First Thoughts on 'Arrow' Season 3 (Episodes 13-17)

As of late, Arrow seems to have dropped in quality. The overall narrative structure of Season 3 so far has been terrible compared to the previous two seasons. The writing has been nowhere near as good and the flashback sequences become less interesting and more irrelevant every episode. What was the point in making an entire episode's flashbacks when it was just going to be Oliver and Akio running around Hong Kong, only to bump into a woman who looks just like Shado at the end? What was the point in delving into Deadshot's background only to barely give it any focus or time?
In fact, an even bigger question would be what was the point in telling the story of Suicidal Tendencies? It seemed to be an episode there to kill off Deadshot (no doubt due to Warner Bros upcoming Suicide Squad movie) and to provide closure to Task-force X.
In fact, the episode could have consisted simply of Diggle and Lyla's wedding (probably going horribly wrong), as that could have explored all of the characters and how far they have come, with Oliver giving his best man speech, and perhaps the Arrow vs Atom fight at the end of the episode. The simpler the story is, the easier it is to make the characters in it more complex, which in turn makes the story more complex and interesting.

Anyway, lets talk about the Atom. Ray Palmer is a character which Arrow seems to want to build whenever it feels like it. The writers seem to avoid Ray like the plague, as despite his complex motivations, Ray is such a nice guy and so similar to Oliver in his journey that there is little-to-nothing one can do with him. The reason why so many super heroes were all made dark and brooding in the early 2000's was because the writers believed there was more character growth there. The reason why Patrick Jane in The Mentalist has that incredibly dark and sinister streak is because it makes for an interesting character, which can in turn make interesting character dynamics and a good story. The reason why the modern revival of Doctor Who started off with Christopher Eccleston as a darker, more brooding and guilty Doctor was because it allowed for more exploration character-wise. In fact, Doctor Who still does this to an extent. That being said, Patrick Jane and The Ninth Doctor are flawed characters as well. Their darker streak is the almost fatal flaw, as it causes some of their biggest problems. Ray Palmer, however, is so nice a guy and made so flawless that the writers can't do anything with him as a character. The only flaw he has is his lack of trust and his devotion to avenging his wife's death. That is it, and those aren't original or particularly interesting, or at least used as interesting flaws to help explore his character. I have no problem with Brandon Routh whatsoever, apart from  that he was so great as Superman that its weird to see him as the Atom; Routh is great in the role, but there is so little for him to do that I'm amazed he doesn't look bored.
The Atom suit is well-designed though, with some great effects for the flying scenes, even if it has had hardly any action (most of which probably doesn't need CGI), even if the suit itself looks like a cheap Iron Man suit made to look more like Atom from the comics.
Laurel has finally gotten her character arc going this season, but after so much focus in Seasons 1 and 2, suddenly she is all but forgotten! Aside from the interesting character dynamic between her and Quentin and her now training with Nyssa, Laurel is just a random sidekick to fight crime with Oliver. The episode that should have really explored Laurel's character, with her being dosed with Vertigo that brings Sara seemingly back from the dead to hate on Laurel, being instead focused on Thea discovering that Oliver is the Arrow. As I've said before, Season 3 has had terrible pacing problems, and there are so many standalone plots that go nowhere and could easily have been cut that all the good stuff is being sidelined. Laurel's interesting character arc is strangely enough going nowhere. Yet we still have to donate time to Thea's sort-of boyfriend who was horribly tacked on in the first half of the season and given dull cameos since betraying her...because we all liked him so much. No! No one cares about a character who's name even I can't remember, let alone any character traits other than "contrived into the plot and as Thea's potential love interest". I was very happy to finally see Thea getting back with Roy, but mainly because it would mean the end of terrible other potential love interest story-lines for Thea that could overshadow much more important character arcs.

Thea discovering Oliver's secret was well-played but it wore off after a while as I was waiting for Laurel or Roy to get an interesting arc. Poor Diggle and Lyla just about got one in Suicidal Tendencies but Laurel and Roy just feel wasted other than as action scene set pieces.
The whole trusting of Malcolm Merlyn didn't go as far as I thought it would either. Oliver and Thea get trapped on Lian Yu with Slade Wilson, but this is interesting enough to keep to the point  where all the prior trusting of Merlyn sub-plots could have been cut just to focus on this. And nothing happened with Slade in the end! They were better off with Captain Boomerang breaking loose!
Oh, and Ra's al Ghul is beginning to lose his presence very quickly. Ra's offering Oliver to take his place is interesting, but the 45 beforehand were just build up, and slightly useless build-up with plot holes, so should have been cut down and had the beginning of the following episode finishing Nanda Parbat off.
I hate to moan about Arrow, especially after the heights it reached in Seasons 1 and 2, but the structure in Season 3 has been poorly handled, resulting in so much that could and should have been great resulting in being nowhere near as great. Arrow is always entertaining, but Season 3 has been really disappointing after the excellent Season 2. Arrow is improving but Season 3's problems occurred mainly in the first 9 episodes, but in turn ruined the following 14 episodes from reaching greatness. Maybe it'll really pick up in the next 6 episodes. Or maybe I'll have to wait until Season 4.