Arrow Season 4 

regularly hit gold during its freshman and sophomore runs, but missed the mark at times its third time around. How can Season 4 restore the superhero drama’s uncanny aim?

Arrow @ Comic-Con: Oliver Gets a Heroic New Look, Diggle (Finally) Suits Up, Anarky Reigns and More

When last we tuned in, Oliver had defeated Ra’s al Ghul after being groomed, against his will, to succeed to the League of Assassins’ boss man. And though the archer had a plan all along to break the hold Ra’s had on his loved ones, the elaborate ruse nonetheless put his team’s solidarity to the test.

In the end, the latest iteration of Team Arrow — Laurel’s Black Canary and costumed Thea included — proved their ability to survey Starling City in Oliver’s absence, while the Man Formerly Known as The Arrow indulged in a getaway with his lady love, Felicity.

VIDEOSArrow Team Previews ‘Olicity’ Road Trip, Premiere’s Shocking Ending

With so much — not the least of which is Oliver’s role as masked vigilante — in play, TVLine loaded its quiver with our hopes for Season 4. Review our wish list below, then share your own ideal

It cannot be denied – “Arrow” S3 went juuuuuust a bit off the rails – Felicity reduced to the weepy apex of a pointless love triangle, Diggle banished to work the coms in the Arrowcave, Roy’s journey to a faked death, Sara’s death and Laurel’s transition to Black Canary, the Hong Kong flashbacks (the horror, the horror!)

Still and all, the season was nearly redeemed by a strong villain, an exiting climax and the sight of Oliver smiling (smiling!) as he and Felicity drove off into the sunset.

My hopes for S4 – a costumed Diggle (the Guardian?), a somewhat more competent Laurel still being trained by Nyssa, Oliver returning to costume sooner rather than later, Thea not descending into full-blown psychosis, plenty of Neal McDonough and even more John Barrowman and, of course, S1 quality Felicity(like Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo, no more tears!)

My main fear – that we might be bidding adieu to Paul Blackthorne’s Quentin. As evil as Damien Dahrk is being advertised, death is usually that kind of guy’s calling card, and Quentin seems the most likely target. It would be extraordinarily cruel to kill off Quentin without giving him a reunion with a resurrected Sara, but it’s the kind of thing I could see “Arrow” writers doing. I would enjoy being wrong about that.

Quentin Lance is not allowed to be killed off until they at least test the Quentin/Donna idea. Give that man a story. Arrow needs to stop killing off characters I like while keeping ones that aren’t clicking.

I love Quentin and would love to see him get a meaningful story arc.

“How can Season 4 restore the superhero drama’s uncanny aim?” stop ripping off Batman?

I have always preferred Green Arrow to Batman, and am just fine with the borrowings from Batman. It’s not like the same producers had both shows going.

I wonder if you would think the same if they removed everything from Batman the show has used.

Yes to Deadshot not being dead. One of the most memorable recurring characters the show has.

Sadly, it probably won’t happen due to the Suicide Squad movie.

I much prefer this Deadshot to what I have seen of the big screen one. I would absolutely love it if he turned out to be still alive. I will not be sitting through that drek of a movie in any case.

My hopes for season 4? Diggle finally getting a well deserved storyline of his own. I also never want to see him staying behind in the lair while lesser ‘heroes’ go out to play. NO. He’s a soldier. He’s the best guy for the job. I want to see Oliver happy and not keeping plans to himself like he did last season. He needs to be more of a team player.

I hope we get to see Oliver and Felicity in a loving, happy relationship. I don’t need sunshine all the time, ups and downs are fine, but I want them to stay together. None of this breaking them up and keeping the apart again. It just doesn’t work.

I want to see Thea kicking ass but also maybe some repercussions of being put in the pit. I was surprised nothing happened there. I don’t want to see Malcolm again. And I’d prefer as little as Laurel as possible. I’m super excited about seeing Sara again. The BC of my heart! I don’t care what they do with Quentin. Laurel selfishly keeping Sara’s death a secret from him basically ruined his character for me. Oh and I really hope we get a better villain this time. Ra’s al Ghul was so weak I spent most of the season bored by him. I do hope we see Nyssa again though. She’s awesome.

