"Recruits"
This new season of Arrow has been a pleasant surprise so far. If you've followed my episode reviews, then you know that I wasn't the biggest fan of Season 3's post mid-season direction as well as Season 4's highly repetitive, overly dramatic, and downright boring at times direction overall. However, I can happily say that I've been genuinely enjoying every minute of the new season and this week's episode continues that current reign of success.
Within the first two episodes alone, I've already latched back onto Oliver Queen as a truly compelling character again (especially with the Star City mayor angle added in now). The supporting cast that started to wear thin on me in the previous season due to constant mellow drama are now being repurposed with their own new and refreshing story arcs making them interesting and fun to watch individually as they should be. The new recruits introduced in this episode feel as though they all organically fall into the series as it stands now with the city having to adapt to the constant threats that has plagued it since the beginning.
Of course there would be other vigilantes rising up now more than ever and with their own backstory to potentially mine from in the future. This brings forth a progressive feeling to the series now with a sense of expansion taking place within its own barriers. There's something engrossing about watching a brand new team of vigilantes mentored by Oliver growing together into something unique that pulls me towards watching these characters evolve throughout the season.
The flashback storyline is not only engaging so far, but it actually feels naturally interwoven with the current themes of each episode which was highly lacking in the previous season. Seeing the moments of Oliver's past being referenced in the present during whatever situation calls for it has always been one of the key traits of the series, so it's nice to see it being well executed again.
Just like the season premiere, the action feels gripping, energetic, and very well choreographed which immediately dates back to when the series was at its prime. That highly active and dynamic atmosphere can also be praised in the pacing of this week's episode as well. Although a few of the transitions felt slightly abrupt, I am liking how swiftly threaded these episodes have been thus far.
Although I felt Tobias Church to be easily expendable in the season premiere, I'm actually slowly getting onboard with his character as basically being the 2nd rank villain of the season so far. We're aware of the major baddie this time around with the cool teases of Prometheus (who I'm slowly starting to get a little amped up for) being shown during the ending scenes of each episode, so I'm actually fine with Tobias having his spotlight run-ins with Oliver every now and then once I know that it's leading into something fulfilling down the line. Also, I like the fact that they use Tobias as a means to tease how dominant Prometheus is when he completely took him down just to threaten him about killing the Green Arrow.
My only nitpick here as far as Prometheus goes is in the fact that he looks a bit too much like Rag Man who we finally get introduced to here (or vice versa). From a design perspective, unless there's a significant reason as to why these two look almost identical, I will definitely have some issues going forward regarding them possibly being in scenes together. Presentation-wise, I'm not so sure if I'll be able to take them both as equally serious when interacting in the same scene or just having a strong presence in the same episode.
I am intrigued however with the fact that Rag Man is a supernatural character as Season 4 basically opened up the floodgates for the more fantastical characters of the DC Universe. It's nice to see the studio fully embrace this direction as I look forward to seeing what other magic based characters will be woven into this universe. I also have to point out that the visual FX on Rag Man's abilities were well executed, but I hope that the writers take the time to explain just how his "abilities" work.
Overall, this was a pretty solid episode altogether from the entertaining training sequences, brutal flashback scenes, and the present day transitioning between each character's story. This entire episode centers around the theme of expansion for the Arrow franchise alone which I truly believe is taking place here during this season. Aside from a costume nitpick and a couple of overly harsh Oliver Queen moments that rubbed me the wrong way, I can definitely say that I'm eagerly looking forward to next week's episode with open arms. Season 5, as it currently stands, has been a major improvement altogether in my book.
Episode Rating: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment