My favorite superhero show on TV, Arrow, has returned, and now that NYCC is over I can get to my recaps of the first two episodes! Last season Team Arrow had Deathstroke and his Mirakuru army to deal with, Oliver tragically lost his mother, and his sister found out that Malcolm Merlyn was her father and decided to take off with him. Oh and he lost his company! So where do we find our hero at the beginning of season 3? Well for one he is living in the “Arrow Cave”, Felicity is working at a tech store as a clerk (basically Geek Squad), Roy is now dressing up in red and I’m not really sure what to call him because they haven’t given him a superhero one yet.
The only person that seems to have good things going for him is Diggle, who with his girlfriend/ex-wife/lover Lyla, are expecting a baby, SOON! A lot is on the way this season including the introduction of one of my favorite DC villains of all time, Ra’s Al Ghul! So keep it tooned as I geek out all season!
The Good:
-Brandon “Superman” Routh plays a great Ray Palmer, he is cocky yet seems to have a heart by episode 2. Wants Felicity to work for him. Will he become The Atom? Let’s hope so!
-Star City is finally going to be a thing. I was very confused when the show started off with calling it Starling City, but Palmer’s speech made total sense and is a really intelligent way to bring about the change.
-Good balance to the opening episode. Every season opener for this show so far has been on the “calm” side, hence the title, but this one did an awesome job of delivering the full package.
-I really like that the NOW Captain Lance calls a press conference to thank the Arrow for his part in saving the city. For a character that I really didn’t like in the first season, he has really grown on me over the second.
-Roy! Are you Arsenal, Speedy, or Red Arrow? Nonetheless, the costume kicks ass! Welcome to the club!
-Loved the Jeff Lemire reference! His name is referenced as a street name during one of the chase scenes. He just got done with his run on the title over at DC Comics, now Arrow show writer, Andrew Kriesberg!
-Sara is back. Oh wait she’s dead! What a shocking episode ending! The aftermath is an eye-opener as we see Oliver realizing that what he does is super dangerous and as he states over and over again “he doesn’t want to die down here”, he is referencing the Arrow Cave. Sara’s death effects everyone differently, but at least it gets Diggle back on the team after Oliver benched him due to his daughter being born.
-Diggle and Lyla name their baby Sara in honor of their fallen friend. Very bittersweet.
-AHHHH! New trick arrow!
-New flashback location and new situations. I liked how they treated the Tommy situation in E2. I feel for anyone that has to deal with Amanda Waller. It will be interesting to see how new character Maseo and Tatsu play into his development into the vigilante he is today. Pretty sure she won’t become Katana, but who knows?!
-Thea in training, watching her kick butt is pretty cool! I wonder if she will actually take on a known DC character mantle?!
-The stunts on this show are even better this year! The scene where Arrow chases Komodo and jumps out that window is amazing! Things can only get better from here!
The Bad:
-New Count Vertigo, played by Peter Stormare, came in a little weak. I liked his insane behavior and he was an entertaining bad guy, but I thought they were going to go for more of the comic book origin this time around. We will have to wait and see what happens.
-I am having a really hard time seeing Laurel as Black Canary. Sara was ok, but BC is one of my favorite DC characters and the show isn’t doing a bang up job of representing her. With the addition of Ted “Wildcat” Grant to this season, I have put two and two together and hopefully they do the right thing where Laurel goes to him for training. That I can get behind.
-How many Archers are going to show up on this show? I can’t wait for Captain Boomerang to mix it up a bit. Maybe we can get Lieutenant Skeeball in there somewhere. I kid. Though I love the fact that Komodo is a part of this season, now that we know that he did not kill Sara, there is another Archer to deal with eventually…
-Olicity gets going and then totally fails. Will these two ever get together? You know what I don’t care because I really dislike “The CW” element of this show. Let’s just stay on target with the comic book show please.
Next week on Arrow: Episode 3 “Corto Maltese“
