Gotham Season One: Red Hood

"Bang!"

When several banks are robbed by the Red Hood Gang Gordon and Bullock investigate meanwhile Fish does something drastic and Alfred reunites with an old friend.

Finally get two origins I have been wanting to see for ages; Alfred and the Red Hood Gang and I didn't expect the latter until season two, I'll start with them first and I got to say that the Red Hood Gang is one of my favourite origins so far. I always enjoyed seeing them in the comic and that they are connected to the Joker however I liked that in this the red hood itself became sort of a symbol of power. It was interesting that the gang members fought and killed over it and the way it saved one of their lives, made them famous and gave other confidence made me sort of believe that it could be a kind of cursed object. I do hope the red hood surfaces again and maybe the Joker could be part of the gang in the future; I still believe he was in the last episode and not the kid at the end. As for the gang themselves I did really like them, their different personalities and goals, the cool shootout with the GCPD and that the citizens started to cheer them on as vigilantes; all in all the Red Hood Gang was pretty damn great in this episode. As for Alfred it was of course obvious for a while he had some dark military past but it was great that we got some light she'd on it. He had some great scenes with Reginald like how good friends he is with him but didn't approve of his less honourable method of fight Reginald was teaching Bruce. I think for the next few episodes it might focus on Bruce tracking down Reginald but the reveal of the Wayne board behind Alfred's stabbing was a pleasant surprise and I just wonder how Bruce will deal with them.

Avenge him Bruce!!

As for the rest of the episode Fish's eye stabbing was gruesome and cool and it is great we may see the Dollmaker soon but it felt over the top. I mean is being leader of a group of nobodies in a basement important enough to mess with the Dollmaker or stab her own eye out? However I was more interested in her former comrade Butch whose brainwashing is not what I thought it would be like. He still seems to act like himself but the scars and shaky hands is a reminder that he is different now and very helpful to Penguin by securing some booze for him. I had read some criticism that Penguin doesn't seem to know anything at all but they need to remember that he is young and new at this and I like that the brainwashed Butch is teaching him a few things. Finally the Barbara moment with Ivy and Selina would have been nice if she still wasn't drinking heavily; why do writers (Gotham and Arrow) feel the need to put their female characters through substance abuse? It gets no sympathy from me, especially with Barbara when it is ALL HER FAULT things ended with Gordon, and I just think these characters can go through different crucibles to change. Also props to Selina for wounding Barbara like that; honestly what the hell was Barbara going on about with that whole beauty weapon stuff?

Got to admit that, that is really cool

Overall despite just two minor flaws this was a really solid episode with a great origin story to the Red Hood Gang.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Origins on Alfred and the Red Hood Gang
                   Penguin and Butch team up
                   Fish stabbing her eye out but........

Let - Downs: ...........Might have been too much just to be leader of a basement?
                      Barbara as always

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;





http://screencapped.net/

Arrow Season Two: The Man Under the Hood

Two members of Team Deathstroke (Brother Blood is the other)

The episode begins with Team Arrow blowing up Applied Sciences division of Queen Consolidated so Slade can't mass produce Mirakuru meanwhile Laurel visits Quentin in jail (after doing more investigating on Oliver) and finds out how much he supports Arrow. Oliver later finds out Isabel was his father's lover and that he and Moira need to get Thea to sign a document so she can't steal the rest of their wealth, in a Flashback the group considers killing Ivo. Deathstroke later infiltrates the Arrowcave and defeats everyone there, Laurel then visits Sara in the hospital and works out she is Black Canary and after Thea refuses to help Oliver discovers Deathstroke stole the skeleton key they retrieved from Clock King. Deathstroke then breaks into S.T.A.R labs to steal a bio - transfuser, Cisco and Caitlin are there but manage to get away and Arrow and Black Canary arrive too late. Oliver then later finds out from Isabel that Robert knew all along Thea wasn't his daughter but loved her anyway and chose Thea over her, Quentin is then later beaten up in his cell.

"Surprise motherf***ers!"

