WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The CW's "Arrow."
Throughout its four-season run, The CW's "Arrow" has largely been met with praise from fans. However, that trend stumbled a bit when the series decided to confine Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) to a wheelchair. Why limit such a wonderful character like that?, fans wondered. Until, that is, rumors began to circulate that Felicity would become the Arrow-verse's version of Oracle, a paralyzed Barbara Gordon in the comics who aided Batman in his crime-fighting efforts.
Executive producer Wendy Mericle commented on those rumors to The Hollywood Reporter and explained why the show chose to go down that path with Felicity's character.
"To echo my co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim, Oracle is still off the table. It was really never our intention to go that direction," she said to the disappointment of fans everywhere. "We wanted to throw Felicity some big curve balls this season. And this seemed like an interesting way to go. We want to explore what her place is going to be on the team and her relationship with Oliver. It was less about trying to honor Oracle, which is obviously a great comic book character, and more about trying to play the reality of this situation for her."
Mericle says "Arrow" wanted to represent the harsh realities of crime fighting and the consequences that can ensue. The intimate battle of Smoak facing her own disabilities was one way to get that message across.
"At the moment where you see her, it's in a place of shock with respect to her own issues and shifting her focus on Oliver and making sure he doesn't fall back into old habits and do something he would regret," Mericle continued. "Going forward, it's not going to be easy. The reality is, making an adjustment of that kind for someone at her age, it's not an easy thing to do. We wanted to be as respectful and real towards people who are facing that reality and explore the ups and downs of it. So yes, you see her calm in [episode] 410, but I don't think it's realistically possible for anyone to very calmly accept this new reality."
It's hard to blame "Arrow" for making this move. After all, the show does exist on the teen soap opera-fueled CW. But at least the series is trying to approach this new challenge from a character standpoint, rather than go for shock value. We'll have to wait and see how it all plays out.
"Arrow" will return on Feb. 16.
