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\n<\/a>
\nSo Cool Trailer<\/a><\/span>
\nStar City needs the Arrow. Don’t miss the season 4 premiere Wednesday, October 7!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nView on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
True binge-watchers will pooh-pooh, but for our plowing through three seasons of a TV show in several months was a noteworthy accomplishment in this household, esp. since S.3 had to be pieced together from some episodes free online and some not.<\/p>\n
Still, we got caught up just in time for the season premiere this coming week (trailer for which below).<\/p>\n
As to whether it was worth it …<\/p>\n
Arrow<\/i> is … an interesting show. It helps (or hurts) to realize first and foremost that it's a soap opera in the grand tradition of weekday serial dramas: lots of family issues, trust issues, lies, betrayals, angst, anger, lather, rinse, repeat. People choose deception as the default mode of any uncomfortable situation (frequently using the excuse "it's for the best that they never know the truth"), and when those deceptions get exposed (as they always do), there are tears and recriminations and high melodrama.<\/p>\n
That said, I still enjoyed it. The super-hero bits (within the bounds of DC's TV universe) were pretty well played, and the ties to The Flash<\/i> and other DCTVU characters (including the Legends of Tomorrow<\/i> crew) were always fun. Many of the actors are enjoyable to watch (John Barrowman, Alex Kingston, and Paul Blackthorne in particular).<\/p>\n
I read (headline-wise) a lot of judgments that S.3 was piss-poor compared to S.1-2. I can't entirely agree. I think it was less successful in some ways (R'as al Ghul and the League of Assassins stuff was not well handled, compared to the previous season threats of the Undertaking and Slade Wilson), but the show did a decent job of upending some tables to keep things fresh. The "five years years of hell" flashbacks are getting a bit wearying (if only in their implausibility), but one can hope that will be corrected this next time out.<\/p>\n
Having started with The Flash<\/i> and then moved over to Arrow,<\/i> I think the showrunners learned some good lessons from the latter that they applied to the former. The Flash<\/i> has many of the same hallmarks (including gratuitous deceit), but not as rabidly, and there's more comic book wonderment and (somewhat) less soap opera. The constant father figure conflicts remain, but they feel less forced in The Flash.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Or maybe it's just that Flash<\/i> is more intentionally fun, less intentionally gritty.<\/p>\n
Do I regret the time invested in catching up with Arrow?<\/i> Not at all. It's the kind of show I would have given my eye teeth for growing up, and even now I'm enjoying it, and looking forward to S.4. There may be better shows out in the great wide TV universe (correction: there are<\/i> better shows), but I'm pretty happy with what DC's been doing with its TV dramas, and interested to see where they are going next.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\n<\/a>
\nSo Cool Trailer<\/a><\/span>
\nStar City needs the Arrow. Don’t miss the season 4 premiere Wednesday, October 7!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
