Felicity is targeted by the Bug-Eyed Bandit, aka Brie Larvan, on Arrow season 4, episode 17, “Beacon of Hope.”
“Beacon of Hope” is a surprisingly positive title for an episode following the seemingly final breakup between Oliver and Felicity, as Felicity returned Oliver’s ring and quit the team. Does the hope refer to the couple or is it related to something else entirely?
The synopsis for Arrow season 4, episode 17, “Beacon of Hope,” reads:
“BRIE LARVAN AKA THE BUG-EYED BANDIT SETS HER SIGHTS ON FELICITY — Brie Larvan (guest star Emily Kinney) breaks out of jail and turns up at Palmer Tech threatening to kill everyone unless she gets the bio-chip that is implanted in Felicity’s (Emily Bett Rickards) spine. When Oliver (Stephen Amell) realizes that Felicity, Thea (Willa Holland) and Donna (guest star Charlotte Ross) are trapped in Palmer Tech with everyone else, he looks to a surprising ally to help Team Arrow save the day. Michael Schultz directed the episode written by Ben Sokolowski & Brian Ford Sullivan (#417).”
Guest star Emily Kinney, who previously played Brie Larvan on The Flash, tells TVGuide she was excited to return to the Arrow-verse. “I feel like I had such a nice time on Flash, and ever since then it was like, ‘Oh, how could Brie [come back]?’ It was mostly just scheduling and timing and what works with the story, but it was definitely something where if they wanted to have me, I was excited to do it.”
She adds, “And this episode is cool because in Flash, you only saw Brie behind the computer screens, and this time you really get to see her interact and have a lot of scenes with Felicity and Willa [Holland]. So it’s really cool. You get to know her a little better this time around.”
We’ll specifically “get to see a little more of the human side of Brie because she explains more why she is the way she is. That’s always interesting when you’re dealing with evil characters. Like, why are they so mean?”
Kinney says the dynamic between Brie and Felicity in “Beacon of Hope” is a rivalry. “They have this similar skill and they’re well matched. So in this episode you just see them as well-matched rivals,” adding, “Brie’s upped her game a lot in this episode from just using the bees to cause havoc. She’s able to get some help.”
But never fear, there will still be plenty of bee puns.
