Romantic Moment of the Week – Oliver and Felicity Kiss

THE SHOW: Arrow

THE PAIRING: Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell)

THE EPISODE: “The Calm” – (aired October 8, 2014)

THE MOMENT: Oliver Felicity’s first kiss, followed by Oliver’s admission that he loves her.

I don’t know about everyone else, but ever since Oliver told Felicity he loved her in the season 2 finale of Arrow, it has been a killer wait anticipating what was going to happen next between the two partners. Did he mean it (I voted for yes)? Would he act on it? Five months later and the romance between Oliver and Felicity have taken off into epic category.

When Arrow first started a couple of years back, no one could have guessed that IT girl Felicity Smoak (introduced in episode 3) would become the fan favorite and one half of the most popular romance of the series. Still, even then, there was just something about that awkward blonde girl that made solemn Oliver Queen smile. From there, their friendship took off (slowly mind you) until last season when Oliver considered his friend his partner. Felicity did more than just make Oliver smile however; she believed in him, believed that he could be better. In a way, Felicity Smoak became a light in Oliver’s darkness; the subtle build-up (for those who read subtext) of romantic feelings between the two a highlight of the entire show.

Still, coming from Smallville and the endless teasing between Chloe and Clark that was NEVER followed through (something I eventually moved on to in the form of Chloe and Oliver), I thought the same thing might happen for Oliver and Felicity. Thankfully, with the season 3 premiere, the writers proved they could follow through with their own writing. Not only did Oliver clearly mean his “I love you,” the two act like a couple upon their return. While Oliver is broke as can be, Felicity doesn’t seem to care, buying him a fern to “lighten” up his gloomy living conditions in the Arrow cave. During this interaction between the two, Diggle and Roy can’t help but notice, springing up a conversation between Diggle and Oliver later on:

Diggle: Things are good now as they ever will be Oliver. And you love her. You even told her so.

Oliver: I was trying to fool Slade.

Diggle: Yes, except now the only person you’re fooling is yourself.

As stubborn as Oliver is, he does finally accept that he can be with Felicity, asking her out on a date. She says yes of course, because who wouldn’t?

Then comes the date…Oliver takes her to Italian, leaving his Arrow costume in a vent. Unfortunately for Oliver, his Arrow bag has a new gift in the form of a GPS tracker from the new Vertigo. While the new Vertigo gets ready to blast the restaurant (ready and willing to kill everyone in order to get the Arrow), Oliver arrives looking at Felicity in awe.

Guard now down (or so he later believes), Felicity and Oliver hug…

And then awkwardly begin their date (after a really cute touch of the hand), realizing:

Felicity: Well, we’ve already exhausted every topic that one would normally talk about on a first date and a second date and a third date, and every date, actually, and I’ve already seen you shirtless. Multiple times. Shirtless, all the time.

Hmm. Where to go from there…Well, Oliver is rather used to Felicity’s vomit mouth, and just moves on to deeper conversation, showing the audience how close the two have become. This is a man who doesn’t trust, yet he trusts her, confessing that she was “the first person that [he] could see as a…a person” when he came back from the island (and Hong Kong). Oliver even remembers what color pen she was chewing in their first meeting. How adorable is that?

Oliver goes on to get even more particular in romantic subject matter by reminding Felicity of another memorable romantic moment between the two. He recalls when he told Felicity he couldn’t be with someone he really cares about. Oliver believes he might have been wrong just (of course because obstacles must exist in television) as the restaurant explodes…

After protecting Felicity from the blast, Oliver carries her back to the Arrow cave.

Emotions are high now that he feels as if he’s put the woman he cares about in danger. Can he be both Oliver Queen and the Arrow? We learn in the episode that becoming Oliver Queen is his greatest fear. What happens to the people he loves when he does?

Believing he’s endangered Felicity, Oliver backs off romantically, Felicity not wanting to discuss their relationship just yet. She knows what’s coming; that Oliver had already decided the two couldn’t be together anymore after dangling hope in her face hours before.

Romantic Moment: Oliver and Felicity Kiss

Coming together at the hospital (Diggle’s daughter just born), Felicity and Oliver finally talk; Felicity’s avoidance at an end. We know what’s coming; Felicity knows what’s coming, but that’s okay though, right? We have something better than a happy TV relationship that simmers out as soon as the coupledom begins. We have a build-up that can last for seasons.

Oliver apologizes for giving her hope, confessing that he only thought he could be both the Arrow and Oliver Queen, but he was wrong. He couldn’t be Oliver yet, not right now anyway, and perhaps not ever. Felicity tells Oliver in response:

Felicity: Then say never. Stop…Dangling maybes. Say it’s never going to work out between us. Say you never loved me, say you—

Oliver stops her by saying “Felicity” (making the scene all the more romantic), and then kisses her gently.

Their first kiss is even better than I could have imagined because Oliver follows the kiss with a proclamation:

Oliver: Don’t ask me to say that I don’t love you.

He does love Felicity after all! He can’t say he doesn’t love her. What more hope could we ask for? Sure, Felicity walks away because it seems as if Oliver is again dangling their relationship in the unknown air, but I see progress. I see love. Oliver knows what he wants and now he can fight for it.

What did you think of Oliver and Felicity’s first kiss? Sound off in the comments…

Honorable Mentions: There were so many great moments this week that I have to give a few shout outs: Freya and Killian from Witches of East End in their Romeo and Juliet esque love story moment (I ALMOST picked them), Damon and Elena from The Vampire Diaries as Elena recalls the instant she fell in love with Damon, Hook and Emma from Once Upon a Time in a nice reunion after a near icy death, and Klaus and Camille from The Originals thanks to the show’s “Beauty and the Beast” archetypal homage.

Photo Credit: CW

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Check out our other Romantic Moments. We put up a new one every Saturday.

Read my recap to the season 3 premiere of Arrow HERE

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