Arrow - Season 1 Episode 1 - Recap and Review - Pilot Premiere

One thing I loved about the Arrow premiere right off the bat... death! In the pilot, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), The Green Arrow himself, left the island he had been shipwrecked on for five years and returned home ready to kill. Enough of these superheroes locking up crazies and crooks only to have them escape for decades. You terrorize the innocents of his own Starling City, you get an arrow in the back.

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The episode opened with a pretty tow-up looking Oliver running rampant on the beaches of his own personal Purgatory. Five years apparently transforms a mere party boy/ arrogant socialite into a lean mean... archer? Granted, assuming a silver spoon-fed type of bloke like Queen could self-train on the beach to the extent that we were introduced to right of the bat was sort of a stretch; however, in Superhero/Comic Geek Land, we can just have fun with this. Luckily for Oliver, a couple of sailors spotted one of his intricately detonated signal fires, and that was that. Rescued! What do you think would happen to Paris Hilton if she ended up shipwrecked for five years with nothing to do but train for vengeance against catty ladies? A new reality show, most likely. Nah, maybe a tropical perfume.

Here's what; Queen's father and all those on board their boat the night things went haywire are presumed dead. News broke of Oliver's return to the mainland and pretty much immediately, he was thrust back into the world of one too many shots and silly sluts. We, however, are privy to the fact that somewhere between tanning, swimming, and befriending a volleyball, the man snapped. I mean, he snapped in a good way. We noticed that he got his own suitcase from the curb, he brushed right past his stiff mother to greet the housekeeper (a.k.a. his only true friend), and he played the role of a decent older brother to his sister "Speedy." She runs and does drugs. Here, we were also introduced to Walter Steele (Colin Salmon), his father's former business associate and his mother, Moira's (Susanna Thompson) new hubby. With a name like Walter Steele, you may as well have a big green target on your back and a tattoo across your face that reads, "Hate you, Ollie. Hate you so much."

Someone over at the CW loves Katie Cassidy because she is just always around! Not that I mind. Laurel Lance went through law school and looked pretty flabbergasted to catch the news story of Queen's return amidst the chaos of her office. Apparently, she's dedicated her life to saving the innocents of her city. Only, she's not that buff, and I have no idea what kind of archery skills she possesses. She's just a particularly earnest lawyer. I have to say, I know my comics pretty well, but the Green Arrow is a big mystery to me. Cheers, to not getting brainwashed and succumbing to evil just yet, Laurel. Come season eight, once they've run out of plots and Katie's offered a role in Scream 7, things may not look so bright for you. Just as "big secret number one" is about to be revealed, she shut the news channel. We could guess, though. Her sister died on the boat.

Throughout the pilot, we were shown several broken flashbacks from the accident. The first hinted that awful Oliver, the old one, had been two timing Laurel with her sister, Sarah. Side note: I've only seen that actress twice and both times she was involved in some heinous accident involving boats. She was one of the pretty bodies in Final Destination 5. A little later on, another flashback solidified what was pretty clear to begin with. Laurel's sister is a tramp. R.I.P. girl!

At around this point we also met Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell). I think I know what role Tommy is supposed to play, but in all honesty, I kept thinking, "he could be so much better." This character is probably going to be pivotal as an accomplice and ally to Oliver, but his sidekick routine was lacking, in my opinion. He loves to party and slut it up. That was all fine and dandy, but his jokes were very eh/ugh. It was only the pilot, though, so I'll give him another shot. At family dinner he suggested Oliver take a ride into the city. Oliver agreed. He was aching to see Laurel and his father's smelly old factory. I enjoyed the moment when Oliver secretly spoke to his bff, the housekeeper, in Russian at the table.

Walter: "I didn't realize you took Russian in college, Oliver"

Oliver: "I didn't realize you wanted to sleep with my mother."

Arrow Burn. So burned.

It was also around this point that half of the teen female viewers tuned out because they got the scene they were all waiting for:

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Wow, so that's what happens after being shipwrecked on an island for five years? Do they have a GNC? Gilligan must not have know the address. The mirror scene was interesting, though, in that it let us a little further into his psyche. He doesn't even recognize himself and he loves that. We love that, too.

Lauren wasn't having any of Oliver's apologies surrounding the fact that he cheated on her with her sis. In fact, she told him to rot in Hell. She blamed him for everything. Wow, from Purgatory right to Hell. That city looked enough like a hell-hole to me.

Laurel: "It should have been you."

Poor pre-Arrow agreed. From one barrage of nastiness to another, the bros ended up drugged and kidnapped. Can't a socialite catch a break in this slum? After waking up zip tied to a chair, we got to see our first true glimpse of Arrow in action. Do you really think he would have been able to undo that plastic zip tie? I don't care, he's magic. He almost looked relieved to have been kidnapped and tortured for information. He got to test out his skills! Wouldn't it be a bummer if you trained for years only to be terrible at being a superhero? Palm trees aren't great practice adversaries and it's hard to tie yourself up. We got a lot of running, jumping, kicking, and flipping, along with a promise to kill. Let's be real, arrows kill, they don't handcuff. There was one incredible jump sequence along the rooftops.