Laurel visits Quentin in the hospital where he again says how much Arrow is needed and he doesn't even care who he is anymore, Laurel then blackmails her boss to release Quentin and give him his job back. Arrow then locations the bio - transfuser and finds Roy hooked up to it where it is draining his blood and Slade and Isabel arrive. Arrow takes them both on and Diggle arrives soon after who shoots Isabel several time, Arrow then rescues Roy and escape along with a Mirakuru sample. At the Arrowcave Oliver says they will make a cure for Mirakuru and in a Flashback Oliver mercy kills Ivo after he tells them he made a cure for Mirakuru on his boat. Oliver then tells Thea about Robert still loving her but she doesn't care and leaves the manor, Laurel then comforts him at The Verdant while saying she knows he is Arrow. The episode ends with Slade's army gathering and him reviving Isabel with the Mirakuru in his own blood.

Everyone gets body parts chopped off in The Walking Dead and there are all fine

This Arrow episode is like a direct continuation from the last one because Team Arrow really does take offensive like Oliver said. I liked how Team Arrow got a few small victories over Slade and that Oliver is working a lot more with Felicity and Diggle (since he recently only partners with Black Canary) so I guess he finally gets that he needs more teamwork. It was also great seeing Roy again and it was interesting that Slade used him to power up his army and we got a great confrontation between Oliver, Diggle Slade and Isabel. Speaking of Slade he just continues to be the ultimate badass as Deathstroke when he defeated every Team Arrow member and infiltrated S.T.A.R labs. Then there is Isabel and I am glad that we got a lot more background on her and it makes sense of why she sided with Slade, plus I guess we will get some cool fight scenes out of her now that she is injected with Mirakuru (as much has I have complained about her it would be a shame if she went out like that). As for the Flashbacks I think Ivo's death was done really well; he might have been a bit of a sadist but he started with good intentions, so you do kind of sympathise with him when he begged for death. However if a Mirakuru cure existed all along how come Oliver didn't think of it when he was confronting Gold or Roy for the first time? This is a bit of a continuity error.

"Be a member of Team Arrow for the both of us"

We also had a great cameo from Cisco and Caitlin and I just love it when characters from The Flash and Arrow crossover with each other and I have always liked them anyway. Again the Lance Family continue to have strong material such as Laurel struggling with finding out Oliver is Arrow and choosing the side with him however I bet she feels stupid not realizing that Black Canary is Sara lol. I did really like that Laurel didn't just take Slade's word for it and did some investigating on her own on Arrow to connect the dots to Oliver. Then their is Quentin and I just really like the speech he gave in the hospital about not caring about Arrow's identity because it shows how his views on him as changed over the years and as I said before I do like this Quentin better than in season one. Lastly there is Thea who usually isn't given that good material in the show and that is still the case here because they are repeating her being mad at Moira. They did this a lot in season one and at the beginning of this season two so it just annoys me that they keep giving her the same tired plot line (like with The Huntress). Her being mad at Moira for lying to her about Malcolm would have had a lot more of an impact if she hasn't gone through this plenty of times already.

You two are going to wish you stayed in Central City

Overall awesome episode and paves the way for some truly epic confrontations between Team Arrow and Team Deathstroke.

SCORE: 9/10

Highlights: Deathstroke is a scene stealer with some epic fight scenes!
                   Isabel is a lot better now
                   Lance Family continue to be great
                   Cameos from Cisco and Caitlin

Let - Downs: Thea once again mad at her mother is nothing new

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/           

Arrow Season Two: City of Heroes

The city needs you Oliver!

The episode begins with Diggle and Felicity going to the island to get Oliver who had returned following the destruction of the Glades five months ago because he feels he failed the city however they convince him to return saying it still needs Oliver Queen. In a Flashback Oliver and Shado continue to train and in the present Oliver has returned to find the Glades in ruins. Thea has taken over the Verdant and Roy is her bartender however he frequently goes out to protect the city with the absence of The Hood. Later at an events held by the Mayor, which Laurel attends, it is attacked by a masked group of four men calling themselves "The Hoods" who killed the Mayor and several other; Quentin arrives but his boss reminds him he was demoted for his previous contact with The Hood. Oliver arrives to see Laurel who tells him she regrets cheating on Tommy and blames The Hood for his death. Meanwhile The Hoods are angry that the news care more about the return of Oliver than their actions. At Queen Consolidated Oliver meets with  Isabel Rochev (Summer Glau) who wants to buy the company but Oliver of course wants it himself. The Hoods then attack and Oliver gets Isabel and Felicity out but the latter is angry that he didn't even fight back but Oliver says he still feels too much regret for Tommy's death.

