Season 7 Episode 18 “After having her criminal past exposed, Laurel goes full Black Siren and goes on a crime spree; while Dinah aims to bring Laurel in, Felicity refuses to give up on her friend, even summoning Sara Lance for help.”
The Good & The Bad
The Good
1. An episode some of you have been waiting for, for a while now, me included. A heavily focused episode on Laurel and yet, another redemption. As the episode began I was honestly fed up, we had this at the end of season 6 so why do we need it again? However, as the episode went on, it got better and better. I think we genuinely needed this, as Laurel’s ark throughout the season has been fairly slow so to get this set in stone with her redemption was well over due. She starts by going back to the Black Siren. The one thing I liked was, when she was working with Shadow Thief, Shadow was killing people, Siren wasn’t. I picked up on that early on and I thought it was a sneaky touch to the character. Slowly, Felicity tries to pull her back as it was vice versa when Laurel was trying to stop Felicity from killing Diaz (like she stood a chance anyway).
2. Can we just appreciate the bit of action we actually got with Oliver? The shot he pulled on one of the members of the Longbow Hunters was just so smooth. John found his weapons, then was jumped by him, then Oliver shot him and just stood there as the arrow slowly knocked him out. A quick shot, but for some reason, I just loved this.
3. Sara coming back to the show was the perfect moment. She turned up to help Dinah when she went head to head with both Laurel and Shadow Thief. The entrance, and the timing was impeccable. I haven’t kept up with Legends of Tomorrow for a while so the artificial cry was very decent. She then helps Dinah and Felicity save Laurel’s soul. Overall, her presence in the episode was felt well, and every moment of seeing her I enjoyed.
4. I loved the turn when Laurel truly announced her redemption, when Dinah, Felicity and Sara stood in front of her stopping her steal a weapon, and told her if she’s Black Siren again, then she should kill them. A hesitant pause came from Laurel as Shadow Thief was approaching silently with a knife when Laurel pushed the trio out the way and cried her flying. An excellent turn, and one that was worth the wait for. The group then have an epic fight scene, with the exception of a pregnant Felicity. The slow motion with some of the kicks, more so from Dinah was great. An enjoyable turn of events with a solid fight scene. Well done from the writers on this part.
5. Towards the latter end of the episode, we see Felicity give Dinah Sara’s artificial cry. This was a nice touch to see Dinah be able to use her cry again after having her throat slit. We also see Felicity finally pass the original Black Canary suit onto Laurel to use as she heads back to Earth 2 to redeem her wrongs. I think it’s well needed. We see this at the end when you go to my Holy Shit Moment, but all of it was worth the wait. I hope the redemption is finally complete, and we can slowly see Katie Cassidy bring her fantastic portrayal of the Black Canary back again.
6. A quick nod to the cemetery scene between Laurel and Sara as they look on at Quentin’s grave. It’s just nice to see him remembered, as for me, he’s still majorly missed in the show.
The Bad
1. A solid episode with a single bad this week. As we come off a break, we rarely see the star of the show. Oliver. I get the episode didn’t really need him and it held it’s own, but I feel like Oliver could have helped the women in this episode. I know he’s looking for Emiko and the Ninth Single, but he could have dropped his plans to help his pregnant wife, and help the woman who saved him from spending the rest of his life in jail. Not to mention Sara returned. Why didn’t we see a single scene between the two?
Holy Shit Moment
At the very end of the episode, we got a flash forward moment. Now, this episode the flash forwards were originally a Bad for me but this changed it. Mia-moan-a-lot tries to fight a heavily armored dude and gets her ass handed to her on a plate. However, we see a cry drop from a rooftop and it’s only older Laurel, donning the Black Canary suit. I loved it. It was just nice to see, and very unexpected. It was also wonderful to see a familiar face in the flash forwards.
Verdict
A solid episode, very heavily focused on Laurel’s redemption. As Sara, Dinah, and Felicity team up to save Laurel from turning to the “dark side” again. A lack of Oliver, but I feel like the women of the episode definitely held the episode on their own. Laurel’s final redemption means the character can finally move forward.
Rating: 9.6/10
