Arrow Season 1

Arrow Season 1

Justice hits its mark! Based on the DC Comics Green Arrow series, the Arrow TV Series on DVD reinvents the edgy and iconic character for today’s audiences in the year’s most thrill-packed and visually stunning action adventure show. After being marooned for five years on a remote island, billionaire Oliver Queen comes home with a mysterious agenda and lethal new skills to fight crime in Starling City. Wearing the dark hood of a “ vigilante ” archer, Oliver’s fiercely determined to right the wrongs of his father and thwart those who’ve corrupted his city. But his crusade is complicated by his own family’s dark secrets, a best friend’s unwitting ties to evil , and the woman he loves but betrayed in his earlier life. From Oliver’s harrowing island ordeals to Arrow’s breath-taking urban stealth warfare, this 23-episode Season One is a heroic adventure delivered dead centre! 5 Disc Set. DVD. Special Features ARROW COMES ALIVE!: Reimagining an iconic hero from the comic book page to the live-action screen ARROW: FIGHT SCHOOL/STUNT SCHOOL: From expertly choreographed fights to amazing stunts and feature film-quality visual effects, experience the extraordinary behind-the-scenes efforts of cast and crew ARROW: CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM AT THE 2013 PALEYFEST: Cast and creators meet their fans to celebrate Arrow’s quest for justice UNAIRED SCENES GAG REEL Awards Won TV Guide Award, Favorite New Series (2013) Nominated Satellite Award, Best Television Series, Genre (2012) Nominated Saturn Award, Best Youth-Oriented Series on Television (2013) Nominated People's Choice Award USA, Favorite New TV Drama (2013) Nominated Teen Choice Awards for: Choice TV Show: Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Choice TV Breakout Show, Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi Katie Cassidy, Choice TV Actor: Fantasy/Sci-Fi Stephen Amell (2013) Won BMI TV Music Award (2013) Arrow TV Show Season 1 Review "DC Comics and The CW continue their fruitful relationship (well, semi-fruitful; sorry Birds of Prey) with another series based on a cornerstone comic book hero. This time, it's Green Arrow's turn in the TV bulls-eye, and…this will be my last bit of archery wordplay I promise…it hits the mark… Arrow was sort of on my radar last fall when it premiered, but I assumed it was going to be similar to Smallville—a show I liked, but were it not for my adoration of all things Superman, the cheeky dialogue and overwrought Dawson's Creek shenanigans would have left me cold. I opted to pass, but should have done my due diligence, because Arrow is borderline awesome, and utterly different from its soapy predecessor. Let's start with tone. This is NOT a light-hearted show. Any comic relief is sparse and essentially reduced to Oliver dropping an anachronistic observation (“What's a Twilight?”). Arrow is dark, brooding, and serious, a comic book production more in line with something Chris Nolan would give us, rather than Joel Schumacher. Nothing is more evident of this shift than the body count. Forget Batman or Superman's code: Green Arrow lays people out. I don't know much about his comic persona (aside from the fact he's solidly left on the political spectrum, a fact not ignored in this show), but his kill streak jarred me a bit. I can't remember the last superhero-based anything I watched where the hero was a taker of lives. To be fair, these aren't all throwaway kills. The writers do address Arrow's slay-a-thon with characters challenging Oliver on his code, but his lethality is copious and there's more that can be done to show the fallout of his bow's inclination to release men from this mortal coil. Maybe in Season Two grieving families of dead thugs will get an episode where they band together and go after Green Arrow with an Abrams tank. Arrow: The Complete First Season is largely made up of one-offs, featuring various White Men of Privilege put into the crosshairs for reliably crunchy sins of toxic waste dumping and pyramid scheming. Thankfully, it doesn't take long for the series to shift more towards one big story arc, as Oliver attempts to unravel what exactly the malcontents have been working towards. As for the politics, Arrow sometimes comes across as a Rachel Maddow cosplay and the overuse of the term “one-percenters” is grating. Still, as a committed New Hampshire Live free or Die Federalist, I found this stuff at worst mildly amusing, and borderline negligible (the targets tend to be rich, but they're douchebag criminals more than anything and deserve their comeuppance). If your politics tend more towards the blue region, you'll probably get a bigger kick out of our hero's quest for social justice. There are some pain points in the show, however. Aside from everything involving Oliver, be it his present-day rooftop hopping or the island flashbacks, the side stories are bland and uninteresting. Other main characters include Oliver's little sister (Willa Holland, Straw Dogs), his mother (Susanna Thompson, Star Trek: Voyager), his hotshot best friend (Colin Donnell), and his ex-girlfriend-gotta-be-future-live-interest, Laurel (Katie Cassidy, Taken). Mom's arc is decent, because she's involved somehow in the Starling City malevolence, but the rest of them are drags on the action. Here are their storylines: the sister pouts, the best friend realizes he's a jerk and gets a job, and Laurel spends most of her time furrowing her brow and monologuing about the under-privileged. …Arrow is good fun. It's surprisingly gritty, well-choreographed in the action department, and stocked with more than a few DC Easter Eggs, not the least of which is that mysterious other ally on the island. Recommended. Grab your bow and roll; Arrow is grown-up cool." DVD Verdict Episode List Pilot Honor Thy Father Lone Gunman An Innocent Man Damaged Legacies Muse of Fire Vendetta Year’s End Burned Trust but Verify Vertigo Betrayal The Odyssey Dodger Dead to Rights The Huntress Returns Salvation Unfinished Business Home Invasion The Undertaking Darkness on the Edge of Town Sacrifice