Following Oliver and Felicity’s breakup last season, Arrow has failed to explain or explore the reason behind that infamous breakup or the state of their relationship at any point in season 5.
Well, it only took 28 episodes, but it sounds like the May 3 episode titled “Underneath” will finally shine a focus on Oliver and Felicity’s relationship, explore the breakup, and perhaps begin their journey back to each other.
“One of the things that we’ve always wanted to do, and I think a lot of the fans have asked for, is basically deal with the consequences of Episode 415 [when] Oliver and Felicity ended their engagement and broke up,” Arrow executive producer/showrunner Marc Guggenheim told TVLine. “They never really had a full-on discussion or exploration of why that breakup happened. Felicity just sort of reached her breaking point and walked out the door” — that is, after the tech that remedied her gunshot-induced paralysis kicked in, allowing her to rise from her wheelchair to her feet.”
While Arrow is currently one week into a four-week hiatus, when the show returns April 26, with “Dangerous Liaisons” – lovingly titled “Team Arrow vs. Team Felicity – it sounds like that’ll be the jumping-off point for this exploration of Olicity’s relationship.
“This is definitely an examination of the state of their breakup,” Guggenheim continued. “It comes out of the events of 519 [titled ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ aka ‘Team Arrow vs. Team Felicity’] and, quite frankly, all the other episodes that led up to it. Something happens in 519 [airing Wednesday, April 26] that really tees up this conversation.”
While we’re all for finally addressing an issue that’s been literally months in the making, we’re also concerned about how this conversation will go. Will Arrow paint Felicity as the villain and Oliver the saint?
Felicity had good reason for walking away — she couldn’t marry someone who lied to her and didn’t value the team that they were promising to be as husband and wife. Oliver has no excuse. But we fear they’re going to have Felicity apologize when she owes him no apology.
After all, a good couple isn’t about the destination. It’s about the journey that ultimately leads them there. If you ruin the journey, it lessens the final destination.
Arrow returns Wednesday, April 26 on The CW.