Season 1 Merlyn rocked. He even worked fine in Season 2, but after that he was increasingly worse as a character and a presence on Arrow.
it's a living
He never really seemed to do much in Season 1, though. He was fine, but it seems like he and the season would have been better if more...happened.
If you didn't like the first season of Arrow, it's understandable to drop it. Might have been for the better, since you avoided witnessing the badness of Season 3 and 4,
He just wasn't revealed right away. I don't remember when exactly but I know Merlyn showed up as the Dark Archer and whooped Oliver in their first battle. Then even when Oliver came in full gear and Merlyn was unarmed, Merlyn still beat him.
Merlyn was great in the first season.
edited 12th Sep '17 7:39:44 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
Foreign Troper
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
But also the greatness of 2 and 5.
If 5 is good, good. I wouldn't know or care because I didn't go back after 4. And saying anything about 2 was pointless because Unsung didn't like 1.
edited 13th Sep '17 3:17:16 AM by VeryMelon
Personally, I didn't become a true fan of the show until the second season. Season 2 is a much more well-developed and interesting version of Arrow in comparison to the first season. The character dynamics are at their absolute best, the romance was actually well done, the villain was much more interesting, the jokes were funnier, the universe expanded, and so much more. It's just a great season of television.
Honestly, Season One almost feels like a different show as opposed to the rest of the franchise. It's basically Nolan-Batman lite with a lot of characters who ranged from bland to downright infuriating. It's just so...dour a lot of the time.
I gotta say though, @Very Melon, for somebody rocking the Oliver Queen avatar you're very adamant about never going back to the show. Season Four must have done a real number on you. ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
edited 13th Sep '17 10:07:56 AM by deuteragonist
Foreign Troper
But trust me, really, Season 5 is worth coming back for. Prometheus is my favorite villain of the entire verse.
Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
Arrow's fifth season turned out better and more coherent than Flash's third and Supergirl's second.
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 was still the most fun, though.
edited 13th Sep '17 11:07:40 AM by deuteragonist
Foreign Troper
It was the best of the 16/17 bunch imO, though Legends Season 2 comes second.
Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
Of the last batch of seasons, Legends was my favorite. It's just so fun and unashamedly comic-booky.
This avatar is a crop of an image from those reddit synopses gags. I like this one that much it was worth seeing the finale over.
Sizzle reel!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJiiC8j6zQ
And I am hyped.
edited 9th Oct '17 5:53:19 PM by comicwriter
The lack of sex was a good thing.
I want to slap these people.
Repeatedly.
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
Meh.
Sounds good to me.
Yeah, I'm down too.
I’m not a big Darkh fan. The sex thing isn’t that much of an issue, the Arrowverse has always been good about equal-opportunity sexiness, but love scenes are just wastes of time to me
It's cable television. Sex means hollywood sex which means 4 minutes of the guy taking his shirt off, lip-locking, dramatic gasping with sunlight peering through the window, and then a cut before returning to the scene with the woman fully dressed or semi-decent, and the guy walking around shirtless and buff, maybe even in his skivvies.
And frankly this objectification of the male gender offends me greatly.
I just don't get the use of sex in basic cable programming. Either go Spartacus Blood & Sand or go home. There are so many better ways to waste screen time than filming the most PG sex your network can afford. The sex isn't even necessary, just show a kiss then cut then show some ruffled clothes, a held gaze, some visual metaphors. At least that makes the viewer pay attention instead of this trite, telling sex act we see repeated ad infinitum.
More importantly, I'm kind of done with Darkh, and I fear he's undergoing the same Badass Decay that Merlyn did.
edited 9th Oct '17 8:11:46 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
it's a living
Most cable networks are still stuck in the '90s when it comes to broadcast standards, with the blanks on these kinds of shows being filled in by fanfics. (shrug) Comic books really are the new soap operas.
"You three released a giant sabretooth tiger?"
"If I die today because of a telepathic gorilla, I'm going to be very upset."
"That corpse you buried was a vampire from the future, you idiot!"
Consider me pumped!
it's a living
Embedding this because I missed it when it was just a link:
...Yeah, this is probably the SF show where I'm most looking forward to a new episode right now, if I'm really being honest 
Season 1 Merlyn was great with me. I loved him as a villain then. It's stuff that followed, particularly Season 3, that harmed his character and just the whole show. Well, he's one of the things.
I will note real quick with Laurel's death in season 4, I was still indifferent. I didn't like her character in season 1, 2, or 3 (as this thread best documents) so I shrugged.
Improving as an author, one video at a time.