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jbuffyangel · 6 years ago

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Stolen Identity: Arrow 7x10 Review (My Name Is Emiko Queen)

Arrow kicks off their mid season with a slumpy snoozer of an episode, but there are a few golden nuggets to chat about.

Let’s dig in…

Olicity

Oliver is beginning his new career as a legal vigilante by working with SCPD as a consultant. I wonder how much that pays. Hmmm.

Anyway, Dinah is a little know-it-all about the crime scene when she tells Oliver, “Try not to screw it up.”

Source: smoakmonster

By screw it up do you mean solve all the cases the SCPD can’t? Because that’s what Oliver has been doing the last six years. He was casing crime scenes while you were in cleaning toilets in the police academy, Dinah. Actually, I don’t know if that’s true. Oliver and Dinah are pretty close in age, but I’m feeling punchy today so I’m standing by my analogy.

The forensics officer is feeling punchy about Oliver too. Apparently, not everyone is thrilled the Green Arrow is working with the police now. God only knows why. It’s not like he hasn’t saved the city from annihilation several times. OH WAIT HE HAS. Ungrateful twats. Respect your elders!

Can we have a side bar about the SCPD?

They are throwing shade at Oliver and instructing him to not screw up a crime scene, but if they did their jobs in the first place the city wouldn’t need the Green Arrow. Are we really blown away by the SCPD’s accomplishments over the last seven years? They can’t arrest anyone unless Oliver delivers them with a bow. We are given the token “good” cop every season:

Quentin Lance: great detective, but ended up working with the Green Arrow because crimes actually were solved then

McKenna Hall: shot and left the city

Billy Malone: shot and killed

Dinah Drake: became a vigilante

Curtis’ boyfriend: also shot and I can’t even remember his name

They were incapable of handling Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson and Ra’s Al Ghul’s attacks. The citizens of Star City fought back with Oliver against Damien Darhk. Oh and the entire police department was corrupted by Diaz. Not to mention crime is back on the rise and the citizens are bemoaning the lack of Green Arrow assistance. Not exactly a stunning endorsement of the SCPD, so cool it with the uppity comments. You’d be dead ten times over if it weren’t for Oliver Queen.

Oliver offers to speed things up by using his “resources” do analyze the blood on a piece of broken window.

Source: smoakmonster

Meet Oliver’s resources:

Felicity has a new security system which can read DNA.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Uhhh that’s amazing. I want one.

Source: feilcityqueen

My babies are all made up and back to being a united team with adorable they’re-so-married banter punctuated by smush face smooches. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE FANDOM!

These two fell in love over a bullet ridden computer, so analyzing DNA is their idea of Netflix and chill.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Look how happy Felicity is! Has a cuter cupcake ever existed? The correct answer is, “No except for your daughter Jen.” Why thank you. I quite agree.

We all know Felicity has Oliver’s DNA sequencing memorized.

Source: olicitygifs

Yes, I know the memories of the Season 4 crossover are still traumatic. If you are triggered watch the Olicity wedding to ward off the flashes and nightmares.

Oliver is a little too surprised the archer is a woman.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Hey! We have hands and eyes too big fella. Men aren’t the only ones who can point an arrow. Hang on. That sounded dirty.

My point (HA!) is GIRL POWER.

I love how Felicity asks Oliver to sit down and he does his patented side eye thing and asks why. Hilarious. I never tire of that reaction from Oliver.

Felicity is remarkably calm which, let’s be honest, is probably because she’s relieved Emiko is just Oliver’s sister and not another spawn from a one night stand. No offense William. Mama Jen loves you pumpkin.

Oliver, however, is shocked. Is it really a big surprise your father was a little slutty back in the day, Oliver? Apple meet tree.

Robert keeps enormous secrets and expects Oliver to fix all his “wrongs” post mortem. That’s it. That’s the show.

And yet I still love Robert Queen and so does Oliver. If Robert was alive right now Oliver would probably punch his dad, then hug him, and ask all the questions he wants. Scratch that. Oliver would hug his dad first and then punch him. Unfortunately, Robert is dead and there’s no one to really answer why. There’s no where Oliver can channel his hurt, anger and confusion. The same goes for Emiko. Or is there? Hunting bad guys with a bow and arrow is therapy in this family.

Source: olicitygifs

Felicity continues to win the award for Supportive Wife of the Year. Oliver is floundering in unknown yet familiar waters and Felicity is his life raft. She handles all of this like a pro. She’s probably used to Queen family shenanigans by now. Noah’s criminal record and Donna’s penchant for five inch heels really pales in comparison to the crap Oliver’s parents pulled.

Oliver wants whatever answers he can find before he introduces himself to new little sister. As Felicity said, Robert Queen did love a good paper trail. It seems he handed those books out as stocking stuffers. Is it the same book? Or maybe Emiko made her own book and this is some truly bizarre Queen genetic characteristic.

Oliver doesn’t have it all together and he’s spiraling a bit. Oh how far we’ve come my friends. A few years ago Oliver would have shut down and buried his head inside that hood.

And now he’s allowing himself to feel. Oliver is hurt, angry, confused, ashamed and deeply sad. He’s grieving the relationship he was cheated of having with Emiko for all these years. Yet again, Robert and Moira have acted in their family’s self interests and without much concern who they destroyed in the process.

The reason why Oliver is falling to pieces is because he knows Felicity will be there to pick them up. Oliver doesn’t need to be on top of things because Felicity is, and even better, he is letting her take care of him. Oliver no longer chooses to go it alone. We’ve come light years with Oliver Queen.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Oliver’s love and pride in his wife bubbles to the surface even when grappling with another earth shattering secret being exposed. This soft smile is pure you-are-my-genius-and-I’m-so-thankful-I-wife’d-you-so-hard. You can feel the relief Oliver feels over being home with Felicity, out of prison and in his own damn body. He can face anything as long as she’s by his side. Slabside didn’t cause any kind of regression. In fact, Oliver came home ready to double down on everything he’s learned over the last six years. He is holding onto his wife even tighter now. It’s beautiful to see.

Does anyone else find it hard to believe it took seven years for Oliver to discover a secret storage unit given how shady both his parents were?

At least it gives us more adorable Olicity. Felicity looking at Baby Oliver’s drawings is everything I didn’t know I needed.

Source: oliverxfelicity

This Thea mention isn’t accidental. It took time for Oliver to love Thea. I am fairly certain my sisters are still adjusting to my arrival and I’m 37. Oliver was just a little boy reacting like how many older children react to the news a sibling is on the way. However, it’s slightly applicable to what is happening with Emiko and Oliver. They will grow on each other. It will just take time.

Of course, there’s a letter from Robert Queen to Walter Steele in like the third box, sitting right on top, which explains exactly who Emiko is. This is major plot contrivance even by Arrow standards, but whatever.

Robert admits he loved Kazumi Hadachi and the daughter they had together, but abandoned them both. They were supposed to be cared for in the event of Robert’s death (translation: write a check Walter), but that never happened because of Moira.

Who didn’t see that one coming?