"We are the ultimate Hood fanboys!"

Oliver then later visits his mother in prison who believes she deserves to be there because of The Undertaking meanwhile The Hoods kidnap Thea. Oliver realizes he must be The Hood once again and Felicity takes him to the Arrowcave; showing him the improves and giving him a new bow, we then have a Flashback and the group are attacked by another group. Oliver tracks down The Hoods and takes them all alive to Quentin (now a regular beat cop) and says this is his new way to stop crime, even swearing on Tommy's grave to be a better person. Thea then reconciles with Moira (having been angry with her since The Undertaking) and Oliver successfully buys enough Queen Consolidated stock to be partners with Isabel with the help of Walter. In a Flashback the group kill all the men and wonder where they came from as we see a ship in the distance, in the present Roy tries to prevent a mugging but a blond, female vigilante (Black Canary) wearing all black beats him to it. The episode ends with Oliver wanting to be more than a vigilante and needs a new name for The Hood as he looks at one of his arrows.

It's about time!

This was a real strong start to the new season and if I am honest this is an even better season premiere than the one for the first season. When I first watched this episode I really liked that they are addressing some of the problems the first season had already such as Oliver's lack of a proper hero name and that he used to kill. I don't know about anyone else but I don't like heroes who kill and it looks like Oliver isn't going to do that anymore and wants to be a real hero. Following on from that while crossing off names from the list was interesting I'm glad that Oliver says he wants to do more and really save the city. Plus I liked how Oliver exiled himself to the island because he failed the city in the previous season; it was a surprising twist and that Diggle and Felicity had to go and convince him to come back.

"I'm the new character, pleased to meet you"

What I also liked was how much things have changed in the past five months such as the destruction of the Glades and I am glad that area looks like it will still play a large part and not being ignored. Thea also runs the Verdant now which is good because it gives her character something good to do and I liked how Roy is taking a one man stand against crime in the Glades. I also thought to myself that I am going to like Quentin a lot better this season because he is now a regular beat cop and seems to actually support the vigilante. Isabel seems like she will be an interesting character though when I first saw her I could just tell by the way she acted she will be some kind of antagonist to Oliver however at this point I thought just rival in business. Then there is Moira who, like the Glades, they haven't just ignored and she is suffering from the consequences of last season. Lastly there is the awesome reveal of Black Canary who I was so looking forward to because she is a major Arrow character, like her costume because she wore a domino mask though it did look a bit simple.

"Now this makes my job easy"

As for what I didn't like I will start off with The Hoods and that is because they are just the obvious villain of the week that we will never see or hear from again. Season one suffered a lot from this and even though I know they have to have some of these kind of villains every now and again it didn't help that The Hoods felt underdeveloped. Then there is Laurel who the writers seem to want to have a bad start to the season. I hate that she blames The Hood for what has happened and wants to track him down because after helping him so much this came completely out of no where and felt really forced. The second I heard her say that to Oliver I just knew this is going to create some unnecessary problems for Oliver that frankly the show could do without just like in season one.

Bet that was fun

Overall this is a great to start to the new season and there was a lot to mention but I think I went over all the important points.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Already addressing issues and flaws from season one
                   I like the changes to the city and characters in the five month gap

let - Downs: The Hoods
                     Laurel once again

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;





http://screencapped.net 

            

Arrow Season One: Honor Thy Father

"Eyes on me and my white hair"

The episode begins with a Flashback of Oliver arriving to the island on the lifeboat, it then changes to the present and Oliver has just suited up and has taken out another person on the list on top of a roof. The next day, after discussing about the vigilante everyone is calling "The Hood", Walter and Moira would like Oliver to take a position in Queen Consolidated however he is reluctant to do so. Later at court Laurel is trying to build a case against Martin Summers for murder, who is also a target of Oliver's, and runs in to Oliver who is getting his death revoked and is still angry with him. That night Oliver threatens Summers to confess to the murder, he does not however and refuses to give any useful information to Quentin and even threatens Laurel.

