Arrow: 7 Things You Learn Rewatching Season 1

7. The Show Used To Be Narrated

Arrow has fallen so deeply into the typical, slightly-repetitive, format that almost all network TV superhero shows utilise these days that it's rather easy to forget that, way back at the beginning, it relied rather heavily on voiceover in order to tell us what was going on.

It's rather jarring hearing it back, as it presents the first few episodes as though they are the beginning of a novel adaptation and, given that Oliver isn't the kind of person to share his feelings, it doesn't really meld with what we know about him now.

That said, as the show couldn't rely on the typical format at that time (team of superheroes go out to save the city together), it meant that Oliver had no one to talk to about his crime-fighting duties. Thus, the narration was necessary as it allowed the writers to exposit the necessary information to viewers watching at home.