Thoughts on the Arrow Season 6 Premiere

I’ve sworn off most CW Comic book Shows because they suck donkey balls. However, after that KICKASS Season finale of Arrow last year, I said I’d check out the season premiere when it came on in the fall. And it does not disappoint. With the way things are going I have to wonder if Arrow is finally starting to hit its stride.

The premiere opens strong with The Outsiders- I mean Team Arrow taking down a group of mercenaries who have aimed a missile at Star City. The team makes light work of the mercs But Ollie gets hemmed up before the boss launches the missile. However, Mr. Terrific takes out the guidance system with a T-Sphere. To my surprise Mr. Terrific actually presented as competent for once instead of a being a bumbling stumbling idiot. I guess Greg Berlanti finally started listening to fans, or he started reading some of the blogs I wrote roasting the misinterpretation of this great character.

Also I’m not a fan of Wild Dog’s new outfit. Yeah, it’s all tactical and shit, but it’s not what Max Alan Collins and Terry Beatty envisioned him as. Wild Dog’s costume didn’t need no fixing!

There’s a brief flashback sequence where we find out what happened on the island in the aftermath of the big explosion. With the story detailing Ollie’s past over it looks like the flashback sequences are gonna be the aftermath of Chase blowing up the island. Great, because there’s a wealth of story material there and I’m eager to see how it relates to what goes on this season.

After the takedown of the bad guys, the action shifts to the Star City P.D. where Dinah is interrogating one of the masterminds of the missile plot. She asks where Larry is. After she goes to get a soda for the criminal he’s left with an Asian cop because...Diversity. The Asian cop sits there as the guy takes out one of his teeth, puts it in the soda and it blows up the interrogation room. Mercs come in, kill cops and blow up the stationhouse and we find out the mastermind really is….Black Siren. Interesting choice for this year’s villain.

And while all this is happening Larry Lance is at a bar pondering whether or not he should have a drink or three. Because in a flashback sequence he shot at Laurel from Earth 2 and that made him think of killing his own daughter. After Dinah and Larry talk, it’s speculated that Larry is Black Siren’s target because he tried to kill her. 

The Outsiders- I mean Team Arrow go to take her down on a stretch of highway. In the second bout with The Outsiders- I mean Team Arrow and the mercs and Black Siren, we learn John Diggle is having some problem with shooting people. I find it interesting how Berlanti expresses his racism in passive aggressive ways this year instead of overtly. First the Asian cop gets blown up, then Wild Dog gets injured due to Diggle hesitating in a combat situation due to what seems to be PTSD. So in order to give us a competent Mr. Terrific we have to have Wild Dog injured and Spartan presented as a Scared Brotha.

 Damn. Just Damn.

But I guess you can’t have two competent Black guys in one TV show, because that’d make some of the racist White male fanboys feel inadequate about seeing two strong, intelligent masculine Black men onscreen in their superhero show.

As the episode goes on, we get some more subplots setup. Slade going on the quest to find his son. What happened to Thea (She in a Coma) and Ollie’s baby mama (She Dead). And the strained relationship between Oliver and his son. While Oliver goes to make a speech at the graduation of a Police academy class, Diggle is at the Arrowcave and The Outsiders-I mean Team Arrow are with him looking to protect Larry Lance who they believe is the target of Black Siren. However in a plot twist, they attack the Arrowcave. Scared Brotha Diggle tries to hold his own but his issues with whatever trauma he experienced on the island keep him from shooting anyone.

That’s the only thing about this premiere that makes no sense to me. After spending years fighting in military combat and at Ollie’s side all of a sudden Diggle is now terrified to use his gun. I’m sure they’ll explain it later in the season, but it just looks like Berlanti is just finding a way to passive aggressively emasculate Diggle and present him as a scared brotha because he can’t give us a bumbling stumbling Mr. Terrific. Seriously, I wish dude would get over whatever issues he has with Black men. Because it’s sucking the life out of all his shows.

With Diggle jammed up, Green Arrow comes in and saves the day. After setting off some charges, Black Siren and her mercs clear out of the cave. At the end of the episode we find out the only thing taken was an unprogrammed T-Sphere and it’s revealed on the news that Oliver Queen is The Green Arrow on Channel 52 news.

BOMBSHELL. Guess I gotta tune in for next week’s episode. 

Overall it was a very rock solid season premiere for Arrow season 6. The writing was TIGHT in this one, and it setup several very interesting storylines for the year. This Season Premiere felt more like a comic book come to life than any season of Arrow ever produced.

While I’m done with CW’s Supergirl, The Flash Legends of Tomorrow and Riverdale, I’ll stick around for a few more episodes of Arrow. Season 6 is starting strong and it looks like the writers have finally figured out how to make a DC Comic come to life onscreen. If they can payoff all the storylines they set up in the season premiere we may be in for the best season of Arrow EVER.