Oh, I forgot to add about Felicity. Unlike a lot of people who can’t seem to handle a female crying when everything around her is going to hell, I didn’t mind that she cried a lot. I understood it. The season was depressing as hell. It would have been weird if she had been her usual bubbly self. But I’m looking forward to seeing her happy again. I hope she doesn’t spend another season propping other characters though. We’re in the fourth season and I feel like I know so little about her. I want to know more. I think she deserves her own storyline that’s separate from Oliver and the team and it needs to be about HER. Last year was more about Ray than Felicity and it made me furious. Felicity is more than a love interest.

It would have been fine if she cried a couple of times, but all she did was whine and cry. She couldn’t deliver one line without crying. They completely ruined felicity. You can thank the shippers. They’ve ruined Arrow with their olicity obsession!

Yeah, because obviously it was the Olicity shippers who wanted their preferred pairing NOT together and instead separately miserable, with one dating a toad. That makes perfect sense.

She didn’t cry all the time. And she had every right to cry after everything that happened. Her friend died. And then the man she loved told her he couldn’t be with her but also that he was kind of hoping she’d wait around. Then he kept her dangling with repeated mentions of his feelings all the while pushing her away. Then he went away and essentially died, only to come back and team up with the man that killed their friend and over 500 people. I’m not surprised she cried. It was traumatising.

Oh and please stop blaming Olicity shippers for everything. They haven’t ruined Arrow at all. No one held a gun to the writers head and told them to put Oliver and Felicity in a romantic relationship. It’s the culmination of 3 years of build up. So. Ok, you don’t like that pairing. Fair enough. Get over it. Stop talking about it. Anyone would think you have the obsession if you keep babbling on about it.

The way you described it above, Oliver sounds like a manipulative, emotionally abusive butt-face liar. So, why should anyone not want Felicity to do better?

I’m with you, honestly. Prior to S3 Oliver Queen was one of my all-time favorite tv characters, but I basically hate him now. Along with emotionally-abusive narcissistic moron, he’s also borderline sociopathic. His whole “my ends justify my means” thing creeps me out to no end. Felicity should worry he’s going to knife her in the middle of the night for some unknown, but in his mind justified, reason, not go toddling off into the sunset with him. It’s no surprise he joined up with Malcolm; they have very similar personalities.

@Drew. I don’t think Oliver is as bad as you’re suggesting but he made some bad choices in season 3, choices which did hurt Felicity. I just don’t think he intended to do those things. He does love her. It’s not like he set out to hurt her. And I don’t think I said anything about people not wanting Felicity to do better. I just said I wish people should stop blaming Olicity shippers for everything when the season as a whole was really poor.

The season as a whole was very poor. Olicity was handled especially poorly, just like the Captain Lance arc and the Ra’s arc. With that foundation for this romantic pairing, it is understandable that people want it gone. It has offered nothing but stupid writing (Felicity and Ra’s talking about boys rather than his… Y’know… Killing her horribly) and tore down Felicity’s character. She became the crying girl back home who had no clue what was going on at any given point. There is good reason for people to hate that relationship. Now the writers either have to make us change our minds, or they have to end it. Either way, what we saw of them in season 3 must end.

@Drew. Again! I’m glad you recognise that everything was badly handled. Thank you. I’m just sick of everyone placing the blame on Olicity when that was just one part of it. And that’s fair if you don’t enjoy that relationship. Each to their own. But I like their dynamic and chemistry and I truly think that now that they’ve stopped trying to keep them apart in all sorts of contrived ways (half the reason why they didn’t work as well as they usually do in season 3) that we’ll see a return to form. But that’s IMO. And I don’t think they’d end it after going to so much trouble to set them up as the main romantic pairing. Anyway, thanks for talking to me nicely. It makes a change.

YES to Felicity not being wasted propping, building, and helping spin-off other characters. If she can build all that for others it’s time for Arrow to build HER for her. Get to her story, explore her in a significant way, let’s start seeing a destiny destination take form for her the way it has for all the other characters. Love Felicity. She’s amazing. What I don’t want to see is a storyline that takes her out of the sphere of everybody else again. That was just brutal last year. She rarely interacted with the characters I like (Oliver, Diggle, Thea, Quentin, even Malcolm). So yes to her getting her own story but it needs to be woven through & with the others.

