to a disastrous event. They just get a bunch of extras together and get them to punch each other, or run around with pointless signs!
This ties in with an IMHO larger question, and that is that the people that Mayor Oliver Queen is determined to help hardly seem to exist on the show anymore. In seasons one and two we actually got to see Star city citizens in various situations, even if they were just extras in street/location shots. Furthermore, Oliver and the other characters had a life outside the lair: they went for dinners, coffee, they met in each others' homes etc., and in these situations you had OTHER people (i.e. the good citizens of Star city!) milling around. Of course, all these scenes were tied to the ongoing plot, but my point is that you did have a sense that our heroes were living in a city with restaurants, buildings, burger joints etc., a city that was populated by people going about their business. We got to see Laurel in court house scenes, Oliver/Thea/Tommy at the Verdant club and there were lots of scenes from the Queen mansion, Laurel's home and so on. All of this created a sense of a real life/normal setting for the characters, which I feel is often missing nowadays.
In fact, nowadays it's like most of the scenes are either in the lair, in the loft (where half the cast seems to have shacked up!) or in some anonymous, de-peopled warehouse/street. I'm exaggerating of course, but it does feel as though the setting has become much poorer and less populated over the course of the series, and I think that is one reason why the plot/action sometimes seems kind of irrelevant/meaningless, because the people Ollie/Green Arrow is supposed to fight for simply aren't THERE. Furthermore, even heroes need to have a social life outside their mission (a party, a dinner, a drink) in order to give the impression of rounded characters. These occasions don't have to be very frequent, or take up much screen time, but it would IMHO still be nice if they were included in the plot, as they were in seasons one and two.
Superhero comics are usually about the hero protecting his city/neighbourhood from crime and evil, and that is a major theme on "Arrow" as well. However, unlike "Daredevil", where Hell's Kitchen is very much present (both as a location and as a symbol) it feels as though Star city and its citizens do not really exist any longer, except maybe when Ollie and the other heroes TALK about them. However, that's "telling", not "showing". It sometimes feel that Star city and its people have become such a void notion that the whole idea of Oliver and his team as the protectors of the little man (and the city as a whole) becomes void as well. I don't know if this makes any sense, but that's how I feel.
And the depiction of the hero’s protected turf doesn’t have to be very realistic in order to give the feeling that it actually exists. For example, the depiction of Hell’s Kitchen in “Daredevil” is probably more inspired by the kind of dark/rainy streets settings that you see in many “film noir” movies than by today’s Hell’s Kitchen, which I presume is a great deal more gentrified and less rough nowadays. However, even if it's stylized and unrealistic by Real World NYC standards, the setting is still THERE, and it’s populated by actual people, who Matt/Daredevil helps.
My other gripe is with the evocation of theme. I don’t belong to those viewers who actually look for larger themes when watching a show, or think that they are essential for my enjoyment. On the other hand, if they’re there, I think they should be conveyed unobtrusively, as something that underlies the action, and comes across naturally through the action. For example, in season one it was pretty clear (to me at least!) that some of the underlying themes were redemption/reconciliation/trying to overcome horrid experiences by doing good/taking revenge and avenging someone else’s sins (and maybe discovering that those you love/trust the most are not who you thought they were). Although “Arrow” writers have never been very subtle, most of these themes were not really spelled out, but something that could be teased out from various scenes and conversations.
In season four, and especially in the season finale, it was IMHO as though the writers were hitting us over the head with the “darkness versus hope” theme. After Oliver or someone else had talked about “the darkness inside” and “hope will fight the darkness” for the umpteenth time, I started to feel like Guggenheim and company were insulting my intelligence! I guess my point is: if you cannot convey your over-arching themes in a non-obtrusive, intelligent manner, why bother having them? To me this is just another case of the “telling-itis” that has plagued the “Arrow” writing for some time now. And I have the impression that other fans feel likewise, even though they may not have commented on the heavy-handed treatment of theme.
First of all, the good people of Star city were portrayed as a bunch of mindless goons in the season four finale. Their families and their city are on the brink of being annihilated by a nuclear bomb, and what do they do? They take to the streets and start fighting with each other, and they probably would have done some looting as well, if their Lord and Savior Oliver Queen hadn't appeared and given them HOPE! It seems as though every time there is a crisis, the Star city population somehow become mindless brutes. To me that is not a normal reaction, and even if I understand that the writers/directors don’t have the time to dwell on more realistic reactions from people who are facing an imminent death, the question remains: if the writers lack the means to portray a city on the brink of a nuclear attack, why on earth would they concoct such an Armageddon-like scenario in the first place? Pick a more realistic threat, something that can be portrayed with SOME verisimilitude.......that way you won’t have to resort to ridiculously easy and unrealistic ways of neutralizing this threat either!
