There are almost too many geeky shows on TV these days! It’s like a dream come true. And they’re all mostly good, and few are better than Arrow, which is probably my favorite drama on TV these days. Anybody who complains that it’s just Batman Lite, or too focused on CW-style drama, can just go be haters off in their own little corner. I’ll enjoy my live action Green Arrow TV show. Arrow is an exciting, action-packed superhero drama, which ratcheted up the acting, storytelling and, above all, tension, to make their second season into some truly great TV!

With a liberal use of beefcake

I was lukewarm about season one. I enjoyed it, sure, but it wasn’t the greatest show by any means. But then the team behind Arrow blew me away with the first season finale, and I was definitely coming back for more with season two. Imagine my delight when season two turned out to be amazing! Ollie the superhero, Black Canary, the League of Assassins, the Suicide Squad, the Flash, freakin’ Deathstroke the Terminator! It was all so good!

Join me after the jump for my thoughts/review of Arrow season 2! Be warned, there will be FULL SPOILERS for the whole season.

6. This show is amazing

I also would have accepted ‘fantastic’ or ‘swell’

It’s quite possible that Arrow was my favorite drama on television over the past year. I’ll admit I don’t watch a lot of television, but Arrow was definitely up there this season. And the reason why, a word I’m probably going to use a lot on this list, is ‘tension’. With the Deathstroke storyline hanging over the Arrow’s head for the entire season, both in the present day and in the island flashbacks, suddenly everything felt much more tense than in the first season. This was no longer a show about Ollie finding his place as a hero, or going out to fight one-episode villains like Firefly or the Clock King. This was a season about a dangerous, almost unstoppable enemy pushing into Oliver’s life and threatening everything he holds dear.

That tension ratcheted Arrow up to a whole new level in quality and excitement. Say what you will about the relationship drama inherent in any CW show, but Arrow season 2 was all about pushing its superhero protagonist to the very edge and watching him hold firm, like a hero should – with the occasional breaking points here and there.

They were much better too!

Everything was improved for the second season, a lot of which I’ll get into on this list. But the acting was better, the characters were fuller and more entertaining. The relationship stories weren’t awful. The superhero aesthetics really, really improved. Just the fact that Ollie actually put on a real mask instead of painting his eyes was a big deal for me. And again, the overarching storyline, the fight against Deathstroke in both the past and the present, was just better all around than whatever the first season was about. An earthquake machine, or something?

Arrow did exactly what every TV show should do in season 2: it got better.

5. Stephen Amell stepped up

Can’t say enough about the mask

Does anybody have any idea what lead actor Stephen Amell did before getting cast? Does he even remember? Arrow is clearly his star-making role, and the guy really upped his game for season 2. Not that he was bad in season 1, but he was clearly still getting used to the role and getting in character back then. This time around, he was on fire. He was dramatic, confident, wounded; the man could act, is what I’m saying. I think my favorite moment of the season was episode 15, ‘The Promise’, where Slade Wilson shows up at the Queen Mansion and Oliver is forced to play nice and take him on a tour. Then at the end, with Oliver’s team in place, but his family still in the crosshairs, Amell asks, “So Mr. Wilson, what would you like to do now?”

That moment was insanely tense! I was on the edge of my seat! Amell’s line delivery was just superb.

Also, everything I’ve seen from Amell on social media and in the fan community speaks to him as a really cool guy who goes above and beyond to both promote his show and engage the fans. I’m always down with an actor willing to do that.

4. I like what they’re doing with Roy Harper…for now

Though he could use something more protective than a hoodie

Being the avid fan of sidekicks that I am, when Roy was given the red mask in the final episode, it was near about everything I ever want from this show. I know I’m more of a Robin fan, but just seeing the showrunners go through with Roy Harper’s sidekick storyline is pretty awesome. I’m loving that they’re going there. Another favorite scene from the season was in the episode ‘Tremors’, where Ollie reveals his identity to Roy. That was pretty cool, and another great moment for Amell.

Obviously I was worried in the episode ‘Seeing Red’, where Roy went psycho, killed a cop and had to be put down in the end. But Arrow came through in the season finale, boosting my boy to his rightful place on Team Arrow!

Thank you, TV show. Thank you.

