10 wishes for Oliver & Felicity of ‘Arrow’ for 2019

Let’s face it, last year was a sucky one for the Queens. Oliver and Felicity had to contend with:

• Their hypocritical, lying, snitching teammates turning on them for no good reason.
• The city being held hostage first by a grieving father bent on making Oliver suffer, then by lame-ass marble-mouthed lunatic Ricardo Diaz.
• Oliver being exposed as the Green Arrow and tossed in prison for seven months after a bad deal with the FBI.
• Felicity having to hide in witness protection for five months.
• Oliver getting beaten up in prison — a lot.
• Felicity and her stepson, William, getting almost killed by Diaz.
• Felicity being unable to get any of their so-called friends to help her take down Diaz.

It was one bad thing after another, it’s a wonder they didn’t just say “screw it” at the end of the year and leave Star City for good. And if the flash-forwards are to be believed, Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak have roughly 20 more years of suck ahead.

So I’m hoping they get a break this year. Some time to rest and recharge before they fight the good fight again. Time to just be Oliver and Felicity for a while. Here are my wishes for the Queens for 2019:

NO MORE TIME APART

Oliver and Felicity have spent most of their married life apart. And during that separation they both went through massive emotional, physical and psychological trauma. They changed. Both of them. And although Oliver sweetly assured Felicity that she will always be the love of his life no matter who or what she becomes, they still need to figure out who they are together. Plus, “Arrow” doesn’t feel like Arrow when Oliver and Felicity are kept apart (looking at you, Season 5). The show is so much more interesting and entertaining when these two share the screen.

REAL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT REAL ISSUES

Oliver’s speech about how much he loves Felicity was beautiful. But what truly needs to happen is for them to sit down and talk about his penchant for making decisions on his own. Leaving Felicity in the dark has been an ongoing issue since at least Season 3 — and it’s a bigger issue now that they are married. The problem is it’s never truly addressed. It happens again and again and again. And Oliver as a character is diminished by this inability to learn. Felicity doesn’t need countless apologies, she needs a husband who will promise to be a full partner.

MORE OF THEIR HOME LIFE

One of the things the early part of Season 4 and the later part of Season 6 have done well was to show Oliver and Felicity outside the bunker, whether it was them catching up at the end of the day or greeting each other with flirty good mornings or having a Queen family dinner. Scenes like these give viewers a peek into the people behind the superhero masks and make the characters three-dimensional. So, I’d like to see Oliver and Felicity just chilling on the couch after a tough day, catching up while getting ready for bed, working out together or enjoying a lazy morning with some sexy times.

REGULAR SOURCE OF INCOME

I know, I know, we viewers are not supposed to think about this. Consulting producer Marc Guggenheim had said in interviews that if they’re doing their jobs right, this question would not come up. But it does because a) the Arrow writers are NOT doing their jobs right and b) they keep reminding us with scenes like Oliver and Felicity worrying about making bail. It’s a plot-related problem. They don’t have money when the plot needs them not to have money. I don’t know if Oliver’s new gig as hired muscle for the Star City Police Department comes with a salary and health insurance but he and Felicity need to start making some money. Boarding school for William is pretty darn expensive, I would think.

SMOAK TECHNOLOGIES

When is Felicity Smoak finally launching her company? And I mean HER company, hers alone bearing HER name. We know it exists, we’ve seen what’s left of it (yet another reason I detest that bleak future). I’ve seen concerns raised about how interesting a Smoak Tech storyline would be. But I think stories showing the difficulties faced by women in tech could be compelling. Plus, if the company focuses on security, it could also be used to explore Felicity’s trauma and obsession with safety. Then there’s trying to find work-life-vigilantism balance and its impact on her home life with Oliver.

HOME UPGRADE

The man who grew up in the Queen mansion and the woman who surrounded herself with color in her own apartment would never choose Oliver and Felicity’s past two apartments. The most recent one looks like a suite at a three-star hotel. I’m still not convinced it’s not an ARGUS safe house. The Queens need to move. Preferably to a place that can’t easily be breached. Something that looks like an actual home, something with a bit more room to accommodate a young family that could still grow.

SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING FOR FELICITY

I hope it has finally sunk in for Oliver just how traumatized his wife is. The woman got arrow-resistant curtains, for crying out loud! And she’s carrying a gun; she hates guns. Maybe she won’t feel so helpless if she got actual training in self-defense. No, this is not so she could join the phalanx of masks in Star City. This is so she can be empowered. She’s been living a very dangerous life for the past seven years and except for a training session with Diggle in Season 1, a tip on boxing stance from Sara Lance in Season 2 and a reminder from Oliver to straighten her wrist when punching in Season 5, we haven’t actually seen anybody teach Felicity Smoak to defend herself. At this point, it’s irresponsible and stupid.

FELICITY IN OLIVER’S EAR

There was something off the last time Oliver was out in the field. True, seeing him in his green leather with the hood down in public will take some getting used. So will seeing him without his mask, or even green paint. But the one thing I refuse to become familiar with is the idea of the Green Arrow without his Overwatch. Felicity Smoak is Oliver Queen’s crime-fighting partner. Always has been – at least on this show.

BETTER FRIENDS AND TEAMMATES

Oliver and Felicity deserve friends and allies who won’t turn on them over the flimsiest of excuses. They deserve friends who don’t try to attack them with axes. They deserve friends who won’t tell Felicity to just accept her husband’s fate. They deserve friends who won’t advice them to go back to witness protection, where they were almost killed. They deserve friends who are not one of the reasons they were separated for all these months. They deserve friends who didn’t try to repeatedly kill them just a few months ago. Oliver and Felicity deserve better, goddamnit!

HONEYMOON

Oliver promised Felicity a honeymoon last year — to Aruba. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned and the couple ended up separated by bars and a glass wall. I’m hoping this is the season Oliver finally gets a real win against a Big Bad and he and his wife can finally enjoy some sand, surf and sun.