Plot
With Black Siren's true identity exposed, she's back to her wicked ways and teaming up with The Shadow Thief to loot Star City blind. Dinah Drake is more determined than ever to being the fugitive from Earth-Two to justice. Felicity Smoak, on the other hand, thinks it isn't too late to reach her, summoning Sara Lance to try and talk some sense into her sister's doppelganger. Yet when push comes to shove and Black Siren refuses to listen, can three non-powered heroes bring down two murderous criminals by themselves?
Influences
The Birds of Prey comics of Gail Simone.
Goofs
Black Siren's DNA and fingerprints were found all over the scene of Gustavo Hernandez's murder. Felicity says this is proof she can't be the killer because she's too smart to leave evidence. There has been little evidence in any of Black Siren's previous murders that she had any sense of subtlety.
It is completely unbelievable that Dinah would be willing to overlook the crimes that Black Siren was involved with (including multiple murders!) just because she was wrong about her killing the one gang leader she was framed for killing.
Though the point is rendered moot by Black Siren deciding to return to Earth 2 rather than continue impersonating Laurel, how exactly is Dinah supposed to convince the mayor, the rest of the DA's office and the SCPD that Black Siren was on a secret undercover mission to catch the Shadow Thief? Aren't their procedures in place for that sort of thing? Wouldn't Dinah know all about those procedures being an undercover cop?
For that matter, what about all the material (such as the photo of Black Siren with Ricardo Diaz) that was sent to the press last week that showed Black Siren associating with criminals before she became the District Attorney? How would that get explained away?
How exactly is Black Siren supposed to get back to Earth 2? After everything she did to try and kill Team Flash working with Zoom, I doubt Barry Allen or Cisco Ramon is going to be willing to help her bum a ride home.
It's a minor point, but I wish we'd have gotten a chance to see some interaction between Sara and Dinah. We never have gotten a chance to see Sara team up or just talk with the woman who adopted her sister's codename and that's always bothered me somewhat.
Performances
As always, Caity Lotz is a delight and the scene of Sara and Felicity catching up is wonderful. The chemistry between the original two ladies of Team Arrow is as strong as it was five years ago and one wonders what might have been had a proposed Birds of Prey spin-off starting the two actually happened.
Artistry
The set-design for Quentin Lance's grave-site is fantastic.
Trivia
In the title card for this episode, the arrowhead behind the title is replaced with the stylized Canary emblem used by Dinah Drake.
There have been three characters in DC Comics history who used the name Shadow Thief.
The first Shadow Thief was a career criminal named Carl Sands, who became obsessed with the idea of making his shadow work for him after he was caught while hiding after a robbery because the police saw his shadow. Allowed access to a prison laboratory, Sands made contact with an alien explorer named Thar Dan, who came from the dimension of Xarapion. Sands was able to save the alien's life and was rewarded with a piece of alien technology called the Dimensiometer which allowed Sands to transform himself into a living shadow. He would go on to become a reoccurring enemy of Hawkman. He would later gain a power upgrade after selling his soul to the Demon Neron, which allowed him to take control of the shadows of other people and reshape other shadows into whatever weapons he needed.
The second Shadow Thief was a man named Carl Hammer, who only appeared in a single issue of the 1980s Vigilante series. This Shadow Thief employed a suit that made him invisible in darkness, but not intangible.
The third Shadow Thief was introduced as part of the New 52 Forever Evil storyline. This Shadow Thief was a former Mossad agent named Aviva Metula, who made use of an artifact called The Shadow Skin. Fearful of alien invaders coming after the Earth, she became an enemy of the New 52 version of Hawkman. The Shadow Skin granted her the powers of invisibility, intangibility, flight, teleportation and some limited shape-shifting power to reshape her limbs into weapons.
The Arrowverse version of the Shadow Thief is also a woman named Aviva Metula. She is also a former Mossad agent, but she is an ordinary cat-burglar whose costumes have special gauntlets that let her hack electronic safes and detect large quantities of cash.
