Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 24
Duration: 42 min (per episode)
Arrow: Season 7 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
The series that has taken several arrows to the knee and still doesn’t want to curl up and die, has finally been released on Blu-ray for its penultimate season. While the quality of Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl have been declining with every season, we are quite happy there is some light at the end of the tunnel. With Oliver Queen now in prison and the police now properly hunting outlawed vigilantes, Star City has once again changed its general demeanor. We were curious to see how much this series could still bring to the table, considering this used to probably be the strongest series out of all four, with The Flash as a close second.
Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) now finds himself in Slabside Prison for his actions as a vigilante. By doing this, he secures the safety of the other members of Team Arrow, as they will then be granted immunity. Nonetheless, Slabside is a corrupt place, and Oliver soon becomes the center of attention. At the same time, Diaz (Ricardo Acevedo) is still out to hurt Oliver’s family as it was he who made Diaz’s crime empire crumble.
At the same time, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and William (Jack Moore) have gone into the witness protection program, and try to lead a fairly ‘normal’ life. Soon they find Diaz at their doorstep, making it clear that they are not safe at all, now that the police have to take care of these affairs and that vigilantes are now outlawed.
For the most part, this season is about Oliver fighting for his release, apprehending Diaz, and doing something about the outlaw ban in Star City. The concept is simple, and the season tries to tackle many different subjects, which is somewhat of a plus.
As per usual, a season takes a bit too long to wrap things up. Because of this, there is a lot of filler content and many episodes just drag out certain events. We have to be honest, however, this season does have fewer issues with pacing than the previous ones, and the story arc is actually quite decent, albeit still much too long. This season could again be wrapped up in about ten episodes, which would have made the quality and the overall tension-factor that much higher. With the final season in sight, we hope the flow and story value again increases, somewhat restoring the former prestige of the series.
The cast of Arrow has seen many different faces of the years and many of the veterans have abandoned the sinking ship. Nonetheless, credit should be given where it’s due, and the acting performances, in general, remain fairly okay. There are a few characters that are a bit tedious or less convincing, especially now that Arrow also dabbles with multiple universes. Of course, with the crossovers with The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl, who is from another Earth, this was only a matter of time. Especially since they had to make sure that fan-favorite Katie Cassidy remained on board, after actually meeting her demise in the series. After we’ve seen Willa Holland, John Barrowman and many others leave, this was at least some consolation.
It’s getting a bit depressing when it comes to the special features on the recent DC releases. We have been getting the same feature about the villains for over a year now, on every single physical copy. Of course, the Elseworlds crossover will be another big part of the extras, as well as the typical gag reel and deleted scenes. Other than that, there’s the somewhat standardized Comic-Con panel, which is actually quite fun to have.
Conclusion
Arrow: Season 7 is an improvement over the 6th season and we hope the finale will be even better to make sure the series goes out with a bang. While it’s nice that this physical edition includes the Elseworlds episodes, the other extras we’ve gotten countless times before with other DC releases, decreasing the value of this box. Nonetheless, for those collecting the physical releases, this one is still quite nice to add to your collection, and if you liked the previous seasons, you’ll still enjoy this one.
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