Team GATV Roundtable: Looking Back At Arrow Season 5

Could Oliver and/or Felicity have romance with other people at this point?

MATT: Sure. They’re human beings. Either put them together or let them move on. I might be one of the few who enjoyed Susan Williams and her relationship with Oliver last year, so it can be done.

STEPHANIE: This season, we saw Oliver and Felicity with Susan Williams and Billy Malone, respectively, and neither of those relationships ended because they were in love with someone else, so can they? Yes. Will a certain portion of the fandom allow it? No.

CRAIG: Again with the “not without some major character maneuvering.” Ever since Oliver and Felicity got together, so early in the series, it made potential romance with others (see: Susan Williams) seem hollow. I still don’t think Oliver is ready for romance, and that they’re both young and should see what’s out there in the world, but again, with the narrative of the show, I don’t see any alternatives working right now, even if it would be interesting.

MELISSA: I don’t see what would be the point. Emotionally, I don’t see either of them wanting anyone else. They’ve resolved their trust issues that had kept them apart and as long as both survive the island, I see no reason why they wouldn’t continue to build on their love and support for each other.

Even just for logistical reasons, I can’t imagine putting them with other love interests. The show would have to repeat a season four level break up and then again delve into the shockwaves on their team and with their friends from the break up and then reconcile them enough so they could work together again and only then after all that unwanted angst and melodrama, only then could other love interests be brought in and even then the question of them once again reconciling would continue to hang over the show’s head.

I can’t see the benefit in the short term or long term, especially when any new pairings would just generate their own melodrama. Olicity is at the stage in a television relationship where the writers likely will now be willing to let the drama come from outside, not inside the relationship. In the early part of season four, they pitched them as a team within the team and I found the relationship very compelling even when it was just there in the background adding depth to every scene without any extra fanfare. I think that sort of relationship, that adds to the show even when it is not the focus, is the goal.