It seems like every week I mention how great Arrow‘s ensemble is, and this week is no exception. Arrow has a great ensemble (see, I told you I say it every week). “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak” is a solid hour of Roy Harper flashbacks and I’m just kidding it’s about everyone’s favorite blonde computer geek.
Felicity is hanging out in her dorm room chic apartment when her mom (NYPD Blue vet Charlotte Ross) unexpectedly comes to visit. Right away things get off to a weird start, as Donna Smoak shows off her “smart wearable” to Ray Palmer, but in spite of her awareness of Felicity’s “techie things,” the woman can’t remember to press SEND on a text message. I’m getting mixed signals here, guys. That notwithstanding, Ross turns in a good performance, and she and Emily Bett Rickards have good chemistry together (but as I said in my review of last week’s The Flash, Rickards has good chemistry with everyone).
But “Secret Origin” isn’t about some Anywhere But Here mom and daughter bonding; Star City is first plunged into darkness, then threatened with a financial meltdown by some hacker collective. And here’s where the flashbacks begin. We see Felicity (looking seriously pretty with black hair and lipstick) as a college student at Exposition State, where she, her boyfriend Coop, and his roommate Myron are getting into “hacktivism.” (Think Anonymous when they’re not demanding nude pictures of ten-year-olds.) Coop wants to use Felicity’s “super virus” to wipe out everyone’s student debt, which, hey, sounds pretty good to me, but unfortunately it lands him in the hoosegow.
This is one of the places where “Secret Origin” stumbles, because once this happens we know that Coop is behind the cyber-attacks on Star City, despite Felicity’s protestations that he’s dead.
So, Felicity and Donna get kidnapped by Coop, obviously, and even though Oliver shows up to save the day, it’s still Felicity who comes out looking like the hero. Rickards is truly a casting coup for this show – she can play awkward, driven, vulnerable, sexy, and tough all at once. Not bad for an IT girl.
Also, Laurel is flirting not only with her boxing instructor (come on, you know they’re gonna hook up) but also with her calling as the Black Canary. This needs to happen sooner rather than later – she’s already donned a mask and tried to fight crime, what’s the fuckin holdup?
Season three is coming together nicely, but it’s hard to go from seeing a glimpse of Ra’s al Ghul at the end of last week’s episode, to the adventures of Felicity and her cocktail waitress mom. But at the end of the day, “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak” was a great way to shed light on the past of one of Arrow‘s most important players. And luckily for all of us, Rickards was more than up to the task.
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