The Malcom Merlyn Thread

[LaughingMage]

Just saw that there isn't one yet and thought, "eh, why not."

Watching "Trust but Verify" I got a bit of a feeling that they might set up Malcolm as a bit of an Anti-Batman. His wife seemed to have been quite philanthropic and her death kicked off Merlyn's dark side. What if things went like this:

Merlyn's wife got killed by one of Starling City's downtrodden and this makes Malcolm so bitter, especially after his wife did so much to help the poor, that he blames them in general for her death cooking up the conspiracy to rid Starling City of the lower classes and training himself, essentially becoming a Batman type who doesn't blame criminals but poor people.

[DarKush]

That's an interesting theory and I feel it makes him more of an anti-Arrow, especially in the context of this show. For the most part Oliver has just gone after the 1%, who perhaps not coincidentally have been in his dad's book. He has been reluctant to take on 'street' crime, though he has done that more lately.

So Malcolm taking on 'street' crime, or blaming the lower class for all of the city's ills could be a dark mirror reflection of Arrow's stance, IMO.

It could provide more resonance for Malcolm. Because for me, I'm only into his character because I liked Barrowman as Captain Jack. His Malcolm has been a bit too Snidley Whiplash for my taste. And while I usually don't have a problem with that, I wish he had more brio like John Glover's Lionel Luthor or more of an edge like Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn.

Plus I wish they had done a better job establishing a relationship with him and Tommy. I just don't think they have good chemistry as actors. Perhaps if they had just told us he was Tommy's dad from jump and we saw more of their interaction I might feel better about that.

In retrospect I don't see why they just didn't tell us who he was, have him be someone Oliver might like or maybe even trust and then drop it on us that he's involved in the conspiracy too. Keeping his identity so mysterious only really made sense if he was going to be a big DC character, which is isn't. Even though he's supposed to be the dark archer Merlyn, it's not like he's Arthur King.

[Justin]

I personally the key scene was when he sat there with his photo of himself, tommy and his wife, and he obviously genuinely cares about Tommy.

I think Barrowman's character is two-fold. One is to be season ones Big Bad that dies in the finale. The second is to give reason for Tommy to become the Big Bad of all series.

I just picture Tommy finding his fathers gear, realising he loved him afterall and taking up the dark archer mantle. Maybe it's a bit predictable, but I expect it to go something like this.

[herolee10]

So, am I the only one wondering as to why Malcom hasn't gone after Green Arrow again? I mean it's been awhile since Oliver resurfaced back as Arrow in the public's eyes and he has resumed his mission on going after the people who are on the list so I would have assumed that Malcom would go back to what he was doing as the Dark Archer against Oliver by now.

[The Englishman]

Yes the Dark Archer needs to come back soon...

[Trimmings]

I'm sure we'll get a rematch for the finale

[vantheman77]

I wonder if the season finale will have Malcolm Merlyn as the Dark Archer gather all of the villains we've seen this season such as China White, Deadshot, Count Vertigo, Cyrus Vanch, and the Royal Flush Gang in taking on Green Arrow before he takes him on personally.

[ericadawn16]

Just so I get a scene with John Barrowman and Alex Kingston.

[Justin]

Realistically Dark Archer would have come back as soon as he was fit, and Arrow started up again.

Given that it's a TV show? The whole dark archer thing was a great way to keep people interested in the mid season break and a tease for the inevitable end of season rematch. Last episodes of the season are almost certain to be about the Undertaking, Barrowman and possibly Moira.

[godisawesome]

I'm kind of hoping that they continue to show Malcolm's fighting and weapon skills being more western descended than Oliver's. We've seen Malcolm fencing as opposed to Ollie's use of Escrima, his armor has a more medieval European look than Arrow's, and even his armory features a knights suit of armor.

It would be cool if they acknowledged that humanity has some parallel weapons development that is still unique enough that our hero and villain employ.