Pet peeve with Season 3

[Majin Wilson]

don't get me wrong, i'm enjoying season 3 (only the episodes that are relevant to the main plot + 1-2 others which aren't)...but i have a tiny bone to pick:

why the hell hasn't it been shown (much) in flashbacks how Oliver learns new techniques/martial arts? in season 1, he's presented as a master hand-to-hand combatant in present day after 5 years of being away. yet in the current season flashbacks, it's been what, 2.5 years? - the only thing he's probably good at is Escrima and some self-defense/offense techniques/holds. SOME techniques.

c'mon Arrow writers, write some more training sequences into the flashbacks damn it!

[Anno_Domini]

I think this is an issue with having Ollie even leaving the island in the first place. What the HK flashbacks show and what presumably will be when he's in Russia his him learning techniques outside of combat, thus leaving it to the imagination until we see otherwise of how exactly Ollie became such a master martial artist. Or does he find someone else to teach him when he's on the island again?

[starbead]

Oliver seems to be learning other skills in Hong Kong. He is good at more than just martial arts, after all. He has been "cultivating the skill" of interrogation, thanks to Waller. Plus, working for ARGUS is giving him more experience in the field.

Flashback Oliver is sort of where Laurel is in the present. There was that one scene where he tried - and hilariously failed - to break through that window on the mission with Maseo. Things that he makes look easy in present day he is doing for the first time in the flashbacks.

[Anno_Domini]

Flashback Oliver is sort of where Laurel is in the present.

I never viewed it that way. Interesting.

It does indeed make sense, but after everything S3 has thrown our way, I could see how the parallel isn't viewed right away but that is indeed a very nice comparison you brought up. Oliver is in new territory and learning new techniques as Laurel has been doing this season. I like that.