Well, if you do start watching it, I guess I'll give you a bit more info to give you a more complete picture.
Season 1 starts off OK. It's not exactly the most compelling show but it scratchs that whole superhero / comic book itch enough to keep you pleased and entertained enough to stay with it. Plus, the people on the show are obviously trying to start incorporating feedback from the audience and start making adjustments to what works and doesn't work. But after about the first 10 episodes in, they've basically found their groove and have started to set-up the big season storylines. The show starts to ramp up viewer interest. And then by about the 18th episode or so, I had no problem recommending this show to anyone. It's been harder to convince people who watched Smallville to give this show since there was a version of Green Arrow on that show for a few seasons but this iteration is completely different.
The show gets compared quite a bit to Batman Begins or Spiderman and as you watch it, you'll see why. The look of it and some of the character situations seem to mimick it or give off that vibe that, even if I hadn't told you this, you'd probably end up thinking that yourself at some point. While the Batman influence / imitation is something the Green Arrow character has always struggled with even before he was on TV, there are enough differences that still make him his own unique creation such as how he has no problem killing villains and is dropping bodies almost every episode. One thing the show does right is focus more on those differences while downplaying the similarities as much as possible.
One of the better choices they've done is focus more on his time stranded on an island where he learned to become the Green Arrow. Moreover, it has allowed the show to have two stories in one. There are stories and mysteries from his time on the island in the past and stories and mysteries from his time back home in the present. The great thing about that is, instead of having just one show of his time in the present or one show of his time in the past for instance, they can avoid having filler material and spinning their wheels for awhile as well as keep things moving along at a nice pace.
That is one of the greatest differences between it and Smallville in that things move forward. Smallville spent way too long with the whole Clark/Lana romance and it falling apart because he was hiding something along with other such subplots. While Arrow may have the characters mope and angst about a situation for awhile, it generally doesn't last longer than 4 episodes until it is resolved and they move on. I mean, I know that since it is the CW, it is going to be marketed more to the high school crowd and so there is going to be some relationship drama or teen angst to appeal to that crowd. It mostly comes through the Thea character. However, I'm thankful it is not played up to the level that Smallville would take it at times and it just seems to be better handled and a bit more subdued as well that I can live with it and not roll my eyes or hate the characters. Unlike Smallville which dragged out the progression of Clark to Superman far longer than it should have been or really worked, with the character of Oliver Queen, and also the others around him, you can see a real progression being made as they keep adapting to the new situations facing them.
On the minus side, I've only now begun to warm up to the main character of Oliver Queen. It's not that there's nothing wrong with the actor or his portayal per se. It's just that the other characters have more interesting personalities or are given better moments to shine. With Oliver Queen, since he is hiding his identity and lying about what he does and really is, you don't often get to see him just be himself. And when he is, he's usually pretty serious and focus on his mission of trying to save his city. He even admits during the show that he is trying to keep people or form too much of attatchment to them since he doesn't know how it will end for him. Having him be semi-detached from people seems to have a similar effect on the viewer with myself only being semi-attached to him. Fortunately, as the character has been able to start opening up more and formed some attachments, it's also helped in my warming up to the character.
But the same can not be said for the character of Laural Lance which is a problem since she's a major character in the world of Green Arrow. I think the biggest issue with her is that it just seems every episode, they use her to get on somebody's case about something or half the time put her life in danger and they don't give her much else.
The episodic plots can be hit or miss and as I mentioned in a previous post, the one thing that the show could tighten up on. But the same was true of Smallville and its Freak of the Week episodic nature. It was the long running subplots that helped carry it through that and it is the same thing with Arrow with the secondary plots usually being the more interesting developments in an episode. While they moved slowly at first, the show seems to have found the right pacing for them and so there always seems to be little new developments each episode to keep you coming back for more.
If I were to use a 1-10 scale to rank it with 1 the worst and 10 the best, I'd rank the majority of Season at 7.5 with it moving up to 8 at the end. Season 2 has been about an 8.3 or so. With the material they currently have to work with and a few more adjustments and tighter scripting, this show has the potential to get to 9 or higher. Even if that doesn't pan out, it is still at a pretty good spot.
Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen (Read 1199331 times)
