Arrow "Canary Cry" (REVIEW)
written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)
It’s not easy when your heroes die. The last episode of Arrow ended with the Arrowverse losing another cast member who has been there since the start. With Laurel’s death, Arrow wil never be the same. I said it during the last review that I was not keen on this choice. While I feel some relief that I now know who is in the ground, this doesn’t change the fact that this was in my honest opinion a bad choice to kill her off. Dinah Laurel Lance… THE Black Canary belongs by the Green Arrow… this Ollicity garbage has never been on my list of things I dig about this show, and with Laurel’s death, this shipping seems more so set in stone. But to the episode!
“Canary Cry” is like the last hurrah for Laurel Lance. The episode revolves around the group coping with Laurel’s death and Captain Lance coming to terms with the possibility that his daughter is gone for good. Emotions run high this episode with alot of guilt floating in the air. Oliver tries to shoulder everything himself, Felicity laments that she wasn’t there to be the teams eyes and ears in the cloud, Diggle regrets that he was so blind to his brother’s betrayal, and Thea just wants to hit something. Laurel’s death caused waves across the entire cast and this episode served as somewhat of a memorial to her and the contributions she has made to Star City.
While Team Arrow is down one member and in mourning, a young upstart trying her hands at cosplay romps around the city in a blond wig attacking criminals with a stolen sonic device… primarily Laurel’s stolen sonic device. When this fake Canary turns her sights to Ruvé Darhk, this takes Laurel’s legacy and drudges it through the mud.
The flashbacks shift from the island to another funeral, namely the time between season 1 and 2 after Tommy Merlyn’s death. A distraught Oliver isn’t able to speak at Tommy’s funeral, instead Laurel does. I enjoyed this set of flashbacks as it shed some light on the time in-between seasons… sure beats how lackluster the island flashbacks have been.
Back in the present… in desperation, Captain Lance turns to Nyssa al Ghul. Hoping that she has some knowledge of another Lazerus Pit, he hopes that she can bring Laurel back in the same way Sara was. As far as the Arrowverse is concerned, the one and only Lazarus pit was already destroyed.
Exhausted from the previous episode’s events, like the old adage goes… there’s no rest for the weary and Team Arrow needs to figure out who this Black Canary imposter is before Laurel’s legacy is forever tarnished.
Madison McLaughlin guest stars as Evelyn Sharp, this episode’s fake Canary. Though she was ultimately underutilized, hopefully we’ll see more of her. I mean there is an opening on Team Arrow…