It is confirmed that Felicity and Sara had a flirtation of sorts back in Season 2 and that Felicity is, at the very least, bi-curious. This is a nod to the comics where Black Canary and Oracle were hinted to have a friends-with-benefits relationship in several Birds Of Prey storylines..
Technobabble
According to Felicity, hydrogen cyanide is the go-to poison of the Ninth Circle.
Felicity modified Laurel's original collar into a wrist-mounted unit similar to what Sara Lance used as The Canary.
Dialogue Triumphs
Dinah: Look, I know she's your friend. And for a while I actually thought the two of us were doing good work together, too. But the truth is that Laurel is Black Siren. She is a ruthless murderer and we are all fooling ourselves thinking she is anything like the real Laurel Lance.
Felicity: We should be helping her! Not hunting her!
Dinah: Laurel is a criminal and we are going to bring her to justice. Something we should have done a long time ago.
(Kodiak is starring down Diggle when Oliver shoots in in the back with an arrow. He turns to Oliver and doesn't appear at all discomforted.) Kodiak: You think an arrow can stop me?
(Kodiak starts to move to the exit and suddenly stumbles.)
Oliver: I think a tranq arrow will.
(Kodiak falls forward and passes out.)
(Future Dinah and Felicity are looking at a monitor showing all the fallen Canary "Nests") Felicity: It's not your fault.
Dinah: But it's my responsibility.
(Black Canary blocks Black Siren and Shadow Thief's exit from the diamond exchange vault.)
Black Canary: Don't do this, Laurel.
Black Siren: Oh, I thought you'd be happy? You were right about me all along. (mock sympathy) Awww.. and it's too bad you don't have your cry anymore.
(Black Canary steels herself, as the two killers move in. Suddenly there's an ear-splitting scream that brings all three women to the ground.)
(Cut to: White Canary, tapping the wrist-control of her Canary Cry device.)
White Canary: But I still have mine.
(Felicity continues to insist that Black Siren might have changed if she'd gotten more support.)
Dinah: Laurel did not become Black Siren because we were bad friends, Felicity! That is a choice she made on her own! It is not some inevitable consequence of something we did! Everything that has happened since she has been fired is on her!
(Felicity enters the bunker to find Sara working out on the salmon ladder.)
Felicity: Well! I'm having deja vu in the best way possible.
Sara: Did Dinah read you the riot act?
Felicity: Nothing I can't handle.
Sara: You've come a long way form the I.T. girl secretly crushing on Oliver Queen.
Felicity: Apparently it wasn't that much of a secret. Everybody knew. Zero poker face. (coyly) And I always wondered, you know, were you flirting with me all those times you said I was cute?
Sara: (flirtatious) Why? Were you into it?
Felicity: Of course. It's you!
(The two laugh and hug.)
Felicity: I've missed you.
Sara: I've missed you too.
Sara: Even if there was a way back for "Laurel," she has to want it. You can't force redemption on people.
Dinah: Do you know why I started The Canaries? What it represents? This is more than some rebellion group. It's a support system. This is a way for women to know we always have each other's backs, no matter what happens. Whenever we need it most. Something I failed to do for a friend once. But ever since that happened with her, I made a promise to myself that I would never make that mistake again. That's why we wear these.
(Dinah shows Mia the silver canary pin.)
Dinah: To honor that promise. And the bravery. And the sacrifice. Shared with these amazing women who, somehow, no matter how many times they get knocked down, they always find the strength to get back up and fight again.
Sara: Redemption isn't a destination. It's a journey. I wasted years running away from all the bad things that I had done because I didn't want to face that pain that I had caused. Because I didn't want to be that person. And then I realized the only way to stop being that person was to come home and own up to the things that I had done. And yeah - it was painful. And it took a really long time. But it was the only way to become someone else. Someone better than who I was.
Dialogue Disasters
(Having just survived the explosive booby-trap at Shadow Thief's lair.) Felicity: Laurel tried to kill us!
Felicity: What Laurel did is... unforgivable. (whining) But she's just on this path and she doesn't know how to get off of it!
Sara: Nobody's as good as the original Laurel Lance. Not even me.