This has Moira “I Hide Babies And Lie About DNA” Queen’s sticky fingers all over it. If you are losing track allow me to refresh your memory:

Moira paid Samantha off and let Oliver believe she miscarried

She lied about Thea’s biological father

Kept Robert Queen’s love child hidden and in abject poverty for her entire life. (allegedly)

I love Moira and she has her good points, but man she was a piece of work sometimes.

The question of course is why? Moira knew Robert had affairs. It’s the reason she had an affair with Malcolm – a little tit for tat. Emiko is older than Thea though, so one of two things happened:

1) Walter showed Moira the letter and she found out about Emiko after Robert’s death. She refused to follow his wishes and locked up the secret in a never-to-be-found storage unit.

2) Moira knew about Emiko and Kazumi, but forced Robert to give them up. He left the letter to Walter in hopes he would circumvent Moira. It seems Walter did not do as Robert asked or he tried and Moira stopped him.

Oliver: How can I believe that he ever loved anybody but himself? How could he abandon them in the first place?

Felicity: I don’t’ think Moira gave him much of a choice.

Felicity has danced this paternity dance before with Moira Queen. So, she’s leaning towards Option 2 and I agree.

Oliver already answered the why. Kazumi and Emiko were Robert’s second family. There was another woman and child Robert deeply loved. We can multiply whatever hurt Oliver is feeling by this betrayal ten times over for Moira. Cheating is one of the worst things you can do to your partner.

I sympathize with the pain Moira must have felt after discovering Emiko and Kazumi, but it doesn't excuse what she did. Robert should have acknowledged his child and cared for both, but that would be unacceptable to Moira for a few reasons.

She would never allow Robert to make a public mockery of her. Moira would be humiliated if Starling City knew Robert cheated on her and had a second family. Furthermore, the scandal would be enormous and could damage the Queen family name – i.e. their company, which means the bottom dollar.

Moira always did whatever she believed necessary to protect her children. Thea wasn’t born yet, but I’m sure Moira viewed Oliver as the rightful heir to the kingdom. She wouldn’t want a child not of her blood threatening to take it all away or force Oliver to share it.

It’s not just that Robert cheated either. It’s about who he cheated with. The Queen family was like royalty to Starling City. Robert cheating on Moira Queen with a poor woman from the Glades. This would be another level of humiliation to Moira. Nope. She ain’t having that.

Moira was absolutely classest enough about the Glades to look down on someone like Kazumi. Hell, she was working with Merlyn to blow up the Glades at one point. Moira looking down on someone like Kazumi isn’t a stretch.

There could be a level of revenge to this. Robert hurt Moira deeply and chances are she wanted to punish Robert. He had to make a choice and he better damn well choose Oliver and her.

Not that I’m putting this all at Moira’s feet. These are Robert’s choices too. Moira can demand all she wants, but it was Robert who ultimately made the call. He walked away from Kazumi and Emiko. He abandoned them.

Obviously, it’s wonderful Robert raised Thea as his own. However, Emiko does bring another layer to the decision. Robert was denied a relationship with his biological daughter, so of course Thea gave him an avenue to a father/daughter relationship again. Perhaps, Robert’s forgiveness and acceptance was atonement too. He acknowledged his actions were no better than Moira’s.

However, if Moira refused to let Emiko be part of their lives then Robert refused to do the same to Thea. It is forgiveness Moira did not show him. She could have welcomed Emiko into her life just like Felicity welcomed William. Robert loving Thea was a constant reminder to Moira that she did not give Emiko the same love. That could be viewed as extremely passive aggressive behavior. Their marriage was so fucked up. Yikes.

Oliver: I worked so long and hard to redeem my family’s name after the terrible things they’ve done, but abandoning someone and a little girl? It’s unforgivable.

Yeah that line is no accident either. I’m quietly whistling and taking a long hard look at the flash forwards and Blackstar. If William and Roy do not know her, and she is Oliver and Felicity’s daughter, then they must have been forced to separate from or hide her. It won’t be anywhere near the same situation as Robert and Emiko, but there could be some kind of parallel drawn.

The first five years of Oliver’s story was about a son righting his father’s wrongs. Oliver is still dealing with the consequences of Robert Queen’s sins, but they’ve added another layer to his character. Now Oliver is the father. He’s had to sacrifice his family to do noble things, but that doesn’t make the pain of those sacrifices any easier.

I’m sure Oliver and Felicity will have a good reason for all of their decisions in the future, but it doesn’t make it any less painful for their children. It’s not an apples to apples comparison by any means, but Oliver may come to understand or even sympathize more with the choices his father made.

That said, it’s hard to imagine Oliver and Felicity “abandoning” their children for any reason given how strongly Oliver has reacted to what Robert did and how hard they both fought to bring their family back together. Also, this is Oliver and Felicity we’er talking about here. Oliver would loathe himself to repeat the same behavior. So, if this isn’t all a ruse, I’m expecting some seriously major extenuating circumstances.

I also want to add we may be dealing with a very broad definition of abandonment at least when it comes to William. Based on Beth Schwartz’s remarks from her latest interviews, the abandonment William is referencing in the future may very well be Oliver and Felicity sending him to board school.

Uhh... that’s not abandonment kiddo. But it’s also entirely possible another separation is coming too.

However, Oliver is exactly who Robert Queen asked him to be – a better man. Whatever mistakes Robert made with his life and children, Oliver will either avoid or fix it. Oliver is the hero and father Robert never could be. The only real certainty we have is Oliver’s love, honor, selflessness and constant striving to be better can heal whatever pain is caused. That’s just who Oliver is. It’s why we love him.

Source: olicitygifs

This is exactly what Felicity tells Oliver on their balcony, complete with shoulder nuzzle.

Source: olicitygifs

Robert committed a great wrong by abandoning his own child. Oliver can’t fix everything for Emiko, but he can offer to be something no Queen ever has- her family.

Emiko and Rene

It’s very important to the Arrow writers that we understand Emiko is just like Oliver. She chases bad guys in dark alleys, hangs them upside down and puts the fear of God into them until they talk. She has her very own book with names to cross off. (Seriously how many copies did Robert Queen hand out?) Emiko works in a super secret dilapidated lair with perfectly lit soft glow lights.

Not green though! Emiko is back lit in purple because she’s a girl. Honestly, at times it looks a little red too. Do what you will with that information, but no green lights should be your immediate tip off that Emiko won’t become the new Green Arrow. Is Arrow really that obvious? Yes, my sweet summer children. They are.

Emiko even has her own voice over talking about injustice, the broken system and how someone must stand up to stop it. The similarities to Oliver don’t end there! Emiko is also a stubborn, extreme loner with severe anger issues. I may have wiki’d Bereavement Disorder too. But darn it, Emiko has a good heart and is a hero too!

If you’ve sensed some sarcasm coming from me you’d be right. I know the Arrow writers love a good parallel. It’s their crack cocaine, but pulling major beats from Oliver’s storyline and making Emiko Oliver 2.0 felt like lazy writing to me. It’s a quick way to imbed Emiko in the story without doing seven years of character building. Oliver did all the heavy lifting and Emiko is cashing in.

