Sunday, March 30, 2014

Catch-Up TV: Ten Reasons to Watch Arrow


Teen Wolf is on hiatus so I needed to get my cheesy supernatural fix from somewhere – I figured why not give the CW’s Arrow a second chance. I watched the first couple of episodes of Season 1 as they aired but it didn’t hook me to I gave it up (there’s only so many shows I can watch at once). I’m kind of bummed I didn’t stick it out because it turns out that once it found it’s groove Arrow is actually pretty awesome. Why is it is awesome? Well here’s ten reasons just to get you started.



10. Fantastic Female Characters


This is kind of my thing but there’s a reason for that. So many truly fantastic shows rely on cookie-cutter-clichés for their female characters and it’s so disappointing the their male counterparts are so phenomenal. Not so in Arrow. I actually like most of the female characters as much – if not more than the male ones. There’s something for every style and they just keep bringing in new ones. It’s great.

9. The Fan Favourite Ship COULD Become Canon

So it’s not slash, and chances are they will probably stick with the original endgame but it’s nice to ship something that actually has a chance. Especially something that was never intended but just grew out of chemistry and fan support. I’m not going to tell you what this ship is, because it’s nice to let it grow on you but it’s pretty easy to guess.

8. Surprising Social Commentary

Okay so it’s not The West Wing or whatever show the intellectuals are frothing over at the moment. But it has some interesting things to say about the class war and the distribution of wealth. Also all the hero’s a wonderfully morally ambiguous in a way that makes you question what it makes to be a hero in the first place.

7. The Cast


TV shows are so much more than just the show now, it’s all about the social interaction. A good, social media savvy cast can enhance the viewing experience immensely and this cast is either very savvy or the PR team behind them is doing an fantastic job of making them look good. Whatever, the entire cast and the official Writer’s Room Twitter are definitely worth a follow on Twitter if you’re into the SM thing.

6. Refreshing Sincerity

Look I love a bit of self-reflexivity as much as the next millennial but it’s reached a point of over saturation. What I love about Arrow is that it is what is. It’s a superhero show, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Heroes and villains are serious business on this show. That’s not to say that it’s not funny or that it takes itself too seriously. There’s just a refreshing sincerity about this show that is kind of lovely.

5. Shirtless Workout Montages


Sometimes I am very shallow. I’ve accepted it. And I don’t care what you say if watching Oliver do those pull up jump thingies is wrong then I don’t want to be right. There is usually some kind of shirtless workout montage is every episode because this show knows that while audiences like exciting stories and interesting characters they also really like it when pretty people get sweaty.

4. Team Arrow: It Takes a Village to Save a City

My fave thing about the current superhero trend is that they are moving away from the lone hero and realizing that a hero is only as good as his team. I’m all about the “found-family” and Arrow has a pretty amazing one. In Team Arrow is a family and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside when they all have to utilize their unique skills to take down the latest bad guy. Plus they refused to let Oliver go all Batman-broody.

3. It’s Finally Found its Feet

Like a lot of genre shows, Arrow flounders a little in the first season because it’s not really sure what kind of show it is. But luckily as of Season 2 it’s finally found it’s feet and I love it. The first season isn’t bad or anything, it’s just not as good as the second season. So push through the first few episodes because it does get better when it figures out what kind of story it wants to tell.

2. Geek Casting


Genre shows do this a lot – they borrow cred from other popular genre shows by casting fan favorite actors but Arrow has this down to a fine art. If you’re a fan of genre shows there is probably someone you know and love on this show. Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), Willa Holland (The OC), Manu Bennet (Spartacus), Colton Haynes (Teen Wolf), John Barrowman (Torchwood), Alex Kingston (Doctor Who) and Summer Glau (Firefly). Seriously it’s like a who’s who of the convention circuit.

1. Felicity Smoak


Without a doubt the breakout character of the show is the cute IT girl Felicity Smoak. Played by relative newcomer Emily Bett Richards, Felicity was only supposed to stick around for a couple of episodes but everyone liked her so much that she’s now an integral part of the show. It’s so nice when the fan favorite character is a girl and she is definitely worthy of being everyone’s favorite. She turns up in Ep. 2 and she’s the reason I wish I’d stuck around for one more ep for giving up when I first started watching. I just love her okay.



Well there you have it? Are you convinced? I hope so because I am vastly becoming a little obsessed with this show so you will probably be seeing more about it in future. I’m a total Arrow convert.