Arrow Midseason Recap/Review
Our favorite Emerald Archer returns from his midseason break next week (and hopefully from the dead too), so I thought there was no better time than now to go over the first half of Arrow's third season. Let's get to it.
High Points (Ep. 1-9):
- Roy is now a full-fledged sidekick.
- The theme of Identity: Can Ollie be both the Arrow and Oliver Queen.
- The shocking death of Sara Lance at the end of Ep. 1.
- Emotional fallout from Sara's death hit Team Arrow hard.
- Komodo from Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow run gets introduced.
- Motorcycle Jousting should be in the Olympics.
- Brandon Routh has added heart + humor to the cast with his fun portrayal of Ray Palmer and his interactions with Felicity are always hilarious.
- The angry hunt for Sara's Killer led to many different suspects.
- Awesome DC easter eggs spread through all nine episodes.
- Thea's transformation to a badass through her studies with Papa Merlyn.
- Ollie and Roy's relationship has grown from "He's just my sister's BF" to "Bros".
- Laurel has begun her path to become Black Canary.
- The gorgeous Nyssa Al Ghul came back and she was pissed about Sara's death.
- Ollie's inability to find Sara's killer puts him at odds with the League of Assassins.
- Enter the Demon's Head, Ra's Al Ghul.
- Felicity's Mom has got it going on (MILF TO THE MAX!).
- Flashbacks to Felicity's hacker past at MIT filled in some blanks about her backstory.
- Roy recalls that he killed a cop in last season's "Seeing Red".
- It's Cupid, stupid! But seriously she was a sexy and unique villainess.
- Ray Palmer has plans for his ATOM suit and now has dwarf star matter as well.
- THE ENTIRETY OF THE FLASH/ARROW CROSSOVER!
- Even though it's in The Flash's episode that incredible Flash vs. Arrow fight.
- Captain Boomerang is another worthy addition to the Flarrow rogues gallery.
- Ollie and Barry's seasoned vet to super-powered rookie relationship.
- Merlyn sets up Ollie to clear his blood debt with the League of Assassins.
- THEA KILLED SARA! (Under mind control, but still!)
- Ollie vs. Ra's in a trial by combat.
- The death of Oliver Queen!
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| My sediments exactly |
- New Vertigo was a Scarecrow ripoff.
- All of the Hong Kong flashbacks have been weak. Katana and Maseo have been extremely underdeveloped which led to the latter's reveal of being in the modern day League of Assassins be very underwhelming. Tommy popping up was the lone bright spot.
- Laurel in her anger over Sara's death makes several stupid decisions.
- Nothing good ever happens for Det. Lance. He is this show's punching bag.
- Being in Corto Maltese really detracted from attempting to find Sara's killer.
- First half has been a real slow burn especially with the League of Assassins.
- Felicity used to date a hacktivist pussy.
- Certain episodes in particular Ep. 3-6 did very little to move any main stories along. Also besides Merlyn, these eps had terrible bad guys involved. Brother Eye, Shaw (The Manhunter), and that dumbass attempting to frame Ted Grant all sucked as antagonists.
- Ollie was a huge hypocrite in regards to Ted Grant being dangerous because he was a former vigilante who killed people. Re-watch Season 1 Ollie. You filled a fucking graveyard.
- No Suicide Squad or Deathstroke.
- No one and I mean no one gives a shit about Thea's new DJ boyfriend. Unless the rumors about him working for Merlyn or Ra's are true, then I will give at least one shit.
- Not enough emphasis on Roy.
- Dinah Lance is the biggest shithead to ever walk the fake universe of Arrow.
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| What I do on Wed. nights without Arrow |
Best Episodes So Far:
1. "The Brave and The Bold": The Flash/Arrow crossover was a massive successful. Everyone knew going in that pairing Barry and Ollie together was going to be awesome and that fight between them did not disappoint. So "Brave and the Bold" had the job of continuing that level of epicness. It did so by giving Arrow one of it's best baddies this season in Captain Boomerang. Boomer was no joke and was on a war path to take down A.R.G.U.S. This led Arrow and Flash into action thereby delivering some of the coolest action sequences of this season.
