Best of the 2010s: The relationships that shaped the decade

Best of the 2010s in 2015: Oliver and Felicity, “Olicity,” from Arrow

The end of Arrow‘s third season was not, overall, a happy time for Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen. In fact, it was a pretty terrible time, if we’re being honest with ourselves. Oliver was in the middle of a hopeless war with Ra’s Al Ghul, and his loved ones were suffering for it. That was no more obvious than when Al Ghul sliced and diced Thea Queen, leaving her for dead unless Oliver accepted his ultimatum and joined the League of Shadows. When Oliver and Team Arrow visited Nanda Parbat in hopes of saving Thea’s life without making a deal with the devil, things didn’t exactly go according to plan—as pretty much nobody who was thinking logically expected.

In the midst of all of this, Oliver and Felicity were still sort of dancing around each other; and we’re pretty sure the heightened feelings around all of the League of Shadows drama were what made the characters finally hooking up much steamier than it otherwise might have been. Thanks to Arrow Season 3, Episode 20 including lines like “you’ve opened up my heart in a way I didn’t even know was possible” and the candle-lit lovemaking that followed, the Olicity relationship easily snags the 2015 slot for our best of the 2010s ships.

The thing is, Felicity Smoak was always the perfect partner for Oliver Queen. We know that strays away from comic book canon, and we also have mad respect for a certain other lady in Oliver’s life…But for the Arrow actually on the television screen, rather than on the page? Olicity is the shipper hill we’re prepared to die on.