‘Arrow’ Postmortem: Will Oliver Accept Ra’s al Ghul’s Offer?

After the shocking twist at the end of “Arrow’s” Feb. 25 episode, we have a lot of questions — and with the show in repeats until March 18, onscreen answers won’t be forthcoming any time soon. Luckily, Variety was among a number of outlets to talk with executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg following a screening of “Nanda Parbat,” and the duo — along with stars Katrina Law (Nyssa al Ghul) and John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn) — had plenty to tease about what’s coming up for Oliver and company when the show returns in three weeks.

Below, we ponder the implications of “Nanda Parbat” and offer the producers’ insights on what’s ahead for Team Arrow.

How will Oliver react to Ra’s al Ghul’s offer?
Needless to say, neither viewers nor Oliver were expecting Ra’s al Ghul to offer our hero the opportunity to take his place as head of the League of Assassins, and Oliver will still be reeling from that choice when episode 16, aptly titled “The Offer,” picks up. “Oliver is completely taken aback, because he’s not expecting that to be the case,” Kreisberg told reporters. “It was something that Greg [Berlanti] and Marc and I talked about — that it was important to have a different villain this year; somebody who was going to be doing something completely different. In season one we had the incomparable John Barrowman, who had his mission. Obviously, last year Slade’s mission was one of vengeance. For this year to have Ra’s, who’s presented as this giant malevolent force, but then to come up and basically offer the keys to the kingdom to our hero, it just felt like such a different way to go and a different relationship for Oliver to have with the villain. What Oliver’s reaction to it is, what Nyssa’s reaction to it is, what everyone’s reaction to it is, makes up the bulk of the next run of episodes — and what his answer is, and what that prompts all the other characters to do… It’s a different kind of threat because they’re asking him to join up. As Malcolm tells him in a subsequent episode [Ra’s] is not really asking. That leads to all sorts of interesting combinations and new paradigms.”

What does Oliver’s choice mean for Ra’s daughter, Nyssa, who has always assumed that she will inherit her father’s mantle?
Regardless of Oliver’s decision, the fact that Ra’s would bequeath his legacy to an enemy instead of his own child has major ramifications for Nyssa, according to Kreisberg: “Nyssa is the Heir to the Demon, so you can imagine how she feels when she finds out that what she would consider to be her birthright is being handed to Oliver.”

Law agreed, “I think Nyssa’s journey is going to be really interesting, just because she was so dead-set on who she was, what she was going to be, how she had laid out her future for herself… everything’s been thrown up in the air. She’s no longer Heir to the Demon, she no longer has her lover, who I’m sure she was thinking about keeping around forever. She has essentially, at this point in the story, lost everything. I think for the first time in her life she is vulnerable and she feels weak, and she feels useless and doesn’t know where she stands or who she is at the moment. I think it’s very jarring for her, because she’s never had to go through that ever in any capacity in her life before. I think you’re going to see Nyssa trying to figure out who she is and what she stands for now.”

Nyssa’s identity crisis may bring her closer to Sara’s sister, Laurel, according to Law. “I think the two of them may have more in common than Nyssa had originally thought. I think the Laurel character had lived a semi-smooth life… and that life was good, and all of sudden she lost her sister and now she’s lost her father. Now she’s trying to become something that she’s not necessarily good at — which is the Black Canary — but she will be,” she observed. “I think Nyssa’s going through the same journey of trying to figure out who she is. And now that she’s lost everything, trying to figure out how to become a softer human being with compassion and sympathy, and all of these things that she didn’t have to think about before. Making choices on her own without her father or the League’s guidance.”

Guggenheim added, “The best part of Nyssa for this season is seeing somebody who — unlike all these other people who had normal lives and then tragedy turned them into what they were — she was turned into what she was from birth. She’s actually going on a different trajectory where she’s seeing what kindness looks like for the first time and she’s seeing what normal people look like for the first time. Especially when what she considers to be her inheritance is taken away from her, it’s sends her on a completely different journey.”

