Good friends are important, and best buds even more so. Someone who has your back, and who will be there when the chips are down. And of course, a heavily super powered friend that shares your own values, motivations, and love for extremely tight uniforms has to be pretty much the best thing ever.
There have been a lot of great pairings over the years in the comic book world, from best friends to friendly rivals. With more than a few friends taking each other on in the theaters next year with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War, it’s important to take stock of these friendships that have developed on-screen and in the comics for years. Sure, they’re fighting now, but chances are after the battle they’ll all go and grab a few beers and bro out over the battle.
There are quite a few more great friendships among the superhero community, buddies that have been through the thick and the thin, fought each other more times than they could count, and have even survived the ‘finality’ of death (at least until the inevitable rebirth). Let’s take a look at some Superhero Best Buds that have survived the test of time.
Before we jump into this week’s episode, let me just say if you aren’t following Stephen Amell on Facebook, then you are missing out. I actually don’t follow many actors and don’t even remember what prompted me to follow Mr. Amell but I am so happy I did. At first he didn’t really have much interaction but in the last few months he has really embraced both Facebook and Twitter and it has been quite fun as a fan. Of course there’s also the chance of a John Barrowman sighting which is never a bad thing.
While you’re there, you can go ahead and follow Grizzly Bomb on Facebook. I mean, since the page is already open and all.
Okay I lied, one more thing before this week’s review. DC has put out a comic series to tie-in with the show. Much like video games based on movies, it has that “okay this is ridiculous” sort of feel to it, but it’s not horrible. I’ve actually grown to look forward to each new release. Nice to see a little bit more of Starling City and the Arrow cast of characters than just on Wednesday nights.
Okay on to this week’s episode! After what seemed like an eternity after such a great episode, Arrow returned with the Huntress. I’ve made my feelings about the Huntress known (short story – I can’t stand her) so you can only imagine my reaction when the episode starts right off that bat with her posing as a stripper and killing her father’s lawyer. This chick has some serious Daddy issues and instead of just letting bygones be bygones, she’s going to hunt him down while he’s in protective custody. Blah blah blah. Thankfully there were other things happening in this episode that distracted from her annoyance.
Like this:
Credit to: marcussour
The club is finally open! Now, I am no master builder or anything but seriously it seems like in the episode where McKenna (oh McKenna, it was so nice knowing you) and Oliver are having their little picnic on the floor, there wasn’t much done in the club but now? Well it’s all done and ready to go! Not only that, but billionaire Oliver Queen was able to snag Steve Aoki for Verdant’s (we see what you did there) opening.
In addition to the awesome party going on, there is a lot happening at this club opening. Tommy is brooding, still butthurt over Oliver not telling him about the whole secret identity thing; Diggle is baffled that Oliver is even entertaining the idea of not ditching Helena like yesterday’s newspaper; McKenna is dancing like it’s her job; and Laurel is pissed that Tommy didn’t ask about her breakfast date.
Let’s discuss this breakfast.
1.) I feel awful for Quentin. There he is trying to apologize for being a complete ass to Laurel and in walks his ex-wife who disaster ditched him after Sarah died. He’s having to deal with Oliver coming back, alive and well, and now this? Dude is going to end up dying of stress. So sad.
2.) Laurel needs to go and watch Parent Trap at least one more time because that was the worst “I’m going to get my parents in the same room tee hee” move ever. Come on.
3.) Dinah Lance – did you give a boatload of money to Miss Cleo and she somehow, psychically and through the phone, led you to this mystery “tourist” who just happened to have a picture of your thought to be dead daughter who really is alive grunging it up on one of the HUNDREDS OF ISLANDS SURROUNDING HER SHIPWRECK?!?! I mean come on! I can suspend belief pretty far but this was ridiculous. The writers couldn’t find a bridge to this storyline that was at least remotely plausible? That being said, I love Alex Kingston and girlfriend is looking pretty damn good with her straight hair.
