#faw17

[northbndtrain]

Dear Ben, I dreamt once that I lost you. We were on icebergs, and I can't remember if you were floating away from me or I was floating away from you. But I remember waking up beside you. It was the middle of the night, and it was raining -- like tonight. And I heard your breathing, calming me. It was like we could speak without words. I wonder how and when we learned it, this secret language. I only know that at some point, in the silences, I heard you. And now I'm left with words -- these useless words -- when all I want is to be beside you again. To make you feel safe. To help you sleep. To bring you back to me.

          felicity awareness week 2017 → fav. ship → felicity ♥ ben

[lonewanderingwolf]

Felicity Awareness Week

Day 2: Favorite Ship

Ben and Felicity

Okay, so confession time. I didn’t always ship Ben & Felicity. In fact, I was a Noel fan in the beginning. I attribute that mostly due to my age. After much reflection and re-watching the series a few times, I grew to really enjoy Ben as an individual and Ben & Felicity as a couple. 

I think Felicity intrigued Ben in high school and it did freak him out when she revealed that she came to NYU for him. It wasn’t love at first sight for Ben, but in a way, I’m glad it wasn’t. Even in the youngest moments of their relationship, Ben was able to really open up to Felicity. I loved that it started out as a friendship and evolved into more.

Their romantic relationship started out rocky. Actually, it kind of stopped before it really got started, if we’re honest, but that’s also why I found it so intriguing. No pun intended, but a lot of fans probably assumed Felicity would always be too much for Ben and their relationship was dead in the water. But then, oh boy. Ben’s season two arc of realizing he was in love with Felicity? A-mazing. It’s purely coincidence that this is the gif I found since this really started their interactions again post-break up in S2. As much as Felicity grounded Ben, Ben pushed Felicity out of her shell and allowed her to loosen up a bit. 

The whole getting busted for breaking into the pool story led to them having to go to the school therapist and do community service, which led to Felicity meeting Greg. (One of Ben’s best lines of the series is said to Greg btw “63% of me thinks you’re a dick.”)

If you remember, at the beginning of season two, Ben and Felicity split because he listens (tsk tsk Ben!) to Felicity’s tape where she is telling Sally that she thinks what she has with Ben is love. Ben is freaked by it and ends things. He and Felicity try to patch up their relationship with Felicity attempting to not be so....well, her. i.e. emotional. Obviously that was doomed to fail because take away Felicity’s emotions and you pretty much take away her essence, which is part of the main reason Ben probably fell for her anyway. 

So, Felicity breaks up with Ben and gives him the most epic break up speech and from there on out, it becomes Ben’s journey. We see him slowly but surely get jealous of Greg as Felicity embarks on a relationship with him. One of the best scenes IMO happens during this arc. Felicity finds out that Ben looked into Greg’s private files and found out Greg had some shady dealings with drugs in the past. Felicity is pissed, naturally, because what right did Ben have to do that? Well, Fel, Ben counters that she did the same thing, last year in fact! And we have this exchange:

“You have no right to go investigating who he is.”

“What are you talking about? That’s exactly what you did to me.”

“Well, that was last year.”

“So what?”

“So that doesn’t count. That was stupid and irrational and I did that because I was in love with you.”

Holy shit. Ben’s face here is just...no words. It was in this exact moment that I felt my shift in how I felt about Ben and Ben and Felicity. Honestly.

I know I am babbling on here. Ben and Felicity weren’t perfect. They hurt each other. She cheated on him. He cheated on her (though the time travel episodes were so what the fuck that I just have no explanation.) But I think they really did bring out the best in each other and balanced each other out.

[northbndtrain]

It's one thing to say you're going to let go. It's another to actually do it...to loosen your grip...to let yourself fall.

          felicity awareness week 2017 → fav. season → season 2 (1999-2000)

[northbndtrain]

Can you believe this? We got in! Do you know what this means? We are smart! We are two smart, confident young women!

          felicity awareness week 2017 → fav. friendship → felicity & elena

[northbndtrain]

Look, I -- I understand why you'd rather see Felicity with someone like Noel, someone who's obviously gonna make it, and probably long before I figure out what I'm gonna be doing with my life. But I always remember this one thing a teacher said, which was, all the interesting people she knew, they had no idea what they were gonna do with their lives when they were 20. So, chances are, I'm going to turn out to be a pretty interesting guy.

          felicity awareness week 2017 → fav. character → ben covington

[northbndtrain]

Uh, this is a pen. It was my grandfather's pen. He gave this to me when I was six. This -- this is probably one of the most important things that I own and, uh -- I want you to have it.

          felicity awareness week 2017 → fav. bromance → ben & sean

[lonewanderingwolf]

Felicity Awareness Week '17:

Day 3: Favorite Season (I’m posting this a day late. Sorry!)

Season One

I really did enjoy Felicity as a whole, but I am going to say my favorite season is the first one. It’s rare to find a TV show like Felicity nowadays and there was just something about it that I don’t think can be recaptured, at least not in this era. From the soft lighting to the hushed tones and they “hey’s” and the music and the tapes to and from Sally, everything about season one was so amazingly.....real. 

