Arrow

[Evildrider]

Well..

[Khaldun]

Yeah, that's about the only thing I do like about adding her in this role--she hasn't just instantly become a bad ass.

It's a delicate thing in general--there is only so much "training up" they can allow for any of Team Arrow before you undercut Oliver to a fatal degree. There has to be something that his five years of hell did to him and for him that sets him apart from everyone else around him, much as Batman is always a bit more than any of his Robins because of the way he became what he is.

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, that's about the only thing I do like about adding her in this role--she hasn't just instantly become a bad ass.

It's a delicate thing in general--there is only so much "training up" they can allow for any of Team Arrow before you undercut Oliver to a fatal degree. There has to be something that his five years of hell did to him and for him that sets him apart from everyone else around him, much as Batman is always a bit more than any of his Robins because of the way he became what he is.

I quite liked last night's episode because of this.  The B Team, sucks, they know they suck but they are out there trying.  I have never rooted for Laurel and the whole Hee Haw gang like I did last night. 

[Khaldun]

Of course, it helps that they have an absolutely helpless mayor and police force. I like how Ray Palmer at one point said, "Um, National Guard?" and nobody even bothered to pay attention.

Oliver's flashback wigs are getting worse, which I wouldn't have thought possible. I hope they're going to give him a pornstache and muttonchops at some point.

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, and Brick isn't even a super criminal!  *boggle*

I'm not normally a big fan of grimdark but this show is pulling it off.  Laurel jumps onto the top of truck and nearly falls off, Laurel is barely even with street toughs, forget about beating Brick.  Her victory was saving lives and escaping Brick.  It felt realistic in the context of this show.

It seems like they are setting Felicity up to be the only person who knows who all the superheros are; she already knows two and will know the third.  I wonder if they are setting up a back door pilot.

[Evildrider]

I'd be Felicity's back door pilot. 

[Threash]

Anyone else notice they changed the place where ollie got stabbed?

[Evildrider]

Looks like more of a mistake than a change.  The blood on the bandage is like 6 inches below the original stab area.

[Threash]

The bandage didn't cover the original stab area at all though.

[MahrinSkel]

FWIW, it appears that Starling City is somewhere in the upper Midwest, around Chicago or Detroit (or possibly Toronto). Flightplan from a few episodes back when they were tracking Merlyn, I finally got caught up.

--Dave

[Hawkbit]

In season one they show a map, it's a west coast town.  When I read about it, I think it's supposed to be north of SF.  Central City is roughly St. Louis. 

The one thing I'm not clear about is why S1/S2 it was called Starling City, now they're referring to it as Star City.  I don't know enough lore to understand why.

[HaemishM]

Star City is the name in the comics. Starling City was what it originally was in the TV show, but Ray Palmer is spearheading the push to call it Star City.

I think they are setting up Felicity to be the TV show version of Oracle.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, she's been Oracle in her basic function since the first season, really, it's just becoming more official.

If they eventually spin off Firestorm and Atom and they're all hits, I think you can pretty much count on a few more following after that--or maybe a TV Justice League (or Justice Society, if they want to get cute). I'd keep my eye in particular on Dr. Fate if the Dr. Strange movie does well at the box-office, since I'm pretty sure that's why Ray Palmer and ATOM got the nod as an add-on to Arrow, as a way of getting DC's shrinking hero in the pipeline before Ant-Man shows up.

[HaemishM]

I'm doubting they'll put Dr. Fate in the CW-verse. His helmet has already shown up on NBC's Constantine.

[Tannhauser]

I fucking love Dr. Fate and hate that I missed that little Easter egg!

Yeah, I saw a flightplan map that showed Starling City to be Toronto.  I guess it doesn't matter to the showrunners.

[MahrinSkel]

I fucking love Dr. Fate and hate that I missed that little Easter egg!

It was in the original teaser, which seems to have gone along with a pilot that was never aired (it had a different leading actress). So I don't know how much credence to put in an easter egg that never happened, as far as the current series is concerned.

