As far as the DC tv-verse goes this is the one that launched them all. Unlike the MCU (in which all the shows and movies are connected) DC chose to establish separate cannons for their movie, t.v. shows, and comics. Arrow sparked off DC’s t.v. domination and in the first season it’s hard not to see why.
When multi millionaire Oliver Queen reappears after 5 years lost on a secluded island, he comes back with an agenda, one that is going to rock the lives of everyone in Starling City. In an echo of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, Oliver has discovered, literally the sins of his father, in the form of a covert comic book villain plot headed by some of the richest people in the city to destroy part of the city to reform it into something better. Except, of course, the elite megalomaniacs are planning to destroy the poor section of the city, buy it up and rebuild it. What starts out as a revenge against the 1% becomes far more.
Oliver’s new nocturnal activities also rock his personal life, spinning friends and associates who are working through their own pasts and drawing lines between good and bad. And then jumping rope with it. Flashbacks show what Ollie did in his five years on the island, answering some questions, but raising much more, and presenting a long and complicated character arch wherein Ollie battles to do right and help others while also trying not to increasingly isolate himself.
It turns out “doing what is right” can just as isolating and skew a person’s perceptions as much as being a billionaire can.
This is another series where the characters make the story, not just who they are, but watching them face external and internal battles and grow from them. While it can be soap opera-y in moments, it’s hard not to love Felicity, Ollie, Diggle, and Laurel. It’s hard not to feel for them and want to cheer them on. And that, more than anything, is what good stories are made of.