Disclaimer: Warner Bros Home Entertainment provided me with a copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.
After three seasons, Arrow is still going strong. But does Season Four live up to the previous seasons? Let’s find out.
In Season Four of Arrow, Oliver and Felicity have moved to the suburbs away from Star City, leaving behind the crime fighter life. One day, Thea and Laurel pay Oliver and Felicity a visit asking for their help in defeating a new foe by the name of Damien Dark. Oliver reluctantly agrees to help the team. After seeing what Dark and his Ghost Army are doing to the city, Oliver decides he must put the hood on once again to stop this foe from carrying out his plans and possibly destroying the world. Can Oliver stop Dark from carrying out his plans? What is HIVE? Be sure to purchase Arrow Season Four now on Blu-Ray from Warner Bros Home Entertainment to find out.
Let’s talk about what worked in Arrow Season Four. In this season of Arrow, we get to see our main protagonist have a team. Throughout the first three seasons of Arrow, we’ve been lead to believe Oliver was going to get to this point. Yes, I know Roy was part of the team, even though Felicity and John Diggle have been here since Season One. However, in this season, Team Arrow is in full force. The new Arrow cave is so much bigger and better as you can see below in the picture. Green Arrow’s new suit is awesome. I think it’s the best one yet in the series. Action on the show is not lacking. As a matter of fact, none of my issues with Season Four have anything to do with the team or the action scenes.
I also found the best episode to be the cross over episode with The Flash. Arrow and Flash go up against Vandal Savage and the whole episode ends up being the best of both shows. Arrow is always the one who leads and teaches Flash. He has become a great asset to Barry as he grows as a super hero and learns to deal with the negatives that come with the job hence why these crossover episodes are so good. By the way, this time in Season 2 of The Flash, he does not rely on Arrow seemingly all the time. Team Arrow and Team Flash always get along and its always interesting to see how they influence each other. Best episodes of the season for Arrow.
That said, there are a lot of negatives with Season Four. Let’s start with Laurel Lance’s death. I don’t know who wrote the script for this season, but her death was screwed up and it was just simple wording that could have saved it from feeling ruined. All that the doctor needed to say was that Laurel was going make a full recovery. As we watch through this season, we clearly see how she does not recover. Instead of saying a recovery was possible, she could have only said “Laurel is in stable condition. The next 24 hours will be crucial.” That would have saved this scene and would make more sense to the viewer as there was a chance she could die. Instead, fans are blindsided by the fact that Laurel dies making her exit feel misplaced.
Another issue I had is with Green Arrow himself. To be blunt, he was feeble in this season. I understand he is a changed man, but you don’t have to delude Oliver to the point where the Green Arrow doesn’t fight well or felt like a legitimate hero.
The third major issue was Malcolm Merlin. Why is this guy not dead after nearly causing Laurel’s death? I get he’s Thea’s dad, but now in this season after losing the League of Assassins, he became useless and at this point should be killed off.
My final and biggest problem with Season Four was what happened to Felicity’s character? As a father, I would do anything for my kid, especially in Oliver’s position. If that meant lying that I even had a son, so be it. I want to see my child, and I want to have a relationship with said child. Instead, Felicity (who says she loves Oliver) backs out on getting married over the lie after Oliver had to send his son away and does not know where he is. He won’t know until he’s 18-years-old that Oliver is his father. So now because he lied so he could see his son you can’t deal with this lie? Oliver dealt with you lying about helping the team. You can deal with this. It hurt her character.
Felicity and Oliver at the end of the season are still a team, and she still helps him. But realistically, if someone dumped me liked that, she would not be part of the team. In fact, she was still there at the end of the season, which left a bad taste in my mouth.
Unfortunately, this season of Arrow disappointed me. I still encourage readers to watch it but keep in mind that once you get past the cross over episode with The Flash, these problems arise. The only thing that saves it is Team Arrow and the action scenes. I give Arrow Season Four a 6.5 out of 10. I can only hope that Season Five will be different and not have these problems arise again.