This original series in the interconnected universe of superhero shows on the CW network is also the darkest, visually and thematically—set in a corrupt, crime-ridden city filled with pathological supervillains and heroes with disturbing dimensions, where practically every battle occurs at night. The fifth season finds millionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) trying to save the corrupt Star City by day as the Mayor and as the masked vigilante hero Green Arrow by night. And with the help of tech genius and former fiancée Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), he recruits and trains a new squad of young upstart heroes to help. Prometheus is the new villain, a mad genius whose reign of terror over the city is part of an elaborate revenge plot against Oliver (the psychopath knows that Oliver is Green Arrow). Prometheus goes after everyone close to Oliver, including the son he has kept a secret from everyone. Along with returning faces in the ambitious finale—which sends the cast to the island compound where Oliver was tormented for years—the flashback sequences feature Dolph Lundgren as a Russian mobster and Lexa Doig as Talia al Ghul, daughter of the supervillain that Arrow killed in a previous season. The violence here has a harder edge than in other CW superhero shows and the stories embrace a more morally ambiguous sensibility. Compiling all 23 episodes from the 2016-17 fifth season, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, a 2016 Comic-Con panel, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season
Warner, 970 min., not rated, DVD: 5 discs, $49.99; Blu-ray: 4 discs, $54.99 December 25, 2017
Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season
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