“Olicity” Watch: Souls Once Lost, Now Found

Squeeeeeee!!! What a great week to be an “Olicity” shipper. Arrow brought the romance, the character/relationship development, and Felicity referred to Ray as a Cheeto. My life is complete. Without further ado, here’s our “Olicity” Watch for 4×06, Lost Souls:

Recap/Review: Where do I even start? This episode was awesome. And not just for the kissing (though that didn’t hurt). Felicity has realized that Ray isn’t dead and the team sets out to rescue him, eventually learning that he’s a prisoner of Damien Darhk. They get him out, but not before Sara realizes her bloodlust is too much to handle and skips town. In the meantime, Oliver invites Felicity’s mom for a surprise visit and reveals that they’ve been texting behind Felicity’s back. (Sidenote: I love a good Donna Smoak appearance and Charlotte Ross is a true comedic gem.) Felicity is increasingly annoyed with Oliver’s efforts to help her throughout the episode until the truth finally comes out: she’s worried about losing herself in him. The two eventually work things out when her mom helps her realize that it’s OK to get lost in their relationship because they’re finding themselves in each other. It’s the perfect way to describe these two, and also I’m worried I might break something from all the swooning I’m doing.

Over the past four seasons, we’ve seen Oliver seduce a great number of women. We’ve even seen him in relationships where he claimed to love the women he was with. But never have we seen him in love like this: vulnerable, scared and willing to do whatever it takes to hold onto something that matters. In that past, he’s been the one to run when it gets too serious, including hopping on a yacht with his girlfriend’s sister. Felicity is the person he wants to spend his life with, but both of them have to realize that it’s not always going to be roses and candlelit dinners. Real life isn’t Ivy Town. It’s messy and complicated and stressful. This episode was so important in defining their relationship. There’s absolutely no way these two aren’t endgame at this point. And, no, we are not going to talk about that stupid grave, because I’m 100 percent sure that FELICITY ISN’T IN IT Y’ALL.

“Olicity” Moments: Buckle up, this is going to take awhile.

• Oliver goes to visit a visibly frazzled Felicity at Palmer Tech, where she’s ensconced in junk food and her worries over Ray. Curtis and Oliver meet for the first time and it is everything I could have dreamed, including Curtis reminding himself: “You’re married, he’s straight,” as Oliver walks toward them. As we all know, Oliver is a sucker for awkward geeks who say whatever they’re thinking and he takes an instant shine to Curtis. But his main concern is for Felicity, who missed an important campaign meeting. The gentle, wary way he approaches her sets his tone for the rest of the episode: he’s not sure how to navigate anything bumpy in their relationship as he’s never previously cared enough to stick around when the going gets tough (sorry Laurel).

• Our favorite couple goes back to their loft and Felicity’s annoyance is starting to simmer as Oliver urges her to take a shower and a nap. There’s clearly something up with her, but there’s also a bit of that classic male/female communication issue going on: he wants to actively help, she wants him to let her figure it out. They still get adorably touchy as she pulls him in for a back rub and how much do I love how casual these two are with all the touching of each other’s bodies? SO MUCH. But then a Ray-alert bings and there’s his face on the screen telling them he’s been captured. I don’t mind his interruption as much as I would have last season—turns out Ray is pretty great when he’s not standing in the way of true love. Also, he’s much more cute when he’s tater tot sized.

• Back in the lair, Oliver wants to help and Felicity is uncharacteristically snappy. Well, it did remind me of this scene from Season 2, so maybe this is just her way of coping in the face of extreme annoyance:

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• Felicity’s annoyance goes from simmering to full-blown when her mom shows up at Oliver’s invitation. The two hilariously bicker over the comms (communication devices). It’s as if the writers have started reading fan-fiction, I swear. I would like an inappropriately intimate comms chat every week, please.

cr: Olicity Queen

• Later on, it’s like Diggle is watching ping-pong as Felicity and Oliver argue about her mother. Oliver has already made dinner plans for them and finds himself scrambling to explain while Felicity shoots him death stares. How can I love these two so much when they’re both being kind of obnoxious? Don’t ask me, I just do.

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• At home that night, Donna and Felicity sit in front of a raw-but-also-burnt chicken when Oliver comes through the door. He says he’ll fix it and Felicity gets passive aggressive. They speak in barely veiled tones until Donna picks up on the tension. She leaves, but not before telling Felicity to put a ring on it (a man who cooks!) and gives her some makeup sex advice. Oliver’s face is priceless, but any amusement fades when he finally confronts Felicity. He’s clearly shocked to realize that her attitude isn’t about Ray, but about them: Felicity, being a smart and independent woman, is terrified at the thought of losing herself in Oliver. I totally get her reasoning, and bless the Arrow writers for diving so deeply into their relationship. This fight could have easily been about Ray and jealously, but it’s more complicated than that and organically speaks to Felicity’s character. She and Oliver are independent, self-reliant people. Sure, they know how to work together as a team, but that’s not the same as intertwining every aspect of their lives. This is one of those necessary relationship fights, the kind that brings you closer rather than father apart. I was never worried, though my heart did break at the way Oliver lingered, waiting for Felicity to tell him not to go. But of course she didn’t.

