Long before Marvel moved onto the small screen with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., DC's own CW series Arrow had already found itself a fan following. Now two episodes into its second season, Arrow shows no signs of slowing. Instead, the sophomore series is in the process of maturing its characters and storylines while folding in more characters from the DC universe. For the uninitiated, Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Arrow, a young billionaire who survives a shipwreck and spends the following five years on a dangerous island, only to return to Starling City to seek vengeance against wrong-doers as a hooded vigilante. Amell and his character have come a long way since Arrow's premiere, and season two of the series is reflecting that fact nicely. Hit the jump for my review of tonight's episode, "Identity".
In the season premiere, mysterious invaders of the island put Shado (Celina Jade) in harm's way and Queen reacts by bludgeoning one of the men to death. In this episode, Shado helps him deal with his guilt over the murder with a little lakeside love-making session. Slade (Manu Bennett) later warns Queen not to fall too hard for her since that will only make his time on the island more difficult. The trio then finds a hideout full of disfigured skeletons of Japanese imperial soldiers, there since World War II. Oliver finds a stone arrowhead with Japanese kanji on it.
Arrow Season 2 Episode 2 Full Episode
While Arrow is attempting to protect the driver delivering the medical supplies, China White (Kelly Hu) and Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White) show up to take him down. It was a nice return for Hu and a good debut for White, but White is such a force in the world of martial arts that I'm surprised he didn't get more of a spotlit one-on-one fight with Amell in this episode. It's a missed opportunity, but hopefully we'll see him return.
Perhaps the enemy Oliver least expected was that of Laurel Lance, assistant district attorney. Dropping in on her as the vigilante one time too many, Arrow finds himself caught in a trap at the close of the episode as dozens of police officers draw their rifles on him. A nice cliffhanger to keep us guessing until next week!
On a character note, I like the direction season two is taking with Queen, forcing him to grow as a character and as a hero. He's going through some growing pains with Diggle and Felicity, for sure, but this episode featured a nice broment between Queen and Diggle over the failed relationship he had with Carly (Christie Laing). Rickards is perfect as always and her portrayal of the fickle Felicity was spot on. There was also a nice touch from the editing department that overlaid Blood's speech denigrating Oliver Queen while showing Queen suit up as Arrow to take down the bad guys. A solid, but safe episode with the only real missed opportunity coming in not showcasing White's talents to the fullest.
The second season of the American television series Arrow premiered on The CW on October 9, 2013, and concluded on May 14, 2014, with a total of 23 episodes. The series is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, a costumed crime-fighter created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, and is set in the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with other Arrowverse television series. The showrunners for this season were Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg. Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen, with principal cast members Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen, and Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance returning from the previous season. They are joined by Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Colton Haynes as Roy Harper and Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson, who were promoted to series regulars from their recurring status in the previous season.
The series follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), who claimed to have spent five years shipwrecked on Lian Yu, a mysterious island in the North China Sea, before returning home to Starling City (later renamed "Star City") to fight crime and corruption as a secret vigilante whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow. In the second season, Oliver has vowed to stop crime without killing criminals, using "The Arrow" as his new name to represent that,[1][2] and is aided with by allies, John and Felicity. Oliver's vow is tested when he comes under attack from Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett), a man from Oliver's time on the island who resurfaces with a vendetta against him. Oliver grows to accept aspiring vigilante Roy Harper as his protégé, and begins to receive assistance from Quentin. Oliver also gains another ally, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), who survived her ordeal at sea six years prior. The season features flashbacks to Oliver's second year on Lian Yu, where he faces a new threat from Dr Anthony Ivo (Dylan Neal), whilst continuing to struggle to survive alongside allies Slade and Sara, and the archer Shado (Celina Jade). The origins of his feud with Slade is revealed.
A backdoor pilot for The Flash was originally going to be the twentieth episode, but due to the positive reception of Grant Gustin's appearance in the eighth and ninth episode, executives at The CW scrapped it in favor a traditional pilot so that it gives the developers more time to flesh out the character in addition to receiving an increase in the budget.[41]
In last week's season premiere of "Arrow" we saw Oliver Queen wrestling with his decision to stop being the murderous vigilante known as The Hood. By the end of the episode he had decided to return to fighting crime, but he was really going to try not to kill anymore (is he going to use dull-tipped arrows or something?). He also wanted to find a new name/identity for his character. I wonder if he will go full-on DC comics and start calling himself Green Arrow?
