The problem with reviewing TV shows, especially those that are not the first season, is getting up to speed with the state of the series as you go into the review. Trying to balance providing info without too many spoilers is another hurdle, but consumers face their own challenges in deciding if a home release purchase is worth it in the long run versus the increasing ability to stream shows from places like Netflix and Amazon.
With Arrow: Season 2, I’m pleased to say that Warner Home Video (WHV) has done a good job of addressing these concerns. So I had heard of Arrow, it looked cool, but never got around to watching it. As I looked over the back of the box for season two, I noticed that there was a Bonus Recap Episode that covers the major plot lines from the first season. I jumped right into this, and was impressed with its production quality and detail, and ultimately, how “comfortable” or prepared it made me feel going right into season two. What you get here is a forty-one minute episode that is chock full of scenes from year one, complete with narration and character-intro splash screens that take you through the major plot lines. It’s too much to summarize here, but the gist of it is that Oliver Queen takes on a double life as the Vigilante, (later to be named the Green Arrow), working his way through a list of ‘bad people’ his dying father left him. Meanwhile, a sinister plot to destroy the most crime-ridden portion of the city, an area known as the Glades, closes out the season with Oliver and his allies (techwiz Felicity and tactical specialist Diggle) unable to prevent the artificial earthquake that would devastate much of this portion of Starling City and kill over 500 in the process.
That’s where season one ended. Two begins with Felicity and Diggle having to locate Oliver on the remote island of Lian Yu. As we learned in the first year, Lian Yu is where Oliver washed up after the Queen family boat was destroyed. It’s here that he spent five years, learning combat and survival techniques from several key characters like Slade Wilson and Shado. Of note, just like the first season, season two also has plenty of regulary dispersed flashback scenes which give viewers a constantly growing understanding of the Green Arrow’s origins. These ‘island scenes’ are exciting and a strong positive for the series as they really add a lot more depth to several key characters, including Slade Wilson who, spoiler alert, is indeed alive and becomes the awesome Deathstroke. The Slade/Deathstroke storyline is a big one for year two; it’s a near season long encounter but there are still numerous other plot lines, some more interesting than others. For example a significant part of the first four or five episodes is about the Lances, Laurel and Quentin (and the other girl whos name I did not note). Their family drama, and Laurel’s scattered character, grew a bit tiresome. But many of the other plot lines and encounters with interesting villains like the Clock King and Dollmaker, Bronze Tiger, and so on, were positives. The writers also managed to sprinkle in some well placed humor, not the laugh out loud kind, but the wittier, make-you-smirk kind.
Indeed, production values for Arrow’s second season are consistently high. The sum of the fight choreography, solid acting, and writing left me wanting to binge watch this fun show. Sure, there are some moments that are disagreeable, but they’re easily overshadowed by all of the good and great ones. Each episode maintains a busy, but not overwhelming, pace that made me feel like I was getting a micro Hollywood superhero movie over the span of one or two connected episodes. So suffice it to say that this is a really enjoyable show to watch, and I can’t think of any single episode that was far better or far worse than the others.
As a home release, I thought WHV got a lot right to get this in the hands of consumers. Anymore, if my inclination is correct, disc-based home sales are becoming a tougher sell, so such a release needs to pack some punch that you can’t find elsewhere. For this, we can start with the going price, which is about $40 at Amazon at the time of this writing, or roughly $0.50 per episode, a solid deal. The packaging is well designed from an aesthetic and functional stand point, and you’re getting the complete season in three forms: 4 Blu-ray discs, 5 DVDs, and via Ultraviolet, all in one convenient set. Inserts include the Ultraviolet code and a nice color booklet that shows the disc contents, including episode numbers and summaries. The menu design is a bit flat due to the use of cheesy, stock icons, but really, that’s a negligible complaint because you won’t spend much time in the menus anyway, in part thanks to the ability to easily Resume where you left off. I also liked how on each disc the entire listing of extra features is shown, as well as an icon that indicates which disc you need to pop in to view the extra feature you are currently ‘hovering’ on.
Presentation quality is excellent, featuring a 1:78:1 1080p image (on the Blu-ray of course, not the DVD version) and 5.1 DTS-HD. Yeah Oliver’s “Arrow” voice is a bit weird (not quite as strange as Bale’s Batman) and sometimes I thought there was too much music, but from a technical standpoint I was very much impressed. Extra credit to the cast and crew for doing both the island scenes as well as those in Starling City, that’s no small feat.
At this point everything is on target for a great home release — you have an entertaining show that actually has a lot more replay value than most TV shows largely due to the fluid action scenes which, you know, are a hell of a lost more interesting than a courtroom drama, for example. The series is very well presented too; so how about extra features to really ice this cake? Fortunately, WHV accommodates fans with a host of features adding a lot of value to the set:
-Bonus Season 1 Recap Episode (41m, HD): I’d love to see this become the standard way studios handle post-season one BD/DVD releases, or at least season two releases. I’m sure it’s not cheap to put something like this together, but my goodness is it a plus for those who want to very quickly catch-up on the plots and characters or simply for those who hadn’t seen the series since the original airing and just need a refresher.
-From Vigilante To Hero (24m, HD): One of the first major character developments in season two is the Arrow transitioning from a hero who will kill the bad guys to one who will now try and avoid doing so while still “saving the day.” This is a crucial change in a character’s direction and in this feature several members of the cast and crew offer their perspective on it.
-How Did They Do That? The Visual Effects of Arrow (11m, HD): I’m a sucker for these types of features as I love the technical, behind the scenes stuff.
-Wirework: The Impossible Moves of Arrow (9m, HD): A staple of the series from the very beginning has been its excellent choreography which continues to impress in season two. Obviously the old method of using wires to whip actors around the set is a key technique used for the series, and here viewers get to see a little bit of that magic at work.
-Arrow 2013 Comic-Con Panel (26m, HD): Comic-Con is huge anymore, has been for years, and these panels are always a treat because you get a group of sincere fans together and I think the actors really appreciate that. You generally get to see a side of the actors and crew you don’t otherwise see.
-Gag Reel (4m, HD): A good, albeit it relatively short collection of mishaps and goofs.
-Deleted Scenes: I did not note how many deleted scenes there were, but it was well over a dozen, each lasting up to about two minutes. Obviously nothing too important happens in these, but for series fans, yeah, it’s must-watch.
With that, let’s get to the summary…