Bringing in flashbacks for the fifth season of Arrow has made the show regain a lot of traction with fans as it introduced one of the most fearsome villains of the DC Comics, Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig), to the Arrowverse.
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The struggle between Oliver Queen and Ra’s al Ghul — his family and legacy — have been well documented, but what wasn’t known until recently is that the daughter of the demon helped train Oliver to become the Arrow.
The obvious question is why Talia would help Oliver. Clearly her loyalty to her father may be more loose than in the comics but there may be ulterior motives, according to the actress.
“The thing about Talia is I don’t think she is good or evil,” Doig told CinemaBlend. “She kind of sits in the middle somewhere and she is sort of more out for whatever it is that she wants; so if there is something that she wants to accomplish where the end effect is good, yay.
“If the end effect is not so good, well, boo-hoo for everybody but Talia.”
To this point in the season, Talia has been working with Oliver to transition him from a Bratva thuginto the Starling City vigilante that audiences have known since the inception. The beauty of the story arc is that it is a welcomed retelling of how Oliver was initially given the push to make the change.
Despite the guilty pleasure of seeing the transition on screen, it is not a safe bet to assume that Talia is, ultimately, going to be on the side of good. The facts still remain that she has killed a lot of people and is encouraging Oliver to embrace his darkness.
The flip side is that we are clearly on the side that the Bratva are bad and she will eventually lead him away from them, which again, questions her motivations.
The way Doig answers leads many to believe that there will be more of her as the storyline plays out over time.
“She is on a mission to find Oliver,” Doig said. “And so it is not difficult to figure out what Oliver’s current mission is for himself, so her attitude is, ‘it’s fine. I’ll help you accomplish this mission but then you’ve got to talk to me.’
“She’s got a bigger long game. She’s got a long game with Oliver that this is just one step in it… I think it is more like she’s helping Oliver with his agenda because she wants him to do something for her eventually.”
With the expectation of Talia appearing in the present timeline of Arrow and not just flashbacks the safe bet is that she is preparing to cash in the check of her long game — and maybe figure out how Oliver killed her dad and married her sister.
Based on the characters from DC, ARROW is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti (“The Flash,” “Supergirl”), Marc Guggenheim (“Eli Stone,” “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”), Andrew Kreisberg (“The Flash,” “Supergirl”), Wendy Mericle (“Desperate Housewives,” “Eli Stone”) and Sarah Schechter (“Supergirl,” “Blindspot”).
More Arrow: Doig Teases A Look At Talia’s Family Dynamic / What Talia Gave Oliver That His Other Trainers Couldn’t / Doig Hasn’t Seen The Dark Knight Rises
