I started writing this as I’m binge-watching the last half seasons of The Flash and Arrow from The CW. I loved Arrow when it first started, but my interest waned the more dark it became. With the introduction of The Flash, though, I felt I had to maintain interest in Arrow because, if nothing else, there is a pretty strong connection of the two shows, and I would hate to miss any nuances if I didn’t watch both.

Let me just say, I’m a bitter-ender, and a completist, though not exclusively. I stopped watching Battlestar Galactica before they revealed the last Cylon, mainly because I felt strongly about how the writers totally changed the character of Tory as soon as she figured out she was a Cylon. (Oh, I’m one of the evil ones, I guess I’ll space Cally to show it.) And I left Lost before season 5 ended, because it was just becoming too silly to bear. And, from numerous sources, I feel quite vindicated on giving up on both, as the endings I read about would have pissed me off for all the wasted hours I watched. At least I wasted a few less than many.

But, as I still hold some residual affection for Arrow, and truly am enjoying The Flash, keeping both on my radar has some significance to me. Leaning into my completism, I even went so far as to create a spreadsheet of the two shows, and their air dates, to make sure I watched them in order, so that I could keep crossovers and shared character appearances in some semblance of shared-world timeline. And I have to say, The CW is doing a good job of making sure things don’t get mixed up, time-wise, IF you watch them in this order. Watching all of one season and then the other, well, it would be really confusing, or at least a bit of a spoiler on one viewing, and a letdown of the other. So, if I do ever buy the DVD/Blu-rays of the series, I’ll have to buy both series, to keep things straight. Expensive and something I’ll have to truly ruminate on, if I ever decide to do that. (The MCU is getting to be a problem, in that way. I have really been disappointed in Marvel’s Agent’s of S.H.E.I.L.D. for so many reasons, that I won’t go into here, that I decided it’s one aspect of the MCU that I will never buy, unless it’s on a discount rack, perhaps. But I am getting every other bit I can, when I can.)

Here we come to the meat of my thesis. As of Suicidal Tendencies, Oliver was being pressured to take over the mantle of Ra’s al Ghul, and over the next three episodes, The League of Assassins were making things very tough for him. Killing people and being seen in green hoods to implicate him in the crimes. Even isolating him from his own team by making it impossible for him to even tell them of the ‘prophesy.’ And in Broken Arrow, when things were clearing up for Oliver, but not for the Arrow, Ra’s himself goes and mortally wounds Thea. Making it seem as though Oliver has no choice but to be the head of the League.

Oliver is all mentally twisty and screwed up by all of this, of course. And he gets darker and darker, and is just losing his mind with grief, and not finding any answers to his conundrum. And I’m just finding a real lack of imagination in the writers’ minds here. I mean, honestly, Oliver, as portrayed on The Arrow, is portrayed as something of a thug with gadgets, but the history of the character, in the DC comics continuity, he’s always been a true genius with a mission. He’s Bruce Wayne with a passion for archery instead of bats. Rich, ultra smart, and a real detective in sussing out crimes, motives, and techniques of criminals, and using that information for his own advantage. Now, although the genius part is muted in the show, I feel he still is one, if only to invent all the gadgetry he has. Now, Felicity certainly helps him refine things, but the main ideas all should be coming from his mind.

Given that, he should still have the mental capacity to figure out the way from this mess. Yet, all he does is mope and let other people do things for him. “You have to learn to let people help you.” Yes, I get that, and he should, too. [Side-bar, why does he have to learn everything twice? That lesson of learning to accept help was told in the same episode, twice. Once in ‘real’ time, and once in flashback. I’ve noticed a few other instances of this. Flashbacks are supposed to be filling the audience in about how his mental state came to be so screwed up, I get that. But lessons learned in the past SHOULD carry through in the present. Instead, he learns a lesson in flashback, forgets and relearns it again in the present. Pretty stupid, if you ask me. Those that forget the past, and all that.] But as he’s accepting the help from others, he should be scouring the web for answers of his own. That’s what I’d be doing, and I’m not claiming to be a genius, just a guy that does think things through.

Off the top, I think my main argument to Ra’s al Ghul would go thusly: “Ra’s, do you really think I’m ‘destined’ to take over. Seriously, think this through. I’ve made a commitment to NOT kill anymore, ever. So that means I can’t kill you, or the other assassins, so it makes it tougher for me to get out of this, so I have to accept it, right? But think about this. I take the mantle, and now I’m the Head of the Demon, and this League of Assassins now has to fanatically follow MY orders. Okay, my first order, ‘We don’t kill, ever.’ Pretty hard orders for assassins, right? But they have to follow them. Until they don’t. Pretty soon one of them is going to start thinking, ‘I could be in charge, we can go back to being what we are. I just have to kill him.’ And I’ll bet it won’t even take long. I pronounce my rule, and stabby stabby, I’m dead.”

“And you, old Ra’s, you started this little insurrection by picking ME as your successor. Not a good legacy, is it? You’re revered for centuries, and the next thing thought of you is, ‘And he picked THIS guy to replace him? What a tool.’ Your own daughter would kill me, and spit on your grave after. So, really are you SURE you want me?”

Of course, this doesn’t happen, so Ra’s does everything in his power, as he’s still bent on Oliver as ‘the prophesied one’, to turn Oliver back into a killer. Almost kill Thea, (Check) kill all of Team Arrow (attempted), turn the whole city so far against him so that he basically has to kill to survive (yeah, and kill the whole city, too. No need for forgiveness, there, eh?)

