As for Arrow, I am really digging Season 5. This is the best season it's had since the first two and a total rebound season for this show as far as I'm concerned. I've got about 5 episodes left in the season to see if sticks the landing but, at this point, even if it does stumble a bit, I've been really impressed by this season that I'd probably still give it an A grade but here's hoping it concludes well. At this point, the only other series that might give it a run for it's money as top show in the Arrowverse is Supergirl Season 2 so I'm curious to see how the rest of the season plays out and stacks up compared to Arrow Season 5.
Watching Arrow Season 5 kind of makes it feel like the past two seasons (3 & 4) were just filler until they could get into this season. It was especially kind of lol-worthy when Oliver has to face all his former foes to escape the dream machine him and his allies are trapped in during the Invasion plotline and Ra's Al Ghul is the only one to not show up. Sure, Manu Bennett isn't there but at least they could cover that up by having someone in the Deathstroke costume.
There's so much I'd like to get into about this show but I'm just going to list off all manner of points. First, they really nailed the casting of Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen. Having been away from the series for awhile and coming back to it, I've been super impressed again about how well he plays the role and thanks to him the producers have been able to make this whole Arrowverse. Even in Invasion, he keeps your focus and attention amongst all those other heroes and characters and you want to see his interactions with them all. He conveys and handles the internal struggles he faces much better than the leads on the other shows. He's still the driving force on Arrow and, after having to work through some less than stellar material the past couple seasons, it's been a good reminder to see what he can do with stronger material to work with.
Of course, Arrow's been helped by still having a strong supporting cast. Diggle's great, Felicity is way more tolerable and appealing again, I wish Thea would get more screen time because she's been one of the best members since Season 3, Lance is working much better with his new role and limited screen prescence. Even the new team has worked out pretty well with just the new Black Canary a bit too much a blank slate to be able to say definitely whether she's a strong or weak addition.
The flashbacks are no longer a weakness and thanks to the return of Anatoli, they feel like they are building a bigger world again. Having Dolph Lundgren show up as a Russian Villain has further made them more appealing and the surprise appearance by Talia has given them an intrigue they haven't been able to capture in awhile. In fact, much like how Deathstroke took over by the end of Season 2, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Talia will turn out to be the bigger threat by Season's end. In any case, Oliver's adventures with the Bratva and Russian mob has moved along at a better pace, been easier to follow as their plot unfolds (I seriously have a hard time trying to recollect what the story of the Season 3 flashbacks was or how it played out) and have felt more relevant to his journey of becoming the Green Arrow than the last couple seasons of flashbacks.
But the real draw of the season for me was Prometheus and he has lived up to my expectations. I've particularly like the latest few episodes in which Oliver and Company have learned his true identity but have been unable to act against him and the constant taunting between him and everyone else. The actor playing Prometheus has a wonderfully detached menace to him. My only disappointment is that it was kind of easy to suspect who Prometheus was from the beginning since every new character introduced in a season nearly seems to end up as a villain unless they have a good guy identity they are based on and this character always had a bit of strangeness and menace when in his daily public persona. Realizing that it was Worf who was voicing Prometheus, I was hoping that it might be Michael Dorn himself or someone else behind the mask but it was not to be. On the plus side, I was glad that Billy didn't turn out to be a villain and found that little arc rather surprising. There's still the question of who Vigilante is and I've got a suspect in mind even if it doesn't make much sense but I'm waiting to see if I'm right on that or not.
I am a bit surprised at the amount of violence that seems to be occurring on the show though. I don't remember it being as high as it seems to be this season. There was one moment in Russia where Oliver is first working with Talia and he's shooting down a bunch of Russian mobsters with a gun. It gave me deja vu to the John Wick series with the way it was shot and how he was taking down the enemies to make sure they were dead. One of the positives of Season 4 was that the crew seemed to realize the action had sagged in Season 3 and worked to improve on that with some really interesting visual camerawork and improved action. That action seems to have carried over to Season 5 although without some of the handheld/shaky cam they tested in Season 4. However, sometimes that action just comes across as too choreographed with so many perfect blocks and ducks and leaps as characters fight each other. Most fights are hardly like that. They are much more messy. I still think the Bourne movies are a good basis for how a fight scene should play out. The fights in Arrow, while impressive, are a bit too clean and like a dance routine.
That's enough for now. I've written plenty. I'm done at the moment.
Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen (Read 1199259 times)
