Arrow - Ep. 1 and 2
Oct. 19th, 2012 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkI've never done this before--usually I just blog about TV shows if there's a particular episode that makes me ragey or exhilarated--but I decided to start doing a "Let's Watch"/impressions/critical analysis of The CW's new show, Arrow. In short, it's an origin story about the comic book superhero Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow, with a "darker and grittier" atmosphere à la Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins.
Full disclosure: I knew nothing about the original Green Arrow before watching the show. I did Wikipedia some information after watching the pilot, though.
First impression: Oliver Queen is a lot like a mashup of Tony Stark (before the yachting trip) and Bruce Wayne (after the return home).
I actually really like stories about heroes with traumatic pasts (totally guilty pleasure), so I'm willing to cut this show a lot of slack. I also like shows about vigilante justice, so there's that, too. Acting seems good, storyline seems engaging, pacing is decent and full of action. There's no explanation as for how Oliver became an archer with improbable aiming skills, or how he learned Russian on the island, but I'm willing to accept that this will form a secondary plotline throughout the season.
Critiques:
1. I wish there was less shooting/guns. I'm saying this because Oliver gets shot at so often (and we're only in the pilot!), I'm having a very hard time believing that he isn't getting hurt at all. A volley of bullets from a machine gun is not something you can just dodge. I can accept Oliver's parkour, super fighting skills, and the aforementioned improbable aiming and fluency in foreign languages, but sorry, I can't accept being bulletproof as one of the "powers" he gained from the island.
2. Wikipedia tells me that Tommy Merlyn/Merlyn...is apparently Green Arrow's archnemesis. And I was like, Seriously? Can we have less of the best-friend-becomes-archenemy trope? It's completely cliché at this point.
3. Female characters. Hoo boy, here we go.
So far, there have not really been any positive female characters. Let's run through the list.
- Sarah Lane: Dead Girlfriend, used to jumpstart Oliver's quest to become a better person. Also, it's hard to take a character's death seriously when they're dying in their lingerie. (That was a terrible idea. Whose idea was that?)
- Laurel Lane: Jilted ex-girlfriend/probably Designated Love Interest. Semi-empowered as a lawyer crusading for social justice, but Oliver has to warn her to “stay away from him” in order to “protect” her. Also, she’s been sleeping with Oliver’s best friend.
- Moira Queen: Evil, scheming mom. (Contrast with Robert Queen: Sainted dead dad who is primarily driving Oliver in his quest for justice.)
-Thea Queen: Little sis whom Oliver cares a lot about, but is doing drugs and possibly other questionable things.
There were also a number of strippers/generic flirty girls at Oliver's Welcome Home Bash.
This really doesn't seem promising for this show on the gender front. Something that also annoys me is the fact that Dinah Laurel Lance is (a) Black Canary in the comic book canon, so if they're going to appropriate her name and all that, why the heck can't she be a superhero as well?
4. The Superhero Dilemma: Great. Here we go again.
"The Superhero Dilemma" refers to a situation in which the (almost always male) hero has to warn his love interest to stay away from him for her own safety. The problem is, he makes this decision without taking into account her feelings at all. He's deciding for her that it'd be too dangerous for them to stay together, often without even telling her the truth (about his superhero identity)--in other words, their relationship has a power imbalance. Needless to say, I really hate this trope, and the fact that it's used in the Arrow pilot ticks me off.
Wow, that ending was...unexpected. So I was right, and Oliver's past forms the second plot that is interwoven with the present. Can I just say that I love that plot structure/narrative technique? I love it.
(Also, apparently Oliver learned not only Russian while on the island, but Chinese as well...what kind of boot camp was set up there??)
On the action
Again, we get a lot of shooting in this episode, and seriously, Oliver, how are you not sustaining injuries from your Robin Hood activities? I mention this because it's a serious suspension of disbelief problem for me. For example, I thought the action in Batman Begins was believable, because we don't see Batman getting directly shot at in the movie. In Arrow, it's rather implausible. Also, I have no problem with Oliver having crazy accurate aim, but I do have a problem with him being able to shoot people accurately in the dark.
