Arrow: New CW show to replace Smallville

Ah I hoped Roy was gone forever.

I honestly am not sure which direction they're going to try and drive him towards. Is he the one guy that Oliver manages to mentor properly? Or will he "go bad"?

Spoiler:

I don't know if this counts as spoiler as it is speculation, but based on research online this character started out as Speedy in the comics and would gradually go through enough phases to take up the mantle of the Red Hood, which, hey, red hoodie. So is he going to become the Red Hood sooner rather than later? Will Oliver fail as a mentor for Roy as well? If that's the case, I wonder what character arc they'd have in mind for him.

I'm looking forward to next week.

Comic spoilers

Spoiler:

That is interesting because the Red Hood already exist or existed in the DC universe as a crime boss. There was never one person as the red hood but many people picking up the mantle of the red hood from time to time.

Some comic corrections and some speculation:

Spoiler:

In the comics Roy starts as Speedy and is just a baby red version of GA. He ends up as Arsenal and starts flat murdering people (the 90s!) and eventually ends up as the Red Arrow. I skipped over a drug problem, we'll see if that comes up.

Also Roy and Ollie have a pretty serious falling out, I'm sure Arrow will likely touch on that.

Baron is right about the Red Hood, but that's a different character (series of characters) and was never Roy, they just share part of a name. Like Green Arrow and Green Lantern. There is a DC teen sidekick associated with the Red Hood but that's a Bat-thing.

Roy is either going to turn it around and be part of the show or Ollie is going to fail, they have a break (most likely over the sister) and Roy will take off and do things his way.

I do think he'll end up being called 'Speedy' at some point because maybe that keeps him centered.

Spoiler:

Huh, I could have sworn we read on a Wiki somewhere that he turned into the Red Hood.

Either way, I thought about that as well when the "Speedy" thing came up this episode.

And the award for worst reaction to the reveal of a superhero is... Katie Cassidy playing Laural on the Arrow! LOL.

Everything that proceeded it, though, well done.

Overall I like the series, but the end to the most recent episode had me laughing out loud, it was so bad! Like parody of a soap opera actor bad.

"Halloween was 6 months ago, asshat!"

Yeah, my roommate and I thought that was horribly done. Then again, for all the times her apartment has been invaded/attacked (seriously why hasn't she moved or been kicked out by her landlord) you'd think she'd be smart enough to check the peep-hole in her door. "Oh, it's this guy that is a suspect for Thea's kidnapping? I don't think I'll let him in."

Or maybe the writers just want us to hate Laurel for some reason. I dunno. She was just given the idiot ball there, and then that she looks like she believed Slayd (Sleyd?) right then and there without any further evidence, proof, or questions...egh.

My roommate did bring up a good question, though. Since Merlin wants Thea, and Thea was kidnapped, why didn't Merlin come out of hiding to try and rescue his daughter?

Slade. And Laurel's been awful this season. I hoped her reconciliation with her family would be a turning point, but it looks like they're just taking her down a different stupid path.

Laurel continues to be by far the worst part of the show.

I do find it incredibly creepy that Slade is repeating what his inner Shado is saying word for word.

He clearly loves her. I mean, I repeat everything my wife says.

EXCUSE ME, NERDS. I MUST STOP WASTING MY LIFE ON THESE VIDEO GAMES AND ALSO MUST PICK UP MORE WINE ON THE WAY HOME.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

"Halloween was 6 months ago, asshat!"

Great artists steal?

Kurrelgyre wrote:
SpacePPoliceman wrote:

"Halloween was 6 months ago, asshat!"

Great artists steal?

"Asshole" is meh. "Asshat" makes it sing. Great artist improve!

ccesarano wrote:

Yeah, my roommate and I thought that was horribly done. Then again, for all the times her apartment has been invaded/attacked (seriously why hasn't she moved or been kicked out by her landlord) you'd think she'd be smart enough to check the peep-hole in her door. "Oh, it's this guy that is a suspect for Thea's kidnapping? I don't think I'll let him in."

My favorite conjecture is that she's trying to save money on doors, having had so many of them kicked in.

More random thoughts about the series:

As bad as Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance) has been this season, Caity Lotz (Sarah Lance) has been killing it. I'm a little in love with her. She does tend to stick to a few stock expressions, but they're great expressions. True, she's had a little more to work with, but Cassidy has been serviceable at best even through the first season.

That makes me real nervous about the whole "Laurel-Lance-is-the-real-DC-Black-Canary" business. If they knock off Sarah Lance, then they've really stuck with the wrong actress.

Stephen Amell has really stepped up his game. It's been an almost David Boreanaz transformation at this point. When the show first started, I remarked that he'd probably been chosen for his Crossfit abilities more than his acting, but he's really grown into the role.

I think it was a point where Oliver was in danger of losing the company, while his eye-patched arch-nemesis from the island on which he was shipwrecked toured the family mansion with Oliver's mayoral candidate mother and oblivious sister where I realized that I was basically watching Guiding Light with fancy costumes.

