Why Olicity Works

There have always been people who never wanted Felicity and Oliver together, but recently there has been some joy over the fact that in the first two  episodes of  Arrow they saw very little of "Olicity".  In some reviews, there has been little mention at all of  Felicity.  I am not a purist, and  in full disclosure, I have to admit, when I first viewed Arrow, I had no idea that Arrow was a comic book hero.  I approached Arrow as sort of a fantasy/adventure show.  I have gone back over the  early seasons of Arrow and I found reasons why Felicity worked, and why Arrow needed  her  and hence why Arrow  needs Olicity.

      For background let's look at the past lives of both Oliver and Felicity.  Oliver's parents treated their children more like adult friends than children. After Oliver returns from the island and Thea had been arrested for shoplifting, Moria tells Thea to get ready for school, and Thea tells her mother that she's not going.  Do you remember what Oliver says?  He told his  mother that they needed  a  little less freedom and a little more parenting.  Children need boundaries, and he really  had none.

       Felicity  had  no father and her father leaving  had a profound  affect on her,  but she had  a mother and though we don't have a lot of  information about  her childhood, I think  her  mother disciplined  in a  stronger way than the Queen's  did Oliver.  Felicity, even without  a  father in  her life, had a more stable background.  Donna's  personality is  similar to Felicity's. Felicity has managed to see the good in people.

     Felicity brought light into the dark corners of Oliver's life.  She caused him to think differently about things.  Because of Felicity, Oliver learned to find another way to accomplish  his purpose  of  healing his city.  She  could  do this better than Laurel, because Laurel was too close to Oliver. Their histories were too tied together in unpleasant ways. Laurel's personality was in a  way as dark as Oliver's.  Darkness cannot bring in the  light.  They were never  good for one another because they  could not be honest with one another. They never had been honest.  Oliver kept going to other women even when he was with Laurel.  I think in the scene  with Laurel  and Samantha  meeting in season 3, we see  that Laurel always knew Oliver had been with someone else.

Felicity opens her heart and yes her mouth, and she says what she thinks.  She always stood up to Oliver and told him when he was wrong.  Remember when she tried  locking  the doors so Oliver couldn't leave to "persuade" a fellow, but Felicity read that this man had a young child at home, and  he was the only parent that the child  had?  She didn't back  down, and  Oliver needed that in his life.  He needed  someone to tell him no.  Little by little she brought light into his dark world.

     Laurel couldn't do that.  In part, I think, because she knew down deep that Oliver never loved her the way she loved him, and so fear kept her from telling him the truth.  Fear of losing him.  At the end,  she understood this.  She had trouble being honest with Tommy.  She had trouble being honest with herself.

I know the haters of Felicity say that the writers  wrote for the fans, but I disagree.  Sometimes the story  writes itself.  Hemingway once said, "The story was writing itself and I was having a hard time keeping up with it."  I think that was the case in Arrow. Emily Bett Rickards was suppose to be a one off character.  But  as she read her part, she brought Felicity to life.  She gave her  light.  When  Stephen Amell read the line with  her, he smiled, a natural, unscripted smile.  The first  smile that his character, Oliver, had given.  So the story  wrote itself and the writers had a hard time keeping up with it.

Oliver gives Felicity a purpose she had not had before as an IT girl.  She grew in her skills  and her understanding of the job  that they both care about.  They grew into each other.  They make each  other better.  We saw that at the end of  season 5.

      At the heart of Arrow is character growth.  At the heart of Arrow we have the Green Arrow and Overwatch.  At the heart of Arrow is Olicity. What say you?