ARROW Season 3 Episode 5
Episode Title: “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak”
Writers: Ben Sokolowski & Brian Ford Sullivan
Director: Michael Schultz
I’ve never been a huge fan of Emily Bett Rickards’ performance as Felicity Smoak on “Arrow.” In my opinion, most of Felicity’s comedy beats and dramatic moments fall flat on screen.
Yet the fans seem to love her and the majority of them are far more invested in the romance between Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Felicity than the producers of “Arrow” probably intended. Remember, Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) was supposed to be the love of Oliver’s life, but they barely have scenes together anymore.
“The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak” basically lives up to its title by diving into Felicity’s past as a “hacktivist” in the days before she dyed her hair blonde. And because this is TV, the threat of the week is directly tied to Felicity herself.
Gothicity
In the episode’s flashback sequences, we meet the Felicity of five years ago. And I’ve got to say, that’s actually a good look for Felicity. In college, Felicity was part of a hacking collective with her boyfriend, Cooper Sheldon (seriously?! This show is giving a nod to “The Big Bang Theory?!) as played by Nolan Funk in addition to their mutual friend whom I am just going to call Red Herring.
The dialogue is pretty painful as Felicity and Cooper banter while hacking and Red Herring complains about it. During a hack, Cooper goes too far and he gets himself arrested by the feds. Cooper protects Felicity by accepting full responsibility for the cyber attack. In response, she transforms herself into the complete dork that we know today. And sometime in the intervening years, Cooper was killed in prison.
Crashing The System
In the present, Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) weirdly shows up at Felicity’s doorstep right before her mother, Donna Smoak (Charlotte Ross) drops by unannounced. Shortly thereafter, Starling City is hit by a massive cyber terror attack that Felicity recognizes as a program that she wrote five years ago.
As chaos grips the city, Team Arrow springs into action. And it wouldn’t be an episode of “Arrow” without another epic fail from Laurel. This time, Laurel uses her acting D.A. status to send riot police to confront protesters and her actions nearly unleash a full blown riot. You know, if this show really wants us to like Laurel, then maybe she shouldn’t be such a colossal f*** up that gets called out by everyone, including her father, Captain Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne).
Theaopolis
In the midst of this cyber threat, Oliver finally calls out his sister, Thea Queen (Willa Holland) about the money that she’s using to fund her new lifestyle. Instead of telling Oliver that she heavily invested in belly shirts, Thea lets it slip that she’s using Malcolm Merlyn’s money to buy her lavish new apartment and reacquire the night club. Oliver tells her that it’s blood money without a trace of irony… since the Queen family fortune was also blood money.
But eventually, Oliver relents and strikes a more supportive tone with his sister. In response, she invites him to move in with her and she promises to donate Merlyn’s money to charity once the club is turning a profit. From afar, Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) seems to be very displeased by the latest turn of events.
Of Course, It Was Her Old Boyfriend
After fighting with her mom, Felicity realizes that Donna was sent to Starling City as a distraction shortly before both women are kidnapped by men loyal to Brother Eye… aka Cooper, who wasn’t as dead as he was supposed to be. Amazingly, the episode treats this like it was a major surprise when it was actually blindingly obvious who the villain was going to turn out to be. A swerve would have been nice
Although Felicity and her mother had been at odds with each other, Felicity agrees to perform a hack for Cooper to save her mom’s life and Donna shows some ferocity of her own. But it turns out that a next generation smartwatch (which Ray offered as a gift to Donna) has a built-in wifi connection that allows Felicity to contact Oliver and the rest of Team Arrow.
Felicity Saves The Day
While Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and John Diggle (David Ramsey) deal with Cooper’s men, Oliver attempts to save Felicity and her mother. Oliver does create a distraction that extends Felicity’s life, but she ultimately saves herself after taking the gun from Cooper when he tries to use her as a human shield.
Okay, let’s put an end to all Felicity in jeopardy stories after this one. If she’s good enough to disarm a man then it should never happen again on the show. In the aftermath, Felicity reconciles with her mother and Ray tacitly gives Felicity the day off so she can spend time with Donna.
What, no cryptic hints that Ray Palmer is secretly evil to make the non-comic book readers distrust him? You’re losing your touch, “Arrow!”
And The Killer Is…
Remember the brutal murder of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) a few episodes back? We may have an answer to that mystery here. Throughout the episode, Roy’s haggard appearance is called out by Thea and Team Arrow. In the end, we learn why as Roy dreams about killing Sara as if it was a repressed memory.
Interesting… I had guessed that Oliver killed Sara while under some kind of mind control linked back to his days as an assassin for Amanda Waller. So, kudos to the “Arrow” creative team for fooling me about the identity of the shooter. Roy clearly was acting against his will, so the question now is who is pulling Roy’s strings?
For such a Felicity centric episode of “Arrow,” this wasn’t bad. Although Nolan Funk was a huge ham as Cooper/Brother Eye and the writing was spotty.
But feel free to share your opinions about this episode in the comment section below!