On the female characters
Not much improvement. Moira Queen is now officially even MORE of an evil schemer, since apparently she willingly sacrificed/tried to sacrifice the lives of her husband and son for...some reason we don't understand as of yet.
I can't quite wrap my head around Thea's character. I feel that we're supposed to sympathize with her, because losing a father and brother at once is very traumatic, but she comes off as...annoying and idiotic. She's still partying and drinking, and even though she sees that Oliver has been physically traumatized from his ordeal, she's just annoyed that he's emotionally so detached. Girl, I get that you suffered a lot emotionally, but your brother has freaking PTSD. Stop being mean to him!
I should clarify that it's less of me disliking her character, and more of me disliking the way she's portrayed. Thea is clearly very important to Oliver, since he gave her the Buddhist stone in the previous episode, but she's been acting very...callously toward him. I'm not saying she should have been portrayed as the sainted little sister who patiently waits for Oliver to open up and is 100% emotional support all the time; she's been under stress, and it's realistic for her to snap from time to time. It's just, I don't feel like they've been shown to have a positive relationship since the opening of the pilot, and if Oliver had clinical depression, her remarks ("I felt closer to you when you were dead," right after he asked her to bear with him as he tried to recover from his PTSD so he could eventually talk about what happened) would have been extremely damaging. She also comes off as extremely selfish.
Laurel: Episode 2, and we've already seen a Superhero Rescues His Damsel-In-Distress Girlfriend scene. In particular, the way she runs into his arms, sobbing, with him smoothing her hair and all that, really evokes the Male Protector trope. Which I'm not so happy about.
Female assassin: This bleeds into the Ethnic Character Portrayal territory, but of course we have a random female assassin antagonist who is doing the dirty work for a man, and happens to be Chinese to boot. I am facepalming so hard right now.
This episode is literally titled "Honor Thy Father," and we get a lot of Oliver & Dead Dad heart-to-heart at the end. I might have been more moved, if not for the fact that I've become extremely sensitive to the portrayal of female characters in fiction lately, and I can't help thinking: Why is it always a father-son thing? Can you imagine how interesting the show would've been if it were the Dead Mom who was driving Oliver's quest instead?
Full disclosure: I knew nothing about the original Green Arrow before watching the show. I did Wikipedia some information after watching the pilot, though.
First impression: Oliver Queen is a lot like a mashup of Tony Stark (before the yachting trip) and Bruce Wayne (after the return home).
I actually really like stories about heroes with traumatic pasts (totally guilty pleasure), so I'm willing to cut this show a lot of slack. I also like shows about vigilante justice, so there's that, too. Acting seems good, storyline seems engaging, pacing is decent and full of action. There's no explanation as for how Oliver became an archer with improbable aiming skills, or how he learned Russian on the island, but I'm willing to accept that this will form a secondary plotline throughout the season.
Critiques:
1. I wish there was less shooting/guns. I'm saying this because Oliver gets shot at so often (and we're only in the pilot!), I'm having a very hard time believing that he isn't getting hurt at all. A volley of bullets from a machine gun is not something you can just dodge. I can accept Oliver's parkour, super fighting skills, and the aforementioned improbable aiming and fluency in foreign languages, but sorry, I can't accept being bulletproof as one of the "powers" he gained from the island.
2. Wikipedia tells me that Tommy Merlyn/Merlyn...is apparently Green Arrow's archnemesis. And I was like, Seriously? Can we have less of the best-friend-becomes-archenemy trope? It's completely cliché at this point.
3. Female characters. Hoo boy, here we go.
So far, there have not really been any positive female characters. Let's run through the list.
- Sarah Lane: Dead Girlfriend, used to jumpstart Oliver's quest to become a better person. Also, it's hard to take a character's death seriously when they're dying in their lingerie. (That was a terrible idea. Whose idea was that?)
- Laurel Lane: Jilted ex-girlfriend/probably Designated Love Interest. Semi-empowered as a lawyer crusading for social justice, but Oliver has to warn her to “stay away from him” in order to “protect” her. Also, she’s been sleeping with Oliver’s best friend.
