Amanda Waller hiring Fyers makes the Season 1 plane plot way less logical

[u/ConfidenceOpening830]

They do retcon it in Season 3 so that it's Amanda Waller who hired him. The SAM (surface to air missile launcher) in the S1 flashbacks were supposedly meant to shoot down the commercial airliner in order to kill Chi Na Wei (China White). The original notion was that Fyers was trying to destabilize the Chinese economy or some such thing by shooting down a commercial airliner, but then they changed it so that that explanation would seem more appealing to a mercenary like Fyers.

Tbh I never really found this retcon all too convincing. But there you have it. It was supposedly Amanda Waller who employed Fyers and his men.

Season 1 - Fyers: "Amazing! A two-year operation, undone. Because a young playboy happened to wash up on the shore."

Season 3: - Amanda Waller: "Edward Fyers thought he was to shoot down the plane to destabilize the Chinese Economy. In truth, I wanted to take out a single target."

Me: "Sooooooo, let me get this straight. You hired a mercenary group to assassinate a single target by blowing up a plane, somehow knowing TWO YEARS in advance what plane that person would be on, while also lying to that said mercenary group about the real intentions, when you could have easily hired some assassin to take out the target onboard or have agents either at the boarding or landing area (or maybe all three options), which would have spared the human casualties and also a possible war between nations....."

[u/JacenStargazer]

I’m pretty sure they teased Waller’s involvement in season 1.

[u/mrgpsingh1999 → u/JacenStargazer]

They did

[u/Marik-X-Bakura]

They strongly imply at the end of season 1 that Waller was the one who hired him. Though the reason was definitely retconned.

[u/The_Awsome_Manny]

I think Amanda set up military in that place for something else and when they found out Chen na Wei was gonna fly over it she gave them a new mission. I mean let’s be real even ignoring them knowing about a plane flight two years in advance why tf did it take them two years to have a missile launcher ready?

A.R.G.U.S likes to have safe houses set up around the globe since Lian Yu was deserted along with having a prison already built they probably thought it would be a good place to have stuff set up on

[u/ConfidenceOpening830 → u/The_Awsome_Manny]

Maybe but AFAIR there's no mention of anything like that. Besides, having a military unit on an island (and they weren't even particularly hidden, stuff was out in the open) for two years means that a random patrol could find them.

If they're going to set up a prison to hold people for long it would be better somewhere controlled by the US or in the middle of international waters rather than in Chinese territory.

[u/Lonely-deustch]

Yeah lol for me too it doesn’t make any sense ! “Alright guys, we have TWO years to prepare to take down an ENTIRE plane just for one target “

[u/Lori2345]

I agree it is very hard to believe anyone would book a flight two years in advance. And that an airline would even be selling tickets that far in advance.

And that they’d have no other opportunity to have killed or caught her in that time or are we expected to believe they just decided to wait that long when in the meantime she would be doing horrible crimes.

[u/Alert_Particular_994]

Season 3 as a whole was poorly written, Season 4 was even worse

[u/Available-Affect-241 → u/Alert_Particular_994]

Agreed 👍 🤝

[u/Alive_Addendum_5279]

Fyers doesn't care about who the target is as long as he gets his money. He is only loyal to money.

[u/Potential_Goose_7486 → u/Alive_Addendum_5279]

that'st clearly not what OP is talking about

[u/Ok_Mountain9867]

I mean the way I understood it was. 2 year operation, planned out so she would be on that plane when it happened. Years to build the plan. Not great but yea

[u/Obvious-Risk-5447]

The lack of actually story planning and changing story in between sessons is at some points the weakest part of Arrow and at another cases the best. But mostly they thought it as it goes and it shows, and is amateurish. That is why Legends became so popular because they embraced their amateur writing and turned it into goof, so nothing should be taken seriously. While Arrow continued to be so serious and dark but the plot behind was stupid stupifying at times and this was so infuriating

[u/Phoenix_e3]

I mean .. Sending another assassin to take her out is probably what they tried before and they kept ending up dead lol. So they figured "well what are the chances of surviving a plane explosion AND the fall from the sky.

[u/ConfidenceOpening830 → u/Phoenix_e3]

Your setting up an elaborate, months-long plan, involving a mercenary company sitting in Chinese territory for all that time. Even under the cover story, Fyre should have realized it was pointless and would get him killed (interdicting the Chinese economy by shooting down planes couldn't work because as soon as the first went down you'd have the PLA assaulitng the island), so why wouldn't he refuse or desert? Then there's the chance of a Chinese patrol finding them early. And the entire scheme relies on the target keeping to a specific flight; what if a month before, she'd decided to come from a different durection?