ARROW – Episodes 1 – 9 Mid Season Review

Well here it is, the half way point, and Arrow seems to have taken everyone by surprise. With the show finally 9 episodesin, people seem to have a really good idea where this show is going, and they like it.

So lets recap on what we have seen so far.

***Warning Spoilers Ahead***

Arrow seems to have started on the idea that “What if we made a Batman show, but substituted Batman with Green Arrow, set it in a very similar Chis Nolan inspired city, and hope nobody notices“, and while people are indeed noticing, nobody is really complaining because it is being done well.

The season starts with a the shipwreck, and throughout the season so far we have seen a series of flashbacks going back and forth from the present both post rescue Oliver Queen, who now is moonlighting as a vigilante, and time on the island showing at first a rugged castaway look, then going further in the past showing a scared and hungry Ollie Queen.

While the show started small, mainly setting the stage for the rest of the season, we see “Arrow” take down “corrupt millionaire Adam Hunt” who basically was a high rolling scam artist. It also showed a damaged relationship between Oliver Queen and Dinah “Laurel” Lance (who in the comics is Green Arrow’s love interest and JLA team member Black Canary), and setting up a weird love triangle between them and Ollie’s Best friend and millionaire Tommy Merlyn.

Fans were also treated to a small cameo of Deathstroke in the form of a torn mask being used for target practice during a flash back to Ollie’s island days.

As the season progressed we were introduced to more comic villains and characters. Thus far we have seen China White, Deathstroke (two physical appearances, both in flashbacks from the island days), Deadshot, The Royal Flush Gang, Huntress and her mob boss father Frank Bertinelli, and finally in the final episode of this half of the first season we got to see another Archer dressed in black (and equally, if not more skilled) who was revealed to be Tommy Merlyn’s father Malcom Merlyn, who in the comics is Green Arrow’s nemesis “Merlyn“.

So far, this season has been great.

You have the love triangle, the comic villains, and even the huge conspiracy factor with “The list” and pretty much the evil council that engineered it.

Bottom line, Arrow is a show that deserves to be watched. If you like comic books, you owe it to yourself to give it a try, you wont be disappointed.