Board Thread:DC Universe Discussion/@comment-34954086-20121013054202/@comment-1635895-20130625130200

I've finally done what I've been planning to do for a while, and that is sit down and watch the econd half of season one of Arrow. I had to put aside an entire day to do it, and was it worth it? Well, let's find out...

If you look to the top of this thread, you'll see my first impressions of the show were not positive by any means. But as I continued to watch the series, I'll admit, I became increasingly fond of it and the characters.

To this day Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen bugs me. I just don't relate to him at all, and nor do I have much interest in him. I stand by my point of the writers forcing him to be badass, and in my opinion they've failed in doing so. It's what I like to call psuedo-cool, and it doesn't go down well in my books. I was really - not upset, but perhaps suprised that Oliver never really had much character development in the season. Sure, he started out being way more selfish, but he's still selfish, and he's still as arrogant as ever. I was expecting this season's character arc for Oliver would be him leave behind his fatal methods of heroism, and towards are more Batman-ish style of crimefighting. Instead, Oliver has gone from being selfish, to being less-selfish.

Diggle continues to be my favorite character on the show. I think he's really the only consistently portrayed character on the show, and I'm looking forward to more of David Ramsey in season two.

Now, Laurel Lance... What do I think of Laurel Lance? To be honest, I'm really not sure. Laurel is suffering the same disease as Oliver in my opinion, and that is lackofdepth-itis. I'm just honestly not interested in her, which is again, a shame since Black Canary is such a stand out character for me in Young Justice. Am I asking for Laurel to become a crimefighter? Not particularly. But if it's going to give her some character depth then I'm certainly up for it. Heck, they've only hinted at the Black Canary about eleven times this season. Who knows, maybe Tommy's current situation will give her the push she needs?

And as for Tommy. Well I did enjoy his character's role throughout the season. I think he played off each of the characters nicely, and I'm only a little sad to see him go. I think the writers should have really milked his relationship with his dad more, to add some more drama to the final few episodes (which I'll get to in a minute), instead of that standoff they had before Malcolm's final killing spree.

Speaking of Malcolm Merlyn, I wasn't expecting this show to become a Doctor Who reunion! Captain Jack Harkness and River Song! For those that don't know, Alex Kingston, who played Laurel's mother, plays River Song in Doctor Who, and she is my absolute favorite character the show has ever had in its 50 year history. I think I actually screamed and clapped when she walked on my screen! I can only pray that she has some sort of fight scene in season two. Heck, everyone else in Starling City seems to be proficient in martial arts.

Back to the topic at hand, I think most of the other recurring characters did remarkably well. Thea became a bit less bratty, which I liked. I adore Walter, though if he doesn't return next season I feel that his character may have been wasted a little. I do like Felicity, even though sometimes she urks me a little. I did find her scenes in the finale very endearing though. Also, sidenote, the episode with the diamond thief when she's all gussied up? My god she was hot. I didn't even recognise her! I was wondering why Ollie and Diggle were even talking to her!

I think one of the biggest introductions this season, without a doubt, was Roy Harper. Sure, I got tired of that red hoodie, but overall I did enjoy his character. For me he only had two major faults. 1) I never really got that even though he's supposedly poor, he can afford to live on his own. And 2) he is way too attractive. Seriously. Half the time he was on screen I wasn't actually listening, I was just staring at him. Hope he becomes a vigilante soon, for less admirable reasons... BACK TO THE POINT, I really liked the morals he was showing in the finale too. But again, Thea should snag him up, quick sticks.

As for the finale itself? I can admire what the writers were aiming for, but I just found a lot of it much too jarring. I'm sorry, but if the Glades are so poverty-filled and the people are so helpless, I can't help but think that maybe the set designers should have portrayed this somehow? Our heroes were in the Glades a lot, and it never looked like that bad a place. If it's supposed to be Starling City's version of Gotham's Narrows, they didn't do very well to depict it. I was very impressed that the writers actually decided to destroy it though. That came as a shock.

What was maybe more shocking was why Oliver had to fight Malcolm in the end. That was entirely unecessary! I mean, what really needed to be done was destroy the earthquake device, not kill Merlyn. That wasn't going to help anybody, and you know what? IT DIDN'T. The only thing that came from that was Diggle got stabbed, Oliver got stabbed, and as a result of being preoccupied, the Hood was unable to save any lives. Seriously. The real heroes here were Felicity and Detecive Lance. The Hood did nothing to help anyone, and I think if we'd seen the Hood in the streets helping people escape, we could have actually seen Oliver grow as a character. The Hood/Merlyn confrontation could still have happened in the Glades.

And now for my favorite part of the season, Oliver's adventures on the island. They were definitely the stronger point of each episode, and I actually would have preffered to see a series based around the island for an entire season, than the city. I preffered the island's characters, I prefer Oliver's character on the island, and Oliver's survival would have worked very nicely as a tightly nit serialised drama.

Overall, I think that the faults of the show really lie with its writers. I hope that they learn from their mistakes in season two. As for now, I did actually enjoy the series, though I think it may have worked far better in a different format. I think Arrow would have really succeeded if it has modeled itself after BBC's Sherlock, where each episode is about ninety minutes long, and serve as sort of mini-movies. I'd love to see Arrow in that format, and infact, I really do think it would work well.

If I had to give the series a score out of ten, it would be somewhere between a six and a seven. Because although the show definitely had its faults, I definitely found it entertaining. And as a piece of entertainment, it did serve its purpose. I am definitely looking forward to the show's return.