Arrow - Spoilers galore

Yeah, this show just seems to be sputtering. I had hopes for the earlier part of the season and things seemed like they were improving, but they've fallen back into their old habits of bad writing and weak characterization. The flashbacks are also now completely pointless. They should have been abandoned after season 2.

And soap opera is exactly right. That's exactly what it feels like. Unlike The Flash, which very much always feels like the writers are building towards something and have well placed plot reveals that crescendo at just the right time, Arrow feels like they're bouncing around trying to figure out a narrative path forward and can't ever settle on anything other than falling back on more Oliver/Felicity nonsense.

I was all about the show for the first two seasons. Last season was rough and I fell behind a lot. Damian Darhk and the HIVE plot showed promise at first, but it's sputtering again. Badly. Flash remains appointment viewing and I've really turned around on Supergirl, but Arrow is just kind of an afterthought now.