I agree, I definitely want to know more on Felicity’s backstory. I’m hoping that Damien Dark is her dad (or at least that we find out who her dad is this season). And a happy Olicity with ups/downs (but still together) is good too. And definitely want to see more Diggle in action, he definitely did not deserve to be sidelined to the comms.

I feel like the only person who doesn’t want Damien Dahrk to be her dad. He’s too evil. I kind of like it that Felicity has a normal family. But if it means we get to learn more about her, then I’ll deal. :)

Thank you, Liz. I agree with everything. My dissatisfaction with season 3 was that it was depressing as he$$. It was a character building season. Dingle was sidelined, when he is the badass soldier of the team when Oliver was missing and apparently died. Laurel is best as an attorney, IMO. Det Lance was ruined season 3. I adore Paul Blackthorne as Quenten. But, not as a vengeful dad. Laurel was the one who lied to him. She needed to take ownership of that, but, didn’t. I’m hoping for happy Oliver, not a manipulative tyrant, which he can be sometimes. And, Oliver is my favorite. Not pleased by that entire story arc last season for him. I’m so excited for Neil McDonald to be Damian Darhk. Never felt anything sinister from Ra’s Al Ghul season 3. Just devious and backstabbing. Not, what was to be so omninous and viscous as what I thought he’d be. Most of last season was a wash IMO. The best part was Oliver being alive and in a happy place for once. Felicity has been a favorite of mine, until season 3. I never liked what was done with her character at all. I miss Sara and Roy.

Yes to all of this! The Felicity hate was weirdly strong last year (especially since Barry cried every 2nd episode on The Flash and no one seemed to complain about that), but she’s best when she’s bringing lightness to the team.

Though I still have hope for Quentin. It’s his involvement with Laurel that nose dived his character.

I actually liked Quentin. But then Laurel lied to him repeatedly and the fallout of that just ruined his character for me. I’m still annoyed about it. She’s to blame and yet Oliver gets the brunt of Quentin’s anger. So weird. I just wash my hands of all the Lance stuff now. Over it!

Quentin’s great when they let him out of the cage to actually interact with characters I like like Oliver, Felicity… wait. Does he even know Diggle? Have they had scenes? They need to broaden that man’s horizons.

I agree about Quentin’s anger aimed at Oliver. Why didn’t Laurel fess up and tell her father SHE was the one who made the decision not to tell her father about Sara. I am still annoyed by that. Anyway, I hope season 4 is more inviting. Yes, season 3 has some missteps. But, I love this show. I like all of your very calm and rational responses especially to those who keep blaming Olicity for all the problems of season 3. It makes me think they didn’t watch the show at all.

The Quentin storyline was appalling. I was so frustrated the whole time because it was Laurel’s decision to lie to Quentin and she bought the team in on her lies. So when Quentin turned all of his hate at Oliver and the Arrow, it didn’t feel deserved. If Laurel had tried to reason with him and said it was her fault, that would have helped but she didn’t. She just let Oliver take the blame. It was so badly done and really off-putting.

And thank you, Drew. I enjoy Olicity but I don’t think they were always on form in season 3. They had good moments but I do see the failings of that season. I think to say that they were the best part of the season is as inaccurate to say that they were the worst. But to blame the romance for everything is just unfair. There was nothing really good about season 3. I can’t think of one good thing that happened. I’m hopeful that season 4 is a return to form. It sounds positive so far.

I want Diggle and Felicity to each get their own story arcs, hopefully that will mean H.I.V.E/Andy/Diggle and (finally) finding out who Felicity’s father is. I also want more focus on the core three of Oliver, Diggle and Felicity. For me, the show was at its best when it focused on Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity (ie: the first half of Season Two). Olicity should be a happy, stable, consistent relationship, that is mostly in the background (ie: Felicity’s whole arc shouldn’t revolve around her dating Oliver and vice versa).

