Spoilers Arrow - Season 4

[Christopher]

But doesn't that mean that the Earth has practically no nuclear weapons left?

Oh, no, that's terrible! Whatever shall we... Hold on... wait a minute... hmmm.

But seriously... I would imagine that a country's nuclear arsenal would include a number of inactive and/or reserve missiles in addition to those at launch-ready status. So even if we were meant to believe that the missiles somehow managed to reach escape velocity, or explode harmlessly above the atmosphere, there would still be a partial complement of unspent missiles remaining. So you can rest easy that the capacity of the world's nations to inflict pointless and devastating mass destruction on one another would not be entirely lost.

 

[Gaith]

Maybe it's time for Ollie to get powers of his own, along with an outbreak of Star City metas. Though apparently the show is aiming to go back to gritty, street-level basics instead... can all that superpowers sci-fi stuff really be put back in the bottle? We'll see. Or, rather, others will see, and I'll read about it.

 

[Christopher]

Though apparently the show is aiming to go back to gritty, street-level basics instead... can all that superpowers sci-fi stuff really be put back in the bottle?

Doesn't have to be. Just because superpowered beings exist in the world, it doesn't mean unpowered people won't still commit crimes. Batman has gotten along just fine for decades fighting mostly unpowered (or tech-using) criminals while Superman, Wonder Woman, and the others were off fighting metahumans and aliens and monsters.

 

[Commander Richard]

^ At times Batman has even proven himself to be the best of the bunch because of his keen mind.

 

[Gaith]

I obviously didn't mean that the fantasy elements would go away entirely. (Of course there's gonna be more Flash/Supergirl crossovers.) I rather meant that now that viewers have been offered bigger, flashier (no pun intended) threats, will they settle for a more grounded approach again? Arrow's first season preceded Agents of SHIELD by a year, and the superhero TV landscape was very different back then, with no Marvel/Netflix shows competing on its dark and gritty territory. (To say nothing of whatever the hell Gotham is.)

 

[Vendikarr]

But doesn't that mean that the Earth has practically no nuclear weapons left?

I thought Lyla said the software controlled U.S. and N.A.T.O. missles. So the non N.A.T.O. powers should still have theirs.

 

[dahj]

I rather meant that now that viewers have been offered bigger, flashier (no pun intended) threats, will they settle for a more grounded approach again?

A crazy guy shooting arrows into one-percenters... I don't think the appeal of that has gone out of style just yet.

Honestly, I feel that a season where Oliver fights "regular" criminals both as a mayor and as Green Arrow would be kinda refreshing in the current superhero landscape.

 

[Marc]

Honestly, I feel that a season where Oliver fights "regular" criminals both as a mayor and as Green Arrow would be kinda refreshing in the current superhero landscape.

Though I'm sure being a vigilante violates the oath of office

though being mayor would given him a income He's lost Queen Industries, Felicity lost Palmer Tech so they both need an income and the Arrow Cave needs a repair.

 

[Thestral]

You know, I did have a crazy idea halfway through the episode when they had all those nuclear missiles in the air. What if the team failed, and the world was in fact bathed in nuclear fire at the end of the episode and season, ending the world? But immediately after impact, or perhaps immediately before, we're treated to a complete reset with everything fine, Dahrk locked away or killed, Laurel alive, Oliver and Felicity married and Oliver as mayor of Star City. All thanks to Barry's actions in the Flash season finale, maybe with some sort of lightning effect and the Flash leitmotif as Oliver looks on in horror at the end of the world.

All that devastation undone in an instant, Yesterday's Enterprise-style, thanks to Barry messing about with time. Whoops!

I thought Lyla said the software controlled U.S. and N.A.T.O. missles. So the non N.A.T.O. powers should still have theirs.

Whence Russian nuke then?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Maybe it's time for Ollie to get powers of his own, along with an outbreak of Star City metas. Though apparently the show is aiming to go back to gritty, street-level basics instead... can all that superpowers sci-fi stuff really be put back in the bottle? We'll see. Or, rather, others will see, and I'll read about it.

They can put Arrow in its own world without the superpowers and the others can visit him through an infinite number of means.

 

[Christopher]

Remember, most people on Earth-1 don't have superpowers. The ones that do are mostly congregated around Central City because they were empowered by the dark-matter explosion. So there's no reason you can't still tell plenty of stories about non-superpowered heroes and villains in Star City, or any other city. (Well, any city except Havenrock, which is a radioactive crater now....)

 

[Turtletrekker]

What you call a "radioactive crater", I call an "origin pit". Since when do nuclear explosions and super-powers not go hand in hand?

 

[Christopher]

What you call a "radioactive crater", I call an "origin pit". Since when do nuclear explosions and super-powers not go hand in hand?

That's more a Marvel thing than a DC thing, though, isn't it? Unless we're talking Captain Atom, but there was alien tech involved in that. Or Firestorm, but he was given a different origin in the Arrowverse. (Then there's the origin of Hank Henshaw in the original comics, which was a pastiche of The Fantastic Four where the cosmic radiation-induced mutations of the astronaut crew caused them to suffer horrible fates.)

 

[dahj]

They can put Arrow in its own world without the superpowers and the others can visit him through an infinite number of means.

What, like, the bus?

 

[Gaith]

A crazy guy shooting arrows into one-percenters... I don't think the appeal of that has gone out of style just yet.

Ah yes, that mode that lasted about half of the first season, until Merlyn's goofy, almost one-person "Undertaking" neatly swept all the anti-oligarch crusading aside. (But Barrowman was so great at the time, we barely minded.) I'm... not at all confident those days will ever return.

Remember, most people on Earth-1 don't have superpowers.

Jesus H. Christ, obviously, dude. Do you really think us all morons, or are you just incapable of not giving off that impression? I say this with affection, but come on.

So there's no reason you can't still tell plenty of stories about non-superpowered heroes and villains in Star City, or any other city.

It'd be cool if the series became a globetrotting anti-oligarch crusade affair, but it'll almost certainly remain the Star City show. And the question wasn't "if" they could go back to telling stories about more mundane villains, it was whether the remaining viewers will stick around for it, especially if budget cuts due to declining viewership means less impressive production values. (See: the visual dreck that was late-period Smallville.)

 

[Kelthaz]

Arrow subreddit gives up on the show. Rebrands as sub for Daredevil. Arrow, uh, I mean, Daredevil Subreddit.

It's a little sad and a little funny. Personally I stopped watching the show earlier this season because it was getting kinda stupid, but this takes the hate to new levels.

 

[Gaith]

^ According to this post from that reddit, this is an imdb user ratings graph of the show:

​

... Genuine or not, I find myself in near-total agreement with it. (With the caveat that I stopped watching at least a third of the season ago.)

 

[dahj]

Arrow subreddit gives up on the show. Rebrands as sub for Daredevil. Arrow, uh, I mean, Daredevil Subreddit.

Woah, there's not one positive post about Arrow on the front page.

The rebranding is kinda funny though, considering how Daredevil in part owes its existence to the success of Arrow and how their first seasons are very similar.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I(To say nothing of whatever the hell Gotham is.)

A bad memory, AFAIC.

 

[Guy Gardener]

^ According to this post from that reddit, this is an imdb user ratings graph of the show:

​

... Genuine or not, I find myself in near-total agreement with it. (With the caveat that I stopped watching at least a third of the season ago.)

IMDB is full of filmsnob hipsters.

The regards these sociopaths award TV through their sock puppet IMDB are unrelated to the ratings, or the final profits/losses that unfold.