- Moira Queen: Evil, scheming mom. (Contrast with Robert Queen: Sainted dead dad who is primarily driving Oliver in his quest for justice.)
-Thea Queen: Little sis whom Oliver cares a lot about, but is doing drugs and possibly other questionable things.
There were also a number of strippers/generic flirty girls at Oliver's Welcome Home Bash.
This really doesn't seem promising for this show on the gender front. Something that also annoys me is the fact that Dinah Laurel Lance is (a) Black Canary in the comic book canon, so if they're going to appropriate her name and all that, why the heck can't she be a superhero as well?
4. The Superhero Dilemma: Great. Here we go again.
"The Superhero Dilemma" refers to a situation in which the (almost always male) hero has to warn his love interest to stay away from him for her own safety. The problem is, he makes this decision without taking into account her feelings at all. He's deciding for her that it'd be too dangerous for them to stay together, often without even telling her the truth (about his superhero identity)--in other words, their relationship has a power imbalance. Needless to say, I really hate this trope, and the fact that it's used in the Arrow pilot ticks me off.
Wow, that ending was...unexpected. So I was right, and Oliver's past forms the second plot that is interwoven with the present. Can I just say that I love that plot structure/narrative technique? I love it.
(Also, apparently Oliver learned not only Russian while on the island, but Chinese as well...what kind of boot camp was set up there??)
On the action
Again, we get a lot of shooting in this episode, and seriously, Oliver, how are you not sustaining injuries from your Robin Hood activities? I mention this because it's a serious suspension of disbelief problem for me. For example, I thought the action in Batman Begins was believable, because we don't see Batman getting directly shot at in the movie. In Arrow, it's rather implausible. Also, I have no problem with Oliver having crazy accurate aim, but I do have a problem with him being able to shoot people accurately in the dark.
On the female characters
Not much improvement. Moira Queen is now officially even MORE of an evil schemer, since apparently she willingly sacrificed/tried to sacrifice the lives of her husband and son for...some reason we don't understand as of yet.
I can't quite wrap my head around Thea's character. I feel that we're supposed to sympathize with her, because losing a father and brother at once is very traumatic, but she comes off as...annoying and idiotic. She's still partying and drinking, and even though she sees that Oliver has been physically traumatized from his ordeal, she's just annoyed that he's emotionally so detached. Girl, I get that you suffered a lot emotionally, but your brother has freaking PTSD. Stop being mean to him!
I should clarify that it's less of me disliking her character, and more of me disliking the way she's portrayed. Thea is clearly very important to Oliver, since he gave her the Buddhist stone in the previous episode, but she's been acting very...callously toward him. I'm not saying she should have been portrayed as the sainted little sister who patiently waits for Oliver to open up and is 100% emotional support all the time; she's been under stress, and it's realistic for her to snap from time to time. It's just, I don't feel like they've been shown to have a positive relationship since the opening of the pilot, and if Oliver had clinical depression, her remarks ("I felt closer to you when you were dead," right after he asked her to bear with him as he tried to recover from his PTSD so he could eventually talk about what happened) would have been extremely damaging. She also comes off as extremely selfish.
Laurel: Episode 2, and we've already seen a Superhero Rescues His Damsel-In-Distress Girlfriend scene. In particular, the way she runs into his arms, sobbing, with him smoothing her hair and all that, really evokes the Male Protector trope. Which I'm not so happy about.
Female assassin: This bleeds into the Ethnic Character Portrayal territory, but of course we have a random female assassin antagonist who is doing the dirty work for a man, and happens to be Chinese to boot. I am facepalming so hard right now.
This episode is literally titled "Honor Thy Father," and we get a lot of Oliver & Dead Dad heart-to-heart at the end. I might have been more moved, if not for the fact that I've become extremely sensitive to the portrayal of female characters in fiction lately, and I can't help thinking: Why is it always a father-son thing? Can you imagine how interesting the show would've been if it were the Dead Mom who was driving Oliver's quest instead?
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Date: 2012-10-23 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-26 05:55 pm (UTC)