Love is too small a word.

His face softened, and he crossed back to her side. He murmured her name, tenderly taking her face in his hands. “I love you,” he said, his voice low and fervent. “I love you with everything I am, everything I’ve been, and everything I hope to be.”

“Colin…”

The entire time that I was gone, I could never completely trust someone. And when that goes on for so long, you stop seeing people for people. You see threats. Or targets. And when I decided to come home, I just didn’t know how to turn that part of me off. 

If your me was anything like I was, then getting on the Gambit with you was her choice. And in my world, that trip it set off a whole series of events that neither you or I could’ve ever dreamed of. You became a hero, a husband, a father. And I’m flying through time happier than I’ve ever been. And none of that would’ve ever happened if I didn’t get on that boat with you. It was destiny.

I flipping love the 2x08-2x10 arc. Along with the adorkable puppy Barry Allen, we received such a hefty dose of Jealous!Oliver and beautiful Olicity sparks like we’d never seen before. We got our first hug. But we also got quieter moments filled with meaningful dialogue and intense staring (re: “I’ll come back.” – “Promise me.”).

I still cherish the classic Olicity reconciliation scene of 2x10, which kind of instilled the Olicity fight formula we became very familiar with in season 3. Here, Oliver genuinely apologizes to Felicity with zero prompting from anyone, other than his own guilt and nagging desire to restore their kindred rapport. 

Stephen Amell does such a splendid job showing how uncomfortable Oliver is this entire time. He fidgets. He moves his head a lot. He shuffles on his feet. His hand incessantly twitches. Still, he presses on. He doesn’t let discomfort stop him, because he knows this is important. He knows she needs to hear it as much as he needs to say it. 

He apologizes not once but twice. And the second time, his voice changes. It’s softer. It’s more like his Felicity voice.

One thing I appreciate about this scene is that Oliver doesn’t offer any excuses to try to justify his behavior. He doesn’t say, “I’m sorry, but…” He just says, “I’m sorry.” And that’s all Felicity needs to hear. It’s Felicity who in turn tells him she understands his head isn’t exactly in the game either as of late. 

Instead of just accepting the easy excuse, however, Oliver tells her the truth, in his own very Oliver way. 

He needs her here.

He needs her with him.

Truly, what I love most about this scene is Oliver’s beautiful account of how important Diggle and Felicity are to him. 2x10 marks the first time Oliver clearly states how much he needs his team. In 1x14, Felicity asked Diggle, “Why [did he] come to me?” And Diggle’s reply was this: “As hard as it is for him to admit, even Oliver needs help sometimes.” 

It’s still hard, but now Oliver is finally admitting this very point which first brought them together. It’s something that Oliver needed to acknowledge, as a kind of validation of Original Team Arrow, only to reiterate it more assuredly in 2x21 with, “This started with the three of us.” 

You know what else I love about this admission? The way Oliver says it.

Notice the body language. The way he pauses. The little sigh. And yep, the very slight, so minuscule you’ll miss it, headshake. It’s Oliver’s classic tell for when he’s speaking a truth so profound it almost takes him by surprise. This parallels rather nicely with another revelation that happens 13 episodes later, doesn’t it? 

I rely on you.

I love you.

The wording is so close. Both statements are important steps for Oliver and Felicity’s growing relationship. And in both cases, Oliver wears the Arrow suit with the hood down, a visual reinforcement of his most vulnerable state. He embodies his truest self wearing that suit while showing his face.

Oliver says he relies on her. And Felicity responds with, “Does that mean I have a shot…?”

I will always appreciate Emily’s reading of this line. The tentative pause that she puts here is so critical. 

Ignoring the unintended pun, this millisecond break after shot adds a double meaning behind her words. In 2x09, Slade’s VO proclaimed that he would “corrupt those Oliver loves,” meanwhile the camera focused on Felicity. And then, coming off winter hiatus, the show uses this moment to subtly remind us that the whole “corrupt those he loves” thing was very much intentional. 

So with both Felicity’s line and Slade’s line, one question remains: Does Felicity have a shot at being the one Oliver loves? We know the answer to that now. But at the time, this line was just one more hint, one more clue, one more piece of hope for us to cling to during the coming episodes. 

There’s obviously much more to say about this wonderful scene, but this concludes my rant of adoration for now. Season 2 was such a masterpiece. Thanks for reading, friends. I also personally cannot wait to see what Season 4 brings us next week.

Bonus: Queen of Denial lingering-on-her-when-she-isn’t-looking eye flutter.