Yeah, I saw a flightplan map that showed Starling City to be Toronto.  I guess it doesn't matter to the showrunners.

Well, it would explain how Central City (normally considered a KC/St. Louis analog) could be a comparatively short train ride away.

--Dave

EDIT: Apparently, I am an idiot who didn't notice he missed the pilot. Still, doesn't seem to be much from it reflected in the series.

[Evildrider]

The pilot aired.  It was the first episode.

[Khaldun]

Routh's outfit as the Atom.

I agree w/Rob Bricken at io9: it actually looks good. They weren't afraid to put a little atomic logo on his helmet, even.

http://io9.com/brandon-rouths-atom-outfit-on-arrow-looks-almost-upsett-1683567563

[Evildrider]

Ya that looks pretty badass.  I am surprised they haven't just slated an episode for an Atom backdoor pilot.

[Threash]

So they turned DCs ant man into iron man? that's quite an upgrade there.

[HaemishM]

The suit is a mixture of OMAC tech and whatever he's doing. I'm not sure it's meant to shrink or not but it does look pretty damn good.

[Khaldun]

I think basically the one thing you have to count on is that nobody is going to wear spandex ever again in a super-hero film or series unless it's being played for laughs or it's animated. Not even Superman. It's all going to be armor or leather--to have an implied function beyond being colorful. Pretty much the Burton Batman films sent things inevitably in that direction visually, and Watchmen set them there narratively with its presentation of spandex-heroes as sex fetishists and weirdos. Not only are there just plain serious visual problems with spandex outfits in real life, I also think this is about stressing that superheroes aren't about public gratification or notoreity and they're not fetishists--they're people doing something that's pretty outre but also that's kind of practical, at least in their own minds.

Though one of the subtle implications here that nobody's really taken note of is that in all recent successful superhero franchises, there are no superhero comic-books. There can't be, otherwise everybody would be instantly saying, "Hey, it's that Flash guy, like those dudes in the comic-books.". There can't be superhero comic-books in the Nolanverse, or in the TV-DCverse, or in the Movie-DCverse or in the MCU. In every one of those settings, the characters have invented superheroes rather than looked at existing comic-books as their inspiration. That's actually another bit cribbed from Watchmen.

[Threash]

It felt like a bit of a stretch to turn the guy who is immune to everything EXCEPT arrows into a citiwide threat, but apart from that i really enjoyed the ollie-less episodes.  I hope they didn't kill boxer guy.

[Khaldun]

Did they ever explain, actually, why Brick shrugs everything off? It was established clearly in a number of scenes, but they didn't even really do the "he's just tough as hell" exposition.

[KallDrexx]

It's actually annoying me that in the first episode when they got back together no one went:

"So guys, we shot him in the face and shot him with a couple of arrows and yet he brushed it off, what's up with that?"

[Threash]

It's actually annoying me that in the first episode when they got back together no one went:

"So guys, we shot him in the face and shot him with a couple of arrows and yet he brushed it off, what's up with that?"

He didn't brush off the arrows, the bullets bounced off but the arrows penetrated.  They even made a comment about it.  But yeah, not even a mention of why a guy is bulletproof is kinda weird.

[MahrinSkel]

Why don't he fucking die?

 

--Dave (google the actor if you don't get the joke)

[jgsugden]

I'm doubting they'll put Dr. Fate in the CW-verse. His helmet has already shown up on NBC's Constantine.

... which is now canceled.  That is no longer an obstruction.

[Evildrider]

Yep maybe Supergirl will crossover too.   

[KallDrexx]

It's actually annoying me that in the first episode when they got back together no one went:

"So guys, we shot him in the face and shot him with a couple of arrows and yet he brushed it off, what's up with that?"

He didn't brush off the arrows, the bullets bounced off but the arrows penetrated.  They even made a comment about it.  But yeah, not even a mention of why a guy is bulletproof is kinda weird.