Credit to: mikaelsondiaries
The best parts of this episode actually involved Helena but only when Diggle or Felicity were part of the picture. Felicity of course has that impeccable timing, walking into the middle of Helena’s “deal” with Oliver. Not only that but of course she has always wanted to hack into the FBI database. Saw that set up a mile away. As great as Helena wondering about the cast of characters in Oliver’s love life was, I think we can all agree that Dig commenting on how much she looked like the T-Mobile girl was the highlight of the entire “party in the Arrow Cave” if not the entire episode. It’s like he read my episode 7 “Muse of Fire” review!
So Malcolm suggests the name Green Arrow and Detective Lance calls Helena “Huntress”. Very nice. I did like how Helena was all shocked that Oliver went all Mighty Mouse and busted her out of the police station. Hello?!?! Did she honestly think he was going to let her sit there and just float his name out in hopes for leniency? I’ve watched enough Law and Order to know that it happens all the time.
Of course while all this is happening with Helena and Oliver, Thea is off trying to get in the pants good graces of Roy. Getting him a job, going and checking on him (in the incredibly bad neighborhood, lest we forget) when he doesn’t show up for said job… Thea, newsflash: these are not attractive qualities in a mate. Yes, he may have saved you from the very scary “Glades” muggers and gotten stabbed in the process but he has no job, apparently no desire to get a job, and is okay to live off money acquired by a life of petty crime. This is not a good thing. As a matter of fact, go ahead and take a moment to listen to the soulful and wise musical stylings of TLC.
But of course she’s probably thinking she’ll “save” him or some crap like that. Step one: solve his fear of needles. Check. Which is, by my count, the second reference to Roy Harper’s drug issue in the comics, the first being his ‘8-ball’ necklace. It’s really only a matter of time before Oliver takes this kid under his wing at Thea’s behest.
It was not at all surprising that Helena ignored Oliver’s offering of a new life in Rome. Nor that she went and
coerced Felicity to go ahead and follow that dream of hacking the FBI’s network. What is surprising is the speed at which Oliver check’s his voicemail! I only check my voicemail to get rid of the notification, I can’t imagine being in the middle of some “personal time”, hearing the voicemail go off and jumping in my car. That’s superhero dedication if I ever saw it. Good on ya Ollie.
Back to my Law and Order education, why would McKenna go ahead and go after Helena without backup? I mean come on, Being a Cop 101 clearly states that you wait for backup. Otherwise you’ll get shot by a woman who has spent time practicing trying to catch an arrow in midair (that was pretty badass, I will admit) and is hellbent on taking out anyone who stands in between her and killing her father!
However, perhaps that was McKenna’s plan all along because now she’s out of commission and can move to Coast City without having to find the words to say “I’m breaking up with you, Oliver, because while in the midst of some torrid love-making, you unceremoniously dumped me to check your voicemail and then run to the aid of your girl Friday“. Can’t say I blame her, “rehab my shattered femur thanks to your shotgun wielding ex-girlfriend” is probably the easier route.
The island flashbacks this week were mainly to show that Oliver is getting better at thinking like a person abandoned on an island with some dude and his army gathering SAM units rather than the silver spoon rich kid. I was sort of surprised that he used his “leverage” to request a way off the island as opposed to telling Fyers to release Yao Fei and Shado but I’m sure they’ll be re-appearing relatively soon, I hope.
Overall, not the best episode. It wasn’t bad but I just don’t like Helena and am glad she’s gone again. I’m interested to see how the whole “Sarah might be alive” thing pans out and of course Roy Harper’s further involvement with the Queen family. Speaking of the Queen family, I’m guessing that since Moira and her plan to kill Malcolm weren’t mentioned at all this week, that they’ll probably return to that storyline in the next episode or two. I can not wait because you know Malcolm is going to be uber-pissed and all about hunting down who put the hit out on him. Woohoo!
Gonna have to give this week a 3.5 out of 5.
Sadly there were no half-naked workouts this episode, but thank you Entertainment Weekly for filling our shirtless Stephen Amell quota this week.
I think Arrow has finally decided to just go ahead and embrace the “so bad it’s good” mentality. This is not a bad thing though. Sometimes “so bad, it’s good” actually ends up being the most enjoyable types of entertainment. However, minus the reveal of the “Well Dressed Man” as Tommy’s father and the return of Walter, last week was a bit lacking. Helena Bertinelli wasn’t all that riveting, Oliver was delusional in his “justice vs. vengeance” non-argument, and there wasn’t nearly enough John Diggle.
