The CW: New Green Arrow TV Show ( with new actor)

[Tribal Warfare]

The series, which will air on Wednesdays at 8:00-9:00 p.m., stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Colin Donnell as Tommy, Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, with Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance.

[Sure-Oz]

Are there any good GA comics novels I should start with? I notice there isn't much animated features other than a DC presents green arrow short with Neal McDonough as GA and Justice League animated cartoon has Arrow character

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[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by BigChiefTablet

I'm still in the "show me the body" camp. Going from "You have to promise me something," and cutting to a secret conversation just reeks of faking her death. A few interviews aren't going to convince me otherwise. Killing the Black Canary seems pretty counter to everything ever in the comic books, as well.

However, their treatment of the Black Canary character so far has been kinda terrible. Sarah was fairly believable. She didn't look nearly as ridiculous in the fight scenes, and the backstory of League of Assassin training worked for the character. Laurel had a few boxing lessons from Wildcat and fights like that girl who got hit in the head with a shovel in that Youtube video.

There has definitely been too much teen angst this season. Oliver & Felicity need to get over it or don't. All the comic fans have always expected the Green Arrow to hook up with the Black Canary. Which is another reason I don't think Laurel is dead. But as goofy as things are starting to get, they might just stick Felicity in a Black Canary costume.

If they put Felicity in I think I'll be done...its all about the teen tmblr Felicity bs

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[old_geezer]

If Laurel really is dead then the next casualty of this show should be the writer who came up with that lame death scene.

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by old_geezer

If Laurel really is dead then the next casualty of this show should be the writer who came up with that lame death scene.

Yep. The prop Felicity bullshit death scene making her look completely bad. That and her I'm fine let's tell a secret oh shit now I'm dying.

The writer, exec producer etc failed this show with that shit and teeny boppers Felicity drama. Just ignore the comic completely... Felicity should've been Oliver's Lana Lang.

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[Beef Supreme]

Saw this theory in the comments of an article about this. I don't know the Black Canary origin story well enough to have thought of this.

So..they say Katie will be playing the Earth 2 version of her character in an upcoming episode of The Flash. Let's remember that in the comics, Black Canary originally hailed from Earth-2 and was a member of the Justice Society but following her husband's death she transferred over to Earth-1 and became a member of the Justice League and began a relationship with Green Arrow. (Of course that later was retconned to it actually being her daughter, blah, blah, blah) So maybe they will play on that and have the Earth-2 Laurel (maybe she goes by her real first name Dinah on that earth) move over to Earth-1 for some reason and then ta-da we have Black Canary and Laurel back without her actually coming back from the dead.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

Review that I'm in agreement with. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain.../#72607e877509

APR 7, 2016 @ 12:13 PM37,770*VIEWS

Arrow Is Dead, And Olicity Killed It

Erik Kain

CONTRIBUTOR

I write about the intersection of entertainment and technology.

Spoilers through Season 4 of ‘Arrow’ follow.

Credit: CW

Much more than a beloved character died for me in last night’s*Arrow.

No, Laurel wasn’t the only victim of this atrocity.*Arrow,*the show itself, just jumped the shark so badly I’m not sure it can ever recover.

What a joke. What a bad joke. What a disservice to a character who we’ve spent the last four seasons getting to know, one of the only characters with a truly heroic arc, going from spurned lover and idealist, to crime-fighting vigilante and stable force in Team Arrow. A character often wasted, given too little screen time, and pushed to the background—but one who deserved better.

And how does she shuffle off her mortal coil? By telling Oliver that she still loves him, but that she’s so happy he found Felicity. Her dying words are about*Felicity!

Well, not quite. She says something to Oliver after that but we don’t hear it. It’s a mystery. And then just like that, she’s gone.

It’s a shame, really, because this wasn’t a terrible episode other than its terrible ending. They had us guessing a bit with Andy. The prison break was intense. But everything to do with Laurel was just awful. She just very suddenly decides she’s giving up on Team Arrow because…I guess her entire four season character arc is just meaningless.

And while all the actors did a great job—you really*feel*Quentin Lance’s pain here; Paul Blackthorne is terrific—I can’t help but wonder if their talents would be better used elsewhere.

Honestly, killing off Laurel isn’t just an insult to her character, it makes a mockery out of everyone. Especially Quentin. He lost Sara, but then she’s back! Then she’s killed for real by Malcolm for really stupid reasons. Then she gets resurrected! But now his other daughter is dead! (Will Sara hear about this over in*Legends of Tomorrow?)

You have to wonder*if they’ll bring Laurel back from the dead, too, though it won’t matter at that point. I’m almost as sick of the fake-out deaths as I am of the Olicity pandering.

