The State of Hero TV, Summer 2017

It’s a great time to be a hero-geek. There are more and more shows, and most of them are pretty damn good. I keep hearing a few people fretting about “hero fatigue,” but I certainly don’t have it, and, judging from the box office for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, a lot of other people don’t, either. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is fantastic, with Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok coming this year. I’m a lot less impressed with the DC Expanded Universe (although I’m one of the few that apparently enjoyed Suicide Squad), but I was pleasantly surprised by Wonder Woman.

Arrow: Lian Yu

Season 5 of Arrow comes to an end with “Lian Yu.” That is, of course, the place Oliver allegedly spent his “five years in hell…” when he wasn’t in Hong Kong or Russia. It also later became Oliver’s personal super-prison, holding Deathstroke Slade Wilson and Captain Boomerang Digger Harkness. In the comics, Lian is the name of Roy Harper’s daughter, sort of Oliver’s granddaughter, who died an utterly pointless tragic death that angered many fans.

Arrow: Missing

Arrow has almost gotten to their finale, but first, they have to deal with the “Missing.” The news, good for once, is talking about Adrian Chase being behind bars. Quentin, Thea, and Oliver are in his office celebrating his new 70% approval rating. With the major threat dealt with, Quentin goes off to read Rene the riot act for not making it to the hearing for custody of his daughter. We also learn that today is Oliver’s birthday, and Thea teases him for having dinner plans with Felicity. Thea is also still moping about being such a dark and evil person.

Arrow: Honor Thy Father

Team Arrow is very much having a season where they just can’t win no matter what they do. They’ve finally proven to the world at large that Prometheus (still being called the Throwing Star Killer by the press, a much less cool name) is Adrian Chase. That should be a banner day, shouldn’t it? Well,…

Arrow: Underneath

Last episode ended quite literally with a bang as Prometheus staged an attack on the Lair. Oliver and Felicity are trapped, alone, with the lights dimmed. Things get worse as they determine that at least part of the attack was an EMP. Not only do they not have power or communications, but you remember that…

Arrow: Dangerous Liaisons

The hunt for Adrian Chase/Prometheus continues in “Dangerous Liaisons.” ARGUS is following up on a report that Chase was seen in the arcade of a shut down amusement park, which really seems like something more fitting for a Batman villain. ARGUS is being backed up by Mr. Terrific and Wild Dog. To no great surprise,…

Arrow: Disbanded

  Last episode, Oliver was battered and beaten by Prometheus. Now, he’s still looking horrible, and is sticking by his pronouncement that the team is done. I think that’s horribly unfair of Oliver. Even if he’s done as a hero, I question why he gets to decide that for everyone else. Then again, he’s not…

Arrow: Kapiushon

As the season goes on, Arrow is getting a lot darker. We’ve seen the lengths Prometheus is willing to go to in order to get his revenge, and there’s been some ugly stuff. Oliver, our notional hero, is drifting along down the dark side himself. We see a lot of this in Kapiushon, the most…

Arrow: Checkmate

The writers on Arrow have done a great job of letting comic book fans mislead themselves at the series has gone on. Several characters with familiar names from the comics have shown up, and turned out to not be much like the originals at all. Kate Spenser, the first DA in Star City to get…

Arrow: Fire With Fire

Last episode of Arrow ended with the surprise of Oliver’s cover-up about Detective Malone’s death being released to the media. This episode has its share of surprises along the way, with a big twist I didn’t remotely see coming. I think, overall, this may have been one of their better episodes. Quentin, Oliver, Thea, and…