As the episode title suggests, this episode of Arrow delves into the (Goth) past of Felicity. Meanwhile, in the in the present, her mother comes to visit! Check out Josh’s episode recap for this week, titled The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak, along with Josh and Violet’s thoughts!
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Episode Recap of Arrow, Season 3 Episode 5: The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak
This week’s episode of Arrow opens with a cool “training” montage, moving from Oliver and Roy sparring with wood staves, to Laurel boxing with her new trainer, to Thea training with Merlyn. Roy seems to be exhausted, Oliver notices, Laurel is struggling as well, but Thea seems to be on top of her game. Meanwhile, Felicity is at home doing a workout on TV routine. She is visited by her boss Ray Palmer while wearing a less than flattering outfit. He has a marvelous idea to reuse excess energy to provide electricity for Starling City. Felicity gets another visitor, her mom–and Felicity seems horrified.
Mrs. Smoak, or Donna, seems enamored with Ray Palmer, and Palmer decides to give her his new prototype.
Then we get a flashback, and see that Felicity was a bit more goth than she is now. She has a boyfriend, and they are doing some hacking. Felicity seems excited that they were able to achieve the hack, but her boyfriend wants to take it farther–wiping out all college student loans. Felicity pulls the plug before he can finish though. They get into an argument, and the flashback ends.
Back in the present, Oliver visits Thea’s new bar, and she tells him the money came from her inheritance as Malcolm Merlyn’s heir. Oliver isn’t happy about it. Oliver warns her that Merlyn is alive, and using his money could be dangerous. Thea leaves, but suddenly the electricity seems to go out–in all of Starling City.
Chaos immediately starts on the streets, and a video appears on various TVs across the city. It provides an ominous threat while providing some light back to Starling City, proving whoever this person is, is in control.
Felicity and her mother head to the Arrow Cave, and Oliver shows up. Diggle shows up too, baby in hand. Oliver has a problem with Sara going to the Arrow Cave, so she is left with Felicity’s mother upstairs. Felicity, meanwhile, figures out a virus must be the problem. Also, Laurel is told that she is acting District Attorney because the actual one is out of town.
Back in another flashback, Felicity tells her boyfriend that he could be caught, and turns out the FBI finds him pretty quickly.
Meanwhile, the ominous voice threatens to reduce all bank accounts to zero. Felicity is hoping to trace who this hacker is if he makes his move. Laurel, meanwhile, has taken the harsh road, dispatching a riot squad on the disgruntled people of the city. Arrow and the gang decide they might have to provide some assistance. Roy and Oliver show up, and disperse some of the crowds with tear gas arrows. Bad news for Felicity though–she wrote this virus 5 years ago, and can’t come up with a way to stop it. Oliver returns to the cave, and Felicity tells him about her “hacktivism”, and the creation of the virus.
Felicity seems to think her friend Myron could be the culprit. She tells Oliver the boyfriend is “out of the picture” so it couldn’t be him.
Returning to the flashback again, Felicity visits her incarcerated boyfriend. She tells him she wants to confess that she wrote the virus. He tells her that he has already confessed and won’t let her do it.
Again in the present, Lance is ticked at Laurel for calling in the riot squad. He seems worried about her, and asks her what is going on. She tells him she can’t talk to him about it. Lance tells her to find someone to talk to it about then.
Thea tries to enter the Arrow Cave, but Oliver approaches from behind, informing her that he thinks that the door must lock in an emergency. They discuss Merlyn’s money again, and Thea seems set on using it.
Roy and Oliver pay a visit to Myron next, and tells him to shut down the virus. Felicity seems convinced he is the culprit, but he denies it. Oliver returns to the Arrow Cave, and seems set on the boyfriend being the problem. Felicity says that the boyfriend is dead, so he can’t be it. Felicity, distraught, takes a break. Ray Palmer finds Felicity, and they have a heart to heart, until Mom shows up again. She isn’t happy about being left hanging for several hours. They have it out with each other, and mom seems heartbroken that she is not appreciated.
Felicity returns to the Arrow cave, but Oliver tells her to take a break, and talk with her mom. Felicity tells Oliver she isn’t interested, but Oliver seems to give her the right motivation to talk with her.
Back home, Felicity’s mom tells Felicity about the free flight she got, Felicity is suspicious, and rightly so–masked men burst in and take both Felicity and her mom hostage. They are taken to a warehouse, and the ominous voice is revealed–her ex-boyfriend never quite died. Turns out the NSA got him out of prison, and made him dead for their secret missions. He isn’t happy with her joining the corporate world. Turns out this whole plan was part of a way to steal a boatload of money–but he needs Felicity to hack the system. Her mother is of course the leverage.
Back at the Arrow Cave, Oliver is aware something has to be wrong considering Felicity isn’t calling him back. Felicity does the hack though, to save her mother and herself. The henchmen prepare to jump the trucks to steal the cash, and Felicity and her mother are left alone.