There’s no resurrecting a show that’s fallen so deeply in love with its own mistakes. It’s a kind of*twisted vanity. The producers and writers have stopped caring at all about making a vigilante show.

Now, as critics of the Olicity trainwreck term it, we’ve got “Felicity and Friends” the charming tween soap opera about a playboy billionaire and his hot fiance.

Will they finally tie the knot? Or won’t they?!? Let’s get that pesky other love interest out of the way now…




*

A while back I wrote that for*Arrow*to survive,*Olicity must die. Instead,*Arrow’s*producers killed off the Black Canary, removing the last “obstacle” to Oliver and Felicity’s eventual reunion. The Black Canary, a cornerstone of the Green Arrow stories, was killed off so that we could have more relationship drama. (Or she wasn’t, and Laurel and Oliver are in cahoots with some secret plan…but then, what a cruel thing to do to Quentin, and another lie Oliver would be telling everyone…it doesn’t add up.)

The Black Canary is dead, and she didn’t even go out with a bang. Her death wasn’t even about her.

I’ll keep watching and writing my reviews, but I’ve moved past annoyance at this point into a realm bordering on apathy. Suffice to say, whatever enthusiasm I once had for this show—and I had quite a lot—has evaporated.

The Flash*and*Legends of Tomorrow*are far better shows, in any case. At least we have them to look forward to.

There was a big death last night, that’s for sure. RIP*Arrow.*What a great superhero show you could have been. Here’s to Katie Cassidy moving on to bigger and better things.

ahahah. This fukwit lose all credibility on review status when he says legends of tomorrow is a better show. That show should of already been canceled.


As for felicity, she is a more interesting character than the annoying laurel. Hopefully they turn her into a villain.

[keg in kc]

I actually do think Legends is a better show. Has been at least as far back as the Russian gulag.

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I actually do think Legends is a better show. Has been at least as far back as the Russian gulag.

Haven't watched the last 4 eps but on DVR.

I like that BC theory above

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[temper11]

Originally Posted by Frosty

I'm starting to get pretty disenchanted with this show.

Also, could they have picked a less athletic actress to play Laurel? I cringe when she "fights" and when she does the canary scream. Ugh.

This. I'm actually embarrassed when my wife walks by and catches me watching Arrow, especially when the Canary screams. I think it would be less embarrassing to be caught watching porn.

The hand to hand fight scenes are really bad also.

[temper11]

Originally Posted by BigChiefTablet

But as goofy as things are starting to get, they might just stick Felicity in a Black Canary costume.

Yes please. Show is about as bad as it gets, but I'd still tune in to see Felicity in that costume.

[GloucesterChief]

Originally Posted by old_geezer

If Laurel really is dead then the next casualty of this show should be the writer who came up with that lame death scene.

The Mike Grell run is pretty good.

The Longbow Hunters and Quiver are also good.

Though with Grell's run you will be upset at the character butchery that they did to Eddie Fyers in the show.

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by GloucesterChief

The Mike Grell run is pretty good.

The Longbow Hunters and Quiver are also good.

Though with Grell's run you will be upset at the character butchery that they did to Eddie Fyers in the show.

Thanks I'll have to look into that.

[Sure-Oz]

Agreed.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arrow-the...-sh&soc_trk=tw

Arrow - The Rise and Fall of Felicity Smoak

In the sixth episode of*Arrow’s first season, we were introduced to one Felicity Smoak; an IT support girl at Queen Industries, she was initially intended as a one episode character who would provide a little bit of tech related exposition before never really being seen again.

Despite these initial intentions, however, the character was revisited; the primary reason was that theArrow*cast and crew quite liked Emily Bett Rickards, who played Felicity. They weren’t alone in this, of course, as the character became something of a fan favourite.*

Felicity was soon bumped up to a season regular, and had become a key member of the*Arrow*cast. She remained a fan favourite, of course; the third season saw a Felicity centric episode,*The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak, which contained flashbacks to Felicity’s college days, and introduced her mother, Donna.

For quite some time, Felicity was everyone’s favourite character. She could do no wrong. The audiences loved her.

Now, she’s near universally hated.

So what changed?

[https://s]

It’s easy, of course, to blame it on “Olicity” - that’s the name used to refer to the relationship between Oliver and Felicity, which developed across the third season, and… was complicated, we’ll say, during the fourth.*

Easy, but not entirely accurate, that is.

In theory, there’s little wrong with developing a relationship between Oliver and Felicity; certainly, in the early seasons, the pair had chemistry together, and that’s part of why the character of Felicity was so popular. Certainly, had it been written well, you likely could have convincingly depicted a relationship between Oliver and nearly anyone on his team - how different things would have been had we got*“Oliggle”!