Will Thea survive her confrontation with Nyssa?
After discovering that Malcolm drugged her and manipulated her into killing Sara, Thea battled her conscience in episode 15, deciding to tell Nyssa the truth and face the consequences. “We’re working towards telling a different story with Thea… She’s processing a huge amount of guilt and a huge amount of regret. At the end of 15, she’s essentially attempting suicide by Nyssa,” Kreisberg noted. “It’s a continuing progression; it’s not just going to be a repetition of her acting out, acting out. Certainly, in 16, she looks for closure in another way, because — spoiler alert — this is not going to kill Willa Holland’s character, but you’ll see that progression… This season is really the fight for Thea’s soul. More than anything, victory this season for Oliver is saving Thea. She’s caught between these disparate forces and then seeing what happens to Merlyn after these episodes, it’s the most screwed up family show we could possibly think of. Family matters.”

What does Felicity and Ray’s hook-up mean for Felicity and Oliver’s future?
In “Nanda Parbat,” Ray discovered that sex is sometimes the best inspiration — finally acting on the romantic tension simmering between him and Felicity and subsequently waking up with the solution to his technical problem, adding the finishing touches to his Atom suit and taking it out for a spin while she obliviously slept on. For now, according to Kreisberg, “Olicity” is taking a backseat to this new dynamic: “Part of the fun of watching couples on television is keeping them apart and watching how other people come in out of their lives. There are a lot of people who believe that Oliver and Laurel should be together, and people who believe that Oliver and Felicity should be together. We’re not sure how it’s all going to end up, we just do what’s right at the time,” he said. “For right now, Oliver has decided that, ‘I can’t do this,’ and Felicity’s not just going to sit around waiting for him. She’s probably the most healthy of all of them. He’s the one who’s shutting himself down emotionally when he has this amazing person who’s basically offering him hope and guidance and friendship and love. He doesn’t feel he deserves it and doesn’t feel that that’s what’s best for her, whether she agrees with it or not. Then you’ve got Ray who, in a lot of ways, is a real analog to Oliver; he’s had a tragedy and he’s trying to do right by it but he’s opening his heart to her and he’s Brandon Routh — how can you blame her?”

How will The Atom’s presence in Starling City change the game for Team Arrow?
“I think 317 is definitely the episode you’ll want to check out first, in terms of that question,” said Kreisberg. “Obviously, it’s not just the Felicity-Ray-Oliver love triangle that’s in play, it’s the fact that there’s a new superhero in town and he’s going to go about things in a very different way than the Arrow does. He’s not a part of Team Arrow. Right now, he’s just a very smart guy in a very, very powerful suit. Oliver’s definitely going to have an opinion and the first instance of that will be episode 317.”

What are the larger ramifications of Ra’s offer, for those on Team Arrow and outside of it?
“In the next batch of episodes, a lot of it has to do with sacrifice and what all the different people in our drama are willing to do for all the other people in the drama,” Guggenheim noted. “It doesn’t have to be life and death, but there’s a variety of different forms of sacrifice.”

Kreisberg added, “This year is really about ‘who am I?’ Every character is asking, ‘who am I?’ In John, ‘Am I the villain, am I the hero? Am I Thea’s father or am I just a killer?’ Oliver has been asking, ‘Am I Oliver Queen or am I the Arrow?’ and now he’s being presented with, ‘what if I’m Ra’s al Ghul?’ Nyssa, ‘Am I the Heir to the Demon or is there something more to me?’ Then Thea’s, ‘Am I this terrible thing that I did, or can I be something more?’ [That was] our goal at the beginning of the season and it’s continuing now and it really goes up to the end, because by the end of the year, people will have made their decisions for themselves. Some people will make surprising decisions and some people will make exactly a decision you’re expecting. It’ll be interesting to see who gets to be what.”

“Arrow” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

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