Lost Canary: Arrow 718 Review

         This will not rank as a favorite episode.  It had it's good  moments and other moments left me shaking me head so for me it was ho-hum.  So in this review, I'm going to deal with the positives and the  negatives, so this is a different type of  review.  Perhaps, I'm as tired as Steven Amell's  performance seemed.  Let's dig  in.

       Positives:  Although  I've never been a fan  of  the Laurel Lance character, Katie Cassidy Rodgers brought a  different take on Black Siren.  I've grown to like this  character.  She's not as  whiny and  needy  as Laurel Lance.  I've come to  enjoy her friendship  with Felicity.  She has  always  been  there for Felicity  when the  others have not.  We've never seen a solid friendship between her and  Dinah for example. Everyone  pretty  much left her to fend  for herself once  Oliver was in prison.  It was BS that pulled Felicity from the brink and now it's Felicity who wants to do  the same for BS. I enjoyed that aspect of the episode.

        Emiko was  responsible for the police to give a warrant for the arrest of Laurel Lance.  It was  her attempt to bring  BS  down, after BS  revealed to Oliver the truth about Emiko.  BS  feeling she has no where to turn and  feeling abandoned turns to what she always knew,  the life as  Laurel  Lance, Black Siren.  She goes to Shadow Thief to commit crimes as  a sort of  revenge on  all  those people  that hurt her.  But there  is  one person she  doesn't want to hurt and  that is  Felicity, because  she knows Felicity has  truly been a friend  to her.

        Felicity appeals to Dinah,  but Dinah has her own trust issues with Laurel, because of Vinny.  Then when it looks  like all might be lost for Laurel, Felicity reaches out Sara.  Seeing Dinah, Sara, and Felicity all  work to "save" Black Siren Laurel was fun. The  fight scenes  were good,  and  in the end  it was Felicity who reached  BS and pulled  her back, just as it was BS  who pulled Felicity back from the brink.  All of that was good and fun to see. It also gave a good link to the future Dinah and  her need to have other canaries and to  help  them, so  it led to that part of the story.  It also showed how deep the friendships was between Felicity and  Laurel, for by the end  of the episode she can no longer be called Black Siren, she is now Laurel Lance,  Black Canary.  She saved Felicity's daughter, Mia.  I enjoyed that moment, because you see  how genuine the friendship truly is.  She comments to Mia that she is like her mother. 

I also thought it was cute when all were safely back in the bunker and drinks poured, that Laurel took the glass  from Felicity saying  she didn't need that.  Dinah  and Sara have puzzled  looks, but it's only Laurel that knows about the baby, and Laurel's protecting Felicity and Baby.

Negatives:  I  was bothered by the fact that the redemption happened  too quickly.  I know it was supposed have been happening over the course of the whole season, but it just seemed  quick. BS  and Shadow  Thief  killed those guards, and  BS seemed  to show no remorse for that.  She  didn't even make a comment about it.  Perhaps I was  the only  one bothered by that, but it didn't sit well with me  or the people I watched the episode with.  No amount of excuses can atone  for  that.

So, Laurel was going back to Earth 2 to continue her redemption.  She was brought to Earth 1,  so  how was she to get back to Earth  2.  Could Sara on her wave rider do that?  Does she end  up staying  on Earth 1?  She's there in 2040 to help save Mia.   Perhaps I'm  straining at gnats, but plot hole bothered  me.

Felicity going out on the field and putting  herself and her "precious cargo" in  danger bothered me,  especially when  she literally flew over those tables.  I've had  seven pregnancies, and I found  myself  feeling annoyed that she would  put her baby in danger.  Perhaps, my emotions stemmed  from the fact that I had trouble carrying my children and  lost two of them, that made me feel that way.  I just kept wondering what Oliver would have said had  he found  out.  There were  ways she could have safely helped  out.  I know she  had agreed  not to tell anyone, but I found myself a little more than annoyed at Felicity.

Oliver and Diggle:  While Felicity's  trying to find Laurel,  Oliver and Diggle try to track down who killed Emiko's mother,  in the hopes of getting Emiko to quit the Ninth  Circle.  Oliver wants so  much to  believe that once  she finds out that it was  actually Dante who killed her  mother in order to manipulate  her, she will turn on Dante.  Emiko doesn't know that she is just a titular head  of  the  Ninth Circle, Dante still runs the organization.  I've never liked  Emiko, but my guess is that since this season is about redemption, that we shall see that she will work  with Oliver to get Dante. What do you think?

 

    Oliver and Felicity:  The Olicity moments, those few at the beginning and end, were very  sweet.  Felicity's  worried about Laurel and Oliver's worried about Emiko.  Oliver doesn't really like or trust Laurel, and Felicity doesn't like or trust Emiko, but they trust each other, and  are there for each other.  Felicity has found help  for Oliver  in tracking and  Oliver tells Felicity that perhaps  Laurel  needs  her space.  Before he leaves  he  tells Felicity that he hopes  she  rests because of the precious  cargo.  Who didn't love that?   Then of course at the end the moment Felicity comes through the door, Oliver's resting on the sofa, clearly he's very tired, and Felicity comes  in  after all  she's been though,  she too is very tired, and they have moment all married couples  have  when they just sit and  want to do  nothing.  Oliver asks Felicity if she wants to eat, because as tired as he is, he will fix her whatever she wants.  Felicity  wants a foot rub, and there is Oliver giving her one.  We all loved that moment.  It was sad  to know that those moments are dwindling, and next season  we won't have any of  those magical Olicity moments.

Final Thoughts:

• Although I enjoyed the episode, it wasn't my favorite, because it moved slowly for me.
• It was good  to see Dinah  get the Canary  Cry mechanism.
• Female friendships are a part of real life, and it's good to see one on Arrow even it is BS. :)
• During the scene when  Laurel Lance saves Mia and gives her the helmet that has been taking  down the vigilantes to Mia,I realized it was  the mask that made Katie Cassidy  Rodgers appear to be a bad actress.  I never believed her as the Black Canary, but I  did  believe her as the Black Siren.  What were the differences?  Earth 1 Laurel was more whiny, and self-centered, but in a  way so  was Earth  2.  But when  Laurel showed up in the white wig and  Black Canary  mask with that look on her face she had as Earth 1 Laurel, the people I watched the show with laughed.  The only  thing different about her was the mask. Just sayin!
• Does anyone else think that Stephen Amell is tired.  There's something different about his performances as Oliver, even in his interactions with Felicity.  I know SA has said  he wanted to portray that Oliver's  prison  term has changed  him, he just seems different to me--a little off.  It could just be me, but something feels  missing.  It might have been the episode itself.
• Will Laurel been in season  8?  
• Will  Laurel end  up on the wave rider  with her sister