Thankfully Diggle returns this week in ‘Vengeance’, because Oliver needed his ass handed to him. What part of “secret lair” is hard to understand? Why not just have an open house at this point? Bake some cookies, put out a cheese ball, and invite the whole neighborhood why don’t you?
Oliver likes Ritz with his cheeseball
Best line of the entire episode though came from that chick that shouldn’t know his secret in the first place. I damn near aspirated my coffee when after Oliver tries to get Helena to learn how to be a proper vigilante from him she says “Thanks for the coffee… and the sex, but I’m not interested.” Someone call Hallmark, I think we’ve got a winner here! Actually this entire episode was one fabulously ridiculous line after another.
“You should be in the Olympics” John Diggle to Oliver who is working out… again
“Street cred” both Helena and Oliver utter this without a trace of irony
“I don’t speak Chinese so I’m going to assume you said goodbye.” Helena before she shoots a member of the Triad
Okay, the last one was fantastic. It was one of those things that you certainly didn’t expect in the middle of a fight scene which made it a thousand times funnier. I am a little peeved that like Boardwalk Empire (how many times this week have you seen a correlation made between Boardwalk Empire and Arrow?) they talk about this huge war and how it’s going to tear the city apart and it’s all over in one nice and neat scene. The Triad (with the kick-ass China White making another appearance) storms Bertinelli’s house and that’s it? That’s a war? Perhaps I’ve been watching too much Gangland but that seemed a little weak.
“You have failed this city”
Speaking of Chinese in the show, there is a tumblr user who watches the show and posts the translations of the Chinese spoken there. You can find her blog here. Shameless plug time: while you are on tumblr anyway, might as well go ahead and follow Grizzly Bomb as well.
Helena became Huntress even though they never called her that, unless I missed it. We got to see her girl out on the color of her outfit (purple of course) but we saw a bad girl quality when it came to the unintentional double date with her and Oliver and Tommy and Laurel. She was the one who suggested they have dinner with them and then she got all pissy when she found out who they were. Come on Helena, don’t be like that, you are giving us girls a bad name. It was fun to see her and Oliver go hunt down Anthony Venza together though.
I’ll admit that I thought Oliver was going to win out over Helena and she was going to see the err of her ways and turn to the Force. I was wrong. So wrong that when we saw Helena standing over father, crossbow aimed at him, I was taken aback. Come on now, taking down his business is one thing but now you want to flat out kill him? I’m with Oliver on this one, put him in jail, no need to go off and revenge kill your dad.
Random, but I really hope I’m not the only person that thought immediately of Bryan Adam’s 1991 power ballad, “I Do It For You” from Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves when Mr. Bertinelli was begging his daughter not to shoot him. I fully expected Kevin Costner to come walking from the woods. Actually now that I think about it, that would have been awesome.
Subplots? No real big surprise, Walter doesn’t trust Moira. Well if he did, the trust was fleeting because Felicity comes and shows him an image that he knows he’s seen before and he ends up finding a book that looks exactly like Oliver’s book of names and it is filled with names as well! Ahhhhh! What does this mean? Will Walter confront Moira? Will she tell him about Merlyn/Well Dressed Man? Will he leave again? Will he and Felicity join up and become super sleuths together? Yes please. Felicity is easily the most entertaining person on this show. She needs more air time and I’m hoping this detective bit with Walter will do just that.
The whole Tommy and Laurel thing is just a means to an end (that end somehow being Tommy an antagonist and Laurel and Oliver together) so I refuse to get emotionally invested in that. That being said, Laurel needs to shut her mouth. It was absolutely none of her business if Tommy went to Oliver for a job or not. Then to bring it up at dinner? That’s dirty and results in one of the most awkward double dates I’ve watched in recent memory. Yikes.
As for Diggle? I think he’s going to end up with his sister-in-law. Not only did he give a telling look her way when he was talking to Oliver about the “right one” but she made a point of saying she was his “ex-sister in-law”. I’m interested in seeing how that plays out. If for no other reason than to hear them talk more about what a bad neighborhood this immaculate and relatively beautiful fast food restaurant is in. I don’t think he’s going to leave Ollie, no matter how much he says he is. At least he better not.
