Who did she choose?
**Warning: Spoilers**
(This warning is generous considering the episodes originally aired 13 years ago!)
She chose Ben!
(Booooo)
When fall semester hits, everything is bonkers because Ben and Felicity are together. It's what she wanted all through high school and half of freshman year in college. But now Julie won't talk to her because Ben is her ex and the break-up was pretty fresh when he and Felicity ran off together. Noel won't talk to her because she chose Ben over him. Plus, things are JUST OK because Ben is not really that cool and Felicity didn't listen to her viewers from over 10 years in the future.
For the record, I thought this would be one of those "I choose me!" conclusions, where Felicity ditches both guys and goes on a community service trip to help inner city kids or something. But no, she chose Ben!
The living situations are all mixed around this season. Felicity and Pop-Goth Meghan decide to become RAs (their interview and training process is either so minimal or non-existant that it isn't even mentioned) and because of a housing crisis, they have to share a room. This actually happens, I can atest, and it sucks if your room is single and booked as double because those rooms are incredibly tiny and not at all like what you see on TV! Noel and Elena get an apartment together (? but OK) while Julie is still crashing with Ben and Sean. Julie has plans to move out, but when it falls through, the guys are more than grateful to have her stay. Which leads to a new love storyline: Sean and Julie. I LIKE.
 |
| These guys can't figure out who they like. |
Did I mention Noel HATES Felicity? It's almost difficult to watch; he can't stand her and will tell her to her face how she ruined his life (by choosing Ben over him). Eventually the hate fades, but there are some uncomfortable moments. Noel is dating Ruby (Amy Smart of Just Friends fame) who's enamored by his skills with the iMac and his general nerditude. She confides in Felicity about Noel, unaware he and Felicity dated. Felicity goes on a blind date with her professor's son, which at first goes as horribly wrong as expected, but it turns out David is just a hurt guy trying to find love again and they start a real relationship.
Things with David culminate in a visit from her parents at Thanksgiving when his family and hers have dinner at Noel and Elena's. Noel and Felicity have too much punch and kiss (that's a lame excuse. They WANTED to kiss). David ends it and Felicity's probably not passing his mother's class. I love that Pop-Goth invited herself to Thanksgiving at Noel and Elena's, completely abandoning three lowly freshmen waiting on a dorm event Pop-Goth forgot about. Worst RA ever.
Meanwhile, Ben is dating an older (probably 30 - gasp!) caterer who happened in on the coffee shop where he works. She looks part Helen Hunt part Jodi Foster. It's of course a terrible relationship because - whoops! - she's married and forgot to tell him. Their storyline is mostly boring, just like most storylines about Ben outside of Felicity. Even with the haircut he's just not intriguing.
SPEAKING OF HAIRCUT, this is the season I heard about back before I ever saw the show where Felicity cuts her hair. And she doesn't just trim the fro'ed-out curls, they're hacked off. Like almost to a Britney Spears breakdown level. It sort of works, but only because Keri Russell can pull off just about any hairstyle. I liked that an entire episode was based around her haircut, so it wasn't like the actress abruptly made a style change and freaked everyone out. It became part of the story, as a symbol for her rediscovery of herself, paired with the inevitable dropping of pre-med.
The rest of the season seems to be gearing up to more tension among Felicity and Noel and Noel's girlfriend Ruby, and Ben is questioning his breakup with Felicity. Also, Felicity's parents are separating. Stay tuned!
Posts
I always thought Ben was HOT, but boring. I remember seeing Ben in some lame SAVE THE WORLD movie and I was like, "It's Ben from 'Felicity'!!!" I was totes psyched and BFF Sarah was like, "Who's Ben?" A guy named Ben semi-broke my heart, so boo for Ben's!
ReplyDeleteI remember watching the first season of Felicity, I loved it. I had moved from San Diego to NYC, it was my second year there. I related to the character since she also moved from California to New York. Felicity was a huge hit when the first season aired. The show was fresh, the protagonist was innocent, going to college, flawed, and interesting. The first season was good until the very last episode. I think that JJ Abrahams was trying to have a big surprise and keep the audience interested and in life you have to take risks. In my opinion the writers failed because of what you had already pointed out; Felicity had chosen to go with Ben.
ReplyDeleteYes she originally came to NYU to chase after Ben, but by the time she arrived at college, he was already dating Julie. The whole first season was the building relationship that Felicity had with Noel. Ben was dating Julie and Felicity and Ben were just friends. There were lots of bumps along the way. I hated when Felicity lost her v-card with that art student in the Fugue episode. I can’t remember his name, his character didn’t last. That little arc was all for nothing and made Felicity seem confusing and the audience started to lose the connection and ultimately their interest. Felicity had another building relationship with Noel, lots of heartfelt moments and then again, she changed her mind and went with Ben. I think that was the real reason why the show declined; much more so then the infamous haircut.