arrow 8x04 sneak peek reaction
so of course we have all seen these clips, right?
8x04 FTA meets OTA (plus Dinah and Rene are there)
8x04 Oliver and William father/son chat (embedded in the article)
well I HAVE SOME EMOTIONS THAT I NEED TO GET OFF MY CHEST here ya go (beware so many spoilers also THANKS TO @puck038 for the gifs! 😍😘).
Oliver and William and Mia part 1
Oliver’s little step back at the beginning, right after Mia says, “Dad?”
William’s immediate reaction to Oliver is amazing! he smiles and just goes right for the hug! 💗😭💗😭 no hesitation at all! And his face, so happy. He’s suddenly just a little boy again, a little boy who just misses his dad! 😭😭😭
and Oliver is so shocked and confused. He says “William?” but then when he is more certain, “William!?” and his arms close around his son and he’s so overcome!
and Oliver’s soft “Hey” in that voice he always reserved for William 💔😭💗
and then William’s face as they hug! a beautiful mix of happiness and sorrow and relief!! 💗😭💔
and then William steps back and INTRODUCES HIS SISTER TO HIS FATHER, “Mia” and I cannot believe we are having this moment!!
and Oliver just repeats, “Mia” with disbelief and his heart in his throat (can you believe!?!?)
Connor calling John “dad” and expecting that emotional response from him, but all John does is look at him suspiciously ughhh my heart hurts!! 😭
John’s “What is this. How did they get here” ughhh I am not used to John being so emotionally closed off 😩
and Connor is just crushed at that reaction!
Rene all “last time I checked you didn’t have an adult daughter, or any daughter” and Dinah like “How? I didn’t even know she was pregnant.” THAT’S BECAUSE IT WAS NEED TO KNOW AND YOU BITCHES DID NOT NEED TO KNOW 🤷♀️ 😂
Oliver and Mia (and Felicity!) and William
Oliver: “THOSE ARE MY KIDS!” with such love and pride and disbelief and hope!!!
and Mia and William’s two different reactions to him CLAIMING THEM AS HIS CHILDREN:
William is just overjoyed to have his father say it! 😭
and Mia just trembles, absolutely shocked to hear those words coming from his mouth! 😭
and then Oliver steps toward her, “Are you okay?” and she steps back, and it’s SO MUCH LIKE season 1 Felicity asking season 1 Oliver if he’s okay (”You said you were going to pull your punches” - 1x22) - the emotional walls!! 😭
AND THEN (honestly this might be my favorite part) OLIVER TALKING ABOUT HIM AND FELICITY AND MIA!!!!!!!!!
“We had a daughter!” will forever be a thing that Oliver said, in that voice, WITH THAT FACE 💗😭💔😩🙌💗😭
and no I am not okay! 😭😭😭
“and we named her Mia. Felicity gave birth a few months after we left Star City. We didn’t tell anyone. We wanted to keep her off grid to protect her.”
I AM LIVING FOR THIS MOMENT. Because Mia is hearing this! She is hearing her father talk about her FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE.
Mia’s whole life, Oliver was just a larger-than-life MYTH. Felicity was just Mia’s mom. It was just the two of them, and the lives of her parents before she was born was just A MYTH. So vastly different from the life she lived, where it was just her and her mom, where Felicity was just her mom - whose whole life centered around her and her company - and the two of them lived sequestered from everyone and everything.
(look I always thought the writers did us wrong by not foregrounding Mia’s ridiculously over-dramatic response to learning that Felicity was still helping the vigilante cause, but seeing this, I can almost imagine how it must have felt for her. She thought her mom belonged her her and her alone, so to learn that all along Felicity was participating in something larger, something more, something she had kept from Mia...it must have hurt.)
(anyway back to my point) JUST IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE FOR HER to finally hear it FROM HER FATHER. To have him staring at her and talking to her and about her. THE MAN, NOT THE MYTH. I honestly cannot even I’m so fucked up over this.
and then of course the way Oliver looks at Mia, in her fucked up state, when he says “to protect her” because obviously that plan failed! 😭
William: "Look at this place....it's new! And them. No grey hair. No wrinkles." LMAO thank goodness that William got the comedic relief from Felicity 😂
but then - "And we are staring at our dad. Alive. Instead of at his tombstone.” OH GOD 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Oliver and William father/son chat
I have fewer reactions here in words because it was mostly just crying
first off: THE APARTMENT because it’s the summer after they went into hiding and all their stuff is still there because they had to have someone else pack it because they escaped to hiding with only duffle bags 😭😭 (a scene I saw them film I might add 😂)
and (as @puck038 pointed out) THE PICTURE ON THE COFFEE TABLE is the Oliver and Felicity summer of 3.5 one that had previously been seen on a shelf in that apartment! 😭💗🙌
and just ALL THE EMOTIONS Oliver as a PROUD DAD!
and when William comes out, he’s still so nervous, like a little boy again...and as Ben said in the article (such an amazing article btw): "he might feel like his dad died without really knowing him" which absolutely BREAKS MY HEART that William went all those years feeling that way...
ONLY FOR IT NOT TO BE TRUE BECAUSE OLIVER SAYS “Yeah buddy, I know.” 😭😭😭 WITH THAT SMILE ON HIS FACE, SUCH A PROUD DAD 😭💗😭💗
“Felicity and I knew. And we just, uh...well we hoped that you were going to come out to us when you were comfortable.”
I CANNOT EVEN BREATHE RIGHT NOW
it has always been my headcanon that Oliver and Felicity knew, and it’s so good to have it acknowledged in canon!! 🙌😭💗🙌😭💗
and Oliver’s emotions MY GOD MY GOD MY GOD MY GOD
“We clearly didn’t get that chance, and that’s on me. I’m sorry.” SO MUCH IS SAID HERE! HIS SORROW AND REGRET AND ANGST OVER WILLIAM OH GOD
but ohhhhh William is so forgiving, he’s just happy to get to be with his dad now!! 💗😭💗😭
and then they so easily switch into joking, they have such an amazing rapport: “Shocker. Where’d she get that from?”/ “Mom, I guess?” OH MY GOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!
Oliver’s FACE IS SO HAPPY WHEN THEY ARE LAUGHING. THIS IS EVERYTHING TO HIM TO HAVE THIS WITH HIS SON! 😭😭😭
all of his unresolved William related angst....dissolving into a beautiful moment of honesty with his son!! THIS IS EVERYTHING!
part of me is hoping that that means the entire episode is equally amazing?? but even if it's not, I don't care. These clips are more than enough
these two scenes include more/better content than like 3/4 of season 6 and 7 combined
like I want to approach all the people in my life I've tried to get to watch Arrow over the years and force them to watch that scene and be like SEE WHAT YOU ARE MISSING!?
and finally, EVERYONE READ THAT ARTICLE with the interview with Ben Lewis. Includes such gems as:
"Like Felicity before him, William really shows that there’s more than one way to be a hero."
and the interviewer asks: "How long should we expect his crew to stick around?”
and Ben says: “I can’t say an exact amount of time or how many episodes, but it’s enough to make a really dramatic impact on everyone involved." 💗💗💗💗
