Exclusive

How Dare You Walk Away From Us Like That, Arrow? Emily Bett Rickards Sounds Off on Felicity's New Journey

Emily Bett Rickards weighs in on Felicity getting out of the wheelchair

By Lauren Piester Feb 25, 2016 3:59 AMTags
Arrow, UnchainedLane Hentscher/The CW

Well that was an interesting way to end that episode of Arrow

We can't say we were expecting Felicity to continue her engagement to Oliver after learning that he's been keeping his son a secret from her for months now, but we don't think we were totally ready to see her give back the ring, right before her leg started twitching. Then, she stood up out of her wheelchair and walked right on out of the room, and we were left to wonder: Was that the most effective f--k you we've ever seen? 

Throughout tonight's episode, which brought Felicity, Laurel, and Samantha (the mother of Oliver's kid) together for one awkward meeting of Oliver's current and former lovers, we did often find ourselves wishing that all the women (including Thea and the visiting Vixen) would just ditch the broody, all-too-noble former partyboy and go hang out and save the world on their own. There were just an awful lot of reminders of all the terrible decisions Oliver has ever made, and it was hard to feel any kind of sorry for him. 

Felicity kept mainly quiet about her feelings on his secret-keeping until William was safe and sound and out of Damien's clutches—at the expense of Oliver's now-suspended mayoral campaign—but then she heard him recording a message for the kid to watch on his 18th birthday. Keeping William out of his life was yet another decision Felicity wasn't privy to, and that was apparently the last straw. Now, Oliver's got no kid, no fiancee, and no chance of becoming the mayor, so nothing's going well for him right now. 

The CW

Felicity, meanwhile, can walk again, so that's great for her. It seems a little fast to us, which is what we told Emily Bett Rickards when we chatted with her before we saw this week's episode. 

"I've been trying to be as protective as possible over what story we're going to tell with her being paralyzed, and that's hard, because that's not our show," Rickards tells E! News. "Our show is not really there to tell this story, unfortunately. We don't really have time. We sort of rushed through it as interesting and creatively as I think we possibly could, but the authenticity of it is that this would be all-encumbering. This changes your life completely. You have to regulate the temperature of your body. You don't have time to do anything else, because you're literally focusing on how to live this life. That is something that we couldn't show." 

While it is true that Arrow probably does not have the time to commit to giving the story of a grown woman adjusting to live without the use of her legs the care that it requires, that doesn't mean Felicity's journey over the past few episodes isn't going to have an impact on Felicity's journey as a character.

"We couldn't show what it would be like for Felicity in reality. We could not show that, and I apologize for that. And since we couldn't, I do feel like it was good for us to get her standing, and it does create a new goal for her to work towards. It gives her this idea, a lightbulb moment, to reset what her driving force inside her is, and I think she checked into that and now she's going to go after what this new goal is."

The fact that the chip did end up working also bodes well for the character who made it. 

"I feel like it's really important for Curtis to have made this chip," Rickards explains. "He's shown what an impact he will have towards the rest of the season, hopefully into next season, with his genius and his value toward what he could do teamed up with Felicity." 

As for Felicity's relationship with Oliver, Rickards told us that Felicity has a lot of thinking to do. 

"[She has to figure out] whether or not she's willing to risk the fact that he's going to do it again. In her mind, I think she feels like he will always be put in a situation where she's going to have to be either digging for the truth or accepting the fact that she might not get it all, but knowing that he still loves her. What is worth more?" 

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.