Ksite poster @Sanddragon submitted this terrific post on another forum, and since I believe that it is very interesting and timely I'll repost it here. I hope that's OK with the O.P.!
Here are my own thoughts about ONE of the many aspects that IMHO made season one such a great season in comparison with the later seasons (especially seasons three and four):
Season five has surely been an improvement in comparison with the pretty dismal seasons three and four, but so many of the things mentioned in this post are still sadly missing. I would especially like to see Oliver do some information gathering/sleuth legwork himself, like when he figured out about Deadshot in season one.....rather than having Felicity magically dig out info with a few computer keystrokes, or having her talk into his ears every time he's on a mission. It's not a bad thing to have a team, but why does Oliver have to drag everyone along whenever he goes after the bad guys? Sometimes I regret the change that turned Oliver/the Hood/Arrow from a private detective/lone vigilante into a team leader, who can't go after the baddies without his posse and without having Overwatch guide him every step of the way! The Marvel superhero shows manage to create fascinating and suspenseful story arcs without using unrealistic super-hacker information retrieval to move their plots from A to B. I personally cannot understand why the same "back-to-basics" approach can't be applied on "Arrow"...unless the writers are so desperate to make Felicity or Curtis seem relevant and important that they HAVE to concoct stories whose development depend on their computer savvy or magic balls (pun intended!).
- Oliver having a normal-ish family life, with his mom, Thea and a stepfather in Walter (with whom they thankfully avoided the cliche 'evil stepfather' trope). I loved the scenes at Queen Mansion.
- Oliver being a nightclub owner. It was an interesting deviation from the tried and tested 'superhero alter ego' professions (including CEO and industrialist which Oliver tried his hand at in Season 2). There was a very subtle aspect of wish fulfillment - Oliver's a billionaire playboy turned club-owner who also spends his nights taking out the scum of his city with extreme prejudice! A cooler vigilante life cannot be imagined...
- Oliver's relationships with Laurel and Tommy. Yes, there was a 'love triangle' of sorts, but it was deeper than the shallow love triangles we normally see on TV. Oliver and Tommy's friendship was great, especially when it came to dealing with the sticky situation vis a vi Tommy dating Oliver's ex, which they handled with a fair bit of maturity. Laurel and Tommy trying to make their relationship work in a way that actually made you root for them (even if Oliver and Laurel were the 'endgame couple' at that point) and added an extra element of tragedy to Tommy's death. And of course, Oliver and Laurel trying to work through their issues, knowing that no matter what they can't completely ignore the pivotal role, for better or worse, each of them has played in the other's life.
- Oliver taking down 'ordinary' villains like corrupt businessmen, drug-dealers, crime-lords and mercenaries. When he takes down a super-villain or terrorist these days, sure he's "saving the city", but I think the idea of Oliver actually actively making the city safer for innocent citizens had the greatest resonance in the first season.
- The Hood being a one-man army and killing machine! Oliver may be skilled enough in later seasons to take down Ra's al Ghul and Malcolm Merlyn without breaking a sweat...but its his fights in Season 1 that remain the pinnacle of Arrow's achievements in the area. His taking down a small army of Merlyn's goons to rescue Walter in 1x21 remains a highlight of the entire series! When Oliver allowed Diggle to accompany him in the field, you KNEW things were REALLY f#cked up because he actually needed HELP in the field!
Season five has surely been an improvement in comparison with the pretty dismal seasons three and four, but so many of the things mentioned in this post are still sadly missing. I would especially like to see Oliver do some information gathering/sleuth legwork himself, like when he figured out about Deadshot in season one.....rather than having Felicity magically dig out info with a few computer keystrokes, or having her talk into his ears every time he's on a mission. It's not a bad thing to have a team, but why does Oliver have to drag everyone along whenever he goes after the bad guys? Sometimes I regret the change that turned Oliver/the Hood/Arrow from a private detective/lone vigilante into a team leader, who can't go after the baddies without his posse and without having Overwatch guide him every step of the way! The Marvel superhero shows manage to create fascinating and suspenseful story arcs without using unrealistic super-hacker information retrieval to move their plots from A to B. I personally cannot understand why the same "back-to-basics" approach can't be applied on "Arrow"...unless the writers are so desperate to make Felicity or Curtis seem relevant and important that they HAVE to concoct stories whose development depend on their computer savvy or magic balls (pun intended!).
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