Arrow has been experiencing something of a revival during its fifth season. Both in the main story that takes place in Starling City, and the flashback plot (which has finally moved to Russia), Oliver and his allies and enemies have gotten back to basics. After a somewhat rocky third and fourth season, the fall of last year saw Oliver redouble his efforts to focus on the issues directly affecting his home and friends. He’s built up a new team, consisting of Ragman, Wild Dog, and Curtis, who’s finally becoming Mister Terrific. Team Arrow has also faced a brand new threat in the form of Prometheus, a villain who seems to know a great deal about both Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow.
The midseason finale gave us one of the show’s most devastating moments, when Oliver was forced to kill Felicity’s boyfriend in a scheme perpetuated by Prometheus. It was brutal and heartbreaking, and demonstrated the show at its most poetic and gut-wrenching. Not only will the moment have a huge impact on Oliver moving forward, as he’s prone to let his mistakes define him, but Felicity will certainly be rocked to the core because of what happened. Thanks to some images from Arrow’s 2017 midseason premiere, we know Oliver won’t have to wait long for a rematch with Prometheus either, and it looks like Felicity will be coming along as well.
Given what’s sure to be a lot of focus on Felicity when the series comes back at the end of the month, many fans have been wondering if the hacker’s parents would be returning to the series to help her out in any way. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be the case, as producer Marc Guggenheim told TV Line they have some different plans in mind for Ms. Smoak when they asked if the villainous Calculator (Noah Kuttler aka. Felicity’s dad) would be returning:
While bringing in a couple of fan-favorite characters, and two of the only ones directly connected to Felicity, would hardly be taking a step backwards, fans will likely be glad to hear the writers are pushing Overwatch in a new direction. That said, it doesn’t seem like the minds behind the show are completely ruling anything out, which makes sense given flashbacks are a key structural part of Arrow. Guggenheim went on to address assumptions about the series and where it’s headed:
“I would definitely love to bring him back, and I would love to bring Charlotte Ross back as Donna, but [we were like], ‘Let’s tell a new story, something we haven’t done before.’”
Of course, one of the chief concerns people have had about the death of Billy the Detective is that it would drive Felicity into a darker place. While a bit of darkness can be good for drama, Arrow has been known to do its fair share of wallowing in the past. Guggenheim assured fans, however, that what Felicity is going through isn’t all about her recent relationship, and rather is the culmination of “a bunch of things”:
“As with all things related to Arrow, it’s not what you initially think it is, and it will ultimately relate to the season’s overall theme of ‘legacy.’ But it will be very specific to Felicity.”
When we first met Felicity Smoak, she was a chipper and awkward IT worker at Queen Consolidated. Though the awkwardness has remained, Guggenheim is right to state that almost five years of working with Oliver is bound to have a negative impact on anyone’s psyche. How far down the dark path Felicity and the rest of the team will travel, we’ll just have to wait until the show returns in a couple of weeks to see.
“…Billy was the final straw. It’s also the sum of the fact that Felicity has been living in this darker world for the last four-plus years now…. How has that affected her way of thinking about things?”
Arrow season 5 resumes with ‘Who Are You?’ Wednesday January 25 at 8 p.m. on The CW.
Source: TV Line
