Arrow Season 6 Mid-Season Report: What’s Worked and What Hasn’t
Sadly, the mid-season hiatus has begun for Arrow.
But it is a perfect time to take stock of what’s happened in the first nine episodes of Arrow Season 6, what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what hopefully will be coming in the back half of the season.
After the (literally) explosive finale, Arrow Season 6 kicked off with a time jump that set Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, and the team on a path that offered more to lose, smarter villains, and a hint of happiness. Season 6 has focused on lessons learned, conflict, and character growth — and it’s been better for it.
That’s not to say there aren’t things that hopefully are improved in the back half of the season, from certain aspects of the villainous arc to the fleshing out of specific stories.
What’s Worked
After seasons of waiting, it finally happened; we finally got to see the result of the hard lessons Oliver had to learn over the years, and it’s paid off so well.
Season after season, there was always the hope that Oliver would learn from his mistakes and everything he’s encountered; that he would grow and acknowledge that he can’t do everything on his own and that trust is an integral part of making any relationship work.
Seeing how Oliver’s approached everything from his relationship with William and Felicity to how he’s dealt with handing down the hood to Diggle and the fallout of having to assume it again has been so refreshing after waiting so long to see any signs of growth from him for the last few years.
Without that personal growth, we wouldn’t have been able to see the excellent development in his relationship with William or reuniting with Felicity. Without those relationships, we wouldn’t have been treated to a few moments between two of the most important people in his life (the other one was in a coma for far too long).
From seeing the pair bond over quadratic equations to waiting for Oliver to get home by playing a round of what looked like Injustice (I see what you did there, DC), it was those little moments that really cemented the Queen-Smoak family story one of my favorite arcs the show has done so far.
The development of Felicity and William’s relationship mixed nicely with Oliver and Felicity’s rekindled romance. It felt like they learned from their past mistakes and took those lessons to heart the second time around to make for a stronger foundation for their relationship.
Their trust and open communication in the first batch of episodes made their impromptu wedding and reception feel like earned moments for the pair, celebrating how far they’ve come.
It wasn’t all forward movement, though, as Team Arrow faced a fractured future. Rene’s forced decision to give over information about Oliver’s alter ego and OTA’s decision to surveil the newbies felt like deeper cuts because of how much they’ve all grown to become a more cohesive team.
The decisions made sense even though it hurt to see play out and it was handled in such a solid, mature way.
Elsewhere, Samanda Watson’s introduction and ensuing investigation have delightfully become a character and story that is both frustrating and engaging to watch.
For the first time, Oliver has a formidable law enforcement opponent when it comes to his identity being exposed in Watson (no offense, Lance!) and the closer she gets, the higher the tensions and stakes go. With the indictment and the pending trial, it will be interesting to see where this all goes and who her source is for all of this damning evidence.
What (Kind Of) Hasn’t Worked
Cayden James’ motivations felt a little lackluster coming off a season where Prometheus had a somewhat similar motive for absolutely destroying Oliver’s life. The villainous roundup James amassed to ruin Team Arrow was smart though, and that could be a great way to shake things up.
Perhaps, there will be more to this story on the other side of hiatus and Cayden deploys a few more villains and tricks against the team.
I’m reluctant to put Diggle’s story here, though. It’s not that it hasn’t worked. It’s more like it just needs to be fleshed out a bit more. It was great that his injury and his secret keeping allowed for some exploration of how vigilante life affects Diggle and his loved ones, but his explanation for why he accepted Oliver’s request to take on the Green Arrow mantle felt like something was lacking.
Hopefully, Diggle’s time out of the suit will allow for him to gain some perspective. Maybe we’ll even see him return as Spartan or learn more about him as Helix Dynamics work towards some sort of remedy.
Then there was Slade’s return. While his return had the potential for a compelling story, it fell a little flat. The father/son aspect of Slade’s story in his search for Joe tied in nicely with the overarching theme of family this season, but the overall two-part story didn’t quite do it for me.
Hopes For Season 6b
With the official introduction to Cayden James and the evil team up teased at the end of the mid-season finale, hopefully, there’s more to come that can still surprise like Prometheus did last season. With each member of the team facing their own villain (or so it seems), that must mean that James is Felicity’s villain this season. Right?
Now that there is a fracture within the team and Original Team Arrow and New Team Arrow have chosen sides, further development of Helix Dynamics will be exciting to see. The idea of seeing the company develop was an appealing idea for a story on its own, but with the added conflict, it will add something more to that could have farther reaching effects for both Curtis and Felicity.
A story for Thea, please. Now that she’s awake and has been brought up to speed on most things, it would be great to see Thea get a story of her own. Maybe rediscovering who she is and what she wants to do and who she wants to be.
Of course, there is still the matter of the trial looming closer and Agent Watson’s return to see her investigation through. What does this mean for not only Oliver but everyone close to him, especially Diggle, Felicity, Lance, and William?
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What do you think of the season so far? Are we digging the way the villains’ arc is shaping up? How about the NTA/OTA divide? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Arrow returns Thursday, January 18 at 9/8c on The CW.
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Brianna Martinez
Brianna spends her time away from briefs, legal research, and pleadings, watching TV and writing about it. She generally has a lot of feelings about TV, which you can read about here and on Twitter.
2 comments
i am truly enjoying season 6 . For me this shows just gets better and better . It is maturing and the characters are maturing with it , Love it do far . Expect great things for the second half of the season.
This season is the weakest so far. I feel like Oliver is being sidelined on his own show. He’s the MAIN character, not the B character. They are repeating too many things like the authorities being after Oliver, Rene giving Oliver up again, someone betraying team again, Olicity, etc. I feel the show is moving backwards, not forwards. We’ve been down all these paths before. Time to move on. Cayden James is super boring. I’m really hoping it gets better when it comes back from break. I also hope we see more of Thea, even though I fear this is her last season. On the article side, not bad, however I feel it focused too much on the Olicity stuff. It made the stuff about other characters feel just thrown in there cause it had to be. There are other aspects to the show besides one romance.
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