Have you ever watched Arrow and thought “there really needs to be more partial nudity on this show” – well this news update is just for you. The powers that be behind Arrow have heard your concerns and have searched the world high and low to find the man (it is network TV after all, no bare boobs here) to best fit the bill.
Continue reading Arrow: A New Deathstroke, and perhaps Shado as well?
Last episode I couldn’t stand Laurel and Thea was growing on me. Well that has all changed. Another difference between episode 6 and 7? The amount of John Diggle screen time. There was not near enough of it this week in ‘Muse of Fire’! I felt deprived. If a John Diggle drought wasn’t enough, there was no island which meant no Yao Fei! Oh Arrow what are you trying to do to me?!
This episode, I didn’t really like it and I can’t really put my finger on why. It’s odd because I really like certain individual parts but not the episode as a whole. Sadly, I think a contributing factor might be Geoff Johns’ writing. There is no debate that Johns is a great comic book writer. His Teen Titans is among my favorites of my entire collection. I just don’t know how well that style of writing is translating to television. The episodes of Smallville that he wrote (starting in season 8) were obvious within a couple of minutes. The dialogue just doesn’t flow like two people talking to each other as opposed to a person reading word bubbles. That and the scene cuts in this episode were quite abrupt but that could be due to already feeling off kilter with the dialogue.
The episode started off nicely with the banter between Oliver and Thea and I literally laughed out loud when Oliver told her that he sometimes had trouble remembering who is his mother. I may be the oldest sibling but there is definitely another one of us that is the “mom” so I feel you Ollie. I have to ask though, surely I’m not the only one that thought of the T-Mobile commercials with the motorcycle chick? Because that is all I could see when Helena, oh I’m sorry, the “mystery shooter” showed up.
She even looks like Jessica DeGouw! Sadly, I think the T-Mobile chick might have done a better job as Huntress. Ms. DeGouw just was not all that I had hoped for in that role. For one, I’m wondering if she has ever filmed a fight sequence before. Ever. In her life. This week’s episode was a strong argument against that possibility. I am the last person that should be depended on for an informed opinion when it comes to on-screen fighting, but even my untrained self could tell that it was just bad. That and what was up with her voice? I guess she was trying to get that breathy/husky/Eartha Kitt quality that previous actresses have done, but she did not do it very well. More than anything though, I wish they’d decided to make her initial story arc longer than the two episodes because it felt really rushed. One minute Oliver was running after her motorcycle, the next they were going to dinner, then they were fighting, getting caught, crying and then kissing.
I wish they’d let that one slow burn for a little bit longer, let it develop more organically instead of forcing it. Of course we all know that Huntress/Helena is just a bump in the road that is Oliver and Laurel but still, they could have gotten quite a bit more mileage out of this one. I’m hoping that the second of the Huntress episodes is a bit better. Not to mention, I’m of course glad that they brought Huntress in because she has the potential to be a great character (she obviously needs some work in this incarnation) but perhaps they should have waited until they were further into the season so Oliver could have actually had a leg to stand on when he attempted to make the argument that there is a difference between he and Huntress? His “justice” resume is rather sparse as he’s new to the game. I don’t think he’s really in a position to be lecturing others on the subject just yet. If there had been any John Diggle in this episode (I’m still not over it) he’d surely taken Oliver to task over that one. I see him as a “wtf are you trying to pull?” voice of reason in Oliver’s life.
Speaking of Laurel, I think I just don’t like her when she’s the lawyer sent from the gods. This week? I actually found myself cheering her and Tommy on. They were actually cute and somewhat not annoying. Of course Oliver would tell Tommy he was okay with it. That’s like when I tell my sister “sure you can use my chapstick” when I’m really thinking “bitch if you take that chapstick and put it in your purse, I will cut you“. Even though Ollie was out and about with Helena, he’ll come back to Laurel. Only a matter of time. Which brings me to the best part of the episode! John Barrowman, oh how I adore thee.
