With fourteen episodes left, there's still plenty of time for Season 3 to take a turn. We don't even know the identity of the big bad of the year. Is it Ra's al Ghul? Is it Malcolm Merlyn? Is it Gerry the executive assistant? (Spoiler alert: It's probably not Gerry.) What we can gauge of the rest of the season follows from the character growth that has been more or less consistent for the main players. Oliver has been trying to figure out how to live outside of his hood. Diggle is balancing his two lives. Felicity is reaching for more in hers than what is available to her in the foundry. Laurel is struggling in the wake of Sara. Roy is maturing. Aside from a few decisions based more on plot contrivance than logic, the character progressions have been high points of the season. Now, in the episodes following Oliver's death, the progression must carry on as Team Arrow processes the loss of their friend and leader. They must be given time to mourn rather than hustled into the next arc. Oliver was immensely important to each of the three, and those relationships must be given their due in January. Laurel should be angry or upset or disbelieving that Oliver never said goodbye. Thea should be confused. Heck, Quentin should be allowed to miss his pseudo partner. The show needs to transition us from the first half of the season to the second without falling back into a reset.
Fiction buff and writer. If it's on Netflix, it's probably in my queue. I've bought DVDs for the special features and usually claim that the book is better than the movie or show (and can provide examples). I've never met a TV show that I won't marathon. Follow on Twitter @lah9891 .