2. "The Climb": The trend of TV in 2014 was to have a "trial by combat". On Game Of Thrones, the Mountain and the Viper had an epic showdown to determine the fate of Tyrion Lannister. It was a fun fight with a crazy unexpected outcome. So how was Arrow going to top that trial by combat? By having their own fun fight that has an even more unexpected outcome. Ollie got killed. It was a moment that Arrow fans never expected to see. In the end it just goes to show that you don't fuck with the Demon's Head. Overall this episode just showcased how scary powerful Ra's Al Ghul really is and how Oliver pails in comparison to his might. Obviously Oliver will have to come back somehow (Lazurus Pit is everyone's guess), so it will be interesting to see if the League still has a problem with Starling City's vigilante when he returns.
Worst Episode So Far:
1. "Guilty": Oliver was acting like a major hypocrite. Wildcat's old partner was trying to frame him, yet we didn't care. The story felt like it could have been resolved in the first 10 minutes. Whatever negative tidbits you have to say about "Guilty" are probably 100% on the money. Just a filler hour of TV with a lameass bad guy. Only high point for it, was the boxing glove arrow.
Biggest Surprise: Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer has been an excellent addition to the Arrow roster. At first I thought he would be a throw away character that was trying to take over Oliver's company much like Summer Glau's Ravager was last year, but instead Ray added humor + heart + levity to a show that desperately needed some. His character has been coming along nicely and I for one am definitely looking forward to him suiting up as The Atom in the second half of season 3.
Biggest Disappointment: Until I watched "The Climb", Ra's Al Ghul, or his lack there of, was going to be the biggest disappointment of the first half of season 3. Now that honor instead goes to the Hong Kong flashbacks. Early on in the show, flashbacks were one of Arrow's greatest strengths. They helped inform the story at hand while simultaneously giving the audience an interesting backstory on what happened to Oliver in those 5 years that he was away. The revelation at the end of last season that Ollie was not on the island the entire time he was away made me excited for what the show would going to do with it's new Hong Kong setting. To be frank, they haven't really done shit with it. Tatsu/Katana and Maseo have very little development other than that they love their son. When flashbacks were with Slade, Shado, and Sara, the audience learned a lot about who thee characters were and bonded to them. That's what made Slade's transformation that much cooler, you cared about him. Nobody cares about Maseo or Tatsu yet. Maybe the second half of the season will showcase who these characters are a little bit more.
Best Fight So Far:
1. Ra's vs. Oliver: The Demon's head easily destroys Ollie in perhaps the coolest way possible.
Honorable Mention: This fight happened on The Flash, but it was so badass that it should still count here. #Flarrow
Verdict: Arrow's first half gets a 7.0 out of 10. Now some people may feel that score is a little low, so let me explain. Arrow reached awesome heights last year and I'm going to hold them to that standard. Off that bar that they set, this season has been good, not great. Of course there were plenty of highlights, but I expect the second half of the season to be on par with Season 2. Oliver's death sets up a ton of possibilities for the season's second half so there is no reason not to expect greatness from this next set of episodes.
Most Excited For (Ep. 10-23):
- Mob boss Brick is coming to Starling! Played by Vinnie Jones who famously said "I'm the Juggernaut, BITCH!"
- Roy and Diggle stepping up in Oliver's absence.
- Appearances by Suicide Squad and Deathstroke.
- More League of Assassins.
- Another Flash appearance?
Okay, that's all I for ya. Stay tuned for Arrow return on Jan. 21st and make sure to follow us on @Caped_Informers or follow me @cstrand73 for all your comic book related news. Thanks for reading!
If you want individual reviews for each of the first nine Arrow episodes click the links below:
