Arrow S01E01 - Robin Hood goes mental

Just in case you missed the title.

Superhero series have it hard - at least when they are trying to maintain some realism. I still can't figure out why Batman dresses as a giant critter instead of just, you know, maybe donating his money to the police or something. It's the same thing with Arrow: To really enjoy this show, you have to look over some of the more ridiculous stuff on your screen, but that doesn't mean you have to take everything they give you. Even a no-brainer action-series needs some consistency - so let's see if Arrow can deliver.

The Introduction

Perhaps the toughest job for any pilot episode is to introduce every main character to the show and still include enough action scenes to keep the viewer from falling into a boredom-induced coma. Arrow does a surprisingly solid job here though. We see a man in a Robin Hood costume doing climbing and running on what seems to be a deserted island. We know he has been there for quite a while because he's sporting the full-on Jesus-look: Long hair, long beard and dirt all over his body and clothes. After spotting a fishing boat just off the shore, he lights a signal fire. What took me by surprise is the voice-over that starts now - It's pretty much unnecessary. Everything he says, we saw just seconds earlier: He was stranded on the island for quite a while, had a rough time, and dreamed of being rescued. I can't help but to think that the scene would have been better off without the voice-over - It would've certainly helped the atmosphere.

Home sweet Home

Makes you wonder where the 20% scar tissue really are.

After the minimalist title screen we are greeted by a news report about Oliver Queen, whose rescue we just witnessed. It basically repeats what the voice over said, but goes more into detail about Oliver's past. This may seems like a cheap way to establish a background-story, but it works. The setting is established as the fictional metropolis Starling City. By showing us footage of Oliver assaulting a journalist and putting the world "billionaire" right in front of his face, we already know everything we have to about his past that we need to know - well done. The first half of the episode does a solid job introducing all the characters and relations. We are told by a doctor that 20% of Oliver's body is covered in scar tissue - a bit of a stretch if you ask me. Moments later his mother is introduced as loving and caring by breaking out in tears over their reunion. Also, we see a quite subtle hint about the new, changed Oliver, when he carries his baggage by himself instead of letting the chauffeur do it like one would expect. He also proceeds to speak to the maid even before his sister and step-father, showing respect for her in a way the old Oliver probably wouldn't have. Or maybe not having sex for five years makes your mind go to weird places.

After five years by yourself she looks like Kate Upton.

Cut to a legal aid office. Within one minute, the show does a very good job at describing the female lead, Laurel Lance. We see that she is a fighter, because she tries to make a case against multi-millionaire Adam Hunt despite his influence and criminal connections. This also introduces us to this episodes villain - Mr. Hunt. Laurel is still very emotional about her sisters death, which she blames Oliver for. This is established by her switching off the office TV as a news report about his return and her sisters death comes up, despite everyone watching.

It feels like the episode introduces every mean character naturally and fast, except for the most important one: Oliver. He is the only one we constantly need voice-overs for, explaining his problems to adapt to society again. I honestly don't understand why we need this, it would be so easy just to show the viewers that he is struggling to communicate to people instead of having a voice-over tell us: "Everything feels different." The recurring flashbacks to the yacht on which he almost died do a much significantly better job at making us familiar with the character and the change he has gone through. They also introduce us to his father, a smart and experienced man from what we see.

All things considered, the episode does a solid job introducing us to the main characters. The only problem here is Oliver, who apparently needs a constant voice-over to explain himself. We are watching TV here - why can't they just show us instead of making us listen to a voice while the main character stares out of a window.

The Plot

"I love parking my 500,000$ sports car in dark alleyways!"

Here is where the episode does rather poorly. On their way to their car, conveniently parked out of anyone's sight, Oliver and his earlier introduced party-loving friend Tommy get kidnapped by some masked guys with a van and machine guns. Alongside their menacing appearance, the also kill an innocent person without any remorse. I like that, it establishes a very strong good/bad contrast from the very beginning. The kidnappers then begin asking Oliver about his father. It's implied that he was involved in criminal activities, which Oliver knows about. After a cheesy one-liner he can overpower the kidnappers in an action-packed way. This scene is very weak for one main reason: Oliver fights against a man with an automatic gun, often within a few meters range, but somehow still manages to not get hit. I would be satisfied if he did some ninja moves or something , but most of the time he just runs - you don't even have to be a professional killer to hit an unarmed target right in front of you. I was very disappointed by this, because it makes Oliver seem invincible - One of the greatest dangers of making a superhero series. If the viewer sees the hero as some unstoppable killing-machine, all suspense is lost. You just know he will make it out of any situation eventually.

The island apparently made him bulletproof.

 Back at home, he is interrogated about the incident by Laurels father, who is a detective. I still fail to understand how they could miss the tons of DNA traces Oliver must have left on the bodies. Remember, he didn't wear gloves and didn't have time to clean up as Tommy was already waking up when he killed the last guy. Instead he just tells them some bullshit story about a man in a green hood rescuing them, which the police grudgingly accept because they apparently don't accept fingerprints as evidence  in Starling city. Concerned about his well-being, Oliver's mother gives him a security detail to follow his every step.

He also took IT and engineering classes on the island.

