By Parker Sublette
Staff Writer
The premiere of “Arrow”’s fourth season shows promise for the season ahead with new villains and exciting cliffhangers. However, “Arrow” falls short of its target in terms of dialogue depth and plot development.
The fourth season of “Arrow” will be focusing on Oliver Queen’s ensuing war with Damien Darhk, leader of an organization known as H.I.V.E. While the promise of new villains and a season ending cliffhanger are reasons for optimism look forward to, many of the shows that held in back in previous seasons like two-dimensional dialogue and uninteresting plots are holding it back.
The season premiere of “Arrow” was centered around Oliver Queen’s not very triumphant return to Starling City. In the previous season Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) had left the city in the hands of his crime-fighting partners, but a new criminal group wreaking havoc in the city brought Queen back, hunting down the criminals lead to the discovery that a man named Damien Darhk was the face behind it all.
“Arrow” does show promise due to the new villain Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough). While Darhk has only appeared in one episode of the show, he presents as though he will offer an interesting and complex character who might deepen the plot of the show this season due to his mysterious origins and harsh personality.
The season premiere also left viewers with an interesting cliffhanger at the end of the episode, a scene in which the protagonist quietly mourns at a grave. Although this comes off as a bit cliché, it provides something to think about for the rest of the season, something that has been somewhat lacking in previous seasons of “Arrow”.
Consistent with all three seasons of “Arrow” so far, the most interesting part of the show is the side story of Oliver Queen’s time on the island of Lian Yu where he was “stranded” for five years. While the main plot isn’t unenjoyable, the plot and characters that are a part of the island stories provides more intriguing plot twists and in-depth character development.
While the writing of the show isn’t necessarily atrocious, the dialogue remains stale. It’s understandable that the show lacks extremely deep and meaningful dialogue due to the fact it is heavily based on action, but the dialogue always comes across as forced and unnatural, it makes you feel as though you are aware you are watching a show which takes away from the enjoyment of the plot and the characters.
“Arrow” also has a bad habit of pitting characters on the same side against each other, Oliver Queen’s crime-fighting partner John Diggle (David Ramsey) still holds a grudge due to the events of season 3. While it isn’t a bad thing to have drama between characters, in Arrow’s writers use it as a of a cheap way to conflict to the show.
It isn’t hard to see why “Arrow” has been gaining traction as a popular show over the past three years due to it’s comic book roots and well choreographed action. While the season premiere is a good indication that the show is moving back to its roots, it still has issues to properly address to have the makings of a fantastic season.
New episodes of “Arrow” air on Wednesdays on The CW at 5pm.
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