Arrow Review

Hello, world!

Tv shows have been one constant love in my life since I was ten and I saw the O.C. for the first time. I have the ones that I never stopped watching and I have the ones that I just give up. Finding a good Tv show is not easy, there is a lot of them and every fall or summer new ones come out trying to top the existent ones. Some win and some loose…

So this fall I chose the ones to keep an eye on and this post is about one of them. Arrow.

I think that the fact that I wait for each week to watch it, says it all. Up till now, it has been just amazing. For me it’s a bit of a mixture between Smallvile and Lost (the part of the secrets and the island).

“After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. When he returns home to Starling City, his devoted mother Moira, much-beloved sister Thea, and best friend Tommy welcome him home, but they sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal on the island. While Oliver hides the truth about the man he’s become, he desperately wants to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was. Most particularly, he seeks reconciliation with his former girlfriend, Laurel Lance. As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly creates the persona of Arrow – a vigilante to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory. By day, Oliver plays the role of a wealthy, carefree and careless philanderer he used to be – flanked by his devoted chauffeur/bodyguard, John Diggle – while carefully concealing the secret identity he turns to under cover of darkness. However, Laurel’s father, Detective Quentin Lance, is determined to arrest the vigilante operating in his city. Meanwhile, Oliver’s own mother, Moira, knows much more about the deadly shipwreck than she has let on and is more ruthless than he could ever imagine.”

The synopsis say basically all, but there are still important points.

One of them is the relationships between Oliver, Tommy and Lauren. Most tv shows when dealing with ex-girlfriends that you know that are still a current love interest, just ruin everything by just delving and delaying and adding problems where there should be none. So I was very happy by the fast but not to fast, if that makes any sense, relationship. Also instead of making Tommy the backstabbing friend they made him a sweet and loyal one.

And just for the extra… Yes, Oliver sister was Marissa sister in the O.C.

Let’s just say that if you want a breeze of fresh air with a touch of something that you already are familiar with, this is it.

Tell me what do you think about the secrets and what happened on that island in the comment box below.

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

 

The Pillars of the Earth

The Pillars of the Earth is a mini-series (8 episodes) based on a thousand page novel by Ken Follett. I would say that I watched   these series not only because they became very popular and were well refered, but also because I was very impressed and excited with the cast. I would have wished to see more of Donald Sutherland, but the outstanding performances of actors like Ian McShane and Eddie Redmayne paid for it. But now on to the review…

The story takes place in medieval England in a violent time known as the Anarchy. Trough the episodes we get to know Tom, the Builder (Rufus Sewell) and his family that travel from town to town to try to find work, restoring or building churches. He’s shown to us as vigorous and very visionary man, that with the help of a  so-called witch that eventually becomes his lover Ellen (Natalia Wörner) and her son Jack (Eddie Redmayn) he finally finds the chance to fulfill is dream and his promise to his late wife to build an impressive cathedral that will live trough the years.

While this happen, there’s a war building up in a slow pace at first, between princess Maud, the daughter of the previous king and her uncle, King Stephen. Also in between all of this is shown to us the plans and blackmail made by  the ambitious, murderous, self-flagellating Bishop Waleran.

Even though the story lines play out over several decades, I did not find it hard to keep track off what was happening and it gave me the chance to really know the characters and have a steady opinion about everyone. Also it was fun to see Jonathan, the baby of Tom and Agnes Builder grow up into a nice sweet boy, wich was a nice contrast to the what was happening in the stories; also seeing the difference from the frightened even childish  “I can’t kill that man” Richard of Kingsbridge (brother of Aliena) to a stronger braver man and finally that the quiet and shy Jack turned out to be in the end I think even more visionary that is step-father, Tom.

These series follow the same style as Tudors and Merlin, with very similar sets as the towns and the castles and with the clear view how was  very difficult to survive on those times. The wardrobe and the different style of language, showed very well the characters social status and in the general I though that they did a very good job in making it feel authentic. Also I was very inspired by the cathedral itself and the greatness of it. I travel a lot and I have visited numerous of religious places, known by their beauty and majesty, so I did appreciated the work that was done there, because it really was an amazing set and the last scene of the whole series really was incredible.

They are also very graphic, like most historical series theses days with a lot of violence and sex. Still I wouldn’t keep that from stopping me to watch it, I would just be prepared for some blood shed and torture (specially to some of our favourite characters). I actually will dare to say, that even though it wasn’t easy to watch the violent scenes, they just made me feel more for some characters and really make me wish justice to the “bad guys” that inflicted pain on them.

Regardless of the series being predictable and never exactly mouth drop (except the last scene for the image), they were in the over all really good and I didn’t leave my screen for a whole day. As I haven’t read the book, I can’t really say if it was a good or bad adaptation, never the less I enjoyed very much and I do recommend to people who like epic medieval historical sort of things (a little like myself) 😉

I leave you here with the series preview… hope you enjoy!

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words