In October of last year, right around the time the show Arrow had premiered, I quit my job to become a full time missionary. My fiancé was going to school for missionary work as well. At Christmas time of that year, we both received a well-deserved break. We are both huge nerds, just in different aspects of the term - whatever the case, both of us love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. Right around the time of our break last year, the third entry in the series (Dog Days) had just come out on Blu-Ray and DVD, so of course we rented it to see it was as good as the first two films. I remember one scene in particular where Greg convinces Rowley to ride the Cranium Scrambler: when they first attempted to get on the ride, the wait time was 80 minutes. They are supposed to meet up with Rowley's parents in an hour, but they managed to get on anyway and when they exited the Cranium Scrambler, Rowley's parents were waiting at the gate. They explain to Greg and Rowley that they have been searching for them for over an hour. If you watch the series, you know Greg gets yelled at all the time, and after this particular event, Rowley gets the I'm disappointed speech. Greg thinks it's awesome that Rowley wasn't yelled at but Rowley disagrees. Having someone disappointed in you is worse than any punishment. This scene actually caused my fiancé and me to pause the movie and discuss this till we actually agreed. For me personally, I know that if I've disappointed someone or even myself then I've failed them. In Honor Thy Father, the second episode of the first season of Arrow, we hear what will become Oliver's famous catchphrase: You have failed this city. This phrase goes back to the pilot episode in the life raft scene when Queen's father told him that he has failed the city - they had built their empire upon the suffering of others. Oliver's taking on the Green Arrow persona gives depth to the character. I know some of you reading this right now are confused as to what I mean. Allow me to explain my views: with Oliver taking on The Hood, he is ending suffering and breaking heritage chains as well as giving the city what it really needs: a hero. We know who Oliver is now, but this episode is really crucial to find out who he was prior to the shipwreck - we know he was a party boy, but just how bad? This chapter reveals he has had four court appearances including a DUI, Assault charges, Grand Theft Auto and Public Urination. In a nutshell, this dude was a pretty wild and crazy guy. Now we see Oliver in yet another courtroom appearance to appeal his death, which was assumed after his disappearance. Upon his departure from the courthouse we are introduced to the episode's antagonist, Martin Summers, another fictional character who was made up for the purpose of this series. For all the fans that are wondering when they will see more DC based villains and characters, they are coming, I promise, however with Adam Hunt in the pilot and Martin Summers in this episode, the creators have done a very good job at creating believable foes for the beloved character. When the writers wrote this character in his detailed backstory, it's a bit obvious you can see inspiration from Carmine Falcone from Batman Begins. Summers is working with The Triad, who will grow as a central plot detail throughout the first season, to smuggle drugs into Starling City. Much like the Falcone character from Begins, no one will touch him. In the words of Jim Gordon, He's paid up to the right people. In the courtroom scene, Laurel reveals he is untouchable because he has friends in the District Attorney's office. During Oliver's narration he reveals that no police or DA can't or won't bring him to justice. Do we have a corrupt police force within Starling City? If that's true, they would need The Hood, the same exact way Gotham City needed Batman. Look at the rooftop scene from Batman Begins. Gordon notes that Batman really started a change within people wanting to break corrupt habits within the police force. Perhaps, it may be too early in the show's run to say but, he may break corrupt police within Starling City. For you to truly understand the beauty of Arrow, let's discuss the Triad for just a second. The Triad of this show doesn't exist outside of the perimeters of the dramatization, but the Triad is in the DC Universe. Triad was the alias of a character created by Jerry Siegel, one half of the Superman creators, and is really Triplicate Girl who made her debut in Actions Comics #276 in May 1961. In Arrow however, The Triad is a drug cartel of heroin led by China White, and run from an uncharted island. I mentioned in the previous article about the possibility of Digg paying homage to Hackett from Year One, and we need to discuss the Hackett-Queen relationship so that we can grasp a better understanding of the China White character. In Year One, Hackett convinces Oliver that White is building resorts on the island of Fiji; Hackett makes a suggestion to Oliver that he should invest 14 million dollars into the operation, and we later find out that Hackett is working for China White. Plus, all the money that he was told was financing Fiji resorts was really going towards White's drug operation. The series plays on this character's mythology beautifully. It works well to have White oversee a drug cartel in Starling City. Martin Summers is working with the Triad, as we've previously discussed: throughout this episode's subplot, Laurel is defending the daughter of a man who was killed by Summers. Summers is also the main target in this episode for The Hood. Here it is once again, us seeing this Green Arrow-Black Canary relationship; I love watching how the writers take these characters and bring the depth to their relationship in a modern day culture, while still staying true to the mythology of the characters. In one scene, Thea takes Oliver to the grave site of him and his father. She explains to him that he needs to let someone in. He takes that advice and surprise, picks Laurel to open up too. With this, the writers now bring the element of romance of the Green Arrow-Black Canary mythology that is so famous. It's more than just the superhero fighting and saving the day to these characters and their relationships, you also have to factor in the romance of the relationship. I mean in 2007, DC did hold a wedding issue for the two, so it is really key element that the writers have gotten and done solidly. One of the things that I think works well for not having the two in a romantic relationship currently in the series is the psychological issues that still haunt Oliver from his time on the island: he still holds the guilt of Sarah's death. When someone has blood on their hands, it's a pretty hard thing to let go. In one scene, before he sees Laurel, Thea walks in on him changing and sees his scars from the island, and Oliver freaks out. Why would he freak out if he got them from nothing? No, he got them from something truly horrifying while he was stranded on the island. Thea insists on knowing how the scars came to be and Oliver's expressions can paint a horrifying picture. Something happened to him. That's the great thing about these flashbacks is we will eventually know every detail of every scar. During a narration, Oliver actually says he has to choose: he either has to be the man his mom wants him to be or the man he promised his dad he'd be. That alone is the complexity that brilliantly plagues the character. His mom wants him to take over the applied science division of the company his father help build; she wants him to be almost like a younger version of his father it feels like, but he has to be the man that he promised his father he'd be. His father's sacrificial death was the birth of The Hood. It was his father's dying wish for him to right his wrongs. With that, he can no longer be the man his mom wants him to be. His father wanted him to right his wrongs. He had to become Green Arrow in order to do so. To fulfill his father's last wish he takes up this mantle to protect the ones he loves. Not everyone, however, is a fan of Oliver's new found identity. Detective Lance is Laurel and Sarah's father, and he is also probably the president of the 'We Hate the Hood' fan club. I love one of the closing sequences of this episode, during which Lance actually has The Hood cornered at the docks but lets him go; while he may not believe in the hood on the surface, emotionally he sees something completely different. With weeks to come, the writers explore this Jekyll-Hyde war within Lance over the subject of the Hood. As we progress towards the end of the episode, we learn some key things to keep in mind about the ongoing plot line throughout all the episodes. The book where he finds the list was in his father's pocket and discovers it upon burying the body from wreck. As he does so, he is actually shot by an archer who plays a huge part in the origin of the character transformation. One thing we have to truly acknowledge is that his mother played a huge part in Oliver's being stranded on the island: she sabotaged the boat he was on. It was a small detail in a much larger plot. This episode keeps you wanting more as a viewer. The mythology is right in front of our eyes and told in a modern day way. It's a beautifully written addition to a wonderful show. What did you think