I’d also like minimal time spent on launching Legends of Tomorrow. Arrow has spent a lot of time in the last few seasons launching characters for this spin-off (Sara, Ray) and launching Barry/The Flash. So it’s time that Arrow focused its story arcs on its own regular characters (ie: Oliver/Diggle/Felicity/Thea) and not on guest stars or spin-offs.

The core three have always been the interesting and captivating ones on the show. A great villain defines the hero so I hope this season we are blown away.

Agreed. I’d love it if they didn’t keep using Arrow to launch all these spin-offs but I think that’s a fantasy now.

Yes! Great post and you brought up a great point about all the spin-offs and the frustration of having Arrow used as the breeding ground for every new spin off and spin off character. It got old awhile ago. Get back to Arrow *on* Arrow and start letting these shows pull their own weight on their own time instead of borrowing Arrow’s.

Oliver not being the actual dumbest television character ever to manage successfully to breathe.

I agree with most of this list but do hope that we get a little more than incidental olicity, it is an important piece of the show and I think all we need is balance with the love story and the action. I do a hundred percent agree that we need more Diggle and Lyla and hopefully Original Team Arrow gets ALOT of focus this season because the show mostly works because of that trio. Looking forward to Oliver, Diggle, Felicity, Thea, Quentin and Lyla’s journeys this season though.

I think what they meant by ‘incidental Olicity’ is that there’s drama around them, but not because of them – which I’d love. After all the angst and mishandling of their slow burn last year, I’d love to see them happy and working as a team.

Oliver, Felicity and Diggle. That’s all I need and I’m tuning in every week.

There is this sheep mentality in the fandom right now that because one person said Felicity cried all the time then it must be true. And I’d like to add that unlike some people, I don’t need to see Felicity of season 1 if she’s only liked because she is comic relief. Crying isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s what you do with you pain that makes you strong. I’m thinking that taking down Slade, helping Oliver to become a hero, saving his life, helping Ray suit up, while giving Barry some much needed advice is all forgotten about just because the woman cries when the love of her life dies and then comes back and then leaves to join a group of assassins. Like you wouldn’t cry too. Felicity is the strongest character in the show in my opinion because she expresses all her emotions instead of hiding from them. Her first boyfriend comes back from the dead and kidnapped her but she handle him like a boss. Don’t be a sheep!

Same. Oliver, Diggle and Felicity make this show. I like a few other characters like Thea and I really liked Roy, but I can pretty much leave everyone else. Give me those three and I’m very happy.

And thank you for the Felicity/crying comment. I didn’t like seeing her so sad all the time but crying was natural in the face of everything she dealt with. And I was glad to see her grow beyond comic relief. She’s more than that. She’s an amazing character. She has more layers now.

And really, with all this complaining that all she does is cry, well when she doesn’t cry at all next season, given that it’s a lighter season, all these haters will have no reason to moan all the time. Hahaha. Seriously. If that’s their only complaint, it’s like the easiest thing to fix. LOL.

All really good points made by Matt and Vlada. Season three was terrible IMO there is no point in mincing words this show always teetered on the edge of strong masked vigilante drama and soap opera the problem last season (one of them at least) was it became more soap opera than strong drama, and by doing so greatly damaged a lot of characters most importantly was Felicity. I’m sorry if this offends anyone but Olicity needs to end it was all well and good when it was just the tertiary flirt, glance, or one of Felicity’s golden quips but ever since it became a more integral part of the show it has cheapened both characters for me by making Felicity a wining nagging crybaby and Oliver a weak guilt fest, again sorry but it’s just my opinion. I really hope this season they push it to the background and concentrate more on getting back to season 1 & 2 focused drama. I’m stoked about Neal he is a great actor and a fantastic Baddie can’t wait to see what they do with Darhk. I also hope they continue developing Laural.

