Arrow: Where Has Olicity Gone?
Watching Arrow this year has been a study in contradictions. For one, I want the show I love and have followed for five years to do well.
For another, the show has drifted so far away from what it used to be, what I fell in love with, that at times, I just want it all to burst into flames so I can at least get the satisfaction of being present for the explosion.
But why? What has the show done so badly in Season 5 that they’ve taken me through the five stages of grief and left me in my current state of acceptance and shade?
I probably shouldn’t have posed that rhetorical question. That would take me years to answer.
For all the things they’ve failed, though, they haven’t failed anything as badly as Olicity, so that’s what I’m going to focus on: The complete erasure of a ship that, previously, was one of the few things you could always count on while watching Arrow.
What happened? That’s an easier question to answer than why, at least on the surface.
The answer is simple: The show shifted gears. They can deny it all they want to, but Arrow Season 5 is clearly a show playing to a different audience than Seasons 1-4.
Maybe it’s because after the backlash the show received for killing Laurel Lance, they felt like they had to do something to appeal to the comic book fan base. Maybe it’s some behind the scenes drama we’re not privy to, or who knows, perhaps the writers were all kidnapped by those Aliens from the crossover and have been replaced by pod people.
Either way, their target audience has changed.
The issue with this, of course, is that switching the target audience in Season 5 is not just problematic in its implementation; it’s frankly disrespectful to the people who have supported the show all the way to Season 5.
We were, after all, promised a journey. That’s why we signed up.
And, contrary to popular opinion, it wasn’t just Oliver’s journey. It was Felicity’s journey, it was Diggle’s journey, it was Thea’s journey, and yes, it was Olicity’s journey.
Because this isn’t a made-up ship, this is not fans reading into things, this is not a possibility we’ve been denied. This is an actual reality, one that the show focused on for years, one that they capitalized on when it was convenient, and one that they’ve now decided to turn their backs on.
We were sold a forever OTP and we bought it. It just so happens that now we’re being sold something else, and to do so means going against Emily Bett Richards and Stephen Amell’s chemistry, against established characterization, and even against common sense.
The show still claims Olicity exists. They still tease the fandom; they still throw us a bone every few episodes or so, because, though they don’t want to focus on the relationship anymore, they don’t want to lose the fans either. TV is a business, after all, and I can’t really blame them for wanting to keep viewers interested.
I can, however, blame them for purposely misleading their audience.
Anyone with two eyes can see that the dynamic between Oliver and Felicity has changed. That’s not the problem. Change isn’t always a bad thing – in fact, change can sometimes be the catalyst for great storylines.
But great storylines only come with planning, and what’s happened to Oliver and Felicity this season feels less like a plan and more like a decision to just ignore what happened between them in Seasons 1-4.
“They’re being mature adults” has been the go-to excuse for the two of them behaving like they weren’t engaged a year ago.
But, really, maturity is one thing, and discussing the person you were so in love with that you saw her face the instant before you died going home to her boyfriend, in the same apartment YOU shared with her, like that’s nothing?
It’s not mature – it’s impossible.
It’s just as impossible as actually living in the same place you shared with your ex-fiancé, sharing the same bed with another man, and not even acknowledging how weird it all is.
Because that’s the problem with Arrow in Season 5 — not just that the actions are absurd, but that the way the characters react to everything is not just unbelievable, but completely inconsistent with the characters we knew.
It’s like pod-Felicity and pod-Oliver have taken over, and the memories of the love they shared have been replaced with memories of two people who had one bad date and now are vaguely uncomfortable around each other, but who can always rely on their friendship as backup.
Or, can they? Have we truly gone back to when Felicity and Oliver were just friends?
Not even that, sadly. And that’s because their friendship was never a simple thing devoid of attraction, never a dry exchange of intel and a superficial sense of affection devoid of any actual communication.
That’s what Oliver and Felicity are these days: two people who exist in the same space and who sometimes rely on old dynamics to push each other forward, but whose old dynamics seem to be heavily skewed towards a type of friendship that never really existed between them.
The whole thing feels absurdly like Arrow has done a reboot, and we’re existing in a new universe, but the only thing that’s changed is Olicity, and the rest remains in the old continuity.
Will it get better? Can the show ever go back, not just to the characters we fell in love with, but the love story we invested in?
There’s no definitive answer to this, sadly, but that’s not even the most important question we can ask.
No, the real question is – if they keep going this way, will it matter if they go back to Olicity at the end? What’s more important, the ending or the journey?
I’m going to say the journey. So far, we’ve had more good than bad if you count from Season 1, but Season 5 has been a travesty, and everyone has a breaking point.
What’s yours?