Overall, great episode. Like I said, I think they have decided to just own the cheesy dialogue and ridiculous story lines and I think it makes for a better show in the long run. There’s only one episode left until the hiatus and I’m sure it will be a good one. This week was lacking John Barrowman and Yao Fei, but made up for it with Felicity and Diggle so let’s stick with a four out of five rating.
Last episode I couldn’t stand Laurel and Thea was growing on me. Well that has all changed. Another difference between episode 6 and 7? The amount of John Diggle screen time. There was not near enough of it this week in ‘Muse of Fire’! I felt deprived. If a John Diggle drought wasn’t enough, there was no island which meant no Yao Fei! Oh Arrow what are you trying to do to me?!
This episode, I didn’t really like it and I can’t really put my finger on why. It’s odd because I really like certain individual parts but not the episode as a whole. Sadly, I think a contributing factor might be Geoff Johns’ writing. There is no debate that Johns is a great comic book writer. His Teen Titans is among my favorites of my entire collection. I just don’t know how well that style of writing is translating to television. The episodes of Smallville that he wrote (starting in season 8) were obvious within a couple of minutes. The dialogue just doesn’t flow like two people talking to each other as opposed to a person reading word bubbles. That and the scene cuts in this episode were quite abrupt but that could be due to already feeling off kilter with the dialogue.
The episode started off nicely with the banter between Oliver and Thea and I literally laughed out loud when Oliver told her that he sometimes had trouble remembering who is his mother. I may be the oldest sibling but there is definitely another one of us that is the “mom” so I feel you Ollie. I have to ask though, surely I’m not the only one that thought of the T-Mobile commercials with the motorcycle chick? Because that is all I could see when Helena, oh I’m sorry, the “mystery shooter” showed up.
She even looks like Jessica DeGouw! Sadly, I think the T-Mobile chick might have done a better job as Huntress. Ms. DeGouw just was not all that I had hoped for in that role. For one, I’m wondering if she has ever filmed a fight sequence before. Ever. In her life. This week’s episode was a strong argument against that possibility. I am the last person that should be depended on for an informed opinion when it comes to on-screen fighting, but even my untrained self could tell that it was just bad. That and what was up with her voice? I guess she was trying to get that breathy/husky/Eartha Kitt quality that previous actresses have done, but she did not do it very well. More than anything though, I wish they’d decided to make her initial story arc longer than the two episodes because it felt really rushed. One minute Oliver was running after her motorcycle, the next they were going to dinner, then they were fighting, getting caught, crying and then kissing.
I wish they’d let that one slow burn for a little bit longer, let it develop more organically instead of forcing it. Of course we all know that Huntress/Helena is just a bump in the road that is Oliver and Laurel but still, they could have gotten quite a bit more mileage out of this one. I’m hoping that the second of the Huntress episodes is a bit better. Not to mention, I’m of course glad that they brought Huntress in because she has the potential to be a great character (she obviously needs some work in this incarnation) but perhaps they should have waited until they were further into the season so Oliver could have actually had a leg to stand on when he attempted to make the argument that there is a difference between he and Huntress? His “justice” resume is rather sparse as he’s new to the game. I don’t think he’s really in a position to be lecturing others on the subject just yet. If there had been any John Diggle in this episode (I’m still not over it) he’d surely taken Oliver to task over that one. I see him as a “wtf are you trying to pull?” voice of reason in Oliver’s life.
Speaking of Laurel, I think I just don’t like her when she’s the lawyer sent from the gods. This week? I actually found myself cheering her and Tommy on. They were actually cute and somewhat not annoying. Of course Oliver would tell Tommy he was okay with it. That’s like when I tell my sister “sure you can use my chapstick” when I’m really thinking “bitch if you take that chapstick and put it in your purse, I will cut you“. Even though Ollie was out and about with Helena, he’ll come back to Laurel. Only a matter of time. Which brings me to the best part of the episode! John Barrowman, oh how I adore thee.
