Last night was the premiere of my celebcrush Stephen Amell (sorry Matt Damon) and it didn't disappoint!
I follow Stephen on both Twitter & his Facebook page, but I have been a fan of his since last year. He was in the 2009-2010 season of "The Vampire Diaries" as werewolf Brady whom I have nicknamed "Bad Boy Brady" because he was pure evil. No redeeming quality just evil. And I was sooooooo drawn to his performance. Was SO HAPPY when he was on "Hung" as hooker Jason. Then I decided to dig a little deeper and watched his performance as Jordan Van Soot in the Natalee Holloway movie. I became hooked. I didn't see him on "New Girl" or "Grey's Anatomy" though (someplaces you just don't follow your crush too; like to the bathroom). I did however catch up on "90210" and he was there for two episodes. I found out he won the Canadian equivalent to the Primetime Emmy while starting his acting career in Canada which gave me more respect for him.
Now back to "Arrow." I was first shocked that his voice was different. Of course he was ripped and looked amazing, but I thought "How amazing that he feels this is such a different character that he changed his damn voice." The storyline and acting was pretty awesome for a CW show. It is basically a TV version of Christopher Nolan's Batman series as far as tone. Dark stuff happening which is HIGHLY different from say "Smallville" and the "Lois & Clark." I think TV audiences have been waiting for a show like this.
It's hilarious because I read the reviews and the critics said the acting and dialogue were bad. DID WE WATCH THE SAME SHOW? I've watched soaps for 20 years. I can spot bad acting from a mile away. This show was awesome and the acting was great. I can definitely see Golden Globe awards in Stephen's future. I do wish they went a little further.
So the pilot you find out Oliver Queen was the typical playboy billionaire. He had a girlfriend Dinah Laurel Lance aka Laurel that he liked but cheated on WITH HER SISTER. While boating with his dad, the crew, and her sister the boat ran into a storm, capsized and the sister died at sea. His dad and a few crew survived but then the dad pulled out a gun and killed the remaining crew member THEN himself telling Oliver "it's up to you now." Five years later he's rescued by a fishing boat off the coast of the North China Sea. He has changed DRASTICALLY as he knows martial arts, how to use a bow & arrow, as well as the type of person he is.
The reason I explain all this is my ONLY complaint with this episode is he sees Laurel whom swallows her pride and goes to him. She hates him for cheating AND being indirectly responsible for her sister's death but still reaches out. He says HORRIBLE things to her (to protect her as he has grown to understand his father's words and is on a mission to avenge his death by taking down his father's enemies) and she says some semi-mean things and leaves. This is a DARK drama. She shoulda slapped the sh*t outta him. I feel like the show goes to the edge but doesn't jump dramatically and I want it to! I want it to be a GREAT superhero TV show unlike anything else. The stunts are jaw dropping! At one point I yelled at my screen "STEPHEN YOU ARE A FRIGGIN MONKEY!"
All in all I think this is right up CW's alley. It will draw the guys to action and the girls to Stephen LOL I love love love this show. Favorite new show of the season.