Okay, everyone. I am now through the 2016-2017 seasons of the Arrowverse.
Legends of Tomorrow S2: A considerable leap over the first season. At first, I was bothered by the lack of Rip but it forced the other characters to jump to the forefront and his return was incredibly fun as we got to see him play something very different. He was actually a fairly frightening villain. The time travel aspect was also handled much better in S2, with the individual time-period-of-the-week stories being much stronger. And the Legion of Doom was just awesome. I do miss having Cold as a series regular though. He just eats up every scene he is in.
Arrow S5: Wow. Just wow. I consider Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S4 to be the best season of comic book television ever but this now ranks up there with it. I don't think S3 and S4 were bad seasons of television -- just noticeable drops in quality for a number of reasons. But this was just an incredible comeback. All of the new characters worked, especially Rene and his surprisingly perfect relationship with Quentin, who remains a force. And yes, Prometheus is one of the great villains of genre television.
The season finale was likely the best episode of the series and the Arrowverse as a whole. Bringing everything together from the beginning of the series in the way that they did was masterful. It is also the best work Stephen Amell has ever done on the series. As I mentioned earlier, I love long-running genre shows because they often use unknown actors. This means you get to see these actors grow over the years, making later moments very special. There is a moment in the finale where Chase takes William out of the front of the boat and Oliver's reaction is this weak and shaky, "Oh!" It's such a small moment but something that felt very real.
The entire cast and crew deserve so much praise for what they pulled off with S5.
The Flash S3: With the first half of the season, I felt it was better than S2 but it did get messy in the second half. While I enjoy Caitlin as Frost, the split personality thing just didn't work because the writers didn't, you know, explain it. Why did her personality change along with her powers? It just didn't make sense.
I also feel like they wasted an opportunity with Savitar. The reveal that he was a corrupted Barry should have happened far earlier in the season and I'm disappointed that they teased the idea of his redemption in the finale only to immediately take it back. If the reveal happened in the season's midway point and his potential redemption became an actual arc, that could have been interesting. Instead, it felt very rushed in the back end of the season.
On a positive note, I still very much enjoyed the season as a whole. The comedic elements of the season were great and the musical episode is one of my favorites in the Arrowverse. H.R. was also an inspired character and watching Tom Cavanagh get to have that much fun every episode was an absolute joy.
Supergirl S2: Much like Legends, the second year for Supergirl was a noticeable step up. While the show certainly has flaws, mainly the lack of a truly great Big Bad or season long arc, it makes up for it with the cast and their interactions. It seems as if reaction to James was mixed this season but I generally thought the Guardian stuff was great. My main complaint was they didn't do a lot with him in the second half. Moving Winn to the DEO was a great decision for his character and the DEO as a concept worked a lot better for me this season.
Most importantly, Mon-fucking-El was an absolutely fantastic addition to the series. Chris Wood's comedic timing is so damn good and I love the guy.
And now, my updated ranking:
Arrow S5
Arrow S2
The Flash S1
Arrow S1
Legends of Tomorrow S2
The Flash S2
Supergirl S2
The Flash S3
Arrow S3
Legends of Tomorrow S1
Supergirl S1
Arrow S4
Constantine S1
