After struggling to find its footing among its DC television brothers and sister during its fourth season the CW’s Arrow has rebounded thanks to strong writing. With Season Five being going back to tones and stories from Seasons One and Two in terms of the villain’s backstory and methods to carrying out their master plan. However, this season stood out because instead of attempting to destroy Star City, Adrian Chase chose to take his vengeance on Oliver Queen and break him psychology for Oliver’s actions against his family during Season One.
While there were weak episodes during the season, strong performances from Stephen Amell and Josh Segarra through the season provided the perfect hero-villain relationship. Segarra’s role as Adrian Chase/Prometheus, a character among fans among fans rose to the status of Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in part to his performances in individual scenes.
Throughout the season the audience has also seen the final year of Oliver’s backstory, which is concluded this year in Russia and on Lian Lu to tie together Easter eggs from the previous four seasons.
The pacing of the story (in the the present day and the flashbacks) and the development and introduction of new characters allow for the writers to hit the reset button begin a fresh set of stories for Season Six. With the possibility of character development for recurring characters such as Slade Wilson, Curtis Holt and Rene Ramirez.
The downside to the strong return throughout Season Five has been that viewers from the previous four seasons left after the fourth season focused on the mysticism of Damien Darhk and the relationship between Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. While Season Five has attempted to resurrect the series by using elements from the first two seasons, the series’ viewership is down due to the poor storytelling of Season Four.
With possible story lines for Season Six ranging from a possible reunion between Slade Wilson and his son, the exploration of the relationship between Quentin Lance and Black Siren and how Oliver develops as a father with his son William, all of which were laid out in the back half of Season Five helped bring the anticipation for upcoming episodes and restore the series’ reputation as a respectable comic book television show on the CW Network. To keep the series on an upward trajectory tone is the biggest question for the series to regain its fan base. With Oliver’s time on Lian Yu coming to a close, what is in store for Season Six? In a season which included moments of character development, what does the future hold for Team Arrow members, Quentin and Earth-2 Laurel Lance/Black Siren?
Of all the characters to be involved in the Team Prometheus vs. Team Arrow showdown I see Evelyn, Talia, her followers and Samantha as the definite casualties of the season finale.
With the explosive conclusion to Season Five finale, the biggest question for Arrow’s Sixth Season is the tone. Although the show attempted to change its tone in Season Four, this never sat well with fans who viewed Seasons One and Two as the best of the series. Entering Season Six, will the tone stay similar to Season Five or be an amalgamation of Seasons Four and Five?
Arrow’s sixth season premieres in October.
