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[which_chick]

I was not impressed with the most recent (s2e6) episode of Arrow, which is my most current fascination. The reason for my lack of impressed is mostly what they're doing with Felicity. (Oliver is Our Hero, Felicity is his Girl Friday, Our Lady of IT.) It's not a problem that they're dangling unrequited Olicity in front of us. Everybody likes a

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[which_chick]

Also, Felicity is problematic because she isn't the canonical love interest. In DC canon, Oliver is with Black Canary. The pairing is kind of solid, like Lois and Clark. It's a given, no matter how boring it may be and no matter how much I like Felicity's lipstick and skirts. I grant that we don't have to get from Felicity to Canary in one go, but we do have to get there eventually. *sigh*

Note to writers: It is NOT OK to kill off Felicity in order to free up Oliver for the Canary. That is NOT COOL and I will vilify you forever if you pull that shit.

Just once, I'd like to see the not-main-character woman who doesn't-get-the-hero live happily ever after instead of Dying Tragically to cement our hero's resolve or dedication or whatever. Felicity should not be a tragic heroine. She can just... y'know... decide she's worth more than the fraction of Oliver's attention that he is willing to share around the edges of his crime-fighting vendetta thing and go off with some (equivalently hot and clever) dude who is more willing/able to commit to her so that the pair of them can pursue a meaningful (albeit more-normal) lifestyle that does not involve rooftops, arrows, or tight leather-ish pants.

Let me reiterate: It's OK for things to just-not-work-out. It's OK for her to just give up on him (Oliver) and get on with her grown-up life. You can let Laurel (or Sara, whichever) take the somewhat-damaged half-a-loaf Oliver's got on offer and be damn glad to get it. But in the end, Felicity is smarter than that and she deserves better and I would like at least once for TV writers to have the balls to show that. You can, of course, run with the Olicity ball for a while, but in the end, let Ollie fumble it. He doesn't have enough time for her, he's never willing to set aside the duties of the Arrow for the reality of being-Oliver-Queen, he's just not willing to commit. He can mean well and just not... follow through. If you pitch it correctly, people (women, damn us as a gender) will buy the idea that Oliver's City-Saving is more important (why can't Felicity just see that? Gosh, she's being such a bitch and it's not like she didn't know this about him before they got serious...) and that Felicity is being a little bit selfish in wanting a real, grown-up relationship and they'll be a little sad but mostly ready to see her glorious ass depart when she exits stage left with her clever, smart, talented, and devoted new man.

PRO TIP: Felicity's new man is not a villain to be defeated in one last rescue by Hero Oliver. Felicity just leaves, with her dude, presumably to go run a successful startup in computer security or some technobabble thing and also get married and maybe have kids if that's what she wants. Oliver can send a nice set of sterling to their wedding and then seek comfort and validation in the arms of the one woman who truly understands him. Ta-dah!

Come on, writers-for-tv, you can do it! (Imagine yourselves as collectively being dressed like Rosie the Riveter, here.)