Spoiler:

I think they're beginning to hint that Shado is a little more than a really vivid memory that both Oliver and Wilson share. Arrow has flirted with some wacky comic book stuff, but hasn't gone quite into full-on comic tropes. But ghost ex-girlfriend would be a definite step over the line.

kazooka wrote:

More random thoughts about the series:

As bad as Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance) has been this season, Caity Lotz (Sarah Lance) has been killing it. I'm a little in love with her. She does tend to stick to a few stock expressions, but they're great expressions. True, she's had a little more to work with, but Cassidy has been serviceable at best even through the first season.

That makes me real nervous about the whole "Laurel-Lance-is-the-real-DC-Black-Canary" business. If they knock off Sarah Lance, then they've really stuck with the wrong actress.

Stephen Amell has really stepped up his game. It's been an almost David Boreanaz transformation at this point. When the show first started, I remarked that he'd probably been chosen for his Crossfit abilities more than his acting, but he's really grown into the role.

I think it was a point where Oliver was in danger of losing the company, while his eye-patched arch-nemesis from the island on which he was shipwrecked toured the family mansion with Oliver's mayoral candidate mother and oblivious sister where I realized that I was basically watching Guiding Light with fancy costumes.

Spoiler:

I think they're beginning to hint that Shado is a little more than a really vivid memory that both Oliver and Wilson share. Arrow has flirted with some wacky comic book stuff, but hasn't gone quite into full-on comic tropes. But ghost ex-girlfriend would be a definite step over the line.

You may want to check the "The Machine" in which Caity Lotz plays a nude robot.

I don't fault the actress, or even a character, for the role that was written. I'd just like the writers to take her in a more practical direction.

Of course, that gets rid of some of the soap opera style drama, and while I'd hate to be cliche at the assumption and suggestion, I imagine that helps give it a mainstream appeal.

I don't think Shado is a ghost. I think she's a talented and beautiful actress that they didn't want to get rid of even though her character's death was integral to the plot, so why not keep her as the personification of Deathstroke's insanity due to the Mira-kuru. He's in full on "IT'S NOT MY FAULT IT'S YOUR FAULT!" mode and she's the personification of that.

Grenn wrote:

I don't think Shado is a ghost. I think she's a talented and beautiful actress that they didn't want to get rid of even though her character's death was integral to the plot, so why not keep her as the personification of Deathstroke's insanity due to the Mira-kuru. He's in full on "IT'S NOT MY FAULT IT'S YOUR FAULT!" mode and she's the personification of that.

Personality I would have preferred if Yao-Fei was the focal point of the falling out, with Oliver and Sarah on one side and Slade and Shado on the other. Have Yao-Fei be the one with the knowledge of the Mirikuru and who Ivo was gunning for separate from Flyer and his team of merchs.

And isn't Shado alive in the comics? I don't think she's dead either. It seems no one dies on that island, it's the opposite problem of Lost.

Oh my gods! Just watched the latest episode on Hulu and:

Spoiler:

Summer Glau is now a super powered villain.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Oh my gods! Just watched the latest episode on Hulu and:

Spoiler:

Summer Glau is now a super powered villain.

Not to mention Oliver's reaction when he found out just what Isabel's background connection to his family was...

Why, in every show where the characters have royalty levels of money, is there always an episode where they lose their money? I get if that were a theme from the beginning, but it wasn't in Arrow. One small nitpick in an otherwise wonderful season.

Grenn wrote:

Why, in every show where the characters have royalty levels of money, is there always an episode where they lose their money? I get if that were a theme from the beginning, but it wasn't in Arrow. One small nitpick in an otherwise wonderful season.

I know, normally Arrow avoids TV tropes.

I've never read Green Arrow comics, but the character is famously socialist/anti-capitalist. I've been wondering if & how the show would send Queen in that direction.

Technically he should be getting enough income to live off of with Verdant, just not as comfortably. It would probably put his efforts as Arrow in greater danger than anything else.

But yes, my roommate and I continue to love this show. They've managed to continue building up Deathstroke perfectly, where every time he is on screen we're giddy, and giving Oliver and company five-second ass whoopings before leaving just continues to elevate him as a greater and greater threat. So, so good.

Also, about a minute before Deathstroke showed up I turned to my roommate and said "I bet you those two scientist kids are characters on the Flash TV spin-off". I'd say that assumption was quite accurate, considering they were already being given more than enough character building dialog.

Oh, I forgot to mention how ridiculous I found the meeting with their company guy. "Don't we still own the majority of shares?" "Yes, but she's diluted them so much they're practically worthless."

I'm no economist, but I don't think that's how shares work.

Did you not see The Social Network? That's exactly how it works.

Either way it's an easy way for a serial story to put the protagonist through a challenge that probably won't change who they are at all.