Well the whole Deathstroke thing is going to be explained. He's going to be in a episode in November.
http://www.craveonline.com/tv/articles/197913-deathstroke-hunts-down-arrow
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I can see why The CW was so excited for this show, because it's basically Batman: Year One with the rich white people relationship drama of Gossip Girl. You know how once in a while, a Batman comic will alude to Bruce Wayne pretends to be a shallow playboy at a party once in a while? Well, Oliver Queen's entire life pre-island crash and current avenging was partying, so now that's he's returned, he has to keep up that allusion. I wouldn't have thought I would have dug that, but I think it worked, and I think it worked because this is where they packed in the comic references.
Obviously, Dinah Laurel Lance is Ollie's pre-crash girlfriend (who Ollie was cheating on with her sister when his ship sank [she died. Drama!] and currently Legal Aid lawyer (like Ms. Robot, actually). His best friend's last name is Merlyn, and there's indications of some drama there. My favorite bit was the reveal that Ollie's little sister's nickname as a kid was Speedy, and now that's she's older she takes drugs. They kept Speedy, not as a sidekick, but as a drug addict! What a great implementation of the character.
I'm hesitant to call it the best superhero series ever, because we all know what happened to Heroes, but it was a very strong start and I had only two little nitpicks with it: 1) Ollie is really, really dour -- like, Batman-level dour -- when he's by himself. It's fine, and I get why they choose to do it this way (to contrast with Ollie's fake party-bro persona) but Stephen Amell does the party scenes really well, so it's kind of a shame he can't have a little more fun as Arrow. 2) The other problem was Laurel's scenes at Legal Aid. I know they're trying to establish her character, but it seems like their shoehorning a little Single Female Lawyer in there, and it's just not close to as interesting as anything else going on in the show. Hopefully that either picks up or disappears. I'd be fine with the latter.
A few random thoughts:
• Did Ollie ever have an evil mom in the comics? I have no idea, but I like the character either way.
• Green Arrow's arrows instantly knock bad guys out, but do not kill them. I'd say they count as "trick" arrows, but I wonder if the show will ever bother to explain 'em.
• Seriously, I'm shocked at how well they brought in Speedy.
• I feel like Stephen Amell watched Chris Hemsworth's and Chris Evans' shirtless scenes in Thor and Captain America and said "I can do that." Dude is BUILT.
• If the Deathstroke mask at the very beginning doesn't get explained, I reserve the right to take back everything nice I said about Arrow.
• What did you guys think?
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74 comments
Actually she was mauled to death by lions when he was a kid, he still blames himself for that incident because he didnt fight back. Against lions. When he was like 10.
See? I told you so! But nobody listens to me! Nobody!I've seen the episode in June and can hardly wait for next week!
I liked it. I love it. I want some more of it.I've started an Arrow Episode Guide on my blog. I hope some of you will check it out and chime in.http://www.mygeekygeekyways.com/2012/10/arrow-reviews-season-1-episode-1-pilot.html
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i dont see how being on an island for 5 years makdes you a badaas fighter. good at shooting arrows sure - you would need to hunt to survive. but fighting? who were fighting? shadowboxing only goes so far!
@zenmaster Reportedly, the show will be showing a lot of Ollie's time on the island in flashback and he was trained by someone. The most popular guess right now is that he and Deathstroke had a student/mentor relationship and that Ollie turned on Slade when he found out what a scumbag he was ala Bruce Wayne and Ra's Al Ghul in the Nolan Batman movies. Or, in the words of The Doctor, they'll explain later. :)
@starmanmatt1 @zenmaster Nice to hear that will get explained, because it was bothering me, too. Never read the comic, so I assumed I was out of the loop.
I agree with you, Rob, in most ways, but I would go further. Arrow is possibly the best live-action superhero I've seen on TV. There are nitpicky little things: I could do without the Gossip Girl like scenes of rich-white-people-drama, and I could do without the make-up too (it's tough to remove quickly and efficiently before going back to the party), but I understand why the CW brought in those changes. I really hope Sister Speedy is more than a nod to the sidekick's comic existence, but I would hate to see this become the Green Arrow Family Hour too. But the action, the split personality of Party Ollie Night and Arrow, and the initial focus on revenge make it an excellent intro.
I will state right now that I firmly believe those aren't trick arrows. I'm reasonably sure we just saw Arrow slay several underlings. I suspect that Arrow is going to make the first season's character growth be Ollie's evolution from a vengeful killer in a hood to a non-lethal vigilante but I really won't be disappointed if it doesn't go that way. I will call it, right now though: Laurel, kind-hearted, legal aid lawyer Laurel, will be the driving force behind that change. She'll get to monologue at least once to Arrow, probably on a rooftop just after he has rescued her, about the power of restorative justice and the sanctity of life, which will make Ollie turn away from lethal methods. You can feel free to quote me extensively in about six months time.
