BWW Flashback Friday: FELICITY Finally!

A year after graduating college, I got sucked into the college journey of Felicity Porter. For four years, I was there for her adventure in New York City, far away from Palo Alto, California as she juggled the love of Ben and Noel and tried to figure out exactly who she was and who she wanted to be. It encapsulated the emotions of going to college, being in college and most importantly, learning to say goodbye to college. Felicity struck all the right chords. Let's journey back!

It was high school graduation when Felicity Porter decided to abandon her planned out future as a pre-med student at Stanford for the unknown in New York City. And why? Ben Covington. The handsome, popular Ben who Felicity only spoke to at graduation when he signed her yearbook affectionately, tells her he is going to school in New York. In a creepy, stalker-esque maneuver, she up and enrolls in the University of New York, the then now defunct WB network's version of NYU. Upon arriving she almost instantly regrets her decision and thinks it best to return home to her comfort zone. However, upon making friends with Julie, a quiet, struggling musician, Elena, a tough as nails pre-med student, Megan, her goth, wacky roommate and Noel, her lovable, nerdy RA she learns that maybe the exact thing she needs is to be out of her comfort zone and figure out what she wants, not what her parents want. As her feelings begin to develop for Noel, the series becomes a glimpse at her choice between him and her crush, Ben, and how they all struggle with the ins and outs of college life.

In this episode, Season One, Episode Ten entitled "Finally," it is the end of the first semester and finals are stressing everyone out. Felicity is being pulled between Ben and Noel during studying time as they both need her. Felicity feels obligated to help Ben study for his final since he has a low grade because she caused him to fail an exam earlier in the semester. Noel, after an airline loses his luggage with all his notebooks, turns to Felicity for assistance as well. Not wanting to disappoint either of them, she agrees to help them both in addition to finding time to study for her own finals. Felicity and Noel's newfound secret romance is called into question when Noel catches her studying very closely with Ben in the silent reading room, even though they are only close because they have to whisper. Not to mention that at that moment, Felicity is confiding in Ben about how much she likes Noel. Megan recommends her 'smart powder' to Noel which is a blend of natural ingredients that helps you stay awake to study. She does not however, mention that there are beets in it and Noel is CRAZY allergic to beets. In the best scene of the episode, a hopped up Noel CHARGES into the silent reading room and confronts Felicity and Ben. The entire scene is underscored by subtitles including the words in all caps when Noel is yelling. (Is this the origin of using Caps in texting to express volume?) It is a scene brilliantly played as Felicity finally chooses to confide in Ben as a friend whereas Ben shows the slightest tinge of jealousy in not being the object of her affection. It is capped off by Noel's neurotic breakdown in what is supposed to be a silent reading room with the final climax of Ben collapsing into giggles over the whole encounter. Felicity finally decides that she has to do her own work and the two boys can hold their pissing contest without her.

Ben finds Noel and calms him down with some warm milk and assures him that Felicity is into Noel, not Ben. The two strike up a friendship. Noel apologizes to Felicity and they say their goodbyes for the winter break. This episode sets up a lot of things for the rest of the series. Noel and Ben's awkward, yet necessary, friendship, Noel's constant jealousy of Felicity's crush on Ben and at the end of the episode we find that in a secret romance of their own, Ben and Julie are together. How will Felicity react to her best friend dating her crush? Will her new relationship with Noel be secure enough to handle that revelation? At this point, we did not know.

As the series goes on we are introduced to a laundry list of quirky characters such as Noel's friend/nemesis, Richard, Ben's roommate, Sean and Felicity's hilarious boss at Dean & Deluca, Javier, portrayed by COUGAR TOWN star, Ian Gomez. There is plenty of comic relief mixed with touching and tear-filled moments, much like college itself. They tackle tough issues such as date-rape, drugs, divorce, depression, etc. and yet never trivialize it, talk down or preach to the audience.

Being a year out of college, this show hit all the right notes for me. It's a snapshot of the only time in your life when you can live with all your friends and they are right down the hall when you need them. And the best part? There is ALWAYS someone awake. I remember having fascinating conversations in my dorm lobby with strangers only because we were both awake. As Felicity meets these strangers who turn into her friends and then her family, it is a wonderful nostalgic glimpse at those four years where you are forced to grow up, make decisions and live with the consequences. You can see a list of young actors before they get their big break as well as co-creators, J.J. Abrams (maybe you've heard of him) and Matt Reeves (recently of "DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES" fame) in one of the earliest dramas on the WB network. Keri Russell was awarded the Golden Globe Award in 1999 for her portrayal of Felicity Porter and the show remains a fan favorite throughout the years.

All four seasons are available on DVD and streaming on Hulu Plus. Did you love Felicity as much as I did? Let me know @eponineq on Twitter or in the comments below.

To post a comment, you must register and login.