"he had the right to do that by himself, without any outside influences" Didn't he take Vixen's advice instead of going to Felicity, who grew up without a father? The worst thing is she understood his decision. The problem is he still can't rely on people emotionally. You should be able to rely on your family and you can't build a marriage w/o that, no matter who you are. He was making the hardest decision of his life and he didn't include her. It was never about her deciding for him OR his son
(Long answer is long and scattered. Sorry.)
Firstly, this was written before 4x15 aired. In fact, this meta was written in answer to 4x08, specifically the way Felicity reacted to Oliver asking for space. And about what was probably going around in his head from the moment he saw William for the first time until Felicity broke up with him.
Secondly, while Felicity’s opinion and feelings about growing up without a father are valid, her situation isn’t comparable to Williams situation. At all. Felicity’s father left when she was seven, which traumatized her. William never knew his father, probably thinks his father is dead. Or maybe Samantha was honest and told him that she never had a real relationship with his father. As of 4x15 William doesn’t know that Oliver is his father and it won’t hurt him that Oliver isn’t in his life.
Vixen’s experience aligns with William’s much better than Felicity’s.
Also, Felicity’s experience and opinion to growing up without a father isn’t universal. Her childhood doesn’t actually make her an expert for these kind of situations.
And now to the accusation that Oliver isn’t leaning on Felicity. I already wrote a whole meta about how Oliver has been leaning on Felicity and included her in his decision for the whole season, with the exception being William. While she lied to him and excluded him at least twice already, one time for more than two months. About things that were directly relevant to their relationship. So, her reasons are at least mildly hypocritical.
Additionally, Oliver is recovering from PTSD and, as queensoverwatch already pointed out several times in her metas about this situation, will have relapses and also not react to things the way a mentally healthy person will.
(I’m not even going into how respecting Samantha’s conditions doesn’t make him a bad person, or bad boyfriend. That is another meta still waiting to be written.)
So, I don’t see how one time not 'leaning on her’ somehow erases all the times before when he did exactly that and justifies a break up.
Also, the point of this meta was that Felicity didn’t trust Oliver. Before he even knew what was going on, she was already spying on him. Trust isn’t a one way street, it goes both ways.
You know what a marriage needs? Not throwing in the towel the first time things become difficult. A willingness to see the other person’s point of view and actually listening to them. Realizing that you partner is human and will make mistakes. Acknowledging that your partner might sometimes prefer to share things with other people first.
Oliver isn’t the only person in that relationship who needs to learn what marriage means. And, honestly? If Felicity doesn’t change her attitude about honesty, inclusion, leaning on the partner I don’t actually want her to return to Oliver. That would make their relationship very toxic very fast.
