This latest episode of Arrow was a little disappointing after the great episode last week. I’ve decided that I do not like Caity Lotz as Sara/Canary, and it’s starting to bother me a bit. Helena has completely devolved into a villain of the week, and the supporting cast and stories are too weak to carry the show. I’m afraid that the midseason ‘The Scientist/Three Ghosts’ two-parter was the pinnacle of storytelling this season, and it has been all down hill from there.
I really hope that they rebound and salvage the season, as this show is too good to turn into what it has become.
1. What is it?
Arrow Season 2, Episode #217, titled ‘Birds of Prey.’
2. Who’s in it?
Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen/Arrow; Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance; David Ramsey as John Diggle; Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak; Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson; Willa Holland as Thea Queen; Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance; Caity Lotz as Sara; Jessica de Gouw as Helena Bertinelli/Huntress; Jeffrey Nordling as Frank Bertinelli; Dylan Bruce as ADA Adam Donner; Artine Brown as Hendrick; Lochlyn Munro as SWAT Captain; David Nykl as Anatoli Knyazev; and Chelah Horsdal as Kate Spencer.
3. Who made it?
‘Birds of Prey’ was written by Mark Bemesderfer & A.C. Bradley. The episode was directed by John Behring.
4. What is it about? (**spoilers galore**)
‘Birds of Prey’ is a pretty straightforward story this week. The episode opens with SCPD going after a connected mobster and they end up arresting Frank Bertinelli (Nordling). With Bertinelli in custody, Team Arrow realizes that Helena/Huntress (de Gouw) will soon be back in Starling City to exact her revenge after her father killed her fiancee.
Laurel (Cassidy) gets a call from ADA Donner (Bruce) who offers her a job as a prosecutor in the Bertinelli case. Laurel accepts, as she is now 30 days sober and cured, apparently. Sara (Lotz) and Ollie (Amell) both try to talk her out of taking the job, but on her first day on the job, Bertinelli is escorted through the front door and all hell breaks loose as Helena springs her trap. Ollie gets Frank Bertinelli out but not Laurel, which pisses off Quentin (Blackthorne).
Sara and Ollie suit up and with Quentin’s help, they try to infiltrate the District Attorney’s office to get Laurel out. Canary finds Laurel, but Laurel refuses to leave the others to be hostages for the villainous Helena, who is demanding her father in exchange for their safety. Laurel has a moment with a bottle and Canary talks her down, reminding Laurel that 30 days sober is a big deal.
Canary tries confronting Helena, which leads to a confrontation between Huntress and Canary, along with some witty banter between Ollie’s costumed female partners.
Canary is beaten by Huntress and thrown out of a window, and Laurel is now in Helena’s clutches. Helena knows she has a blue chip trade and demands that Ollie bring her father or Laurel will die.
Quentin assists Arrow and Canary in getting Frank separated for the trade as the SCPD SWAT team discovers the location of the exchange and the captain (Munro) tells his people to shoot anyone with a mask.
At the corner of Gail and Simone (more on this in a bit), the exchange goes bad, which devolves into another fight between Canary and Huntress, and the SWAT Captain kills Frank Bertinelli. When Helena sees that her father is dead, her campaign of terror ends and she is apprehended.
The episode ends with Ollie and Helena having a moment at SCPD, and Helena admitting that she doesn’t feel better with her father dead.
Laurel goes into the office only to be told that she has no job by Kate Spencer (Horsdal), and that ADA Donner has lost his job for using Laurel as bait in the Bertinelli trap. Laurel uses that as leverage and blackmails Spencer into letting Laurel keep her job. Spencer admits that the move is a bit dark, and Laurel says that the dark is in her now, calling back a line that Canary told her back when she had a bottle in hand.
The side story this week involves Roy (Haynes) coming to terms that he has to break up with Thea (Holland) to protect her from his unchecked rage. Thea, of course, refuses his attempts to end the relationship, so Roy goes further, allowing himself to be caught with a cute cocktail waitress.
Thea, her heart in shreds, confides to Ollie, wondering why people keep secrets, and she is thankful that Ollie has always been truthful to her. If she only knew…
Distraught, Thea walks home–for some reason–and a car pulls up and offers her a ride. Inside the car is Slade Wilson (Bennett), and Thea is now in his clutches.
On the island, Slade needs an engineer to fix the damaged Amazo, and low and behold, the only surviving engineer happens to be Hendrick (Brown) who escaped with Sara and the other prisoners. Slade–as he tortures Ollie–offers his new toy in exchange for Hendrick. Sara plays dumb, which gets Ollie shocked into unconsciousness and then Hendrick pulls a gun on her, trying to save his life. Knyazev (Nykl) helps her subdue Hendrick and Sara agress to the exchange. Ollie wakes up in pain, as Slade has been using him as a canvas, marking him in tattoos for his crimes.
5. Any revelations, tie-ins, easter eggs, etc.? (**SPOILER!**)
The opening scene features SCPD going after a “Hugo Mannheim.” In DC Comic lore, there is a Bruno Mannheim, who is a mobster who runs Intergang, a gang of super criminals out of Metropolis in the comic books. I don’t know why they made the change here, as Bruno would have worked well.
The final battle takes place at the corner of “Gail and Simone,” which is homage to writer Gail Simone, who created the original ‘Birds of Prey’ comic book back in 1998.
6. Will we watch next week?
Yes. This episode was a little heavy-handed in its execution, but the story moved forward and the hints of Laurel possibly one day taking the mantle of Canary were evident. Next week’s episode is titled, ‘Deathstroke,’ and the story returns its focus back on Slade Wilson and his one man crusade to ruin Oliver Queen. The seemingly innocent capture of Thea at the end of this episode doesn’t bode well.