There's only one word to describe the first five seasons of Arrow flashbacks: torturous, in the best way possible. Arrow Season 7 episode 2, "Longbow Hunters" sets viewers on a similiarly torturous path. This review contains spoilers!
Arrow Season 7 episode 2, "Longbow Hunters," takes all the larger storylines introduced in the premiere and breaks them down with precision and focus. Oliver gets to know his new prison friend, Stanley. Dinah Drake and Laurel Lance talk out their beef Black Canary to Black Canary (err Siren). Curtis and Wild Dog crack some jokes while Dig and Felicity come to terms with the fact they disagree about how to continue Green Arrow's legacy. Team banter is on point, by the way, without Oliver's ruminating Batman vibes.
The crossover between Arrow and The Flash was officially the very first of the Arrowverse and laid the groundwork for future crossovers. Every future season of Arrow and The Flash would have a crossover episode in the eighth or ninth episode of the season.
As Supergirl remained relatively separate from the rest of the Arrowverse, for the most part, in season one, you can get away with watching the majority of the series without worrying about continuity. Make sure to look out for episode 18 for when The Flash makes an appearance.
The fifth year of the Arrowverse saw the addition of Supergirl to The CW after leaving her first home at CBS. Despite not having an official crossover episode with the rest of the Arrowverse, Supergirl still took part.
It took 6 years, but the Crisis on Earth-X crossover became the biggest crossover event of the entire franchise, up to that point. Using four of the five Arrowverse series, the four-part crossover was the first to feature four episodes.
The seventh year of the Arrowverse introduced Batwoman and Lois Lane to the franchise, as well as Gotham City. The Elseworlds crossover reduced the number of episodes for the crossover but was the perfect set-up for the most anticipated crossover of the entire franchise, Crisis on Infinite Earths.
One of the more intriguing scenes in the episode is the post-Green Arrow meeting between Capt. Lance and Oliver. Capt. Lance is still not buying that Oliver has evolved from the Arrow and thinks the city needs someone to stand up to crime in the day rather than lurking around in the darkness of night.
Review: The death of a main character is always a stirring moment on any series. With Arrow, the finality of death has lost some meaning over the four seasons of the show as many characters have been resurrected or only presumed dead. During the prior episode, I was convinced that Arrow's showrunners were going to pull yet another switcheroo, but by the end of this new episode I am sure that Laurel Lance is dead and not coming back. That being said, this is a very melancholic hour that serves as a memoriam for the fallen Black Canary without progressing the season long narrative at all. With no appearances by Damien Darhk, this feels like a wasted opportunity to drive home the final act of the season but instead serves as an extended lamentation on loss.
When all is said and done, the weak plot is resolved in fairly formulaic fashion and the episode wraps with Laurel's funeral. Dinah Lance returns, as does Barry Allen, to bid farewell to the fallen Laurel and Oliver delivers a profoundly stirring eulogy for his fallen love. While Laurel may not have been his true love, she was a significant person in his lives, both past and present, as evidenced by the flashbacks. Instead of heading to Lian Yu, the flashbacks this week took us to the events following the first season finale as Oliver deals with the death of his best friend, Tommy Merlyn. They serve to show the growth and difference between the Oliver of two years ago and today and may be the most relevant flashbacks this series has ever had.
Ultimately, this episode serves as a build-up for those final minutes featuring Oliver's promise to take down Darhk once and for all. Arrow started with Oliver Queen's quest for revenge and evolved into a show about the right way to take down evil without killing. For almost the full hour of this episode, Laurel's legacy was looked back upon fondly. Then, in the final minutes, Oliver proclaims that Damien Darhk must die. While I agree that the villain has finally gone too far, this seems to fly in the face of what Green Arrow has become over the last three seasons. Once he crosses back over that line, will he ever be able to come back to a point of no longer killing his enemies? 2ff7e9595c
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