The arrows penetrated but he still didn't act like he just took an arrow to the heart.  He just yelled, threw the guy out of the back of the van and yanked the arrow out (I think he yanked it out, forgot if they showed that).  By brushing it off I mean acted like it was no big deal.

[Threash]

It's actually annoying me that in the first episode when they got back together no one went:

"So guys, we shot him in the face and shot him with a couple of arrows and yet he brushed it off, what's up with that?"

He didn't brush off the arrows, the bullets bounced off but the arrows penetrated.  They even made a comment about it.  But yeah, not even a mention of why a guy is bulletproof is kinda weird.

The arrows penetrated but he still didn't act like he just took an arrow to the heart.  He just yelled, threw the guy out of the back of the van and yanked the arrow out (I think he yanked it out, forgot if they showed that).  By brushing it off I mean acted like it was no big deal.

Well getting stabbed right through the chest and kicked down a mountain takes about 3 weeks to recover from so a measly arrow just gets you a pat on the ass and a "walk it off".

[Khaldun]

I'm still kind of disappointed that the plan for Oliver surviving was "A guy comes and finds him and takes him to where his ex-wife secretly lives, conveniently close to where the League of Assassins does duels of honor, and she just uses some herbs on him."

I mean, Oliver was stabbed through the body by a very long-lived assassin, who presumably knows what he's doing when he tries to kill someone, and kicked off a mountain, falling enough of a distance to smoosh his organs into glue. I think something more than Ancient Chinese Secret is needed at that point to save you. The only way this is going to work really is if it turns out Ra's always meant for Oliver to survive, and so he stabbed him in a non-fatal location and put some mattresses on that cliff.

[Evildrider]

She wasn't living there Maseo told her to come, with him assuming Ollie would get wrecked by Ras, and they met at the League's cabin.  I think they needed to add a little by showing her healing Ollie though.  The only thing I can think is by saying things like "the area they are in is sacred to the League" is a way at hinting that there may be a Lazarus Pit around.  However that would only come across to the comic book nerds that know more about Ras.

[Tannhauser]

I agree with you.  It feels fake and weird but maybe they'll address it beyond 'penicillin tea'.  

It was a good episode. I liked the return of Sin and her reveal to the detective.  Malcolm admits he's a killer, but his decision shows that Arrow is rubbing off on him.  Enjoyed his 'origin' story, that actor sure likes chewing scenery!  (Been binge-watching Dr. Who as well)

Felicity's dilemma was interesting, but it felt rushed, coming right after Ollie's return.  

Wasn't expecting Wildcat, so that was a bit of fun, surely they didn't kill him off.

As for Brick, I guess he has mild 'super powers' like Ollie and Arsenal.  He's a strange character, maybe he's from a comic or something.

[Evildrider]

I agree with you.  It feels fake and weird but maybe they'll address it beyond 'penicillin tea'.  

It was a good episode. I liked the return of Sin and her reveal to the detective.  Malcolm admits he's a killer, but his decision shows that Arrow is rubbing off on him.  Enjoyed his 'origin' story, that actor sure likes chewing scenery!  (Been binge-watching Dr. Who as well)

Felicity's dilemma was interesting, but it felt rushed, coming right after Ollie's return.  

Wasn't expecting Wildcat, so that was a bit of fun, surely they didn't kill him off.

As for Brick, I guess he has mild 'super powers' like Ollie and Arsenal.  He's a strange character, maybe he's from a comic or something.

Merlyn is evil Batman, basically he did what Batman did in Batman Begins and joins the league.  It's just that where Wayne didn't kill the thief that they wanted him to, Merlyn did.

The guy that plays Wildcat got cast on another show, so they are probably using this as a way for him to fade away.

And Brick is a metahuman in the comics but he's just supposed to be a normal human.. although a complete badass.  I'm assuming he's just really tough and maybe doesn't feel pain or something.