What aspects and arcs are you looking forward to in the second half of this season?
Andy: Even though I’m interested to see how Oliver comes back from the dead *cough-Lazarus Pit couldn’t be more obvious-cough*, I’m pumped for the continuing rise of Laurel Lance as she will be suiting up as THE Black Canary. Something that is really normal with second half’s of every season of Arrow is that a lot of the characters that didn’t get much to do in the first half, gets to play bigger roles whenever the show comes back. I want to see that deep Ra’s and Malcolm relationship, Roy’s bigger role as Arsenal as well as what Thea has become and what she will do once she finds out what she has done.
Blaise: I’m excited to see Laurel finally turn take up the Canary role, which will be awesome because it feels like she’s earned it. I also am hoping to see the big reveal of how Oliver comes back to life. Obviously it will deal with the Lazerus Pit in some form, but Merlyn has some secret intentions… Is Tommy alive? Does he want to bring Tommy back too? If so, why did he wait so long and have Oliver go die only to bring him back? Will Oliver be changed after the resurrection? A lot of juicy stuff to come.
Chris: I’m looking forward to seeing how Laurel develops as Black Canary and how Thea will also continue to change as the season continues. Additionally, I can’t wait to see more from Ra’s and Malcom Merlyn, especially because I think Malcolm had ulterior motives for sending Oliver to face Ra’s. And finally, I’m anxious for more Oliver and Felicity scenes, because those two need to get together by the end of the season. It just needs to happen.
A lot happened in this first half of Arrow Season 3, so what speculations do you have for the second half?
Andy: I think we will start to learn a lot more about this version of Ra’s al Ghul and what he has in mind for Starling City, especially because Oliver is gone (for now). I’m excited to see how they will introduce the Lazarus Pit and the idea of magic into this universe that will now consist of vigilantes, superheroes, magic and possibly soon aliens if Supergirl connects with Arrow and Flash. I think we will see alliances between certain heroes and villains as they prepare for possibly the biggest battle that city will ever face. I have this feeling that Tommy will be playing a big role in this half in some form or shape. He is probably going to come back from the dead and there will be a big party, although not the good kind.
Blaise: I’m just hoping that a big battle will come into play. Clearly the season is shaping up to be Ra’s and the League vs Oliver and Co. I think that everyone will be called to arms and am hoping that Team Arrow will include Ray as the Atom and Wildcat. Oliver will be reluctant to team up with Merlyn but he will have to because of Thea. I also think they will bring Slade in for the party somehow. Honestly, I just think and hope we get an epic superhero battle come season three’s end!
Chris: Lazarus Pit, Lazarus Pit, Lazarus Pit. Although I’m not sure how I feel about magic being introduced into Arrow‘s world (superpowers are enough for me, to be honest), this is the only way that the show will be able to bring Oliver back from the dead. I also think that we may see Tommy come back to life in the same way, since Colin Donnell is supposed to appear again in Arrow Season 3 in a very “unexpected” way. And lastly, I’m making the call that Oliver and Felicity will be in a relationship by the end of the Season 3 finale. You heard it here first, folks.
What did you think of the first half of Arrow Season 3? Comment below to let us know and stay tuned for more exciting round table discussions here on TVOvermind!
Arrow returns with brand new episodes starting with episode 10 “Left Behind” on Wednesday, January 21, 8/7c on The CW.
Photo via The CW
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Interesting conversation–though most of the points were covered by fans online right after the mid-season finale aired.
IMO, what would have made the conversation more interesting would have been the inclusion of someone who does not come from the perspective of the Arrow comic books as the “Bible” for the show. I, for one, enjoy Arrow most when it does NOT try to fulfill the prophecies of the comics: Felicity, Sara, Diggle are all examples of new, original characters that really made the TV show more enjoyable than what the comics offered.
Plus, I’ll say something that I believe the panel, above, would agree with: Ra’s has yet to knock my socks off! A good question for discussion might have been “Should Arrow have hired Liam Neeson to play Ra’s.” I’ve seen interviews with Liam, before the role was cast, and he said he’d be interested.
