While in general I've had concerns about the 'too many masks' issue and propping up new team members at the expense of Oliver's character, the 100 ep. was not going to be the best ep for showcasing Team Arrow 2.0 (especially if this was the first time viewers of other shows would meet them). Their mini-adventure was always going to be a minor subplot in this one. A 'C' plot, if the crossover was by default the 'B' plot. And I would say Wild Dog and Ragman are, if not fully three-dimensional yet, have the potential to get there - assuming they don't die, get burned out, go off to exile, join another show etc. by season's end. My view is that Team Arrow is going to lose one or two of their newbies due to any of these causes by end of S5. Unlike Barry or the LoT crew, Oliver won't have the power on his own to reset or rewrite their fates on a whim. I hadn't been a big fan of Evelyn/Artemis -- who wasn't in this one -- but it turned out the reason for her minimal presence is they've had plans for her (heel turn!), which would explain why she was given so little profile previously.
I would say this need to force a team dynamic in the DC Berlantiverse works better on some shows than others. No one is an island, but on Arrow the whole 'Go team!' idea has often been the most jarring simply because Ollie has been a lone wolf for much of his training period and S1. If he had a 'team', partners or associates during this period, it was more out of necessity or opportunity. We could even say Ollie was pushing back at the notion of a team even into early S2.
I think they handled Laurel well in 100. The wedding scenario may have been predictable but in the context of ep. 100, it worked very well not only in paying homage to Oliver's origins and journey but what Laurel meant to all of them ... even as closure if we never see E-1 Laurel again. (Even if she was an AI construct in the dream, it was based on the impressions of all the people they had abducted. It was how they remembered her, the very best of her. In the dream, none of them were their actual selves until they snapped out of it.) If they did lionize Laurel in 100, I am more than fine with it here ... considering the show's treatment of her S3-4 aka marginalizing her while they boosted all things Olicity.
Maybe it's the series way to partly make amends for that and actually honour and show some long overdue respect to the character and legacy of Laurel to the show. As an Arrow fan, I don't feel all that bad that the crossover was only the B plot. I expected this. It was the 100th ep. and the show wisely opted to keep much of the spotlight on Arrow itself ... and we had still had Oliver battling aliens in space. In space! There was something for everyone in 100.
I would say this need to force a team dynamic in the DC Berlantiverse works better on some shows than others. No one is an island, but on Arrow the whole 'Go team!' idea has often been the most jarring simply because Ollie has been a lone wolf for much of his training period and S1. If he had a 'team', partners or associates during this period, it was more out of necessity or opportunity. We could even say Ollie was pushing back at the notion of a team even into early S2.
I think they handled Laurel well in 100. The wedding scenario may have been predictable but in the context of ep. 100, it worked very well not only in paying homage to Oliver's origins and journey but what Laurel meant to all of them ... even as closure if we never see E-1 Laurel again. (Even if she was an AI construct in the dream, it was based on the impressions of all the people they had abducted. It was how they remembered her, the very best of her. In the dream, none of them were their actual selves until they snapped out of it.) If they did lionize Laurel in 100, I am more than fine with it here ... considering the show's treatment of her S3-4 aka marginalizing her while they boosted all things Olicity.
Maybe it's the series way to partly make amends for that and actually honour and show some long overdue respect to the character and legacy of Laurel to the show. As an Arrow fan, I don't feel all that bad that the crossover was only the B plot. I expected this. It was the 100th ep. and the show wisely opted to keep much of the spotlight on Arrow itself ... and we had still had Oliver battling aliens in space. In space! There was something for everyone in 100.
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