Style over substance= A MG rant
First of all, I think it would be fairly accurate to say that most Olicity fans know the DNA of Arrow better than you and your writers room. Whenever Arrow has been at its strongest it was when the focus was on character. To clarify, the characters we care about. The core characters. I think it to be of no coincidence that the upturn in quality of these past few episodes sees a return focus on Oliver, John, and Felicity. When you force characters on your audience and we tell you we don’t care, that isn’t out of pettiness, or because we want our ship back, its because you failed to introduce and write for these new characters in a way that would invest our interest. When you sideline popular characters and fridge already established dynamics to shove the newbies down our throats, the backlash is to be expected.
This season Arrow reached its 100th episode. Something to be celebrated. Appreciation should be shown for the incredibly talented cast that you are lucky to have. Instead, you marginalise them, disrespect them publicly and give into the fringe element of the fandom.
New characters should have been introduced in a way that tied in and enhanced the storylines of the core cast. But instead you shoehorned them in and stuck the others in no mans land.
You waited too long to unveil Prometheus. Josh Segarra has been a revelation in the role so far, but I feel like we are running out of time with him. His reveal should have been earlier.
Susan Williams was a mistake. You repeatedly told us that she was a good person and that Oliver had “deep feelings” for her. This was never shown on screen. She was introduced as someone who was manipulative, conniving and just plain awful. Then you had her date Oliver even though she was investigating him, which was a huge conflict of interest. Then you spent more time on her job than you gave to Felicity’s Havenrock storyline, or John’s being in jail storyline. Then you turned Oliver into Ollie 2.0 by making him an unbelievable douche. Then when Susan was kidnapped, Oliver barely blinked. He showed no concern for her at all. WTF? Don’t get me wrong, that last part was hilarious, but what the hell were you thinking with this whole storyline?
Don’t even get me started on Billy.
No one is asking for a whole episode of Olicity going shopping. Even Felicity would probably hate that. What we want is Olicity together in a healthy, happy, normal relationship. No baby mama drama, no bullshit love interests. No tropes. Just let them be together. Let them figure out how to be together and work together. Let them talk to each other. Be there for each other. Let them deal with any issues like adults. You can still have explosions, and stunts and action. You did it before. Its called 4A, remember the ratings back then?
Now, I know this isn’t about ratings. I get that. What it is about is writing to your shows strengths. Stephen Amell, Emily Bett Rickard, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Paul Blackthorne. They are what this show was built on. Not your ego. So get over yourself.
One last thing, cutting the season shorter won’t solve Arrows problem. Getting better writers will. The fact that you actually said that cutting the season would reduce the number of “filler” episodes just proves this. Why don’t you use these “filler” episodes to focus on your incredibly talented cast. Instead of another villain of the week or gun PSA, write your own “Zeppo” episode.
Or maybe after 5 years, its time for you to go. Bring in some fresh ideas.
tangentwithtanner
kianamaiart
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
germansingergirl
