Felicity and Synchronicity: Arrow Season 4, Episode 6 Review
This episode is about the heart-to-heart and the hit-and-run. It's also about how great Arrow can be when the focus of the hive - sorry, unfortunate coincidence - is on the Queen Bee.
Arrow Overlord, Palmer Tech CEO, "one of the smartest, most badass women on the planet," according to John Diggle, who in 3 seasons has never been wrong: Felicity Smoak.
But even Felicity Smoak has an occasional "gargantuan freak-out."
Episode 6 is a critical role reversal that shows just how much Oliver has grown up. He's the calm, measured partner for once, while Felicity is the frustrated, sleep-deprived partner, trying to fix something she thinks is her fault. But he should know better than anyone how misplaced guilt can consume you.
The logical move to saving Ray Palmer, miniaturized by the explosion and held hostage by Damian Darhk, turns out, is indeed to do nothing until they get more intel from Captain Lance.
Inexplicable, from Felicity's MIT pulling-an-all-nighter viewpoint.
Oliver encourages Felicity to go on with her day - spend time with her mom, have dinner together, which he organized without telling her. Major points with his future mother-in-law; in hot water with his future fiancée.
(Who's been talking to somebody behind whose back now?)
That tense raw chicken dinner led to one of TVs most genuine mother-daughter conversations. #MamaSmoak aka Donna Smoak aka the incomparable Charlotte Ross is hands-down Arrow's fan-favorite guest star for a reason.
Donna Smoak did what great parents do: not to burden their young children with adult problems. Decades later, Felicity is finding out just how much her mother struggled as a single mom with no support and no money, who'd given "my heart, my trust, my 20s" to a disappointment.
Not to mention, Felicity, a hot guy who can cook comes along once in a lifetime. And getting lost in someone you love deeply is neither suffocation nor disappearance.
Mama Smoak will be back for multiple episodes in season 4. I think both Felicity and Oliver will need more pep talks from both Donna and Diggle before they make it down the aisle.
John Diggle and Oliver Queen are back to being brothers and best friends, thankfully, whose conversation about Felicity harkens back to season 3, episode 1 "The Calm." Oliver: "I'm not much of a catch these days." Diggle: "Maybe Felicity will change all that."
Beyond his wildest dreams.
Felicity and Oliver have this amazing ability to table even major fights until after the mission is accomplished, although their fight over comms about Felicity's mother, with the extended Arrow family all listening, was classic.
Felicity in the field, in a stunt with Curtis Holt, crashing through a window = fandom prayers answered.
Although stealing the tech - Sara went off the rails with blood lust and almost blew the operation - was key to Ray's rescue, part of it was good old-fashioned street fighting. A kick in the chest and a flash grenade bested - barely, though - Damian Darhk's mystical powers.
Darhk is a formidable adversary. He's just the guy to put that smug little psychopath Malcolm Merlyn in his place. Where do I buy tickets to see that?
I don't even mind Sara Lance showing up Oliver a couple of times in that fight sequence. She's a former League of Assassins superstar who can do the salmon ladder. Enough said.
Now, the Sara and Ray hit-and-run.
Hi, I'm back from the dead. Sorry, gotta go find myself. Just like Barry Allen's dad on The Flash. What, we devoted multiple episodes trying to get you back and you walk out of your own welcome home party?
Sara has come back from the dead THREE TIMES on this show. Ray was held captive by DAMIAN DARHK. These sudden, unquestioned departures are illogical, except in spinoff-land.
But now that Sara is gone and Ray is almost gone (photo stills released today show him in episode 7), maybe Arrow can focus on being Arrow and not on being the Legends of Tomorrow Prequel!
Which is the perfect window for a Mama Smoak/Captain Lance "chance meeting." How typical their families sound when no names or details are attached, but I expect full-on freak-outs when they find out who their respective kids are.
I can just hear Lance saying, "I can't seem to get you out of my life, Queen."
Simultaneously, back at the apartment in heart-to-heart #2, Felicity says, "I think we should..."
PANIC. That's Oliver's expression. For a split second, he thinks she's breaking up with him. We're with Diggle: that's a beyond-crazy assumption.
(Ray has no romantic interest in Felicity. Nobody wants to be Plan B. He's also got some other things going on right now. Being hunted by Damian Darhk, for example.)
But Oliver is a self-doubt, self-hatred junkie who's only been in recovery for 6 months. Captain Lance would tell you how easy it is to fall off the wagon.
Felicity has proven once before that she's willing to walk away and find another kind of happiness with someone else. Oliver can't. Not anymore. Neither Green Arrow the superhero nor Oliver Queen the man exist without Felicity Smoak.
There is no more perfect director for intimate scenes on Arrow than Antonio Negret, who, when asked to describe this episode in 3 words, said, "FUNNY (I'm hoping), TENSE (I'm Sorry), and SEXY (I'm Not Sorry)."
You don't fight about things you don't care about, with people you don't care about. Against all odds,@ARROWwriters have created a happy, healthy, respectful, realistic, and deeply romantic relationship on television.
A relationship on TV that you'd actually want to emulate in real life? That's gotta be a first. ("Synchronicity" is the title of the cover photo, source: the Green Arrow himself, Stephen Amell.)
Coming up next, episode 7 "Brotherhood"
