Pilot: Arrow

I'm not much for CW television. Any channel that shows Gossip Girl... I just don't do it.

Arrow is the story of Oliver Queen, created by some of the same writers from Smallville. Oliver Queen is the secret identity of the Green Arrow, the DC superhero.

Now I'm not a huge fan of Green Arrow, I don't know too much about him though. I knew he existed but the first big exposure I had of him was in Injustice: God's Among Us.

Now the story doesn't really develop Queen as a character but talking from a video game stand point, he's a really cool character. Fun controls, funny remarks. I mean the guy shoots arrows. Not what you would expect but surprisingly awesome.

Arrow is very similar.

Arrow actually delves into the backstory of Oliver Queen and how he dawns the green hood and becomes the Green Arrow, a masked vigilante set on fighting crime and promoting justice.

What I found interesting about the show was how it was set up.

The show starts off with Oliver Queen signaling a fishing boat from the island that he's been stranded on for 5 years. The show mainly focuses on Queen's adjustment back into his luxurious lifestyle as a billionaire with a few allusions to what happened to explain how he was stranded and what happened before he got onto the island.

Now as far as action in a pilot, this one has a lot. The more I think about it, its very an introductory episode. The Green Arrow has a list of people. The first name he crosses off the list is a rich guy stealing money from investors. By the end the money is discreetly sent out to those people via Green Arrow. He soon becomes a Robin Hood sort of figure in the city he returns to.

The plot of the pilot is very simple but hard to explain fully. In short, I thought it was really really well done.

I'll explain the characters and hopefully explain the plot and set up as best as I can.

1. Oliver Queen - Obvious one. He's the main character. Now of course its only the pilot, but I really like this version of Oliver Queen. From the beginning, you know not all is right with Oliver Queen. He's been stranded on an island for 5 years, all his family thought he was dead and he has to react to the changes that happened while he was gone. Before he left, you can tell Oliver Queen was a playboy asshole. He comes back now, he's more reserved, at least at first. He uses that badboy ploy as a cover so nobody suspects he's the green hooded vigilante. But my god, for being a superhero with no super powers, he was a badass.

THIS WAS AWESOME!

Queen is played by Stephen Arnell... I don't know who the hell that guy is but I like him. In fact I don't know any of these actors except the guy who marries his mom, (he was in a Doctor Who episode... so that's cool). Do I think he's the best actor ever... well no. But he's good in the show and I enjoyed the hell out of him.

2. His family - Queen has an interesting family. He's got a mom who by the end you figure out has some mysteries of her own and may not be the straightest... arrow as it were... (sorry) He's got a sister who is probably the most affected by Queen's sudden return. While everyone else had someone to comfort them, his sister didn't really have anyone and she ended up turning to drugs... so you know thats going to be a thing. While the whole sister on drugs wasn't incredibly fascinating, I enjoyed the relationship he had with his sister.

3. Friends and former lovers - These two connect because its revealed that his best friend is giving it to his ex girlfriend, whose sister he cheated on her with on the boat he was on right before he got shipwrecked. Laurel, the ex girlfriend, is a do good lawyer. And Tommy, the best friend... he... well I don't know what he does but he's the best friend that is suspicious of Queen immediately.

There's a couple other characters, like his body guard, his step father (Dr. Moon for all the Doctor Who fans out there) The police detective, who I did recognize, (played by Paul Blackthorne and Roger Cross). They have roles ranging from small to small but will eventually be bigger I think.

Just over all I finished the pilot of Arrow really looking forward to it. I haven't really delved too much into the world of DC television (or any television regarding superheroes quite yet) and I'm interested to see where it takes me.

As for being a CW TV show, I was actually quite surprised how much I couldn't tell. It was a little cheesy but not too bad at all. I have to give Arrow a hand, it was pretty well done.

Another part I liked about this was that it didn't waste anytime. Basically the first day Queen gets back, he starts fighting crime. He doesn't have a lost period where he doesn't know what to do, no he comes back to the real world knowing he's going to fight crime.

I did not expect this. I didn't expect the island marooning but I didn't expect that he would come back and know exactly what he was doing, have a plan to be a vigilante and just kick some ass right away.

Now my next question is to ask whether or not this version of Green Arrow exists within the universe created by Man of Steel.

My initial reaction is, why not?

I mean if Agents of Shield can do it with The Avengers, why can't Arrow do it with Man of Steel? I mean we know these Agents are never going to show up in future Marvel movies but its building off of a universe that can be bigger.

I certainly don't want this Oliver Queen showing up in Justice League, and certainly not Man of Steel 2 (did I mention enough that I want that movie to just focus on Batman and Superman?)

But why not capitalize on a base of fans that may be looking for a little bit of a nod to their favorite TV show.

It's just a smart move. What is more likely is that this Oliver Queen exists in his own universe, similar to how the Clark Kent of Smallville existed in his own universe. It wasn't a prequel to the Richard Donner movies, it was its own universe that wasn't cannon. Well chances are that's what's going to happen with Arrow.

Which is a shame.

Again, I have no interest in seeing this Oliver Queen in the Justice League and even if you wanted to put Green Arrow in the Justice League, (which would be a bad idea) why start from scratch?

It also allows DC to expand on characters that they don't want to invest entire movies for but still want to explore. Flash is a perfect example of this. Commissioner Gordon in regards to the new Gotham TV show.

I just don't see any down side to not connecting the universe.

Granted, its not going to make any difference whether or not because again, I don't think it'd be a good idea to have Oliver Queen in the Justice League movie, but why not capitalize on the universe sharing idea you already want to create.

Regardless, I'm going to continue watching the show. It may be the winner of the contest... but there is only one season on Netflix, that'll be easy to get through right?

So have you seen Arrow? Do you think the universes should connect or is it better they're separate?

I'll leave you with a somewhat related note. Here's Batman vs. Superman how it should happen.