Despite the odd apparent hiccup of characterization, the CW's Arrow is impressive in its gorgeous and well-chorographed action sequences, overall great cast, and intriguing Shakespearean flourishes. Perhaps its foremost quality is its unabashed comic book feel, with gloriously cheesy voiceovers from Our Hero and stunningly larger-than-life disaster and fight scenes. It once took bravery to embrace this genre so unblinkingly, but in the age of the Dark Knight and the Avengers, it's finally cool to be goofily heroic again.
This enthusiasm for classically comic book touches is a bit at odds with the gritty, more-serious-than-thou feel Arrow sometimes sinks into. It works well when we get flashbacks to Oliver's shipwreck, and less effectively when he's mimicking Batman in a way that the Green Arrow, well, just wouldn't. Arrow soars when it is a show about Oliver Queen, and falters when it tries to make Ollie into Bruce Wayne.
Yet even at his lowest ebb, Batman probably wouldn't viciously kill baddies without so much as a flinch, as Ollie does in episode one. With an intensely murmured "no one can know my secret," the Arrow offs one hapless sub-villain, causing the viewer to ponder what this "secret" may be. Is it that supposedly superficial rich boy Oliver Queen is, like, really good in a fight? That secret, while perhaps surprising and not something he wants his foes to be aware of, hardly seems worth killing over. So is it another secret yet to be revealed? Arrow doesn't even seem committed to Oliver's initially-Dexter-ish M.O., since in episode 2 he's down to shooting arrows around villains' heads in a more cultured interrogation technique. Still, it's early days indeed.
These aspects may be a bit confusing, and Stephen Amell may occasionally be a bit stiff (though let's face it, Justin Hartley is a hard act to follow, and Oliver should be extremely uncomfortable at this point in his life, which may be what Amell is trying to show), but the supporting cast is fabulous.
The always-excellent Katie Cassidy predictably excels as the sassy, spurned Dinah (oh, wait, "Laurel," sigh) Lance, who will one day become Black Canary. Ollie's snarky friend Tommy (Colin Donnell) is pretty hot, making me suspect/hope he will one day turn evil, and hence even hotter. Moira Queen and Walter Steele (Susannah Thompson and Colin Salmon) seem content to act the roles of Gertrude and Claudius to Ollie's Hamlet, one of the smoother and more confidently accomplished nuances of the show.
David Ramsey's John Diggle, the no-nonsense security detail, has a certain charming air of seeing right through Ollie, while Ollie's little sister Thea (Caitlin Cooper Willa Holland) feels like a bit of a retread of Charlotte on Revenge or Juliet on last season's underrated (in all respects) Ringer.
If Arrow can get over its attempts to cash in on Dark Knight imagery and themes, while enriching those aspects which are already working so well, it will surely improve exponentially over the weeks to come.
And John Barrowman's going to be joining the show shortly, which can only be amazing.
Any comparisons to the 1980's show from which the CW's Beauty and the Beast takes its title and main characters' names would be insulting to the proud legacy of Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. I mean, despite the terrible way that classic program handled Hamilton's exit, it was - for two seasons - astoundingly beautiful television. It just wasn't like any other show, ever.
However, Kristen Kreuk's new show is not without its charms, soapy and silly as they may be, making me wish the network and writers had simply been content to call it something else, such as 90210 as a Cop Show.
I mean, how could it not be fun to watch Kristen's Cat Chandler walking around "New York City" with deer-in-the-headlight eyes and skintight duds while solving enjoyably derivative murder mysteries with her wise-cracking, tough-girl partner Tess (Nina Lisandrello) and flirting with the hawt British medical examiner (Max Brown)?
There's kind of not much room to shoehorn in the actual premise of the show, with Jay Ryan disappointingly bland so far as "the Beast," Vincent. Since "the Beast" is barely beast-like at all, and spends most of his time looking just vaguely scarred, it's enough to make Alex Pettyfer's incarnation seem terrifying. The entire premise of Vincent's mutations having arisen from military experiments is just so sadly pedestrian. It sucks all the fantastical, mystical energy of the original show (and all other versions of the tale) away and leaves behind a hollow shell of an idea that adds little to the show, even though it's supposed to be its center.
Take poor J.T. (Austin Basis), whose entire life seems to revolve around hanging out with Vincent and hiding his secret. Since so little of their bromance has been revealed to the viewer thus far, I'm hoping some kind of believable explanation will be offered as to why they're so tight. Of course, beefing up the supposed main plot to the extent that it seems like more than a thinly executed distraction would help, too.
However, with its hilariously adorable "police procedural" side, Beauty and the Beasthas me hooked for the time being. And I can't say no to a CW scripted drama - them's my crack.
I hope that B&B will be able to infuse its currently flimsy love story with some excitement - maybe the writers should watch a few more episodes of the original show for inspiration.
