Arrow is currently the best Arrowverse show
By Josh Baggins
Party of five
Midway through the season, Black Lightning becomes the fifth DC series on the CW network, but is holding off on any direct correlations with the others in order to formulate its distinct cultural qualities. With mentions of the DC heroes, Jefferson Pierce will most likely cross paths with them sooner than later.
Black Lightning opens promising with its urban setting and soundtrack. It could have been another Luke Cage by shining a spotlight on inner city crime, yet Salim Akil (this is the first “Arrowverse” show not developed by Berlanti, though he is a producer) decides to take a peculiar turn with strange resurrections and too many science-fictiony plot details. If the show stuck to simpler storytelling it could have been a bigger triumph.
In the land of the Legends, a giant stuffed animal is conjured up to defeat a totem demon. The Arrowverse’s least appealing villain, Damien Darhk, is ludicrously brought back for his third arc and the time traveling antics are not as fun to watch. Constantine’s understated swagger and a Groundhog Day-inspired chapter are the few good things to come out of Legends of Tomorrow Season 3.
Supergirl’s villain is a step up from last year and her role, along with sister Alex, is particularly satisfying in the Earth-X team-up event; a successful four show amalgamation that is arguably more watchable than the Justice League movie released just a few weeks before Earth-X played on TV. Supergirl also brings the Legion of Superheroes into the mix, but Brainiac 5 is the latest example of the series’ lacking costume and make-up departments.
In the fourth Flash season, Team Flash has to out-think its adversary instead of outrunning him. We don’t learn of the Thinker’s master plan until late in the season and his goal of dumbing down all humans on Earth seems absurd and immature.
A larger problem that is looming over the show is the capacity to produce diverse concepts when Flash is impossibly quick. This year, they introduce Flash Time, which allows Barry to essentially go so fast that he can freeze time. This makes him almost too powerful a hero and presents many illogical scenarios where he doesn’t solve every problem by using this ability.
Finally, to take us back to where it all began, Arrow returns to its grounded nature in Season 6. It may not be quite as good as the first few years, but Greg Berlanti is pointing Arrow in the right direction.
Ricardo Diaz materializes into a well-rounded powerless gangster with unlimited resources. He acquires multiple armies for Team Arrow to take down and the action choreography keeps getting more creative; assembling ridiculous maneuvers weekly, which are often shot in impressive long takes.
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The courtroom dramatics intensify the suspenseful back and forth of whether or not Oliver will be officially outed as the Green Arrow. After another spectacular showdown with Diaz, Ollie finally gives himself up and the season ends with the Green Arrow in a supermax prison – an invigorating stage with unlimited potential for Season 7.
With every show in this DC shared universe seemingly on a downhill trajectory year after year, Arrow is the first to climb back up, and for the time being is fittingly sitting on top of the Arrowverse.