Arrow: Honor Thy Father Review

So, this is Arrow's second week out, and ep. 2 is usually a weak one. How did it fair?

Spoilers for the episode.

Suspicions confirmed, the list is going to be one of the show's driving forces. Liken it to the Machine over on POI if you want. Green Arrow is going after a bad chap named Somers, who Laurel is rather conveniently prosecuting. As Somers gets scared, assassin China White is called in.

The best part of the episode was Stephen Amell. He's really nailing his role, selling the quite brooding bit perfectly. And he's a total badass, and let's face it, you know you wanted him to put an arrow through Somers' chest. The part of his role Amell's having trouble with is the irresponsible playboy stick, which he just doesn't have the swag to pull. It's really not even necessary when you think about, so I'm sitting here wondering why the writers keep shoehorning it in.

Runner up performance goes to John Diggle. He's good, he's cool, and he seems to be onto Oliver. No confirmation as to whether he not he KNOWS knows Ollie's secret, but it'll almost definetly get there eventually. It appears Arrow's getting his own Kato. Most of the rest of the performances were fine, though Katie Cassidy, while good (surprisingly, I might add), could stand to tone it down a bit. I can't say I'm terribly fond of Ollie's sister Thea, who's overacting most of her lines and keeps leading into some really cheesy character interactions. Moira is pretty meh so far too; it was interesting to learn that she sank the boat, thought it feels a tad forced.

Overall, The episode was good, but with a few things holding it back, not unlike last week. A few things I was hoping they'd cut after the pilot but didn't: Ollie's grating, cliched, and just irritating narration, wooden acting, and cheesy/campy/cliched scenarios/dialogue that feel out of place and contradict the dark nature of the show. Onto this week:  the opening action scene was a bit poorly done, and China White and her almost disturbingly platinum wig felt thoroughly underused.

Positives, on the other hand, were there: the later action scenes were nothing short of spectacular, the character interactions took the front seat, always a good thing, and the island flashbacks were particularly strong, albeit short, and lead to the big reveal: Ollie was not alone the island.

Bottom line: good but not great.

Final Rating: 80%