Arrow (TV series)

[Beorning]

So... what do you think of this series, people?

I caught bits of this show yesterday, as there was Season 2 marathon on one channel in my cable TV. I took a peek. I was left a little puzzled...

For once, there's this character of Isabel Rochev. She's a young woman around 30... and yet, she's a high-ranking business executive. What gives? As we've established in a thread of mine, such things do not happen. In real life, people don't get to be young, pretty women and, at the same time, CEOs... This kind of position takes years of work.

Also, that character's last name. She's Russian, right? So, her last name would be Rocheva, not Rochev. Hmm. Call me nitpicky, but I really hate when Western writers mess up Central and Eastern European names...

Another thing that I didn't like: the finale. In the finale, Deathstroke sends his super-strong guys out to cause mayhem in the city. Okay. But then, he claims that his goal is to *destroy* the city. Literally. Really??? I mean, okay - they are about 50 of these guys out there. And yes, they have superstrength (a bit of it, anyway). And yet... even for them, it would be impossible to destroy the city and kill all of the inhabitants. Come on, Deathstroke! What did you expect your guys to do, demolish buildings with their fists..? This inane plan really killed my suspension of disbelief...

Hm. So, what do you guys think of Arrow? Good show, bad show?

[jouzinka]

Also, that character's last name. She's Russian, right? So, her last name would be Rocheva, not Rochev. Hmm. Call me nitpicky, but I really hate when Western writers mess up Central and Eastern European names...

I had a friend, who was Russian, immigrated to Britain, then his family fell apart and his mother took back her maiden's name and the children wanted to follow suit. Well, the government apparently couldn't wrap its head around the Slavic -ova gender inflection, so this poor guy had to take the name as was, with -ova, or nothing.

So, yes, he was very much a boy, yet his name was Zheliakova.

Also, her Wiki page says she was adopted into US (http://arrow.wikia.com/wiki/Isabel_Rochev - BEWARE OF MAJOR SPOILERS). This could also mean that she was re-named in the adoption process by that same clue as above

[Beorning]

I had a friend, who was Russian, immigrated to Britain, then his family fell apart and his mother took back her maiden's name and the children wanted to follow suit. Well, the government apparently couldn't wrap its head around the Slavic -ova gender inflection, so this poor guy had to take the name as was, with -ova, or nothing.

So, yes, he was very much a boy, yet his name was Zheliakova.

That... must've been weird for him...

Also, her Wiki page says she was adopted into US (http://arrow.wikia.com/wiki/Isabel_Rochev - BEWARE OF MAJOR SPOILERS). This could also mean that she was re-named in the adoption process by that same clue as above

Maybe. But I'm inclined to think that the writers just didn't know that bit about Russian names...

I think this kind of thing appears quite often in Western media. Sometimes, they even manage to screw things the other way around - and we get characters like this supposedly-Polish guy from an old Daredevil story:

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/cieszkowskadd.htm

Ugh.

Admittedly, it's not only Western writers who mess things up. In the manga Hellsing, there's a British woman named "Seras Victoria". Da fuk? In the same manga, a female British aristocrat is referred to as "sir"...

[Vorian]

It's alright, I think it's a bit overrated personally. It got off to a slow start in my opinion - in season 1 they did the whole Dark Knight style thing where they didn't have superpowers and pretended it wasn't a superhero show and for me it didn't really pick up until mid season 2.

Another thing that I didn't like: the finale. In the finale, Deathstroke sends his super-strong guys out to cause mayhem in the city. Okay. But then, he claims that his goal is to *destroy* the city. Literally. Really??? I mean, okay - they are about 50 of these guys out there. And yes, they have superstrength (a bit of it, anyway). And yet... even for them, it would be impossible to destroy the city and kill all of the inhabitants. Come on, Deathstroke! What did you expect your guys to do, demolish buildings with their fists..? This inane plan really killed my suspension of disbelief...

To be fair, they're also very hard to stop without the antidote - bullets don't hurt them enough to really do anything and they outclass almost anyone in melee. But I think their purpose was not to destroy the city themselves, but to provoke Waller into destroying a good portion of the city to get rid of them - which worked. The real point of it all was to hurt Ollie as much as possible before killing him.

[Falanor]

So... what do you think of this series, people?

So far, pretty spiff adaptation that makes the character far more interesting than his original roots.

I caught bits of this show yesterday, as there was Season 2 marathon on one channel in my cable TV. I took a peek. I was left a little puzzled...

For once, there's this character of Isabel Rochev. She's a young woman around 30... and yet, she's a high-ranking business executive. What gives? As we've established in a thread of mine, such things do not happen. In real life, people don't get to be young, pretty women and, at the same time, CEOs... This kind of position takes years of work.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. I just found a number of them. The list is far from comprehensive. Case in point, it doesn't list Jessica Mah, founder and CEO of InDinero which she accomplished before she could legally drink alcohol.

