Like previous years, some of the fanbase aren’t feeling Arrow Season 5. They weren’t feeling Season 4, they weren’t feeling Season 3...you can’t make everyone happy. Stephen Amell knows this. He’s been very vocal with fans over the last five seasons and last week was no different. Responding to the recent push in negativity on his flourishing Facebook page, Amell went on the defense when it came to fans saying Oliver is an unlikable character this season.
Amell points out the straw that broke the camel's back for some viewers this season is when Oliver asks Felicity to basically fix his romantic relationship with Susan Williams. Granted, it was Thea and Felicity fault they broke up in the first place. But many fans still thought this was kind of rude, even though Felicity broke up with Oliver then moved on with Detective Malone, who was subsequently killed by Oliver. Damn this show is complicated. Anyway, a lot of fans seemed to have a problem with the fact Oliver “sided” with Susan over Felicity and Thea.
“A lot of people find oliver unlikable this season, which is totally fine,” Amell says. “It’s okay not to like Oliver, but really, that’s what did it?”
Amell clearly has his defense prepared and starts naming off events in the last four seasons where Oliver was way more of a dick.
“In Season 1, Oliver was a murderer who killed dozens of people and led his friend down a dark path into his untimely death;”
“In Season 2, Slade murdered his mother and Oliver’s go-to move after being powerless to stop it was to ostensibly commit suicide by giving himself up to Slade. Guhhh;”
“In Season 3, he turns his back on the team and kidnaps Diggle’s wife, putting his kid in real danger, and actually putting his wife in danger too. That was unfortunate;”
“In Season 4, Oliver built a relationship with Felicity on one thing exclusively-- I mean love, and fun and bedroom antics-- but primarily trust, but then he lied to her aggressively, then again by omission, and she walked out on him, like she should have. He asked her to stay, she said no, and he knew he deserved it.”
Amell concludes he could probably come up with 20 more reasons, so he doesn’t totally understand why fans think Oliver is unlikable right now, as opposed to other moments in the series.
”I think Oliver was right for the way he handled the situation. He didn’t think that Susan Williams would expose him as the Green Arrow and he thought Thea and Felicity went too far.”
The moment when Oliver asked Felicity to fix his breakup did strike me as odd and I definitely noticed my reaction while watching the episode. But Oliver is juggling a lot as Mayor and Green Arrow and he’s seeing two women he really cares about go off the rails. When it comes down to it, Felicity’s hacking skills were the only way Susan was going to get her job back. Shit, Oliver was just doing the right thing, which he’s been known not to do in previous seasons. Keep it up, Ollie.
Watch Stephen Amell’s full Facebook Live Q&A here. How do you feel about Oliver this season? Let us know in the comments.