His conversation with Moira was quite telling and completely vague all at the same time. Apparently he and Moira and Robert used to be thick as thieves (and possibly quite literally thieves) just like Tommy, Oliver, and Laurel are probably going to be here soon. Arrow seems to be quite fond of the foreshadowing and callback and I think this was a clear case of foreshadowing. I think we can all agree the highlight of this episode was when Tommy went to go complain to his dad about taking his money away.
Now I’m sure there are plenty of people who watch this show who have no idea who John Barrowman is outside of this role, I feel sorry for them, but I’m sure they exist. For the rest of us though, the man has one of the most recognizable voices in the world so that “rip the fencing mask off” reveal wasn’t quite as dramatic as they probably hoped. No, I was in full “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!” mode when I heard him start talking. Seriously though- WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? So perhaps Tommy Merlyn isn’t going to end up being “the” Merlyn? Perhaps Pappa Merlyn/Well Dressed Man is actually Merlyn? It isn’t hard to make the leap that Well Dressed Man is an experienced archer as well as fencer. Maybe he gave his son and his son’s best friend some lessons when they were younger? Oh yea, that could work.
Second best part of the episode? Walter comes back. Not only that but he came back because he missed his wife, not because his wife had a concussion after being shot at. I’m a big ol’ sap and got a little teary on that one. In just a few short episodes I’ve grown quite endeared to Moira and Walter, hope those crazy kids can work things out.
Just imagine that this is Moira and Walter together upon his return because there is no internet proof this happened. I’m apparently the only one who cares.
There was only a few shout outs to the comics universe in this episode. One being the name of Helena’s fiance, Staton. Joe Staton created the Huntress character. That and Helena wears a cross in this episode while the comic book character Huntress has a cross on her outfit. If there were more, I missed them but would love if someone else caught them to let me know!
The episode had some bright spots but as a whole, it was not that great. I’m hoping they are able to tighten up the writing for future episodes because it’s going to be a laborious sixteen remaining episodes if they don’t. I just have to keep reminding myself that this is a new show, it is still trying to stretch its legs and see which way it wants to walk.
We’ll see more of that path next week with “Vengeance”, make sure you tune in and then come back here and we’ll talk it over. Until then Arrow fans!
We’ll go 3.5/5, with extra points from John Barrowman.
There has only been one show (Once Upon a Time) that I’ve really paid uber-close attention to casting announcements. But lately, Arrow is making me want to sit at my computer and hit refresh on a google search all day long. Earlier today, Entertainment Weekly posted the first picture of Jessica De Gouw as The Huntress.
Because my brain likes to hang on to random information, the moment I saw this picture I remembered the cover of Huntress: Year One. It is refreshing to see a comic book character that knows how to properly wear a mask. Oliver I hope you are taking notes. While the outfit is certainly fun to see, it was this quote from executive producer Andrew Kreisburg that caught my attention.
[quote] It’s two episodes for now but we definitely hope we see more of her. We certainly set her up as an interesting foil for Oliver and we’re excited to see where else we can take her.[/quote]
Good news! So she won’t be a one and done which I’ll admit, I was a little afraid of.
Deathstroke isn’t new news but up until now we’ve only seen pictures of him. Thanks to the promo for the upcoming episode, we finally get to see a glimpse of Deathstroke’s premiere. Be warned, if you have not watched Arrow so far, especially this week, this promo contains spoilers.
VIDEO REMOVED BY YOUTUBE
Yay Deathstroke!!!! I’m so excited for this episode I can not even tell you. I’ll ignore the fact that it looks like Oliver is going to go back to the obvious Laurel. Come on Ollie, find a new chick.
Speaking of new chicks, remember a few days ago when I did a little news write-up about the Royal Flush Gang and mentioned that Ashley Scott had read for the role of Kate Spencer? Well look what we have here.
See in-between Sebastian Dunn and Shaker Paleja? That woman named Chelah Horsdal? Playing a woman named Kate Spencer? Excuse me as I run around in circles at the possibility. If she does end up being Manhunter, kudos to the powers that be running the PR office because they have kept that one under wraps for quite some time. We’ve known for months about Deathstroke, and Deadshot and even John Barrowman’s mystery character but to quietly slip in the casting of Manhunter?
Well done folks, well done.
Now there’s even more reason to tune in on Wednesday night (November 7th) at 8/7 central for “Damaged”.
Grizzly Bomb 