I thought this tumblr post said what I wanted to say much better than I could (or at least from another angle). I thought it was better for the blogger to keep it anonymous. However, I see your point, and I'll try to stick to my own views in these discussions in the future. As I've said before, my discontent with Felicity's character portrayal doesn't only concern this episode, or whatever statements Guggenheim has made in interviews etc. So, my reaction to "Dangerous Liasions" was that it put the writers' flawed writing for Felicity in relief, in this episode that was supposed to give her a somewhat different and "dark" storyline (can we at least agree that this was one of the producers' talking points?). @Costas made som good observations, and I followed up with this post, which specifically concerns her relationship with Oliver.
Whether it was my misinterpretation of the producers' talking points, or my own feelings during this episode, all I saw was more of the same when it comes to how the writers treat Felicity and the Oliver/Felicity relationship: Felicity praise from Diggle, Oliver being apologetic, nobody really challenging Felicity or trying to stop her (although they could have made things harder for her), Felicity not showing any discernable remorse or regret. There was also the introduction of plot devices that would make her look good despite her involvement with a nefarious hacker organization, e.g. Alena giving her that heartbeat detector MCGuffin or the supposed cyber terrorists using rubber bullets. I know that there are other characters who also get a pass when they screw up or behave in a way that might damage the team/other characters, but with Felicity this is a pattern.
In fact, in Felicity's case it's often as if the action is magically transformed from gritty superhero fiction to this CW fairy tale where Felicity can do almost anything without repercussions, as when she walked up and confronted the Mighty Ra's al Ghul at Nanda Parbat. In this case, instead of wondering who this impertinent girl/women is and what her punishment should be, Ra's praised her for her "fire within" and then he told her a sad love story to convince her to seize the moment and make love to Oliver, thus becoming another in fiction Olicity shipper! These scenes are so tonally different that they stand out and make her look a bit like a fairy tale princess, rather than the realistically portrayed, strong female character that the writers' might believe that they are portraying.
Whether it was my misinterpretation of the producers' talking points, or my own feelings during this episode, all I saw was more of the same when it comes to how the writers treat Felicity and the Oliver/Felicity relationship: Felicity praise from Diggle, Oliver being apologetic, nobody really challenging Felicity or trying to stop her (although they could have made things harder for her), Felicity not showing any discernable remorse or regret. There was also the introduction of plot devices that would make her look good despite her involvement with a nefarious hacker organization, e.g. Alena giving her that heartbeat detector MCGuffin or the supposed cyber terrorists using rubber bullets. I know that there are other characters who also get a pass when they screw up or behave in a way that might damage the team/other characters, but with Felicity this is a pattern.
In fact, in Felicity's case it's often as if the action is magically transformed from gritty superhero fiction to this CW fairy tale where Felicity can do almost anything without repercussions, as when she walked up and confronted the Mighty Ra's al Ghul at Nanda Parbat. In this case, instead of wondering who this impertinent girl/women is and what her punishment should be, Ra's praised her for her "fire within" and then he told her a sad love story to convince her to seize the moment and make love to Oliver, thus becoming another in fiction Olicity shipper! These scenes are so tonally different that they stand out and make her look a bit like a fairy tale princess, rather than the realistically portrayed, strong female character that the writers' might believe that they are portraying.
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