Arrow season seven review
Intro: It's about time this show acknowledges that Batman exists, plus this season made a Batman Beyond reference. That's awkward, considering Arrow uses Batman villains.
Arrow season seven: This season takes place five months after Green Arrow and his former teammates regain control of Star City from Ricardo Diaz/the Dragon with the help of the FBI. In exchange for their help, Oliver Queen /Green Arrow has to turn himself over to their custody, vigilantes are banned from Star City, and Oliver's former team manages to move on with their lives. One day, a new Green Arrow shows up at Star City, and Ricardo Diaz returns to Star City with allies wanting revenge. So former team Arrow has to figure out if the new Green Arrow can be trusted and stop Diaz once and for all.
This season was also a letdown! That's sad because this season had a promising start, then the show begins to fall apart as the season went on. I was disappointed with the longbow hunters ( Ricardo Diaz's allies) because they were underused in this series. Oliver in prison subplot was fine, I don't know if it's based on the Green Arrow movie that was never made called Escape from Supermax. It could have been better if we had seen how this ordeal changed him. I wish it would last longer, and I'm not crazy about how it got resolved. The last episode took me by surprise, that saying a lot considering that I don't like the title of that episode because it gave us an idea of how this season is going to end.
This season has flashforwards into the future. I find them interesting at first because we see how the anti-vigilante law affects the future. Later on, in the series, they got worse because they don't connect to what's going on in the present. The events in this season don't explain how we got from point A to point B in the flashforwards. The flashforwards are about William looking for Oliver and Felicity. During his search, he discovers a plot to level Star City, so William has to find what's left of the former team Arrow to stop this from happening. (Another thing the flash-forwards reference a popular figure that a lot of people don't like.) My only gripe with the flashforwards is that we don't know what causes the division between the Glades and the rest of Star City. This season also has the theme of redemption; however, this season didn't handle that theme well. I'll get into that later.
The Olicity drama is contrived. I enjoy the crossover episodes because they are superhero versions of Freaky Friday. and the event improves the relationship between Barry and Oliver. It's about an alien called the Monitor who gives a professor a book that can change the world around him. The Monitor is doing this because he's looking for people who can stop an event that will happen in the future. So, Barry, Oliver, and Kara have to stop him before things get out of hand. The only complaint I have with the crossover is that it makes two comic book characters look bad.
Oliver Queen/ Inmate 4587 is trying to stay out of trouble, but that becomes difficult when an associate of Diaz is giving him a hard time, plus Oliver has to deal with other shady things that are going on in prison. Once again, Oliver goes through a deconstruction; it may not be as good as season five; however, it helps him reflect on his life. The issue I have with Oliver's redemption story is that he doesn't back up his claims that he regrets how he did things as the Green Arrow because he didn't do much to change his persona.
The new Green Arrow is an enigma. When we learn who he or she is, it creates so many plot holes around this person. Also, this reveal undermines seasons one and five if you really think about it. Plus, I'm not fond of what the creators have done with this character later on, because the writers tried to do too many things with this person.
Diggle is back to normal in this season. Wait! The writers can fix Diggle, but they can't fix Felicity.
Speaking of Felicity, the writers ruined her. I mean, I thought the creators were going in a direction that would make her likable, but they screwed it up.
Rene Ramirez/Wild dog mentors the kids in the glades; it's a shame that we don't see a lot of it. Despite doing that, he misses being Wild Dog.
Laura Lance/Black Siren is trying to be on the straight and narrow, but she's rough around the edges. We also learn a little bit more about her. My gripe with her is her redemption story. I mean, I wouldn't have minded it if she faced consequences for her past actions. To be fair, some people didn't give her a chance to change. The Bronze Tiger redemption story is better than hers. (Bronze Tiger is a villain of the week.)
Black Star is a hothead. Why she's so angry makes no sense.
Roy Harper/ Arsenal didn't show up until towards the end of the series. I'm not crazy about the story this season told with him because it's similar to the one in season two.
Diane Drake/Black Canary is now Captain of the SCPD. I don't have anything else to say about her because she's inconsistent in this season to the point where I can't describe her as a character. We learn that she and Rene had a fallout in the flashforwards, but we don't know what happened.
This season didn't give Ricardo Diaz (One of the villains) any justice. What's the point of giving him super strength if it serves no purpose?
The ninth circle (a criminal Organization) is a joke! This group was treated as a subplot before they became the main focus. Also, we don't see this gang; we only see their foot soldiers. This organization didn't pose much of a threat to Oliver's allies. My problem with this group is that they are at odds with their leader; the organization wants to kill people in Star City for different reasons. We didn't learn the organization's motivation last episode, and the leader's motivations are contrived.
One of my many grievances with this season (besides the plot holes) is that we finally get the Birds of Prey episode, and I was let down by it. Not because it's bad, it's because I was hoping it would be about them achieving a goal, not wrapping up Laura's redemption arc. Speaking of episodes, we should have gotten Episode 15 sooner. You'll understand what I mean when you watch it. I was hoping the new writers would fix this series, but the writing is the biggest problem with this season. The writers establish things but don't focus on them, like the people who live in the Glades want vigilantes back because they feel alienated by the police.
Also, this season feels like more than one person wrote this season. The creators drop the ball in telling a redemption story for another character that I will not name for the sake of spoilers. This person didn't do anything that deserves redemption. There is an episode where a building blows up, and the characters inside the building survive it without serious injuries. Are you kidding me!?! The last episode ruined what is going to happen in the next season by telling us what will happen. I wouldn't mean that if it was played as dramatic irony. I wish Star City was vocal about Oliver learning his lesson because it seems like he redeemed himself way too easily. Speaking of easy, how the creators got around the anti-vigilante laws was easy as well.
Overall, this season may not be as good as seasons one, two, and five. However, it's not as bad as seasons three, four, and six. The only thing I want for the eighth and final season is for all ten episodes to be good.