ARROW Season 2 Episode 1 'City of Heroes'

Hi blog readers! As you may or may not know, I am a huge DC Comics fan; I love their movies, TV series and comic books. I was extremely ecstatic and hyped when the second season of Arrow was going to air and to be honest, I was lost for words when 'City of Heroes' aired.

ARROW has evolved enormously from being a flawed but fresh series into a beautiful masterpiece that is exciting, adventurous and compelling. I have created a Season 2 Episode 1 review of the hit-series so beware....

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

ARROW starts off with Oliver Queen (played by Stephen Amell), in the present day, in Lian Yu, the Island that he was previously trapped on for 5 years. This is considered to be his fortress of solitude to grieve over the death of his best friend, Tommy Meryln. The first episode consist mainly of the aftermath of the Undertaking, the seismic explosions that destroyed the slums of Starling City, the death of a main cast member,Tommy Meryln, and how the main characters have been coping with the after effects.


The first scene starts off with Felicity Smoak and John Diggle, played by Emily Bett Rickards and David Ramsey respectively, parachuting on the Lian Yu, the island known as 'Purgatory', as an attempt to find Oliver Queen who has disappeared since the funeral of Tommy. The death of his best friend plays a huge part in this episode and series as Oliver decides to quite being the vigilante known as 'The Hood'.


The death of Tommy Meryln could have been seen as an 'attention grabbing' stunt but is in fact  the most crucial part in the season premier as it shows that Oliver Queen was a dark character and needed to become a much more likeable person in order for viewers to sympathise with him.


Oliver hangs up his hood with the belief that he caused Tommy to die and goes into exile for 5 months. Although this may seem to be a familiar superhero process where the death of a close friend results in the hero becoming depressed, Oliver Queen manages to give a dramatic view on why Starling City would be better without the vigilante who failed to stop a portion of the city from being destroyed.

The first half of Season 1 had its faults but when more secondary characters appeared on the show, there was chemistry between them that lit up the show. The Oliver / Felicity / Diggle combination is re-introduced in season 2 and it immediately becomes clear how important this trio of memorable characters are to the show.

ARROW, unfortunately, was guilty of not using Willa Holland to the best of her ability so in 'City of Heroes', she actually contributes more to the show than most of the other characters. Not only is she the manager of Verdant, the hugely successfully nightclub built by Oliver Queen, she gets kidnapped by copycat vigilantes and is forced to reassess her stance of forgiving her mother for her involvement in the Undertaking .

The main enemies in the season premier are the copycat vigilantes known as the Hoods. Angry at the Queens for the involvement of the deaths of their families, these criminals joined together to fight the evil in the city but in more albeit different way. Instead of using arrows like the 'Hood', they have no compassion and spray bullets at any rich politicians that they believe are not serving the people living and suffering in the Glades.


The one thing that I find most interesting about these criminals are that they are normal people, people who's families have been killed or injured by the Undertaking. They were innocent men changed by the destruction around them. their inspiration was Oliver Queen's alter ego, The Hood, who is considered by many to be a murderer and a vigilante.

The death of Tommy Merlyn changes the views of killing of Oliver Queen as he mentions that his friend died believing that Oliver was a murderer. Instead of killing the criminals as Oliver would normally do, he shows compassion and refuses to have unnecessary blood on his hands. He hangs them up on the wall so that the Starling City Police Department can bring them to lawful justice.



As Oliver Queen struggles to cope with the after effects of his mother, Moira Queen, being arrested for her involvement in the Undertaking, he also has to deal with a business rival Isabel Rochev, played by Summer Glau, who is planning to take over Queen Consolidated. Another huge impact on Oliver is the fact that he was unable to stop the Dark Archer/Malcolm Meryln's plan to destroy the Glades and the death of his close friend.

The Hoods interrupt the Queen Consolidated meeting and try assassinating Oliver claiming that he has failed this city. Fortunately, Diggle is on hand and a gun fight ensues. Oliver quickly gets Isabel to safety before jumping through the building window with Felicity and landing on a lower floor using a chain hanging outside the building. The action is immense and it's all every surreal but most
importantly, believable.



I have saved the Island flashbacks until the end of the blog. It's been 5 months since the death of Edward Fyers, and Oliver is training with Slade Wilson and Shado, played by Manu Benett and Celina Jade. These flashbacks help us to understand how the defenceless teenage billionaire became a killing machine and I believe that this is the most important part of Oliver Queens' transformation.


Problems quickly arise, however, as the trio find themselves being tracked by pirates searching for graves of some kind. Splitting up and searching for heat signatures, Shado is kidnapped and Oliver and Slade have to find her before it's too late. They come across a base with a few people torturing Shado. Oliver is disgusted and quickly attempts to rescue her, much to Slade's disapproval.

The band of unknown people are soon dispatched by Slade but not before the pair witness Oliver bludgeoning the torturer to death with a huge rock. This gives the first insight into how dangerous Oliver will become throughout the course of the 5 years that he is imprisoned there.

Another huge thing that I was impressed with was the cameo appearance of Black Canary. I think it's amazing how The 'Hood' has inspired some people to fight evil in Starling City and I really do hope that Oliver does meet the Black Canary. 'City of Heroes' may just be the best ARROW episode yet.

Starling City is a City of Heroes, after all.
Rating: 10 out of 10 

Arrow Season 1 Review

ARROW SEASON 1 REVIEW   *NO SPOILERS*

Now that the second season of the hit series is rapidly approaching, I feel as though it is appropriate to review DC Comics latest series, Arrow.

I am also a huge fan of DC Comics and superhero movies/TV series. After the huge success of "Smallville", the ten year journey of Clark Kent becoming Superman, I was ecstatic to know that DC  Comics and CW were making a new television series about Green Arrow. I am always on the lookout for new DC comics TV series and movies and was sure glad that they decided to create one.

I was looking forward to this television series but what struck me the most is that they had mentioned that it would be a kind of a reboot to the character and that Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) would be a lot different to the comic book version. It has been a long time since I watched decent television as most programs became awful and boring somewhere within the first few episodes, but I was thrilled to hear an announcement for a program about Green Arrow.

Being a reboot of the DC Comics character, Oliver Queen is a dangerous, aggressive but passionate person who seems to have an agenda about his goals. The series begins in a usual manner of Oliver running across harsh terrain on a deserted island desperately trying to catch the attention of a fishing boat, but then it starts to move at a nice pace with a lot of revelations about Oliver's past. Oliver was stranded on a deserted island for 5 years after his father's ship capsized, changing the young brash teenager into a hardened man who comes back to haunt the corrupt in Starling City.

What I find interesting is that Oliver isn't considered to be a superhero but a dangerous vigilante stalking the streets of his city. Oliver Queen becomes an expert archer and isn't afraid of killing people to achieve his goals, even if it means having the Starling City Police Department after him. It is fantastic series for regular viewers looking for  "superheroes without superpowers" entertainment. Rather than all these superhero movies that have a main character with immense power, "Arrow" rests upon a troubled character who's body and mind has been subjected to torture for years. 

The humanization of the character is done extremely well as it shows that when he has been rescued, Oliver is still coping with what happened on the island. The origin story is  within the actual real-time story line and it allows viewers to understand what troubles and dangers were experienced by Oliver on the Island.

The flashbacks in Arrow are similar to those in the Superman reboot, Man of Steel. Arrow is mainly set in the present but there are flashbacks to show Oliver's time on the Island and the dangerous characters that he meets. There is a huge variety of characters in Arrow, some more recognizable than others. Slade Wilson, for example, is a mercenary trapped on the Island, who becomes Oliver's mentor and protector on the Island. In DC Comics, he is known as Deathstroke. The characters stories have been changed dramatically from the original DC Comics stories but fortunately, it fits in with the story.

Stephen Amell does a brilliant job portraying a troubled hero on a mission to eradicate evil. Stereotypical, maybe but isn't that a superhero's job?  He successfully switches from being the brutal and angry vigilante to the partying billionaire playboy brilliantly which reminds me of the Christian Bale's performance in Nolan's epic trilogy.

It's not all good news however as there are a few nitpicks that stop Arrow from becoming a masterpiece. The problems I have are mainly with the directing of a few episodes. The faults really lie with the writing and direction of a few episodes. A few of the villains could've been improved and the acting by them is sometimes emotionless and unreal.

As season 2 of Arrow approaches, I only hope that the series continues to grow from the huge success that it has achieved so far.  The Oliver Queen in season 2 is a different man to how he is in the first as events of the season finale has damaged him emotionally. The Flash, played by Grant Gustin, will be a recurring character and this should put an element of surprise and heroism into the series. I only hope that the directing improves and the villains in Season 2 are more memorable and enjoyable to watch.