(This review may contain spoilers).
I found this season to be somewhat difficult to watch. While the first season had a much darker side to Oliver, I felt he was in more danger in this series, due to his reluctance to kill.
I didn’t like Laurel very much at the start of the season, even though I could understand why she’d taken on her father’s mantle. As the series progressed, it was good to see that she hit rock bottom and then worked her way back up again. By series end, I thought she’d demonstrated quite a bit of strength.
It was interesting to see Oliver continuing to try and balance his personal family life with his actions as the Arrow. However, I did feel that his attitude towards his mother didn’t make a lot of sense. I didn’t really like Moira… but in many ways, I could understand why she did the things she did.
I probably felt the most sympathy for Thea. I enjoyed seeing her relationship with Roy and by the end of the series, I thought she’d started to grow. But I did feel that she was ignored for a lot of the series… and it was difficult to see Oliver truly caring about her and it not just being a sense of duty to him.
I liked seeing Sara appear in the series and it was good to get to know something of her history while she was gone. I liked seeing her interacting with both her father and sister… even though the relationship between her and Laurel was strained for so long at first. And I really liked the glimpses of her relationship with Nyssa.
It was especially good to see Quentin Lance beginning to work with and trust the Arrow. It was nice to see the parallels between the past and the present.
I was somewhat disappointed by the final episode. I’m a massive fan of redemption arc storylines and I would have liked to see something go into that with Slade. Although a dangerous villain, there was a lot of setup towards a finale I felt could have gone in a different direction.
There were a lot of different types of tension in this movie and I especially liked seeing the relationships between the characters outside of what was happening. I also really liked seeing Deadshot again, especially as he was shown to have a lot more depth to him than in the first season. But I really hated Amanda Waller.
I have begun watching season three and I also have season four on DVD, along with other tie-ins. So expect reviews for other DC shows in the (potentially not-so) near future.
Ink of Blood 