1. The rehabilitation of Laurel continues
This episode really showed where Laurel’s character can go if the writers decide to take her there. She can be manipulative, she can be bullheaded, but she can also be a hero. I have a theory about Laurel that I’ll save for later, but first, we need to deal with the elephant in the room.
2. The straining of credulity grows
There is no way in hell that Laurel wouldn’t instantly recognize Sara. None. Zero. It already is hard to swallow that people don’t instantly see the Arrow and be like “huh, Oliver Queen is the Arrow?” But take away the hood and it is even more laughable. For a show that really tries to do comics stuff as realistically as possible, this is one place where they fail, and fail hard.
3. Expectations Did This In
This was a solid episode of Arrow – that said, this episode can’t help but feel like a letdown. With the title of “Birds of Prey,” it cannot be a bummer that there was no Canary/Huntress team up. For a bit, I thought they were going to let Sara kill others to save Laurel, and leave Ollie to be partners with someone who understood the desperate measures that sometimes needed to be taken.
I don’t think that would have made for a better hour of television than this one, but after “Suicide Squad” last week gave us the actual Suicide Squad, this was a tougher pill to swallow.
4. Thea can act
Thea has been sorely underused this season, and it appears the producers are realizing that and ramping up her involvement. I loved how her nickname of Speedy was brought back this week, even if it was used as a bit of misdirection for Roy, and the scene of her and Ollie talking in Verdant was heartbreaking. Thea remains a singular character on the show: someone in the dark about everything. I am looking forward to her continued growth.
5. Crackpot theory time!
Oliver isn’t Green Arrow – he’s the Arrow who wears green. Sara isn’t the Black Canary, she’s Canary and she wears black. But what if she’s not even supposed to be the Black Canary. What if Laurel is?
Don’t get me wrong, there’s no denying that Sara is the Canary. But Laurel has started to let the darkness in, and she is changing. What if that darkness, eventually, leads to her following in his sister’s footsteps – not as the new Canary, but the Black Canary. Black is the color of mourning. Black is the color of death. Black is the color of ash. Black is the color Laurel has been projecting: the Black Canary in waiting.
