Arrow Season 5 EP Wendy Mericle on Olicity, Mr. Terrific, More:
And right after Marc
Guggenheim’s IGN interview, we have Wendy Mericle’s follow up in Collider.
I kinda love it when these two tag team. Again, this is a repeat of
the same spoilers, but holy Moses is it detailed!
Felicity
For all those complaining about the lack of Felicity focus in
the IGN interview, Collider does a much better job. However, the Felicity-focused
topic is, as I said, “Havenrock PTSD”, which has been discussed numerous times
in other publications. Wendy does go more in depth in the Collider interview though. I think it’s really interesting that when asked which character is having the most difficult time she said Felicity. I love her reasoning
though. Felicity, more often than not, represents the audience so it’s really a
story about how WE would react to making that kind of choice.
“Felicity will be dealing with the fall-out of Havenrock. She
ultimately was responsible for the deaths of 20,000 people last year.”
I don’t think Wendy was blaming Felicity for what happened. Damien Darhk is to blame. He’s the murderer.
People were going to die no matter what. What Felicity is struggling
with is ultimately choosing who
lived and who died. Like a medic having to decide who they can save and who
they cannot. Felicity is struggling with not being able to save everyone. In
war there are casualties. In life and death situations you make choices and you
have to live with those choices. I’m likening it to a soldier killing in war or
a husband only being able to save his wife or child. It’s not the husband’s
fault anymore than it is Felicity’s. There is no good choice in those
situations. There’s simply what is. That’s the circumstance Felicity forced into. Now she has to grapple with her choice and how to live with it.
It is also a very similar situation to the choice Oliver made on
Lian Yu when he was forced to choose between Shado and Sara.
It wasn’t Oliver’s
fault. It was Ivo’s. But Oliver still had to make a choice and he still had
to LIVE with that decision. It haunted him. It was a major factor in his
PTSD…
and it was Felicity’s unconditional love that helped heal Oliver’s
pain.
Are we seeing where the writers are going with this now?
To start, Felicity will probably
keep Oliver at an emotional distance. Sure, they are partners
and can work together. Sure, she can be a source of positivity and challenge
him to be better. But will Felicity allow OLIVER to help HER? Will she TRUST
him enough with her heart to allow that? Eh… probably not at the beginning of
the season, which is where the drama and interest comes into play. The the
truth is, though, there is only ONE person who can understand what Felicity is
going through and there’s only ONE person who can help her.
Oliver.
Olicity
Which allows me to segue nicely into Olicity doesn’t it? I think
so too. :)
First things first, I forever love Wendy Mericle interviews
because she almost always tosses a little shade towards the
Anti-Olicity people out there. Namely the comic book purists who make it their
life’s mission to hate on this show and couple.
“The funny thing about Felicity and Oliver is that it’s not in the
comic books. Like you, I don’t come for a comic book background, and I feel
like I speak for those members of the audience, who are a lot, that don’t. “
In other words, IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE COMICS JACKASSES.
God
bless you Wendy. You are doing God’s work.
“The thing about having Emily [Bett Rickards] on the show is that
it was clear Emily and Stephen [Amell] had chemistry, and we wrote to that.
Right now, they’re in an ambiguous place and we’re going to see where that
goes. We’re going to lean into wherever these actors and characters take us,
and that’s the fun of it.”
This comment had Twitterverse all in a flutter, but for the life
of me I can’t understand why. First, it had the GLORIOUS subtext of significant
shade tossed Lauriver’s way. Every time the writers say “Stephen and Emily
had chemistry and we wrote to that” they are also saying Stephen and Katie DID
NOT.
I think this is an unbelievably nuanced statement by Wendy
Mericle. The point is to make everybody question whether or not the writers are
still invested in Stephen and Emily’s chemistry. Almost like Wendy is implying
that the chemistry just went POOF! Gone with the wind.
