Arrow (2012 TV Series)

[BatmAngelus]

Anyone else see the finale?

SPOILERS:
Gotta say, they tricked me with who was going to die.  At the start, with Det. Lance confessing his involvement with "The Hood," I thought for sure that the cop was going to be a goner by the end and be the obligatory new conflict that'd split Oliver and Laurel up again.  This was cemented even further by his phone call to Laurel down in the tunnels.

Then of course, Digg gets wounded, which prompted me to wonder if Roy Harper's promotion to series regular in Season 2 (and Thea's hinted "wicked aim") would mean that next season would be all about the origin of Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow as Oliver's new partner in the field. 

But then Tommy came to Laurel's rescue.  It didn't occur to me that he'd be killed off at all until Laurel looked back and the place blew up.

Aside from killing off Tommy, I thought it was a solid finale.  As people can see in reading my posts, I found the show got better and better as it went on and I've enjoyed all the episodes since the show's return from hiatus (starting with Home Invasion).

Here's to next season, which looks like it could take inspiration from Batman: No Man's Land (though the writers, funny enough, have cited The Cult).

[riddler]

confirmed that Nightwing will be a part of the 2nd season played by  Ian Somerhalder.

[BatmAngelus]

Really?  I thought that was an April Fool's joke:
http://www.imdb.com/news/ni50326732/

EDIT:  It was.

Marc Guggenheim himself says it's not happening: https://twitter.com/mguggenheim/status/341969176358965248

[CouchPotatoTalk]

I also really liked the show and didnt see that ending coming. In the comics does the character of Tommy play any importance? I couldn't believe they killed him off and that half of the city was destroyed.

[BatmAngelus]

Yes and no.  In the comics, Oliver has an arch-nemesis named Merlyn. 

Around the same time that the CW's Arrow started up, the New 52 comic reboot showed that Oliver used to be friends with a man named Tommy Merlyn and it was heavily implied that he would grow up to eventually become the Merlyn villain in the comics, which obviously lead fans to think that the TV show would take the same route.

Of course when Malcolm Merlyn was introduced and revealed as The Dark Archer in the show, this sparked a debate on which one would be the Merlyn from the comics: Malcolm or Tommy or both?  As ElCuervo and I predicted, it was Malcolm.

[CouchPotatoTalk]

Ah thank you. That was very informative

[Paul (ral)]

I have a few more episode of Arrow to watch. So far it seems to keep itself from being too formulaic with the use of flashbacks which is quite clever.

[CouchPotatoTalk]

I have a few more episode of Arrow to watch. So far it seems to keep itself from being too formulaic with the use of flashbacks which is quite clever.

Agreed, I find myself my interesting in the flashback stuff than the present storyline.

[BatmAngelus]

Bumping this with the latest Season 2 news:

We'll be getting a whole host of new villains this season including:
- Summer Glau as Isabel Rochev
- Michael Jai White as the Bronze Tiger, who'll be teaming up with China White
- Kevin Alejandro as Sebastian Blood, a take on the Teen Titans villain Brother Blood

We'll also see some new heroes:
- Caity Lotz will appear as Black Canary.  The CW President spilled the beans yesterday on her identity, which is rather intriguing, so if you're curious, here's the link:
http://www.greenarrowtv.com/arrow-season-2-the-black-canarys-identity-revealed/14664
- Barry Allen will appear in episodes 8, 9, and 20, with the potential of gaining superpowers in Arrow and spinning off into his own show.

Season 2 sizzle reel trailer: http://www.greenarrowtv.com/arrow-season-2-sizzle-reel-guest-star-news/14628

Speculation is that the Blood character will take on a Deacon Blackfire-type role in Starling City, since the executive producers admitted to turning to Batman: The Cult for inspiration.

The Black Canary bit could be interesting, but I think it's going to get tiresome if they keep introducing thees comic book characters through other characters.  Here, Oliver's sister is nicknamed Speedy before we meet Roy Harper (and has the middle name Dearden), Tommy Merlyn seemed like he was Merlyn until we met his dad and found out he was the Dark Archer, Yao Fei was in the Green Arrow outfit before Oliver, the first Deathstroke we met was actually Wintergreen, and now it looks like there'll be a Black Canary before Laurel dons the outfit.  At least, in the latter, there's some precedence for it in the comics where Dinah took on the role after her mother.

Surprisingly, the trailer as well as interviews with the cast and crew seem to indicate that Oliver will adopt the moniker of the Green Arrow in the future, as well as take on different tactics and no longer be the Punisher-with-a-bow style vigilante that we saw in the first season.  I'm all for this new direction.

I remember back in 2005, after Batman Begins, many of us thought that Nolan's "realism" with Batman was just to introduce us into the new take and, with the Narrows fear gas incident at the end of the movie, the series would evolve into a more comic book-like world.  The Scarecrow could come back in a full out costume (with many people saying that Crane wasn't really Scarecrow until the end and the straitjacket look was the character's costume from now on).  Ra's al Ghul could come back through the Lazarus Pit.  The Narrows incident could've created all these different Rogues Gallery supervillains.

As we now know, this never happened.  However, it feels as if Arrow will actually be going in this direction, if Oliver's going to eventually adopt the Green Arrow moniker and, even bigger, superpowers are going to be introduced into this "realistic" world.  The showrunners have confirmed that we will see Barry Allen with superpowers- it's not just going to be a superfast suit, like GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra- and in the iconic red and yellow suit, so they are definitely breaking their previous rule of no superpowers.

Perhaps by the end of Arrow, Oliver will actually have the mask, the goatee, and the Green Arrow name, with Thea as Speedy, Roy as Arsenal, and Laurel as Black Canary, complete with Canary Cry.

[Silver Nemesis]

Perhaps by the end of Arrow, Oliver will actually have the mask, the goatee, and the Green Arrow name, with Thea as Speedy, Roy as Arsenal, and Laurel as Black Canary, complete with Canary Cry.

This has me intrigued. I watched the first five or six episodes of Arrow when it first started, but I quickly lost interest. I'd be lying if I said I was a big fan of the Green Arrow character in the first place and I'm not keen on CW shows in general. I also can't stand John Barrowman, so his presence on the show was a big turnoff for me. But the second season does sound promising. Especially if you're right about the show taking a turn towards the fantastic.

I'm definitely going to watch the Barry Allen episodes and I might start watching the show regularly again. But do you think I'd need to watch the rest of season one first? Or will season two be sufficiently self-contained that I can just dive in without being too confused?