Team GATV Midseason Roundtable: Arrow Season 5 So Far

How does the current season of Arrow rank when compared to previous ones?

CRAIG: If we’re going from the first nine episodes, it’s probably #2 behind only the beloved Season 2. It might be #3 if you count Season 1 as a whole, which got exponentially better as it went along. But you really can’t compare with the year that gave us our first Canary as well as our first well-known metahuman in Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen. It might not be so coincidental that Seasons 2 and 5 also feature the better flashback sequences.

STEPHANIE: I doubt another season can make me love the show as much as I loved Season 2, but Season 5 is shaping up quite nicely. My interest kind of fizzled out in the middle of Season 4, and I fell really behind on the show, but these nine episodes pulled me back on board, and I’m genuinely interested to see where it goes each week.

MATT: One of the things we’ve come to know from Arrow is that it’s hard to judge a season based on its first run of episodes. That said, while Season 5 still doesn’t hit the highs of Season 2, it is the first season since to get that feeling back. Both the opening slates of Seasons 3 and 4 overall were stronger than the seasons turned out to be, but Season 5 feels more consistently better than last two seasons so far.

MELISSA: Let me preface this by saying Arrow remains my favorite show on television, but I’ve been deeply disappointed with this season, probably more so at this point than in any of the previous seasons. Season three may have been darker and far bleaker, but I was engaged with the storylines and all the characters even if I was bemoaning how they were going. Season five has committed the worst sin. I’m bored with the storylines and feel disconnected to most of the characters.