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‘Arrow’: The Great ‘Olicity’ Debate

You’ve seen all of the hashtags and memes; all the GIFs and fan-made Youtube music videos. ‘Olicity’ is definitely trending all over social media.

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So what is ‘Olicity’, you may ask? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the word, it refers to the ‘pairing’ of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak on the CW television show Arrow.

Fans started pairing the couple together towards the end of Season One, beginning of Season Two. As the show progressed, more and more people began jumping on the ‘Olicity’ ship. The two characters had an undeniable amount of chemistry, and with every episode that passed, fans began tweeting to the writers and producers of Arrow, begging for the two of them to be together.

Following the Season One episode ‘The Odyssey’ Emily Bett Rickards said the following statements in an interview with CeleBuzz (2013):

“Oliver never really lets his guard down for anyone, but having her there creates a different dynamic — even just having a female there in the lair and in that relationship. It loosens some things; it becomes more comfortable; and we’ll see that relationship evolve definitely into the first season.”

 

“For me, when we’re working in the foundry and on different scenes with Oliver, it seems more friendship-based, and it’s always more ‘Trust me, trust me.’ There’s some sort of family camaraderie, and there’s also a spark. They do have chemistry. Whether it’s romantic chemistry or friendship chemistry, that’s up for debate,”

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Emily’s statement definitely got fans talking, as the two characters began to have more ‘moments’ occur between them. When we first met Oliver in Season One, we saw exactly how much darkness was inside of him. He went about his vigilante ways, trying to ‘right his father’s wrongs’ to save his city. When Felicity came on to Team Arrow in the middle of Season One, she slowly began to convince him that killing was not always the answer. That he didn’t always need to become darkness to fight the darkness. Oliver’s kill count seemed to halt, unlike Starling City’s prison ‘Iron Heights’, which began to become significantly booked with all the criminals that Oliver was sending there instead, as opposed to killing them.

In the Season Two episode ‘State vs. Queen’, Felicity was kidnapped by Count Vertigo. Oliver tracked down the mentally unstable drug lord, and wound up killing him in order to save Felicity. When the two of them made their way back to the Arrow-cave, Felicity expressed her guilt at the fact that Oliver had to go back to ‘killing’ so that he would save her.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEG38yA0UK0[/embedyt]

Sparks indeed, began to fly. In the Season Two finale episode ‘Unthinkable’, Oliver brought Felicity to his mansion and stated his love for her as a means to trick Oliver’s arch nemesis, Slade Wilson (Deathstroke). The scene was actually altered for the television airing, but the DVD release contained a deleted scene from the episode. Instead of Oliver sneakily handing her the syringe after stating ‘I love you’, knowing Slade was watching on the cameras he had hidden in Oliver’s home, the two also shared their very first onscreen kiss.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8amwfSKaSQ[/embedyt]

When I stumbled upon this deleted scene, I remember screaming with excitement. This gave me hope for future seasons that the two of them would possibly end up together. In Season Three, Oliver sought help from Ra’s Al Ghul to heal his sister from her wounds in exchange for his allegiance to join the League of Assassins. During his last night as a free man, Oliver and Felicity shared a kiss in his quarters, and the two of them finally got together.

Season Three closed out with Oliver and Felicity driving off into the sunset, to try and start a new life together.

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At the beginning of Season 4, Oliver and Felicity were as happy as a lark. They had broken away from the vigilante ‘sport’, and had begun adjusting to modern living. Well sort of. No matter how good Oliver got at his slow-cooker cooking skills, there was always a part of them that belonged back in Starling Star City. After returning to Star City and getting back into the act of fighting bad guys, Oliver realized that despite all the darkness he may face, Felicity was the ‘light’ in his life. He asked for her hand in marriage. The happy-ever-after didn’t last for long. Felicity and Oliver’s relationship hit a snag. After she learned that Oliver had kept the fact that he had a son secret from her, Felicity called off their engagement, unable to deal with all the lying anymore.

Season 4 ended with the two of them seemingly ‘at peace’ with each other (both still a part of Team Arrow), but their relationship would appear to be on the back burner… for the moment.

Through the years, fans have been going back and forth about whether Felicity and Oliver should really be together. In fact, this ‘debate’ has gotten so big, that there are times when ‘#Olicity’ blankets social media. Personally, I love it. I’m a big fan of ‘Olicity’ and I have been since the beginning. When Oliver came back from the island, he was full of so much darkness and resentment, that he would continuously push people away. When Felicity came into his life, she showed him what it truly meant to be a hero. A hero isn’t just someone who puts on a mask and a cape and beats up bad guys, no, a hero is also someone who makes sure they are always there for the people they care most about. She also showed Oliver that there are multiple ways aside from killing in order to obtain justice.

Image: The CW
Image: The CW

I’ve been studying the social trends on ‘Olicity’ for awhile, and I see a great divide in the fan base. It’s a divide between absolutely loving ‘Olicity’ or utterly despising it. Some of those fans who are not in favor of the ‘Olicity’ pairing, lean more towards the ‘Lauriver‘ pairing (Laurel/Oliver). I will say I can understand this one. Green Arrow and Black Canary are together in the comics, so I can understand why some fans would have loved to see them wind up together in the tv series also.

I love the concept of ‘Olicity’. I love Oliver and Felicity together. Not only does she really and truly bring out that ‘light’ in him, she also genuinely makes Oliver happy. Sure, he has had his lovers of the past, but he and Felicity genuinely share something special. Also, I just love what Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards have done with these characters. They have formulated a beautiful on-screen chemistry and I look forward to a lot more screen time with the two of them! They are both incredibly gifted and fantastic actors, and their individual characters bring so much to the show.

I want to hear your thoughts! Are you a fan of ‘Olicity’? Or do you think Oliver’s heart belongs to another? Share your thoughts with me! 🙂

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