Felicity: The Complete 4th Season

Review by: Faetra Petillo
FaetraPetillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Alas, fellow Felicity lovers, the time has come to say goodbye. The long awaited “Senior Year DVD Collection” is finally out (well...almost...). But, man, what a way to go. I’ll admit, even as fan, I was pleasantly surprised watching this, being reminded how good this season actually was.

At this point, viewing the final season, you all know the basic story. Felicity(Keri Russell), young and naive, followed her high school sweetheart, Ben (Scott Speedman), to college in New York City. She thought that by coming to New York she was going to win his heart, which she did eventually do by the end of season one, but along the way she meets a group of crazy friends that make her experience all worth while (and the show for that matter). In Season Four, the group is graduating (with the exception of Noel(Scott Foley who was a year ahead of everyone), and what I affectionately call the college life crisis moment ensues. Having returned from a summer of doing EMT training, Ben realizes that he wants to be pre-med, instead of his former major...nothing. He switches into the pre-med program that is difficult for an excellent student (anyone remember Felicity and Elena’s trials season one?) let alone someone that hasn’t done any work the past three years of college. The pressure of cracking the books to graduate, along with his father’s worsening illness puts strain on his relationship with Felicity, who deals with the problem by sleeping with Noel (why not? I would...he’s friggin’ hot). Now before you clench your teeth don’t worry...this season doesn’t turn into a Noel Vs. Ben conflict (at least not yet). It does, however cause major problems for Ben when he eventually finds out, and almost destroys their relationship for good. It seems to start out as the season of breakups when Elena’s wedding to Tracy doesn’t happen, and Javier moves in with the girls (which goes to show what an unrealistic dorm they live in) when his marriage is on the rocks. As the season goes on, Noel battles depression and his feelings toward Felicity, Ben becomes involved (a little too involved) with his Dad’s AA buddy, and Felicity starts re-evaluating her art career. But I don’t want to give too much away.

I think I like this season of Felicity for a variety of reasons. Don’t get me wrong, the show never regains the spark it had the first year. But it does do a decent job at getting itself out of the awful slump it fell into during season three. I think that may be because the characters (similar to season one) are focusing more on the problems of the real world again rather than their own silly love triangles. Ben and Felicity (who are still the most boring characters in the show) actually mature past looking at each other longingly and see one ...