Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Okay. Now I'M starting to worry about 'Arrow' Again...





SOURCE: "Arrow" Cast & Crew Aim for Ambitious Target

Okay. We knew, from what came out of SDCC, that Ollie would be willing to use lethal force to protect himself and others. As a fan of the Mike Grell take on the character, that doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that based on some statements in this recent press release, Ollie is starting to sound more and more like Punisher with a bow. More, there won't be many trick arrows. At the very least, not non-lethal ones.

"There is a slight trick to one of the arrows you see in the pilot, but we're trying to keep the show as realistic and as grounded as possible," said Kreisberg. "You won't be seeing any boxing glove arrow anytime soon. Since we're seeing Oliver at the beginning of his career, a lot of that stuff will happen along the way. He'll be devising arrows for specific things he needs. If he can reach into his quiver and pull out the exploding net arrow, it takes away some of that realism and we're really coming at this from a grounded, realistic place. What's funny about a lot of the trick arrows is that in the comics, they're designed to be non-lethal and our character is lethal. He will take life if need be. His code of justice does not involve not taking a life -- it's making sure that justice is served. If that means killing, he's willing and able to do that. Having arrows that emit stun gas doesn't fit in with that darker version of Oliver Queen that we're presenting."

A fair point. But a lot of the trick arrows are there because there are times when it's easier to control a gang of criminals with a tear gas arrow than just shooting them. Certainly it's quieter and stealthier. But this take on Ollie seems to be more of an avenger than a hero. But that may change in time...

"Oliver will sometimes question whether he's doing the right thing. He spent five years on that island plotting his master plan to come back and rid Starling City of its criminal element, I think there's a lot of things he wasn't counting on -- the emotional toll it was going to take on him, seeing his friends and family again; and actually going through with it," said Kreisberg. "It's very easy to be angry and cold and dark when you're sitting in a cave or cell on an island in the South China Seas, but once you're home again and you're actually experiencing it, it takes on a very different bent. That's part of the series, about Oliver feeling his way through what he's doing, and everybody on the show -- whether it's Laurel, whether it's Detective Lance, Oliver's mother with her dark secrets -- questioning whatever it is that they're doing, if it's right, if it's just."

Of larger concern is Katie Cassidy's comments on her character, Dinah Lance, and how the character has been changed for this new universe.

"I think Laurel has had to deal with a lot in her life and dealing with Oliver disappearing, somebody else close to her disappearing, she's sort of had to focus mainly on her work and her being a pro-bono lawyer, she obviously wants to help the underprivileged," Cassidy said. "I almost feel like her relationship with her father, she has had to be there for him a lot growing up. I assume her mother was gone at an early age, so Laurel had to take on the role of her mother as a wife to her father. She's had a lot to carry on her shoulders growing up and she's still doing it. She wants to help everyone in any way that she can."

Granting that, at the time of this interview, they had only filmed the pilot, it is somewhat worrying that nothing was said of Dinah Lance's mom given the relationship between the two in the original comics. And with Kreisgberg's comments about superpowers not being a part of this universe... well, it makes any hopes of Mama Bird having a secret past her daughter never new about unlikely. Of course given how Kreisberg wrote the original Black Canary, that's probably for the best...

What's also worrying is that, thus far, Dinah seems to be entirely defined by her relationships to male characters - her father and Ollie.

"When he left, he was a bad boy, but I think she sees the potential in him and she loves him, she can't help herself," she said. "Although he's continuously disappointed her and hurts her, she just keeps going back for more. It's almost like a drug or something. You keep going back even though you're going to get your heart broken.

Hold on a moment. I think I heard ten thousand fangirls gritting their teeth...

"I think as the story goes on and as the show progresses, you'll get a better sense and idea that there's a lot of history between the two of them. Stephen and I sat down together when we first met and we developed a backstory for the two of them. You have to feel that and you have to feel a connection between these two... I think as long as we did the work that we've done, you really see that these two people really love each other. Oliver actually is a good person and a good guy. He's protecting himself right now, coming back from the island and keeping people at arm's length. I do think that through the relationship and through the show, you'll get more information and see just how much of a history these two have."

The relationship Cassidy came up with along with Oliver Queen actor Stephen Arnell?

"It was always our thought that we had known each other for a really long time and before I go to the island, I'm a jerk. I'm immature, I'm selfish, I'm petulant -- I'm a jerk. We discovered that she was probably always the person who called me on my you-know-what and said, 'Hey, knock it off' or 'Really, Oliver? You should do this?' She was always the person that grounded me. Again, I come back and I'm now the person theoretically that she always wanted me to be, but I can't show her that yet."

A woman thinking she can change an emotionally abusive jackass for the better. Yeah. I'm just going to let that thought lie there.

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