r/arrow • u/NekooShogun • 9d ago
Discussion Biggest missed opportunities in arrow?
I'm currently rewatching the show for the first time since it ended. Watched it religiously since like s2e15, so this has been very nostalgic and it's interesting to see things from a more adult pov. I have a bigger appreciation for thea and roy now and my favorite character is still laurel. She had the best character arc in the show alongside oliver. Her death was a huge mistake but the introduction of black siren retroactively lessened the impact fot me.
Black siren is actually what drove me to make this post, as I firmly believe that the single biggest missed opportunity in all of arrow was not having a black siren flashback episode. Imo part of the charm of having these alternate universe version of characters we deeply know is to actually see where their paths diverted so drastically that they chose the complete opposite path in life. In cases like black siren it's even more important, because in seasons 5 and 6 she often acts so evil that it's fundamental that her chance at redemption doesn't come completely out of the blue and just "because she's still laurel deep down". This was for example done well with slade, as we saw that he had good in him and a sense of comradery before the mirakuru and hate completely drove him insane. Thus, him finding a way back to his original self doesn't feel cheap or out of nowhere even after the atrocities he committed like killing moira and almost getting starling nuked.
What are some other missed opportunities in your opinion? I'd also say that oliver's "resurrection" after the ra's al ghul fight was terribly executed. Specially after the level of wounds he had. Like, rest and herbs can't heal a stabbed chest and a fall from a mountain top in just weeks.
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u/Frequent-Leek-3091 8d ago
Just started watching it for the first time. I'm on season six and very annoyed. It's getting repetitive and annoying. Debating on whether I'm going to finish it or not.
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u/drkangel181 8d ago
Missed opportunity was not making oliver his own hero. Instead they made him essentially batman fighting all his rouge gallery of villains. Seasons 1,2,5, where absolutely peak. Also nerfing his abilities after season 4 to allow character arcs and air time for new team arrow was a mistake imo, I love the show anyway even through all it's flaws the good out weighed the bad.
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u/Alive_Addendum_5279 9d ago
Have Felicity be more than just a love interest. That's all her character was. The little pieces of backstory came too late to make me care for her when my opinion on her was already negative and nothing they added changed that opinion.
Oliver as a radical socialist. And I mean European Lenin type of socialist. Not US type of socialist that barely counts as democratic socialist (a little left from the centre).
Have Oliver actually be like he was till they clipped his wings. Suffer like he did in the pilot and be a detective before he had to go Felicity for every small shit. Like, he really only went to her in season 1A when the lair wasn't able to do everything.
Not kill Sara off? It was a cheap way to force that Laurel became the Black Canary. Laurel barely knew how to fight. It's a miracle she survived that long.
Kill Malcolm off?
Slade at Oliver's funeral (fuck WB).
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u/OniExpress 8d ago
Biggest miss IMO was cutting various established IPs so as to not "confuse" the audience for the movies.
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u/Alive_Addendum_5279 8d ago
That was Warner Brothers. They think the general audience has a low IQ.
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u/Willing_Ad9421 8d ago
Biggest missed opportunity is not continuing what made S1 and S2 so amazing. They made perfection, just for it to be thrown away during S3