After escaping from his bodyguard rather in a rather amusing fashion, Oliver decides to use an old warehouse as his base of operations. What follows is perhaps the strangest scene in the episode. Oliver actually manages to not only construct a working computer network, but even puts some of the most high-tech software in existence on it. Not once is it explained (1) how he brought those things with him (he just had a small sports bag), (2) where he has the knowledge from to build all that and (3) where he acquired all this machinery, including what I guess is very expensive software. The base certainly looks cool and makes for a great workout place, as we see, but that doesn't close the gaping plot hole it opened.

Cut to some parking garage: For the first time we see Adam Hunt, and sure, he seems like an evil guy, but we have never seen him actually do something bad. He looks more like a drunk-on-power greedy business man with a god-complex. Oliver comes along in his superhero costume - I will address to him as "Arrow" from now on - and puts two innocent private security details in the hospital... I'm serious, what a great start for a superhero. Instead of, you know, knocking those guys out or something, he puts his arrows straight through their guts. The only reason we know they survived is because Hunt later mentions it. After his rampage he roughens Hunt up a bit and asks him to transfer 40 million dollars into a specific bank account. The money will, as we later learn, be used as compensation for all the families Hunt ruined off-camera. Now, there is however a problem here: Arrow never tells that to Hunt. Let me elaborate: Hunt probably thinks he is getting robbed by some rival. It doesn't make sense that Arrow gives him time to transfer the money but doesn't mention that it's for a good cause. If he wants to give Hunt a chance, he should give him a real one. Hunt's reaction, understandably, is to go to the police and report the attack on his life. They agree to protect him, but that isn't enough for Hunt. He hires some private security company to send their men to his office. I wanna stress that these people are not criminals, probably just fathers struggling to get food on the table.

You can really see his struggle to reintragrate into society.

Oliver meanwhile goes to his comeback-party, accompanied by his security detail, Diggle. They did a good job with that character, he's believable and has his funny moments. Despite having problems finding back into social life earlier, Oliver seems to do pretty fine at his party. You'd think it would take a bit longer for him to adapt, but apparently standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people is not so hard after all. Moments later he discovers his sister buying drugs and begins to get all moral on her. I like how this advances their relationship and it's fun to see how he nicks the drugs out of her purse unnoticed, but I can't help but feel that the effect of his speech might be diminished by the Tequila-drinking show he put on moments earlier. We also see Laurel at the party, rather oddly. It's fitting for her character that she wants to apologize to Oliver for being rude as quickly as possibly, but didn't she find a better opportunity than at a late night drinking-binge? Oliver basically tells her to stay away from him, probably with the noble goal of protecting her in mind, and sets off for Hunt, who didn't transfer the money.

The following scenes are perhaps the weakest of the whole episode: Arrow somehow manages to get into Hunt building and RIDES THE ELEVATOR in his office. That's right. He is so self-confident that he takes up at least 6 armed to the teeth man with noting more than a few arrows. I guess it helps that he switched off the lights in the room somehow, but it's far from dark in there. He now also does something a real superhero should never do: Kill tons of innocent people. As I mentioned earlier, hunt hired a private security firm. They are not his evil henchman, they probably just accepted the job for the good payment. Arrow doesn't know that, but still, he could've gotten away by just knocking them unconscious. His violent rampage is followed by a scene as unsatisfying as it can get: He just lets Hunt escape while fighting his head of security, then has to leave the building because the police finally caught on, for some reason not having heard the gunfire all along.

Let's summarize: Adam Hunt is as rich as always, getting away with nothing than a few scratches. At least six people were brutally murderer by Arrow. It doesn't look too good for him then, but that's what the writer thought too, so they came up with the most ridiculous solution ever: Apparently Oliver was able to make a hacking-arrow that transferred the money to his account. That's it. Not for a second do we get an explanation on how the hell he learned that from the bamboo-chewing monkeys on the island, but whatever, at least the good won in the end. Or did they? Think about it: Hunt probably is still rich as heck, and still thinks he was just robbed. That's right, he didn't learn a lesson or anything. He will most likely just continue to bully and kill people at will, but Arrow doesn't seem to care too much.

That pretty much concludes the plot, the only minor thing left is a hint at a relationship between Tommy and Lauren, which doesn't make too much sense, because Lauren is pretty out of character in that scene. She doesn't seem like the party girl Tommy would want to be with, remember, she's a respected lawyer after all.

Oh, I almost forgot about it: We find out that Oliver's mother planned the abduction. To find out "what he knows". Because it would be too awkward to just ask him, I guess.

The Acting

One last thing that bugged me about Arrow: There are few/no experienced or well known actors in this series and you really do notice that. Comparable to Mark Hammil's performance in the first Star Wars, the actors tend to be over-dramatic about their mimics and movement and deliver their lines in a rather dull way. I'm not saying everyone does a bad job - to the contrary, I think the overall acting is pretty well done, especially Stephen Amell (Oliver) delivers a solid performance throughout. It just feels a bit soap-opera like at times.

"Excuse me Ma'am, I'm talking to to you, quit staring at the horizon!"

Conclusion

Arrow's first episode features a wide pallet of well-developed characters and does a great job introducing and for the most part developing them. While the CGI and acting feel a bit sloppy sometimes, they do not harm the overall professional atmosphere of the series. The weak points of Arrow are clearly the plot and a distinct lack of realism in it. The hero seems to be invincible, what pretty much kills the suspense at times. The various unexplained plot holes and the unsatisfying ending make this promising episode mediocre in the end.