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“Arrow” recap (4.16): Love Hurts

Previously on Arrow, a pretty crazy pretty lady called Cupid came to town, Captain Lance arrested Damien Darhk, and Felicity got the use of her legs back and immediately used them to walk out on Oliver.

Random aside: I had this song stuck in my head the entire time I wrote this, if you want to get on my level.

This week begins with two people kidnapped, tied to chairs, Cupid singing sweetly to them like the beautiful psychopath she is.

Cupid makes the couple profess their love for one another, then tells them that “Love is a bullet to the brain.” And kills them dead.

Meanwhile, Damien Darhk is on trial, and his lawyer is trying to convince everyone he’s not the bad guy everyone is making him out to be. The judge asks Laurel for evidence, and she’s not loving this game at all. Being the Black Canary is way more fun than being a lawyer, turns out. Way easier to serve justice.

At the Olicity Loft, Felicity is using her brand new mobility to organize her move out of the apartment. Oliver is watching her buzz around like nothing’s wrong until she accidentally says the word ‘marry’ and has no choice but to face how awkward this all is. She takes advantage of the elephant moving to the center of the room and tells him that he’s in charge of cancelling the venue, she’ll queue up some Alanis and uninvite the guests.

He starts to leave, and she throws out a “See you tonight,” surprising him. She assumed she’ll still be part of the team, and while he hadn’t really thought about it, of course she is. Always.

But the night was quiet on the vigilante front. Laurel comes in and says things are less quiet on the trial front, and the team offers to testify about how they got kidnapped by Darhk a few weeks ago. Laurel likes this, the fiance of a mayoral candidate will garner sympathy; which is when Felicity has to break the news that Olicity is no more.

Lance calls the Green Arrow to a crime scene where there are two dead bodies positioned as a heart, with a heart-shaped arrow nearby, and “love is dead” scrawled on a note. There’s no question as to who this heartbreaker is.

Back in the Arrow Cave, Captain Lance says they haven’t ID’d the bodies yet, and Thea is shocked no one else recognizes them for the socialites they are.

Diggle goes to court to testify against Darhk, and it does not go well. Darhk’s lawyer accuses him of shady dealings, dealings he was doing as part of Team Arrow, but of course, he can’t say that. So Laurel is a little shaken and needs a new plan. Captain Lance offers to be the next witness since he doesn’t have an identity to hide, but Laurel doesn’t love that idea.

Felicity calls Team Arrow and tells them she has Cupid’s location because she kidnapped another celebrity couple. Oliver tells her to track their phones, and she sasses back that of course she already did that.

Team Arrow catches up with Cupid driving a runaway limo with the newlyweds inside.

Thea gets thrown, and Oliver has Diggle stay with her while he goes in alone, a move that earns him more attitude from Felicity. He finally stops the limo, but she’s one step ahead of him.

They fight, complete with more Overwatch color commentary, and Cupid eventually gets away.

Felicity understands Cupid’s motive, what it’s like to want to start a war against love. At this, Thea and Diggle pull Oliver aside and tell him to talk to Felicity, and tell her if he wants to get back together.

Felicity sends the team to a wedding dress warehouse, and deep in the maze of white lace, they find Cupid’s little love den. Among other well-known couples pasted on her murder boards is a picture of Oliver and Felicity, meaning they were on her radar before they broke up. Oliver wants to go through with a fake marriage to lure her out, but Felicity is not really down with being bait, having just recovered from the last time she was targeted for being Oliver’s love interest.

But Diggle and Thea are like, “Wait I know it came from Oliver, but it’s actually not a dumb idea this time.” Thea can “leak” the secret wedding details to lure Cupid in, and Oliver hasn’t cancelled the venue yet. When Felicity asks him why, he says if he had made that phone call, it would mean they were really over. Felicity assures him that their relationship is positively, absolutely, undeniably and reliably dead. Really, most sincerely dead.

Meanwhile, Captain Lance convinces Laurel to let him testify, and he lays out all the things he did for Darhk and makes sure to make it clear that the only reason he did this was because Darhk threatened his baby girl. He also makes sure to point out that he has no motivation to lie about this; he’s risking his life, his job, everything, just to see justice served. Laurel is a proud little daddy’s girl.

At Olicity’s fake wedding (made exponentially more awkward by the fact that the officiant doesn’t know it’s fake), Felicity looks stunning. They have to exchange vows, and Felicity keeps her simple and sweet and only says truths – like that she’s looking forward to their next chapter, while not saying that their next chapter is being broken up.

Oliver gives his real vows, professing his love, and saying that she was his light; she brightened his world and gave him a light of his own. He says she’s the best part of him, and that he’ll never lie to her again.

Before Felicity can react, Cupid swoops in.

Cupid shoots Oliver in the chest with an arrow and threatens to blow up the building, repeating her mantra that love is a bullet to the brain. Oliver reveals that he was wearing kevlar (a new requirement for all queer women on TV shows please and thank you) and tells her to stop, but she points out that his vest won’t protect him from her bomb.

She wants to reveal love as the joke she thinks it is, to show everyone what she already knows, that love always ends in death. That love IS death.

But Felicity steps forward and says no, love is real. Love is life. She says if she dies, she’ll be okay, because she’s experienced love. (For the record, I will NOT be okay if Felicity dies. Just putting that out there.)

Felicity says that she’s so lucky to have known love in her life, and the joy of that is something no one can take away from her.

She inches closer and closer to Cupid as she speaks, and Cupid listens with an open heart and tears in her eyes. She says she’s starting to believe in love again, and I think she fell a little bit in love with Felicity in that moment.

Before Felicity can get the detonator from Cupid, Team Arrow busts up the love fest and arrests Cupid.

Oliver wants to talk about the things Felicity said, but Felicity isn’t so sure she’s ready for that talk yet. Oliver figures she just needs time and lets her go, Diggle patting him on the back and giving him hope.

The judge denies Darhk’s dismissal, so he’ll be held without bail pending trial. But when he’s put in his cell, he pulls his wedding ring out of his mouth and smiles creepily, so I have a feeling that warlock won’t be stuck behind bars very long.

Captain Lance gets suspended, but doesn’t regret his decision to testify, and is so proud of his little Canary.

When Oliver catches up to Felicity again, he tells her that he meant every word he said at their fake wedding. Felicity says she loves him; she does, but she can’t be with him. He promises again that he’ll never ever lie to her, but Felicity says that’s not a promise he can make because of the life he leads. He’ll always default to his lone wolf ways, and she can’t put her heart through that anymore.

Felicity says that she was wrong, when she said they could have their vigilante cake and eat it too, that they could fight evil and have their happily ever after. She says she can’t be part of this team anymore and starts to collect her things; it’s too hard to be here. She turns to Oliver and says that she knows his instinct will be to try to save their relationship, but that he has to channel his inner Elsa and let it go. She gives him back his ring and implores him to keep it for good this time. Oliver says he doesn’t want to let her go, and she says she doesn’t want to let him go either, but she’s already gone.

Overwatch out.

What did you think of “Broken Hearts”?

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