Arrow Seasons 1 to 3: The Best and Worst!

With Arrow returning next month, it’s time for a stroll down memory lane!

After a re-watch of all three seasons, Tell-Tale TV is proud to bring you our final calls on the best and the worst of Arrow through the years. No season is perfect. They all have strengths and weaknesses — and quite a few MVP characters that keep them in business.

Check out what we think hit the bullseye and what could have used more target practice.

ARROW SEASON 1

Main Premise: After 5 years on a hellish island… you get the drift.

Best Episode: “Sacrifice” (Season 1 Episode 23)

MVP Character: Tommy Merlyn

Strengths:

• Arrow Season 1 had a great origin story vibe to it. The world of Arrow and all its characters were established early and understandably, and there was a great balance of action, humor, and personal drama mixed throughout. They integrated the “villain of the week” into the overall Undertaking plot pretty seamlessly, which helped keep the season on track and the momentum moving forward.
• The focus on Oliver’s family life — which was a major deviation from the comics — created a more well rounded hero for the audience to relate to.
• Supporting characters were developed extremely well. Diggle and Felicity became staples of the show, and Tommy’s death still felt like a kick in the stomach despite the fact that he was a relatively small character, and only around for one season.

Weaknesses:

• All too often, the story got bogged down by heavy exposition, from newscasts that spelled everything out for us, to cheesy voice-overs where Oliver was left to narrate his own life in order to relate information to the audience. This problem was eventually fixed by adding Diggle and Felicity to the team, allowing him to have conversations about his crime-fighting agenda with other characters instead of himself.
• Chemistry problems between Laurel and Oliver meant romantic subplots suffered for most of the year.
• The island flashbacks felt too disjointed and ultimately uninteresting when compared to the current goings on in Starling city.

Stand Out Moment: Tommy’s death was equal parts heartbreaking and moving, with stunning performances by both Stephen Amell and Colin Donnell.

ARROW SEASON 2

Main Premise: Team Arrow establishes a new, heroic mission for the city in the aftermath of the destruction of the Glades.

Best Episode: “Three Ghosts” (Season 2 Episode 9)

MVP: Felicity Smoak

Strengths:

• With more focus on Team Arrow and less on Oliver’s vendetta, the “hero” aspect really got to shine in Season 2.
• We got a nice, slow build to Slade’s attack on the city, which was rooted in both present and past.
• The flashbacks felt more organic and true to the story with the addition of Sara on the island and in Starling City, and they gelled better with current storylines by incorporating Slade’s history with Oliver.
• Roy’s journey to becoming Arsenal – and Oliver’s new apprentice – created a good slow burn for his character, which also tied back to the overarching Mirakuru plot.

Weaknesses:

• The League of Assassins was introduced to the story a little too soon, at a time when there were already too many villains on the board. With Blood, Slade, and Malcolm Merlyn all roaming the city, the League was a distraction that really only popped in and out at convenient times.
• Laurel’s addiction issues felt more like an attempt to keep her interesting than a natural progression of her character. At a point when Laurel really needed to endear herself to the fans, this arc had the opposite effect, making her unlikable and almost manic at times, which is hard for any audience to connect with.
• Thea, too, had a reduced and slightly ineffective role in Season 2, mostly hanging around to even out the gender ratio instead of providing real story support.

Stand Out Moment: Felicity opening up to Oliver about her family history  and her fear of loss as she revealed Thea’s true parentage. It turned her from the brainy, quirky sidekick into a dynamic, three-dimensional character with so much more to explore.

ARROW SEASON 3

Main Premise: Team Arrow faces threats from Nanda Parbat, as Ra’s Al Ghul and his League of Assassins set their sights on Oliver.

Best Episode: Canaries (Season 3 Episode 13) & Suicidal Tendencies (Season 3 Episode 17)

MVP Character: Thea Queen

Strengths:

• The crossover episodes with The Flash were perfectly planned to give Arrow the bump it desperately needed. While sometimes cheesy and forced, the connection between the two shows still helped Arrow gain traction with a new audience in a year that typically sees shows decline.
• Thea was used with much more purpose, driving story forward and creating tension between characters. She no longer felt like decoration, but a meaningful part of the story.
• Ray Palmer presented an exciting new character, who was neither an antagonist nor an ally for Oliver. His natural charisma and quirky personality made him instantly likable, but he still acted as a foil, both to Oliver’s relationship with Felicity and his mission to save the city. Overall, a very interesting dynamic to see play out!

Weaknesses:

• Too much focus on the romantic element of the plot (especially between Oliver/Felicity/Ray) took the show away from its roots and too far into “angst” territory. Ray’s exciting development of the A.T.O.M suit was bogged down by his transient love story with Felicity, and Oliver’s mission to destroy Ra’s was similarly far too fraught with longing for his techy sidekick.
• With so many women finally packed into the Arrow Cave, it’s surprising that there were startlingly few female team ups to be found in Arrow‘s third season.
• Roy’s abrupt exit from the series in the spring felt unnatural and jarring.
• Also a bit nonsensical was Detective Lance’s quick turn against the Arrow when he found out about Sara’s death. After two years of working together, it seemed out of character for him to return to his vendetta with such gusto and lack of… you know… reasons.
• The flashbacks. Oh, the flashbacks. The Alpha/Omega bio weapon was clearly an attempt to connect the past and present narratives in the same way the Mirakuru did in Season 2, but it was an attempt that failed. Oliver’s time in Hong Kong was an unnecessary and entirely unwelcome distraction.

Stand Out Moment: Oliver telling Thea his secret was a long time coming, and her reaction (and grateful acceptance) was a heartwarming moment between the two siblings.

What were your favorite episodes from each season, and what are your hopes for Season 4? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Arrow returns to The CW Wednesday, October 7th at 8/7c.