15 maj 2001

By Vanessa Sibbald

Taking a trip to the set of The WB's Felicity is like magically being transported to New York City, though not the dirty, loud, crowded New York that actually exists. Instead it's the NYC many like to romanticize about - the one with little cafes, great loft apartments and a buzzing creative energy roving around. Located on a small studio lot near Culver City, Felicity's set is indeed a brouhaha of creative energy, with apartment sets to die for (and if the producers have space, the author would be happy to move into Felicity's apartment when you're done filming). As for a cafe ... the craft table will have to do. Although Felicity's producers are mum on what will happen during the show's season finale, which airs May 23, one of the stages is set up for a Karaoke scene, with Richard (Robert Patrick Benedict) doing a riotous impression of Rick Springfield. There are also hush-hush scenes in Felicity's apartment and there is a rabbinical set-up in the boy's loft. On this particularly beautiful January morning, the energy on the set is focused toward filming the last episodes of the series about our fav college gal, Felicity Porter (Keri Russell). While some, including yours truly, hold a romantic idea of being on a film or TV set, the reality is the hours are very long with little to do in between takes. Also, it turns out eating donut after donut is not a good idea. Despite Richard's energetic take on "Jesse's Girl," there are only so many times you can hear the songs before your head starts to spin and you're ready to take a nap. Must be those '80s flashbacks. And while the Dean & Deluca set looks exactly like the one in New York, you run into trouble trying to order a double nonfat latte when the set isn't in use. Now in her junior year, Felicity has gone through a lot of changes since first nervously handing Ben (Scott Speedman), the object of her high school crush, her yearbook to sign. Although she started out as a sheltered, bright, beautiful and slightly withdrawn teen, three years later Felicity has grown into an independent, outspoken, confident and risk-taking young woman. Over the years, she has gone through a lot of the tough lessons many go through in college, including falling in love, heartbreak, making and losing friends, taking risks, breaking rules and lots of cramming (although, come to think of it, we've seen little of the latter). Now she just has to decide which boy she wants to spend her newfound maturity with: Ben, her high school crush, or Noel Crane (Scott Foley), her first real boyfriend. "There are so many things going on in her life but when it comes down to it, the core of the show is she has this one guy who is the kind of guy you marry [and] one guy the kind of guy you date," says Felicity executive producer and co-creator J.J. Abrams. "I think you'll see both Noel and Ben will progress over the course of the year to a place where next year it'll really be a fascinating thing to see how Felicity, Noel and Ben - what their dynamic is, because there are some shifts in character." Aside from just focusing on Felicity, this season explored more of the lives of Felicity's friends, including Elena (Tangi Miller), Noel, Ben, Sean (Greg Grunberg), Meghan (Amanda Foreman) and Molly (Sarah-Jane Potts). The expanded cast has allowed the show's writers to tackle a variety of new subjects including gambling, drug use, cancer, lesbianism and abstinence. However, according to Abrams, "the heart of the show is always going to be Felicity." Even though Abrams doesn't want to give away all his plans for Felicity's senior year, he will say that her decisions will have a new weight behind them thanks to her upcoming graduation. "The reality is, up until now, anything she does for the future will be years away. Next year, for the first time, anything she decides will truly be about her life. Next year Felicity will have to scramble for some lost time [and] figure out what she's going to do next because she's been able to skate the last few years without having to say, 'this is my major, this is what I'm going to do.' " "And there's a great twist at the end of this year that will carry over into next year about she and Ben - what their future's going to be - something unexpected happens." As for this year, Abrams says the character of Felicity has grown "enormously." "Her character has learned what it's like to be in a committed relationship. She's learned the importance of taking responsibility for your actions, the importance of being honest and communicating with your partner and perhaps, sometimes, not telling your partner everything," Abrams says. "And I think that she's lightened up enormously. She's a much more relatable, normal girl. I think the first year she was still a little withdrawn and her second year she may have been too out there at times. This year she's found a wonderful balance." But Felicity's character isn't the only one who has grown. This year in particular viewers have seen the softening of Elena's character, particularly in respect to her relationship with Tracey (Donald Faison). "I do like that we've been able to soften her and you can see another side of her because I wouldn't want you to only see Elena as a tough, strong, no-nonsense character," Miller says of her character. "But I wouldn't want to lose that [either] because it's a part of her personality." While some characters are growing, it's inevitable that some will fade away. Although Abrams had said earlier in the season that Amy Jo Johnson would be returning, it didn't happen. "There's a story we really want to do with her, there just wasn't time to do it," Abrams explains, adding that it will likely be explored when the show returns next year. Sarah-Jane Potts, who plays the British transfer student Molly, says she doesn't think her character will return next year. "I think Molly's going to quietly disappear, like she came," Potts says. "I just don't know if I see Molly as someone fitting into that family. She was always on the peripheral, she was always just on the edge and that's what I liked about her." While Potts says she'd "love to come back and do a few episodes," she doesn't feel she wants to do another entire season of the show because, "At the end of the day, the show is called Felicity, and I'm never going to be Felicity." "I'm not an actress who likes to get tied down to a lot of things," she says. "Even in England if I was doing a series I would only do a certain amount of episodes because I had this fear of being typecast." One person who is looking towards the show's future is Abrams, who says ideally he'd like to continue the show past Felicity's graduation. "Something I would love to do is work on her first year after graduation, to me the most interesting year is Felicity out of college - the first year without the safety net of college," he says. "I just want to see where she goes."