Television Review: Arrow, Season 6

Programme: Arrow, Season 6

Company: DC Entertainment

Year: 2017

Synopsis: After last season’s emotional showdown between Oliver Queen and Adrian Chase, the focus shifts into uncovering the fate of each and every member of Team Arrow – with their futures left hanging precariously in the balance. Having finally solidified and strengthened his crime-fighting team, the Green Arrow might be forced to rethink his relationships with his “family” in Season 6.

Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5

You might’ve guessed by the reviews over the last few months that I’ve been trying to catch up on Arrow. Having only got Sky in the last year, I can suddenly get on top of shows rather than having to wait for ages.

I’m not certain whether watching them so close together is affecting my opinion, but I didn’t find season 6 as engaging as previous seasons. I started to feel the story lines were getting repetitive – and this was despite season 6 taking a different approach to past seasons. You reach a point of feeling there can only be so many people determined to control Star City and/or have a personal vendetta against Oliver/Arrow.

The characterisations caused me problems. Having just got used to the new characters last season, the team fractures, they all refuse to talk to one another and the ‘newbies’ splinter off to form their own team. It’s all very well and good…only half of these characters we’ve been following for six seasons, the other half we’re only just starting to get to know. Whose side are we going to be on?

It meant that while there was nothing wrong with the scenes following the others, I just wasn’t as invested in them and actually found them a bit boring at times. Oliver, Dig and Felicity have been the characters keeping me engaged in the show: I don’t yet care about the others enough. This time, I grew to love Curtis but Dinah irritated me.

There was also a massive fight between Oliver and John. It was heart-breaking and emotional and all that, but it also felt like we had been here before. After all, John has walked away from the mission more than once, and ultimately come back. Why would this time be any different?

Despite Oliver and Felicity finally getting together properly and Oliver embracing his role as a Dad, the character development felt stunted and the divisions between the characters stopped the plot from developing to its full potential.

But enough talking about new characters…It was great to see some older characters making a return: some for just an episode, some for a few. It gives the show consistency and with the divisions, I loved seeing my old favourites turning up, usually with some insight into what was going on.

For the first season, there were no flashbacks. Which is ironic as this is the first season where the story felt stunted. But I’m glad: I was wondering what they were going to do when time had caught up with the beginning of the first season and it was refreshing they didn’t try anything unbelievable just to carry on with the same format.

While this review might not be the most positive, I did still enjoy the season and will continue to watch. I’ve watched a lot back to back and that possibly hindered how I felt. I hope the next season has a spark back though, rather than it running its course.

Amazon

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