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Lissete Lanuza Sáenz
Lawyer. Writer. Columnist. Geek. Falls in madly in love with fictional characters. Hates the color yellow, misogyny, and people who are late. Can always be found with a book. Watches an absurd amount of TV every week, often, while eating coffee ice cream. She has no regrets. You can check out her blog here: Absurday. Lissete is a senior writer for Tell-Tale TV. Follow @lizziethat
24 comments
Thank you for this article – I think you are spot on! As a fan from the very beginning, I don’t recognize this show any more and Now I just don’t care. What and why – I just don’t get it????The most popular peices of the ensemble aren’t even present any ore and instead we have story lines that just don’t matter to the overal narrative. Badly done Arow badly done!
Yeah, the saddest thing is just that – I don’t care anymore. Even if they went back to the kind of storylines that made the show work, at this point, I’m not sure it would make a difference in my feelings.
Nossa ! Onde eu curto mil vezes esse post. Vc descreveu exatamente o que estou sentindo . Sem tirar nem por .
Thank you! My Portuguese is good enough to understand you, not good enough to reply in it, but I appreciate it nonetheless 🙂
Same here. Have also been a fan from the beginning and can’t understand the direction this show has taken. Oliver and Felicity act now like they had a one night stand and everyone including themselves wants to forget about it. The whole story of season 5 seems convoluted and messy with a whole lot of new characters and action thrown in to appease comic book fans and seemingly to appeal more to a male audience and the chore characters act like they never even been good friends and partners to begin with.
The most disappointing thing for me has to be the total retcon of characterization. I’ve known these people for 4 years and now they’re behaving in ways they never would have before. And I’m supposed to just go along with that? No way.
Olicity ruined the show for me tbh, I don’t mean to offend your opinion cause I know it has a HUGE fanbase but I watched the show, because when Smallville finished I thought that was it for comic book shows but arrow had me really excited till they killed Black Canary and then started focusing in romance as if it was a sitcom, and well. I just feel like the show is not what I signed up anymore since season 4 when Olicity “started” but as always, this is just my opinion.
Olicity started in the middle of season 2, and ended before they kill BC.. Season 4 was discusting for fanbases… I think the problem started when Miracle got the title Executive Producer…
It’s never offensive to disagree. I think the writers handled the Olicity romance in S4 horribly, not gonna argue with that. But the seeds of Olicity were planted in S1 and in S5 they’re not going back, they’re erasing things we saw with our own eyes. That’s what I dislike.
That being said, I don’t think season 5 is making anyone happy – Olicity fan or not.
I blame Barry:)
Don’t we all? 😉
Sorry that is exactly what is wrong with the show it is getting better now since they are not focusing on a fake relationship that never happened if you like Felicity so much go firestorm comics she is Ronnie Raymond stepmom. That God she is sifting away . plus comic fans come first after they desroyed arrows right hand canary from the first time smoak came on the show . Guggenheim wants to bang her baddly
Dont forget the fact that Oliver KILL Felicity new boyfriend, and she was like: ‘that’s ok, sh** happens..’
There was SO much drama in the 3rd season, that people start to dislike Olicity, i love the relationship they had in the first episodes of season 4… why didnt they leave that way… it was easy and fun to watch… but no, the producers prefer to end everything and pretend that never happened. And a bright mind thought, why dont we give them a new boyfriend and girlfriend?! Of course the public will enjoy! ?
The show has never been good at letting other characters not named Oliver experience things, but the way Felicity just brushed off Billy’s death is right there among the worst offenses the show has done this season. But, then again, this show has always skewed a bit toward the dramatic – and so have comics. Early S4 was the standard, and they just couldn’t keep it up.
Yeah, it would have made more sense if the Flashpoint has erased Olicity… at least it would have been believable!!!!
We would have been mad, but there would have been a reason!
Thank you for this. Your article perfectly sums up all my feelings about this show especially the small part which wants it to just end so that it’s not a constant reminder of how much the show runners screwed it up.
You ask what my breaking point is/was. Well the answer to that was basically the beginning of season 5. Watched the first two episodes and noped the hell out of there. It is a shame though because from what I have heard and read (because let’s face it, it’s hard to not want to know what’s happening even if your not watching it) the storyline this season has been quite decent but I couldn’t get past the frankly disrespectful way all the characters (not just olicity) were handled right off the bat in season 5. On top of that, the absolute bullshit interviews (pardon my language) given by MC and WM during this season make me believe neither of them actually understand how human feelings and relationships work.
I hope they realize that they had a fantastic set of characters before they tried to “fix” them and manage to find a way back to them. If in their pride they don’t het to that point, I’m afraid they will lose the fans who are still hopeful for some semblance of characters that they fell in love with. Then we’Lloyd see how much the “comics fans” can carry a network tv show. As for me personally, I am not sure if I will go back to the show even if they manage to fix what is probably my favorite TV relationship in recent times. It hurt too much when they broke it and I don’t know that I can take any more of it.
