With the final moments of Arrow’s fifth season throwing the future of pretty much 90% of the series’ key players up in the air, the genre fave’s sixth year was certainly a hugely anticipated one. Now out on home release, was Arrow’s sixth season worth the wait or was it ultimately a missed opportunity for the Arrowverse originator?
If you remember back, the end of Season Five saw Stephen Amell’s Emerald Archer’s world go up in literal flames, as uber-baddie Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) blew up the island of Lian Yu with a whole host of Oliver’s nearest and dearest on it. Sure, Ollie safely had his son in his arms as that explosive finale played out, but audiences were left with the cliffhanger of just who made it off Lian Yu alive and what repercussions were to follow. Truth be told, said fallout really wasn’t all that much.
The potential death and carnage of that fifth season finale is revealed to not be that major after all when Season Six begins. Yes, there is some sort of fallout, but that finale is not the cast-devouring event that many had anticipated. The biggest change in the show, mind, is that Oliver now has custody of his son, William (Jack Moore). Add full-time parenthood to his other jobs as Star City’s Mayor and the city’s hooded protector, and that’s quite the plates to keep spinning for the Emerald Archer. Then, of course, there’s the nefarious Cayden James (Michael Emerson) and his plans to cause all kinds of chaos.
Littered throughout Arrow’s sixth year are the themes of choices and responsibilities, of balancing the many facets of one’s life, of prioritising what is truly important. Those are the constant troubles facing our beloved Master Bowman, and in typical Oliver Queen fashion, he doesn’t always make the right decisions. But that’s part of his charm; that he does mess up at times, that he does make mistakes. Oh, and that he does get really, really angry and decide to beat the tar out of Star City’s criminal element as a result. Where said criminal element is concerned this time out, it’s hard to fully discuss that matter without veering towards spoiler territory. So with that in mind, let’s just say that the sinister threat to Ollie and Team Arrow becomes far, far better as Season Six progresses. Those coming in to this latest season and expecting great things early on, yeah, maybe not so much. After a relatively slow start – not helped by the so-so handling of the fallout from Lian Yu’s explosion – this season really does begin to rocket along as twists, turns, break-ups, make-ups, and constant inner turmoil bubble away nicely.
Season Six of Arrow was pegged as a game-changing one for the show, although the sort of tonal shifts and readjustment of key players that many fans were hoping for doesn’t exactly happen here. That’s not to say that this isn’t some pretty brilliant television at times, mind, and the season becomes utterly gripping towards its latter stages. Again, no spoilers, but things get all kinds of intense as the worlds of both Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow face the sort of threat that has rarely been seen in Arrow. And along with that, there are very real consequences as this season plays out.
Arrow’s sixth season most certainly does see the series veer off in a slightly different direction – largely down to Ollie’s newfound reputation as a full-time father – but it’s not quite the radical change-up some were expecting. It is, however, another season of this genre favourite show that has far, far more ups than downs for viewers, with the action more brutal than ever, the villain one of the series’ very best, and a fascinating look at the mindset of Oliver Queen. Elsewhere, the rest of the show’s main players all step up to the plate as ever, and Juliana Harkavy’s Dinah Drake is the standout of the bunch as she goes from strength to strength with each passing episode; Harkavy again marking herself out as one of the most interesting, entertaining parts of Arrow.
In terms of the bonus material included on this release, the four featurettes included are hugely enjoyable. As is always the case with each season of Arrow’s home release, there’s some great footage from last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and then each of the other featurettes explore the Arrowverse-wide Crisis on Earth-X crossover, the villainous Cayden James, and then the ridiculously popular Slade Wilson (who may or may not pop up in this latest season…).
Is Season Six Arrow‘s best yet yet? No, no it’s not. That honour still goes to the show’s second season – a season which ranks right up their as an all-time great of genre TV. But while this isn’t Arrow at its very best, it’s still a show that is hugely enjoyable for the most part. It just seems as if every year teases the return to a more minimalist approach in terms of the amount of characters highlighted in the series, only to throw even more heroes and villains into the mix. By the time that Season Six comes to an end, though, it really does appear that maybe, just maybe, it’s going to be a lonely old road for Oliver Queen in the soon-to-premiere seventh season.
Special Features: Four featurettes
ARROW: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: STEPHEN AMELL, EMILY BETT RICKARDS, DAVID RAMSAY, PAUL BLACKTHORNE, JULIANA HARKAVY, MICHAEL EMERSON, KIRK ACEVADO / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