Felicity is so naive in season one, but I think that’s entirely realistic for any young person who is eighteen and at the precipice of adulthood and who is going off on their own for the very first time in their life. For all intents and purposes, Felicity could have been a very campy show had it not been for the right cast and the writers. The whole “girl abandons her lifelong dream to follow the boy she loves but has had very little actual interaction with” could have been disastrous, but it wasn’t played out like that at all. Instead we find out that Felicity had reasons beyond Ben to come to NY and branch out on her own. The “I came to NY because of Ben, but I’m staying because of me” is such a poignant line. Yes, her main reason was Ben, but it wasn’t wholly about Ben. It was about finally finding herself and being true to herself. 

I’m even going to say that a majority of the characters were at their best in the first season, namely Julie and Noel. The way Julie and Felicity’s friendship starts out so tentatively is really nice and you want the cliched boy-gets-in-the-way story to not happen. Ultimately, it does, but before that, I enjoyed seeing the friendship blossom between them. 

And Noel. Oh, sigh. Noel, Noel, Noel. I actually like Scott Foley and I was a Noel fan early on. I suppose it’s due to the type of guy I was always attracted to. I never really went for the Bens. I went for the Noels. I think in the end, they finally got it right, but the triangle of Felicity/Ben/Noel went on for far too long and it kind of sullied the series for me in a way. You can see how deeply Noel cares for Felicity, but after she chooses Ben, his rejection of anything to do with her after that and any semblance of maintaining a friendship is harsh. And on a level, I get it. It sucks to be rejected, and yes, I do believe Noel loved Felicity. But at the same time, the juxtaposition of Noel’s letter in the season finale versus how cold he is to her in the second season premiere is very clear and noticeable and at some point, it stops being about Noel’s hurt feelings and more about how he seems to view Felicity as a prize that he is entitled to.

And thus, I hated it, and not just because it tainted Noel and Felicity’s friendship, but also it really ruined any chance for Noel and Ben to have a friendship. It would have been better had Noel realized early on that what he and Felicity had, though brief, was meaningful and that they didn’t have to be romantically involved to have a deep bond and he didn’t have to view Ben as competition. Actually, I think Noel and Ben could have learned a lot from each other, but having Noel always on the outskirts of the Ben/Felicity relationship pretty much eradicated any chance of that happening.

I keep going off on tangents here, sorry! Noel and Felicity’s brief romantic interlude in the first season is a big reason why I think the first season works so well. It doesn’t end perfectly. They have a messy relationship. Felicity’s first time isn’t with someone she’s been dating and loves. Noel doesn’t handle the Hannah situation perfectly - or even well - at all! It hurts and it’s shitty, but it’s also life. 

Getting off of Noel and Noel/Felicity, meeting Elena and having her and Felicity develop a friendship was great to see! As much as the show attempted to push Felicity and Julie as BFF’s, I think it was more Elena and Felicity that ended up taking that title. They supported each other and were there for one another.. And Elena as a character onto her own outside of her relationships with the main cast of characters was awesome. I love how fierce and determined Elena was allowed to be. She was smart and dedicated to becoming a doctor, but that wasn’t all she was about. She also had fun and was sexual and sexy. 

As I am writing this, I realize that the Felicity did shy away from the typical TV tropes. As an audience, you feel like Felicity as a character will be the Mary Sue, but she fucks up and isn’t immediately excused for it. Ben was the popular guy, but he isn’t shallow or a dick. He’s layered and complex and harbors a crappy abusive home life. 

I like how true the first season was to a person’s freshman year in college. Felicity and Megan don’t really get along, but c’mon. Who ever has the perfect college roommate? The first season is rooted in human conflict and figuring your life out and making mistakes and getting your heartbroken and falling in love and it was pretty epic! 

[lonewanderingwolf]

Late with this again! Sorry! Felicity Awareness Week ‘17

Day 4: Favorite Friendship

(personal note: it’s hard af to find any good Felicity screencaps!)

Elena and Felicity

I love love love their friendship. It started off kind of an antagonistic note where Elena believed Felicity was with Noel - and was getting fringe benefits of a fridge to boot! - and also wary that Felicity would possibly bring down her grade as her lab partner, and then evolved into a true blue friendship.

Felicity was there for Elena when Elena caught her then boyfriend Blair and ex-bff cheating on her and Elena was always there to offer Felicity sound advice. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Felicity tells Elena that Ben kissed her and Elena is incredulous at the fact that Felicity still intends to go to Berlin with Noel. Elena tells Felicity “Go with Ben! And if Julie were sitting right here, I’d say the same thing.”

I don’t know why that moment feels poignant, but it does. It’s almost as if Elena knows that for Felicity, being with Ben is just right and she’d say it regardless of whether or not Julie was in her presence.

I must also state that this was not a one-sided friendship by any means. Felicity and Elena were there for each other numerous times throughout the series. Felicity went to Tracy on Elena’s behalf after Tracy broke up with her because Elena was also dealing with the fallout of her season 1 fling with Prof McGrath.

But what warmed my heart about this friendship? They never ever once judged each other. For example, both Felicity and Elena cheated on their boyfriends at points during the series and neither one of them were judgmental about it. There was zero slut-shaming because wow, it’s a concept that women can fuck up and still be worthy of respect? Yes, yes it is folks. You can not agree with the choices your friends make and still love them and respect them and be there for them? Who knew?????

Not only that, but even though they started out both being pre-med, it was never some competitive thing between them. Again, just friends supporting one another. 

I don’t know, man. I just think the late 90s did some female friendships justice.

[northbndtrain]

felicity moments: felicity & ben at the sadie hawkins dance (ep. 218)

lead me to the holy water introduce me to the place you are from wherever you go you know i will follow so take me there and i will come