Jessie Robertson reviews the season three premiere of Arrow (spoilers to follow)…
Welcome back to Starling City! The season premiere kicks off into high gear with Oliver’s team in full synchronicity and Roy in full red mask and outfit (how come Diggle doesn’t get a mask?). They bust some bad guys, complete with needless flips in the air and arrow tricks. We catch a news report citing the Arrow as a hero, not a vigilante and Detective Lance, now Captain Lance, calls off the Anti-Task Force that has plagued Oliver since season 1. And we cut to credits to begin Season 3.
Throughout this episode the theme of this season is defined clearly to the viewer, but is still just as muddled in Oliver’s head. Can he be both Oliver Queen and the Arrow? If not, why? With Sara gone back to the League in Nanda Parbot, and Felicity still a presence in his life, the lines begin to blur even more than before, as the will-they, won’t-they chemistry Felicity has been hoping for, finally seems to take hold. Their chemistry is still the strongest between a male and female on the show, so his asking of their first date was entertaining but not memorable. The date itself lends credence to the title of the show as the storm is approaching; and this scene is within 20 minutes of the episode so as peaceful as Starling City was over the summer, it’s quickly heating up.
Peter Stormare is a new villain this season and I was excited to hear of his casting, as I thought it lent some nice cred to Arrow’s rogues gallery but his back story of being just a low-level pusher of Vertigo is completely laughable as come to find out not only does he have pinpoint accuracy with thrown projectiles but he also gets ahold of a rocket launcher which brings the epic first date we’ve been waiting for to a fiery halt. Stormare declares himself the new Count since the old one was dispatched last season; but explain to me how he created a new strain of Vertigo that now also makes you see your worst fears? He must have been a chemistry major at Cal Tech or something and why would you create a drug that scares the living crap out of your clients? His major contribution to the episode is he gives Oliver a literal interpretation of his quandary as his worst fear, is himself, which he also spells out to Felicity in verbatim.
Felicity Smoak continues to be the heart of the show and if the creators had the foresight that she would be exactly that, their geniuses. Her beats in dialogue, her relationships with Oliver and Diggle, and her great nerdy rants are what made people love this character, so her working in a low-rent Best Buy as her new job is a brilliant stroke. This is where we’re first introduced to Ray Palmer (played by former Superman, Brandon Routh.) He’s introduced as hacker Felicity helps with some hardware for a job but we find out he’s a potential investor for Queen Consolidated, as it’s back on the market. He wows the bankers who own the company with numbers hacked from QC’s own servers (thanks Felicity) and gets the bid. He also halfway stalks Felicity later on and I think we’re going to get some good scenes out of these 2.
The show wasn’t wowing me, not a lot was moving forward and the new Count was mediocre to say the least but they sure know how to snap you back in, as we get a surprise death at the end of the show! During Oliver’s tussle with the Vertigo gang, who should appear but Black Canary, with seemingly no explanation. She becomes a plot device to just let Oliver know that he needs “people without masks in your life.” After that, she has a quick reconnect with Laurel then an ominous voice freaks her out and 3 black arrows in the gut and she falls off a roof and bangs off a trash dumpster. Pretty damn disturbing. This was not as shocking as Moira’s death from last season but still a surprise. Dramatically, as Laurel watches this happen, Sara’s black mask falls from her face and lands in the foreground.
Other Notes:
– We get Oliver and Felicity’s first kiss! After a ton of teases last season and….it’s not even enough for a one-off night of lovemaking.
– One of the strongest characters of last season, Captain Lance has heart issues and is basically on death watch so he’s not to be in the field anymore. So what does he do? He keeps going in the field and having episodes every time. I’m worried where this is going.
– Diggle and Layla had their baby! We didn’t get a name but Ollie pulled rank on him, yanking him from the Vertigo mission at the last minute; thank god because his wife was apparently in labor. Oliver tells him “You and Layla look happy” which can only mean bad news for a TV couple.
– We did get to see Oliver in Hong Kong but everything there was used as another piece to his Arrow-Oliver puzzle
– A prize fighting boxing match took place during this episode as well- anyone catch the jackets of one of the guys managing crew? Team Wildcat.
– One of Palmer’s ideas was to change the image of Starling City and rebrand it as “Star City” which is the proper name of Oliver Queen’s hometown in DC continuity.
So the season starts off with some familiar territory, familiar themes, and some new characters and not at the breakneck speed in which Flash did so join me next week for episode 2.
Jessie Roberston
Originally published October 9, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
