Arrow Has Failed This Fandom… But It Can Still Be Saved

The CW’s flagship Arrowverse series has soldiered on through six seasons since its debut in 2012. As the show that launched an entire DC TV multiverse, it still holds a special place in loyal fans’ hearts. But as ratings for the current season continue to drop (aside from the “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover special), the sentiment among some longtime fans is that Arrow has run out of steam and should get the axe.



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Since joining Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl have consistently beaten the green archer in the ratings battle. Although there has been no confirmation yet from The CW that any Arrowverse series will be renewed, the president of the network has indicated all of them are likely to return. This begs the unavoidable question: How, and when, did things go so wrong for Arrow, and what can the series do to prove that it’s still the show this fanbase needs?



Let’s cut straight to the hard question — do we really care about any of the new additions to Team Arrow? Despite Oliver steadily building up a capable support team around him — Diggle, Felicity, Black Canary, Arsenal and Speedy — the first four seasons of Arrow still felt very much focussed on a gruff, lone avenger archetype. This format shifted dramatically in Season 5 when “The” Arrow officially became “Team” Arrow, with the induction of new recruits Curtis Holt (Mister Terrific) Rene Ramirez (Wild Dog) Evelyn Sharp (Artemis) and Rory Regan (Ragman.) By Season 6, the roster shrank back down to just Mister Terrific and Wild Dog, adding Dinah Drake as the new Black Canary. After a poorly received Season 4 finale, it wasn’t surprising that the writers felt a radically new direction was needed to inject some more life back into the show. Unfortunately, the payoff just hasn’t worked. We’ve had nearly two full seasons to warm up to Team Arrow and, compared to the way that “Team Flash” sparks off one another, the newer series regulars still leave us cold.



Team Arrow and League of Assassins vs. Deathstroke's Army



For a show that grapples with the morality of corporal punishment, Arrow is very precious with its main characters. Laurel Lance’s death was sufficiently shocking, but that feeling has since been significantly lessened by the regular appearance of her Earth 2 doppleganger. The Season 5 finale also raised the stakes by threatening to literally blow most of the cast away. In the end, the only major fatality was Malcolm Merlyn, who was really just a loose end for the show to tie up by that point anyway. The rest of the team escaped virtually unscathed, save for a concussion that kept Thea out of action for most of the following season.



The concept of death being an ever-revolving door is something inherited from the show’s source material so Arrow perhaps shouldn’t shoulder all the blame. But both of these examples read as the show trying to have its death cake and eat it too, which is especially frustrating when its also proven capable in the past of keeping its dead buried. (i.e. Tommy Merlyn) Without the permanence of death hanging over our main characters as they do in other fantasy action series’ like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, the stakes are never high enough.

It's Time to Kill Off Some Characters - Permanently

Speaking of Malcolm Merlyn, another of the most persistent problems plaguing Arrow is that it seems to live or die by the strength of its villains and not its heroes. The most poorly received seasons, four and six, correlate directly with lukewarm villains, and vice versa with the stronger ones. With the rights to use fan-favorite Deathstroke now off the table for the foreseeable future, this might be even more of an uphill battle for the show.



RELATED: Arrow: Katrina Law to Return As Nyssa Al Ghul



By far the hardest thing for Arrow to try and fix, however, is the competition it faces from Netflix’s mature Marvel shows. The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow largely escape this issue by virtue of leaning more heavily into sci-fi and fantasy than The Defenders-verse does. But, Arrow‘s street-level, grittier tone makes it a direct rival, and it often struggles to measure up. Given the show has to appeal to a younger audience this isn’t completely its fault but it often feels like its falling between two stools — not tough enough for adults and not fun enough for kids.



It doesn’t help, either, that Arrow keeps flirting with the kind of social and political commentary — drug addiction, gun control, political corruption, journalistic ethics, etc. — that Netflix’s Marvel shows are able to dive far deeper into. The worthy exception of Quentin Lance’s battle with alcoholism aside, Arrow frequently under-bakes these hard hitting themes that could strengthen it. For instance, Oliver’s relationship with Channel 52 reporter Susan Williams felt like it was leading to something explosive, not to mention timely, given the ongoing conversation about the role that the media plays in politics. Rather than a bang, however, it concluded with a fizzle. These are opportunities Arrow can’t afford to miss the target on anymore.



Arrow, even at its worst, is not a bad TV show, per se. And, like its former-playboy hero, it still has a shot at redemption. In terms of the villain problem, obviously consistency is key. The Rogues Gallery team-up is an exciting prospect, but with Malcolm Merlyn and Deathstroke gone, Arrow could benefit from replacing them with other minor returning villains in the way that Gorilla Grodd and King Shark are used in The Flash, rather than limiting fan favorite bad guys to one episode or one season runs.





The latest incarnation of Team Arrow seems to be on hiatus at this point in Season 6, so perhaps it’s time to consider, as we edge closer to a possible Season 7, whether that hiatus should be a permanent one. It sounds cruel, but a character “cull” might be a necessary way to stop the series feeling overstuffed with personalities who aren’t pulling their weight. This may, of course, seem like a bit of a cop out, so alternatively, if Team Arrow are here to stay then stronger characterization needs to be prioritized.



This is where Arrow could learn a lot from The CW’s longest running genre show, Supernatural. The sole reason Supernatural has survived so long is because the viewers fell in love with the characters, meaning weaker seasons slip by more easily because, to its longtime fans, tuning in has more to do with catching up with “old friends” than it is about the story those friends are part of.



The key to this for Arrow is to make more room for “downtime” episodes, which again, is something Supernatural has been very successful at. We don’t necessarily need as much “filler” as the latter show is sometimes guilty of, but one or two episodes in the vein of the bachelor party episode from the current season of The Flash, where our super-serious heroes and heroines can cut loose could really help us connect more with them. “Side quests,” like Oliver helping Slade Wilson track down his estranged son, are too heavy in tone to really count towards this. At the moment, aside from the bright spot of Oliver and Felicity’s wedding party, it feels as though Team Arrow works 24/7, both as heroes and civilians, and their relationships — aside from romantic entanglements — still come across as oddly formal. Team Flash, on the other hand, have a strong familial bond and the kind of zippy banter you might hear across the dinner table from your own family.



There’s still life left in Arrow but currently it seems like its fading fast for its fed-up fans. Despite all of its problems, it would be a shame to see The CW’s flagship Arrowverse series completely sink but, at the moment, it seems like anything less than a Lazarus pit-strength rebirth won’t be enough to save it.