Felicity may have cried a bit much, but Oliver went from a guy who could think tactically in seconds (e.g., knowing exactly where the fire extinguisher was when McKenna interrupted him in going after China White so he could turn and shoot it to create a diversion) and learn two very difficult languages (Russian and Mandarin) so well that he could pass as a native speaker to a guy who was so stupid that, among many other stupid decisions, he told the League of Assassins that the bad guy they were after was his little sister’s bio-dad for no reason whatsoever, and sabotaged a plane in a way that it would go down at the end of its flight, when it was over the nice populated USA instead of the high plains of the evil guys’ hideout, and with a mostly-empty gas tank so that it wouldn’t explode. Meaning rescuers rushing to the site of the crash would get a nice dose of the bioweapon from the now-broken glass vials. Oh, and who was thoughtful enough to ensure there was ONE FREAKING PARACHUTE right there for RAG to use to survive the planned crash. S3 Oliver is an absolute, utter moron, and by far the most ruined main character, with probably Quentin just behind him. He is the dumbest “superhero” since The Tick, who is at least funny in his stupidity.

I think a large part of the issues with Season 3 when it came to character as a whole for everybody across the entire canvas is that choices were made by plot-driven need, not character. It turns everybody into a pretzel. Oliver suffered from a passive stance all season. It was like he never made choices, he was pushed into things. He only reacted to everything, which made him like a passenger in his own life vs. the driver. Arrow also suffered for not putting consistent, spoken aloud character POVs on the screen. We had to constantly guess why characters were doing what they were doing and that would go on for episodes at a stretch before someone finally said, “I did that because of X” or “I reacted that way because I felt xyz.” Sometimes we didn’t even get *that.* You can’t do that. We need to know WHY characters make the choices they do. So hopefully that improves a lot in season 4.

I agree with all of your hopes, and what I heard from Comic Con, it sounds like at least the first two will be addressed fully. Like Oliver is going to have a lot more of Stephen’s actual personality seep in (and if you don’t know, Stephen is actually kind of fun) and Felicity already has a story line set up to make her independent of the emotional romance of everything. Like, I could see the showrunners looking at one of their own relationships and be like, wait, they could easily be like us where they are fun and cool together but they have their own thing going on. But, like, it might be similarly interesting to introduce more of Emily’s own personality into Felicity (with less swearing) and I sense Mr. Terrific’s introduction might be how they are doing this (probably observing Emily and Colton’s dynamic which was fun).

I just have to think that this season is more focused on Diggle’s mission and everything and Oliver is actually more of a backseat person, well, also because it might take them a bit to figure out how to have him, the guy either who is supposed to be dead or is wanted for murder, integrate back in.

They had to hear all the complaints about Hong Kong, which I really think could have been a two episode arc while Oliver was recuperating. Leave it as a mystery who this guy that Oliver kept calling Maseo but insisted his name was Sarab and then answer it. It might have made his death sadder. I mean I even hope we know the answer to Diggle’s issue are back there from the beginning and we want to yell at Oliver to think about that and that might be the big surprise when whoever shows up actually shows up.

The thing with Laurel is that she can’t just be part of Team Arrow. Black Canary is her own hero, and a pretty big deal. Eventually, Laurel will have to have her own action, aside from the team. And she will need to become Oliver’s equal… But not over night.

Malcolm, I honestly have no idea about. I don’t get why he is on the show.

Captain Lance needs more than nookie with Felicity’s mother. He was completely destroyed last year. A great character was butchered. I don’t know how he can come back from that without our having to play stupid and forget that it ever happened. Nothing about the police force in the later episodes made any sense!

Maybe Lance can end up in prison and make some apologies from there.

Oliver’s equal? I think that was done for in season 3 when they couldn’t even work together without ruthless barbs and no respect on Laurel’s part for Oliver. Btw, you’re probably one of the ones who hates Original Team Arrow but they were there first and Oliver all ready has two equals and partners and their names are John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. The Eps, the press and the actors, especially David Ramsey himself have admitted that that trinity is the core of the show so that’s not changing just because Laurel copied her sister’s outfit. Not the comics, buddy.

Okay, I don’t think I’ve used this line since the turn of the millennium, but take a chill pill. Don’t have a cow, man.

You want them to take one of the strongest female comic book characters and use her only as a bumbling, whiny, side-side-sidekick? No. This may not be the comics, but she is still Black Canary. That means that she will never be a part of the core Team Arrow (omg, you got something right!), because her arc should be taking her toward her own mission and her own team.

