i actually think the opposite, personally. Season 2 was way more gripping for me than Season 1, and definitely not worth skipping.

And Oliver's parents. Everyone else, and I mean everyone, is allowed to not be dead as many times as they like, and if they are proven dead then we can bring them back to life, bring in a future/past self, an alternate reality self, or any other BS excuse to bring the character back.

I would have accepted that if Oliver weren't the mayor (and half the team on his staff), but he put himself in the same "uphold the law" boat.

That is the best description for it

As someone who didn't see Final Deletion, the vibe I was really getting from that segment was of the game Dead By Daylight