With the holidays’ excitement long past, it’s time to return to our normal routines. For archery lovers that means submerging ourselves in TV shows featuring characters who shoot bows and arrows.
Let’s start by watching Oliver Queen draw up drama, trick shots and family bonding in The CW’s “Arrow.”
The show’s winter hiatus ended with Dinah, Curtis and Renee leaving Team Arrow. The plot is notorious for dramatic cliffhangers that get resolved an episode or two later, so we’ll see if this threat holds up. It’s already gone two episodes without disturbance, however, so that might be how the season finishes. The two teams seem to be functioning well on their own, but when their paths cross it has a rival-teenage-cliques vibe to it.
Oliver Queen is still going strong; kicking bad-guy booty one arrow at a time. Not everyone is happy about it, though. Oliver’s son, William, is frustrated with his dad for lying to him about giving up the Green Arrow persona. Oliver had to rescue him and his classmates from a crumbling tunnel while under cover as the vigilante, which created distance between them.
It seems that William’s resistance to Green Arrow is setting up a plot progression in which William becomes another bow-and-arrow-armed crusader. Oliver, meanwhile, lives with the guilt that being the vigilante might cause more harm than good. Plus, if he hangs up his hat, somebody must take over. If so, why not his own flesh and blood?
Felicity talks one-on-one with William to explain why his dad does what he does. The look on William’s face shows that he’s beginning to understand, and might accept the fact that he can’t change his father. They watch Oliver fight over the webcam, and we see some classic Green Arrow quick shots. We even see Oliver take out a bad guy by using an arrow much like a spear.
The shots appear more crisp and skilled with the recurve bow they brought back this season. When the fight ends, and Team Arrow has clearly won, William concedes his dad is “badass.” The Red Arrow name is already taken, but maybe William could become the Blue Arrow.
It would be neat to see Oliver giving William archery lessons this season. Imagine Oliver creating a target course in the layer, trying to teach William a bunch of complex trick moves and, when William just stares at him, finally realizing he should just start with the basics. Now that would make for great entertainment!
It’s fun to get lost in the world of a TV show. It’s even more fun when that world contains something you’re already passionate about: archery. Watching “Arrow” is a great way to plunge into the world of archery through a fantasy setting.
If this show spurs you to test your skills, visit your local archery shop and see if you’re Oliver Queen material.
