Arrow: Canaries Review

Oliver is thrown by the changes within Team Arrow. He’s used to calling the shots but sees that the team has evolved in his absence and tensions quickly escalate in the lair.

• Thea finds out Oliver’s greatest secret and… reacts positively. I was happy that the writers decided not to make it another source of contention between Oliver and Thea this season. Instead, it was used to bring them closer together.
• The revelation however does create a bit of tension between Thea and Merlyn, who is upset at her father for keeping Oliver’s secret from her. Gladly, it is mostly resolved by the end of the episode, and wasn’t a major focal point of this episode.
• To finish off the Thea trilogy, after a random hookup, the DJ attempts to kill her, but part of her training with Malcolm comes to light. I don’t know if it was always their intention or just found him kind of bland, but felt the DJ storyline just never went anywhere interesting. He was introduced, and vanished just as quickly. He re-emerged to be a spy for Ra’s Al Ghul, and really just dies in this episode.
• Laurel’s journey to becoming the Black Canary continued. As she had to face the demon of always living up to Sara’s reputation and toughness after being dosed with “Vertigo” not once, but twice during this episode. I thought the second time was a particularly strong scene from both an emotional standpoint for the character to the acting.
• As a result of this incident, Laurel finally decides its time to confide in Detective Lance that Sara was dead. The scene was as heart-breaking as you would expect. A family torn apart once more.
• Since this episode was all about family and legacy, Team Arrow and especially Oliver had to deal with the new dynamic in the lair. Oliver still isn’t keen on Laurel being out in the field, but by the end of the episode he seems more comfortable with the idea. I was more surprised by Roy taking a more stern and assertive attitude towards Oliver. It’s nice to see him becoming equals with Oliver, something I think that was also highlighted in two of this week’s action scenes.
• I still don’t know the larger picture with the Hong Kong flashbacks. It doesn’t seem to connect as neatly with the current-day story, and it in itself isn’t that interesting. Curious to see Oliver’s return to Starling City though.

A really solid episode of Arrow. Feels like it is pushing the season into its second gear as a lot of the first half threads were wrapped up tonight.