Narm / Arrow

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• A lot of the scenes are hard to take seriously with Stephen Amell's lack of facial expression. He's caught a lot of flak over this. Many feel he got better over the course of the first two seasons, though, and his acting in the third has been one of the more consistently praised aspects.
  • In the scene when Oliver is being flogged on Lian Yu; instead of a genuine reaction of pain, Stephen Amell just blandly says 'AH', over and over again, with no emotion in his voice and barely any on his face.
• Ollie and Laurel making out after getting back together in the first season's penultimate episode. It's already awkward since there's little to no romantic chemistry between Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy, and it's set to "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons, a song you couldn't throw a stone at in TV or film and not hit it at some point, and it doesn't really fit the scene given that its lyrics are describing an apocalypse. This is made even worse when Tommy shows up and sees them kissing through the window.
• The sheer number of times that "52" appears in the series. Whilst some can be missed on an initial viewing, even some comic book fans are getting tired of the constant use of the number, when it doesn't have the same relevance to Arrow as it does to DC Comics. It's even worse with those that aren't fans of the comics, who aren't aware of the number's significance and just think its constant use is a bit silly.
• Stephen Amell's attempts at speaking Russian. Also, of all the characters that were supposedly Russian, only some of the people at Koshmar actually sounded the part; the rest made every dramatic moment they were in seem cringe-worthy for those who can actually speak Russian.
• Similarly, Stephen Amell's attempts at speaking Mandarin Chinese. In one particular scene, Oliver intimidates a blinded Triad member before making a getaway, and all the man can say to his fellows is that the man that attacked him "must be Chinese" because "his Chinese was perfect." Obviously this would throw them off of Oliver's trail... if it were true. But Oliver's "Chinese" lines as delivered are nigh incomprehensible to a Chinese speaker without the English subtitles, so suspension of disbelief is a bit... hard. (All other Chinese-speaking characters do speak authentic-sounding Chinese, however.)
• The Reveal of Slade Wilson as the Man Behind the Man to Sebastian Blood. The scene is typical of a big reveal, framed and shot to not show Slade's face until the end, but Manu Bennett's distinct accent is rather a dead giveaway — that or seeing his face in the reflection of his computer. It could've been Slade now looking like his comic-book gray-haired, eyepatch-wearing self that they were trying to reveal, though.
• People not recognizing Oliver under the hood is at least semi-plausible. But then there's Laurel not recognizing the Canary as her sister just because, as the Green Lantern movie put it, she can't see her cheekbones. The wig and mask help, but Sara has a very distinct chin and way of speaking that her sister she's known for years should have noticed right off.
• "Deathstroke" (the episode, not the character) ends with Laurel being visited by Slade, who was just identified on the news as Thea's kidnapper and now reveals to her that Oliver is the Arrow; her reaction is to pause, blink several times, and look around like she's trying to remember her line, before he turns and just walks away, with the show's ending tune playing in a very over-dramatic way. It's as ridiculous as it sounds.
• Isabel Rochev's Ravager mask. Apparently they wanted to make clear it was her, but it brings up the question of why Slade would make her a mask different from everyone else's, and seeing the lower half of Summer Glau's face makes it look rather puffed out.
• Laurel's "inspiring speeches" to Oliver, with lines like "I know you like I know my own name" and "I know who you are in your bones" getting mocked mercilessly. That said, some of Felicity's similar speeches can fall here.
  • Laurel's "I know you like I know my own name" speech becomes extra Narm-y when you remember her first name is actually Dinah.
• Al-Owal, while a genuine threat, is just a bit hard to take seriously, since the shaping of his headpiece makes him look like he's wearing a recolored Brown Bag Mask. Throw in the fact that his name Al Ow-Al is essentially the spelled-out form of "LOL", and you have one threatening villain you can't take seriously.