Of course, the season ended with Thea taking off and Roy in doubt about his future, so that’s not a good sign. Plus he’s got to eventually find out that he killed that cop. And tragedy is a staple for the character in the comics. Sooooo…season 3 probably isn’t going to be all about Ollie and Roy fighting side-by-side as the Green and Red Arrows, despite how cool I think that would be.

3. What the heck are they going to do now?

Not pay her, for one

Speaking of ‘Going Red’, that ending was insane! That was the point, of course. We all thought it would just be an episode about Roy going nuts, standard superhero TV show fare, but then – surprise! – Moira is dead and nothing will ever be the same! Killing Ollie’s mom was an appropriate way to raise the stakes with Deathstroke, but man, where is the show going to go from here? Oliver’s home life is completely obliterated. No mother. No sister. No step-father. No company to run. These were all major parts of the show, and every superhero needs a solid, entertaining personal life. So what the heck is the show going to do now?

The question is totally rhetorical. I’m sure they’ve thought up something great and have a lot planned. I just wanted to point out how far they shifted the foundation of the whole show this season. That is pretty great stuff.

2. The DCU cameos are great, for the most part

We will need so many crossovers!

Arrow went off the chain with cameos and references in season 2, and each and every one has been fantastic. Heck, I didn’t realize until several episodes after it started, but they gave us Green Arrow and Black Canary in a romantic relationship for a good few weeks there! And Canary was a fantastic addition to the cast. The scene where she revealed herself to her father was another favorite of mine. I thought it would be pretty weird and soap operay for Sarah Lance to not only survive the boat sinking, but also come back to the show, but Arrow pulled it off spectacularly.

Then we had the Flash guest appearance, along with Vibe, the Suicide Squad, the League of Shadows, and name-droppings for Kord Industries and R’as al Ghul! I’m probably forgetting more than a few. Arrow weaves them in flawlessly, while not letting them become too big of a deal. They’re very smart about it. And I know the fans are appreciative.

Except, of course, for Amanda Waller.

Amanda “The Er” Waller

Ugh. Waller is the worst part of the show, and not just because DC insists on a skinny Amanda Waller these days. But actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson is so young, too. We’re supposed to be intimidated by Amanda Waller, but Addai-Robinson doesn’t have an ounce of intimidation in her body (despite what we saw in Spartacus). She’s like a little kid trying to fit in her mom’s grown up shoes. She sinks the show’s credibility every time she appears on screen as the supposedly badass boss of a major government organization like A.R.G.U.S., and now it looks like she’s going to have a bigger role in season 3.

Why didn’t they do the obvious thing and just cast C.C.H.Pounder?

It’s the role she was born to play!

Now she can be intimidating! There’s a woman who can order the likes of Deadshot and Bronze Tiger around. But nope! As far as DC is concerned, only hot, skinny, young women should exist in their universes.

1. Deathstroke was amazing

The costume plays

Deathstroke the Terminator is everywhere these days. He gets more airtime than the Joker. But even though he’s not really a Green Arrow villain, the show got the right to use him, and have been planning his appearance since the show began. That they had the patience to wait all the way until season 2 to really put Slade Wilson front and center worked wonders. Arrow broke its teeth in the first season, and came out swinging for the fences in season 2, with a central villain that dominated every episode in which he appeared. Actor Manu Bennett gave a command performance, both in the flashbacks and in the present day scenes. And when he showed up in the present day, full of hate and well-orchestrated evil, he was a man on fire. Superhero movies could only wish to get a villain that imposing, that devious.

The best scene!

The best part was that Slade was both a schemer and a badass warrior. Sure the fights were great, and his costume/armor was brilliantly realized, but it was his plan to crush Oliver that really made him such a boss. Everything from killing his mother to telling Thea the truth about her dad to telling Laurel that Ollie was the Arrow; Slade had everything planned out, and everything was in its place. The only thing I was disappointed with was that the show introduced Ollie’s unintended son, but then didn’t bring him back for Slade to threaten. When Slade kept saying there was only one person left to kill, I thought for sure he meant Ollie’s child, the one Ollie didn’t know existed, but Slade, with his infinite resources, did. That would have been a crushingly amazing finale. That would have set up a really strange season 3. But the writers balked – I assume. Arrow probably isn’t a cruel enough show to threaten a baby. Maybe if it was set in Texas.

Still, Deathstroke was the best part of Arrow season 2. I just hope the writers have something bigger and better planned for season 3.

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What did you think of Arrow in its second season? Worse or better than the first? Let me know in the comments!

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