She even gets shot and has to turn to her beautiful, genius, funny and IT – wait. No. Emiko goes to Rene. Not Felicity. I suppose it’s nice our couple is so iconic the writers are stealing storylines from them, but get your own damn shipper moments! I draw the line at Rene being the Felicity in any situation. Nope. No sir. Unacceptable.

I’m hopeful we’ll get more individualism from her character as she develops. I know I am typically a fan of the super obvious parallel, but it felt like a short cut this time around. The great thing about all these similarities to Oliver is they will be like two cats fighting. They’ll drive each other nuts. Or at least Oliver will drive Emiko nuts. Oliver will be more focused on apologizing for their douche bag dad and begging for a chance to get to know her.

After Rene blows one of Emiko’s ambushes she warns the next time it happens she’ll put an arrow in him. There. We found a difference! Oliver would have shot Rene now.

But Emiko wants to know why Rene is helping her.

“You said your mission is personal. So is mine. I watched as my wife got shot to death by a drug dealer from these streets. And for a long time, all I saw was red. Then I met Oliver Queen and the team and they helped me channel my anger into a fight for a better life. I just want to pay that forward.”

It’s a good speech except Rene leaves out how he turned states evidence on Oliver, but that’s just details. There’s another nod to red. Someone on Twitter told me Emiko will become Red Arrow, so maybe that’s going to happen. Or it could mean nothing. Time will tell. Rene does get Emiko to trust him and she finally fills us all in on her back story.

A fire began in Emiko and Kazumi’s apartment building, but the fire department never came because it was in the Glades. The building burned down and her mother died. However, Kazumi wasn’t killed by the fire. Emiko believes she was shot in the head by Glen Morgan. Emiko is hell bent on getting justice for her mother’s death.

Unfortunately, Glen Morgan swears he didn’t kill Emiko’s mother. He was out of the country for the last two years. He’s being set up. This means Emiko is no closer to finding her mother’s killer. I have a feeling Kazumi’s murder will lead back to A.R.G.U.S. and Deputy Director Bell.

Emiko needs Oliver’s help, but they’ll have plenty of issues to work through. No shortage of drama there!

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Felicity: I mean I’m no therapist but I’m pretty sure the technical term for that is cry for help.

Felicity is right. Becoming Green Arrow 2.0 isn’t exactly a subtle way of signaling a connection to Oliver.

Emiko put on the hood after Oliver admitted who he was and went to prison. She had to know either Oliver or Team Arrow would be curious about her identity. Perhaps Emiko thought it would be impossible to discover her identity because Oliver was in prison, she’s not in the system, and there are no birth records. Emiko Queen doesn’t exist according to the world.

Source: @smoaktechs

Hence her anger. She was abandoned by her father and then again by the Queen family after he died. Robert’s reasons don’t really matter to me. The bottom line is he chose Oliver and Thea over Emiko. At least that’s how it looks, regardless of Robert’s intentions, and I’m fairly certain this is how Emiko feels about it too.

So, it’s not all that surprising she chose to put on the hood after Oliver’s incarceration. The hood serves as a great vehicle for Emiko to find justice and she knows her identity will be fairly well protected. It signals a connection to Oliver, but also frustratingly denies him the answer to what the connection is. It is Emiko’s way of saying, “I know who you are, but you don’t know who I am,” while giving Oliver the middle finger.

However, the real reason Emiko became the Green Arrow was to steal a part of Oliver’s identity. She wanted to take something precious from Oliver’s life just like he took something precious from hers. Emiko wanted Oliver to see someone else living the identity that was rightfully his. She wants Oliver to sit in jail and watch, absolutely powerless to stop it. Just like Emiko was powerless to stop being denied a Queen.

@callistawolf mentioned this in our 7x10 podcast but it is so bang on I have to mention it here. Emiko is like Will Scarlet from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Robin lost his mother at a young age and his father found comfort in the arms of another woman for a time. Robin felt Lord Locksley was betraying his mother’s memory, so his father gave the woman up. Will Scarlet was the product of their affair. Instead of living in comfort, with a father who loved him, Will and his mother were forced to live in poverty. Will was denied the name and life that was rightfully his because their father chose Robin.

Will: It’s not a lie! You ruined my life! I have more reason to hate you than anyone, but I found myself daring to believe in you. What I want to know brother is will you stay with us and finish what you started?

Robin: I have a brother? I have a brother. I will make my stand with you. Side by side. Until the end.

It’s a great scene. I get choked up every time I watch it. No it doesn’t matter Kevin Costner could never master an English accent. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is the shit. Don’t @ me.

To be fair, Robin didn’t know about Will Scarlet so directing all the blame at him isn’t entirely fair. The same goes for Oliver. He didn’t know about Emiko so whatever anger is being directed at him isn’t entirely fair either. However, Will could only direct his anger at Robin because their father was dead. Sound familiar? We’ve even got the damn bow and arrows kids.

It’s not about what Oliver did for Emiko. It’s about what he represents. But as Emiko embraces a darker path with Rene, it is clear her big brother is exactly who she needs right now.

Flash Forwards

We finally see the inside of the Glades in the flash forwards and it looks exactly like the Capitol from The Hunger Games.

Everything is bright, shiny and everyone feels evil. As we predicted, Rene is a mayor.

He has spectacularly awful hair and needs to lay off the spray tan.

It’s bad friends. It’s real bad.

A man who looks exactly like Seneca Crane hails Rene as the person who single handedly cleaned up the Glades. Uhhhh okay?

Zoe is Chief of Staff, but she doesn’t seem to really care. She tries to tell Rene about the plan to blow up Star City, but Rene doesn’t seem to really care. Well, great. Good talk guys.

Rene: When the Glades needed help no one came to our rescue.

Listen up, Mr. Mayor. Oliver Queen’s mission was never about saving part of the city. The mission was to save ALL of Star City. What’s happening to the citizens outside the Glades in the flash forwards is not any better than what’s happening to the citizens inside the Glades during present day. The location of the problem is just flipped, but it’s still the same problem. Rene is no savior and he’s definitely no Oliver Queen.

Zoe wants access to something called the Archer program. It’s the security system that wiped out crime and keeps the citizens of the Glades safe. It also sounds exactly like something Felicity Smoak would invent and then name after her husband. I STAN ONE COUPLE.

In fact, Felicity is working on a new security system in present day which registers DNA (thanks to Delaney @Lane1812 for pointing that out!). That is probably the first genesis of the Archer program.

At some point this security program falls into the wrong hands - Deputy Director Bell perhaps or maybe the Ghost Protocol goes terribly wrong. According to Rene, they “barely recovered.” I’m assuming he’s talking about the Glades. It’s been a couple years since the Glades were attacked and it would make a great parallel to Star City being under attack in the flash forwards.

Rene refuses to give Zoe the codes to the Archer program and she pretty much gives him my speech (re: see above) about the days he used to give a crap about the entire city. You’re doing great, sweetie.