• The subplot of "Draw Back Your Bow" which introduces Chase, Thea's new love interest; the whole plot comes down to Chase, an obnoxious DJ, proving that Thea should hire him despite not having any proof he's as good as he says he is and being a complete ass, by making the patrons of Verdant get hyped by his music choice. However, there wasn't anything particularly bad about the DJ before his performance, nor anything amazing about him, yet the crowd goes from bored to dancing after he plays less than five seconds of music. As well as wasting Thea's screentime that she could have spent developing her current character arc, it's just a laughably bad collection of scenes in an otherwise solid episode that does nothing to endear Chase's character. Then it's revealed Chase is really a member of the League of Assassins. That's right, the Demon's Head sent one of his own to carry out a hit posed as a nightclub DJ.
• Despite Queen Consolidated being all Oliver has left of his parents, his reaction to it being rebranded into Palmer Technologies in "Draw Back Your Bow" is simply a grumpy look. When he sees Felicity and Ray kissing later in the episode, his reaction is to start throwing things around the Foundry like a petulant child throwing a tantrum.
• "Left Behind" and its endless hammering in of Oliver is dead sadness, despite anyone who's ever read a comic book knowing that the hero always comes back.
• Any time Ray puts on the Atom suit. It turns out an Iron Man-type power suit is a lot sillier when you can always see the face of the guy wearing it, and the ropy CGI doesn't help at all.
• Felicity's constant crying in season 3 which is practically Once an Episode has made many scenes tedious to watch for fans.
• Laurel's Canary Cry, which makes her look like she's trying to use the toilet most of the time. It doesn't help that it's severely under-powered (in the comics it's an exceptionally powerful attack, while here it's a mild stun attack), and rather sparingly used (and when it is, it's very ineffective), and was introduced on The Flash (2014), meaning that, without watching that show, the inclusion of it comes out of nowhere.
• Felicity in the A.T.O.M. armor provided many a laugh for fans at how ridiculous it looked.
• Oliver's speech in Season 4's first episode crosses into Narm pretty easily. It seems it was partially an attempt at deliberate Narm Charm, and it really should be, given Oliver was publicly announcing his new identity as The Green Arrow and focus on being a beacon of hope, but his method of doing it, the way he looks when delivering the speech, and making said announcement without having any In-Universe build up, make it look like he's just some Arrow copycat with a camcorder and a dark basement. Which, of course, the characters in-universe would assume he actually is.
• Damien Darhk being introduced in the first episode of season four and making it clear that he will be the Big Bad was a step in the right direction after seasons one and two took half the season to show off theirs... except that means that both he and Oliver have to survive to the end of the season, meaning that Oliver and Darhk come face to face about twelve times over the course of the season and both of them survive every time, with Oliver either retreating from a fight he knew he couldn't win in the first place or Darhk deciding to spare his enemies for no good reason.
• Thea/Speedy playing bad cop. It's hard to take her seriously when she's waltzing to thugs twice her size and breaking their arms with an arm bar that anyone with a basic understanding of combat would know would've been ineffective.
• In "Haunted", Oliver and Laurel inexplicably take forever just to climb up onto a ledge to rescue Sara's soul, in a contrived method to give Constantine a fight scene after going to the trouble of Arc Welding him into the Arrowverse.
• The bloodlust that comes from being revived by the Lazarus Pit should be Nightmare Fuel, and they try to treat it as such, except, the way it's depicted has Thea and Sara not doing anything any more violent than they would in a normal fight, and the only indication that they're acting out of character is the fact they're panting and acting like feral animals while they fight, while the violent outbursts seem to just come out of nowhere without any build-up, which comes off as poorly paced rather than shocking like intended. The fact it's essentially identical to Roy's previous struggle to control the similar violent anger brought on his Mirakuru exposure, which had the same problem, makes the Narm all the more noticeable as it just looks like they're reusing the same story.
• The promo for Season 4, Episode 15 "Taken" features our first footage glimpse of Vixen. Unfortunately the character gives us part of an eye-rolling exchange where a thug says "how about you fight like a man?" and Vixen responds with "how about I kick your ass like a woman?". Especially when you think of all the backlash the Supergirl TV show got for all the "women can be heroes too" lines it threw around early in the first season. And even more so, Arrow isn't a show where you need to enforce some type of girl-power thing, given you have Laurel and Thea out there every week fighting alongside Oliver and Diggle.