Well, Ron is exiled, and Thea has been stabbed pretty thoroughly. Okay, yeah, she MIGHT survive. I haven’t watched Fallen, yet. But I have to say, once Ra’s al Ghul stabs somebody, they are supposed to be dead. Pretty much his reputation rides on that. Otherwise, the whispers are back, ‘Dude, he’s getting soft, that’s two people he DIDN’T kill that he wanted dead. I think I’ll take my chances. You can next be calling me Ra’s.’

(I did have a minor theory about how he could tell Ra’s al Ghul that the Lazarus pits wouldn’t accept him, so his reign would be short. You know, if your mind is not at harmony, they reject you? And how Oliver is leading a league of killers, but doesn’t believe in killing, well, EJECT. But I looked it up, and turns out Lazarus pits are pretty non-judgmental in that regard. They just make you pretty insane for a bit. Now, if you’re healthy, they just kill you, there’s that. Oh, and if you’re already insane, they make you sane, briefly. (Joker, in one instance) But conflicting ideas, non-harmonious thoughts or whatever, no bigs, so I had to toss that idea.)

And, now, Fallen. So Thea’s back, and Oliver is Wareeth al Ghul, Heir to the Demon. Lost that gambit, didn’t he. I’m hating this show, more than ever. It’s very near driving me away from it, while still keeping me with The Flash. Talk about a twist in my soul. Sheesh.

I don’t think this was intentional, but watching in date order the two shows offers a very nice benefit. Just when the angsty dark of Arrow is about to be too much, The Flash is lighter, funner, and a real relief. Then back to the cesspool of Arrow, rinse, repeat. I am VERY glad that the seasons of both end with The Flash.

In Rogue Air, there’s a pretty bad disconnect. Ollie is back, helping Barry take down Wells. This seems way out of sync with the date order. I do know, because twitter has spoiled me in many ways, that Oliver does end up as Ra’s al Ghul, and then passes the mantle right away. But his appearance in Central City, as a good guy, (In black studded hood, mind you) seems to take place AFTER the episode that would air the day following this one. But, that’s not really true. In My Name is Oliver Queen, the favor Ollie asked Barry in Rogue Air is now being done, so the time-line is intact. Just that niggling issue of how in HELL did Ollie get time off in the middle of a wedding, and Ra’s not letting him out of his sight? That was just weak writing, they had to make things fit, and they used a shoehorn, this time.

This is part and parcel of my problem with the writers this season. I already posited my idea of how Ollie would get out of it. Yeah, I know, he survived Ra’s al Ghul’s sword, and so he’s destined, yadaa yadaa. But technically, so did Thea, and do you see anyone saying SHE’S destined? Nope, of course not, she only survived because of the Lazurus Pit. So what? The Prophesy says nothing about surviving without it, just surviving it. Writers, you’re really getting lazy, here. You ignore things that don’t fit, and force things to fit that are unwieldy. And, as it proves, out, there’s yet another person who survived the Sword of the Demon. I’m betting there are any number of them that could fulfil the prophecy. Why in hell was Ra’s so hard up on Ollie? Sounds like a man-crush.

Writers, I get that you needed a big-bad this season, but you out wrote yourselves. If you paint yourself into a corner, walk on the paint and repaint over your steps, Don’t blast a damn hole in the wall and keep painting. (You do get I’m talking the well-worn idea or ret-conning, right? Comics do it all the time. You should too, next time you start forcing things just to fit. Make something up that fixes the problem, not just add more tonnage of Band-Aid.)

The entire Ollie being forced into leadership of the Guild of Assassins was a bad idea from the start, and they never should have tried it. I mean, truly, the logical person to take over was always Bruce Wayne, he TRAINED with Ra’s himself. Heck, even Matt Murdoch did, but Ollie never did, so it honestly makes NO sense he’d be the one to take over. And the comics did try to make both Batman and Daredevil take over, at one point or another, and in all cases, was headed off with logic, not plans, fights, and what have you. This entire season was a waste of my time. And I want it back, CW, with interest.

Oh, and not for nothing, the stocking cap they have Ollie wear in the flashbacks? Really stupid idea. I get that it’s supposed to represent he has hair, and is shot when he’s got all manner of haircuts beside long and scraggly, but it looks REALLY stupid. It looks like one of the mushroom people in Marioland. Honestly, makeup and props are not winning any awards for that.

The real Speedy (and I knew Thea would be called that, instead of Arsenal or Red Arrow, as soon as she showed up in the outfit. Good to know the writers were on the same wavelength.) Her making an appearance in the Red leathers, that was a treat, and it followed a logical progression. It was a forced progression, like many of the plots this season, but this one I was delighted to see, so I’ll let it go.

Finally, marrying Nyssa so that she’s not a rival, that made some sense, if you’re Ra’s al Ghul. But I’ll say this, marrying a woman that has shown NO interest in the males of the species, does not make for a long-lasting relationship, even for State reasons. At least it’s a lock he has grounds for an annulment, as they never “fulfilled the marriage contract.” Good, that.

Now Ollie has “retired” and drove, LITERALLY, off into the sunset. If The Arrow doesn’t get renewed, it’s as good as ending as I could expect. Of course, a quick look at the news shows that it’s been renewed, so we’ll have to see how they’ll bring him back. Somehow, they’ll have to get Starling city to forgive the Arrow, otherwise, they’ll have to change the name of the show, right? I guess we’ll have to watch DC’s Legends of Tomorrow to see how Ray survives that MASSIVE explosion. And I am sort of dreading/hoping for that show. I’m really liking how light and likeable Brandon Routh is as Palmer. But I don’t really like the idea of Villains being good guys. Wentworth Miller really carries of the seedy evil demeanor, and I don’t really think I can take that every single episode. And if this show ties into The Flash, and Arrow as snugly as those last two do now, it’ll be REALLY hard to quit any one of them, if I like any other.