Dinah arranges a clandestine meeting by night with Rene and by that I mean she sneaks up on him. He refuses to hand over the codes until Dinah threatens to beat the crap out of him. Dinah would totally win. The accuracy is real.

She did try to appeal to Rene’s conscience first. Dinah tells him Felicity is dead and he seems genuinely shocked by the news. Dinah reminds Rene he is part of the Mark of Four and they owe it to Felicity to stop whatever is going to happen to Star City.

Dinah: We made a promise to always keep fighting, to be there for each other no matter what – all of us. You, me, Roy, Diggle, Oliver and Felicity.

Now we officially know the Mark of Four members. You know what name I didn’t hear? CURTIS HOLT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

We have a shot in hell now of Curtis being kicked off this show at some point.

I expressed my joy about this on Twitter and I got a couple “this person isn’t on it either” as if it is meaningless Curtis isn’t included. So I’m going to head these names off at the pass.

1) Barry – there is no way the writers would include a main character from another DC show (the lead no less) to be part of a major Arrow storyline, which the Mark of Four is. Thank you. Next.

2) Bl*ck Siren/L*urel – these characters are all Team Arrow members and BS has never been part of Team Arrow. I don’t think she ever will be. At best, she’ll fill a consultant like role. The Spike to Arrow’s Scooby Gang. For whatever reason she’s not part of the Mark of Four, which isn’t surprising, but in no way compares to Curtis. He is the only Team Arrow member left off the list.

3) Thea – Willa Holland is not on the show anymore. They would not include a character that is no longer on the show.

If you are wondering why Roy is part of the Mark of Four I would buckle up and prepare for some bad Thea news. Either Roy and Thea broke up or she’s dead. Personally, I prefer dead. I don’t want the reason Theroy not getting their happy ending is because they couldn’t make it work. Upside is we’ll get to see Roy in present day and hopefully soon.

Anyway, Curtis being left of the list is significant and nobody can tell me otherwise. I KNOW MY TRUTH. I shall celebrate with glee and keep a watchful eye for a potential exit storyline.

If Diaz kills Curtis I might have to like him and that scares me.

Rene meets with Flash Forward Seneca Crane to tell him Dinah has “the plans.” So, Flash Forward Seneca Crane is the one planning to blow up Star City. Rene agreed to build up the Glades, but never planned to wipe out the city. Flash Forward Seneca Crane explains Star City is a “cancer which must be cut out.”

Finally, Rene asks about Felicity’s murder. Seneca Crane explains she was becoming a “liability.” It would seem we’ve met Felicity’s “murderer” or at least the person behind her murder. Where’s a bow and arrow when you need one?

If you’re wondering who the hell is Seneca Crane allow me to explain.

Seneca Crane is the head game maker in The Hunger Games, but Katniss Everdeen outsmarts him in the end. There is no way this half baked version of Seneca Crane outsmarted Felicity Smoak. She’s our Katniss Everdeen. Hell, she’s better than Katniss Everdeen. Felicity is alive and working undercover to stop the destruction of Star City.

I don’t believe Rene is evil either, despite acting like he has zero problem with killing Felicity Smoak. It’s either one of two things. A) He’s been working undercover with Felicity the whole time or B) Rene was unaware of what was truly going on, but now that he does he will work with William & team to stop it.

I’m going with B for now.

Dyla

Back on the other show called “The Stupid Thing Diggle Did This Week,” John offers Diaz his freedom if he hands over the terrorist financier Dante. WHAAAAAAAT?

When Deputy Director Bell asks WTF is going on (dude same) Diggle explains he and Lyla are reinstating the Ghost Protocol, which is basically a poor man’s version of Suicide Squad. Lyla is pissed because Diggle cooked up this plan without discussing it with her and then, by telling Bell, made it impossible not to back it. Lyla shut down the Ghost Initiative and swore never to reopen it. Diggle knew that. He insists it’s the perfect cover for their operation and everything will be fine, which automatically means this will be a disaster.

Lyla: And here I thought I was the one in danger of becoming Amanda Waller.

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN. You want some ice on that burn Diggle?

Diggle needs to go back to Oliver and Felicity. He’s a mess without them.

Stray Thoughts

Hey! Who gave Emiko her mask? *side eyeing Barry Allen*

At some point they will need to tell us who makes the suits. This is like waiting for the identity of Gossip Girl.

Sara gave Emiko a leather jacket too. Uh oh. Don’t tell L*urel. ;)

I’d also like to know where Emiko learned to fight and shoot. Just details. No biggie.

I wish Emiko had money. I miss billionaire Oliver.

Well I said Emiko’s mother is either China White or a random character. They went with rando.

The aging makeup is extremely bad in high definition. Has anyone Arrow actually met a 50 year old? They don’t look like Rene and Dinah. Moira Queen was 50 when she died. Robert Queen was almost 50 when he died. Did they look like they’ve been left out baking in the sun for twenty years? No. Do they not have hair dye in the future? This is ridiculous. People are living until their eighties and nineties. Fifty is not that old. Get a grip makeup department.

“One of the canaries.” OMG are there more in the future? Canary, LL Bl*ck Canary, White Canary, Bl*ck Siren, DD Bl*ck Canary, ZR Bl*ck Canary. That’s at least six, but sure Jan she’s an original character.

Rene saying, “We need a person in the chair" proves my exact point about Curtis. The writers are constantly making the genius of Felicity Smoak sound replaceable and it fucking bugs the shit out of me.

Smeh. No matter how much they say they aren't doing a replacement Thea storyline that's exactly what it looks like. There was nothing in this episode that dissuaded my opinion on that matter. It sounds disingenuous to say otherwise.

Arrow is getting into a bad habit of killing mothers. This isn’t a Disney movie. Find a new theme.

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geneshaven · 6 years ago

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Arrow, Season 6 (Threads of Discord)

The following breakdown of Season 6 has been churning around in my addled brain since 623 ended two weeks ago, and today I felt compelled to bring it out into the light of day. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with anybody else’s take on the season. I’m only putting it down in black and white, because quite frankly, it’s a way for me to make sense of what was served up to us this season. I was left with some discombobulated thoughts and feelings when 623 was over, so much so that the next night I felt an immediate need to write a fic, (The Distance Between Two Hearts, *plug, plug*) to give everything a happy ending and to help it all go down smoother. So, here is my final take on the Season as a whole.

When Lian Yu blew up at the end of Season 5, the writers of Arrow left a few storylines up in the air; mainly, Oliver and Felicity and their momentum of getting back together. A lot of fans just assumed it was a done deal. They kissed. They hugged. They made a promise to one another that after the smoke cleared; they would talk about being in each other’s lives again. (I’ve thought recently that the visual of Lian Yu exploding into larger fireballs could be a great summation of Season 6.)