People love to whine about how this isn’t the comics, so none of the comic book traditions apply. But just like Sara died and The Canary gave way to Laurel’s Black Canary, and just like The Arrow is transitioning into Green Arrow, and just like Thea (aka Mia) became Speedy, and just like Ray is figuring out how to shrink… The comic books are still in play. The only people who can’t see that are the ones who are clinging desperately to Olicity, which doesn’t even make a difference anyway. I don’t care who ends up with whom, but to turn Dinah Lance (Laurel is her middle name) and Black Canary into anything less than Oliver’s equal will be insulting to just about everyone, from comic book geeks, right on down to the feminists.

They don’t need to fall in love, but Laurel should not be his underling. Not after knowing him for as long as she has, and not with their history.

You hit on a few decent points, but I’ll have to disagree with a few. Fans have to stop demanding that Felicity Smoak remain the static character she was often portrayed as in season one. It’s insulting. It denies her character the evolution and changes that every other character has received on the show. As a fan, she’s not there to only serve as the break some of you need from Arrow’s gritty nature. That places her in a position of being denied agency and depth as a character. Having said that, I had issues with season three. For example, the fact that powers were introduced but not for the betterment of Oliver Queen, the show’s protagonist. Which seems ridiculous to me. I miss the grounded gritty nature of seasons one and two that contained more grit, street fighting (brawling), parkour, and hand-to-hand combat. Let’s put away the swords and stop portraying every character as proficient with a bow. Another point is this new formula of insta-heroes, it waters down Oliver’s journey, the gravity and personal experience it took to get him there. What is it, 8-9 years now for Oliver? Yet others are dong it in a span of weeks or months? Most importantly, it’s not necessary to pretend as if the original team arrow core dynamic (Oliver, Diggle, Felicity) weren’t a well oiled machine for three years with every role filled with a specific expertise or purpose. It’s palpable when you sideline any of these characters simply as a way to incorporate new additions. It highlights the redundant nature of their existence. Arrow has failed to show me what these new additions offer to the team other than strength in numbers. Another point, Arrow can’t continue to be used as a vehicle for spinoff shows and DC characters with potential. I know more about guest stars and recurring characters than I do the Arrow characters I watch for. They need to spend more time fleshing out their own cast. It’s taken 2 years to simply circle back to HIVE and PapaSmoak. Also, and I think this is huge, it has not escaped my attention that I just spent an entire season following the fallout and ramifications of Sara’s murder, only clearly it was a waste of my time considering they’re bringing her back to life. The Sara drama has to stop on Arrow. It’s never-ending. If she was supposed to impact the show for so long like this it sort of defeats the purpose of Laurel Lance. It’s all become too redundant and annoying. Finally, people need to let go of this notion that Arrow isn’t a drama and littered with soapy drama since it’s began. For example: Paternity reveals, sister swapping, romantic angst, cheating, lies, scandals, long lost kids, unplanned pregnancies, drug and alcohol abuse, sleeping with your father’s mistress, daddy issues, love triangles, you name it, Arrow has shown it. So why the pearl clutching now, it’s almost irrational. Peace.

Excellent post and yes, all of that, especially the part about Felicity Smoak deserving the right to be and grow as a character and BE a character, not just stuck in some one-mode thing, which I firmly believe the writers have zero intention of doing. She’s going to get her own presence in stories, just as everybody else has. She gets that right as a series regular.

You also brought up a great point about powers. I just can’t with this on Arrow. It really causes problems. Arrow is supposed to be ground, gritty, and real. When they bring powers on it makes the whole show wobble for me & it almost forces Arrow to bring on other super-powered heroes to handle it because Oliver *can’t.* I just don’t care for it at all.

LOL at the reality of soap opera elements. So flipping true. I know it “sounds good” as a criticism but there is nothing about any show that isn’t born of soap opera elements. Singing “Let it go” here.

Arrow needs — first and foremost — to remember that it’s not the masks that make characters interesting. It’s the people under them. If you haven’t made me care about that character? Slapping leather and latex on them isn’t going to make them instantly riveting. If anything, it makes it feel forced, contrived, rushed, unearned, and, well, dull.

