Arrow S01E06 – Review

By: Moira Kirland & Marc Guggenheim (story)

The Story: Thanks to the recession, even bank robbers are down on their luck these days.

The Review: A few weeks ago, I was on a late plane going to D.C., bored with nothing to do except stare out into the inky darkness and ponder my meaningless life in the endless void, so I pulled out my laptop to watch an episode of Arrow.  A friend of mine who was also on that flight suddenly piped up excitedly, “Is that Arrow?”  I told her it was.  “I love Arrow,” she told me, in much the same way someone might have said, “I love Mad Men” a year ago.

I should say my friend is a sweet, feminist law student whom I would never imagine watching a weekly action-drama featuring a comic book character who fought crime with preposterously antiquated weaponry.  But after that revelation, I started paying closer attention to the show and began to recognize its crossover appeal.  This is ostensibly a show about Green Arrow, but in execution, he’s merely a platform to deliver all the things people want out of TV—action, crime, justice, relationships, and family—but with more breathing space for the fantastic.