His conversation with Moira was quite telling and completely vague all at the same time. Apparently he and Moira and Robert used to be thick as thieves (and possibly quite literally thieves) just like Tommy, Oliver, and Laurel are probably going to be here soon. Arrow seems to be quite fond of the foreshadowing and callback and I think this was a clear case of foreshadowing. I think we can all agree the highlight of this episode was when Tommy went to go complain to his dad about taking his money away.
Now I’m sure there are plenty of people who watch this show who have no idea who John Barrowman is outside of this role, I feel sorry for them, but I’m sure they exist. For the rest of us though, the man has one of the most recognizable voices in the world so that “rip the fencing mask off” reveal wasn’t quite as dramatic as they probably hoped. No, I was in full “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!” mode when I heard him start talking. Seriously though- WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? So perhaps Tommy Merlyn isn’t going to end up being “the” Merlyn? Perhaps Pappa Merlyn/Well Dressed Man is actually Merlyn? It isn’t hard to make the leap that Well Dressed Man is an experienced archer as well as fencer. Maybe he gave his son and his son’s best friend some lessons when they were younger? Oh yea, that could work.
Second best part of the episode? Walter comes back. Not only that but he came back because he missed his wife, not because his wife had a concussion after being shot at. I’m a big ol’ sap and got a little teary on that one. In just a few short episodes I’ve grown quite endeared to Moira and Walter, hope those crazy kids can work things out.
There was only a few shout outs to the comics universe in this episode. One being the name of Helena’s fiance, Staton. Joe Staton created the Huntress character. That and Helena wears a cross in this episode while the comic book character Huntress has a cross on her outfit. If there were more, I missed them but would love if someone else caught them to let me know!
The episode had some bright spots but as a whole, it was not that great. I’m hoping they are able to tighten up the writing for future episodes because it’s going to be a laborious sixteen remaining episodes if they don’t. I just have to keep reminding myself that this is a new show, it is still trying to stretch its legs and see which way it wants to walk.
We’ll see more of that path next week with “Vengeance”, make sure you tune in and then come back here and we’ll talk it over. Until then Arrow fans!
We’ll go 3.5/5, with extra points from John Barrowman.
About a year ago, news came out that I completely missed. If you missed it as well, let me catch you up. Syfy ordered a script from Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg that was about DC Universe superhero, Booster Gold. That was the extent of the news. Nothing much was heard more of the project (as far as the internet is telling me because again, I missed all of this at the time) but Berlanti and Kreisberg had gone on to head up Arrow on the CW, which has been quite successful so far.
Then summer rolls around and IGN meets up with Kreisberg at Comic-Con and they ask him about the progress on Booster Gold:
If I were to get nothing else out of that conversation, it would be that Andrew Kreisberg and I should be friends. His favorites are Green Arrow and Booster Gold? Ah, a man after my own heart. The more exciting news though was that Booster Gold is still a thing. The summer continues, moves into early fall and Arrow premieres to great ratings. It’s easy to see why people would either start wondering about Booster Gold’s future or just forget about it altogether.
Thankfully IGN caught back up with Kreisberg recently and posted their interview with him today. He discusses the upcoming episodes of Arrow with Helena Bertinelli, aka The Huntress mainly, but at the end they asked Kreisberg about Booster Gold.
I got a little waylaid by Arrow. Booster Gold is going in the next couple weeks before Christmas. We’ll see what happens from there. It’s such a different project even though they’re both DC Comics properties. Booster is much more candy and popcorn, being about time travel and changing the future and being a superhero who can fly. But they’re both super-fun projects. As a lifelong DC Comics fan, I am beyond blessed to be working on these projects with all these amazing characters.
I for one, am happy he mentioned that Arrow and Booster Gold are very different. As much as I like the “Dark Knight” angle that Arrow has taken, a similar path would not work for a character like Booster Gold. He’s much flashier and in the spotlight than Oliver Queen. Especially if they are starting the show with Booster Gold as a new superhero. Granted if they were to jump into his story line right now it’d be different as he has grown as a character, but he still would not be the “in the shadows with a bow and arrow” type that Arrow is.
They haven’t released any details of the show beyond these few blurbs, but one has to imagine that it would include Blue Beetle which will make me just giddy. The relationship between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle is one of my favorites in all of the DC Universe.
Of course no mention of Booster Gold would be complete without Skeets. Let’s all gather together and say a prayer that they make Skeets an actual robot that could have done security patrols around a museum unlike the incredibly lame earpiece AI that the Smallville interpretation of Booster Gold wore.
I think if you are a DC fan, you should be excited by this. Marvel has their big movies and everything but DC has ruled the TV realm in recent years. No matter what you think of Booster Gold (and sadly there are people who do not like him, even some here though they shall remain nameless for fear of Booster Gold fans revolting against them), you can’t deny that he has the possibility of bringing in new fans to DC Comics. More people reading and supporting the comics industry, no matter who they are reading, is always a good thing. Of course there is great potential for disaster as well, but perhaps we should all just let it come to fruition and then we can complain about how awful it is.
Now that I’m aware that this is even a thing, I’ll be waiting with bated breath for more news. Of course if we find any, we’ll share it with you so stay tuned!
So last week’s episode was good. I enjoyed the bits with Yao Fei (I have not yet found the Yao Fei fan club so I’m considering just starting my own, let me know if you want in), and of course Diggle as NotArrow, was sad about Walter’s departure, and chose to ignore the whole Laurel and Oliver thing completely.
This week? Well, I have mixed feelings about ‘Legacies’.
Firstly? Yay Royal Flush Gang!!! They are in Starling City to rob a bank but we already knew that. What we didn’t know is that Kyle/Ace was going to go all guns blazing and shoot a cop. Never a good idea. It did however set up nicely the father/son/gun theme that would run throughout the episode. I will say that the re-imagining of the Royal Flush Gang worked, for me at least. I wonder where I can get my hands on one of those masks.
For a moment however, let’s forget all plot line and story because wow.
Oliver Queen and John Diggle practicing what looks to be the Filipino martial art, eskrima.
Practice on fellows, practice on.
That scene wasn’t all shirtless sweaty hotness though, Oliver and John did have a meeting of the minds concerning Oliver’s path as the Vigilante. I really hope they come out and officially give a name to his alter-ego (they haven’t have they?) because I know it would help people who write about the show quite a bit as we never know how to refer to him whilst wearing the hood. I’ve done Arrow just because, duh The Green Arrow, but I’m fairly certain they’ve never actually called him Arrow so I’m torn.
Either way, Diggle thinks whatever they are calling him needs to be a hero and work on all types of crime in Starling City while Oliver thinks he should just focus on “The List”.
The flashbacks in this episode were all about Oliver’s dad and usually lined up with “King” of the Royal Flush Gang and his dealing with “Ace”. Even though this wasn’t a favorite episode, I really did like how they set this up. I really do wish though that they would set this show up less like a procedural. I don’t know that there’s any reason to have the bad guy be done at the end of the episode. It makes me want to weep when I think that a villain group as great as The Royal Flush Gang is just going to be one and done. Then again this is the same group that instead of moving on to a new city after being outed as bank robbers, they stick around until they are caught/killed. Can’t say these are the smartest cards in the deck. Of course they previously robbed banks in Keystone City and The Flash didn’t catch them so perhaps they felt they were safe.
I’m going to discuss Laurel now but she annoys me to the point that I can’t even see her face so I went instead with a nice gif showing off Stephen Amell’s form. He’s got a nice anchor point and appears to be solid in his stance.
Too bad he isn’t drawing back on Laurel’s ridiculousness. Apparently not only has she become a stellar lawyer in all forms of practicing law in the matter of 18 months, but she also is running the CNRI (which has to be a play on Canary) and because of that is understandably upset at Stagg Industries pulling their funding. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE?!?! Ugh, I just can’t even deal with that crap at all. I’m looking forward to the next episode when Laurel is appointed special counsel to the President of the United States after successfully suing Pol Pot posthumously for crimes against humanity. Not only does her completely ridiculous career path annoy me, but seriously she needs to look into something to treat her mood swings. In the span of 30 seconds she went from “Tommy I don’t need your money” to “My best friend and I play a game called “convince me in ten words or less” and she won so yes Tommy I’d love to throw a fund-raiser with you.”
