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So the reason Felicity didn't say ILY to Oliver until 3x20 is not because of any character development reason or any organic plot reason, but because the EPs wanted to lump her ILY together with Olicity sex into the right episode?

Arrow s3, episode 20 recap: Sex, death and big twists in 'The Fallen' By Morgan Jeffery Thursday, Apr 23 2015, 4:00pm EDT http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s206/arrow/recaps/a643759/arrow-s3-episode-20-recap-sex-death-and-big-twists-in-the-fallen.html#~paIiXgPilcdnhN

Arrow 3x20 Olicity Heart-to-Heart: Let’s Get It On MARILYN_PORTER THU APR 23 2015 12:03PM http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2015/04/arrow-season-3-episode-20-olicity-heart-to-heart-lets-get-it-on

Esther Inglis-Arkell's 3x20 review posted at io9 (she makes Indiana Jones comparisons! plus the excerpts I've quoted)... It Finally Happened On Arrow, And It Was Awesome http://io9.com/it-finally-happened-on-arrow-and-it-was-awesome-1699650478

Laurel Brown's 3x20 recap (where she tries to be funny)... Arrow Recap: Relive the Sexy Times in Nanda Parbat with The Fallen GIFs http://www.docbrowntv.com/arrow-recap-relive-sexy-times-nanda-parbat-fallen-gifs/

Laurel Brown has this online poll - "Best thing EVER!!!" is currently leading by an overwhelming margin... Arrow Poll: Weigh in on the Big Olicity Sex Scene in The Fallen http://www.docbrowntv.com/arrow-poll-weigh-big-olicity-sex-scene-fallen/

Jessica Breaux's review of 3x20... Arrow “The Fallen” Review (Season 3, Episode 20) http://www.tvequals.com/2015/04/23/arrow-fallen-review-season-3-episode-20/

3x20 review by Erik Kain, Forbes Contributor (I have a feeling he identifies more with the 'nice guy' than the 'bad boy')... 'Arrow' Season 3, Episode 20 Review: The Fallen http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2015/04/23/arrow-season-3-episode-20-review-the-fallen/

Came across this - all about fashions worn on Arrow... Arrow Fashion Blog https://twitter.com/ArrowFashionBlg

SA survived to the Elite 8 round (voting in this round ends on Sunday, April 26 at 5 p.m. PT, with the four top vote-getters moving onto the next round that'll kick off on Monday)... Alpha Male Madness 2015: Vote in the Elite 8 Now! by TIERNEY BRICKER Today 9:30 AM PDT http://www.eonline.com/news/649474/alpha-male-madness-2015-vote-in-the-elite-8-now

SpoilerTV is posting early ratings of 0.9 (18-49) and 2.72 (Viewers)... Ratings News - 23rd April 2015 Posted by DarkUFO at Thursday, April 23, 2015 http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/04/ratings-news-23rd-april-2015.html

This review is kinda funny in parts... ‘Arrow’ Recap: Oliver and Felicity, Together at Last Robert Chan April 23, 2015 https://www.yahoo.com/tv/arrow-recap-oliver-felicity-sex-117170243320.html

JustAboutWrite's review of 3x20 (quite lengthy but excellent analysis, recommend reading the entire thing though I've quoted some of my favorite parts)... Arrow 3x20 "The Fallen" (Come To The Water) http://www.itsjustaboutwrite.com/2015/04/arrow-3x20-fallen-come-to-water.html

‘Arrow’ Recap: A New Heir to the Demon Rises in ‘The Fallen’ Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 at 4:34am PST - by Marc Buxton http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2015/04/23/arrow-recap-a-new-heir-to-the-demon-rises-in-the-fallen/

Two different types of reviews at CinemaBlend... Arrow Season 3, Episode 20 Watch: The Fallen - Well, That Happened BY KELLY WEST 2 HOURS AGO http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Arrow-Season-3-Episode-20-Watch-Fallen-Happened-71469.html Arrow Season 3, Episode 20 Watch: DCU Connections And Easter Eggs BY JESSE CARP 7 HOURS AGO http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Arrow-Season-3-Episode-20-Watch-DCU-Connections-Easter-Eggs-71472.html

