It is amazing to me that I actually like Arrow.
First of all, I am not a comic book person at all. What
comic books I know, most of them are Marvel. So, once you get past Batman,
Superman, and Wonder Woman, my knowledge of the DC universe is somewhat limited.
Second, I am not a fan of the CW. Most of the nonsense that
is on that channel just makes my brain hurt. I understand I am not really the
demographic they are going for, but even as much as I love all things geek, I
just roll my eyes at some of the crap that is on that channel.
So, from the get go, I did not have many expectations when I
started watching this show. Here are my thoughts on the first season.
It started kind of campy. I don’t know what kind of
expectations they had at the beginning and it felt like a show that did not
have much of a budget.
The writing was very inconsistent, especially in the first
2/3 of the season. I mean, some of the dialogue was about as bad as I have ever
seen in a show. There were so many face palm moments in the first half of the
show, that at times I considered stopping.
The villains were also kind of weak on a consistent basis. I
mean damn, Count Vertigo was horrible. Over acted and he looked like a twilight
reject. There others that were bad as well, but CV was one of the worst
characters I have ever seen on a show like this. I also struggled with the
person that played the Huntress. I think she could have been cool, but each
episode she was in was just not that interesting.
The first thing that worked from the beginning was the
flashbacks of Oliver’s time on the island. This was an interesting way to tell
a story, and they did a really good job of making what happened in the past, relevant
to what was going on in the present.
What made the show start to work for me was the other characters,
and what you eventually found out about them. I always liked Oliver’s and Tommy’s
relationship. Was not shocked that it became strained as he dated Laurel, and
they handled his death very well.
As the show went a long, Diggle and Felicity became more
important in supporting Oliver’s taking down people on the list. Oliver having to learn to depend on other
people was something that happened throughout the season. I have always liked
Paul Blackthorne (mostly from the Dresden tv show) and him playing a detective
(and Laurel’s father) was a nice addition. Gotta love John Barrowman as Merlyn.
The writing eventually started to get better and they did a
great job of hitting the emotional moments toward the end.
Having Oliver choose between having to shoot Shado or Sara
was both brutal and amazing.
Season 2. Kind of
picked up where the first one ended. The writing throughout the second seasons
was SO much better and you could tell they had a bit more money that they
previously did. There were still hiccups from time to time (Ugh, the Huntress
and yes, more of the Count), but overall there was an improvement in most
places on the show.
One thing they did not do as well in season 2 was the
flashbacks. They were still there, but there was not as many of them and they
were not always as interesting. Overall, still enjoyable, but it was something
they did better in season 1.
Deathstroke. Wow, that guy can hold a grudge, right? Oliver
was put in an impossible situation in having to choose between two people he
cares about. One lives, one die. There is no way to do that. So, Deathstroke’s
promise to take away everything Oliver cared about before killing him was done
very well. Especially when he did the
same thing to Oliver and made him choose between his mother and sister. That
was heartbreaking.
The characters also improved for the most part. Felicity
became more prominent and less one sided, as her character was allowed to grow.
I do wish Diggle could do more than just back up the Arrow, but he has always
been a strong character as well. Sara was also a nice addition to the show as
she could kick ass as well, and gave another opportunity to have well choreographed
fights from someone that fights differently than the Arrow did. The choreography
really improved in the second season.
The ones that were hit and miss were Laurel and Thea. Laurel
was dealing with Tommy’s death and she blame just about everyone. She began to
drink, take pills, and was an overall mess. I have always liked her character
in the show, but it was hard too as she was written very oddly at times. Much
better toward the end. Thea is another that I did not always love. Never really
cared about her and Roy all that much and her transformation from party girl to
owning a club seemed kind of forced. I always liked her scenes with Oliver. So
much angst as she finds out that pretty much everyone is keeping things from
her. Finding out that her father was Merlyn, should have been more interesting
than it was. But as she left with him at the end of show may add something to that.
So, overall I really enjoyed the show as it gained momentum
and the writing became much better in the second season. I am really excited
about what the future holds for Oliver and his allies.
