Arrow - Season 5

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I've been a fan of this show from the beginning, and I've stuck with it. Season 2 was the peak of the show, offering the absolute best villain of the series (and my personal favorite storyline). Seasons 3 and 4 weren't awful by any means, but they did feel a bit lacking in comparison. Season 5 was easily the best season of the show since the second one. Oliver Queen has to balance being both the mayor and Green Arrow. Prometheus was an excellent villain. Not since season 2 and Deathstroke did we really get a villain who wanted to attack Oliver on a personal level. The character was manipulative, irredeemable, and always ten steps ahead. We also get the return of Earth-2 Laurel Lance a.k.a Black Siren, who is a character I honestly really like. I always did like the original Laurel a.k.a. Black Canary, but I just prefer the more villainous version of the character. My reasoning for this is simple. I just think the character with flexible morals plays better into Katie Cassidy's strengths as an actress. The relationship built up between Thea and Quentin was also fascinating. After his daughter's death in season 4, Quentin's fallen back into alcoholism, while Thea (having dealt with drug addiction) is trying to help build him back up. She goes so far as to hire him on as an assistant while she works in her brother's cabinet. Unfortunately, after that storyline wrapped up, the writers seemed to start struggling with what they could potentially do with the Thea character. Some of the new characters introduced were pretty interesting to me. Lawyer Adrian Chase comes in as a friend to mayor Oliver Queen, and he may be hiding secrets of his own. Rene Ramirez is a new vigilante called "Wilddog." This guy is just incredibly likable. He has tragic backstory that really makes you feel for the character. Ragman was pretty interesting, but he wasn't on the show for very long. Vigilante provided a decent side antagonist to pop up every now and then, even if he was a little bit underused at times. The same can also be said of Talia Al-Ghul. Dinah Drake, the person who takes up the Black Canary mantle this season, was a character I just couldn't warm up to. I don't hate her or anything like that, but I've seen two other characters over the course of the show carry that mantle, and I felt more attachment to those characters The finale was pretty kick-ass, involving pretty much every character that was important this season (save for Ragman and Vigilante). We also get to see Malcolm Merlyn, Nyssa, and Deathstroke play a part. While season 5 has its minor flaws, I do think it is the best season the show has had since season 2.

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