So, hiatus came upon us in the summer of 2017 and the writers tried to pull a fast one, leaving all our beloved characters fates up in the air via a lame cliffhanger. Oliver saved William from Chase’s clutches. Samantha was killed, giving life to one of the plot lines for Season 6. Thea was caught in the explosions, blasted into a coma; a colossal waste of her character and of Willa’s acting abilities. John was injured, setting up yet another ill-conceived plot line for Dig. The Newbies---well, they survived, but a lot of fans might have wished they were blown up. Quentin survived, only to be killed off after stringing him and us along with a lunatic fringe thing with Black Siren---another waste of a good character and actor. And Felicity? Of course she would survive. But how did she survive? A really great potential scene was wasted by the writers not having Oliver searching for and finding the love of his life safe and in need of a hug. She was last seen running for cover; then after five months of hiatus, she reappeared at the Bunker with food orders from Big Belly Burger for the guys. There was a brief scene with her and Oliver alone in the Bunker, with UST hovering over them like an image of the salmon ladder calling out to them. Instead, they danced around each other and gave us an ever briefer talk about William, how they had agreed to stay apart in order for the boy to adjust to his new life. “Not tonight, another night,” Felicity promised Oliver. Had that been going on for five months? Were cold showers to be the norm for them in the unforeseeable future?

It was not to be, and plot took the lead over character for the bulk of the season. As a result, the stories were paper thin and patience thin.

To be fair, not all the episodes were terrible. There were a handful that had glimmers of promise. 603 and Olicity finally coming back together with one big kiss was pretty okay. 604 is a front-runner for me, coming in as a favorite episode. It was a rare example of character over plot, which is why it worked so well. Having Oliver and Felicity switch places, (due to another plot driven story line of Oliver giving up being the Green Arrow and passing the torch on to John) with Felicity out in the field and Oliver taking up the Overwatch mantle---it was inspired writing. Yet, having John in the Green Arrow suit and leading the charge, as well as turning him into a drug addict; it was so out of tune, sending the fandom into a tail-spin. And the Newbies? Didn’t they get blown up?

So after 604, we got some filler episodes, giving the writers more time to strengthen their plots. Slade Wilson and his mission to save his son, and dragging Oliver along with him was not a good idea, story wise. I always liked Slade Wilson’s character; the good and the bad. But the writers missed another chance to send him out with a good and final story.

We got a very brief look at Oliver getting arrested in 607, on Thanksgiving no less. It would come back to haunt everybody in 623.

The Crossover. Nazi’s. Doppelgangers. Evil Oliver as the Fuhrer. Supergirl as Eva Braun. Felicity as a victimized Jew. Quentin as the Gestapo. The WestAllen wedding ceremony and the destruction it suffered. Whoever paid for the event probably felt the economic hurt more than the invasion. It would have been more believable than the racist crap MG and AK came up with.

Then at the end, it was a shout-out to Oliver telling Barry guys like them don’t get the girl. They were married to their loves, side by side in an impromptu ceremony. Okay, because I am an Olicity shipper, it was good to see them happy and all in with their love for one another. No rings, no wedding apparel and no vows. Just a beautiful fall day by a lake. It worked for some and was a travesty for others.

Olicity’s reception in 609 took some of the sting away from their unconceivable double wedding. We got a lot of pretty, (Oliver and Felicity dressing up) an ill-advised toast from Rene, (Rene, really? If I were John, I would have been pissed by that demotion) music and dancing, cake-cutting and bouquet-throwing---and god help us; the Hoffman’s.

So 610, to the end of the season, was nothing short of the worst writing to ever find its way onto the show. It was a flight of fancy and preference for Marc and Wendy. The whole civil war thing between OTA and NTA---how could they think that would be entertaining? And killing off Cayden James, who had the potential of being a good villain and replacing him with Ricardo Diaz---it was the writers shooting themselves in the foot and the fans in the back. Rene shooting at Felicity and taking an axe to Oliver, Curtis intentionally hurting John to get intel and Dinah just generally pissed at everyone---it was all a swirling, nauseating mess of WTF.

Then John and Oliver throwing each other around the Bunker like kids in a schoolyard? John brings out some pent-up resentments and disapprovals over Oliver’s leadership abilities. Really? It was just more piling on on Oliver to keep the plot going. Oliver is now a husband and a father, and maybe even a role model. He has earned all that makes his life full, through blood, sweat and tears. He has virtually erased the angry, violent juggernaut we all met in Season 1. He doesn’t deserve to be blamed for everyone else’s short-comings and issues. It was just backwards writing all around.

Diaz. One big yawn. A non-threatening blow-hard who’s only real menace was being a big whiner and killing you with annoyance. I’m still shaking my head that he is coming back for Season 7.

About Season 7. Marc, Wendy and a large part of their toxic writing staff are gone. A new showrunner (Beth) is in place, along with a new, mostly female writer’s room. Do we get more character and less plot? Can they do enough damage control to salvage the mess they inherited? I hope so. Will Diaz meet an early demise; say in the first act of 701? Will Oliver be released from prison by some lawyerly trickery? Will the Newbies get blown up? Okay, I didn’t want to push things too far.

Thea and Lance are gone (insert tears here.) But Roy is coming back, and there are rumors of an Olicity baby. The Big Bad? Well, a litter of kittens would be scarier than Dias. And cuter too.

Five months. Damn. Maybe I will rewatch Season 6, you know, to pass the time.

Just kidding. I’m not into self-torture.

@it-was-a-red-heeler @memcjo @almondblossomme @hope-for-olicity @wordslovedreams @olicityinmyheart @olicityotp-always @swordandarrow @cruzrogue @ruwithmeguys @gabriellamarie97 @bandanab310 @dmichellewrites @wanhani @1106angel

#season 6 #we all survived it #hiatus

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natuolicityfan · 7 years ago

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Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) started out as most women do in the comic book world – as a side story. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was the egotistical yet charming womanizer, a familiar superhero type. Felicity was the rambling computer nerd who was drawn to his mystery and cause. Their first meeting consisted of him chucking a bullet-ridden laptop on her desk before blaming a latte spill for the damage. The pair’s relationship would go on in that vein for a while: Oliver coming to her for help with his secret vigilante side job and Felicity using her STEM background to unknowingly put away some of the city’s worst criminals. Eventually, Felicity clued into Oliver’s double life and chose to join him and his partner, John Diggle (David Ramsey), in their quest to protect Starling City.

But over the seasons, Felicity morphed into something more than just Oliver’s techie sidekick – a played-out cliché in the superhero verse. The series molded her into a fully rounded character, one with agency and abilities that didn’t come courtesy of a cape.

The show that began as a bro-laden ode to everything a comic book TV series should be – fast cars, bulked up men, action, violence, and vigilantism – ended up giving us one of the most complex, realistic, and role-model worthy female superheroes on the small screen, and they didn’t have to dress her up in spandex to do it.

In the early days, Arrow placed Felicity on a kind of pedestal. While the show’s hero could reliably be found brooding in his knockoff Batcave over having to kill bad men, Felicity was his antithesis, a woman with brains and a bubbly personality. She infused humor and wit into the show but also seemed to sport a moral compass that never wavered. While Oliver and Diggle fueled the action, battling villains, infiltrating criminal networks, and littering Starling City with green arrows, Felicity stayed behind the scenes, guiding them by hacking into secure servers, breaching firewalls, and dismantling bombs.

