But it doesn't pretend to be one kind of show and then morph into another.

Nicely put. :)

Much as I hate to say it, being a devout Marvel fan, Arrow is a far better show. It's violent, and the heroes have killed people, but they never started as something other than morally ambiguous (and very self-aware of it), and Oliver Queen (Arrow, the main character) has actually suffered in the show for his choices, and now almost never uses lethal force.

I dunno, you might like it?