Yeah, it’s not just Olicity, it’s Felicity herself, Diggle, heck …Laurel, Thea, just about everyone. There doesn’t seem to be much left of the show I loved.
Ugh. Stupid autocorrect on the phone. I meant “we’ll see”. Not whatever the stupid phone decided to change it to.
I agree with everything you wrote. I think this season is a disrespect to fans who watch for 4/5 years. I’ve never been a fan of Laurel, but It was disrespectful what they did to her and her fans too. But about Olicity, you said everything. In my opinion, I liked their dynamics in season 1/2, chemistry with flirtation, implicit love. I’ll not lie that I enjoyed seeing they together, but to me the way the writers made the couple was a “bit wrong”. A couple with a lot of drama, novel, I would like to see a romance with love, flirtation and “sensuality”, this is my personal taste. Obviously, because of Oliver’s story, they would not be happy and always together, All the time, in any situation that them write the story, the “drama” is a part of Arrow arc, but that olicity desire to be together was always there, Somehow, Love and feelings, even though they were not together. So the writers decided to write this mess in season 5. A script without continuity and totally no sense.I don’t understand what happened but I think it was a big mistake, I have friends who don’t follow social medias, and they stopped watching. I’ve never been a fan of the Arrow just for olicity, But if it was to break up the couple they’d write one a convincing story, and besides several mistakes that I can’t continue to watch. I’m sure the big part of Arrow’s audience is not comic book fans, the TV audience is another, Arrow has already attracted a specific public. Anyway, now that the producers bear the consequences. (Any english error lol I’m still learning)
Agree, 100% And your English is great! They probably got them together too quickly and defaulted to drama because they didn’t know what else to do – but there are plenty of other shows on TV doing couples right. It can be done.
Also, as you say, Olicity is not the only thing they’ve done wrong in Season 5, not by a long shot.
I was a huge Arrow fan. Started watching cos I thought SA looked hot in the trailers (shallow of me I know..!!), but stayed watching because of the three main characters: Oliver, Digg and Felicity. And, of course, I jumped on the good ship Olicity as soon as I saw them together on-screen. Their chemistry was, in my opinion, instanaeous.
I think MG has already stated in an interview that Olicity probably got together too quickly and I think that’s why we’re having the drama in S5 – because the EPs didn’t know what else to do with them. But there are plenty of other shows on TV doing couples right, so splitting up a couple to create a drama is a lazy option in my opinion. They created this “OTP”, and then split them up and have them in relationships with other people and just carrying on like they didn’t have this huge romance. No matter how mature you are, nobody is “that” mature..!! The producers just don’t seem to understand what they’ve done wrong…
I also agree with your point that Olicity is not the only thing they’ve done wrong in Season 5, not by a long shot. 4 years of characterisation has gone out the window. The characters I’ve come to know and love have disappeared. I don’t recognise who I’m watching on TV at all now.
The show has never following the comic books all that faithfully but I dou nderstand wanting to appeal to the comic book fans and that’s perfectly acceptable. But couldn’t they find a way to appease both the tv fans and the comic book ones?
I’m not watching the show live anymore. I record it and skip thru the bits that bother me. Not sure if Olicity will ever be brought back to us, but if they don’t do something soon, I suspect S6 could end up being the last…
Yes! You have definitely hit the nail on the head with this article. It’s like the Olicty relationship just… disappeared. It’s weird and I don’t know how to feel about it. I’m not saying that I want Olicity together – their being together pulled focus during season 3/4 – but their dynamic is just wrong at the moment. Where’s the fun/awkward banter relationship from the beginning? And while I appreciate the little nuggets thrown in some season 5 episodes (episode 10) it’s just not enough for the very OOC reactions of the characters in other episodes (episode 15). Or that they are promptly forgotten about later.
And don’t get me started on the stupid “they’re being mature adults” excuse. Nobody is ‘that’ mature! It’s fine to not have them be together, but bring back the natural friendship, not this stilted dry exchange they’ve got going on.
I have been watching the show since day one, I’ve binged watch all the seasons, repeatedly. I don’t feel disrespected at all by the turn things took. Arrow was never a show about romance, romance is just a bonus. It’s also about epic fights, workout sessions, badasses superheros/villians being awesome, brooding, etc. And don’t get me wrong, I ship Olicity, I ship Olicity so hard that during the third season hiatus, I went down the dark path all the way to Tumblr and fanfiction sites. But the reason Olicity was great is cause it bloomed under those terms. And yes, the handling of the relationship was overdramatic, the dynamics changed too abruptly, and the romance part was obviously dropped to focus on other points (tbh I had a hard time going through season 4), but this show has proven before that it can be SO awesome, that this dryspell isn’t gonna suffice to scare me off ! I will be looking foward to see how they are gonna bring it back.
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