“It’s basically the best Batman TV show we’re ever going to get.” she continued... Sold.
While the first episodes definitely suffered from 'As you know' dialogue as it tried to find its footing. But once things got underway, I found it really does get better. Even Netflix recently revealed (via Variety) that by Episode 8, 70-percent of viewers were hooked and had to finish Season 1.
The premise? Actor Stephen Amell plays Oliver Queen the playboy son of a billionaire, who has been missing and believed dead since his father’s boat (the Queen’s Gambit) sank five years earlier. Found on a deserted island, he’s brought home to Starling City a changed man, embarking on a one man war against the powerful 1-percent types who have made life miserable for everybody else. 'You have failed this city,' is his mantra as he brings them to justice sporting his iconic green hood and utilizing the eponymous bow and arrow.
Of course the lone wolf act lasts about five minutes as others gravitate to him and come to help him on his crusade. Bodyguard/minder John Diggle (David Ramsey), former flame Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), street kid Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and younger sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland) all slowly get drawn one way or another into Oliver’s story. And one has to give special mention to computer whiz Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), who after becoming a fan favorite during Season 1, was given an expanded role becoming one half of the show’s most powerful sub-fandoms; OLICITY. [Which derives equal parts hate as well as love from the ARROW fandom, in general, due to its side-lining of other potential love interests. Make no mistake this show knows it has a strong teen girl audience. There’s a lot of relationship angst and shirtless men, but at its heart it’s still a show about a hooded vigilante.]
Each episode has a series of flashbacks revealing what happened to Oliver during his five years of hell; showing us how he was shaped into the man who was found on the island. The show moves forward in a sort of real-time. Meanwhile, the flashbacks do as well meaning that by the end of Season 5 it will have come full circle and we should see Oliver get rescued as we do in the pilot.
Season 2 has a quantum surge in quality. Firstly, playing with the dual present day/flashback timelines by teasing characters fates across both narratives and then with the introduction of more comic book elements. Super powered nemeses aside, this couldn’t have be more evident than in Episode 8 when young CSI Barry Allen turns up to help 'Team Arrow' with a particularly unusual case. This is no spoiler here people. They wanted you to know, Barry Allen, alter ego of THE FLASH turns up in ARROW... pre-powers. Considering the following year CW were making THE FLASH its own show, you can probably guess where they were headed. The showrunners truly shrugged off the 'gritty and grounded' take on super heroes they espoused to during Season 1.
Season 3 introduced more mystical elements including a storyline seemingly ripped straight out of the video game Batman: Arkham City where the emerald archer comes up against Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Assassins. New heroes were introduced too, such as SUPERMAN RETURNS actor Brandon Routh debuting as DC stalwart Ray Palmer, a.k.a. The Atom.
Season 4 of ARROW premieres on CW October 7 and all its promo materials are hinting strongly at the Green Arrow... more than Arrow.
Written by Nick Whitney, ARROW Beat Writer