ARROW 7.18 Review “Lost Canary”

This post contains spoilers for Arrow.
Check out our last review here.

Seven seasons of waiting finally paid off. After all, a Birds of Prey episode by any other name still smells as sweet. “Lost Canary” doesn’t just pay tribute to Oracle and her team. It also weaves in a whole new dynamic for the team with the heroes in Star City 2049. Though it has an obligation to spend some time on the Emiko arc, outside of the reveal of Longbow Hunter's involvement, it’s not really worth mentioning.

When Laurel finds herself without support from her friends after she’s framed by Emiko, she decides that all of this “changing” stuff is just too hard. Besides, why bother if the people who are supposed to be your friends will turn on you at the drop of a hat? Realizing that Dinah never believed in her to begin with, and that Felicity would be better off without a friend like her, Black Siren returns to her old ways.

Though the episode is filled with a lot of back and forth between “she’s good!” and “she was never on our side” from Felicity and Dinah, all of it is done in enough of a meaningful way to make it worth while. After failing to break through to her friend, the team genius calls in the big guns: Sara Lance.

Every moment with Sara feels so incredibly well-earned. From her heart-to-heart with her not-quite-sister, all the way to the moments she shares with her chosen one, Felicity. All of the history of the character shines through the moment she steps foot in Star City. I’ll always be here for the snarky Sara who’s banged her way through time, but it feels so appropriate that we see all of the weight of her losses as she tries to break through to Laurel. Don’t think it was all well-earned brooding, though. Her first scene with Felicity erases any passage of time and gives us a touching moment between Star City’s lost assassin and its babbliest hero like the world hasn’t almost ended fifteen times since they last shared a moment.

Things aren’t quite as touching in 2049. Galaxy One’s less than pleased that The Canaries stopped their plans to blow up Star City. As a result, it’s started to systematically slaughter the remaining vigilantes. The body count’s high (and may or may not include Connor Hawke?), and Mia Smoak’s out for blood. She’s got all of her father’s wrath, very little of his experience, and his proclivity to not listen to a single word of advice someone else offers. Dinah does her best to reign in her rage, sharing the origins of The Canaries, and offering her a place in their ranks, but Mia won't be swayed.

We’ve talked at length about what a journey it’s been to get to this point on Arrow. From bi characters literally being offed and thrown in dumpsters, to a whole season where all the main female member of the team was allowed to do was cry, it’s been a long, long road to get to “Lost Canaries”. Though we all could have done without the show’s previous treatment of women, it does make this episode a hell of a lot sweeter. Creating a team of vigilantes whose sole purpose is to work as a support system and show women that they always have each other’s backs no matter what happens is a dream come true arc that I never thought we’d see on the likes of Arrow. Shout out to writers Jill Blankenship and Elisa Delson for proving me wrong.

Present Laurel’s Earth 1 story wraps up just as future Laurel’s begins. After being saved by her friends, she announces that it’s time for her to return to her earth so that she can start to right some of her wrongs. A sad but proud Felicity sends her away with the original Laurel’s super suit and all of the well wishes in the world. The future shows us that she’s been putting it to good use when she returns to Star City to save Mia with some Canaries of her own in tow.

While the OG Laurel’s story stopped being for me around season three, it’s nice to see the character come full circle in an arc that will hopefully do her fans both new and old proud. We see Sara’s Star City arc come to a close as well while we start ramping up for the beginning of the end. The episode closes with a simple yet touching husband and wife moment between Oliver and Felicity, serving as a reminder of how clever this show can be in its small moments like that.

Next week we’ll see Diggle kidnapped by an unwitting Dante. I say unwitting because he’s in no way prepared for the hell he’s unleashed by kidnapping a member of OTA. Shout out in the comments if you had thoughts on this week’s episode!