Duck Fox

Grieving is a process. A process so regularly experienced it becomes almost mundane. And if there’s anything we learn from television, it’s that the medium doesn’t do “mundane” very well. Even in laid back family fare like Parenthood, grieving often includes several scenes of characters absolutely breaking down and making permanently life altering decisions as opposed to forcing themselves to move past the loss of a loved one. Arrow is much more over the top, and so naturally crafts an over the top episode as a send off to Sara Lance. As usual, it does a great job. 

I have to say, part of the reason this review is going up on the day the third episode of this new season is upon us is because I have been incredibly busy with real life. But a large part of me was struggling to write it as well. I know Sara Lance is a fictional character, but her death still feels more real than any other death in Arrow, which is particularly ironic considering she has the highest probability of returning at some later date. But alas, the difficulty in writing this review didn’t just spring from how tragic her death was, but how raw and emotional her send off was for the other characters in Universe. Katie Cassidy was particularly affecting as Laurel, who is in full “rage mode” of the five stages of grief. When the man who she believes killed her sister is standing before her, she only hesitates for a moment before attempting to kill him. If Oliver had not removed the bullets from her gun, then the next few episodes would perhaps be dealing with her conflicting feelings of relief and guilt over killing Lacroix rather than her building up to taking Sara’s place as Canary. 

Oh, did I mention? Simon Lacroix, AKA Komodo, is totally a thing in Arrow verse now. The badass mercenary from DC’s New 52 Green Arrow appears for the first time on television. Matt Ward brings a smooth roughness that’s expected of such a cold hearted assassin, and the stunt work in his fights with the Arrow is amazing. While the motorbike arrow jousting setpiece went on a little too long, it was well choreographed, and showed that Oliver can’t compartmentalize as well as he thinks he can. It’s not surprising, of course, considering all that he’s lost in such a short time, but Oliver’s seemingly subdued reaction had me worried the show wasn’t going to fully address the fact that he has lost so many people since his return. 

Speaking of his return, we should probably talk about before Oliver arrives at Starling City and starts losing friends and family. Actually, we should talk about the friend that thought Oliver might still be alive, the always welcome Colin Donnell jumping back into his role as Tommy Merlyn. In the flashback, Oliver has apparently logged into his old email account while being held by Waller. Tommy here’s about this and traces the IP to Hong Kong, so he heads out there to see what’s what, obviously hoping his best friend is still alive. Maseo essentially gives Ollie an ultimatum, telling him either Oliver Queen has to die, or Tommy Merlyn does, and since Waller will hurt Maseo’s family if Oliver doesn’t start cooperating, he’d much prefer to kill Tommy. It’s a tense situation, and one that I feared would lead to all sorts of plotholes, but thankfully the show manages to resolve the situation plausibly, and by tying it back to the theme of the night: saying goodbye to a loved one.

In the end, Tommy musters up the courage to accept that Oliver is dead when Oliver pretends to be a hacker that wanted to draw Tommy out to Hong Kong and rob him. He calls the police on himself and Hong Kong PD free Tommy so he can be alone with his misery. Oliver crushes Tommy’s hopes as sure as if he was Sara’s killer. In a lot of ways, Oliver’s process to deal with grief—by burying it beneath his job as the city’s savior—is possible because of what he did to force Tommy to let go.

Meanwhile, Roy is thinking about the other woman in his life who has disappeared—Thea, and specifically how he was about to run away with her. This seeming loose thread is carried through the episode until it acts as a coda for the next episode when Roy reveals the letter he wrote to Oliver. This is the impetus for Oliver to stop trying to bury his emotions beneath his stone face and steel abs and to actually go out and bring one of the people he’s supposed to protect back: his sister. 

All in all, the episode was a great send off to an incredibly memorable character. Though her death was a little abrupt, the way the characters remember her is anything but. Death has cast a long shadow on the cast, and watching them move past the darkness is sure to be a treat as the season continues.