‘Arrow’: Wendy Mericle Teases Felicity’s ‘Dark Night of the Soul’

Despite Team Arrow dealing its first major blow to Prometheus in the previous episode — by finally outing his identity as Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) to the public — don’t count the meticulously prepared villain out yet.

The episode ends with Chase driving off into the night, covered in blood, whistling a tune even though his well-kept secret is out in the open. Executive producer Wendy Mericle told Variety that even though Chase wasn’t necessarily expecting something like this to happen, he still has a plan.

“Chase is a guy who can pivot on a dime,” Mericle said. “This might have been a surprise for him, but Chase is like a grandmaster at chess. He’s played out every possible move, and knows that regardless of what his opponent is going to do he’s got a plan.”

Variety spoke with Mericle about Chase’s plan going forward, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) getting in deeper with Helix, and familiar faces returning as Season 5 winds down.

Do Chase’s plans elevate now that he’s been outed? Before he seemed to be content to revel in the fact that he could just show up to work and flaunt his freedom in front of Oliver (Stephen Amell).

His plans have to change. The public knows who he is, and he can’t be quite as blatant as he’s been. That said, he’s got a continuous plan, and he’s mapped out every step of it. That’s been part of the fun with this season; there’s nothing Oliver can do to one-up this guy.

Felicity is getting in much deeper with Helix. Does that storyline come to a head in this week’s episode?

This episode is very much Felicity’s dark night of the soul in respect to Helix. She’s been going down this rabbit hole, Oliver and Dig (David Ramsey) have been watching it and trying to pull her back from the brink of making the colossal mistakes they each have made. The time for reflection is gone and she’s only going to be thinking of the decisions she’s made and the moral consequences she’s made after the episode.

Oliver has frequently found success by allying himself with questionable people. You can’t really argue with Helix’s results regarding Prometheus. Is he being a bit hypocritical toward Felicity?

He recognizes the hypocrisy of it — how could he not? He’s seen enough of the people around him go down these dark roads. At the same time, that’s really the crux of the issue for him. He’s seen people do it, he knows what the cost is on the other side of that, and I think it’s less hypocrisy and more a genuine concern for not wanting her to make the same mistake.

Speaking of allying with questionable people, you revealed that Deathstroke will be returning for the Season 5 finale. How was it to bring the character and Manu Bennett back into the fold?

It was fantastic to have Manu back. He’s a member of the family. He was so formative in Seasons 1 and 2, and Deathstroke is a huge factor in the comic books for Oliver Queen. It was fantastic to have him back, and Deathstroke is an unpredictable character, so Oliver taking him on makes you wonder. He must be in a pretty dire situation if he’s aligning himself with people like that.

While the flashbacks have really built up Oliver and Anatoly’s (David Nykl) relationship, the present storyline has been tearing it down. After last episode’s confrontation, is there any hope of repairing it?

I think if it’s ever going to be repaired it will be very difficult and hard-fought. Oliver has crossed the line, and Anatoly has as well. What’s interesting about the story we built to in last week’s episode was Oliver didn’t know quite how far gone Anatoly was. The fun will be when we do bring him back — which we are definitely hoping to — is digging a little more deeply into what corrupted him.

Oliver’s “island” flashbacks are rapidly approaching their close. There isn’t much time left before you sync back up with the first scene in the pilot.

We’re really excited about where we get to with the flashbacks. It’s a very emotional thing for Oliver. We know he gets back home, but we came up with a pretty cool, innovative way of accomplishing that. We also get the opportunity to see a stolen moment from the Pilot that we didn’t actually see in the Pilot.

“Arrow” appears on the CW on Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

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