• In the lair, Oliver and Diggle drink to their problems and oh, man, am I glad these two are friends again. The following scene is one of my favorites in Arrow history, as Oliver questions why Felicity picked him over Ray in the first place. It’s one of the few times we really see him insecure in this relationship while recognizing how different he and Felicity are. “Sometimes what looks good on paper isn’t what works in real life,” Diggle tells him and if there was ever a line directly aimed at Laurel/Oliver shippers, this is it. Both men love strong, smart women, Diggle reminds Oliver, and that takes a bit of work, patience, and space. At the same time, Felicity and her mom have a similar talk, where they finally dive a bit deeper into the story of her father. It’s not always bad to lose yourself in someone is basically the moral of this conversation. You can practically see the gears grinding in Oliver and Felicity’s heads as they consider all this advice.

• The two are tentative around each other during the Ray rescue mission, but the look of adoring love that Oliver shoots Felicity afterwards is enough to bolster my spirits for the next few days at least. She’s a target for Darhk now, which will bring its own set of complications, but her lack of fear makes hearts shoot out of Oliver’s eyes, so fine by me.

• Felicity comes into their gorgeously decorated bedroom looking particularly gorgeous to find a gorgeously shirtless Oliver spread out on their bed holding a journal. “Dear Diary, could I love Felicity Smoak any more than I already do? Probably not,” is what I imagine he’s writing. They break my heart with how tentatively they approach each other, and there’s a point where it’s clear that Oliver thinks Felicity is going to end it. The panic in his eyes and the way his body tenses just kills me dead. She doesn’t, of course, and they sprawl out on the bed, oppositely curled around each other as they talk through what happened like a real adult couple. They don’t have the best relationships as templates and they’re figuring this out together the best they can. It’s mature, honest, and such a breath of fresh air. It also gives me hope for their future—instead of creating some manufactured drama to wedge its way between “Olicity” the writers are focusing on the realistic internal workings of their relationship. Sometimes it’s hard to see why two people end up together on a TV show other than the fact that they’re two beautiful people who were hired for that purpose. But Felicity and Oliver have always felt realistic in how they came together and why they chose to love each other. They bring out the best in the other and nothing proves it more than Felicity recognizing how they find themselves in each other. At her words, the look of love that Oliver gives her is hot enough to burn up those sheets around them. Amell has always had a special way of looking at Bett Rickards, which is how she went from a cameo appearance to the main love interest in the first place. This scene is the perfect example of that as he leans in to give her an upside down kiss. You can just image how much a Spider-Man kiss gets to a geek-girl like Felicity, and she almost immediately gets on top of Oliver. Good job, lady.

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Kiss Count: One epic make-out session that starts with a “yin-yang” kiss and leads to some sexy times. YAY! Finally! I’ve been waiting five weeks for some “Olicity” loving. Also, can we talk about that kiss please? They’re curved around each other, opposites yet equals, balancing one another despite their differences. This one kiss is a metaphor for their entire relationship.

Best Moment: “Because we found ourselves in each other.” THIS SCENE YOU GUYS. I don’t even care that they have sex (lol, jk), because never has a line more perfectly described a couple. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s romantic as hell. But think about it: before Oliver, Felicity was an IT girl with a life she describes as boring. She wasn’t being challenged at her job, nor had she found her purpose. Oliver helped her discover that she could be more, that she deserved to be more. On the flip side, before Felicity, Oliver was a machine. He’d come back from the island damaged, broken, with a single-minded mission. He was a killer. He didn’t know how to love. Since then, Felicity has influenced every major moment where Oliver changes his path and grows as a person. She boosts him up when he’s fighting Slade at the end of Season 2. She tells him he has to find another way when he’s contemplating killing his enemies. She’s the person he leans on for support, and she has been from the start—even when they weren’t necessarily romantic. She’s the first person he could see as a real person after the island, when she disarmed him with her quirkiness and charm. They need each other. They make sense together and nothing proved it more than this scene and this episode.

Steamy AND Loving: It’s the best of both worlds this week. We get some loving relationship moments, from Oliver’s supportive hands on Felicity’s shoulders to the fight that only helps to cement their love. But they bring the steamy, too, with that open-mouthed kiss and all the close body contact. This is best-case scenario “Olicity,” and I can’t wait to see what next week brings.

Here’s next week’s promo for episode 4×07 “Brotherhood”:

 

Check in next Thursday for another edition of “Olicity” Watch!