Paying Tribute To Arrow’s Recently Departed

(Warning: SPOILERS for this year’s season finale of Arrow are being discussed!)

These days, when it’s a season finale for a popular genre TV series, something major happens to change up the status quo. This year on Arrow, we saw that there were several big changes, but no change quite so big as the death of Tommy Merlyn, played by Colin Donnell.

A role like Merlyn is a very tough one to crack. From the beginning of a show like this, I think we all thought “okay, this guy is going to put on a black suit and become Merlyn, the Dark Archer, arch-enemy of Green Arrow,” and now, we see it didn’t happen, unless a Lazarus Pit or something comes into play and brings Tommy back. Because of this, and the somewhat douchey nature that we’re led to believe from Tommy in the series premiere, which softened over time, a lot of people may have been predisposed to think “He’s the bad guy. I don’t like him.”

Unless your character’s name is Damon Salvatore or Dick Casablancas, that’s a tough thing to somehow come back from. I’d like to think the character Tommy Merlyn pulled it off and defied viewer expectations.

Fortunately, Arrow recruited Colin Donnell for the role of Tommy, and while at first it seemed he didn’t have a whole heck of a lot to do, we started to learn more. Yes, we got jealousy, and from a lesser actor that might have come off to be more of the annoying side, but you could also understand — especially when Tommy learned Oliver’s secret in “Dead To Rights.”

Unlike everyone else on the series so far, that revelation wasn’t roses and rainbows. As played by Donnell, Tommy looked more than a bit conflicted, knowing his friend had killed others. He also knew that this meant Oliver really did change on the island — and that revelation scared him. Perhaps deep down Tommy even realized that, like himself, Oliver wasn’t a jerk anymore, and was just as much of a valid suitor for Laurel.

That’s not even getting into the things that Tommy found out about his father at season’s end.

At his core, though, Tommy ultimately meant to do good… as he did when he saved Laurel’s life. He went out a hero, and his sacrifice, I think, will inspire Oliver in times to come. I think Oliver will also think even more about killing, now that he’s known his friend’s reaction to it.

The Arrow finale was a shocker, and I know Tommy (and Colin) will be missed, but if you’re going to go out, you can’t ask for a better way to go out than that. I’ll also give Team Arrow props for doing something I honestly didn’t expect for them to do. As for Colin? He’s back to doing theatre, and I can only hope that one of these days he does a show out here in Los Angeles. You can keep up with him on Twitter at @ColinDonnell — and, of course, we’ll let you know what he’s up to, as well.

On a more personal note: Colin, we managed to only meet twice, on set and at Wondercon, but both times you were incredibly cool and a pleasure to talk to. Thank you for everything that you brought to Tommy. Find a way to come back to Arrow sometime, please… but most of all, again, thanks.

Essential Tommy Merlyn viewing recommendation: “Dead To Rights.” Written by Geoff Johns and directed by Glen Winter, this is the one where Tommy’s world came crashing down.