Another thing that I didn't like: the finale. In the finale, Deathstroke sends his super-strong guys out to cause mayhem in the city. Okay. But then, he claims that his goal is to *destroy* the city. Literally. Really??? I mean, okay - they are about 50 of these guys out there. And yes, they have superstrength (a bit of it, anyway). And yet... even for them, it would be impossible to destroy the city and kill all of the inhabitants. Come on, Deathstroke! What did you expect your guys to do, demolish buildings with their fists..? This inane plan really killed my suspension of disbelief...

Agreed, the ending was a bit lackluster in terms of strategic planning. It was almost as if Slade had pretty much lost all grip on reality, which he may have actually done so, but who knows.

As for Victor Cieszkowska, the site you link actually says they don't know where he comes from but his name sounds Slavic, Polish being used as an example of a Slavic people.

[Dovel]

I may look into it. I see it is now on Netflix.

[mia h]

Another thing that I didn't like: the finale. In the finale, Deathstroke sends his super-strong guys out to cause mayhem in the city. Okay. But then, he claims that his goal is to *destroy* the city. Literally. Really??? I mean, okay - they are about 50 of these guys out there. And yes, they have superstrength (a bit of it, anyway). And yet... even for them, it would be impossible to destroy the city and kill all of the inhabitants. Come on, Deathstroke! What did you expect your guys to do, demolish buildings with their fists..?

But that plan was a tiny bit more subtle than that. 50 guys in one city is bad news for the city, but those guys spread around the world causing mayhem and death killing tens or even hundreds of thousands, much much worse. So the plan was to get the Government (or in this case ARGUS) to stop those hundreds of thousands of potential deaths by stopping the problem at the source even if it did mean bombing Starling City off the map.

Hm. So, what do you guys think of Arrow? Good show, bad show?

What more could anyone possibly want in a TV show?

[Mathim]

Looks interesting (as does the Flash spin-off) but I would have gone with an actual superhero, or hell, Batman at the very least, for a show like that (especially after the titanic success of 10 seasons of Smallville) or maybe a team. I just wouldn't expect the character (at least if it's not the popular version from Smallville) to grab people's attention enough to carry his own show. But I've been surprised before.

I liked the character on Smallville so I'm not sure if this new version of him will be disappointing or not but I'm hoping to get my hands on the DVDs of the first season sooner or later. I get them probably being strategic about him being a relatively low-tech superhero, requiring minimal CGI for his feats and whatnot, but in the long-term that's hardly a good idea unless you've got really good writing or lots of kick-ass cameos.

[Beorning]

So far, pretty spiff adaptation that makes the character far more interesting than his original roots.I wouldn't be too sure about that. I just found a number of them. The list is far from comprehensive. Case in point, it doesn't list Jessica Mah, founder and CEO of InDinero which she accomplished before she could legally drink alcohol.

Oookay, now I feel seriously jealous about the careers these women are making...

But still - note that many of them are involved with start-ups. It's not impossible to be a young CEO, if you're starting your own small company. Meanwhile, the companies Isabel Rochev was involved in in the show seemed to be quite big corporations...

As for Victor Cieszkowska, the site you link actually says they don't know where he comes from but his name sounds Slavic, Polish being used as an example of a Slavic people.

Oh, believe me: this is a Polish name. It's even properly spelled (sometimes, Western media really botch spelling of Polish names). But the gender is wrong :)

But that plan was a tiny bit more subtle than that. 50 guys in one city is bad news for the city, but those guys spread around the world causing mayhem and death killing tens or even hundreds of thousands, much much worse. So the plan was to get the Government (or in this case ARGUS) to stop those hundreds of thousands of potential deaths by stopping the problem at the source even if it did mean bombing Starling City off the map.

Ah, I see. Makes more sense, then...

[Vorian]

Looks interesting (as does the Flash spin-off) but I would have gone with an actual superhero, or hell, Batman at the very least, for a show like that (especially after the titanic success of 10 seasons of Smallville) or maybe a team. I just wouldn't expect the character (at least if it's not the popular version from Smallville) to grab people's attention enough to carry his own show. But I've been surprised before.

Batman's been done to death, and wouldn't have worked for what they did with Arrow. Avoiding the big 3 is the best thing they did in this series, it allow other, equally good, characters a chance to develop outside their shadows.

I liked the character on Smallville so I'm not sure if this new version of him will be disappointing or not but I'm hoping to get my hands on the DVDs of the first season sooner or later. I get them probably being strategic about him being a relatively low-tech superhero, requiring minimal CGI for his feats and whatnot, but in the long-term that's hardly a good idea unless you've got really good writing or lots of kick-ass cameos.

Compared to Smallville's Greeen Arrow, I found season 1 fairly disappointing. It picked up around the middle of season 2 though, and by the end of season 2 he has a solid selection of gadgets and trick arrows, and his character development has finally reached a good place. If they keep going the direction they're going, it should work.

[ImaginedScenes]

Preferred it early on compared to recently, myself. The realism was attractive. The crazy backstory and superhero stuff is disinteresting to me. Probably won't watch it anymore unless I'm really bored.

[greenandgold]

I watch Arrow every week. I loved yesterday's episode which crossed over with Supergirl.