EW review of 3x20 (generally positive, although I hate the repeated references to "fan-service")... 'The Fallen' Arrow Ep. 20 | Aired Apr 22 BY CHANCELLOR AGARD Posted April 22 2015 — 11:26 PM EDT http://www.ew.com/recap/arrow-season-3-episode-20

Laura Hurley's "deleted scenes" from her 3x19 "Broken Arrow" review... Deleted scenes from “Arrow S03E19: What worked, what didn’t, and what needs to happen next” Laura Hurley Apr 19, 2015 http://laurawritesabout.tumblr.com/post/116838745726/deleted-scenes-from-arrow-s03e19-what-worked

I also like this part from the Vulture review of 3x20...

https://twitter.com/antonionegret https://twitter.com/SchwartzApprovd

Key Oliver & Felicity scenes from this episode (courtesy of Olicity Queen, other 3x20 scenes also posted on youtube)... Olicity 3.20 Part 3 "Thanks for letting me be here" Olicity 3.20 Part 6 Love Making #1 + "I don't regret a single moment" + "I love you" Olicity 3.20 Part 7 "There's us" + So Married Olicity 3.20 Part 8 Escape + "Thank you for trying. I love you all the more for it" Olicity 3.20 Part 9 "Let's not say goodbye this time"

Some of my fave 3x20 quotes... Felicity: "Thanks for letting me be here for you." Oliver: "You're welcome. I didn't have much of a choice, though, did I?" Felicity: "No. I wanted to make you think you had grown a little as a person." Ra's al Ghul (to Felicity): "You have a great fire within you. I can see now why Oliver loves you." Felicity (to Ra's al Ghul): "Me and John and, God help me, Malcolm, are not going to let this happen, and we have friends, and we have resources, and we will go to war to get Oliver back." Felicity (to Oliver): "I wish that I could change your mind about staying here, but I know I can't. Just like I know how leaving you here is going to destroy me. I don't regret a single moment. And you shouldn't, either. You have done so much. You have saved so many people's lives. And you have changed so many for the better. Including mine. Knowing you has changed my life. You opened up my heart in a way I didn't even know was possible. I love you." Felicity: "There's not much to toast to up here, is there?" Oliver: "Well... There's us." Oliver (to Felicity): "Thank you for trying. I love you all the more for it." Oliver (to Diggle): "John, you're the best man I've ever known. And whatever happens, you're my brother." Felicity: "I am afraid I will never forgive myself for leaving you here." Oliver: "You told me once that life is precious. And that you wanted more from it than I could offer you. Don't give up on that. The only way that I'm going to survive this... is if I know that you're out there living your life, happy." Felicity: "We're always saying good-bye to each other. You'd think I'd be good at it by now." Oliver: "Well, let's not say good-bye this time."

