I apologize if there's an existing Arrow thread, but I went back 10 pages and didn't see one.
Anyhow, Arrow Season 3 debuted Oct. 7. If you haven't been following it, it's not the story of Green Arrow ... yet. Arrow is taking the Smallville route of showing how the hero emerges rather than beginning with one.
To wit, Green Arrow isn't called that yet. He's been called The Vigilante, The Hood, The Archer and probably some other things. Now he's being called Arrow. It's only one more step to "Green Arrow."
He started out as a killer. He's learned to restrain himself.
The police originally wanted to arrest him. After two seasons, he's been more or less deputized -- by the guy who used to be his harshest critic, but now loves him. And that critic is moving up the ladder in the police force. Could he become Arrow's Commissioner Gordon?
He's located in Starling City, but it's pretty obvious that the city's name is soon going to be changed to ... aw, you guessed.
Black Canary isn't Dinah Lance ... yet. Black Canary has been Dinah's sister Sara for about a year, with an origin out of Batman (Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins). But she got killed very persuasively in the season premiere, so ... will her sister take up the mantle? (Magic 8-Ball says "yes.")
Lots of DC characters on this show, slightly askew from their DC origins. Amanda Waller is here. The aforementioned Ra's al Ghul. One of Ra's daughters is here -- not Talia, but another one that showed up in the comics briefly. Huntress has appeared a couple of times. "Diggle" is a character that was invented for the show, but now he's appeared in Green Arrow comics proper. Deathstroke is here, having gotten superhuman powers from "Mirakuru" which I think is a nod to Hourman's Miraclo. Yes, we've got Roy Harper, but he is never called Speedy and jumps straight to being called Arsenal. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) has arrived as a character named Ray Palmer ... and my guess is he'll audition for a very small show soon. And so on. Half the fun of the show is the Easter eggs!
Steve Arnell is very convincing as Arrow, moving quickly enough and acrobatically enough that I can believe (just barely) that he hasn't been shot yet.
I'm sorry to see Sara go, because I'm not very impressed with the actress who plays Dinah, who seems to have graduated from the Blake Lively School of Stand There and Look Pretty and Vapid.
I have more to say, but I want to hear from you folks!
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Speaking of the actresses, I've been impressed by the Felicity character. She was looking like a one-dimensional nerd at first, but she's become quite complex. She's a lot like Chloe in Smallville, I guess, including the fact that she wasn't in the comics. She wasn't, was she? I haven't read a lot of Green Arrow.
Felicity Smoak was in the comics, but as a supporting character in Firestorm. She married Ronnie Raymond's father, IIRC. The comics Felicity wasn't anything like the one on TV, and AFAIK never met Green Arrow. Maybe they just liked the name.
I am in the minority in that I don't care for the Felicity character. But I've loved Katie Cassidy since Harper's Island!
Yes, we've got Roy Harper, but he is never called Speedy and jumps straight to being called Arsenal.
Oddly, they decided to use the name Speedy as a nickname for Ollie's sister, who is/was Roy's girlfriend.
Did they actually refer to Roy as Arsenal? I must have missed it.
Not only did they use Speedy as the sister's nickname, Ollie called Roy "Speedy" twice in one episode -- or maybe just yelled it at him -- because it reminded him of the GF and cut through the Mirakuru madness.
I don't recall them actually calling Roy "Arsenal" on the show yet, but he's identified that way in all the "literature" -- the Arrow website, IMDB, etc.
I think in Season One, someone suggested "Green Arrow" as a codename when Ollie was just known as the vigilante or the Hood, and Ollie scoffed at it. Did I imagine that?
My biggest gripe with the show is that it wants to be an action-adventure show and a soap opera at the same time. I hope we get a lot less of Roy moping, Thea "running" a bar, and Laurel and her problems. Last season, between all that and flashbacks on the island, seemed like we had limited time for Ollie, Diggle, and Felicity. And I don't mean Ollie and Felicity going out on dates and debating if they love each other or not. Hopefully, Felicity overcomes her dislike of Ray Palmer; they could be a fun couple. Ollie was a serial dater before he got stranded on the island AND in season two - Laurel, Sara, the Huntress, Isabelle ... am I missing anybody?
I'm with Cap on Katie Cassidy, and dread the idea of her becoming Black Canary. I think the actor playing Roy Harper went to the same school she did - he has one expression, regardless of the situation. I wasn't sorry to see Moira or Thea go, although I'm sure Thea will be back.
I'm not good with faces, but wasn't that supposed to be Thea at the end of episode 2 training with her biological father,
Malcolm Merlyn?
Ha! I turned to my wife in the last show and remarked, "You know, the actor playing Roy Harper seems to only have one expression." And she said, "Yeah, clueless."
I dread the painful Katie Cassidy becoming Black Canary. (You just know she will.) The girl playing Sara wasn't the greatest actress in the world, and the cleft chin sure looked like plastic surgery, but she brought energy to a show that is often mired in -- as you say, John -- CW-style adolescent soap opera.
Anyone know why Felicity always wears such unflattering clothes? I kept noticing but held my tongue like a gentleman until my wife brought it up. I know she's supposed to be a geek, and the actress seems to be having some weight fluctuations -- I thought she was pregnant for a while last season -- but wow. Some of those clothes would make a supermodel look like she had a bad figure. Nevertheless, she's the best actor on the show!
Incidentally, why would DIggle's wife go with "Sara" as the name for her baby? It was a nice gesture and all, but the wife didn't even meet Sara that I remember. I don't think most first-time mothers would go with naming their baby for some chick her husband used to know. Wotta good sport.
Can't wait for Routh to start gettin' small. If they're not setting up an Atom spin-off, I'd be very surprised. Wow, a superhero universe with Oliver Queen as the patriarch/role model! Whodathunk?
John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:
I recently started watching Arrow on Netflix. Took me a while to get into it because the majority of Season 1 felt much like everyone other show on CW, angsty. It picked up and I'm now one episode 9 or 10 of season 2. I just finished the Barry Allen episodes. Season 2 to me is pretty great more action less angst. However, I cannot stand Laurel. The actress is attractive and all but as other said she has no range plus she's not very likeable. I also get annoyed by self-righteous, stubborn people anyways so that doesn't help. Her sister is much better. Also not a big fan of Thea. One it doesn't help her name is Thea I've never heard that name before don't really care for it and two: towards the end of season one her hair looked like she just got out of the shower and didn't dry it, just looks odd.
So far I like Roy alright. He's phsycially good for this role but does have that lost puppy dog look. The rest of the cast is pretty good. I wasn't sold on Amell at first but he has really grown in to the role. Diggle was great from the get go.
Looking forward to seeing the rest.
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