Arrow, Episode 2 - Who's Still Watching?

Pilots are pretty unique episodes. They usually tend to stand out from the rest of the season or run of a show because they have one purpose - to attract viewers. Usually they either fail horribly (cough, Beauty and the Beast, coughcough) or work pretty well. Since Arrow's was the latter, I was curious to see how the second episode followed up.

There was one big thing that I was on the fence about in the pilot and once I was able to get around my initial qualms about the show, I found it to be incredibly glaring in the second episode. I had no idea what to make of the acting, specifically the lead. I couldn't decide if Stephen Amell is either an amazing or terrible actor.

The question started last week and the acting issue became more apparent in the second episode. When Amell is playing Ollie Queen, he's stiff and bland. He makes a lot of awkward smirks. You really can't help but think that he was hired to be a pretty face. The character really falls flat... until you realize that he's playing several different parts...

There are at least 3 different roles that he's tackling: Ollie Queen, Arrow, and Ollie Queen in flash backs and all three of these characters are pretty different. Present day Ollie Queen is the one that drives me crazy. He's emotionless and flat. However, this can be explained by the fact that he's been living on a deserted island for five years and is probably pretty scarred. We haven't seen a lot of Arrow yet. He's spoken occasionally but it's in that solid, justified Batman kind of way. However, the flashbacks to younger, pre-accident Oliver Queen are almost like a completely different character. The mannerisms, the expressions, even the tone of voice almost make you think it's a different actor all together.

It makes me really happy that they have these flashbacks and continue to have them. It makes for a more well-rounded character AND let's you see that Amell is more than a pretty face. At the end of the episode when Oliver realized he was going to have to act like his pre-accident self in order to mask his secret, he again completely transformed into the immature playboy that was completely unique from the Oliver Queen in the rest of the episode. That was when I settled the acting talent question once and for all. This guy is good.

Aside from that, the show is growing on me. I was having trouble with that hurdle but once I got over it, I was able to appreciate the rest of the show. I said in the last review that I would really like it if the show continues to use flashbacks to explain what happened to Oliver on the island that transformed him into Arrow and gave him the skills he now possesses. This episode solidified that they are indeed going to continue with that which I think is vital to making this show more complex than just a "hero catches bad guys" story.

I'm excited to see how it goes. It seems like they're still filling some back story and setting the show up which has made it move a little slower, but I have high hopes.