Meanwhile the fandom is
screaming at the top of our lungs, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
CHEMISTRY JUST DOESN’T GO AWAY!”
YES. EXACTLY. Chemistry doesn’t go away.
Wendy cannot come
out and say, “Hey Olicity fandom. We’re going to play with this ambiguous
thing for awhile and keep Oliver and Felicity apart. But here’s the date, time,
episode number and storyboard for when we reunite them. I’ll tweet out the
final draft of the script when we’re done.”
Never gonna happen my friends.
But what Wendy CAN say is they started writing Olicity because
the chemistry between Stephen and Emily… and they are going to keep following
it. Mentioning “chemistry” is Wendy’s coded way of saying “All roads
lead back together” because that’s how this relationship started in the first
place. She might as well hang a sign out that says, “YES. THEY ARE GETTING BACK
TOGETHER BECAUSE WE ARE FOLLOWING THE CHEMISTRY!”
But Wendy can’t say that because then every casual viewer from
here to Anchorage will know it. As for the hard core Olicity fandom it’s a
little coded message of reassurance.
At least that’s the way I read it! I know
some will disagree and that’s fine. Nobody has to share my opinion. I’m just
thinking my thoughts. But I do think it’s important to read between the lines
in these types of interviews. We can’t take the words as verbatim because there
is more there.
Wendy also cleared up any confusion from Marc Guggenheim’s IGN
interview.
“You’re going to see a lot of both of them reacting to this
decision they made. Between seasons, they’ve definitely had a conversation
about, “We’re going to work in the bunker. It’s going to be great.” They didn’t
really get to that question of, are we going to date? So, when all that starts to come
out, they’re going to have to make decisions. If they’re not going to be
together, what are they going to do? They’re not going to be single for their
own lives. They’ll have to see what happens. They’re going to have some big
feelings. There might be some toes that get stepped on, for sure.”
There it is. In black and white. As I explained, they had
the “How do we work together?” talk off screen, but not the “Do we
want to be together?” talk. Any and all worries that Oliver and Felicity won’t
talk about their feelings this season can be put to rest. There will be
feelings discussed, “big feelings.”
I also enjoyed the moment of truth tea from Wendy:
“That’s why you can’t always please everyone. You’re in charge of
figuring out what’s best for the show, creatively. Sometimes that isn’t what
the Olicity fans or the Laurel fans want. Sorry guys!”
Yes, Oliver and Felicity are not together right now and that has
the Olicity fandom unhappy. But it’s not the writers job to make us happy all
the time. It’s not the writers’ job to give us what we want, when we want it
and how we want it. They are readily aware they are going to upset us sometimes
and they are cool with it. As they should be. Pass me a cup Wendy.
Their JOB is to tell a good story. Are they always
successful in that endeavor? Hell no. They fuck it up sometimes.
I mean… holy hell.
It happens.
Writing isn’t a science. It’s art. Many an artist has thought they just
painted the next “Starry Night” only to have their creation tossed in the
trash after being told it’s a finger painting. That said, I do believe the Arrow writers
have been more successful than not with Olicity. I think they will right the
ship in the end. If you don’t that’s cool. We shall agree to disagree.
But Wendy ALSO mentioned the Laurel fans. What did the writers do that made Laurel fans unhappy?
Oh… that’s right.
The Olicity lumps pale in comparison. I also think it’s pretty clear which characters the writers are truly invested in.
I totally get why people are frustrated with this marketing
campaign. It feels all doom and gloom. All Wendy and Marc are saying
is “ambiguous,” “who knows where this will go?” blah blah blah. Trust
me… I get it. I understand why hearing that as a devoted fan of Olicity can
be tiresome. It doesn’t really get the engines revving.
But think of it this way. It was nothing but sparkly rainbows
and hearts for Olicity in the S3 promotion.
What ended up happening? We endured
the Bataan Death March of Pain before our favs got together.
