Character Profile: Malcolm Merlyn (Season 2)
I had a really hard time assessing Malcolm's thoughts and motivations for Season 2. Well, I guess that's really the same as Season 1, where he remains enigmatic at best. In Season 1, I postulated that Malcolm's core goal was to gain his deceased wife's forgiveness. With the demi-failure of the Undertaking, has he had to give up on that? And if so, what is he after, now?
My first thought about Malcolm this season was that he's unhinged. After all, he really only had two hinges: Tommy and Moira. Tommy's dead, and Moira betrayed him. So much for those hinges!
I wasn't sure what he wanted with Thea. Queencestqueen had an interesting theory on this development, that Malcolm was messing with Moira as badly as he could. This made sense to me, though in "Streets of Fire," Malcolm does explain himself, and I think he does it very well.
What he longs for is to have a family again. A real family, one that is happy. He has been carrying a torch for Rebecca all these years, but with the conclusion of the Undertaking, he may have been able to finally achieve closure and move on with his life. Even find a new love. (Yes, "gasp"!) And you can't tell me he didn't, on some level, have hopes that it would have been with Moira.
Now, at the end of the first season, Malcolm wanted to kill Moira for betraying him. Moira and everyone she loved. But since then, he's had a chance to cool off and rethink this... which is when he comes up with the idea of saving Moira from the death penalty. Because death is too good for her; he wants her to suffer.
But I think, going into even deeper layers, what he really wants is for Moira to explain why she betrayed him. Because he just does not get it.
From where he's standing, Moira was a close friend, and his partner in the Undertaking. She was unswervingly, unimpeachably loyal to him. I had been asking, since he returned, if he's figure out yet that it wasn't Frank Chen by himself who hired Deadshot to kill Malcolm. I have been thinking, that if he sat down and thought it through, he would come to see that Moira probably had a hand in that.
But has he had time to do that? As far as he knows, she only betrayed him at the last minute. Just when everything was set up and ready to go. Practically a done deed. Why she would turn on him at that point, what did she hope to gain from it...? He just can't figure that out.
So yes, he bribed the jurors to return a not guilty verdict. He showed himself to Moira, and he let her know how ticked off he was. And yes, he intended for her to suffer, because she really hurt him, but he didn't want her to die just yet. I think he was hoping she would come to a point where she'd try to explain herself.
Well, then, of course, she sicced the League of Assassins on him. And now... well. This has just turned into yet another goal Malcolm has that is impossible for him to achieve.
Though he might try asking Thea about it. (And I'm sure Thea would be happy to explain it to him, in no uncertain terms.)
My first thought about Malcolm this season was that he's unhinged. After all, he really only had two hinges: Tommy and Moira. Tommy's dead, and Moira betrayed him. So much for those hinges!
I wasn't sure what he wanted with Thea. Queencestqueen had an interesting theory on this development, that Malcolm was messing with Moira as badly as he could. This made sense to me, though in "Streets of Fire," Malcolm does explain himself, and I think he does it very well.
What he longs for is to have a family again. A real family, one that is happy. He has been carrying a torch for Rebecca all these years, but with the conclusion of the Undertaking, he may have been able to finally achieve closure and move on with his life. Even find a new love. (Yes, "gasp"!) And you can't tell me he didn't, on some level, have hopes that it would have been with Moira.
Now, at the end of the first season, Malcolm wanted to kill Moira for betraying him. Moira and everyone she loved. But since then, he's had a chance to cool off and rethink this... which is when he comes up with the idea of saving Moira from the death penalty. Because death is too good for her; he wants her to suffer.
But I think, going into even deeper layers, what he really wants is for Moira to explain why she betrayed him. Because he just does not get it.
From where he's standing, Moira was a close friend, and his partner in the Undertaking. She was unswervingly, unimpeachably loyal to him. I had been asking, since he returned, if he's figure out yet that it wasn't Frank Chen by himself who hired Deadshot to kill Malcolm. I have been thinking, that if he sat down and thought it through, he would come to see that Moira probably had a hand in that.
But has he had time to do that? As far as he knows, she only betrayed him at the last minute. Just when everything was set up and ready to go. Practically a done deed. Why she would turn on him at that point, what did she hope to gain from it...? He just can't figure that out.
So yes, he bribed the jurors to return a not guilty verdict. He showed himself to Moira, and he let her know how ticked off he was. And yes, he intended for her to suffer, because she really hurt him, but he didn't want her to die just yet. I think he was hoping she would come to a point where she'd try to explain herself.
Well, then, of course, she sicced the League of Assassins on him. And now... well. This has just turned into yet another goal Malcolm has that is impossible for him to achieve.
Though he might try asking Thea about it. (And I'm sure Thea would be happy to explain it to him, in no uncertain terms.)