In Arrow season 4, episode 19, “Canary Cry,” the team faced the loss of one of their own. And grief is never pretty.
Though Team Arrow was dealing with their grief over Laurel’s sudden death, they still had a mission for the week: to stop a young woman who stole Laurel’s sonic device and dressed up as the Black Canary in her effort to get revenge on Damien Darhk and those involved with him. She and her family were held at H.I.V.E.’s base over the holidays when Darhk kidnapped Diggle, Felicity and Thea.
She first targeted Alex, who had become Ruve’s chief of staff, then Ruve herself. The team couldn’t let this girl tarnish the Black Canary’s legacy, so ended up revealing Laurel as the Black Canary at her funeral. Meanwhile, Quentin looked for multiple avenues to bring Laurel back to life, including the Lazarus Pit, but there was nothing to be done and he eventually broke down as acceptance hit him.
The episode explores the various team members’ grief. Oliver can’t help but feel guilty for Laurel’s death, but he’s made progress in terms of taking on too much blame. He’s heartbroken, but he’s not taking on too much. We see his grief paralleled to his grief after Tommy’s death after season 1. Back then, he was too hurt then to even attend the funeral, but it was finally Laurel who helped pull him out of his exile of self-pity. However, even Laurel couldn’t stop him from returning to Lian Yu, where we found him at the beginning of season 2.
No, the one taking on too much blame is Diggle, who can’t get over the fact that Andy was working alongside Damien Darhk all along. No one blames John for trusting his brother — the blame should solely lie on those who committed the murder — except John himself. And Laurel wouldn’t want John to blame himself, but John is spiraling so far in his grief and self-loathing that reason is lost on him. It’s hard to watch John fall so hard, as he’s always been the level-headed one who keeps everyone else even-keeled. His rock bottom seems to be when he attacks Ruve Adams, and only Oliver’s intervention keeps him from killing her.
And, being Darhk’s match in intelligence and evilness, Ruve takes the opportunity to turn the city’s opinion on the vigilantes. Or at least set up yet another anti-vigilante task force. You’d think the people of the city would get tired of the whiplash that comes from the elected officials telling them how to feel about their vigilantes. Even Oliver makes a meta comment about having seen this movie before.
But the one who takes Laurel’s death the worst is, unsurprisingly, Quentin Lance. He spends most of the episode stuck in the denial stage of grief, looking for ways to bring Laurel back. Sara has come back to him multiple times, after all, so why not Laurel? But Nyssa destroyed the Lazarus Pit after Sara’s resurrection. Quentin is desperate for any clues, and his grief is palpable. Oliver finally snaps him out of his denial, and it’s heartbreaking to hear him say that he lost his rock in Laurel. Quentin Lance has lost far more than any one person should have to deal with in a lifetime.
Paul Blackthorne and David Ramsey are the true MVPs of this episode as their characters’ grief takes them on downward spirals, one in denial and the other in anger.
In the episode’s B-plot, we meet Evelyn, a girl who, along with her parents, was taken captive by H.I.V.E. Her parents were killed in the gas chamber Felicity, Diggle and Thea were nearly killed in, and she saw the rescue attempt by the “Green Arrow” (Malcolm Merlyn in Oliver’s suit) and Black Canary. But she feels the heroes left her and the other prisoners to die, and her bitterness has grown since then. We don’t know how she escaped from her captivity, and the team recognizes they did play a part in her suffering by not helping her or the others.
It’s a stark reminder that no matter how many people the good guys save, there are always going to be those who can’t be saved. And in Laurel’s case, sometimes the heroes fall into that category as well.
But Laurel’s legacy will be preserved, as her title as the Black Canary has been engraved on her tombstone.
Watch a promo for the next episode
