Arrow Season Premiere Review: “The Calm” (Season 3, Episode 1)

Let’s talk about that Sara death for a second. I found it a bit odd and out of place that her character came back for just a brief tussle with Vertigo (apparently using up all of her “League of Assassin vacation time”), but felt that killing her right off the bat was a little extreme. Why bring her back just to unceremoniously kill her off? Thematically, I understand what her death will mean for the characters going forward, but her demise lacked any real emotional impact. We grew to love Sara over the course of last season, and I think that if the writers really wanted to kill her off and propel Laurel toward becoming Black Canary, they should have just killed her during the season two finale. Slade killing Sara would have been a far better arc for her character, and would have made Oliver’s decision to not kill him that more poignant.

Alas, it’s a minor nitpick, and one that I may feel differently about as we go forward. It was a great cliffhanger for the season opener, and is sure to have some major consequences on the rest of the season. Whoever killed her obviously wanted to put the blame on Arrow, and this may be a nice organic way to bring the League of Assassins (and Ra’s al Ghul!) into the fold this year.

All in all, I couldn’t have been happier with how Arrow kicked off its third season. We’re so familiar with these characters now that we’re able to jump right into the action with ease, and the writers have become so comfortable with telling their stories that these new developments and twists feel organic and like they have a purpose. Even Sara’s death, while a bit sudden, feels like a calculated move and not a simple way to bait people into tuning in next week. The new characters were introduced with finesse and are helped by fantastic performances by Brandon Routh and Peter Stormare, and even the flashbacks, which now take place on Hong Kong, have me intrigued.

Arrow knocked it out of the park in season two, but season three already feels like an organic and exciting new chapter in Oliver’s heroic journey.

Additional Notes:

• I like that Count Vertigo’s drug is now laced with a fear toxin. Perhaps there’s a Scarecrow out there providing Vertigo with the new upgrade?
• Speaking of fear toxin, how cool was it seeing Oliver fight the Arrow? It was very reminiscent of the Clark Kent/Superman fight in Superman III. 
• I found it interesting that Oliver told Felicity that he “chose” to come home to Starling. We were led to believe that he was rescued, but it sounds like there’s more to that story than we thought.
• Wildcat Easter eggs were present during the boxing match. Ted Grant is coming!
• I found Grant Gustin’s little cameo as Barry Allen fun, and it really helps establish the timeline in which Arrow and The Flash take place.
• Who do you guys think killed Sara? It’s obviously someone she knows, so my guess is that it’s not Malcolm Merlyn. Komodo, perhaps? Or even Ra’s al Ghul himself?