But the operative term of the sentence -*“had it been written well” - is essentially the embodiment of the issue. Olicity is not well written. Felicity, of late, has not been very well written. Frankly,*Arrow*of late has not been very well written.

The problems here are twofold: one is a matter of emphasis, the other of contrivance.

The first problem, and arguably the greater of the pair, is the manner in which Felicity is treated by the narrative. Felicity is*valorised*by the narrative; constantly, we are told that she is great and strong and powerful, with nearly every other character having some dialogue about how wonderful she is. (Diggle in particular has fallen foul to this of late.) Obviously, on a surface level, this is just particularly unsubtle writing; the old maxim of*“show don’t tell” is one which springs to mind in this instance.

More than that, though, is the fact that this narrative lacks any form ofbalance*- given how insistentArrow*has become in beating the audience over the head with constant references to how great she is, there is rarely any acknowledgement of her character flaws. A good example of this is 4x16*Broken Hearts,*in which Felicity is constantly sniping and making cruel digs at Oliver - but rather than her being criticised for this, Oliver is told simply to give her time.

Through not allowing Felicity to have character flaws (or, at least, ignoring the ones she does have)*Arrow*has fallen into the pitfall of a*giving us a very superficial and shallow*“strong female character” - as opposed to*“strong” meaning well rounded, three dimensional and nuanced, a more literal interpretation of*“strong” has been pursued, hence Felicity being shown as infallible and literally described as*“strong”.

[https://s]

The other problem (albeit one linked to the former) is that much of the drama surrounding Olicity is extremely contrived and very poorly written. A recent example of this was Felicity regaining the ability to walk, so that she could then walk out on Oliver, due to the fact he’d been lying about her - entirely ignoring the fact that, of course, she’d spent the episode prior trying to convince her mother that people in relationships can lie to each other if they love one another enough. It’s astonishing, really, how much*Arrow*is reliant on the use of lies and deception to further their plot; it’s as if the writers know of no other form of communication.

(Incidentally, on the matter of Felicity’s paralysis; it would take an entire post to properly break down the failings within this arc, as opposed to a single aside within a larger post, so I likely shall return to this subject in the future. For now, though, I think it’s important to note that this six episode paralysis arc was not only poorly written, but was so poorly handled as to be bad representation and quite disrespectful as well.)

You end up getting the indication that those involved with the show perhaps just aren’t very good at writing romantic arcs - except, then, how does that explain Diggle and Lyla, or Roy and Thea? Both of those stories were reasonably successful, and have added a lot to the respective characters.

The answer, then, is that the writers aren’t very good at writing a romance when they feel it needs to be the*focus*of the story; Diggle & Lyla and Roy & Thea were always subplots, forming part of something larger. Here, with*‘Olicity’, it takes centre stage - largely at the expense of other characters, who recieve limited screentime as a result of this.

Laughably, though, this brings up back around to the beginning - not just of this article, but of*Arrow.*We established earlier that Felicity became a fan favourite character - part of that was because fans were responding so poorly to the character of Laurel, and her romantic plotline with Oliver. That, in part, is why Felicity was written as the main love interest, with Laurel being simply a close friend of Oliver’s - and when “reduced” to this role, the character began to thrive.

At a remove from the program, it’s actually quite interesting to watch this all unfold; I don’t think I’ve ever really seen a character plummet from such heights to such depths before. Certainly, I can’t think of any fan favourite character who became quite so reviled so quickly - can anyone?

But, ultimately, within the program itself, it’s very disappointing.*Arrow*is far from its glory days, and it’s questionable as to whether it’ll ever really emerge from the shadow of its former self. The blame can’t be placed on Felicity, not really, nor Emily Bett Rickards; she’s a competent actress, and a very nice person as well. She deserves better material to work with than what she’s getting.

No, the real problem lies with the writers, who are struggling to bring any sort of coherent emotional or thematic arc to*Arrow, or to their lead characters.

The writers of*Arrow… have failed Felicity Smoak.

[Beef Supreme]

The answer, then, is that the writers aren’t very good at writing a romance when they feel it needs to be the*focus*of the story; Diggle & Lyla and Roy & Thea were always subplots, forming part of something larger. Here, with*‘Olicity’, it takes centre stage - largely at the expense of other characters, who recieve limited screentime as a result of this.

The writers shouldn't have to be good at writing romantic arcs when they need to be the focus of the story. The focus of the story should NEVER be the ****ing romantic arcs. That is the central problem.

[Valiant]

I think it is more to do with writing the constant love arcs to retain female viewership instead of making the best comic episodes they can. Hell they do it in Flash also, but thankfully the guy that plays Dr. Wells to me carries the show.

That is the only real difference in the shows, Arrow does not have a Dr. Wells type character. Well and better villains..