• Oliver and Felicity break up, and during this Felicity realizes that she can move her legs, meaning she can now walk. Despite spending weeks in a wheelchair with this being the first time her legs have moved since then, she gets up and practically struts out of the room with little to no issue with Oliver just gaping after her like a fish and doing nothing else. What makes this more Narm-y is that this is the final scene of the episode with Arrow now going into a one-month break before the next episode airs. Compare this to The Flash and it seems like the writers thought fans would think their break up and Felicity's regain of her legs to be as shocking as the reveal of the Big Bad as the sister show did.
• Having just been escorted to a jail cell, Big Bad Damien Darhk reaches slowly and dramatically into his mouth... and pulls out his wedding ring, which he then slips on. While dramatic music plays. This is what Season 4, Episode 16 ends on. The fact that the ring is set up as a Chekhov's Gun that will somehow help him, but then never does, makes this scene even more confusing in hindsight.
• The supposedly massive reveal at the end of "Beacon of Hope", which features Malcolm Merlyn having a conversation with a mysterious figure in a car. The camera pans around to reveal... Andy Diggle, who mutely stares at Merlyn with a look on his face so stupid it defies explanation.
• The fact that the HIVE's Evil Plan for Season 4 somehow involves corn. This doubles as Hilarious in Hindsight as a similar plot point occurred in Logan.
• Diggle's Spartan helmet, which seems too small for him.
• The final fight between Oliver and Damien, which is literally them taking turns punching each other, and ends with...
  • Damien Darhk's death might have carried a little bit more weight had he not flopped to the ground in a bizarrely perfect star shape, like he was in the middle of a jumping jack.
• As Mister Terrific, Curtis apparently cornrows his hair every time before he steps out into the field, something that would be impossible for him to do on such short notice unless he had the Flash's speed. Coupled with his mostly comics-accurate costume (which lacks the red eyes associated with the character due to wearing what is either face paint or a latex mask and not the nanite mask from the comics), Curtis's vigilante apparel veers more towards "goofy" than "cool."
• As well-meaning as it is, "Spectre of the Gun" can get pretty laughable as the entire episode is spent on a Debating 101 level discussion of gun control, with Curtis and Rene as the designated mouthpieces on both sides and zero characterization beyond that, paired with a flashback story meant to explain Rene's anti-control position that really seems like it would have pushed him the other way. And then the resolution is Oliver and a strawman conservative politician supposedly hammering out a new bill that, from what little we hear of it, doesn't seem like it actually changes a damn thing.
• The villain's plan in "Reversal" is to blow up the single room in the world that houses the whole, entire Internet. Yes, the show takes one of the biggest "old people don't understand the Internet" jokes out there and plays it absolutely dead straight.
• Oliver and Felicity's wedding. Even when one looks past the fact that they got hitched by hijacking a much more popular couple, it's laughable. The people shilling Olicity as the perfect couple when they've proven time and time again that they don't work, along with the overblown shots of them staring at each other as sappy music plays, turn what the writers probably wanted to be a sweet moment into pure Glurge. People have compared it to a poor-quality YouTube shipping video.
• The fact that Brother Eye's real name is "Cooper Seldon", an extremely on-the-nose reference to The Big Bang Theory. It wouldn't be so egregious if he didn't show up again toward the end of season 4 as a major, plot-relevant character.
• After the B Team splits into their own group, Rene insists on constantly reminding Oliver that they’re not working together anymore, coming off like a five year old whining that he’s going to bed because he wants to.
• Grant Wilson returning in the present day causes a lot of amusement given he's played by the same actor as he was in Legends of Tomorrow rather than getting a Time-Shifted Actor. Given that he shouldn't be older than 12 in the present, yet appears in his thirties is incredibly laughable.

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