Nothing but
domestic goodness, solid as a rock relationship
and RINGS in the Season 4
promotion.
What ended up happening? We got bitch slapped with Baby Mama.
I’m not ready to characterize the promotion of Olicity as
negative. I think the promotion fits with where the couple is at without Arrow
showing their cards. However, I’m comfortable characterizing it as… restrained.
lol But can’t that be a good thing? I think it might be.
Some may say I wear rose colored glasses. I disagree. I’m a
pragmatic person. Very pragmatic. I’m willing to take the good with the bad when I love a
television show.
I know many want hope from these types of
interviews. Many need hope from the writers and cast. Unfortunately,
that’s not what promotion is designed for. It’s not designed to give us hope. It’s
designed to sell this show.
How Arrow has packaged their promotion this season
may not be as shiny, but it’s still promotion. They want people to worry, so
they watch. Typically, we get this type of promotion in the middle or end of the season. They are serving it up early I guess. Although, nuggets of rainbows are certainly appreciated and I think we’ve gotten those too.
It’s totally understandable if it’s not your preferred promotional approach, but this isn’t anything new with Arrow. They promote this way, at some point, every season. At least now we know and we can skip reading articles if it hampers our enjoyment of the show.
Now, I am ONLY speaking of myself. If you feel differently
that’s cool, but, for me, I don’t need the summer marketing campaign
to entice me into watching. Do you know how many interviews I’ve read about
Blindspot? Umm… one? Maybe? I’m totally psyched and absolutely going to
watch. That goes for all my shows - including Arrow. If Arrow didn’t air a
single promo or give a single interview, I’d still be pumped for the new
season. I’d still watch because I love the show.
I can absolutely understand
why some were hoping the writers and cast would get them more jazzed up,
because poor story choices left them disillusioned with the show. It’s absolutely valid to feel that way. I’m just
explaining why I’m so “meh” about the tempered promotion. I’m not ignorant to
the mistakes Arrow makes. I’m pretty vocal about them when they happen. So
far, Arrow hasn’t made a mistake that’s made me want to stop watching. I may be
the minority and that’s okay. I’m also ready to move on. New season. New start. Let’s do it.
For me, the real hope for Olicity is always… ALWAYS in the
story. If you look at the story there’s plenty of hope. Especially with how
Season 4 ended.
Stray Thoughts…
More Baby Moira talk about Thea. Oh Lord… the dream is so
close I can almost taste it!
I am TOTES here for Diggle being annoyed with all the baby
chicks in the hen house. I’m giggling at the thought of it.
Again, Wendy made
the comment that Diggle will be like Season 1 Oliver.
So, again who will be the
best person to understand what Diggle is going through? Oliver. Who will be the
best person to help him? Oliver.
Oliver being the light for his team was something I thought we’d
see at the end of Season 4. Don’t get me wrong, Oliver was. He inspired them to
keep fighting, but he wasn’t able to hold the team together in the end.
Arrow is hammering away at this theme of “Legacy” is huge. One of the big
shockers of Season 4 was that Oliver FAILED much like Season 1. Not at saving
the city, but at being the man he set out to be.
Arrow has been very clear that
they are wrapping the five year journey. So, if this season is all about
legacy, seeing his father’s mission through, and saving the city… then it
leads to the conclusion that Oliver will succeed in all the areas he failed in
Season 4. He will not only save Starling City, but he’ll be his very best self.
He’ll not only inspire his team to keep fighting, but he’ll be the light that
heals their pain. Diggle, Felicity and Thea are cold from the ocean they are
drowning in. Oliver will be the sun that warms them.
The beats were there in Season 4, but I think the writers will hit them in Season 5.
Comparing the new vigilantes and street crime to events we are
seeing in everyday life has me extremely jazzed. Arrow is always at its best when the Big Bad/fighting is based in a gritty realism. The mob is very
simplistic and that’s why I love it. Bare bones. Back to basics indeed.