Yet even early on she served as the show’s way of flipping the “geek gets girl” trope on its gender-confined head but more importantly, she was a female character of worth, one slowly developing her own story that didn’t solely hinge on being the love interest of the man saving the world. Though she nursed an affection for Oliver, she was refreshingly unconcerned with catering to him, often challenging him to abandon his black and white view of the dangerous criminals he pursued. And over the course of five seasons, Felicity helped Oliver, Diggle, and the team of vigilantes they would come to work with take down kingpins, mobsters, cyber terrorists, serial killers, super soldiers, and the League of Assassins, and she did it all without a hood or a mask.

For a series that began after the world discovered it loved watching billionaire playboys dress up in spandex to fight crime – thanks Batman, Iron Man, The Green Hornet – the decision to devote entire episodes and season-long storylines to the development of a supporting female character that was meant to last for just one season — Rickards has gone on the record, sharing that she initially auditioned for just one episode, but fan response kept getting her episode call backs — said a lot about the show and its commitment to an audience that didn’t originate from the comic book fandom.

Arrow was the CW’s way to draw in an older male crowd. The network’s bread and butter up until the show’s premiere had been teen romance and vampire drama. They wanted to age with their audience and widen their fan base and nothing does that quite like comic book heroes. The show’s second season midseason finale boasted the CW’s largest male viewership in the 18-34 age demographic, but despite drawing in legions of male DC fans, but the network’s demographics haven’t changed all that much: It’s still catering to a large female base. With the addition of fellow comic book fare like The Flashand Supergirl, the network discovered that the superhero genre had pull with young women too. That means we get to see more of Amell’s washboard abs on display as he climbs the salmon ladder, but we’re also getting characters like Felicity that might not have existed otherwise. A Jewish computer geek isn’t the traditional love interest, let alone superhero, but fan response to the character and her arc over the first three seasons meant Felicity slowly creeped into the spotlight.

In the season three installment “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak,” the show dedicated an entire episode to her back story. Raised by a single mom who worked as a cocktail waitress in Vegas, Felicity overcame setbacks and circumstance to go to college, graduate from MIT and work in a field dominated by men. She was reckless and impulsive, had a criminal for a father, and blamed herself for her ex-boyfriend’s supposed suicide.

The episode took what had been a hollow caricature of what a strong female lead should look like and made her deserving of the title. It gave her dimension and purpose: Felicity wasn’t relentlessly optimistic because her archetype was “bubbly blonde comedic relief;” she was hopeful because she had been through devastating situations and emerged better and wiser for them. After three seasons of watching Oliver struggle to accept his own flaws and responsibilities, to finally get a glimpse of the woman who offered him her unwavering support was a welcome change.

In seasons four and five, Arrow chose to expand the character further, having her face trial after trial while pursuing a romantic relationship with Oliver. Sure, that romance often hindered the storytelling — it also caused a legion of male fans to spew hate on the internet (there’s an actual “F*ck Felicity” forum on Reddit if you’d like to check it out) — but it did provide an opportunity for Felicity to gain more agency over her own storyline.

In the past two seasons, Felicity has been paralyzed, broken up with her fiancé, experienced great loss when her boyfriend was murdered, and failed to stop a nuclear bomb from exploding. None of these plotlines were handled particularly well — in fact, the way the writers chose to “solve” Felicity’s handicap in season four was downright offensive — but let’s pause for a moment to appreciate the fact that though Felicity suffered a major setback by being paralyzed, she still held onto her wit and enthusiasm for helping others; though she lost the love of her life, she still decided to stand by him, help him recreate a new Team Arrow and take down the man responsible for torturing him.

The show’s fifth season marks a return to what made Arrow great the first time around. New players have been introduced, a promising villain has caused problems for our hero, and romantic triangles aren’t sucking the life from otherwise intriguing premises. For her part, Felicity has morphed from the cheerful, dependable girl-next-door she was introduced as in season one to a woman hellbent on revenge, making questionable decisions to protect the people she cares about, and using her own talents to bring down the bad guys. In a way, she’s become what Oliver began as.

For some, this change in character might chafe. The comic books fans who want to see more of Oliver kicking ass and taking names see the amount of screen time devoted to a female character’s development as unnecessary. For them, Felicity pulls focus from the hero – it’s inconceivable that she might just be one — and if she isn’t fulfilling her role of being the beautiful blonde with a sassy mouth and short skirt, she’s unnecessary to the story. They don’t want the promise of more romantic entanglements, they want action For that other subset, the Olicity shippers, seeing Felicity go down such a dark path sparks fear. The chance for Felicity and Oliver to reconcile and resume their relationship is still very much alive and the farther Felicity strays from the woman we met in season one, the more distant that particular fantasy becomes – underground bunkers aside.But it’s not romance or her skewed morality that’s the problem, it’s the idea that Felicity can only be one of two things: a love interest or a prop. In both cases, she only has value because of her relationship to a male character, Oliver. Instead, what the show is trying to do, what it’s been doing since the beginning, is giving us a layered character, a complex woman who can be right and wrong, lovable at times and easy to hate at others, filled with the desire to do good but doomed by the probability she’ll end up making the wrong decisions in order to accomplish her goal.In that way, Felicity has become the most realistic (and relatable) superhero on the show. She’s not infused with metahuman abilities like Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) on The Flash. She doesn’t come from another planet like Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) on Supergirl, or drive a time machine like the team on Legends of Tomorrow. She can’t fight particularly well, shoot arrows worth a damn, or crawl through the streets at night in a cloaked get-up complete with an alter-ego, but she’s better for her perceived lack of powers.As we’re treated to more and more comic book superheroes on the big and small screen, diversity matters, and not just in terms of race, gender, and sexual orientation of characters but in the value they bring to the table. Watching someone like the Green Arrow battle evil in the world with a team of supernaturally gifted friends, an arsenal of cool gadgets, and highly stylized martial arts skills, is fun. Watching Felicity risk and sacrifice for the greater good and those she loves, making a difference using her unique gifts — her wits, her tenacity, and her perseverance — is empowering, inspiring, and real. She’s what a superhero shoud be.

#arrow #cw #Olicity #Felicity Smoak #emily bett rickards

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angelfireeast · 7 years ago

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If the Nyssa and Samantha are dead or somehow incapacitated in a substantial way and olicity gets married after they killed off Laurel Lance than olicity is the most reprehensible, appalling, weakest piece of trash ship ever. I mean it beyond pathetic, sickening intolerable, unjustifiable offensive garbage ship full of revolting disgraceful writing.