I can’t even bring myself to discuss how Tommy won Laurel over by saying she was more preferable to a repeat one night stand.Merlyn need to be bad and Laurel needs to don some fish nets before I write both of them off as boring and useless.
Much to my surprise, I’m liking Thea more. Granted the whole crush on big brother’s best friend thing was a little left fieldish but her interactions with Oliver have become much more pleasurable. I loved the scene with Oliver and Thea giving Moira crap about going on and on about Carter Bowen. It’s a long practiced pastime of siblings and it’s fun to watch them grow/fall back into it. I’m also coming around to the idea of Thea being Speedy if for no other reason than they keep making a point of calling her Speedy. At first it was a passing thing but now there’s been commentary on the name as well. I’d say it’s only a matter of time before we see her flinging arrows at Starling City’s derelict business leaders.
So are we to believe that Oliver Queen can break into the police department (complete with some amazing ceiling acrobatics), download entire databases full of evidence, take that evidence, and then glean the needed information from it but he doesn’t know how to work google?
I’m only half complaining because I want Felicity Smoak to be on the screen as much as humanly possible but still, maybe she needs to be challenged a bit more than inputting something into a search bar.
I said earlier that the running thread through the episode was fathers and sons but I change my mind. It was more of just family in general. As much as I loved the banter between Diggle and Oliver, and especially when Felicity was brought in, it was actually the final scene between Moira and Oliver that was tops in my book. So sweet. I really hope they show more of her story with the boat and the Barrowman and why she was so interested in figuring out what Oliver knew because I want to love her, but there’s this little niggle in my brain (actually it’s my husband sitting next to me going “Don’t trust her Oliver, you can’t trust that bitch.”) that is preventing me.
Seriously if that doesn’t tug at the ol’ heartstrings than you are a heartless bastard. The End.
No new episode next week due to the holiday, but Arrow will return on November 28th with an episode titled “Muse of Fire” featuring a character I’ve been looking forward to since there were first rumors of her… The Huntress!
Until next time- Happy Thanksgiving Arrow fans!
Another day, another Arrow character announcement. This one is exciting but at the same time makes me feel a little trepidatious. Who is this new character? Why, it’s none other than Count Vertigo.
TV Line first reported this story along with the news that while Count Vertigo was coming, he wasn’t going to be called Count Vertigo or even Vertigo at all. I’m a pretty easy going type of gal and usually things like name changes don’t bother me. I don’t really like that it’s Starling City( as opposed to Star City) in the show, but I’ve been able to move on and not lose sleep over it. This however? This one might take some getting used to. Not only is Count Vertigo such a known character, he’s a rather large-ish character in the Green Arrow world. If I remember correctly, he would be the first (announced) villain that is truly a Green Arrow villain. So to take him and then make him into someone else but with aspects of the original Count Vertigo just seems to be a little blasphemous.
According to TV Line,a source told them that Not Vertigo would be “truly scary and nightmarish” and that the name Vertigo will actually be that of a drug this villain is putting into the hands of Starling City residents. I bet you dollars to donuts, Thea “Speedy” Queen will be one of those lucky winners. They’ve laid the groundwork in earlier episodes so it wouldn’t be an out of left field kind of thing when she shows up tweaking.
No casting has been announced as of yet, but Not Vertigo is scheduled to make his premiere sometime in early 2013.
There is however, one casting announcement to be made. The fine people over at IGN are reporting that Ben Browder is scheduled to appear as Ted Gaynor, head of the Blackhawks in early 2013. Most sci-fi fans will recognize Browder as John Crichton of Farscape.
As much as I enjoyed Farscape, Ben Browder will always be Sam Brody from Party of Five for me. I’ll admit to swooning quite a bit whenever ol’ Sam hit the screen. We’ll have to see if he has the same effect as Ted Gaynor.
