Television Review: Arrow

       With the season finales about done with I thought I would review the first season of Arrow.  This show was a pleasant surprise.  Because this show is so new, I will attempt to have as few spoilers as possible.  Growing up I never liked Green Arrow, he had a silly beard, his trick arrows were often ridiculous, and his personality was simply unlikeable.  So why is it that a show that manages to get every aspect of the characters wrong, ends up being downright awesome.  Allow me to explain, in the comics Oliver Queen was stranded on an island for 5 years after after falling off a boat.  Let me back up a bit, when he was a child his parents were mauled by lions on safari.  When he inherited his parents money he became a drunken playboy, which is how he ended up falling off a boat in the first place.  On the island he had to survive and became very skilled with a bow.  There was also a drug operation on the island, which he took down.  When he finally returned to his home he decided to use his new skills to fight crime, the name Green Arrow was given to him by the media and he simply ran with it.

       The show however made him into a drunken playboy who was raised by rich parents who didn't believe in discipline.  While on a boating trip with his father the boat went down because someone was trying to kill his father.  On the life raft his father realized there wasn't enough food for the both of them, so he killed himself, but not before giving Oliver a list of names of those who "Wronged" his city.  Oliver then spent the next 5 years on an island.  But there also happened to be a terrorist group on the island as well, who was hunting down Oliver because he was a problem.  While there he met a few people who trained him to fight and survive, including Slade Wilson, one of the most dangerous people in the DC universe.  Oliver had multiple chances to leave the island, but chose to stay to do the right thing.  When he returned he found his mother remarried, his sister is now a party girl, and his girlfriend is now dating his best friend.  With his life turned upside down he devotes himself to hunting down the people from his father's list with the help of like minded individuals.  The police give him the name "The Hood" and because it is just a name Oliver lets it go.

       As I mentioned before the show gets most everything about the characters, Green Arrow doesn't have the stupid beard or boxing glove arrows, but he knows how to fight and treat wounds.  The most obvious character change however is Slade Wilson.  In the comics Slade is an older man who is missing an eye.  He is a mercenary who goes by the name Deathstroke and is a constant villain of Batman and the Titans.  In the show he is roughly the same age as Oliver, and is also stranded on the island.  Slade is a part of Australian special forces, and the iconic mask is standard gear.  He and his partner were sent to the island to investigate a terrorist sighting, but they were shot down and captured.  Slade's partner, Billy Wintergreen, betrays him and joins the terrorists to stop the torture.  Slade escapes and joins up with Oliver.

       As awesome as the show made its hero, it is the side characters that actually make the show in my opinion.  First and foremost is Slade whom I mentioned before.  However other characters are just as good, characters like John Diggle; a bodyguard Oliver's mom hired when he returned home who has a personal grudge with a hitman named Deadshot and becomes Oliver's partner.  Another character I really liked was Felicity Smoak, Oliver's sexy tech assistant who tends to ramble, and most things out of her mouth comes out wrong.  Then their is the Queens, the mother who is hiding something, and the sister who reminds Oliver of what he used to be and he's trying to save.  But perhaps the character most viewers are interested in is Roy Harper, a poor street kid who is trying to turn his life around, and is searching for the Hood so that he can help him on his mission.  For those who are fans of the comics you probably know Roy Harper as Speed/Arsenal/Red Arrow, Green Arrow's first sidekick.

       Another aspect I feel I need to go over is the villains.  Some of the best villains used are Batman villains like Firefly, Deathstroke, and The Royal Flush Gang.  But it does use some Green Arrow villains as well; such as Constantine Drakon, China White, Count Vertigo, Dodger, and my personal favorite the Dark archer, the season's big bad.  All of the villains were given a more realistic feel that you would expect from a Nolan Batman movie.

       I felt the show made a bold move in choosing Green Arrow as the main character, and even bolder by changing every aspect of the character, and it becomes even more bold in using mostly Batman villains and using up all the good Green Arrow villains in the first season.  But this high risk plan yielded an even higher reward by doing the impossible, making me like Green Arrow.  And for that I give the show's first season a B+.