Let’s Discuss... 'Arrow' Season 5’s Downfalls.

Now to make this clear from the beginning: I loved Arrow Season 5. Was it my favourite season? No. Season 2 will always take that top spot, but this season was up there. My own quarrel? It didn’t go as far as it could have.

Every season of Arrow has a theme. Season 3’s was Identity, Season 4’s was Magic/Mysticism, Season 5’s? Legacy. The Fifth season marked the end of the show’s famous flashback storyline which followed Oliver’s five years in hell, which ultimately ended full circle at the events of Season 1. With that being said, it makes Season 5 an important marked point in the show’s history as not only does it end the show’s flashback storyline, but it also features a villain in the form of masked archer/swordsman, Prometheus.

Don’t get confused with the film in the 'Alien' franchise.

Prometheus is supposed to be a villain worthy of condemning Oliver Queen for his past sins, mainly in Season 1. That 23 episode run, as fans will know, saw him playing judge, jury, and executioner off the back of taking down people whose names were written down in a notebook of names by his father, Robert Queen, years previously.

Was the villain worthy? In costume and actions, yes. In Identity? No.

The Villain was revealed to be none other than District Attorney Adrian Chase... yeah, exactly. Who?

What’s your deal, Ade?

Chase’s father was killed by The Arrow somewhere in the timescale of Season 1, which sent the young man on a revenge mission, doing what no one else in the world could do by finding out The Arrow’s identity and then going away to train for years on end to then finally take down the man who killed his father.

Now the idea of the villain is great. I love it. He was wronged by The Arrow and four years later is going to exact his revenge, coincidentally at the same time viewers will be preparing to no longer be seeing Oliver Queen crap at fighting and in a dodgy wig for ten minutes per episode.

As good as it all sounds... that’s it. It sounds good. Prometheus could have been done in a much, MUCH better way. Which brings me to this guy...

Oh, Tommy. Where art thou...

Tommy Merlyn, who we were introduced to during the first season as Oliver’s lifelong best friend. Now unfortunately, Tommy’s time on the show was cut short as he died in the season finale as a result of his own father’s undertaking.

Where does Merlyn the younger come into it? Well, here’s the thing. Look at the state the show was in when Season 5 kicked off; Tommy’s father, Malcolm Merlyn, was Ra’s Al Ghul. Oliver was at a good place in his life, and he was due to pay for his sins at the hands of someone who would make Oliver truly, truly think on what the thought of his legacy has done.

This is what would have been the best of choices for Season 5’s direction (in my opinion)...

Ra’s Al Ghul has access to The Lazarus Pit. Now for anyone who doesn’t know what this is, there’s a nice show on ABC about agents and something to do with a shield that you might like... No I jest, but seriously, the pit acts as a way of whoever is Ra’s being able to live longer than nature intended, and also, it can be used to bring people back from the dead. This was done in Season 4 when Thea Queen and Laurel Lance brought the corpse of the latter’s sister to Malcolm/Ra’s for him to use the pit to revive her. At first, Malcolm outright refused, saying that dead bodies going into the pit makes them come out much worse than anyone would like. Why? How did he know what kind of effects the pit would have? Maybe, just maybe, he’s tried it already. Maybe he has his deceased son brought to him to see if the pit could revive him. Then, it did, except he was consumed with rage and his soul was murky and darkened by death. When Laurel’s sister was brought back, she was a mindless beast who went on the hunt for the person that killed her (SPOILER! It was Thea). She had only been dead a year. TOMMY HAD BEEN DEAD JUST OVER THREE! That’s a lot of murkiness and darkness.

Friend vs Friend

So from then on? Tommy escapes Malcolm’s clutches. He spends maybe a year clearing his head and planning revenge against who he believes to be responsible for his death, to be responsible for the death of Laurel, the woman he loved. All because he wanted to dress up and play hero. Then in Season 5, he exacts his revenge, and when he reveals his identity to Oliver, it leaves Oliver truly questioning his legacy that has caused his once best friend to become a killer. The fight between them, the aftermath of entire season—it would have greatly affected Oliver and left the show to go into a very interesting direction.

Now let’s not forget, Tommy Merlyn’s actor, Colin Donnell, will have been busy filming Chicago Med when this season started, meaning unavailable to commit to Arrow. But still, Tommy would have been the perfect villain for the season. All the tricks and mind games Prometheus played on Oliver would have been much more powerful and also heartbreaking if we were to find out it was his former best friend. The Alternative if Tommy couldn’t appear in the show? DON’T DO IT! Save it for the tenth season if possible. Have the season be more about Oliver trying to finally let go of the island, and escape the idea of the list once and for all. Don’t give us a character we don’t really care about and only get to learn about properly for the final seven or so episodes. What’s done is done, but as good as Season 5 was in honouring the show’s main character so far, the idea could have been better if executed under different circumstances.

At least we got this...

Yes, the writers knew what could have been. Thankfully, for a brief appearance, Colin Donnell was available to be the Prometheus of Earth-X (A universe where in the timeline, The Nazi’s won the war) during the "Crisis on Earth-X" multi-story that brought together The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl for their annual crossover. Hat’s off to you, writers!

Arrow airs Thursday nights on The CW.