Even though ratings for last week were a little lower than they had been, there’s no need for alarm because this week ratings were back up, way up. As a matter of fact they matched the ratings from the premiere! Not only that but over on TVGuide.com, Arrow is #1 in their “popularity contest” of fall shows. I’ve said it before, it’s not going to be long before the CW announces a second season. If they continue to put forth episodes as good as last nights, then I think we are in for at least a couple of years of Arrow. Sounds good to me!
Because there wasn’t a lot of time spent on the bad guy du’jour, it left a lot of time for them to work on advancing character storylines and just the story in general. 
Instead of immediately picking back up with Oliver getting arrested, the episode started off back on the island. Yao Fei strengthened his status as my “favorite person ever” when after he let Ollie shoot the bow for the first time he feels the need to tell him “You will die badly.” Seriously, where is the Yao Fei fanclub and how can I become it’s president? Because that shit right there is funny. Edward Fryers makes an appearance as the guy chasing after Yao Fei, who then tortures Ollie to get info. How on earth is this going to lead to Fryers and Oliver becoming friends and the introduction of Shado? How? I do not see it and that makes me sad. I mean, I figured they weren’t going to even touch the “I raped you while you were drugged, oh, and this is your kid” thing, but to not even have her in the show at all? Bummer.
Okay, bone to pick. I can agree to ignore Laurel’s ridiculous multifaceted law career. I suppose in an alternate universe, a legal aid lawyer would have all the time in the world to take on clients that are arrested (with zero evidence I might add) and then brought to court in a matter of hours in between the her time spent on cases involving millionaires and death row residents. However, are we seriously supposed to believe that she did not even go to law school until after her sister died and her mom left? Seriously? That would mean that at best she’s been practicing law for about two years. At best! Well, let’s see; yacht goes down, let’s say that mom stuck around for only a couple of months afterwards before getting fed up with Detective Lance and hitting the road. It was then that Laurel decides to go to law school which I do believe is three years. So we’re looking at three and a half years of the time Oliver is gone. So Laurel has been a lawyer for less than two years and she is already taking on this huge workload. I’m calling bullshit. The least they could have done was said she had already been in law school when Oliver and Sara took off on their fateful three hour tour.
Moving on before I rupture a blood vessel over a TV show.
IT’S DEATHSTROKE!!!!!!!!!
Yes, that was necessary. Deathstroke appeared for the first time ever in live action and that dude is frightening. Were I tied to a pole and that guy came at me with a knife? I’d be telling whoever was asking, every single thing I’d ever known, ever. Without the slightest hesitation.
What you should take away from this is, don’t rely on me to keep a secret under duress. Not going to happen.
Thankfully Oliver (we are led to believe) is not so weak willed and dealt with the torture. For a show that is more entertainment than it is “high quality” there was a great set up in this episode between the interrogation on the island, complete with Deathstroke and his knife, and the interrogation back in Starling City with Detective Lance and his polygraph machine. Just goes to show that even though it isn’t Breaking Bad or Boardwalk Empire or shows of that caliber, they can still have nice moments like that. I hate when people start talking shit about a show like Arrow because it isn’t something that is Emmy worthy. Sometimes entertainment for entertainment’s sake is a welcome escape. Sakes alive this episode is getting my dander up.
Going out on a limb but I have this feeling that Deathstroke isn’t going to lose his eye to a gunshot from his wife, but rather there on the island. Why else would they have shown the mask with the arrow through it? So perhaps Yao Fei attempting to shoot him was a bit of foreshadowing. I’m a little bummed because it would have been cool to get into Deathstroke’s back-story with his wife and sons and everything. Oh well.