Sara: We are pretty badass together.
Felicity: Yeah, like a... Birds of Justice.
Sara: ... something like that.
Continuity
Ricardo Diaz introduced Shadow Thief and Black Siren at some point in the past and they pulled a job together.
Either Black Siren shares the real Laurel Lance's love of french fries dipped in milkshakes or Felicity introduced her to the same snack during their previous meetings.
Archer is still in the middle of rebooting.
Felicity was able to track down the buyer of the rifle of that killed Emiko Queen's mother.
John and Oliver are going out of town to track down the buyer of the rifle.
Rene is busy with a school thing with Zoe.
Walter "Pinky" Santorini is a mob money launderer who runs his racket out of a dry cleaning business. He is the first victim of Black Siren and Shadow Thief's partnership.
The buyer of the gun is revealed to be Kodiak from the Longbow Hunters, last seen in 706.
Shadow Thief and Back Siren's second target is a vault containing $10 million in diamonds.
White Canary shows up at Felicity's request, armed with a modified version of her old sonic device.
Kodiak claims to have no idea who hired him but the method used to contact him and hire him (old coin with microchip containing directions to his gun and target) are those used by The Ninth Circle.
Sara makes use of the salmon ladder in The Bunker.
Felicity admits to being into it when Sara flirted with her five years earlier.
Felicity makes reference to Black Siren getting Oliver out of prison legally (706) and stopping her from killing Ricardo Diaz (714).
Shadow Thief and Black Siren leave a death trap for Felicity and Dinah in a fake hideout with faked heat signatures.
Black Siren turns on Shadow Thief after Felicity refuses to let her leave with the weapon they are stealing and demands Black Siren kill her and Black Canary and White Canary back her up.
Shadow Thief somehow escapes the explosion of the storage facility.
Laurel Lance's name is cleared and Dinah comes up with a story about her having been working undercover to explain her crimes committed after she was fired.
Black Siren decides to go back to Earth 2 and start trying to build a new life for herself there.
Sara leaves behind the sonic device for Dinah. Felicity says she thinks she can use it to restore Dinah's metahuman Canary Cry.
Black Siren says that she mastered the art of holding her liquor by sneaking drinks away from her sister when she was pregnant. This is the first confirmation we have that there is a Sara Lance (or a Lance sister of some kind) on Earth Two.
Felicity gives Black Siren Laurel Lance's old Black Canary costume.
Zoe and Mia are being chased by a Galaxy One agent wearing a mechanized helmet as the flashbacks open. This helmet was seen at the end of 716 and was referred to as the tool that will finally destroy Star City's vigilantes. It appears to give the wearer visual access to the Archer network as well as enhanced vision.
The Canaries call their safe houses "Nests".
The last secure Nest following Galaxy One's raids is Alpha Base.
According to Felicity, 10 Canaries are confirmed dead with 5 missing.
Zoe persuades Mia to go into hiding, but Mia wants to take the fight to Galaxy One.
Dinah tells Mia why she formed the Canaries as a support group because of her failure to help one friend in the past.
Mia is nearly killed by the helmeted Galaxy One agent but is saved by an older Black Siren.
Untelevised Adventures
Ricardo Diaz introduced Shadow Thief and Black Siren at some point in the past and they pulled a job together.
Black Siren was apparently fired from her job as District Attorney in between episodes.
The Winick Factor
Pretty much everything Black Siren has ever done is hand-waved for the sake of a happy ending.
The Bottom Line
Surprisingly mixed. Everything involving Black Siren's slate being cleaned is complete bullshit, and Dinah's character is completely subverted to justify everything in the end. On the other hand, everything involving Sara - even her scenes with Black Siren - are excellent, but that's largely down to Caity Lotz's performance rather than the writing and the proof of that is in the magical scene of Sara and Felicity catching up.
Still, I'm inclined to be generous because the writers wisely made sure that the entire Black Siren Redemption Story is dependent on Felicity to function, which I'm sure burns the Katie Cassidy fandom who have been gunning for her character since Episode 103. And Black Siren is finally out of the show, so hurrah for that.
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