Well said. I agree. If I don’t care about the character to begin with, slapping them in a mask won’t change that. And the powers thing has clearly been done to justify the presence of other characters but never Oliver or his journey. It’s been used so poorly thus far. Look at how Ray zapped Roy and the show just left him there with viewers wondering if the boy was dead. Why? Because how would viewers know his “zap” or the use of powers wasn’t lethal? It’s just messy and has no place on Arrow. This isn’t the Flash and I think it’s insulting to fans that watched Arrow to change it to accommodate powers on another show. It’s made me stop watching the Flash, because I resent the intrusion on Arrow.

Fans need to stop demanding what they want? Seriously? Fans are entitled to voice and campaign for whatever they want too whether they like or hate something. The writers don’t have to listen and most of the time they don’t but when they do yay for those fans. TV is always in motion and soon enough they’ll be other aspects that fans like or hate its the way of this business and these fans won’t always be happy and maybe at the next spin you’ll get what you want and I bet you won’t be too happy with people telling you to stop liking what you like.

it always peeves me when just because someone doesn’t like something that others do they get pissed off at the fans of that liking. Instead of you guys being pissed off at these fan you should actively campaign for what you do like and what you do wish to see to the writers which would probably be more productive.

I agree that fans should ask for what they like. Focusing on the positives rather than hating on things is the best way to go. However, I do agree with Trish above about Felicity. Demanding that Felicity stay as that same season 1 ‘comic relief’ type of character is unfair. All characters should have growth and layers. And Felicity deserves more than being comic relief. But on the whole, yeah. Voice what you like. I don’t believe in complaining about what you hate though. That just falls on deaf ears most of the time.

Great points, though I don’t think complaining about Felicity’s behavior in S3 is the same as saying we don’t want her to evolve. She went through some heavy stuff; of course she deserved to be emotional and not just serve as the show’s comic relief. But there were episodes last season where I didn’t even recognize her. Like the one where Ray finds out that Oliver is the Arrow, and she ends up apologizing to him? And throwing that “you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” line in Oliver’s face. Who was that?!

I’m totally ready for Arrow to re-focus and get back to all the things that made this show strong. For me, that’s Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle. Those core three — their stories, their lives, their team-status, their loved ones — make the show fun to watch. I am beyond ready for Oliver to get some joy in his life and find a more even keel. Felicity regaining that spunk and sass will be great. And Diggle doing anything but monitoring the coms while people I don’t understand (and really don’t care about) venture into the field to get all the action.

I can’t wait to see Oliver and Diggle work to repair their relationship. Diggle/HIVE is a story I’ve been waiting for forever, same with Felicity and her father. What’s up with that? They’ve teased it for 3 seasons now. Hoping we see that pay off.

I’m also loving the idea that Oliver and Felicity will be a together couple. No more wishy-washy anything. Make them that united front, fighting to make that relationship work, and get them back into the action and adventure. I love romance and still want its presence woven into the show though. It still needs to *be* an element for them and for the story, and nothing compliments a romantic couple more than great adventure and danger.

I want Felicity to get back into the missions and the field, too, like she was in the first few seasons. No more benching her and keeping her out of the game for dumb reasons. Oh, and she should continue to build tech & weaponry too. I’d love to see her doing that for Oliver and the team this year.

I saw a little shout out there for Quentin Lane and Donna Smoak. Yes! Let’s do that! Quentin need a story of his own and he and Donna would make such a great couple with built in conflicts and fun. That would be so watchable.

Deadshot not being so dead, Oliver/Felicity/Diggle working as a team again, Felicity and Thea continuing to grow a friendship, Lyla and Felicity interacting more, organically integrated flashbacks, …. excited for all of those things.

They’ve so gotta do “Smoakin’ Lance”. Ever since I saw that picture of them together I’ve wanted that. The comedy potential would be immense.

I would imagine a lot of eye-rolling between Felicity and Laurel at the two of them. Ha! Bring it on.

I would love flashbacks to Olivers’s time away with Felicity.

Okay, my biggest hope for next season is the Oliver Felicity romance simply be a fact of life now and not create its own drama. I want to see the fact that they are a devoted couple simply be there in the background and not have its own story line. This would let Oliver lighten up and Felicity return more to the character we saw in season 1. Unlike some, I trust the writers (aside from what they have done with Laurel and with her relationship to her dad) and am really looking forward to what they will do with the main story lines for season 4.

