‘Arrow’ Recap: S4E19 “Canary Cry”

Arrow returned this week after a short break, only to remind us of the colossal loss that the show just put us through. In the final stretch of the last episode The Black Canary was brutally murdered by Damian Darhk, and this week’s episode started with a funeral.

The show didn’t waste anytime this week by jumping right into the aftermath of what happened. It opened with a flashback of  Tommy’s funeral, then immediately jumped to the hospital scene we saw last time, and saw the team dealing with devastation.  As they each dealt with it in different ways, it seemed Ollie was struck even harder when the Doctor handed him the Black Canary costume. After Diggle begins to blame himself for Laurel’s death (trusting his brother turned out to be a huge problem), he decides to try and take matters into his own hands and he attempts to kill Ruve Adams. Along with the subplot of Oliver trying to convince Diggle that his anger isn’t the way to go, a new Black Canary seems to be running around the streets. After crashing Thea’s date, it seems this Canary hates Green Arrow and wants him to pay for her own personal tragedy. The episode closes with the modern day funeral, and finally catching up to the flashforward we saw earlier this season.

As explained yesterday with our recap for The Flash, instead of our usual retelling of the entire episode in excruciating detail, Heroic Hollywood is now going to provide a simple recap (see above) and then review our top 5 highlights from the episode.

Diggle trying to kill Ruve Adams

Now this scene seemed almost controversial to a lot of fans. When the clip was first released, message boards began to fill with messages and posts almost condemning the Arrow showrunners for taking Diggle to this point. But this scene was for the fans. This scene was far more of a nod to fans feeling than anything else. Diggle’s rage was the embodiment of how audiences should act towards the death of Black Canary, and while there is still a large group of fans that are glad she is gone, this scene showed fans that the Arrow writers know what they did. They killed a character that they mistreated for years. They are acknowledging our rage, sadness, and they are channeling it through one of the few characters in the show that embodies the voice of reason.

The Funeral

Coupled with the Flashback to Tommy’s funeral, Laurel’s funeral was a heartbreak for fans. Laurel’s Father desperately tries throughout the episode to find a way to rectify this situation, but in the end, he accepts his loss and allows Oliver to honor her the only way he knows how. The funeral was executed wonderfully, and even ended with Oliver telling everyone that had been assembled that Laurel was killed in action as the Black Canary, and that he knows that she would expect them to continue on and save their city. In the end, having her tombstone read “The Black Canary” was a beautiful tribute and clear understanding that Oliver knew that The Black Canary was her true self, and deserved to be honored.

Evelyn Sharp … or is it actually Evelyn Crawford?

A new Black Canary already? At first the introduction of this new girl on the block seems almost like adding insult to injury, but the questions raised by her appearance are still ones worth discussing. This new girl was able to perfectly utilize all of Laurel’s equipment, and even use the Canary Cry device that Cisco had previously configured to only be used by Laurel. Who is this girl suppose to be? Well one fan theory is that she is none other than Evelyn Crawford, better known as Starling in the Birds Of Prey comics. Starling was a longtime friend of Black Canary, and is known for her fighting skills and firearm use. Hopefully next week we will find out more about this girl, and fans will know for certain if the current theory is a correct one.

Barry Allen…. Speedster?

Now I personally loved this scene because it was clearly a logistical mistake. Its very clear that it was aired much sooner than it was planned to be. Obviously for those who watched The Flash last night, Barry is currently powerless… yet here he is with his powers again, woops? While it is very obvious that this episode was likely due to air following next week’s episode of The Flash, this scene can give fans some closure knowing for certain that Barry wont be slow for much longer.

Oliver doesn’t seem to hear his own advice

After all his talk about finding another way, and convincing Diggle that killing isn’t the answer, all it took was Felicity telling him that he needed to kill for him to decide it was indeed the only way. In a move that will likely enrage fans who clearly disapprove of Felicity having this level of control over Oliver’s feelings, it proved to be a huge character moment for Oliver. Dealing with his own grief, the loss of a great love, and trying to hold everyone together, Oliver seemed to be holding strong. But overall, it was clear that he was just as broken as the rest of them. He understands he has darkness within him, and he knows exactly what is at stake, but in the end it proved that he knows Darhk can only be stopped one way.

Any good show is the sum of its parts, and although tonight’s episode had some great character moments, it unfortunately falls into the weaker category of the overall season. Despite it moving forward, and trying to honor the loss of Black Canary as best as they could, they could have done a much better job by simply featuring the funeral, the hospital scene, and Diggle’s rage, as the entire episode, the rest of the additions seemed to only serve as disjointed distractions. But sadly, this episode is a prime example of the ongoing issues with this show, hopefully the writers are seeing that now.

Now with the board set, and new pieces clearly coming into play, hopefully next week’s episode will fall into stride and give fans an episode of Arrow that they deserve.

Taylor Landine

Taylor Landine

Taylor Landine is a Veteran to online entertainment journalism who has been covering television and movies since 2005. Follow him on twitter via @taylorlandine