Abbie Reviews: ARROW

I was unsure whether Arrow was my kind of show or not. Of course every show that has superhuman warrior is my kind of entertainment, but the "playboy billionaire" bit in the lead protagonist's description kept me from giving it a shot. So, I took a look at some trailers and was convinced that the description refers to Oliver Queen's past life. He is stranded on a malicious island after his yacht capsizes in the middle of a sea storm. The island is infiltrated by vicious militants and he undergoes a life change in the years that he spends there in hide-and-seek combat to survive before being found. Oliver Queen has returned to Starling City to fulfill his father's last will of clearing up the mess that he and some high-profile criminal accomplices have created to spread evil in the city. Oliver Queen is now a mysterious, anonymous vigilante that the town's police force names The Hood. The show is named Arrow because it is created after the DC Comics Green Arrow. 

The Hood is compared to Robin Hood by the town but he disagrees because he is not stealing from the rich to distribute among the poor. His targets are both; rich and poor, and he is eliminating them one by one. While he is perceived as a coldblooded killer, Oliver gives each criminal a chance to surrender and confess. Since each individual he confronts is a high-profile criminal, the last resort is to put an end to their lives if they refuse to surrender. 

SPOILER ALERT

Personally, I love the unique profile of The Hood. The fact that this guy carries a bow and arrow instead of guns in a modern city is plain brilliant. That's the very reason he is related to Robin Hood, but Queen is way better. I am pretty crazy about the bow and arrow since Legolas from Lord of the Rings, so the Hood is definitely a modern day bow and arrow guy. 

The best bit about the show is that it is not about one superhuman hero handling everything single-handed. Gradually, a vigilante team starts forming. A veteran is the first to join, followed by Felicity an IT genius, and then Oliver's best friend joins in too. I have seen his sister join in as one of the fighters as well from the spoilers. So, one of the super good bits is that there is an equal role played by women and the whole thing is not masochistic. Men often find themselves trapped in situations where the IT genius Felicity has to get them out of. 

Oliver Queen's explicit agenda of saving Starling City is clear to him and he works it out like a machine. For his internal conflicts he is a loner and does not share his past few years with anybody. His family has fallen apart, his love life has crashed, and he regrets the life he has lived in the past. He is also not at peace with his current job as a vigilante because it takes him to the darkest of places and makes him a killer.

The show's narrative keeps switching back an forth as flashbacks to Oliver's time on the island are shown. This is where the casanova billionaire learns to survive, learns combat from fugitives, and manages to be rescued. It is exciting to see an individual's destiny change, his ways mend, and his personality reform. And then it all connects to his present life where he has a hard time living dual lives - one of the billionaire expected to run the show at Queen Consolidated, and second as a vigilante cleaning up Starling City and the peripheral ghetto called The Glades.

This is my kind of show because there is minimal romantic drama and more serious strategy and investigative mystery. There is a dark, brooding, silent superhuman warrior and his gear is pretty cool. The best bit is that there are women joining his army soon!