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Well...as a pretty hardcore GA-fan,I dug it. You have to realize though,this is the best that Green Arrow has been presented in a long,long time. And I'm still a little worried because the guys writing this also wrote some of THE WORST Green Arrow books ever printed. The whole thing about him having "Little John" as a bodyguard and his mother being alive and evil...all of that came from the GA comics before DC rebooted the line....what the hell GA is up to post-reboot I have no idea because the few comics I did read were an incomprehensible bag of ass. I REALLY wish they would try to work in more stuff from the Denny O'Neil/Mike Grell years,especially as the Grell stuff was gritty as hell and a perfect "realistic" take on the characters. Did you know that Green Arrow almost came to TV as a syndicated show in the late 90's? It would have featured Green Arrow as a sculptor/inventor who had a dwarf sidekick and fought crime in Seattle by way of Vancouver. Think Highlander the series by way of Mike Grell's run on the comics. I think we can all agree that ARROW turned out pretty OK considering that the WB still has absolutely no idea how to market and sell their characters. Heres hoping it stays good......
@longbowhunter Actually, Ollie's mom wasn't the evil one in the JT Krul run. His DAD was evil. However, a lot of Moira's personality DOES seem to have been taken from a villainess called The Queen, which came about form the same time. Incidentally, did you know Mike Grell is an artistic consultant on the show? He drew the police sketches in the pilot. :)
I didn't think it sucked but i'm not totally sold on how its suppose to be non-super hero-no costume world, all gritty and that. Having green paint in your face seems a lot more inconvenient an a simple domino/mask/whatever. Did not dig that he's a murderer... But maybe he's that in the comic books? All in all, not bad. Will probably watch next episode. Also, what's up with Starling City? Seriously.
@Black_Mentos Ollie's rules on killing have gone all over the place in previous years. The general rule of thumb is that he doesn't go around mowing criminals down like Punisher but he is willing to kill to protect others if there's no other options. Or if a loved one has been hurt. Snapping the thug's neck to protect his identity and, by proxy, his loved ones fits in with most of the interps of Ollie.
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I want to like it more than I did, but I can see it turning into something I'd be satisfied with.
My biggest complaint is probably my fault, but I am pissed to no end that Dinah is not Black Canary. Seeing as how I actually like Canary better than Green Arrow in the comics, I'm highly disappointed at all the inaccuracies concerning her, like her not being called Dinah, her mother not being there, her not being blonde, her not being a florist, and her not being very nice, but not being Black Canary is easily the most important complaint. I was totally expecting to be blown away at a final scene where we find out she's been Black Canary since before Oliver got back and that this was really going to be the "Green Arrow and Black Canary" show, or at least a scene of her going fishnet shopping, but no we get a scene hinting at a love triangle. And that's not an acceptable consolidation prize.
But still, I'm willing to wait for the show to give us its interpretations of real comic book characters as opposed to these original characters that I mostly don't care about before I pass judgement. Also, I'm still waiting for Huntress. This is apparently the only place I can satisfy my Helena Bertinelli fix.
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@HarrisonGrey There was actually a clever not to Dinah and what she may become. Remember how Tommy said he made sure there was plenty of Penoit Noir at the party? Penoit Noir is any wine made from black grapes and the most famous brand of Penoit Noir is made at the Canary Hill vineyard and is sometimes called "Canary Noir".
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@starmanmatt1 @HarrisonGrey Well that they put that in there and you caught it, yes.
@HarrisonGrey I'll definitely agree with you on Canary. She always gets underplayed in live action. Animated Canary on the other hand is always badass.
@EliasAlgorithm True, although I'm still waiting on the "right" version. Justice League and Brave and the Bold had great versions, obviously, but they both seemed more based on the Golden Age than the Modern Age. I'd really like to see straight up Gail Simone era Canary, and I had been hoping Arrow would be the one to give that to me. They just decided they wanted a more boring version of Rachel Dawes instead.
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I'm pretty shocked that a CW show is bringing me a reboot of DC characters better than the actual comics.
Dinah using her mdidle name is kinda annoying. Though being a lawyer in Star City instead of a florist in Gotham is a decent change. Well.. Starling City. Not so much a decent change.
