I don’t even know how to start this recap. Tonight’s ARROW felt like watching a car crash: it’s awful and ugly and painful, but I just couldn’t make myself look away.
Everything most of us had predicted happened in this episode. Last week, we learned that Damien Dahrk had kidnapped William and that Oliver’s dirty little secret was about to hit the fan. And it did.
And it hurt. It hurt so much.
It hurt because Felicity was the one who got the brunt of Oliver’s secret keeping tendencies. It hurt because we saw how his betrayal resonated with her, and I have to give major kudos to Emily Bett Rickards for this entire episode. She played Felicity with just the right tone, holding onto her sanity and self control just long enough to get William back. It hurt so bad to see her broken heart shining painfully in her eyes in that final scene.
I just can’t get over it. I can’t.
Let’s just do a quick recap of tonight’s “Taken”. Curtis’ biostimulant is implanted in Felicity’s spine and she is doing the very first tests with it. Curtis’ cute husband is assisting her and, when she can’t move her legs right away, he reassures her that she needs give her body enough time to heal.
But then Dahrk corners she and Oliver and happily tells them that he’s got William, and that Oliver won’t ever see his son again unless he drops out of the mayoral race. Oliver immediately jumps to action and calls for a Team Arrow meeting, where he tells everyone what is going on.
And here is where everything about this episode started to really bother me. Everyone – and I mean everyone, including Felicity – tells Oliver that he was faced with an impossible decision, and that he ultimately did the right thing. Although Felicity may have disagreed about that last part, she did agree it was a hard choice to make. And you know what? I’m sorry, but it really wasn’t. This whole baby mama drama has been weak and contrived from the very start; it’s no use turning every character into a writer’s mouthpiece to justify your poor creative decisions.
Do you know what made this whole thing even worse? The fact that William won’t even know that Oliver is his father until his 18th birthday, which just invalidates this entire drama. But I am getting ahead of myself. Oliver calls upon Vixen’s help and, while it was cool to have someone go against Damien Dahrk with the same fighting magical power – and it was great to know that Dahrk does have a weakness they can exploit – everything about this episode reeked of Oliver’s lie.
In the end, they do manage to get William back and Samantha is very relieved, but the consequences of Oliver’s decision back in the crossover will most likely spill into the next season. Samantha did try to reassure Felicity that Oliver only lied to her because she made him promise not to tell anyone about William, but it all feels like empty excuses to justify a plot that just makes no sense.
Let’s talk about the real consequences here. First of all, Felicity called off their engagement to absolutely no one’s surprise. But that is not the only thing we should be focusing on. Sure, I am an Olicity supporter and I want them to be together and live happily ever after, but let’s stop and think about what this is going to do to Felicity in the long run.
Our dear Felicity Smoak is the most wronged character in this entire mess. Ever since she joined Oliver’s cause, she has sacrificed her life and her safety in order to achieve a greater good. She is the heart of Team Arrow because this is a cause she wholeheartedly believes in, just like she believed in Oliver – no matter how many times he had kept her in the dark.
But this just seems to be one time too many, you know? Just when she thought she had finally gotten through to him and that he had changed, he goes and pulls something like this. To make matters worse, her devotion to his cause has landed her in a wheelchair after nearly killing her. And as if that wasn’t enough, her fiancé – the person who she loves and believes in more than anyone else in the world – has been lying to her face for months.
So, I’m sorry to say, Oliver, but you’re on your own on this one. I don’t feel the slightest bit sorry for you.
How ironic was it that the biostimulant finally worked in the end not to make her walk down the aisle, but instead, to make her walk away from Oliver. That last scene felt like a one-two punch to the stomach and I am still reeling from it.
I want to believe that everything is going to be okay and that, somehow, Oliver is going to find a way to make things right. But as of right now, I am firmly on Team!Felicity, and Oliver can go to his corner and think long and hard about all the stupid things he has done. I still can’t believe he did this.
Don’t miss the next episode of ARROW on Wednesday, March 23 at 8/7c on The CW.