Arrow Showrunner Addresses Foreshadowing In Midseason 5 Finale

12/14/2016 04:49 pm EST

While showrunners have all but discounted the notion that Laurel Lance's surprise return (from the dead?) in the midseason finale of Arrow is the result of Oliver Queen hallucinating or dreaming, that doesn't mean audiences should immediately discount the clue that led them to that scenario.

Moments before seeing Oliver return to the cave and meet up with Laurel, he was having an intimate moment with Susan Williams, a reporter for Channel 52 who seems to be on the heels of the story that Oliver was working with the Bratva during the time he was supposedly stranded on a deserted island five years ago.

Before they kissed, she poured them a drink -- revealing that there was in fact a bottle of Russian vodka on her table, something that keen-eyed viewers assumed meant she was up to no good.

"Were we too obvious with that?" Arrow showrunner Wendy Mericle laughed when TVLine asked her about it.

She told them, though, that it wasn't so much about indicating that Williams is a bad guy, or that she was doing anything to the drinks. Rather, it's more an indication that she hasn't given up on her investigation of Oliver Queen.

"I would call that foreshadowing more than anything else," Mericle said. "Susan is certainly on that [Oliver-in-Russia] train, for sure."

More Arrow: Cool concept art of Vigilante / Arrow gets a Batman '66-style animated opening / Felicity to do some morally questionable things in season 5 / Arrow's midseason finale dropped some HUGE Prometheus clues / Stephen Amell on Laurel Lance's return / Interview: Echo Kellum

Arrow airs Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. New episodes return the last week in January.

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