I’m choosing to ignore the fact that Oliver once again referred to Thea as Speedy. Why would they do that to me? Why not just have Diggle be Speedy? Come on. At least Thea is getting more tolerable in recent episodes, girlfriend was obnoxious as hell when they first started. However I did enjoy the conversation between Oliver and Thea when she thought that because he brought her an arrowhead that meant he was Arrow. He ruses that it’s a good thing he didn’t get the panda shotglass because then he’d be “Pandaman”. I immediately thought of how awesome it would be if someone made a show based on World of Warcraft. I’d watch that all day long. If anyone was wanting to send me a gift you can go ahead and get me that Chen Stormstout action figure. I’m sure if you put “Amanda Denton, Georgia” the post office will get it to me without a problem. Thank you.
Another thing I’d love to open my mailbox and find one day is John Barrowman. I’m not sure how much it would cost to ship him but I’m pretty sure I’d be willing to pay it. That man is incredible. I’m really enjoying how they aren’t coming right out and telling us who he is. We get that he is obviously a bad guy, what with trying to have Oliver killed and then successfully offing the poor security guy Josiah, but outside of that, not much is known. Now we also know that Moria is working for him and not with him like the first couple of episodes led us to believe. Of course that whole killing people thing makes me want to know what is on that boat even more. Intrigue!
Speaking of the boat, poor Walter. When the show first started I really thought he was going to be a bad guy. Don’t know why, just a feeling I had. Seeing his face when he was walking out was just heartbreaking. Granted I’ve never been in the “my wife is lying to me about why she took millions of dollars to get a warehouse to store the wreckage of the yacht her late husband died on and she won’t tell me why” type of situation so I can’t imagine how difficult it is but I really want him and Moira to just kiss and make up. Now that Moira has gone into Momma Bear overdrive, paper cuts be damned, I’m really enjoying her character. I especially liked her and Walter together. It’ll be interesting to see how she reacts to his leaving. Ooooh, what is she going to tell the kids? Can’t very well come out and tell the truth now can she?
When it comes to telling the truth, I guess I’ll have to admit I thought Oliver was an idiot for coming clean to Diggle so soon. He could surely keep up the ruse for at least another month or so, if for no other reason than to watch Diggle get aggravated each time Ollie ditched him. Thanks to this episode, I can now say that I should not have doubted ol’ Oliver because the man has a plan.
A good plan at that! Having Diggle as a co-Arrow really could help keep the spotlight off of both of them. That spotlight being the previously mentioned Detective Lance. Of course, one has to wonder how long Diggle is going to keep it from his sister-in-law. She is going to blow a gasket, and I would really enjoy watching that.
I didn’t enjoy watching Laurel and Oliver kiss mainly because Laurel irks me but that scene was awesome for one reason and one reason only; Laurel mentions fishnets. If you had listened closely on Wednesday night you could have heard everyone who knows about Black Canary squeal in delight. I was one of those squealing while my husband sat next to me thinking I’d sat on a pinecone or something. Highlight of the episode right there.
Another cool part of that scene was the number of Ollie’s “prison uniform” costume. It’s actually the hex code for green. I love it when they put little things like that into shows. I looked up Ollie’s mugshot number as well but all I can decipher is that perhaps the writers are big fans of Gloria Allred as she was born on July 3rd, 1941. I think that would qualify as one of the most random references ever so it probably wasn’t that.
My last thought on this episode is that isn’t all we’ll see of Kate Spencer. I mean surely they have more in store for her so maybe this was just a “I wonder if anyone will notice if we introduce Kate Spencer on the down low and then we’ll come back to her at a later date as Manhunter and everyone will be like “hey isn’t that the ADA that was prosecuting Oliver back in the fifth episode” and we’ll just sit back and laugh because, yea, it is.” type of situation. That’s what I tell myself so I can sleep well at night at least.
Overall, fantastic episode. Loved it. I personally don’t want to see Laurel and Oliver together but I realize it’s going to happen so I just have to get over it. The scene with Barrowman was awesome and prompted so many more questions than it provided answers and of course DEATHSTROKE!!! was amazing. From start to finish, a strong episode.
The only shirtlessness involved Laurel but we have this to look forward to next week, November 17th, in an episode titled, “Legacies”.
Not only that but we’ll get to see Arrow’s take on the Royal Flush Gang, exciting!
Until next time!
Grizzly Bomb 