Finally, there is the question of The Canary. I’ve been on record so many times before as saying the show, in trying to be cute, actually mis-stepped with the development of this character. [Sidebar: I think the Arrow writers have a MAJOR problem writing for/developing female characters.] I feel that because of her natural physicality, Caity Lotz really embodied The Canary. It will be very hard–probably impossible–for Katie Cassidy to fill the void left by Lotz. IMO, an alternative and more successful casting strategy would have been to cast the less action-oriented performer (Cassidy) as the first embodiment of the Canary, and then introduce Lotz as the final Canary. This way Lotz, through her physical abilities in the role, would have been seen by viewers as “improving, and taking to the next level,” the tough, avenger Canary role. As it stands now, fans are probably in for a let-down when Cassidy puts on the black suit (and, btw, I hate the new Canary mask).
Oh, one more thing: Season 2 was incredible. So, this year, “dark” or “light” the Arrow S3 probably will be viewed as inferior to S2.
Please caity lotz didn’t protrayed black canary right or making a believable black canary and also her scenes accepted her fighting scenes was cringed worthy and also she always looking like Mr.scrounge that pouts . I believe in ms.Cassidy protay of black canary than caity lotz .
I agree that some of the best characters on this show are the original ones — Diggle, Felicity, Sara, and I’d add Thea and Moira. It’s when they try to fit into the mold of the comics that they come up short. I found Slade a much more menacing villain than this version of Ra’s.
I also agree that Caity Lotz was physically The Canary, but more than that, I think she was mentally too, someone who had been hurt herself and was determined that “no woman should be hurt at the hands of a man”. She was a good fit in the Arrowcave, an equal soldier to Diggle, a friend to Felicity and a mentor to Roy.
So far, Laurel seems to just want to take her anger out by beating up other people, whether they killed her sister or not. She has yet to speak to Diggle or Felicity other than to give them orders and she told Oliver she’s not on his team so don’t tell her what to do. I’m really wondering how the show will incorporate her into Team Arrow, between the expectation from the comic books that she will be an equal to Oliver, the attachment of viewers to Diggle and Felicity, and how she’s the least experienced person there. Even Felicity could take down Cooper after being trained by Diggle for two years.
I find it interesting that you see the introduction of more DC characters as one of the good parts of the season, and the lack of focus and wandering from plot point to plot point as the chief problem.
They are two sides of the same coin for me. The show is bringing on so many DC characters (Wilcat, Atom, Black Canary, Ra’s al Ghul) and their origin stories, but there’s no way to focus the show when you’re writing that many stories all at the same time, on top of Sara’s death and whatever Malcolm Merlyn is doing with Thea. It’s like they’ve decided that the season will end with a bunch more superheros on the show (Wildcat, Atom, Arsenal, Black Canary, Speedy) and so they’ve thrown all these plots into the pot and the combination is not nearly what they envisioned.
We’ll see what Merlyn gets in the second half of the season but I feel that he’s not nearly as interesting a character since Moira died. She was the one who fought him on his own twisted plain and now he just walks all over everyone else, from Thea to Oliver to the LoA.
I was also struck by you saying that Laurel has earned the Black Canary role. I’m someone who didn’t come from the comics and I thought Sara was a very believable Canary, going through her own trials, trained by the LoA for five years, emotionally wounded but fighting for others. At this point, Laurel still has for me all the things that don’t make her believable as the Black Canary: she’s judgmental, lacks the empathy for others that Sara had, and she still can’t fight. I think they’ve really botched her arc if she’s going to be the BC because rather than being someone driven to protect the innocent by Sara’s death, she’s taking boxing lessons so she can beat up bad guys, problematic for an ADA and not good enough for a potential superhero. Worse, she hasn’t done a thing to find Sara’s killer, she’s left it all for others to do.
Sara is nothing but a cold blooded killer and she is nothing like black canary and Sara isn’t an amazing character as her fans are claiming and also Sara didn’t train to fight for 5 years with the league of assassins or 4 years . Sara was train by them for 3 or 2 years because she was missing for 6 years and was with doctor ivoy for 1 year and 1 year on the island with Oliver without training and 4 years later she got trapped into the league but she was never with the league for all those four years she was with them for three years because she escape them for 1 year and she wasn’t training when she was running from them. Secondly black canary alter ego identity isn’t Sara it’s laurel .