@mia26: This show is more satarizing Nolan's staunch seriousness and the "dark and gritty" corprate mantra that permiated superhero cinema post-Dark Knight.

@ips:well considering that every character has been largely retconned in comics and that Arrow is a remediated property there is and never will be a "real" version of a character.

I rather liked The Count, he provieded a nice manical menace and totally fits the gritty camp of this show. For how this show started out as a no powers show, they've done a good job keeping the core concepts of characters alive and well.

@ips: I certainly hope they don't take it in that direction. Sarah has already been established to be Oliver's equal and more. I feel that they have written Laurel into a corner and that there is little else they can do to salvage the character.

@cyborg6971: For me I like both Hartley and Amell, Amell is more of a darker Arrow than what Hartley was, but I think Hartley did a great job also, and since they are different universes I don't see the point of comparing

I just realized that Vertigo is Lincoln Lee from Fringe.

@iron_turtle: Yea I think they've mishandled Laurel since the beginning. When the show started they justified her not being Black Canary by saying she does her fighting in the court room then they proceeded to barely ever show her in court and when she is she's kind of terrible at being a lawyer and only gets by based on the show's terrible understanding of how the law works.

LOL .... No it's not, as far as I've seen they are not "satirizing".They've taken the whole "dark, gritty and brooding hero" thing pretty seriously but it comes off as chessy for various reasons. Green Arrow is snarky, witty, and cleaver he isn't some dark and brooding dude that yells "YOU HAVE FAILED THIS CITY!" in a Batman/Bale growl that is bad compared to Bale's.

@mia26: that's kind the point. It has wrapped itself in the "dark and gritty" visual asethitc only most of the characters look comical, Brother Blood's hood is waaay to big, Canary is busting out of her costume, it's gritty camp. And being "serious" dosen't mean you can't have fun, this show takes it's characters even the more unlikeable ones like Thea earnestly, which I welcolme.

Also Green Arrow hasn't always been a snarky playboy I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find some run where he was all Batman ass Batman. Ollie in the show is more black humored than just meaningless snark.

Great build up, but seriously, they have to do something about Laurel, now that the count is gone and Thea is getting some development, she's the only character that doesn't add to the show, i mean, watch those scenes with her, then watch the Thea/Roy scene, then the flashbacks, then Oliver/Felicity, then the scenes with oliver after he killed again those are pretty solid scenes, while any scene with Laurel makes me cringe and roll my eyes.

Malcolm Merlyn is not only the worst enemy of Oliver but he also is the worst enemy of the people who watch the show, He bring two of the most annoying characters of the series.

The count was so lame and I'm not feeling the Felicity/olie stuff but the episode was ok

I can't wait for another team-up with Black-Canary! Oliver being long distance and and Sara being close-range is the perfect combination! Also extremely excited for Barry Allen/Roy Harper hero reveals.

@mia26: For real? Smallville sucked hardcore man, Arrow is way better than Smallville ever thought about being. Smallville had wayyy more CW crap than Arrow as well.