Tomorrow night, the CW will be airing a pilot for a brand new show based on The Green Arrow mythos. For the show’s title, they’ve dropped the “Green” so it’s just called “Arrow” which is kind of lame, but they must have had some reason or another for it.
Though it has some major departures in the existing DC Comics Green Arrow story, it sticks pretty closely to it where it should. Oliver Queen (played by Stephen Amell) is still a fabulously wealthy fellow, stranded on a desert island where he learns to become the Green Arrow and comes back to fight against injustice and corporate malevolence and greed.
When I saw the pilot, I’ll be honest: I wasn’t expecting anything. I assumed it would be a cheesy retread of how they did Smallville or a defecation on the characters (like Birds of Prey). Though Smallville was never my thing, it had a devoted audience who loved how they handled the comics material, so I assumed the CW would stick to their winning formula. For the sake of myself and comic fans everywhere, I’m glad they didn’t.
Arrow is relatively straightforward and puts Ollie in the costume right in the first episode. His origin is only barely hinted at in between very strong and well filmed action sequences. It also had some really surprising moments, particularly of scenes between Ollie and his father.
I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Perhaps it was because I was expecting so little that I really enjoyed what I saw.
Does it have problems? Yes. It does have some cheesy CW acting moments. Amell’s Ollie is played seriously and almost bored at this point. It has some incredibly hard to swallow leaps in logic as far as the story goes… like a bank-account hacking arrow no one seems to notice… But I digress.
The point is that I really enjoyed it despite its flaws and feel like it’ll grow as the show gets its sea legs. It has potential. If the writers and producers of the show keep at it and work on the quality and work on the kinks from their pilot, they’ve got a really good show on their hands that’ll be pleasing to both a regular CW audience and a comics fan like me.
And speaking of comics fans, there’s plenty of classic Green Arrow references to put a smile on your face, namely Speedy’s drug use. If they tackle that at some point and build toward it (as opposed to it just being a throwaway wink and nod), then I’ll be watching this show every week.
Seriously. I’m just as surprised as anyone.
Now I just need to figure out how to get CW shows after they air since I don’t have a DVR.
Arrow’s premiere is tomorrow, Wednesday, October 10, from 8-9pm. (Check your local listings though).