Of Love & Other Demons

Jay Halstead in Chicago Fire 3X19

For the love of all that is good in this world, can some people stop pretending that Ray is a blameless cupcake whose only crime is dating Felicity? Can some people stop living in a fantasy world where there are not entirely valid reasons for being repulsed by this character and not wanting him anywhere near Felicity that have nothing to do with his being Olicity Obstacle of the Season aka Pitsop Palmer?

What has Ray done that is so terrible, you ask? Well, I’m glad you did! Take a seat, and get comfy because this won’t be short.

1) He stalked Felicity. He. Stalked. Her. HE STALKED HER. I cannot stress this enough. He tracked her whereabouts using her phone and followed her to where she was. Twice.

2) He showed up at her place of work specifically to use her expertise against her friend without her knowledge.

3) When she expressed a distaste for his actions and rejected his offer of employment, he proceeded to inundate her with phone calls and texts and emails and flowers, which she categorically and repeatedly stated were unwelcome. There’s a name for this. It’s called harassment.

4) As if that wasn’t bad enough, he took a step further into a place I like to call restraining orderville by buying out the entire company under which Felicity worked to manipulate her into working for him. Because, hey, if you don’t work for Palmer by choice, apparently he’ll make sure you’re robbed of your sense of professional independence so you may as well take the job he offered you in the first place. He “owns” you either way.

5) He then suggested that she should be flattered, because ha ha, what woman wouldn’t be, right? Ha Ha. Women love it when you buy companies to corner them into working for you.

6) He showed up at her home early in the morning unannounced, and barged in before she expressed any interest in him doing so. All for something he easily could have addressed over a phone call or an email or at work in person.

7) He offered her an expensive dress and extravagant jewellery as what essentially amounted to a glorified bribe to coax her into attending a work dinner with him. She was his employee and VP of the company. Nothing about this was appropriate or respectful or professional. Ask yourself how you’d react if your boss bought you couture to wear to a work dinner?

8) He used her expertise for months to further his “mission” with the ATOM suit, but only told her the truth when he felt it convenient. That secrecy, in isolation, could be understood if he hadn’t later claimed to have been honest with her from the start while chastising her for not telling him the truth about her entire life. After knowing Felicity for a few months, he acted entitled to information about her relationship with a man she’s known for two years. A relationship involving secrets that are not just hers to tell.

9) He told her exactly what she wanted to hear, and did exactly what she wanted him to do in order to get his suit working. Only to then fly off in the suit, never bothering to tell her that he actually got the damn thing to work even though it wouldn’t be working without her. He still has the audacity to lecture her on “true partnership”.

10) He used the suit that wouldn’t be functional without her to electrocute one of her friends and attempt to attack the other. He seems to have a penchant for using Felicity indirectly against her own friends, so I’ll give him points for consistency.

11) He has completely robbed Felicity of her agency and ability to earn her own professional success by handing her everything she wants on a silver platter simply to further his own agenda. She has all the appearance of power, but little to no actual power. At least none that Palmer hasn’t deemed would serve his needs for her to have. She literally was in possession of more clout and independence as Oliver’s assistant than she is as the Vice President of the entire company. If that doesn’t disturb you, it should.

Hey, Guggenheim? Acknowledge this shit. Acknowledge that this shitty character is shitty and not some sort of poor undeserving victim of irrational hate.

When I see that a character who engaged in this behaviour is being made a romantic option for Felicity, all I’m hearing is that my inability to reconcile his actions with the idea that she would ever show interest in him makes me a hysterical fan. And you know what, fuck that. Fuck that six ways till Sunday.

None of this would be a problem if he were presented as shitty or morally ambiguous. But he’s not. He’s a “hero”. He’s presented as appealing. The reason there’s a lot of backlash hitting Felicity right now is entirely a result of this and I hate it. Because all the audience sees is Felicity rendered suddenly incapable of calling out bullshit when she has never been incapable of that regardless of how she feels about the person. She’s been in love with Oliver for lord knows how long now, but not once has that clouded her judgement. Barring the first few interactions, she’s been seemingly oblivious to all of Palmer’s crap.

And again, this would be acceptable if it were an intentional portrayal of an unhealthy relationship, but it’s not. We’re not meant to think “oh poor Felicity’s trapped in a horrible relationship and she’s unaware”. We’re meant to see it as a viable, and even perhaps a “better” option for Felicity than Oliver. We’re not meant to believe that Felicity doesn’t know what she’s saying about Palmer. We’re meant to take everything she says about him at face value and nothing more. I will defend Felicity all day long if need be, but I refuse to defend the way her good opinion as a popular character is being used in a weak attempt to get a privileged, white boy, shithead like Palmer into the audiences good graces.

“Frankly, you are the creepiest form of stalker that I have ever had to deal with, and believe me when I’m telling you that that is saying a lot.”

Felicity’s words, not mine. The writers put those words in her mouth. That’s what makes this even more galling. Felicity has canonically been stalked in the past. Sure, it’s a footnote of canon, but it’s there. The idea that someone who has had experience with that kind of thing would be receptive romantically to a person who perpetuates the same pattern of behaviour is patently absurd to me. I’ve seen the kind of crap Ray pulls happen in real life, and it ain’t cute. It’s irritating at best and frightening at worst.

So, please, come at me with “What has Ray done other than get in the way of your ship?” I will pat the seat next to me and pull out a twelve foot long list because the guy is disgusting, and five more episodes of him is five too many.

pirate bffs

“When the navy arrives, they aren’t gonna give a fuck what belongs to you or what belongs to me. Because to them, there is no difference between you and me.”

[insp]

“ I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes. “ -Yves Saint Laurent  

“ They are genuinely  i n  l o v e  with each other, and they know they both don’t want the same things. Yet, there’s this emotional  c o n n e c  t i o n  that makes it  i m p o s s i b l e  for them to stay away from each other ”                                                                                     - Jonathan E. Steinberg x                                                                                                                    

Tumblis csajoknak!

“What do I want? I want to see this whole goddamn city, this city that you purchased with our misery, burn. I want to see you hanged on the very gallows you’ve used to hang men for crimes far slighter than this. I want to see that noose around your neck and I want to pull the fucking lever with my own two hands!”

Flint: What are you doing here? Vane: I think if anyone was going to make a trophy of you, it really ought to be me.