Arrow, which premiered Wednesday night on the CW, re-tells the origin of the superhero the Green Arrow, whose skill as an archer signifies his status as the DC Comics version of Hawkeye. Actually, the old CW show Smallville also featured Oliver McQueen, the Green Arrow’s civilian alter-ego, but that Oliver looked like a Backstreet Boys reject. Arrow’s Oliver, played by Stephen Amell, looks dangerous.
And he proves that impression correct in the pilot’s whirlwind opening scenes. Oliver 2.0 effortlessly parkours over an island and blows up a beach to attract the attention of a rescue ship—because, as Oliver explains via Very Serious Voiceover, he was shipwrecked on that island five years ago when his yacht went down in a storm. (Of course it was a yacht. Oliver is a billionaire playboy, like every other tormented superhero.) Apparently, Oliver’s father died in the wreck.
Oliver reunites with his mother Moira and seventeen-year-old sister Thea in their mansion in Star City. (Yes, that’s really its name.) He also gets reacquainted with Walter Steel, an old business partner of his father and Moira’s new husband. Both Moira and Walter are stately and understanding, so they’re definitely evil. And, in typical CW style, there’s a lingering scene focused solely on Oliver’s chest, which is covered in ropey scars and faded tattoos. I’m not complaining.
We also meet Laurel Lance, a lawyer who used to date Oliver and is working on an embezzling case against billionaire Adam Hunt. Through more Serious Voiceovers and flashbacks, it’s revealed that Oliver was cheating on Laurel with her sister Sarah. Sarah was on the yacht, and was apparently sucked into the storm. (I’m calling it now: Sarah is alive.)
Oliver meets up with his old best friend Tommy, who takes him to see Laurel again. Laurel, understandably, tells Oliver to get lost. Thugs wearing The Dark Knight-style Joker masks then kidnap Tommy and Oliver. Arrow is trying to capture a Christopher Nolan atmosphere, but mostly the attempt falls flat. The thugs make veiled threats to Oliver about some sort of conspiracy while Tommy’s out cold. Oliver takes this in stride—his allusions to people “poisoning my city” make a lot more sense now—then breaks out of his cuffs and kills the thugs by slamming their heads into a chair and snapping their necks. If only the Black Widow hadn’t done it better in The Avengers.
Oliver tells Detective Quentin Lance about the kidnapping, but lies that “a man in a green hood” saved them. Lance doesn’t believe them. (Another prediction: Lance will make a Robin Hood joke.) Moira hires a bodyguard named “Dig” for Oliver, who Oliver easily escapes before heading to an abandoned warehouse. Oliver breaks out a bow worthy of Legolas and a computer system worthy of Dexter’s Laboratory. There’s also an awesome shirtless training montage.
Oliver, as Green Arrow, takes out Adam Hunt’s security team in a parking garage. I guess that, in Star City, arrows are scarier than bullets?
Hunt, who looks like an overweight Lex Luthor, promptly tells Lance about the mugging. Lance organizes protection for Hunt, but fails to realize that the party at the club across the street is being held in—dum dum dum!—Oliver’s honor. Oliver appears to be getting wasted, telling Laurel that he “has five years of debauchery to catch up on,” but he slips out midway through the party to attack Hunt. Hunt’s security and what looks to be half the Star City police force prove no match for the Green Arrow, and Oliver escapes having accomplished—something? I’m not sure what happened, but it appears that all the people Hunt embezzled are getting their money back. And, in a twist anybody who’s watched the CW before could predict, it turns out that Laurel and Tommy are dating.
But here’s a plot twist I didn’t predict: Oliver’s dad is definitely dead. How do we know that? Because, right after telling his son that he needed to “fix” Star City, he shot himself in the face.
Overall, Arrow seemed all over the place—the villain was flimsy and unintimidating, and Amell wore maybe three expressions the whole episode, but the episode seemed more about putting together the clues for a larger mythology than it did about developing character or ambience. Maybe I’m a sucker for strong jawlines, but I’m interested to see what the CW does with its new shiny superhero.