User blog:MS225/Arrow Rewrite Project: Season Two

This is part two of me rewriting Arrow, a continuation of my previous blog post where I rewrite Arrow to be more like it's comic book counterpart. Like season one season two remains largely unchanged, with most changes occurring with names and with the Lances and Thea (or Mia in this version). The flashbacks also are the same. Check out my season one rewrite and feel free to leave suggestions or tips or just let me know what you think.

The Plot: Arrow: Season Two Rewrite

Plot Points

Oliver Queen returns to Star City following the death of his guardian, Walter Steele. After spending months searching for his former friend, Tommy Merlyn, Oliver returns to find his city under the care of his lover, Dinah Lance, who operates as the Black Canary alongside Oliver’s bodyguard John Diggle and computer expert Felicity Smoak. His young adoptive sister Mia has taken over his club with the help of a boy named Roy Harper, taken in by them as he formerly lived on the street. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman in white appears in Star City, stalking Dinah on patrol and she saves Roy. Oliver and Dinah track her down and unmask her as Sara Lance, Dinah’s young sister who was thought to have been killed. Sara and Oliver and reveal that she snuck onto the Queen’s Gambit to try and seduce Oliver, but that the boat was sabotaged by an unknown party. Sara later found Oliver on Lian Yu five years ago, but was then “rescued” by the League while they searched for Oliver. Sara then joins Team Arrow as the White Canary, but her history with the League results in conflict. Meanwhile, Sara reconnects with her family as she looks after a young teen named Sin. Meanwhile, Star City, a sparkling metropolis free of crime, goes up against a group freaks known as the Renegades, later revealed to have been hired by Slade Wilson, Oliver’s former trainer from the island and former friend from Lian Yu, in attempt to take everything from Oliver. As Slade’s revenge is thwarted when Roy rescues Thea and the Canaries keep Dinah from his clutches, Slade then dons his Deathstroke armor and kills Quentin Lance himself. Deathstroke then reveals his allies as Sebastian Blood (Brother Blood), the Mayor of Star City, Isabel Rochev (The Queen), Oliver’s business partner, and Slade reveals his ace in the hole, his daughter Rose Wilson (Ravager) who was masquerading as Sin. Rose kidnaps Roy and exposes him to the Mirakuru, leading to him being trained by Team Arrow in the place of Black Canary following her exposure to the Particle Accelerator. As Slade and his army attack Star City, Team Arrow and the police face off against them. As the city is burning, Black Canary and Nyssa al Ghul return, Brother Blood is killed by The Queen, Roy is cures, Mia is kidnapped by Tommy Merlyn, Black Canary defeats Isabel with her metahuman scream, Ravager betrays her father and saves Felicity as Green Arrow takes down Deathstroke himself.

Character Changes:

Oliver Queen: Oliver's story remains largely unchanged, being influenced by Walter's death instead of Tommy's to be more heroic.

Dinah (Laurel) Lance: Since Tommy didn't die and she is in a relationship with Oliver, Dinah doesn't become an addict. Her story revolves around her reconnecting with Sara, whom she is pleased to see, improving her skills and learning how to control her canary cry, which she gained when she was visiting her mother in Central City.

Mia (Thea) Dearden-Queen: Mia discovers Oliver's identity as Green Arrow this season instead of next. This happens when she's walking around her club and it suddenly occurred to her that her brother and her boyfriend are always disappearing to go into her basement. So she checks it out and finds the Arrowcave. She becomes the voice of reason as the only vigilante and she likes to hang out down there to keep Felicity company. She's also ok with everything and thinks it's cool. Since she wasn't planning on leaving Star City, her disappearance at the end of the season is long running mystery next season.

