Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse.
Arrow is a Comicbook TV adaptation of the Green Arrow stories. It stars Steven Amell, Katie Cassidy, and David Ramsey, and was created by Greg Berlanti. Arrow Season 4, follows The Green Arrow and his team as they fight a menace unlike any they have faced before in the form of Damian Dahrk. A sorcerer with a cult intent on world destruction.
UNDER THE LENS: TONE AND TEAM DYNAMIC
Tone: Season 4 was a step in the right direction for the tone of the show. The first 3 seasons were rightfully dark as Oliver was still discovering who he was. But it’s time for that to end, Green Arrow is a cavalier swashbuckler like Errol Flynn. He is light-hearted and fun, it’s time we saw that side of Oliver begin to manifest. We saw elements of that begin to show in season 4 with Oliver seeking to bring hope to his city, in the upcoming season we need to see more of a transition from the dark brooding hero to the light and fun one. This is not to say that Arrow needs to be like Flash or Supergirl, the show has been crafted as a crime thriller and needs to remain that way. That is not to say though that it cannot be more light-hearted.
Team Dynamic: Arrow started as a relatedly simple concept, a lone man returns from being missing for five years and becomes a hooded vigilante. The first season was great as it was only Oliver Queen and John Diggle, it was small and intimate. Over the course of the next few seasons the Arrow team was expanded to include his sister Thea (Willa Holland) Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Detective Lance (Paul Blackthorne) there were others that came and went as well. The characters were good and at first, helped to take the burden off Oliver and allow for further development. Season 4 really began to show the issue of the large team idea, instead of having the sub-characters come and go every other episode. They were included in every action sequence and every storyline, this caused issues, and the heroes needed to be weakened for a villain to be able to take them all on. This caused confusing scenes where Oliver would fight off a league of assassin member only to be pummeled by a street thug. I’m not saying that Arrow needs to be without a team, but the team needs to be the backup for Oliver not the stars with Green Arrow.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Damian Dahrk (Neal McDonougn) is a very fun villain
- Its been interesting seeing Thea Queen develop over the season
- Detective Lance has continued to grow into a wonderful support
QUOTABLE QUOTE
Oliver Queen: My old approach wasn’t enough, I had to become someone else. I had to become something else… I had to become The Green Arrow
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Did you like the inclusion of magic in this season?
CONCLUSION
Overall Arrow Season 4 was a vast improvement from season 3, this season of Arrow was designed by the showrunners as a semi-reboot to fix the many problems that plagued a very promising season the year before. We got a dynamic villain, improved fight choreography, and better costumes. With the good came a lot of bad sadly, as good as Arrow seeks to be it suffers from wanting to take risks while being too afraid to actually take them.
