"Pilot" is the first episode of the television series Arrow, which premiered on The CW on October 10, 2012. It was written by series developers Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg, and directed by David Nutter. The episode introduces Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), a billionaire playboy, his mother Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson), sister Thea (Willa Holland), new bodyguard John Diggle (David Ramsey), best friend Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), ex-girlfriend Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), and her father Detective Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne). It follows Oliver as he returns to Starling City, after having been shipwrecked for five years, and becomes a bow-wielding, hooded vigilante who sets out to right the wrongs of his father, who died during the shipwreck, and save the city.
Filmed in Vancouver, Canada, the pilot features two timelines on display: Oliver in the present, fighting crime as a vigilante, and Oliver when he is shipwrecked five years earlier. The developers wanted to bring a realistic vision to the character, which translated into a functional costume and no superpowers being featured. The pilot became the highest rated show on The CW in three years. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, who generally cited Amell's performance as a highlight. The episode was nominated for various awards, winning three.
Plot
Billionaire playboy Oliver Queen is found on a remote Mandarin Pacific island of Lian Yu, having been shipwrecked for five years. Oliver is welcomed back home to Starling City by his mother Moira, stepfather Walter Steele, younger sister Thea, and best friend Tommy Merlyn. They can sense that Oliver has changed, and try to question him about his time on the island after viewing the numerous scars that have riddled his body.
As Oliver rejoins society, and Tommy attempts to update him on what has happened in the world the last five years, the two are abducted by 3 masked men. With Tommy unconscious, they interrogate Oliver about his late father, Robert, and what he may have told Oliver before he died. Oliver manages to escape and fights his captors, killing them to protect his secret. The police investigate the kidnapping, and Oliver informs Police Detective Quentin Lance, his former girlfriend Laurel's father, that a man in a green hood saved them.
In response to the kidnapping, Moira orders Oliver to take on a bodyguard, John Diggle. Meanwhile, Laurel is revealed to be a lawyer currently working to bring a civil action against Adam Hunt, a man who collected millions of dollars from people living in the Glades, a small, crime-ridden neighborhood in Starling City. When Laurel discovered that Oliver is alive, the two meet. Oliver tries to apologize to Laurel for hurting her five years ago, as he was cheating on her with her sister Sara. Laurel reminds him that his behavior not only broke her heart, but cost the life of Sara, who was on Oliver's sailboat the Queen's Gambit with him during the wreck.
Oliver quickly sneaks away from Diggle and begins building his base of operations at an abandoned Queen Industrial warehouse. As he prepares for his new alter ego as a vigilante, Oliver reviews Robert's journal, which contains a list of various names. Disguised in a green hood and leather outfit, and armed with a bow and arrows, Oliver confronts Adam Hunt and orders him to transfer $40 million into an account to be used to pay back the people of the Glades. When Hunt refuses, Oliver makes the transfer anyway before escaping as the police arrive.
Later, it is revealed that Moira ordered Oliver's abduction so she could discover if Robert had told Oliver his secrets. In flashback sequences set during the shipwreck of the Queen's Gambit, Oliver recalls Robert sacrificing himself so that there will be enough supplies for Oliver to survive, asking him to correct the mistakes of the family and one day return home to Starling to save it.