Quentin Lance: Since Moira and Robert died before the Gambit sank, and everyone Oliver cared about was on Team Arrow and able of defending themselves (or in Mia's case, had someone to defend them), so Slade was tired of their interference with their plans and killed Quentin to hurt Dinah and in turn hurt Oliver. This is to also keep Quentin from overstaying his welcome and to have someone die to hurt someone other than Oliver. Quentin's life ends a better point, with him reconnecting with wife and both of his daughters back. Quentin dies in the hospital surrounded by his family after learning their identities. This also further fleshes out Sara and Dinah, bringing out Sara's murderous side and Dinah's heroic (who still refuses to sink to Slade's level and makes Oliver promise to spare him).

Sara Lance: Having Sara start out as th White Canary firmly establishes Dinah as the true black canary. Sara wore a white outfit instead of the black one she wore with the League to show how remorseful she is and how's she's trying to step into the light. And the white also shows any blood she spills in battle, staining her suit to remind her of her sins. Since Oliver and Sara never actually had an affair, their relationship with Dinah is also a lot healthier. Avoiding having her as Oliver's love interest in the present makes a more independent and strong woman that doesn't need to be categorized as a love interest, unlike on the real show (With both Canaries, Felicity and Huntress dating Oliver).

Roy Harper: Like Mia, Roy is a bit younger to allow him to be more of a sidekick to Oliver. Him living with them (do him not being able to afford a house like he can in Arrow for whatever reason) is a nod to the comics where he's Oliver's ward. This also adds a more family dynamic and some comedy as Oliver has to continently separate them, like sitting between them during a movie or putting their bedrooms on opposite sides of the house so he can make sure they're not doing any funny business. Besides that his story is mostly the same.

Felicity: Felicity remains mostly the same throughout the season, up until the end. While it's clear she has a crush on Oliver, the feelings aren't mutual. I wanted their to be a relationship with two people of opposite genders that work together that doesn't turn romantic. I also felt that since Oliver was dating Sara (only on Arrow not in this version, except for a little on Lian Yu) until a few episodes before, having Oliver and Felicity suddenly be in love felt too rushed to me. I also wanted to keep the little sexual comments Felicity made in play that alluded to her feelings. Also Oliver's with Dinah here.

Diggle: Diggle's awesome. Nothing's going to change with him.

Slade: With his story remaining nearly identical, I decided to have Shado instead be in a relationship with Slade to rationalize his obsession with her. I also wanted to imply that Shado was pregnant at some point, only to have revealed to Slade on the freighter that Oliver had slept with Shado, meaning the child might not have been Slade's. This makes Slade even angrier with Oliver.

Sin (Rose): I wanted to include Rose in this season due to her being pretty important to Slade is. I wanted to have her pose as Sin to spy on Roy to make sure every aspect of Oliver's life was covered. Her leading to Roy's capture also adds guilt to her character and toys with her emotions, making it unclear what side she's on. She remembers the loving man her father was before the island and wants to impress him, but at the same time he's angrier and she's sickened by the fact he would use his own child for his agenda, and she found real friendship with Sara, Mia and Roy. And I wanted the true Ravager.

Isabel and Sebastian: Nothing's really changed, except that Isabel goes by her comic book name, The Queen, a reference to her obsession with the family of the same name and her lover, Robert Queen and how she wanted him to make her his queen.

Tommy: Since Tommy didn't die, I wanted him to come back as The Archer, a villain like he is in the comics. I wanted Malcolm to permanently die to establish that death is permanent on Arrow, so I transferred the relationship to Tommy and Mia. Tommy's involvement causes conflict with Dinah, Oliver and Mia. Dinah and Oliver remember him as they're best friend, while Mia is torn between her two brothers which Tommy uses to his advantage. Him kidnapping Mia becomes a major storyline in the third season, since nobody knew he was back.

The League: Their involvement this season is basically the same. However tying them into the flashbacks turns them into more of the cause of the overall show, and I plan for Ra's al Ghul to become the overall villain, rarely seen and only mention by name in whispers. Nyssa and the League only mention him as The Demon, getting name dropped only twice by Al Owal and Oliver. Oliver's secret connection to the League also plays a part in the remaining seasons.

And that's all folks! Thanks for reading and feel free to give me any suggests for the next season.