Review 659: Arrow (Season 2)

The first Season of Arrow was a solid  piece of network television entertainment but Season expands its scope 

Starling City has been torn apart by the Undertaking, so the need for the hooded vigilante archer - now known as the Arrow - is more urgent than ever. After retreating to the island where he was once stranded, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) returns to protect his mother Moria (Susanna Thompson), sister Thea (Willa Holland) and besieged company Queen Consolidated - but comes to realise that allies and enemies have switched sides and the stranglehold of evil on his family, friends and city is diabolically linked to his fateful shipwreck. Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) a comrade-at-arms from the island and a mind-warping, strength-enhancing serum developed there may prove to be the deadliest adversaries Ollie has ever encountered. Can justice find its target or will all fall before the vengeance of Deathstroke. 

The season got off to a flying start with the Season premiere: City of Heroes, which explored the fallout of the Undertaking and Ollie’s guilt over failing to save Tommy and by extension Starling City itself. 

Tommy is very much a lingering presence driving the actions of Ollie and Laurel throughout the season. His death forms the crux Ollie’s renewed mission to save his city; Oliver realises he can't be judge, jury and executioner, he has to be something better. That’s not to say the season was afraid to challenge Ollie’s new “no-kill” rule every now and again such as when he was forced to put down Count Vertigo to save Felicity's life, but it succeeded beautifully at crafting this interesting dilemma of wether Ollie could find the strength not to kill his enemies even if it put his City and loved ones in danger.

If the central question at the core of Season 1 was: Am I (Oliver) a hero? Then Season 2’s question is: Am I a killer? That was a tough question the season asked but one that was beautifully executed by the end and established Oliver/The Arrow not just as a better vigilante but as a symbol of hope for Starling City.

With guest appearances from Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and the Suicide Squad, it made feel like Arrow was starting to embrace its comic book roots and feel like it was part of a wider universe

The season was prone to some truly spectacular highs. The second half particularly Episodes 11-18 were consistently strong. Ep. 15: The Promise was an amazing all flashback episode that put Ollie and Slade's friendship front-and-centre and showed us the rift that broke them apart. "Suicide Squad" apart from being an excellent Diggle centric episode made for  and using various villains of the week was a very smart way to handle it. The score by Blake Neely is rousing

All culminating in the finale, Unthinkable, which showcased Slade wage an all-out war on Starling City with his army of drugged up Mirakuru soldiers  But also bringing Ollie’s ethical dilemma on whether to cure or kill Slade to the forefront. It also left  as it became clear that the worst was behind Oliver. Though with the League of Assassins and Ra's Al Ghul being teased as villains and Thea leaving with Malcolm Merlyn and forming a Sansa/Littlefinger-esque dynamic, it'll be interesting to see how thing will unfold in Season 3.

Overall, Season 2 was an excellent showcase Stephen Amell’s acting talent

One of the many reasons why Season 2 was so enjoyable was the overaching conflict between Oliver and Slade. We had seen them working together and becoming friends over the course of the past season and a half of the flashbacks so to see them as enemies in the present was very surprising and the reason why they hated each other made sense and made for some very compelling and tragic drama. He wasn't revealed as the main until 

Season 2 also introduced Sebastian Blood/Brother Blood (Kevin Alejandro) and Isabel Rochev (Summer Glau) as Slades’s subordinates. I particularly enjoyed Alejandro as Blood (distorted supervillain mask voice not withstanding). Alejandro was very charasmatic in the role; He's a man from lowly beginnings and despite kidnapping criminals and turning them into supersoldiers, he genuinly wants to save the city ultimatley making him the type of villain who does bad things for the right reasons.

Glau’s Isabel Rochev wasn’t quite as strong. Initially introduced as a determined, driven, take-no-prisoners business rival for Oliver   Rochev was motived by how she was once Ollie’s father’s mistress and how he chose his family over her which didn’t make seem like a credible, intimidating villain, just incredibly petty. Not helping matters is Rochev would drop off the map for multiple episodes at a time before being reintroduced in the last quarter of the season and then revealing her as villain. 

The season also saw the surprise but welcome return of Sara Lance (newcomer Caity Lotz), Laurel’s sister once thought dead. Sara has been killing for so long as an assassin that she’s become practically numb to it. Her willingness to kill made her an excellent foil for Ollie who consistently took great pains to avoid killing whenever her could and their contrasting methods showed just how much he'd grown from his first day as a Vigilante. Underneath her ruthless exterior is a good person in desperate need of human comfort. Despite this, she still shows a sense of honour and even remorse for her actions. Lotz fit right into the show’s well oiled ensemble  

Felicity continues to be  and a great source of comic relief in a dark and brutal show.  Even when Slade’s mechanics bring Ollie to his lowest, Diggle and Felicity stick by his side through thick and through thin.

At the start of the show, Laurel is coping but clearly not happy watching her go through a downward spiral was unsettling and troubling and Cassidy nailed it.

Overall, Arrow (Season 2) was amazing; it expanded Arrow’s world in unexpected ways, presented a compelling conflict worthy of the Emerald Archer and challenged the characters in thrilling, 4.5/5.