The Truth Shall Set You Free... Or Keep You Trapped In Nanda Parbat This episode was chock full of people - including usually taciturn people - opening up about themselves and their true feelings: Ray brings out into the open the truth about Felicity's feelings for him versus her feelings for Oliver ("you don't love me because you're in love with him"). Oliver opens up to Felicity on the jet about his secret trip back to Starling City, seeing Thea doing drugs, and killing the drug dealer to protect Thea. (It was a meaty, emotionally nuanced scene for an actor, so I can understand why it's SA's favorite scene.) When Diggle tells Maseo that the League assassins are a bunch of cowards running from their past lives, Maseo opens up about holding his dying son Akio and lying to him that he'll be alright. When Felicity tells off Ra's, Ra's tells her that he once loved a woman and had children, but had to leave them without saying good-bye in order to save them from torture and death. (That's when he tells her to go to Oliver and tell him she loves him before she has to lose him forever.) Oliver opens up to Felicity that he doesn't know how he feels about becoming the next Ra's, but that everything that's happened to him seemed to be leading up to this moment, and that he doesn't feel like he accomplished anything. Then Felicity tells Oliver about all the lives that he saved, that he completely changed her life, that he opened up her heart in a way that she never thought possible, and (finally) that she loves him. Oliver tells Felicity that he loves her all the more for trying to save him. Good-bye:Oliver tells Thea that he loves her and to always remember that. (sob) Good-bye:Oliver tells Diggle that he's the best friend he ever had and that he's his brother. (sob, sob) Good-bye:Oliver tells Felicity that the only way he's going to be able to survive being in the LOA is if he knows that she's out there and living a happy life. Then Felicity says that they're always saying good-bye, so she should be better at it, and then Oliver says "then let's not say good-bye this time", followed by a long... lingering kiss. (sob, sob, sob) Maseo confesses to Ra's that he helped Oliver's friends try to escape with him, killing three LOA members in the process. Surprisingly, Ra's doesn't kill him because he told him the truth. Malcolm tells Thea that Oliver joined the LOA to save her life (no more lying to Thea). Felicity tells Laurel that Oliver joined the LOA. Felicity's crying in Laurel's arms was surprisingly moving. Laurel was like the protective big sister. It did highlight two things for me: how much more emotionally invested Felicity is in Oliver than Laurel is at this point, and how few friends Felicity has on this show. She's not going to go crying to Ray after they broke up. Diggle? He has Lyla and his daughter for comfort. Besides, sometimes a woman just needs another woman's comfort. I think I'm warming up to their friendship - shocker. Things That Worked Really Well: -- The Oliver and Felicity scenes (including the sex scene) were really well acted, and again showcased the naturally hot chemistry between SA and EBR. -- I liked that Felicity didn't just meekly accept what Ra's said and obey him, but instead tried to save Oliver (she rebelled against Ra's words). Her drugging Oliver to save him was a nice surprising twist. A determined Felicity is like a bulldozer, even cowing Malcolm into doing her bidding and going along with the escape. -- The final good-bye scene with Oliver, Thea, Diggle and Felicity was heartbreaking and powerful. -- I liked that, during Oliver and Felicity's good-bye kiss, the camera panned until the bright torch light in the background was centered exactly between their bodies (plus nice use of background music - the same music played during their sex scene). -- Thea's leaping from the LP like a feral cat and attacking Oliver was pretty cool. -- Felicity's use of the term "mostly dead" was a nice Princess Bride reference. -- Yes, Ray and Laurel work best on this show in small doses. -- Seeing Oliver in full hooded, half-masked LOA garb and then zeroing in on his eyes... I shivered because he really did look evil. Things That Didn't Work: -- Every time they use the purple smoke signal (the LOA's stupid communication method), I just wonder why hordes of firefighters, police and curious civilians aren't converging on the meeting spot. -- During the Ray/Felicity scene and then during the Oliver/Felicity on the jet scene, there was a lot of the guy talking and Felicity saying almost nothing. This seemed representative of this entire season where Felicity had almost no agency but just had her life shaped first by Oliver's decisions and then by Ray's manipulations. (The writers make up for this passivity later on by Felicity's taking charge during the escape attempt.) -- The flashbacks still seem like disconnected and annoying interruptions of the present day dramatics. I can almost view them, not as Oliver's flashbacks, but as Maseo's flashbacks, telling of Maseo's tragic journey from ARGUS agent to LOA henchman (possibly leading up to Maseo's heroic death in the finale?). -- At the end, Malcolm tells Thea that he is free of the LOA now and can go anywhere, but he wants to stay and take care of her. Um, isn't he still wanted by the SCPD for mass murder and destruction? How can he stay in Starling City? And it's curious how no one at the airport and none of the paramedics carrying Thea's stretcher recognized Malcolm. Final Note: I think that Felicity is even more devastated now than she was when she thought Oliver had died. If he had died after he went to duel Ra's, he was still Oliver - the hero that he had become. However, she knows that Oliver becoming a League assassin will cause him to lose his humanity once and for all. Losing your soul is worse than death. (Plus, she now knows what sex with Oliver is like... so there's that as well.)

Arrow - Stunts: Oliver and Thea Vs. Slade Published on Apr 21, 2015, by The CW Television Network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn7md1nKGlo

In response to someone's question above, it was the ET Online article that said there was a very good reason that Felicity hasn't said ILY to Oliver yet...