Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

Arrow tried to do a women-centric episode centered on the Canary legacy—Birds of Prey wise. For the past few months, I don’t know, but I was excited to watch this. Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) returned, bringing some of that season two magic with her, and Laurel Lance’s redemption finally concluded (begun? The ending is making me question things).

After being framed for a murder, Laurel Lance embraces her evil Black Siren persona, wanting to prove to everyone how wrong they were to trust her. However, there were a lot of obvious story issues going in this premiere. While the opening scene was amazing and bone-cracking, Katie Cassidy Rogers forever kicks ass, this episode never made me wonder, “Has she truly gone bad girl?”

In fact, I was waiting around for it to happen. Arrow’s season seven has been a predictable season when it comes to the “important details” (flash-forwards, “The Demon” being Talia, new Green Arrow being Emiko Queen, Ninth Circle being main villains, Blackstarr is Mia Smoak, Oliver dying in Crisis, etc.), and I assumed Laurel would eventually circle to claiming the Black Canary mantle. Which is what happened obviously… but the flash forward was an interesting tidbit.

I thought the Canaries only referred to Dinah and Zoe, but apparently there’s a whole organization full of young women training to defend each other and themselves. Kind of like Buffy and the Potential Slayers, which also took place during their seventh season. I did like how the flash forwards ultimately connected to the present day, which should be the point of them, but Arrow’s been failing at it this season.

Laurel E-2 is officially the new Black Canary, which makes me feel wonderful because it’s now established she will eventually get her redemption. This is the Laurel Lance who is going to save the world, the original Laurel’s motto. Sara returning actually gave the Canary legacy a full circle vibe, but it also painfully reminds me that she was a large factor in making Arrow such a success.

The Canary cry, Caity Lotz performing salmon ladder, and her flirtation with Felicity were all nostalgic in the worst way possible. Felicity leading the charge shouldn’t be a thing either, especially when she is pregnant with child. I’m down for women empowerment, but I’d think Felicity would just be person in chair to dodge endangering Mia in womb.

Shadow Thief, Laurel’s partner-in-crime for the episode, was underdeveloped. She had the potential to do more, but the episode didn’t go down that route. Hell, the whole Canary 2040 vigilante group has spin-off worthy material, but I doubt the writers are going to do that route. If anything, it’ll get added into the spin-off Mia and William if that gets green-lit.

Overall, Oliver did make an appearance in this episode. He and Diggle hunted down a Longbow Hunter, omg those killers are still in play, and tortured him for information no big deal. We learned Dante, former leader of Ninth Circle and current second to Emiko’s first, may have ordered the hit on Emiko’s mother.

Did I mention Arrow is predictable?

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