The good news is Ray Palmer’s watch that was given to her mother lets Felicity contact Oliver, and tell them where she is. Ex-boyfriend is about to put Felicity down, but mom speaks up, and gives him a tongue-lashing. This was enough time for Oliver to show up. Some motion sensored guns take aim at Oliver, and he is busy taking them down.
Meanwhile, the henchmen have their hands full with Roy, as he works to take them down. Diggle even jumps in an helps Roy out. Felicity shows some courage though, breaking from Cooper’s grip, and pummeling him with his own gun.
In a final flashback, Myron witnesses the transformation of Goth Felicity to the one we know.
Laurel, meanwhile, talks with her new trainer, and she tells him about the death of Sara. He tells her to “train for herself”.
Thea gets a peace offering from Oliver, a gigantic bag of popcorn. Thea tells him to move in with her, and she even tells him that Merlyn’s money will be donated once she is on her feet with the club. Creepily though, Malcolm is watching from another building through the window, with a odd look on his face.
Felicity greets her mother with a hug, and admits that she hasn’t been appreciative enough. She also tells her that her toughness comes from her. Ray Palmer comes up again, and Felicity calls in sick, and Ray seems pretty cool with her constant request for days off.
In the final moments we get a potential big reveal, but it is a dream, so how valid it is, is to be determined. It is Roy’s dream, and in the dream, it is he that murdered Sara. He wakes up in a cold sweat and poof–the episode ends. Dun, dun….dun!
Josh’s Thoughts: Arrow, Season 3 Episode 5: The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak
The flashback sequences for Arrow seem to be bouncing around, not not solely focusing on Oliver as much anymore. I guess this is a good thing. It adds some depth to the other characters. I could never have pictured Felicity as a Goth though. I guess, based on her demeanor in the flashbacks, she was kind of a “poser”, because she really didn’t want to use her “virus” for nefarious acts. She was just intrigued by the puzzle of creating it. I understand that to an extent.
This episode’s storyline was pretty obvious though. Of course the boyfriend was still alive. This is based on a comic book franchise–no one is ever truly dead. The funny thing is, Oliver was pretty insistent the entire episode, even after learning of his death. I think Felicity was the only one shocked to find out he was still alive.
Laurel is definitely spinning out of control, and I am wondering how far it will go. Her (terrible acting) trainer seems to “know” how to help her, but I have a feeling Laurel is still going to be Laurel, and cause more trouble before she gets back on a better path.
Meanwhile, I am not sure what to make of Thea. She is being civil with her brother, and even seems to want to get close to him again, inviting him to move in with her (did that seem kind of weird when she asked, and she was wearing a super short shirt? I found it a little awkward myself). But is Thea playing Oliver? We have Merlyn creepily watching from outside, but maybe this was all done without Malcolm supposed to know…hmm….
Then of course the big reveal–Roy may be Sara’s murderer. I am hoping that is not the case, but how would he have the visions of killing her if it was him? He wasn’t even there when she died supposedly, so he wouldn’t know the scene in which her death occurred. I have a feeling he might be the murderer, but something else is influencing him to have made him do it. I guess we will have to see where the story takes us.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 3 Episode 5 of Arrow: The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak
I never expected to see a flashback episode focusing on Felicity! I figured what we see is what we get with her, so this was a pleasantly surprising episode. Felicity was Goth? Would not have guessed that! Also, the moral of this episode is, no one is ever dead. Especially if you’re in a comic book show. How heartbreaking that must have been for Felicity to find out that way though. This guy was like, the love of her life (well, before Oliver), and she thought he was dead all this time, but nope, he’s been around, and faked his death. And with what he’s resorted to in this episode, apparently he didn’t really care about Felicity all that much. Not that they would have had a future together anyway if he would have been just stuck in jail. Oh, and kudos to Felicity for kicking his butt all on her own! She almost didn’t even need Oliver. Can Felicity be Black Canary instead of Laurel? Pleeease?
Regarding Laurel, I’m not enjoying her sudden convenient transformation. Definitely not believable, but it’s inevitable, and there’s nothing that’s going to change it.
So Thea asks Oliver to move in with her. Where does Oliver live now anyway? In the Arrow Cave? Speaking of the Arrow Cave, I appreciate the efforts that the writers went to this episode to show us why Thea is oblivious to the Arrow Cave – which is something we’ve been wondering since she opened the club last season. However, I’m pretty sure that the door wasn’t in some hidden area of the club before, and that it was on the main level of the club. But oh well, at least they finally addressed it.
So, did Roy really kill Sara? Or was it just a dream to throw us off and make us think he did? Obviously, he wouldn’t have killed her of his own volition. Is there something still inside of him from the Mirakuru? Hopefully we get some light shed on this subject real soon!
Scenes from Arrow, Season 3 Episode 6: Guilty
Here are scenes from the next episode of Arrow, titled Guilty:
