Was there enough Original Team Arrow this season? What are your thoughts on their dynamic?
Luciana: That was probably what was missing the most, to be honest. That core group – Oliver, Dig and Felicity – was what made me fall in love with this show in the first place. But this past season, the lair felt a little too crowded, with way too many characters and storylines and not enough screen time to do any of them justice. While I absolutely loved seeing Thea grow up and evolve from Oliver’s annoying little sister to this kickass character she is now, that – along with Merlyn and Captain Lance and Felicity’s mom – also took the shine from our beloved Original Team Arrow. That and the fact that for the past two seasons, the show has served as a platform for new DC shows, focusing on even more characters that are not the core group.
So no. There was definitely not enough OTA this season. I miss their dynamic. I miss Felicity and Diggle’s heart to heart. I miss Dig being Oliver’s best friend. I miss everything about them that I fell in love with back in season 1. Here’s hoping that we will get to see more of that next season.
Meredith: In a word, no. There wasn’t enough. We had one awesome episode early on that focused on them, and there were little bits and pieces elsewhere, but really this trio is the core of the show. They made the latter half of season 1 and all of season 2 so incredibly strong. David Ramsey says it all the team – Team Arrow is the heart. And yes each character had their own story this season and that was great – but it would have been really wonderful to see the three of them coming together, even for brief moments, a bit more often. There was some really fantastic Oliver/Diggle stuff this season. And of course there was plenty of meat to the Oliver/Felicity stuff. But Felicity/Diggle was sorely lacking, as was the team together.
One of the weakest parts of the show in season 3 and much of season 4, in my opinion, has been how bloated the team is. It made fights and stunts hard to follow, and it meant often sidelining characters (like Diggle) or downplaying Oliver’s strengths and skillsets to allow others to have some spotlight. When it’s just OTA each person has their role, and nobody else does that role. Oliver is the main fighter, Diggle is his backup/confidante, and Felicity provides the eyes/ears/intel. It works. It’s a well-oiled machine. By continuing to add to the team with more fighters and people like Curtis, it makes the roles each person plays muddy, and doesn’t allow for the great organic chemistry of OTA to shine. While I might like characters as characters, that doesn’t mean I enjoy them as full time members of the team.
The little bits of OTA we got this season were great – but I really hope the show goes back to that dynamic even more in season 5.
Lizzie: Is there ever enough OTA? They’re my favorite part of the show, the reason why I kept on watching Arrow even if I didn’t like the surly Oliver Queen of the beginning. That being said, I understand that there are other characters and these characters need development too. But I think that Arrow, at times, can suffer of the “too much of a good thing” syndrome. They know OTA works ,so they throw some little scenes our way every once in awhile to appease us while giving characters like Donna and Quentin more screen time. And don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but I can think of a few of their scenes – or Curtis’s scenes, for that matter, that I would happily trade for an OTA scene.
I also think OTA would benefit from the show bringing Lyla on on a more permanent basis. Sure, Diggle as the buffer between Oliver and Felicity works, and it’s hilarious, but as they all move into a new stage in their lives, it makes sense that the Oliver and Felicity who are, hopefully, getting back together sooner rather than later, would hang out not just with Diggle, but with Diggle and his wife.
In short – not enough, not by a longshot. And if the show really does want to get back to its roots, it should focus on this first, not just on being gritty.
Christy: For me OTA is really the heart of this show and this season it was seriously lacking. This is where the magic happens, and let’s be honest, there wasn’t a lot of magic happening there this season.
The Arrow cave was just too full this year. There were too many people in there trying to get there two cents in. By bringing Laurel, Thea, Lance, Curtis and even Merlyn in there they made it seem less than what it really is. And don’t get me wrong here, I liked seeing Thea’s character grow this season and I loved what Curtis brought to the show, I just think that too much time was spent on it.
I miss the long Diggle/Oliver and Diggle/Felicity conversations that we used to get before the cave was flooded with people. I miss watching Felicity oogle over shirtless Oliver while he was working out (Oliver really did wear far too much clothing this season). And I miss seeing the OTA, just the three of them, working together. This used to be the best part of the show, here’s hoping they can bring some of that greatness back in season five.
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