#arrow 4x20

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As we all know Felicity is a precious badass cupcake! I figure it can’t hurt to look at the many acts of bravery she has performed because let’s face it - our girl rocks!

Arrow 4x19 - Felicity reminds Oliver that he will find a way

Arrow 4x20 - Classy and honest always

arrow 4x21- Felicity saved millions but casualties will always haunt her

Arrow 4x22 - Stands to protect her Mom and her friend

Arrow 4x23 - Felicity takes down a missile - BECAUSE SHE’S AWESOME.

Arrow 4x23 - Felicity stands by her man

FELICITY SMOAK IS AMAZING.

Thanks to those who made the gifs.

And Felicity responds, “Yeah when I said that I was hurt. I was going through one of the most painful experiences of my life. Oliver, you are not perfect. None of us are. Good news is that all of us can change.” 

Oliver is trapped in his grief and becomes mired in the belief that he can never truly change, never be a hero, never be anything but darkness. An idea that Felicity drove deeper into him in a moment of pain and anger and hopelessness. But this episode is a return from that. Felicity is coming back to doing what she always does, offering hope. She denies what Oliver is thinking, what he’s being told, what he’s being shown- that his darkness is too great to overcome, that he will always be primarily be defined by that pain that he’s suffered and the pain that he’s inflicted. And she counters it with such a firm denial. No, Fortuna saw something in you. No, you can change. No, you are more than what your past made you. She doesn’t do it quite as strongly or as openly as she has in the path, because there’s still so much of herself she has to recover, still so much healing to do. But it’s there, a part of her that no pain can completely shake- a belief in goodness, an inherent hopefulness, a belief in Oliver. Felicity who can always see light in spite of the sheer amount of darkness that surrounds her. 

And later in the episode, after successfully using light magic, Oliver tells her “I heard your voice in my head. You were reminding me of all the good things I have in my life. I heard Thea. I heard John. I head Laurel. Just telling me to keep fighting, to never give up. Just telling me to have hope.”

And we have Felicity’s superpower- not only is she able to see light, she’s empathetic enough, and expressive enough that she can guide others to see it as well. She “has a way with words” as Oliver puts it. It’s not enough that she can see the light in Oliver, she pushes him to see it as well. And she, even with everything between them at this point, can help him see the qualities which are his great strengths. His huge capacity to love that lets him pour everything he has into the people around him (Felicity, Thea, Diggle, Laurel) and lets him take strength from them. His tenacity- the part of him that never breaks, that always keeps fighting, always finds a way. His belief in the possibility of change and redemption. Oliver hears all of his team telling him these things, but foremost among them is Felicity. Felicity who, from the very first moment he met her, helped him start seeing people as people again, after Lian Yu turned them into threats and targets. She helped him see people as people, starting with her, and ending with himself. 

“How could I forget?” 

Pretty sure that this scene between Oliver and Felicity in 4x20 is heartbreaking. They’ve been broken up for a short amount of time, and she discovers where he’s been living. Down in the lair, with only a cot. Not even a bed. He tells her that all of his stuff is in storage; he doesn’t need much. He just wants her. He needs her, not his stuff. 

And then the fern. He has to remember the scene when he sees the fern for the first time. How they smiled at each other. Flirted. And that memory has to transition into when he asked her out on a date.