Arrow Season 3 finale review

Arrow wraps up its season 3 with the episode 22-My Name is Oliver Queen. After being considered  a quite mediocre season, can this finale redeem back this much beloved series ? Hit the jump to see my thought.



I was having a hard time following this season as it feels like this season was a little bit slow and doesn't feel like anything important is happening than someone is becoming someone else, or someone is dying (which is literally every single episode) but, I guess is the overall theme of this season and I wasn't really on board either for the decision of making Oliver pretending to take the offer of Ra's Al-Ghul so he can destroy it from the inside.  I think making him really joining the League of Assassin and losing himself and then finally realizing this is not who he wants to be fit the overall theme more and tie in with the flash story a little bit. Though it kind off doesn't fit the ending which I will talk later.

Lets talk about the story a little bit. The finale picks off almost immediately after the previous episode as Ra's Al-Ghul takes off to Starling City to release the Alpha-Omega virus to complete Oliver's accession as the new Ra's. However, unknown to him, Oliver had sabotaged the plane so he could kill Ra's and destroy the virus along with himself. Of course, the plan failed and Oliver had to depends on his friends to save the city together and they did. The episode ended with Oliver sort of being send off to the sunset.

The highlights of this episode is not the fighting scene or the plot, but the interaction between the character. The plot was mostly to tie up the overall story of the season and compared to the last season, it was a lot smaller as if the city was not sent to a total chaos which I think is a brilliant move from the writer because you don't want to do that in every season. The cameo from Flash was a pretty hilarious moment, and the tease of Damien Dahrk was pretty awesome.

Again, as I said previously, it is the interaction that was interesting in this episode. The talk between Oliver and Felicity about fight to live is by far the highlight for me. The last time I heard the similar talk happen was in Rurounin Kenshin. Most of the hero characters fought to stay alive or to protect their loved ones, but to fight to die is a very interesting concept that I wish they explored more but, they didn't. Diggle and Oliver interaction certainly show off their chemistry and you get why he is pissed off considering what Oliver did, and this has more impact because of the way the story was being presented.

In terms of the fight, I don't know why but I was excited to see Diggle fighting hand to hand because most of the time, he uses gun. Oliver and Ra's final fight was interesting but again, it doesn't really explored the theme of fight to live or fight to die that much and the fight ended in a very climatic way though seeing Felicity pulling off Pepper Potts was kind of cute.

In term of ending, I know that Arrow has been taken up to season five but this season the ending seems like it was planned to be the series finale. Some interesting changes, Merlyn becoming the new Ra's is interesting. Will he returns ? I bet he will. Thea taking the mantel of possibly Red Arrow or Speedy and Diggle is finally getting a costume. Oliver in both the present and past is heading to somewhere seemingly Coast City (in both) making the rumors of Green Lantern will making an appearance getting stronger. However, it could also be Seattle which is the base for the current incarnation of Green Arrow. Finally a great tease for Atom though if you watch the trailer for Legend of Tomorrow, they already spoil you about it.

So does the finale redeem the whole season ? No, and one of the issue is because the season focused too much on building the universe (Iron Man 2 syndrome), which I guess is necessary for a show with more and more shared universe and also to focus on Oliver Queen himself. The reason why the last season of Arrow and the current season of The Flash is great is because it focus on the villain; Deathstroke and Reverse-Flash with some help of very charismatic actor as well. However, it does intrigue me to see where the series will go in the future and I kind of excited to see Damien Dahrk and HIVE now.

Overall, I give the finale 3.5 out 5 and the whole season 3.0 out of 5. They both has the same issue, started strong, deals with interesting concept but then it drags as the story goes. However, the finale comes on top because it still manages to intrigue me.

What do you think of Arrow season 3 finale and the whole season overall ? Do you agree or disagree with me ? Sound off your thought in the comment section. Stay tuned for a possible Mad Max review next Saturday. Don't forget to like and subscribe to me at Facebook, Youtube, and Tapastic and keep following us here at Comikrew Studio.