Hasn't any of those guards got a gun?

Quentin then visits Laurel and advices her to drop the case however when she doesn't we then see that Summers has hired an assassin from the Chinese Triads named China White (Kelly Hu) to eliminate Laurel. Later Thea shows Oliver his gravestone and admits that she became more rebellious after he and their dad "died", this motivates Oliver to get closer to Laurel instead of pushing her away. He goes to her apartment to patch things up but shortly afterwards China White and several of her men show up to kill Laurel. Fortunately Diggle was there to fight them off but China White escapes, however Oliver was forced to use a knife during the attack and Diggle didn't fail to notice how skilful he was with it.

You go Diggle!

Oliver then tracks down Summers at the docks and forces him to confess that he is guilty of murder but then China White shows up and the two are forced to fight. It is cut short by the arrival of Quentin and the police and the two are forced to flee. Quentin almost corners Oliver but he manages to escape and even leave behind a recording of Summer's confession, which Laurel then uses to convict him. The next day at Robert Queen's memorial Oliver pretends to be selfish and irresponsible so he doesn't have to take a position a Queen's Consolidated and so no one can suspect him as The Hood. Moira is then seen getting into a limo and reveals that the Queen's Gambit was sabotaged by herself and an unknown person. The episode ends with a Flashback which shows Oliver discovering the books with the list of names on it and being shot with an arrow by a hooded figure.

Sunglasses; the perfect disguise

This was a really good episode, the mysteries of the island and what Oliver's mother is involved in just keeps getting more interesting and we actually got a proper villain in this episode. I will say this now that I have not heard of China White before so I don't know if she is adapted from the comics or is an original character but it is still good that we now have a comic book - like villain in the series. Not just a corrupt businessman or gangster we got someone who can put up a fight against the Arrow, who has a villain name and bit of a costume even if its just a white wig. I know that it is only the second episode in the series but I want Arrow to be full of costumed vigilantes and villains.

Mortal Kombat

We also got some great fight scenes not just between Arrow and China White but from Diggle as well. Diggle is a really great character in this and I like how he is figuring out that Oliver is definitely hiding something. Another character I like is Quentin; he may come off as a bit of an ass but that's just who he is and while he may be hunting down The Hood he isn't above using the evidence that is given to him. Like last episode I am really not liking Laurel or Thea that much, there both alright but I just think that there characters are just an annoyance for Oliver at this point, just there to create some conflict in his normal life.

"This is MY island rich boy!"

We also got to big reveals in this, the first one being that Moira helped an unknown person or persons sink the Queen's Gambit and it is somehow related to the list that Oliver has. Whether or not Moira has done this willingly or not is yet to be revealed but I am interested in seeing if the one behind all this is a major DC villain. We also got to see a hooded figure shoot Oliver with an arrow and this person must obviously have a connection to the costume Oliver has chosen and why he uses a bow and arrow.

Must be weird seeing your own grave

Overall there isn't too much to say about this episode, if it wasn't for the character of China White the events of this episode would have felt similar to the second half of the Pilot. However I get the feeling that for the first few episodes of this season it is going to be really episodic with Oliver crossing out names on the list and maybe coming across some DC villains each episode. Also you have probably noticed but I am now putting screen shots of the villains or heroes at the beginning of the review because the first screenshot is the one which everyone sees before they click on the review so I thought it would be better for it to be a relevant/important character in the episode.

SCORE: 7/10

Highlights: China White
                   The Flashbacks/Moira's secret meeting
                   The fight scenes in this series so far have just been great

Let - Downs: Laurel and Thea
                  If not for adding a comic book villain this wouldn't have stood out to much from the Pilot

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/