Arrow Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot

So where do we start on the first episode of what will quickly become one of the most widespread live action universes out there. It's the TV version of the Marvel Cinematic universe. Not an easy thing to do. Even less so when you start the universe off with a B character like Green Arrow. To be fair Marvel used a B/C character in Iron Man to start theirs so I guess it makes sense but the big difference is that there wasn't another Green Arrow a few months prior.

Smallville had just ended when this show came out and they had a much beloved Green Arrow on there. Asking fans to like a new take on the character so soon was a lot to ask. I know that when it first came out I wasn't ready for a new take on the character. When I finally did give it a chance I was quickly turned off by how dark he was. So broody, which makes sense since he was trapped on an island for 5 years.

This episode starts off with him leaving the island and reconnecting with everyone. His mom married his dad's business partner. Right off the bat the show is filled with family drama. We learn that Oliver has been cheating on his girlfriend with her sister, who died on the boat. Oliver got Laurel's sister killed, while his own sister started doing drugs.

Oliver tries to make things right with Laurel, which doesn't really work when you are responsible for getting her sister Sarah killed. For such a short episode so much is thrown at us. We also learn that Oliver's dad wasn't an honest man back home. We see that his dad killed himself to save Oliver. It is a lot to process all at once but it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole episode. Not a lot of shows can do that right out of the gate but this is one of them.

From fighting to speaking Russian, the man has learned a lot on an island where he was supposed to be alone. He can even out run bullets. Got to love the comic book of it all. Although he is more Punisher than batman. After all he kills every chance he gets.

After killing the people who kidnapped him he calls the cops and creates a story about a man in a green hood. Thus creating his own mythos. Quentin Lance is the cop who investigates the kidnapping. How awkward must that have been for Oliver? The father of the girl he cheated on and the girl he got killed. I would not want to be in the room with that man while he has a gun.

His mom hires John Diggle to protect him. The best thing she ever did. The friendship that will come forth from that choice will change Oliver's life, but that is for another day. On this day he is nothing more than an obstacle. Once free of Dggle he goes to a closed warehouse and sets up base to give birth to the Arrow, because he can't go by Green Arrow yet. Not till season 4.

The mission statement for the first couple of seasons is set up around this point. Oliver is hunting down the people in his father's book. The people who sold out the city for their own selfish ends. People who have failed the city.

Diggle gets smarter and starts keeping a bigger eye on Oliver. Laurel apologizes to Oliver for what she said earlier. She really doesn't need to, he is in the wrong and he even treats her like shit when she was trying to make amends with him. 

I don't really get how a green hood and green eye liner keeps people from recognizing a guy whose face has been all over the TV the last few days. That part really makes no sense what so ever. Oliver goes after the big bad of the episode as Detective Lance and the rest of the police run ever closer to him. Like I said, this episode has you on the edge of your seat the whole time. He only escapes by jumping out of a building. What a G!

Arrow saves the day and we learn that Laurel is dating Tommy, Oliver's best friend. Not to mention that Oliver's mom is the one who hired the people to kidnap him. She wants to know what his father told him. This show is drama!

The episode was written by Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg with Greg Berlanti helping out with the story.