If Arrow takes down Nyssa and/or Samantha that would be just another in a long line of taking out almost every woman who’s ever been a love interest to Oliver or connected a romantic unwanted. There is large loud part of the Olicity fandom driven by immature misogynistic feelings who have a problem with every woman connected to Oliver and want them gone. They have no sympathy for lesbian forced into marriage with man against her will is an extreme to the extremes of the obsessed shippers. With Samantha who they were rid of so Oliver and Felicity can play happy families with her son. Felicity can play mommy to William *vomit*

It feels like pattern of Olicity’s former lovers or women who are connected to him are perceived competition/ threats/blocks to Olicity by shippers and Marc jumps through hoops to appease them so all have to be permanently somehow removed from the narrative so that the ship and all the crazy shippers have to feel secure. Dinah Laurel Lance Oliver’s comic book great love? Dead. Helena Bertinelli? Bad guy & jail. Sara? Dead.Alive.Another Show.Dead.Alive. What is Susan next to die? Something terrible going to happen to her next? Felicity & Thea already destroyed her career once and had patch it back together. Then you throw in Nyssa and Samantha who women who want nothing to do with Oliver romantically it’s really, really, really bad.

If that’s how you have to write a ship then you are writing a story completely wrong. If every woman connected to the man in the ship has to be somehow destroyed, killed, gotten rid of, or somehow otherwise incapacitated, permanently removed you’re doing it wrong. That’s not showing how strong ship it. That’s giving into the worst most insecure parts of fandom. That’s showing how weak you are as writing that you can’t have a ship with other women around it. Aka co-parenting with one parent in a relationship with another person. Doing right by Nyssa for once. Fucking letting Oliver has past love in Laurel who is still alive while he’s in another relationship.

Well I’m here I think it’s super petty that Olicity might get double wedding with Westallen. It’s some cheap ass fan pandering that makes no one happy. It’s like just can’t let Westallen be married without Olicity getting married and damned the narrated

@queencanaries

#anti olicity #arrow spoilers #Arrow speculation #anit olicity fandom #nyssa al ghul #samantha clayton #laurel lance #Nyssa al ghul deserves so much better #they all do #I can't believe that things have come to this #How terrible is this even on the table

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queencanaries · 7 years ago

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Okay since the Olicity crowd is making a scene with this stupid wedding bullshit, I need the Westallen fandom to make a whole damn movie because this? This is unacceptable. How dare the derail Barry and Iris's wedding for fucking Olicity of all things? This is literally one of the absolute worst things to come out of this bullshit shared universe and there has been a lot of fucking bullshit. God, I want to struggle something. This offends me on literally every level of my existence!!

I really wish they didn’t do huge milestone-related things in crossovers. But at least with Barry/Iris, they’ve been a promise made in the Pilot of The Flash and have developed/evolved with the intent of marriage/ending up together from that point onwards, and having a wedding with all four shows surrounding them makes a lot of sense. Oliver and Felicity just don’t. And that’s not me saying it as someone who doesn’t enjoy the ship. It’s no lie that I can’t stand Olicity. But they just haven’t warranted the same thing as Westallen.

Oliver and Felicity were a ship that came out of the writers swerving away from what they initially set up in the first two seasons of Arrow (Laurel/Oliver). They explored them as a “will they/won’t they” in S3, finally got them together for one season of the show — for about fifteen episodes — then broke them up. Oliver and Felicity dated other people. And they kissed in the finale. Eight episodes later and we’re supposed to believe they’re on the same level as Westallen? We’re supposed to believe that a four-show crossover wedding is a culmination of their development? No. It’s total bullshit.

#reply #arrow talk #sixtyonestories

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karadavers · 8 years ago

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I'm genuinely sure that the Supergirl fandom has-- SHOCKINGLY --surpassed the Arrow fandom for being the Literal Worst DCTV fandom. Even with the whole Lauriver/Olicity war or the WestAllen/Snowbarry war, none of this ~lmao lets make a WHOLE WEEK bashing this ship cause I'm SUCH AN EDGY SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE that does nothing but throws tantrums if I don't get my way!!~ crap ever happened til now. Legends > Flash > Arrow > Supergirl.

At this point I just think there are no good fandoms. They all start out very peacefully and you’re like “whoa finally a chill fandom!” but as time goes by every singe one of them goes crazy. It’s sad because we’re over here watching tv shows so we can escape our real problems for a while and just have some fun, make some friends but they can’t just chill for like 10 seconds and stay in their own damn lane.

#Anonymous

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sweetdawn129 · 8 years ago

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My Thoughts on 5.17

I don’t really know if I have a point to this post, so it’s just me rambling. But I felt compelled to write something down after processing last night’s episode.

I was nervous about it because of the spoilers I read in the weeks preceding the air date. But I instinctively knew it was going to be a game changer – the kind of episode people will include in the discussion anytime the show is discussed in retrospect. Years from now, hopefully many years from now, when Arrow ends, Oliver’s confession will be pointed out as a moment that significantly impacts the overall narrative, the cast and the fandom. The episode was that good.

Not “good” in the sense that everyone liked it. It’s nice when everyone or a majority of people like an episode. Good ratings are big business. But at the core, the television industry understands it won’t please everybody all of the time. I don’t mean to sound like I’m romanticizing “Hollywood,” but television shows are expressions of art. Art is created to make us feel something. The writers, directors and cast have a story they want to tell and something they want you to feel from that story, and they don’t always succeed in their efforts. But at the bare minimum, they don’t want you to be apathetic. Love it, hate it, be disgusted by it, thrilled by it, confused by it, stimulated by it, hurt by it, inspired by it…feel something. In its execution of “Kapushion,” Arrow really hit that mark.

When I watch any television show, let alone one based off a comic book superhero, I definitely engage in suspension of disbelief. I decide to buy into the premise of the show and let it take me on the journey. I understood from the beginning that Arrow would have some crazy situations that are extreme and that it’s in the interactions between the characters where the viewer can find something to relate to. Because of that, Arrow invested a lot of storytelling time in helping us get to know the character of Oliver Queen so we could understand him enough to relate to him and root for him. And with me, Arrow succeeded. I loved Oliver Queen from the start. I appreciated this flawed human being who seemed to just be trying to do his best to save his family, his friends and his city. As I watched more episodes, I realized it was his way of trying to save himself…whether he knew it or not.

I know there are some viewers out there who feel that last night’s episode took Oliver and the show to someplace from which Arrow can’t come back. I admit the line, “the rest was me practicing” gave me chills down to my bones. It was dark…darker than I ever thought a CWshow airing at 8/7 CST would go. And it’s up to each viewer to decide for themselves what’s appropriate for them to watch. Television broadcast guidelines aren’t perfect. I can only speak for myself, but as it relates to the narrative of Arrow, I wouldn’t ask them to do anything differently in episode 5.17.

I made a list of every trauma I could remember that Oliver suffered during his 5 years away and in the 5 years since he’s returned to his city. The list was so long that I chose not to include it in this post, and that was just what I could remember off the top of my head – everything we watched play out onscreen before last night. I also thought about everyone he’s killed in the last 10 years. In Arrow let me believe I knew Oliver. I understood him. I forgave him for his shortcomings. And I thought myself magnanimous in my love for someone who used violence on a daily basis to solve problems.

But I was wrong.

