Hi my name is Mali and first of all I want to thank you for producing and writing such a fantastic tv show, this has been, at least for me, my way to disconnect from real world and enjoy things I have always liked, like comics.
As a person whose main job is television related I always knew that tv shows based in comics are that: tv shows that take ideas from comic books but that write their own path, and from that point I always knew where was I getting myself into.
I stayed and I will stay here, watching it, enjoying it, as much as the rest of the fans because the story is compelling, we connected with it, we still do, and we know there’s a lot more places to go, I mean there are 52 earths and I am certainly you can always find things to keep us here, watching Oliver struggle with his decisions, Felicity taking hard decisions when she still supports Oliver and believes he can do better, that he is the hero in his own way but at the same time knowing that some times she also has to do what is best for her. I was so against the baby mama drama because I’ve seen what things like that can do. In my own family I do have uncles with two families, uncles who either were some specific Police related units or who worked for the Defense department, or that lived in places where there were army conflicts, and you know that situations are life threatening, so they didn’t revealed to their families that they had sons and daughters in other places, with other families, what happened after that? Is that we found it, their family found it when both their sons with their legit wife and the stranded son were taken by a Colombian cartel and it broke two families. My aunt was able to understand that my uncle was afraid but she also felt betrayed and with reasons because she felt she didn’t know what else was he hiding and for how long he did it, and ultimately if both families would have known they could have been more careful. My cousin couldn’t trust in anyone for so long, he felt betrayed by his dad, he felt his dad didn’t trust his family and ultimately he felt like he couldn’t trust anyone. So when I saw that storyline I wanted to bang my head, because I knew we were going towards it and I knew the outcome was going to be this. People who could understand the hiding part and Oliver's reaction and people who would understand Felicity and a big part of her fans that could see the broken trust and how it is necessary for her to step aside after helping Oliver find his son, how she needs to try to heal, to get her trust back before trusting someone else, and sadly it has not been shown in the show so far, and people need to see the way she feels, why for her its the right decision to step aside.
But ultimately what makes us stay, why we have stayed so far, is because we have seen character growth, we have seen a dark Oliver getting to break his shell, letting people in, Diggle and Felicity, trusting them so much because the fact that both are Oliver’s back up shows how much he trust them to help him stay alive and to help him fight for what they believe. I enjoyed seeing how close Oliver and Diggle got in the series, that’s what friends, brothers do, trust in each other, fighting side by side, asking, sharing, listening when the other think you are doing something wrong. I liked how Felicity was included in that dynamic, how she earned her place organically and how she never let Oliver get away, she fought him, she fought for him, she supported his decisions, and with Diggle they provide a safety net for Oliver. I liked how Oliver got Thea’s trust back, how he fought for her, to get her back from Malcom, to get her safe. I liked how Oliver had to open his mind and learn to trust Roy, learn how to be a team with him, Diggle, Sarah and Felicity. I like the implicit trust he has in Quentin, from start he knew Quentin would fight for the same thing Arrow did, even when Oliver didn’t tell Quentin his arrow personality. The only relationship I’ve never really enjoyed was with Laurel, her “you should have stayed dead, 5 years in hell were not enough” set the tone for me; then she blaming arrow for Tommy’s dead when she got told to stay away from the glades, then addiction was her way to face her guilt, problems and more, and no, that’s something I don’t agree with. Drugs is something you take consciously, you know the risks and if you still do it then it’s not anyone else’s fault but yours, you can’t blame others for things you did or can’t do. Oliver tried to redeem himself so many times and Laurel didn’t help. That’s something I saw and that’s why I understood why Oliver didnt see laurel as equal, that and the fact that she always blamed others. when she brought sarah back she did it alone without asking oliver, or someone who was on the team from start, someone who knew the risks they were fighting and the consequences, but she blamed Oliver because he didn’t tell her about Thea, heck Laurel wasn’t even on the team. Laurel took an unilateral decision and that was not Oliver’s or thea’s fault.
Felicity became an integral part of the team since the very beginning when Oliver went to her, for her help, and because she trusted him enough to not ask and gave him space and time till he trusted her and he did when Moira shot him, but it was a 2 way road, she trusted Oliver when she gave him the book that Walter found . It has been a path of trust since then, she called Oliver in his mistakes, bad ideas and supported him through it all, still does but she also talks and listen and Oliver do the same, that happens because implicitly there’s is trust.
You, Marc, the writers did a fantastic job with this, and I like to believe Oliver respecting her decision to step aside for a bit shows how well they understand each other.
As a woman I believe, I was grown to a family that always told me that I have the same rights, that I am strong enough to face my fears and that I can do anything I want, as that kind of woman, I respect Felicity in every way and decision. I never doubted her loyalties, that’s why she helped Oliver find his son, why she was there to fight Cupid and help Oliver once again, but I also understand the necessity to heal, to be your own priority and find your foot again.
What else can I say that i haven’t already said here. Thanks Marc, Wendy, Greg, writers for letting me enjoy a tv series that as media in general and fans call it, it’s totally mature, and portrays what we aim on a relationship, trust and respect. Thanks for showing us that heroes are not only those in leather but also those who fight for the right things or for the things they believe in. Thanks because in our real world that is what matters. The boy or girl who in school stop others from bullying a young black boy or girl, or a nerd one. The nerd who in his love for math and tech was able to create an airplane, a computer or a phone. The common boy or girl who trust the other, his family, friends to stand by his side whenever he needed help and even when he didn’t ask for it.
Thanks
