Arrow Season 3- The Calm- Hits the Mark

By Nolan P. Smith

(Victor Valley)– With The Flash debuting the night before, it was followed by the kickoff for the third season of CW’s Arrow. Based on the DC Comic’s character, Green Arrow, Arrow has been a smash hit, with last season delighting comic book fans everywhere with characters like Deadshot, the Suicide Squad and, of course, Slade, aka Deathstroke. How can Arrow even think of topping last year? Wait and see. Oh, and spoilers, probably.

Stephen Amell is back as the emerald archer, and it looks like the masked looked is rubbing off on old Roy Harper, who now dons a red version of Arrow’s suit, complete with mask (Red Arrow? Arsenal? Just not Speedy). All I can say is: thank you, the manscara Arrow rocked in the first two seasons was bad… really bad. For the debut of season 3, Arrow and the gang battle…Vertigo? Again?

Yes, I know that sounds, well, kind of boring, but trust me, this episode is worth it. We also see a new person in the world of Starling City: Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), a potential bidder for Queen Consolidated. Palmer is a name familiar to comic fans, and even the plans he outlined had me excited, especially the name change to the city (finally!). We see the gang all back together, as Roy, Diggle, Felicity and even Canary show up in this action packed episode. Even though the villain was lackluster, to see Oliver’s ‘greatest fear’ was pretty cool, and to see the last few minutes of the episode… shocking, but moving in the right direction.

With a ton of Easter eggs present (Wildcat? Komodo?), this is a great way to launch into the third season of DC’s runaway hit. I can’t wait to see what happens this time around, and with the addition of more heroes, I have confidence that the DC superhero world will finally be done justice in prime time television (sorry Smallville). I give Arrow- The Calm an 8 out of 10. No more Vertigo… c’mon, Arrow has tons of cool villains, we don’t need more Vertigo.