Until last night, I didn’t really know all of Oliver. I didn’t completely understand him. How can I forgive or love someone when I didn’t understand his transgressions or the nature of his character? It’s not the secret itself that he revealed in his confession – it’s what that moment revealed about his ability to trust others and his ability to trust and love himself. Suddenly so many of the behaviors he exhibited over the past 5 years that frustrated me make so much more sense. I’m not excusing his douchebag moves, but I now have a much better understanding of his fears that pushed him to make those decisions.

I’m married. I think that a lot of married people will say the person who knows you best is your significant other. I argue that the person who knows you best is yourself. You can lie to someone else, but you really can’t lie to yourself. You can be in denial or repress feelings and memories, but you know your faults like no one else. You know the darkest parts of your soul – the hurtful comments that go through your mind that you don’t say out loud, the fleeting violent thoughts you might have when someone pisses you off, the selfish desires you find yourself trying to fulfill at the cost of someone else’s feelings. In a way, Oliver has been pretty honest about his darkness with those who know about his crusade. He has shown his lack of self-love over and over again, but no one fully understood why. Last night’s episode showed why Oliver seemingly and willingly accepted his own death many times over in the past 5 years.

Because he didn’t think he deserved to really live.

He judges himself everyday based on his worst moments, moments that were not of his making and caused by extreme violent trauma inflicted upon him over and over again. In those moments, particularly in Russia, he took comfort in the control he had over his own life every time he channeled his PTSD, which manifested itself in anger and violence, into killing someone he judged to be a bad person. He was making his own decisions, he thought, because he wasn’t a weapon being used by someone else (Amanda Waller, Reiter, even the Bratva). His ability to control his own life, even if it was shown in his capacity to take others’ lives, was more than he had since The Gambit sunk.

It felt good.

It felt justified.

It felt righteous.

And he liked it.

Please understand that I don’t believe for one second that Oliver really enjoys taking lives in the way Chase has insinuated, the way that Chase enjoys it. Oliver is not a sociopath like Chase is – Oliver would never kill someone he loves like Chase killed his own wife, no matter what the reason. Oliver was manipulated into that confession – the waterboarding, those questions, the threats to the people he loves, those questions again, being beaten, those leading questions again but with even more bait in the dialogue, watching Evelyn get “killed” right in front of him because of him, and then there’s that question again…He figured out where Chase was leading him, what Chase wanted him to say and he said it. He broke. He said it to make Chase stop. He would have said anything to make Chase stop. He begged him to stop. Oliver doesn’t beg…ever…except to protect the people he loves, never to protect himself. This time, he couldn’t take it anymore. What Oliver confessed wasn’t the truth. If it felt true in his worst moments, it certainly is not true now.

What Oliver actually confessed was his greatest fear.

He’s never been to therapy. He may not really understand why killing didn’t feel as wrong as it did the first time he did it. He doesn’t understand that his mind hasn’t been whole or really healed since he got on that damn boat. He had bones in his body that were broken that never properly healed and he is fine. The mind doesn’t really work like that. He fears he is a monster, he fears the monster has no path to redemption, he fears the monster has caused all of the pain his loved ones have endured since he returned to Star(ling) City. He judged himself by his worst moments, and because he did, he’s never fully trusted himself. This lack of self-love crippled his ability to trust others as well. This fear that he is a monster has colored every decision he has made, both the ones I’ve hated and I’ve cheered. Either he was afraid he isn’t worthy of living because of the monster inside, or he reached out and tried to live in the light so that the monster inside would die.

Now that I know Oliver’s secret – his worst fear caused by his worst moments – I actually do understand him. And I can truly forgive him. And now I know that I really do love the character of Oliver Queen. It might be strange for others to think that way about a character who has killed so many people. And this next thought might be stranger still…I think he is a hero. Yes, he is a dark and flawed hero, but if his worst moments were my worst moments, I don’t know if I would have survived, let alone have enough strength of character to try to right my father’s wrongs, save my friends, save my family, and save my city…over and over and over again, at a great personal cost. Maybe I would’ve been institutionalized or snapped and killed innocent people, both of which happen in everyday real lives.

Oliver Queen is a hero. Last night’s episode only reinforced that for me.

Oliver Queen is a hero. No one will ever convince me otherwise.

Oliver Queen is a hero. So, now let’s make sure that he gets the girl…

@nalla-madness @almondblossomme @taurusclh @hope-for-olicity @tdgal1 @coal000 @marytagus

#arrow spoilers #arrow 5.17 #oliver queen is a hero

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cheeruplovely · 8 years ago

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Olicity: Taking Care

Prompt from @putthepromptsonpaper “I know that you can take care of yourself, I’m just worried...that I can’t.”

“I know that you can take care of yourself, I’m just worried...that I can’t.”

“Felicity?”

“Things have been different, lately.”

“I know, but you’re still the same person-”

“I’m not.”

“Felicity-”

“I am not the same person I was six months ago, Oliver.”

“What are you talking about? You’re strong, you-”

“I killed people, Oliver.”

“Felicity…”

“Tens of thousands of people are dead because of me.”

“No, not because of you.”

“People were going to die. I made a choice who.”

“The fact that you’re carrying this with you when someone like Darhk never gave a damn, that means something.”

“Oliver, don’t-”

“No, I need you to listen to me. What happened was a tragedy. It was unavoidable, and it was terrible, and it would have been horrible and painful no matter where that missile landed. I know that knowing how many lives you saved doesn’t make it feel any better, but that’s because you care. You have a big heart, and you care about every single person, even when they don’t care about themselves.”

“How am I supposed to live with myself after this?”

“It’s not going to be easy. I won’t put this on par with anything I’ve been through, because no one - even me - can tell you what level your pain should be. This is your pain, and you need to let it heal however works best for you, not what people think you should be doing.”

“Oliver…”

“Why don’t you think you can take care of yourself?”

“Everything’s just too much. Getting out of bed, remembering to eat, to drink, to sleep…”

“Well, maybe I can help a little with that.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Felicity, we aren’t together, but you’re still one of my two best friends, and I don’t want to sit and do nothing while you’re struggling with something.”

“What do you suggest?”

“You don’t want to get up in the morning? Call me. We’ve hit this monotonous patch of rebuilding the bunker and it’s...far too quiet. So call me, and we’ll go do something new. All those things we said we’d do when we came back to Star City - like the new coffee place, or the science museum...we’ll make time and we’ll do that.”

“Okay.”

“And I always have extra portions. Cooking for one is not my strong suit, and honestly it’s a waste of a slow cooker. I’ll box them up and then you’ve always got a meal ready to heat up.”

“And when I can’t sleep?”

“Then call me.”

“You don’t have to do all those things.”

“You’re hurting. I can’t take that away from you, but if I can make the pieces in between a little easier, I want to.”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to-”

“No, thank you. Everyone else has...they’ve tried to help but it’s been like they’re saying I shouldn’t be upset about this.”

“If it’s hurting you, then you should feel it.”

“It hurts a lot.”

“It won’t always hurt this much. But even when it feels it’s worst, you’re still you.”

“Me feels a little broken up.”

“Broken things can be fixed. Someone special taught me that.”

“Who?”

“Someone who put me back together when I felt broken.”

“Oliver?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad that you’re still here.”

“Always.”

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