/Facepalm....

As promised, here's my quasi-rant about the latest episode of Arrow...[I think it's safe to say that there will probably be spoilers, sooooooo....yeah, if you aren't quite caught up with the series, you may want to wait and read this post later]

It's Felicity!

As I've addressed in several posts, I'm a huge fan of CW's Arrow...and [as can be read here and here], Felicity Smoak is, by far, one of my favorite characters. Ever. And I think at this point I should reiterate the fact that I've watched a ton of shows and movies, and have read a lot of books and comics...so, for me to say that Felicity is among my favorite characters...that's pretty huge. [To me, anyway...]

One of the driving elements of the Arrow story line [over the second half of season 2 and season 3, so far] has been the teasing of a potential romance between Felicity and Oliver...I mean, come on...who doesn't want to see the brilliant, 'nerdy' girl end up with Starling City's prince charming? [Though his reputation is definitely tarnished, thanks to the happenings during seasons 1 and 2...I still think that Oliver is going to come out everything on top!]

And then, there was the first episode of season 3

*** Okay, not kidding about the spoilers...here they are!***

For as long as Felicity has been a relevant character on the show, it's been obvious that she has some sort of attraction to Oliver. [Not that anyone could blame her...he's quite the handsome/charming guy!] Especially in the 1st season, before Felicity learns about Oliver's secret past-time, she adorably fumbles through social interactions with the handsome hero...as a fellow sufferer or social awkwardness, I really felt like I could relate.

And yet, as the episodes went on, it became more and more clear that the attraction wasn't quite as one-sided as it seemed...especially during the last few episodes of season 2, it started to look like Oliver was the only one that was denying his seat on the 'Olicity' ship. [hahaha...see what I did there?] During season 2, Oliver seemed to be confused on how he wanted to handle the reappearance of the long-thought-to-be-dead Sara...at one point, he even suggests to Sara that they live together, but that notion is rather short-lived. Sara decides to return to the League of Assassins [to hopefully ensure the safety of her family], and this also takes Oliver out of her realm of possibility. It seems as though this decision was for the best, and as a Felicity fan, I was thrilled to see Sara go! [Sara..../sigh....I wound up liking her character more than her sister, Laurel...but I wasn't able to reconcile Sara's actions from the beginning of the series...in my mind, she would always be the younger sister who stole her sister's boyfriend. Always.]

So. With Sara out of the way as a competing romantic interest, I thought that surely Oliver would pursue his increasingly obvious interest in Felicity. And in the first episode of season 3, when he asked Felicity out on an official date, I was ecstatic! She got all dressed up, Oliver put on a suit and tie, there were reservations to a very nice restaurant...it was an official date! [At this point in the series, Oliver had lost his family's company and was very, very poor...which, in my opinion, makes it even more touching that Oliver went through the trouble to treat Felicity to a nice dinner] The series of pictures on the left is a scene from said date...

Okay, so at this point, I realize that I've left out a key part of the Felicity/Oliver dynamic...up until the night that Oliver takes Felicity out for a date, Oliver refrained from pursuing his romantic interest because he had decided that he couldn't be with anyone that he truly loved. His rationale was that as long as he is Oliver Queen and the Arrow, he would be putting anyone that he cared about right into the cross hairs of whatever psycho-villain that bent on destroying Starling City/the Arrow/Oliver Queen. Now, I'm not absolutely positive, but I think Oliver even says this to Felicity at some point...

/sob

Back to the date: things seem to go well, there's the expected awkward banter...and then, there's an attack on the restaurant. Oliver scrambles to make sure that Felicity's safe [I can't remember the details...not sure if he pursues the assailants or not]...Oliver takes Felicity to their secret headquarters [Does that place even have a name? It should...] When Felicity comes to, she frantically looks for Oliver...I cried...those two are lying if they say that they don't love each other...

A good while later, Oliver begins to hint to Felicity that he was right in his initial thoughts that he would be putting her in danger if they continued to pursue a romantic relationship. Felicity tells Oliver that she doesn't necessarily think that it's so...and it all seems to culminate with Oliver telling Felicity that he loves her [even though they can't be together].




Now, I can't say that I completely blame Felicity for her response here...I think she was absolutely in the right for calling Oliver out for dangling the 'perpetual maybe' and not outright deciding to pursue a romantic relationship/retain a mostly-platonic working relationship. It would not be fair for Oliver to ask Felicity to stay in that fuzzy gray area between girlfriend and friend...soooo, I kind of have to respect Felicity for having the self-assuredness to demand that Oliver make a clear choice about what he wanted...

But yeah. this situation was rather frustrating...but it gets worse...

A new character comes into play [Ray Palmer. He's yet another millionaire genius. He bests Oliver in a corporate showdown to buy Queen Consolidated, and ends up becoming Felicity's new boss...] who clearly shows interest in Felicity...and though Felicity comes across as resistant to Ray's advances at first, within a few episodes she seems to be warming up to the guy.

To be fair, a good bit of this 'warming' happens while Oliver is out of the picture. [Oliver goes on a quest, of sorts, to clear up a 'blood debt' with the leader of the League of Assassins...he is presumed dead] About halfway through the latest episode, it appears that Felicity has finally found some peace with Oliver's death and started to move on...aaaaaand of course, this is the time when Oliver makes his grand re-appearance in Starling City. [The audience has known for almost an entire episode that Oliver is still alive...but, of course, he has no way of contacting anyone and letting them know...]

Noooooooo!!!!!

When Oliver and Felicity finally have a chance to talk, face-to-face, she kind of just let's Oliver have it...

I'm guessing that she was sort of venting the pain of having mourned Oliver for a month, and she was angry that it took so long for him to let anyone know that he was alive...but /sigh...come on!!!

I think she really should have cut the guy some slack!

I mean, he practically died. He went and faced down with a master assassin. He did this to save his sister's life!! Felicity has been one of the few characters that's been able to see Oliver's true-self...but I'm guessing that she's fed up with even that facet of Oliver...which, I don't get...

Sooooo....yeah.

This whole, very long post, all boils down to my dislike of this one scene [the one where she says she doesn't want to be a woman that Oliver loves].

It just doesn't make any sense!! [Okay...maybe it kind of does, but that doesn't mean that I like it!]

Thoughts? Comments?

Anybody have any additional insight to the falling apart of 'Olicity'? Because I'm rather at a loss on this one [and I'm tired of typing out this post...]