Is it too much to ask that they kill off Laurel and bring back Sara full time?

Kill off the Felicity character. That would (i) give Oliver more angst; (ii) help clear the path for Arrow and Black Canary; and (iii) band the team together.

Excited for Damian Darhk and some more development for Oliver and Felicity! Can’t wait for season 4!

Oliver: Yeah, I wouldn’t mind an Oliver that isn’t always brooding. Can that be a thing?

Felicity: I’m with Emily Bett on this one; I want her to be more happy, too. Her wit was greatly missed, even if I understood it’s absence. But yeah, Olicity doesn’t have to star in the show, just be *part* of it, like Diggle and Lyla.

Diggle: Yes! More bromance, Diggle in the field… and maybe not a cumbersome ‘identity concealer’? The mask he’s worn previously would be a great permanent addition, if at all possible. Oh, and more of his family. What is Lyla doing, now that she’s not with ARGUS?

Thea: Yes, LP aftereffects, please. Though I have to ask: I know it was supposed to be functional, but why would the LOA put her in a dress with slits up to mid-thigh?

Laurel: Yeah, we need to see that she’s still learning, just to keep continuity. And if he’s available, I’d love to see J.R. Ramirez again.

Damian Darhk: My experience with this char is limited, to say the least, so I’m taking the ‘wait and see’ approach.

Sara: Will her family be unaware? We’ll see.

Malcolm: Ultimately, I think his ascension makes sense, and I think he’ll be a presence, even without showing his face, because that was how they played him thus far in the series. Though yes, his appearances will require some explanation. Maybe Damian will treat him as a nemesis, even though he’s not the Ra’s he knew?

Lyla: See Diggle. Though I think, what with her reason for quitting ARGUS, she might be the National Guard of Team Arrow.

Deadshot: Oh, I’d *love* it if he managed to survive. Please?

Lance: Oh, yes! Please, SmoaknLance! I don’t even care if they wind up as OTP! I just want some funny scenes with these two, it would be epic. And, of course, maybe a father/daughter reconciliation?

Flashbacks: Yeah, they could be better. More like seasons 1 and 2.

Honestly the only reason I’m watching Arrow at all this next season is for Sara. Otherwise I wouldn’t even be bothering. I used to love this show, but it started on a downhill slide starting with Shado’s execution in season two and hasn’t recovered. I’m really sick of characters doing stupid things because plot so dictates, not because it actually makes sense. Marc Guggenheim has said on his Tumblr that they’ve “gotten a lot of mileage out of Oliver having his head up his ass” and in an IO9 interview that he often jokes that “

Accidentally hit post. :( …”Oliver’s bad choices are part of the currency of the show.” I’m tired of it. As far as I’m concerned, the Malcolm/Ra’s/LoA plot this last season was a complete nonsensical disaster. The flashbacks, though I loved Tatsu and Maseo, were only vaguely connected to the present, and were mostly a waste of time. And as far as I’m concerned the only good thing to come out of Laurel’s BC arc was her friendship with Nyssa. And then there was Ray Palmer, who didn’t become interesting (to me) until episode 19 when he finally started interacting with someone other than Felicity.

So yeah. I hope they can right the ship and fix the problems. But I wouldn’t be sticking around to find out if it weren’t for Sara coming back. Just my perspective.

Fuller House: Nicky and Alex\'s Return Confirmed in New Photo

TV\'s Steamiest Sex: Watch Pulse-Raising OITNB, Scandal and Thrones Scenes (*If Your Boss Isn\'t Looking)

Pretty Little Liars Finale: Black Widow, Red Coat and More Will Be Revealed

Arrow Season 4: Our Hopes for \'Happy\' Oliver, Incidental Olicity, Sara and More

1General Hospital: Did You Approve of Luke\'s (& Anthony Geary\'s)…107

2Castle\'s Stana Katic Teases \'Event\' that Shifts Season 8 Into \'Higher…104

3Pretty Little Liars Finale: Black Widow, Red Coat and More Will Be…99

4Food Network Star Recap: The Nightmare Before Christmas77

Game of Thrones: 8 (Mostly) Plausible Ways Jon…