Episode Title: “Birds of Prey”
Writers: Mark Bemesderfer & A.C. Bradley
Director: John Behring
Previously on “Arrow”:
I believe the primary reason that Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) has largely failed as a character this season on “Arrow” is that Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) already embodies the qualities that the audience wants from Laurel. As Black Canary, Sara is the first female character on this show who can physically hold her own with Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and carry a story by herself. With Sara around, Laurel is basically redundant.
But unless Lotz is given a promotion to series regular, I wouldn’t get too used to her. The endgame of “Arrow” probably involves Laurel taking over her sister’s costumed alter ego. This is why “Birds of Prey” is primarily another stop on the Laurel redemption tour that’s attempting to rehabilitate her character after some poor creative choices earlier this season.
The result isn’t quite what the writers hoped for. There’s some fun interaction between Laurel and Sara (when she’s in costume), but that’s undercut by Laurel’s hilariously forced moment of reaching for a bottle of alcohol at the worst possible moment. Also, it was laughable that Laurel couldn’t recognize her own sister’s distinctive face when she’s barely a foot away from her. Maybe Laurel needs glasses?
There are full spoilers ahead for “Birds of Prey,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “Arrow” then you should probably skip this review or else Laurel will blackmail you.
Another odd thing about this episode is that Laurel openly blackmails the DA into giving her a job again… and it’s presented as a victory for Laurel? She’s proud of what she’s done and even the DA is impressed by it. That’s a very weird moral stance for the show to take, when Laurel clearly deserved to be fired and disbarred.
Of course, Laurel’s first return to the DA’s office was a ruse to lure Helena Bertinelli aka The Huntress (Jessica De Gouw) out of hiding once the cops picked up her mobster father, Frank Bertinelli (Jeffrey Nordling). From there, things take a bizarre and ludicrous turn as Helena recruits some random thugs to help her take several hostages (including Laurel) in order to force the police to hand over her father.
Helena’s thugs were a headscratcher, but their presence wasn’t even the most insane moment of the episode. Late in the story, a particularly vocal anti-vigilante cop blows off backup from other officers so he can try to ambush all of the assembled vigilantes by himself. It’s a huge WTF scene that played like something out of a comedy.
The whole thing was basically an excuse to put Sara and Helena up against each other. In the Birds of Prey comics, Black Canary and Huntress were part of an all female team of superheroes. There was even a “Birds of Prey” TV series about a decade ago that didn’t quite catch on. Eventually, it seems like the producers of “Arrow” really want their own Birds of Prey team for this show. But the problem is that they’ve written Helena into a corner so badly that it’s hard to see how they can redeem this character.
De Gouw’s performance as Helena was largely over the top, but I did enjoy the brief scenes in which Helena finally has regret for some of her actions. She gets to see her father die, but Helena doesn’t get to pull the trigger or feel any closure. But it’s only a half-hearted attempt to make Helena sympathetic. Because “Arrow” has gone out of its way to make the Huntress irredeemable, it feels like there is no way back for her.
For this week’s flashbacks, Sara takes the central role while Oliver remains a prisoner of Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett). There’s not much in the way of plot advancement, but it gives Sara more of a spotlight before the inevitable rescue of Oliver later this season.
In a less successful subplot, Oliver pushes Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) to break up with Thea Queen (Willa Holland) after Roy displays more rage control problems. I’ve never been that invested in Roy and Thea as a couple, but their relationship ender was very CW. Thea rejects Roy’s first attempt to break up with her, so he makes out with a random woman to piss her off.
This leads to our cliffhanger for the week, as Slade offers Thea a ride home. You know that won’t end well. But if it leads to a Slade Wilson and Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) fight, then it’ll be worth it. Thea needs a better defined personality. Hopefully that will start to form when she learns that Malcolm is her real father.
“Birds of Prey” is far from the worst episode of “Arrow,” but I feel a lingering disappointment with this show’s take on the Huntress. Hopefully, any return appearances of that character will be better handled.
