‘Arrow’ season 3 premiere spoilers: Meet the new Count Vertigo (video)

When we first heard that “Arrow” season 3 was going to introduce a new version of the Count after the death of the original (played by Seth Gabel), we were admittedly nervous. Gabel was great in the role, and you never want to go down the same road time and time again to the point where the story is now boring.

Luckily, the show has taken at least a few steps here to ensure that this new version of the character, entitled Vertigo, is a little interesting in his own way. First, you got veteran character actor Peter Stormare for the role. Stormare is killing it right now as Berlin over on “The Blacklist,” and he is delightfully scary in his own right here. Also, you have his version of Vertigo enhanced with what appears to almost be a fear toxin, like he is the Green Arrow version of the popular Batman villain Scarecrow. He reveals to Oliver what is one of his worst fears through an injection … and that fear is apparently himself.

The scene that follows is one of the coolest action sequences that we’ve seen, given that you are basically watching Oliver do battle against Oliver. Stephen Amell likely did a ton of stunt training for this role, and we also give him a whole lot of credit for being able to to make it so believable that he really is his own worst enemy. We’ve seen what he is capable of, and that is probably such a big reason as to why this fear is justified.

If you missed it, head over here to watch another sneak peek from this episode, or here to see the most-recent “Arrow” podcast right now. Also, you can sign up to grab some further TV updates on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: The CW

http://youtu.be/kajxGlMRe9E