The Arrow

I really enjoy some aspects of The Arrow. (I am in Season 2, around Episode 10.)
1. It’s fun.
2. The lead character has an amazing athletic and Parkour prowess. So does one of his cohorts, Sara Lance.
3. The show goes back and forth between the lead character’s current life and his previous, five-year-long life as a shipwreck survivor on a harsh island.
4. They do a good job of showing some key moments, decisions, and actions in the lead character’s change, on the island, from a worthless playboy to a multi-dimensional character who is passionate and responsible — and a killer.
5. Some of the cinematography is beautiful and spectacular, some camera work is well-done, and some transitions are aesthetically well-crafted.

But here are some things I do not like:
1. Most of the main characters are (to varying degrees) psychological train-wrecks. They have trouble introspecting, communicating, grasping what their own value-hierarchy is, being honest, thinking of the consequences of their actions. Some characters are worse than others. Some are really bad.
2. Sometimes, some of the characterization is weak, especially at some key moments. Some motives and actions are not explained well enough. I feel like the writers merely shrugged off some explanations as too difficult or unnecessary to think about — or like some psychological and moral evaluation is outside their awareness.
3. Too many characters are influenced by altruism. The writers must be influenced by pragmatism, because the morality in the characters is what you’d kinda sorta pick up in our culture. They do what they do just because it’s ‘what a good person does.’
4. The thinking skills of the lead characters can be really, really poor. They have very impaired or no ability to integrate, to use principles, to induce, to follow the evidence of the senses. Heck, some of what they say and conclude cannot even be attributed to acting on feeling; it’s just plain confused, stupid idiocy.

But the fight scenes are enjoyable. And, as I said, I like the mystery of and flashbacks to the island the lead character was stranded on. And I like the love and dedication most of the main characters have for each other, and their fight for what is good, even if their understanding of the good is somewhat flawed. Team Arrow has total dedication to what they believe is the good and to defending it.