9 Problems Nobody Wants To Admit About The Arrowverse
5. It Peaked Four Years Ago
The CW
While strides have been made as the universe has progressed, there's no getting away from the fact that we're yet to see a season of DC television as fine as Arrow's second.
While it still had issues, Season 2 of Arrow is so far the only one that's been able to provide a cogent, dramatic and character-driven storyline. Season 1 of the Flash also lays a claim to this title, despite its teething issues, but even then the universe has struggled to regain the same kind of urgency and momentum that second season did back in 2013.
Manu Bennett - now thankfully a series regular - burst onto the scene as Slade Wilson with a truly compelling performance as Oliver's onetime friend turned adversary, with the show dividing its time carefully between flashbacks on the island (which were always a highlight), and the present day. It wasn't the Green Arrow we knew from the comics, but there was enough in there to provide encouragement that A: things were set to change, and B; that it could become so much more than your typical CW series is often held to be.
Season 3 set about curtailing those expectations almost immediately, and things have been on the decline ever since... except for one show.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
