Last night The CW aired the pilot of its new show Arrow. The show follows the life of DC Comics superhero Green Arrow (although here he simply goes by Arrow) in his early years. This is The CW's second superhero show, the first being Smallville, which finished its run in 2010.
In the pilot, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), a rich twentysomething who had spent most of his time partying, is finally rescued after spending five years on an island after a shipwreck that killed his father and the sister of Oliver's (now ex-) girlfriend Dinah "Laurel" Lance (Katie Cassidy). Oliver returns to find Starling City corrupted, so he decides to take matters into his own hands. He dons a green hood and a bow and arrow to save the city from corruption. Meanwhile, he is hunted by Laurel's father, Detective Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne).
One aspect that was created for the show is Oliver's family. In the comics, both of Oliver's parents are dead, and he has no siblings. In the show, however, Oliver's mother Moira (Susanna Thompson) is alive, and Oliver has a younger sister Thea (Willa Holland), whom Oliver has nicknamed Speedy. (If you're familiar with the Green Arrow comics, you know how important this nickname is. If not, and you want a peek at what may happen later in the series, look up Speedy on Wikipedia.) Also in the picture is Moira's new husband Walter Steele (Colin Salmon), Oliver's best friend Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), and Oliver's new bodyguard John Diggle (David Ramsey). As you can see, there are many supporting characters, each, I'm sure, with their own role in the overarching story. Some roles are hinted at by the end of the episode, some may be guessed by those who know the comics, and some have yet to be revealed. Hopefully the writers can make good use of all of these characters.
Speaking of the writers, the men behind the show, Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Marc Guggenheim, did a great job with this episode. The dialogue was strong, and I like that they are using flashbacks to show Oliver's time on the island. My only complaint is Oliver's voice-over that they used throughout the episode. For some reason, it didn't seem to fit in some instances. I think I can get used to it, though, provided that they use it mainly in the flashback sequences, during which it is likely that Oliver will be the only character and there will be little to no dialogue. In any case, the voice-over writing could be sharper.
The acting was solid all around. I especially liked Amell and Cassidy, and I think the two have great chemistry. Throughout the series, Amell will have to play many different versions of the same character: the Oliver on the island, fighting to survive; the Oliver who interacts with his friends and family, hiding his secret; and Arrow, fighting crime in Starling City. After seeing the pilot, I think he will do a fine job. Cassidy's Laurel is a legal aid, so she represents the legal side of the war against corruption. Cassidy successfully portrays Laurel as both a powerful woman and an emotionally conflicted girl who just found out her ex-boyfriend, who was cheating on her with her sister, just came back from the dead. Blackthorne also stood out as the head detective in the Arrow case. I have a feeling that in the foreseeable future, Det. Lance will stop at nothing to catch this vigilante, and Blackthorne hinted at this through his acting in the pilot. The rest of the supporting cast did a fine job. No one else really stood out, but I don't have any complaints either.
Arrow might be my favorite show of the new season, not only because I am a comic book fan, but also because it was executed so well. I look forward to learning about Oliver's time on the island and how these characters will interact. Also, I'm excited to see what DC characters will be incorporated into the show (one of which was clearly hinted at very early in the episode). I have high hopes for this show, so hopefully in future episodes it can deliver as well as it did last night.
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