OLIVER’S SON
LUCIANA MANGAS: Ugh, don’t even get me started on this storyline. I just really, really dislike the whole thing. It’s not even the kid, really – I would love to see Daddy!Oliver – it’s just that the way that this plot was introduced felt like it was a cheap cop out and a contrived way to create drama just for the sake of drama. And let’s face it, Oliver is being a complete idiot about this entire situation. After all they went through last year, you’d think he would have learned from his mistakes and that keeping secrets from those he loves never ends well. And I understand that he wants a chance to get to know his son and everything and I don’t judge him for it. But would it have killed him to share this with Felicity – the woman he claims to want to spend the rest of his existence with and loves more than life itself – at the very least?
This is a storyline that we can see how it’s going to end from a mile away. We already got a preview during the crossover and, while I didn’t agree at all with Felicity’s reaction then, I can’t blame her for not wanting anything to do with Oliver when she does find out. And let’s be honest here, she will find out and I am willing to bet it will be in the worst way possible. I thought she had overreacted a little during the crossover – because hey, the guy had just found out he was a father. Give him a little time to wrap his head around the fact, right? – but now, when he will probably have had weeks, if not months to tell her? It’s going to get very ugly, very fast because he deliberately chose to keep this vital information from his family. Jesus, Oliver! When are you going to learn?
MELISSA SMITH: This is a huge departure from the comic book where Oliver’s son is the Red Arrow whose given name is Connor Hawke. Of course, Oliver Queen in the comic books is over 40, so having a grown son isn’t that strange. Connor’s mom is Oliver’s ex, Sandra Hawke, aka “Moonday.” Since Oliver Queen of ARROW appears to be in his mid-30s, having a grown-up son would be a stretch. So why introduce a son at all? My guess is the answer to the next question…
SHANA LIEBERMAN: Oliver Queen is a fool. There, I said it. He was asked to lie to the woman he loves, right when he was supposedly turning over a new leaf, and he was like, “yeah, sure. I’ll lie to Felicity.” Cool, bro. I understand Oliver’s desire to get to know his son, but if he had to lie to someone, why couldn’t it have been Whatshername? “Sure, I won’t tell anyone about my kid.” Cross your fingers behind your back, and immediately share with Felicity when you’re back home. It’s not graduate-level Probability Theory, and I’d know since I studied it in a past life.
After everything that went wrong on the last season of ARROW, much of which was caused by Oliver’s lies, one would think it might have been time for our hero to have learned his lesson. One would would have thought wrong. So much for positive character development.
MEREDITH ZYLBERBERG: So, as I was writing my notes before drafting, I came to this heading and simply wrote “nope.” And I half (okay, 72%) intended to just leave it there. Just… nope. I do not like it. I do not want it. I don’t buy the way they are doing it. I know I’m stuck with it, and I’m trying to view it as positively as I can, but so much of this storyline rings false to the characters and relationships the show has built. While I understand why the show constructed this the way they did, and even to an extent I can understand Oliver’s lie, I still don’t think it makes very much sense, and I maintain that there were at least five different ways this could have been handled while still coming across as dramatic and meaningful to the show’s landscape this season.
On top of that… I just don’t think ARROW is a show that is set up to have a kid in it. Kid storylines really don’t work unless they are part of the main plot. How is Oliver going to be superhero and dad? This is a show that should have saved the kid storyline for the series finale. Flashforward five years and show Oliver and Felicity and their triplets living happily ever after. I’m not interested in this story at all (beyond, at this point, the explosive fallout we’re sure to see for Oliver and Felicity.) Listen. I have a kid. I love my kid. I love the relationship my kid has with his father. But I just don’t care to see Oliver Queen as a father (right now), and I definitely don’t care to see whatever tropey storyline they throw at us with regards to the Baby Mama.
Next page: Who is in the grave?
