It sure seems like season 5 has officially abandoned the whole "Oliver is going back to his darker roots in season 5" approach that the showrunners seem to hint at for months. Sure, we got a taste of it in the premiere this year, but with the new team it's all about inspiring hope and being the better person (sure sounds a whole lot like last season).
I don't necessarily think this season is handling it improperly, I'm just a tad disappointed that this approach was abandoned so early on in this year's arc. Who knows, Prometheus can always reinvigorate the darkness within a few episodes, he did a pretty good job of establishing a presence tonight. He didn't have a ton of literal screen time, but his mind games with Oliver and the team played out nicely all night. The writers did a few clever things tonight with Prometheus, one being that his four victims so far were anagrams for names Oliver checked off the infamous list in season 1. I love that Prometheus is supposed to be someone Oliver 'wronged' back in his vigilante days and the idea that he will turn his killing ways against Oliver in the long run is definitely the right way to go.
The list was the central reason why the team had their weekly lash out on Oliver as he didn't mention the fact that he was full of rage and murder 4 years ago and even began his search for Prometheus before telling them. I'm getting kind of tired of the "B-Team" getting heated at Oliver for small things. I'm all for Artemis getting more screen time, but to have her play the exact same plot point as Ragman and Wild Dog have in the last few weeks was a weak way of doing it. I'm still waiting to see more depth given to Artemis. If she's going to be a regular on the show, she needs more time to develop.
The great Dolph Lundgren made his debut this week as Oliver's Russian target, Konstantin Kovar. The flashbacks have been on and off for me as far as quality, but Lundgren provided a little spark with his confusing but creepy monologue to Oliver in the closing moments of tonight's episode. I'm not willing to say that Kovar will be flashbacks first good villain since Slade, but they can't do much worse than last season. So I guess that's a positive?
Quentin and Thea had a mini arc tonight as *surprise surprise*, he's still boozing. Paul Blackthorne is one of, if not the best, actors the CW has but I'm disappointed that he's had minimal material this season. I like the father-daughter bond him and Thea are developing, but I hate seeing him go through the same type of material week to week. But hey, that little Prometheus tag at the end there was pretty sweet right?
Oliver has been forced to look back at his demons from season 1 as well, so in that regard, I like the parallels between him and Quentin. I just hope they get a boost in the quality of the material they are getting each week. They are both 'stuck' with old problems. Here's hoping Arrow doesn't get stuck with old problems. It sure seems like they got their hands full with Prometheus having access to SCPD archives and making Oliver's arrows into throwing stars, an admittedly cool twist.
+Kovar provided a small boost
+Prometheus makes his stamp
+Oliver & Quentin on parallel arcs
+Artemis got some screen time
-Unfortunately it was rehashed material
-So no more "Oliver going dark"?
8.2/10
Prometheus Possibilities
Adrian Chase 60%
Billy Malone 15%
Susan Williams 10%
Anyone else 15%
I don't necessarily think this season is handling it improperly, I'm just a tad disappointed that this approach was abandoned so early on in this year's arc. Who knows, Prometheus can always reinvigorate the darkness within a few episodes, he did a pretty good job of establishing a presence tonight. He didn't have a ton of literal screen time, but his mind games with Oliver and the team played out nicely all night. The writers did a few clever things tonight with Prometheus, one being that his four victims so far were anagrams for names Oliver checked off the infamous list in season 1. I love that Prometheus is supposed to be someone Oliver 'wronged' back in his vigilante days and the idea that he will turn his killing ways against Oliver in the long run is definitely the right way to go.
The list was the central reason why the team had their weekly lash out on Oliver as he didn't mention the fact that he was full of rage and murder 4 years ago and even began his search for Prometheus before telling them. I'm getting kind of tired of the "B-Team" getting heated at Oliver for small things. I'm all for Artemis getting more screen time, but to have her play the exact same plot point as Ragman and Wild Dog have in the last few weeks was a weak way of doing it. I'm still waiting to see more depth given to Artemis. If she's going to be a regular on the show, she needs more time to develop.
The great Dolph Lundgren made his debut this week as Oliver's Russian target, Konstantin Kovar. The flashbacks have been on and off for me as far as quality, but Lundgren provided a little spark with his confusing but creepy monologue to Oliver in the closing moments of tonight's episode. I'm not willing to say that Kovar will be flashbacks first good villain since Slade, but they can't do much worse than last season. So I guess that's a positive?
Quentin and Thea had a mini arc tonight as *surprise surprise*, he's still boozing. Paul Blackthorne is one of, if not the best, actors the CW has but I'm disappointed that he's had minimal material this season. I like the father-daughter bond him and Thea are developing, but I hate seeing him go through the same type of material week to week. But hey, that little Prometheus tag at the end there was pretty sweet right?
Oliver has been forced to look back at his demons from season 1 as well, so in that regard, I like the parallels between him and Quentin. I just hope they get a boost in the quality of the material they are getting each week. They are both 'stuck' with old problems. Here's hoping Arrow doesn't get stuck with old problems. It sure seems like they got their hands full with Prometheus having access to SCPD archives and making Oliver's arrows into throwing stars, an admittedly cool twist.
+Kovar provided a small boost
+Prometheus makes his stamp
+Oliver & Quentin on parallel arcs
+Artemis got some screen time
-Unfortunately it was rehashed material
-So no more "Oliver going dark"?
8.2/10
Prometheus Possibilities
Adrian Chase 60%
Billy Malone 15%
Susan Williams 10%
Anyone else 15%
