If you're like me, you may have
come to the Arrow television series without having read the comic. So far, I
don't find that's a stumbling block to really enjoying the show, but I do
wonder from time to time if I'm missing something. I was happy to find a post on
the Arrow website that delves into those connections for this week's episode,
"Lone Gunman." There’s more to Deadshot, for instance, in the comics
universe that may impact the series going forward.
“Deadshot -
Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, is an iconic villain in the DCU, and is the main
antagonist this episode. Deadshot got his start as a Batman villain before
getting imprisoned and being conscripted into the US government’s Suicide
Squad. Deadshot, as shown in this episode, is an expert marksman and typically
uses two wrist-mounted guns as his weapons....”
To read the full article click
here.
Thanks for posting Lisa.
ReplyDeleteI hope they don't connect too much. The Green Arrow and Black Canary relationship was handled so BADLY in the comics. Not even the absolutely terrible relationship between Clark and Lana was handled as poorly a Oliver and Laurel.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see how bad it was, check out the DC wiki and search for them.
Unrelated to easter eggs. Is anyone else a little disappointed with the show? I think the writing has been a little weak and the stories don't seem really thought out... The visual look of the series and the performances are great, but the stories are not fleshed out and all the villain of the week (the names on the list) characters are all the same...
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I am a huge fan of this show.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the visuals and performances are great. I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of the cinematography and most of the related production issues. I think it is a stunningly good show in terms of its visual presentation.
But I do agree that it is still finding its legs in terms of how to deal with the procedural style format. It's **almost** boring at present and they can't rely on the novelty of the comic easter eggs / connections / appearances forever.
I think its main weaknesses are in dialogue (they haven't hit their stride yet and some of it feels shoe horned) and, as you say, the weekly stories have already fallen into a little pattern. I have assumed this is the case because they are dealing with such exposition heavy material in the first 8-10 episodes.
The exposition/backstory is really excellent and I think they counted on it carrying them forward while they set the board pieces and I think that was a wise bet because while it does feel a little awkward at present, the exposition of backstory is really awesome :)
They have such pressure, like Smallville did, because so many people *know* the original saga of these characters and s many of us, instead of waiting to see what unfolds with our favourite characters, are *anticipating* a particular trajectory.
YMMV..
Great article. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI agree, they are still haven't hit their stride with the dialog and that is perhaps exposing some of the weaker (sort of amateurish) storytelling that most shows have in different proportions. The bad guy in all three episodes has been a rich plutocrat preying on the poor, dodging the law through corruption and manipulation. Even with such a narrow template, you can introduce a lot of variety and I don't see that even being attempted.
ReplyDeleteThey are going forward with a lot of comic book stories much quicker than anyone anticipated (at least that's what I am told as I have not read the comics as well) and that can be seen as a good thing, but in this case I think they are not giving the stories enough thought before moving further. For instance, Deadshot is described as this awesome elusive sniper assassin who never misses... That's the logline, but in case I missed something, he misses his very second bullet of the show. They could have spend more quality time with Deadshot and established the character through his actions rather than exposition.
I am liking the backstory aspects a lot too and I like the visual style of the flashbacks too. They obviously have one of the best production crews out there.... But I am not sure if it's a good idea to take the backstory in chronological order. The backstory aspect is usually used in a show as a supplement to the main story and I don't see how what happened to him on the island can thematically resonate with the main story in chronological order. I think it would be a good idea to come with a general idea of what happened to him on the island from beginning to end and show us that story out of sequence as and when something related to that comes up in the main story. If they do it well, it won't be as confusing as it sounds and in turn give them a lot of flexibility with what stories to tell. I don't think I did the best job articulating my idea, but you get the point.
About the "victim of the week" - yep. Mind you, they're working from his father's list and that was the type on the list. One hopes more bad guys of other flavours will appear. And, as you say, they could inject variables into the stories even with that basic template. So, yes, we can agree that a weak spot at the present is the cardboard cutout nature of the people Arrow targets for "rehabilitation or requiem" :)
ReplyDeleteTOTALLY agree with you on Deadshot. If he is actually dead, I will be VERY disappointed in Arrow and little cranky at their hubris. There are some core, elemental aspects of established characters that cannot be changed lest they cease to *be* that character. Deviations and fresh takes I don't mind - but in the same way making Lex Luthor a good guy would have been wrong, making Deadshot a scattershot was wrong. I hold onto the hope that he will be back with a robotic eye :)
I also agree about the backstory. I also would like to see the "summary" version to give me a basis on which to evaluate the Oliver that evolves from week to week and then see the more detailed aspects of it as situations demand. This week was good with the poisons - but it would have been better, I agree, if we had already known the basic story and got the detailed version of the related experience. But that's a storytelling decision and I will trust, at the moment, that they have a storyboard somewhere, that brings all these bits to a whole picture at some reasonable point. (Mind you, I did that with LOST and ended up nearly pulling an Elvis on my television during the final season).
Good thought. Thanks for the dialogue :)
Yeah :) Talk about soap operatic trajectories :) Oliver and Laurel were possibly the most upsy downsy couple in all of comic-dom. Oliver was a bit of an asshat - fooled around and did weird stuff and became very socialistic. Laurel was always better at being a superhero than he was, actually - and ... well ... yeah ... it was one of my most enduring headshakers when I was a young person and into the comics.
ReplyDeleteThe ratings are great, I think they are a lock for renewal. They have already gotten the back nine. I am absolutely sure that it will improve. I think you will see the improvements as early as the second half of the season. There is a lot of source material to fall back on and a lot of stories to go. It can only get better in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I have nothing but optimism for this show. The awkward stuff just feels like the normal awkward shows have when they are striving to break into the market (working more inside the box) and get enough network support to get out of the box :)
ReplyDeleteI typically don't get all comic book geek by calling out inconsistencies between shows and comics but I gotta say I was surprised at how often Deadshot missed his target in the episode. Deadshot doesn't miss. Oh and great article. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure!
ReplyDeleteI agree that a lot of the awkward parts - the voiceover comes to mind - are growing pains and the need to fill in a LOT of backstory. Personally, I don't think Deadshot is dead. I was a bit disappointed last week when we saw so little of China White who has the potential to be a pretty interesting character too, but I think we are going to see these characters re-visited down the road when less of Oliver and company's backstory needs to be covered so that the story can focus more on the super-villains. Given the nature of the list Oliver is working with, it's kind of a given that all the villains on it are rich plutocratic types. Spoilers indicate that Oliver is going to go off book soon though... One other thing to remember is that we have only seen stories from the creators at this point - nothing from the writer's room at large, so I'm interested to see what kind of stories that may bring too...
ReplyDeleteYep, as you say.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very good point about the writer's room ... yes, indeedy, that will change the flavor of it a bit.
Frankly, I am all for the awkward start, such as it is, it means they are planning a long haul and the richer they make the backstory, the richer the ongoing story is for it.
I wrote a completely over the top, way too long, obsessive, sketchily edited recap/review of the pilot in which I pretty much say the same.
Oliver already is "off book" :) - but that's good. This is Arrow, based on Green Arrow ... I am anxious, actually, to see what cool things they add to the already dense mythology - to me it's one of the best things about these sorts of adaptations.