The first half of Arrow's first season on The CW saw the vigilante faithfully following his father's list, going after the names on it in the name of justice and taking down corruption. But Oliver's (Stephen Amell) encounter with the Dark Archer (John Barrowman) opened his eyes to the fact that sometimes what we think or believe isn't always the whole picture, and now series executive producer Marc Guggenheim previewed, Oliver's going to widen his scope of targets, but also start to see more of a gray area when it comes to the names on his list and just how "bad" they may actually be.
"I personally subscribe to the philosophy of ‘the more formidable the adversary, the more heroic The Arrow'," Guggenheim said on creating greater challengers for Oliver as the episodes go on.
"I think part of the strategy is to just lean into it; you just write yourself into a corner and create a villain who can do almost anything, and you can sort of see what Oliver does to get himself out of it. But the other piece of the puzzle, and something I think you’ll see a lot of in the second half of the season, we really mix up the kind of villains he’s going after."
And sometimes they may not really be villains at all.
In "Trust But Verify," Oliver finds himself in a tough position when the next name on his list is Diggle's (David Ramsey) commanding officer and mentor from Afghanistan, Ted Gaynor (guest star Ben Browder). Oliver suspects Ted is responsible for recent armored truck robberies, but Diggle defends Ted and takes a job at Ted’s security company to keep an eye on him. Oliver decides to make a move on Ted, which puts him at odds with Diggle.
"The episode’s about how correct is Oliver’s list and can he rely on the names on that list? I have to say, ["Trust But Verify"] is one of my favorite episodes because at its core is the Oliver/Diggle relationship, which I think is playing to our strengths. When I look back on the most successful moments of the first season, most of them rely on the Oliver/Diggle relationship, and in this episode, really puts that front and center," Guggenheim said.
Arrow airs on The CW on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. "Trust But Verify" airs on January 23rd 2013.
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