I kinda missed the Speedy comment.. but maybe I was half asleep watching it. Only when a friend commented on it I remembered talk about it. I guess it's Mia and Roy turned into Ollie's sister? eh. It works. Also his mom was never
This is still a better take on these characters already streets ahead of the hot and cold Smallville and the almost totally Birds of Prey tv show (with Dinah Meyer being the only saving grace there) . Hell, I'd even say in terms of adaptation of comics it's even better than Nolan's Batman.. to which I think it aspires to be a low rent tv budget version.
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@TheXenos Considering comic book Dinah and Oliver's flower shop, Sherwood Florist, is the single greatest pun every put to paper, and the fact that do-gooder lawyers are (generally) incredibly boring as well as terrible replacement jobs for being a superheroine, I can't say I'm thrilled with the career choice.
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@HarrisonGrey I also like Lawn Order: https://images.nonexiste.net/popular/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Lawn-and-Order.jpeg
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@DrAbraxas I'm convinced that the dual claw mark on his peck came from a koala or sloth - I can't think of anything else with two claws like that. The bite mark is kinda shark like.
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@cyvaris @DrAbraxas Dr Abraxas is always with us... crammed deep inside... our hearts and minds.
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I'll watch the 1st and 2nd back to back. Marathon viewing is an important mark of quality.
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@cyvaris Or you could actually watch it legally and support it.
http://cwtv.com/cw-video/arrow/pilot/?play=757c9164-3c62-45b3-8c11-acb9659271a9
But why would anyone do that, right? RIGHT!?
@TheNormalMan @cyvaris CW's a standard network. Supporting it legally just means watching the crap commercials.
It'll be on their website soon enough.
@TheNormalMan @cyvaris Okay, went and watched it. Not a lot in the way of commercials, thankfully, just like three ads for shows. Including the show I was watching telling me it was going to be on yesterday and most of it was the scene that played the moment it was over.
I just...I know that they're going to big back the sister later. No one on that raft is dead, it's a cw show. Otherwise, I like it.
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@christopherglaw They'll make her Lady Shiva in the fifth season and there will be civil war among the fans.
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I won't review Arrow, because I haven't seen it yet. But I will review Rob's review of it.
Basically, I thought Rob's review was going to suck, and I kind of went crazy thinking the review would stink but maybe not but probably stink but maybe not...but when I finally got to read Rob's review, it actually ended up being kind of interesting, but not so interesting that I'm not still a little worried about how it will ultimately come out.
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I was okay with Oliver's grim mood. He did just survive a 5 year stint on an island after finding out that his dad worked with scumbags shortly before his dad tasked Oliver with revenge and then murdered a man and blew his brains out. I'm sure that would might make you a bit dour for a while.
I'm not okay with a love triangle. And I sincerely hope they reveal his secret identity quickly to both his ex-girlfriend and his sister.
Would have liked them to explain how he got all of that tech for his Batcave. I'd also like to know why he was going after the villain of the week. What was VotW's relationship with Oliver's dad?
Thought it was a bit too convenient that everyone was connected. They didn't really need to make the cop Laurel's dad.
Seeing the Luthor mansion again repurposed as the Queen manor was a bit off-putting. You guys don't want to remind me of Smallville.
@fishercl64 I noticed the Queen manor was the same as Lex's in Smallville, too. I don't like that it reminded me of that show (however, I did like the show itself, I'm one of the few people who'll admit that, I suppose) - I think the tone serves better without that reminder.
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@fishercl64 Thank you! I've been listening to a lot of people complain that Ollie isn't the wise-cracking swashbuckler we're used to and I just want to scream "He's still recovering from five years of isolation and getting used to being around people who aren't trying to kill him!" I thought the trauma Ollie went through was well-played and handled realistically, much like when Ollie and Dinah both went through therapy during the Mike Grell run to deal with the trauma of Dinah nearly being tortured to death and Ollie having to cope with having purposely taken a life for the first time in the process of saving her.
@starmanmatt1 @fishercl64 I remember reading G.A.'s "Year One" awhile back when it focused on his time on the island, which was really cool and a contrast to how he was being written at the time (Winnick's run, which I really enjoyed as well). It makes sense to me, too. I don't think this is over-the-top dark and gritty like the "Nolanverse" Batman, you can tell that Oliver isn't fundamentally screwed up, or at least that he won't always be that way.
@fishercl64 The thing about the cop kind of takes the place of having her grow up around the JSA, so at least if she does become Canary she won't be ENTIRELY beholden to Ollie's origin completely overtaking hers so I can live with it. He was a PI in some of the early comics anyway.
@fishercl64 Having never watched Smallville the mansion did not bother me so much. :) But you do raise some good points regarded how everyone is connected and how Ollie seems to have all that gear. I don't want his identity to be revealed too soon to the people closest to him too soon, though.
I liked the pilot very much and I am looking forward to how the series progresses
