The following contains spoilers from this week’s episode of The CW’s Arrow.
This week’s Birds of Prey-inspired episode saw Earth-Two Laurel’s return to a life of crime after working hard to emulate her dearly departed Earth-One doppelgänger and pass herself off as Star City’s do-right DA. The sudden turnabout and SCPD-ordered manhunt for the framed murderer stirred dissension between Felicity — one of this Laurel’s champions — and Dinah, who had become at best “frenemies” with the woman who last season was compelled to kill her boyfriend Vincent.
Felicity stood firm in her resolve to believe in Laurel’s derailed redemption arc, and even recruited Sara Lance, the real Laurel’s sister (and a onetime Canary), to help them reel in Black Siren. Sara herself had some skin in the game, wanting to ensure that the real Laurel’s name wasn’t dragged through the mud. Shadow Thief meanwhile longed to go after bigger fish, but wondered if Black Siren truly was back and as bad as ever.
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When Felicity and Dinah were nearly blown to smithereens by a booby trap, even the former got to wondering if she was backing the wrong Canary. Dinah argued that Laurel never wanted their help, to which Felicity countered that maybe she did, more than even she realized. But it was simply too late.
Finding Laurel at Quentin’s grave, Sara observed, “Nobody’s as good as the original Laurel Lance. Not even me.” Listing her transgressions, she said, “Even someone with a past as checkered as mine can turn their life around,” adding: “Redemption isn’t a destination, it’s a journey.” Laurel, though, maintained, “It’s too late, because this is who I am.”
When Felicity, Dinah and Sara tracked Laurel and Shadow Thief to their next heist, Felicity said to her friend, “Who I see is someone that I believe in, and care about,” adding that Laurel should pursue redemption not to restore or live up to anyone else’s legacy, but because she wants it. Moments later, Laurel saved the ladies from Shadow Thief, sniffing at her cohort, “The deal’s off.” The leatherclad ladies then took on Shadow Thief’s gunmen, before triggering the bomb Shadow Thief had aimed to steal. “We are pretty badass,” Sara noted afterward. “Yeah,” agreed Felicity. “Like ‘birds of justice.'” Or something like that.
After the quartet toasted to “ladies taking down ladies,” Laurel said she was tired of running and that it was time for her to “go home now,” to right some wrongs on Earth-Two. Before she left, Felicity gifted Laurel with our Laurel’s old costume. Maybe Earth-Two needs a Black Canary?
It all seemingly signaled original cast member Katie Cassidy Rodgers’ second exit from the CW series. But don’t let the doppelgänger dupe you.
“Katie does not leave the show; she comes back this season,” showrunner Beth Schwartz assured TVLine earlier this month at the Writers Guild Foundation’s WGFestival 2019. “It appears like [she leaves], but it’s not true. She’s still [part of the show].”
Elsewhere in the episode:
* In tracking the latest lead on Emiko’s mother’s killer, Oliver and Diggle came face to face again with Bear of the Longbow Hunters, who made them realize that all roads lead to Dante. Oliver believes that Emiko might break ties with the Ninth Circle if she learned that her mentor set her on this path by offing her mom himself.
* In the future storyline, the stopping of Galaxy One’s bombs only served to set their grander plan in motion, with the dispatch of what I will call masked Archer Enforcers. Their mission: to snuff any usurpers, especially of the Canary kind. Mia defied Dinah’s advice to lay low and not fix for a fight, by going solo on the mean streets and eventually getting bested by one of the centurions. Her bacon was saved, though, by a sonic cry — emitted by an older Laurel as Black Canary. (With reporting by Vlada Gelman)
What did you think of the episode “Lost Canary”?
