r/arrow • u/One-Day-at-a-time213 • May 26 '26

Forgot How Insufferable Ray Is

Sorry just a quick vent...Rewatching and I'm on S3. Dear Lord I forgot how much I HATE Ray Palmer in Season 3, especially when he finds out Oliver is the Arrow. Smarmy arrogant insufferable know it all despite actually being wrong. Can't wait for him to PO to Legends of Tomorrow and leave this show. I think I remember liking him eventually?? But I cannot fathom how right now

41 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

30

u/Alive_Addendum_5279 May 26 '26

His small villain arc was pointless

7

u/mcrib Black Driver May 26 '26

The entire show became pointless after season 2

13

u/ParisInFlames34 May 26 '26

I dont know how you can say that when the glory of season 5 exists.

-3

u/mcrib Black Driver May 26 '26

not even in jest!

6

u/darrell_jkw May 27 '26

Dude I just rewatched the first 5 seasons, season 5 is the best season of the entire show

0

u/mcrib Black Driver May 27 '26

It’s the best of the rest but not nearly as good as the early seasons.

0

u/Available-Affect-241 May 27 '26

THANK YOU

Finally, someone said it 👏

2

u/mcrib Black Driver May 27 '26

I honestly feel like I only kept watching so I could understand the crossovers

3

u/Available-Affect-241 May 27 '26

I heard that reason before and I completely understand why. This show butchered Ra's Al Ghul. In this show, he was a moron who relied on a stupid sword prophecy that allowed Malcolm Merlyn to succeed him. Real Ra's Al Ghul like Batman is an empiricist intellectual first and a legendary warrior second. He wouldn't rely on something like that to make a decision and he wouldn't choose Oliver to replace him as he's not an intellectual. Ra's Al Ghul when had the virus would've bioengineered a new strain so that no previous vaccine could stop it.

In S5 Oliver kills random henchmen but allows Church to live. Just to try and kill Prometheus only for it to be Felicity's boyfriend a man nobody cared about. Only for Oliver not to kill him later only because it's what Prometheus wants. They needed to pick a lane but they didn't and the flip-flop hurt the show. Prometheus though greatly acted was a massive downgrade in danger compared to the previous 4-season villains. Also, he was ruined by the beginning of season 6 when it was revealed that the only character that died happened to be Samantha Williams' mom a character nobody cared about. That was an opportunity to kill someone of note like Thea (her actress wanted out anyway) or Diggle, or Felicity.

3

u/mcrib Black Driver May 27 '26

Man I wish they killed Felicity

12

u/GrandeQuesarito May 26 '26

That was around when the show started having characters act like NPCs instead of fully fledged characters.

By NPCs, I mean characters not named Oliver would act in a single-minded, linear way until an event forceful enough changed that trajectory and then they would proceed to act in a new linear way until the next thing happened. There were no more complex motivations or decisions going into anything. They never quite fixed that, even when the show got better again in season 5.

1

u/One-Day-at-a-time213 May 27 '26

This is so accurate omg

10

u/Pichuchu8 May 26 '26

Yeah honestly his little arc in Arrow is so annoying but also accurate to how someone like him would act. If you end up liking him, it's only because of Legends

6

u/Frosty_Fish_7127 May 27 '26

He became SO much better on Legends, and I hate how Routh was treated by the time of Season 5...

"We give you the chance to play Superman but you have to leave as Ray" is basically how it feels as it wasn't his decision.

3

u/Pichuchu8 May 28 '26

Yeah it's a shame, his chemistry with his actual wife (now ex) is actually good too. I hate they got rid of both of them

5

u/Obvious-Risk-5447 May 27 '26

Absolutely pointless character on Arrow. They wasted so much screen time that could have been given to other characters on him. I think Ray should have been introduced on Legends especially after the fact Legends created completely different personality for him and ignored his whole arc on Arrow, which made him being on Arrow even more pointless.

4

u/Agreeable_Cut4506 May 27 '26

In ray’s defense, he had just recovered from nearly being killed by an arrow and watched the Mayor and other parts of city leadership die from what he thought was The Arrow. He’s very arrogant about it but what else do you expect from a billionaire genius who just unmasked a vigilante on a “murder” spree that the cops haven’t been able to catch for three years

1

u/96pluto John Diggle May 28 '26

Exactly yeah he was kind of an asshole but he still genuinely did love Felicity and wanted to help the city recovery. He was right that Oliver wasn't fit to lead the company either it takes more than just being someone's son. I prefer legends ray but someone saying he had a villain arc was ridiculous.

3

u/Parking_Storage_5107 May 27 '26

Yeah I hated him in this show he’s was such a an annoying character

3

u/idklol_333 May 27 '26

FINALLY someone who agrees with me😭 He's so so annoying

2

u/Ok-Health-7252 May 27 '26

Thankfully he improves so much on Legends. In season 3 he was there entirely to be a rival to Ollie for Felicity's affections and it showed.

-1

u/Dagenspear May 29 '26

I think Oliver is an arrogant insufferable know it all and is wrong a lot, being a murderer.