Me, out loud to myself: "Frog."

The action sequences were impressive, and I appreciated that we have here a superhero who likes his job. The main baddie ended up dead. He shot an innocent old man, and that made Arrow sad. After the kidnapping, Arrow got a babysitter. A military veteran by the name of Diggle a.k.a "Digg" (David Ramsey). Telling by his demeanor and positive intrigue surrounding Oliver, I'd say he's another potential ally in the war on terrible scheming rich people. We were also introduced to a cop who was pretty suspicious of the former party boy. He hates Oliver, and we hadn't yet discovered why.

Ollie gave Digg the slip immediately and ran off to train at, you guessed it, the smelly old factory. Wow, he even got green tinted lights! Also, I bet I can do chin-ups like that...well. Arrow hates tennis balls. He shot so many! We get the point; Arrow loves this ish and can't wait to shoot more people. I'm ignoring the fact that I'm unsure of where all of this technology came from because I want him to win.

With a little more insight into the aftermath of the accident and his conversations with his father, we learned that Arrow is working to avenge his father. More so, he's working off of a book his father handed down to him of other crooked business men who abuse the poor and poison their city. His first target was Adam Hunt, the same criminal Laurel and her team had been working like hell to convict. Rich people are good at bribing and paying for legal protection, though. We have a modern day Robin Hood on our hands, people. On a roll from his first official ass-kicking mission, Queen wasted no time tracking down Adam Hunt, who was obnoxious and rude and so rich. Here was the deal: "Donate $40 million to the city by 10pm or pay the price- Love, Oliver Queen Green Arrow"

"This beat's for all my freaks!"

His funeral sucked, so Merlyn planned a "Back from the Dead" party in Oliver's honor. Wow, he is so good at partying. Even angry Laurel showed up, to apologize, sort of. That was out of left field. Don't worry, Oliver was mean and rude to her in order to make sure she stays far away and safe. At least, that's what I assumed. Queen insisted on locating the party across the street from Hunt's building, where the terrible tycoon was plotting to barricade himself in for protection. He sort of spoke to his team as though if they could make it past the deadline, the "guy in the hood" would just forget about everything. Even the anti-Oliver cop was on board.

Before we get to the big fight sequence, I have to mention the sister. Oliver has a sister, Thea (Willa Holland), and she's very much like the boy he was before the whole "island thing." She's into "party favors," if you know what I mean. She was still likable enough. I'm looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops and how she gets over her brother being back from the dead and all.

10pm rolled around quickly, though, and Oliver donned that hood just in time to cause a ruckus across the street. Sure, I know he doesn't realize that people can see right under the hood. He just loves it so much! Just let it slide. He's had a tough five years, people. Don't worry, he caught a snippet of "Blow" by Ke$ha just in time to leave promptly. I wonder if he still had that song playing in his head like a "workout mix" while he assaulted Hunt's security team. I enjoyed the fact that he had been planting the seeds of a vigilante being in town to folks all episode long. Get excited, Queen! You should love your job!

At one point, Arrow lost his bow, and it was cringe inducing. Then he got knocked unconscious, giving evil corporate back-up just enough time to arrive. Wake up, Arrow!

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There you go. Just in time, he managed his escape, but we wouldn't know whether he was victorious or not until the next morning. Back at the party, meanie cop gave us a little insight. He wasn't at all into helping the "millionaire bottom feeder." Why does he hate Oliver Queen, though? Laurel is his daughter, meaning slutty Sarah is his... Oh, you fathered slutty Sarah? Yikes... R.I.P.?

It seems like Merlyn has figured things out by this point. Obviously, Arrow is going to need someone in the know to help him out here and there. The next morning, we were clued into the fact that Arrow planted some sort of technological hacking arrow in Hunt's office that zapped his bank accounts dry and forwarded the money to the people he stole from. Don't ask. Just let it go.

Laurel was happy. The fact that she didn't need any credit or validation from a personal "win" shows that she is indeed a good gal. Unfortunately, we learned that she and Tommy Merlyn have been boinking. Poor Arrow watched them stroll down the scary dark alley from the shadows.

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One last boat scene helped cap off the episode. Oliver watched his father shoot himself and their companion on the lifeboat after agreeing to right his father's wrongs. Traumatic! Lastly, we caught a glimpse of his mother admitting to hiring his kidnappers. She wants to know what he knows. More Traumatic!

What did you all think of the Arrow premiere? Are you happy with the direction they're taking the comic book character? Those of you who tuned in for abs, are you sticking around for substance? Anyone taking up archery?