First Thoughts on 'Arrow' Season 3 (Episodes 9-12)

After such a great first season and a brilliant second, I have been feeling very underwhelmed by Arrow: Season 3 so far. The first half started off well but between episodes 5 and 7 it really felt like the quality was steadily declining. Thankfully we had a great two-part crossover with The Flash and then...the mid-season finale!
The Climb is one of the best build-up episodes Arrow has done yet, with various questions answered and stakes raised to build up to Oliver fighting Ra's al Ghul, determined to stop the man who will kill his sister (special thanks to Malcolm using Thea under the influence of a drug to kill Sara). The build-up is, as usual, well executed and the fight itself is fantastic. The choreography is great and the location used for the mountain worked brilliantly to not only look great but also create an atmosphere. Just as Oliver was about to win the day though...Arrow surprised me! Instead of Oliver killing Ra's al Ghul (I thought the cliffhanger would be Ra's waking up in the Lazarus Pit), Ra's stabs and kills Oliver, kicking him off the cliff-top after saying a few words and Oliver's life flashing before his eyes. Then, with Oliver dead, Ra's put down his blood-stained sword (after a great stabbing effect in the fight) into the rock and the thus the credits rolled. How the hell do you get out of that?!
In fact, the more interesting element is what Oliver's death does to Roy, Diggle, Felicity, Malcolm, Thea, Laurel and the rest of Starling City - an element that the following 3 episodes focused on.
However, the big problem with the epic three-part mid-season opener was that it felt far too short. After 2 1/2 seasons of build-up, Laurel just becomes the Black Canary in a matter of seconds, complete with her own mask, wig and costume. Considering this was Laurel's big arc, the jump from the lawyer learning self-defense to become the vigilante her sister once was seemed too big a deal to just tack-on at the end of Episode 10.
The Danny Brickwell plot seemed a bit random as well, and there was a lack of exploration as to Thea's reaction to Oliver's death. However, Episode 11 picked up with a great pace and didn't feel nearly as rushed as 10, but Episode 12 was the worst. Not only was the epic Brick's gang vs the Glades showdown cut incredibly short, Lance's reaction to Sara's death tacked on at the end, Merlyn's siding with Team Arrow barely got a look in and Oliver's journey back to Starling City happening within the episode, but also the arc of Oliver's return just...happened. The great flashback story with Merlyn didn't get a satisfactory ending, and the flashback story of Oliver and Maseo rescuing Maseo's wife got a surprisingly happy, non-game changing ending (although it was great to see them all back together for the present sequences to try and work out what happened in the five years in-between).
Episodes 10 and 12 felt rushed, and considering the first half had at least two easy-to-cut episodes, they could have easily paced this three-episode story-line over five episodes, and they should have. Its a big story in Arrow that just got horribly rushed. Poor Roy didn't get the development he's been begging for since Episode 1 and it was a wasted opportunity. Very disappointing.