1. I generally like it, or at least, I don't find it unpleasant. There's some mystery and soap opera, the acting is ok, and the action is mostly on par with something like Angel or Buffy. I don't mind that Oliver Queen is ready to kill, though the second episode shows it's not his only avenue for justice.
2. The model for this thing is really Hamlet, isn't it? He's a rich "prince" whose father was killed, and his mother soon remarried to a family friend now running the "empire". Not sure if Dr. Moon (sorry, Walter Steele) is a Claudius figure, or if Gertrude is the only real traitor here. Then there's Laurel Lance as Ophelia, and her rash intruding father, hard-nosed cop Detective Lance who forbids Oliver from seeing his daughter. Tommy seems to be both Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, which leaves bodyguard Diggle as a Horatio in becoming. The sister isn't in the play.
3. People have commented on it a lot, but it's true: What is UP with the naming strategy in this series? The names call so much attention to themselves, and fall into on or more of three categories, really. Characters from the comics: Dinah Laurel Lance is Black Canary in the comics; "Speedy", here Oli's sister, is the name of Green Arrow's side-kick; Tommy's last name is Merlyn, the archer from the League of Assassins. Characters named after GA creators: Nocenti, the surname of current GA scribe Ann, is an unusual enough monicker to seem very strange indeed uttered so often this week; Diggle looks to be named after Andy, who wrote the Year One mini; isn't there a Grell too? I forget. And finally, characters whose last names mean something in English: Queen, Steele, Felicity Smoak (Firestorm's stepmom?!), Hunt, Lamb... It's like nobody has a normal name.
4. Speaking of names, why ISN'T the series called Green Arrow? Too silly? The title sits uncomfortably in my mouth. It can't be THE Arrow either, because that's a whole other character from the Golden Age, later resurrected by Malibu Comics. And why doesn't it take place in Star City? Starling City is just as silly, you know.
5. Supervillains. I was sorely disappointed back in the day when the Flash TV series, despite a hero in colorful long-johns, only produced one real supervillain (with echoes of others in certain bad guys). But by now, we've seen Deathstroke's mask, met China White, and this week, it's going to be Deadshot (the bar's set pretty high on this one though).
6. I still have trouble differentiating Laurel and Thea/Speedy in any given scene. Maybe if the actresses didn't have the same exact head of hair!
7. And speaking of Speedy: I understand melodrama, and I'm used to soap situations featuring the very rich, but sheesh, her whole rant about her life being hell while Oli was cast away on a deserted island was rating grating. Cry me a river, rich girl. So when does Oli get to walk in on her shooting up smack?
8. I'm watching it for the foreseeable future, DC, so you can take those damn banners off your comics. They're really heinous.
Comments
Somehow I can't imagine Ryan Reynolds turning up as Hal Jordan and doing that cover...
Yet it sounds like there's a crap ton of it, even in just a few episodes.