Anyway, to return to the crowd scenes. In earlier seasons it was usually the residents of the Glades who behaved in this irrational and brutish manner. I personally found that insulting, because it seemed like a dig at the same poor and downtrodden that Oliver/the Hood had sworn to help/protect. But I guess it's a general flaw in the writing; the writers/producers just cannot portray a realistic crowd reaction to a disastrous event. They just get a bunch of extras together and get them to punch each other, or run around with pointless signs!
This ties in with an IMHO larger question, and that is that the people that Mayor Oliver Queen is determined to help hardly seem to exist on the show anymore. In seasons one and two we actually got to see Star city citizens in various situations, even if they were just extras in street/location shots. Furthermore, Oliver and the other characters had a life outside the lair: they went for dinners, coffee, they met in each others' homes etc., and in these situations you had OTHER people (i.e. the good citizens of Star city!) milling around. Of course, all these scenes were tied to the ongoing plot, but my point is that you did have a sense that our heroes were living in a city with restaurants, buildings, burger joints etc., a city that was populated by people going about their business. We got to see Laurel in court house scenes, Oliver/Thea/Tommy at the Verdant club and there were lots of scenes from the Queen mansion, Laurel's home and so on. All of this created a sense of a real life/normal setting for the characters, which I feel is often missing nowadays.
In fact, nowadays it's like most of the scenes are either in the lair, in the loft (where half the cast seems to have shacked up!) or in some anonymous, de-peopled warehouse/street. I'm exaggerating of course, but it does feel as though the setting has become much poorer and less populated over the course of the series, and I think that is one reason why the plot/action sometimes seems kind of irrelevant/meaningless, because the people Ollie/Green Arrow is supposed to fight for simply aren't THERE. Furthermore, even heroes need to have a social life outside their mission (a party, a dinner, a drink) in order to give the impression of rounded characters. These occasions don't have to be very frequent, or take up much screen time, but it would IMHO still be nice if they were included in the plot, as they were in seasons one and two.
Superhero comics are usually about the hero protecting his city/neighbourhood from crime and evil, and that is a major theme on "Arrow" as well. However, unlike "Daredevil", where Hell's Kitchen is very much present (both as a location and as a symbol) it feels as though Star city and its citizens do not really exist any longer, except maybe when Ollie and the other heroes TALK about them. However, that's "telling", not "showing". It sometimes feel that Star city and its people have become such a void notion that the whole idea of Oliver and his team as the protectors of the little man (and the city as a whole) becomes void as well. I don't know if this makes any sense, but that's how I feel.
And the depiction of the hero’s protected turf doesn’t have to be very realistic in order to give the feeling that it actually exists. For example, the depiction of Hell’s Kitchen in “Daredevil” is probably more inspired by the kind of dark/rainy streets settings that you see in many “film noir” movies than by today’s Hell’s Kitchen, which I presume is a great deal more gentrified and less rough nowadays. However, even if it's stylized and unrealistic by Real World NYC standards, the setting is still THERE, and it’s populated by actual people, who Matt/Daredevil helps.
My other gripe is with the evocation of theme. I don’t belong to those viewers who actually look for larger themes when watching a show, or think that they are essential for my enjoyment. On the other hand, if they’re there, I think they should be conveyed unobtrusively, as something that underlies the action, and comes across naturally through the action. For example, in season one it was pretty clear (to me at least!) that some of the underlying themes were redemption/reconciliation/trying to overcome horrid experiences by doing good/taking revenge and avenging someone else’s sins (and maybe discovering that those you love/trust the most are not who you thought they were). Although “Arrow” writers have never been very subtle, most of these themes were not really spelled out, but something that could be teased out from various scenes and conversations.
In season four, and especially in the season finale, it was IMHO as though the writers were hitting us over the head with the “darkness versus hope” theme. After Oliver or someone else had talked about “the darkness inside” and “hope will fight the darkness” for the umpteenth time, I started to feel like Guggenheim and company were insulting my intelligence! I guess my point is: if you cannot convey your over-arching themes in a non-obtrusive, intelligent manner, why bother having them? To me this is just another case of the “telling-itis” that has plagued the “Arrow” writing for some time now. And I have the impression that other fans feel likewise, even though they may not have commented on the heavy-handed treatment of theme.
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