That team-up included a very welcome guest appearance by Caity Lotz. With multiple Canaries on the team and Felicity filling in for Oracle, it could work. Or вЂњBirds of Justice,вЂќ as Felicity referred to their team-up. You have to wonder if this episode is intended as a litmus test for a possible Black Canary or Birds of Prey-esque spinoff. We got a neat little subplot involving the return of Kodiak, but other than that it was the Felicity Smoak/Black Canary Power Hour. Not just in terms of the cast, but also in that it was written and directed by women.

And at the same time, it showed that Laurel hasnвЂ™t left Earth-1 behind forever.ДЄnother major selling point with вЂњLost CanaryвЂќ is that itвЂ™s a rare female-driven Arrow episode. That final scene served as a strong farewell to a character whoвЂ™s been a mainstay in one form or another for most of ArrowвЂ™s existence. We see Laurel at her best and truly embodying the redemption being Black Canary offers. But seeing an older Laurel leap to MiaвЂ™s rescue with Canaries in tow made it all worthwhile. In general, the flash-forward scenes were fairly bland this week - all action and little in the way of plot progression or interesting story developments. If anything, the flash-forward storyline helped the most in terms of cementing her character arc and sending Laurel off on a high note. ThereвЂ™s some definite missed potential there, even though Laurel more or less smoothed things over in the end. This whole storyline pretty much glossed over the fact that by taking on the name and identity of Earth-1 Laurel, Earth-2 Laurel basically destroyed the reputation of one of Star CityвЂ™s honored dead.

ItвЂ™s as though she flipped a mental switch with the way she so quickly and totally reverted to Black Siren mode. IвЂ™d rather have see her deal with being a pariah and a fugitive for a few episodes before getting her big send-off. It did seems as though LaurelвЂ™s arc was compressed a little too much. She maybe just needs a reminder or two of how hard sheвЂ™s worked to get this far. вЂњLost CanaryвЂќ posed the fundamental question - can Laurel truly become a better person, or has she been living a lie all this time? And as we saw, Laurel is ultimately capable of doing justice to the legacy of her Earth-1 counterpart. With that in mind, this episode wrapped up her multi-season arc in the only way it could, with LaurelвЂ™s dark past being revealed and her retreating back into the role of Black Siren. But while the entire Black Siren storyline has had its definite low points, in the end Laurel is a fundamentally more interesting character when sheвЂ™s a bad person struggling to be good. That clearly was never the goal, hence the decision to divide the Black Canary mantle among so many characters. SheвЂ™s never fully embodied the Black Canary of the comics. No matter what Earth she hails from, Arrow has had a rocky success rate when it comes to Laurel.

Arrow season 1 ep 18