Season 1 (Arrow)

The first season of Arrow premiered on October 10, 2012 on The CW and concluded on May 15, 2013. The season consisted of 23 episodes altogether.

Synopsis
Oliver Queen was a playboy billionaire who ended up in a lot of social trouble and cheated on his girlfriend, Laurel, with her sister, Sara. In 2007, Oliver was shipwrecked on an island, Lian Yu, after both Sara and Oliver's father, Robert died. Five years later, Oliver is found by Chinese fishermen and taken back to Starling City to his mother, Moira, sister, Thea and best friend, Tommy Merlyn, but has returned with a mission to save Starling City from the people destroying it - which are on a list passed down from his father before his death - in a persona called "The Hood".

Oliver teams up with his bodyguard John Diggle to help the city against the various criminals on his father's list, but, on Diggle's insistence, also fights other criminals causing trouble in the city such as the Royal Flush Gang, Cecil Adams, Dodger, etc. Oliver also has a list of recurring villains to face such as Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot. Oliver also has an encounter with a copycat archer who proves to be stronger and faster than Oliver is and knows about the list and reveals that Robert didn't compile it, putting doubts into Oliver's mind for the longest time. Meanwhile, he is hunted by Detective Quentin Lance who will stop at nothing to bring down the Hood and also hates Oliver, blaming him for Sara's death. Oliver also occasionally visits Felicity Smoak with tech related issues, though when Oliver is badly wounded, he is forced to tell her his secret and she also becomes a part of the team. Diggle also has demons of his own to face, such as learning that Deadshot killed his brother Andy and he begins a vendetta to find and kill him.

In the entire series there was flashbacks of Oliver's arrival on the island, subsequent fight for survival against the soldiers of Edward Fyers, how he is tutored to fight by former Asian commander, Yao Fei Gulong, former ASIS soldier, Slade Wilson, and Yao Fei's martial arts expert daughter, Shado. Oliver is forced to make tough decisions in his matter of life and death. In the end, he learns that Fyers, per orders of his employer, is planning to destroy all aircraft that may leave China with a large missile launcher, to destroy its economy, and to have Yao Fei take the fall. Yao Fei is killed, but Oliver, Shado, and Slade manage to stop the plan, and Oliver kills Fyers.

In addition to Oliver's mission, the series also focuses on other characters' personal issues, many of which were shaped by Oliver's presumed death, such as his best friend, Tommy, and ex-girlfriend, Laurel, now dating each other, and Thea's drug addiction, which leads her to being put on community service with Laurel. Thea eventually meets Roy Harper, a gang banger in the Glades with a history of violence, but Thea becomes instantly attracted to him and tries everything she can to get him out of crime. Roy eventually does so, but when he is saved by the Hood, he becomes obsessed with finding and learning from him. Oliver himself also has several love interests such Helena Bertinelli, who turns out to be a criminal called "Huntress," and city cop McKenna Hall. Eventually, after Tommy's father Malcolm is almost killed by Deadshot, Oliver is forced to reveal his identity to Tommy so he can save Malcolm with a blood transfusion. The exposed secret causes tensions between them and eventually they stop talking as Oliver and Laurel slowly start to amend their relationship.

Moira is also involved in a criminal conspiracy with Malcolm Merlyn, who is the copycat archer known as the "Dark Archer". Oliver pursues his mother on this, eventually learns the involvement of both of them, and sets out to learn their plan. Oliver, Dig, and Felicity learn that Malcolm is planning to destroy the Glades, with a device that can cause an Earthquake, to avenge the death of his wife 20 years previously. The names in the list were men who Malcolm bought sections of the Glades from so he could fulfill his plan and Moira was unwillingly a part of the plan to keep Malcolm from hurting the Queen family or anyone they could know. Oliver and Diggle set out to stop him while Felicity and Quentin stop the machine. Malcolm is killed, but reveals that he has a second device and the city is destroyed anyway. Tommy saves Laurel from being killed in falling debris in CNRI, but is hit himself and impaled by a rod. Tommy reconciles with Oliver before he dies and Oliver enters a state of depression as 503 other people are killed.

Main cast

 * Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/The Arrow
 * Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance
 * Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn
 * David Ramsey as John Diggle
 * Willa Holland as Thea Queen
 * Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen
 * Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance

Recurring cast

 * Jamey Sheridan as Robert Queen
 * Colin Salmon as Walter Steele
 * Annie Ilonzeh as Joanna de la Vega
 * Roger Cross as Lucas Hilton
 * Caity Lotz as Sara Lance
 * Kelly Hu as Chien Na Wei/China White
 * Byron Mann as Yao Fei Gulong
 * Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
 * Christie Laing as Carly Diggle
 * John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn/Dark Archer
 * Sebastian Dunn as Edward Fyers
 * Jessica De Gouw as Helena Bertinelli/Huntress
 * Jeffrey Nordling as Frank Bertinelli
 * Janina Gavankar as McKenna Hall
 * Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson
 * Adrian Holmes as Frank Pike
 * Celina Jade as Shado
 * Colton Haynes as Roy Harper
 * Chin Han as Frank Chen
 * Jarod Joseph as Alan Durand
 * Alex Kingston as Dinah Lance
 * Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels

Home media release
A boxset of the first season, titled Arrow: The Complete First Season, was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 9, 2013. It contains additional features, including making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, gag reel, and highlights from the Paley Fest 2012.

Trivia

 * This the only season of Arrow where Katie Cassidy is in every episode as Laurel Lance.