Episode 3: Sister Sara and the Bus-Riding Hobo Killer

Ryan shares his thoughts about Sara Lance, the first woman to adopt the title of The Canary on the TV series ARROW. Also, a review of Black Canary #2 (1993) and listener feedback.

Flowers & Fishnets is available for download on iTunes by clicking here, or you can check out the show's RSS feed right here.

Don't forget to read ComicVine's interview with the upcoming Black Canary creative team of writer Brenden Fletcher and artist Annie Wu by clicking here.

Sample pages from Black Canary #2--click to enlarge.

Music this episode:
"My Sister"
Juliana Hatfield
Mammoth Records, 1993.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY EPISODE IN ANOTHER WINDOW.

Black Canary on ARROW S2 E17

Once more, I defer to the website GreenArrowTV for their in-depth reviews and spoiler-filled summaries of Arrow episodes.  Head over there to check out the review for the season 2 episode, "Birds of Prey"!

My Commentary

This episode certainly wasn't what I expected.  Based on the title, I assumed we would see Huntress, however reluctantly, working alongside Green Arrow and Black Canary.  Instead, she is the villain of the episode, and they take her to extremely dark territory.  She's basically psychotic.  Her motives aren't to punish criminals and gangsters; they're fiercely personal.  She wants to murder her father and she's willing to kill innocent people to do it.  I don't know if they can ever bring the character back, but in my opinion she's beyond redemption.

Considering Sara Lance trained with the League of Assassins for years, the first Black Canary vs. Huntress fight should have been a lot more one-sided.  As their scuffle goes down, though, Canary gets the drop on Helena, who still manages to fight her off and throw her out a window.  I didn't care for that bit of action choreography.  The only way Huntress ought to be able to take Black Canary in a real straight-up fight is if Helena was trained by Bruce Wayne.

When the ladies scrap for the second time, Sara "doesn't hold back" but it still takes her a little too long to get the edge.

The other major hangup in this episode is Roy Harper.  Ever since he was injected with the superpower serum, he has struggled with this insatiable rage building inside of him.  Unfortunately, neither Ollie nor the producers of the show will let him vent that rage.  So all that happens with Roy most of the time is him shaking his fists and looking mad but not doing anything.  It's effectively ruining his character slowly but steadily.

Beyond those complaints, this episode had as many faults in logic as any episode of the series.  There were fun, entertaining parts, but the problems were too noticeable for me to favor this one.

Black Canary on ARROW S2 E14

This may seem like cheating once again but I don't have the time or energy to do a full-on review of last week's episode of Arrow.  Thankfully, I don't have to.  The website GreenArrowTV has a great in-depth review full of spoilers and easter eggs that's as thorough as anything I could provide here.  If you're so inclined, check out their review for the season 2 episode, "Time of Death", and then come on back!

Screen cap from "Time of Death", courtesy CW Network.

My Oh-So Brief Review

Arrow has had some good episodes, but this was a very good episode.  It introduced a classic villain with tons of potential for future appearances.  It spent a lot of time with the Lance family, fleshing out more of Laurel and Sara's relationship, as well as a few character details of their mother, Dinah.  We got to see the Canary in action and we now know how her connection to Sin originated.

Unfortunately, I think the episode tried to do too much and spread itself a little thin in the action story department.  Robert Knepper was terrific as Tockman, but we didn't spend nearly enough time with him doing anything other than talking through his radio.  GATV's review touched upon the fact that the character is dying--his body is literally counting down--but that metaphor was never explored or even truly hinted at.  Likewise, Laurel and Sara's reconciliation at the end felt like it jumped a couple of scenes.  This episode could have been two episodes, which would have allowed us to spend more time with Dinah Lance, as well as Roy and Sin.

Another thing I've noticed that has to go in the complaint section: As Team Arrow grows to include Canary and Roy, and Sin and Thea by extension, we've seen Diggle pushed more and more to the side.  I think the show found its identity once Ollie and Diggle teamed up, so it's a shame that Diggle has become more and more marginalized.  Maybe he needs to get a Green Lantern ring in order to get some decent screen time again.

There are a couple of references to Kord Industries and a very blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo of Blue Devil on a poster, as well as mention of the Oblivion Bar.  All nice bits of fan-service.

Lots of threads are coming together as we near the end of the season.  And don't forget, the episode titled "Birds of Prey" is just a few weeks away!

Black Canary on ARROW S2 E13

I was going to write a recap and review of the latest episode of Arrow, featuring the return of Sara Lance to the present storyline.  It's a significant episode that's entirely about her so it deserves a good amount of attention.

However, I've been sick for the last couple days and don't have the concentration to write a review.  The website GreenArrowTV wrote a thorough and nuanced review which you can read right here.  Yeah, I'm handing off my review to their site.  They do a good job.  Enjoy!

Canary Returns on this Week's ARROW

Sara Lance returns to the present time in this week's episode of Arrow.  And with her return, comes the Black Canary costume!

Caity Lotz as Canary/Sara Lance in Arrow 2.13.

SuperHeroHype has the full plot synopsis, as well as more images and a video clip for Season 2, episode 13 titled: "Heir of the Demon".  Check it out!

Canary Stunts on ARROW

Last night, Arrow returned to the small screen after its mid-season break.  As of this writing, I haven't seen the episode, but a couple weeks ago, the CW Network released a behind-the-scenes look at the stunt work for one of Black Canary's action sequences.

Check it out, yo!

Top 10 Black Canary Moments of 2013 Part 3

Click here to review 7 - 4.

Click here to review 10 - 8.

From Injustice: Gods
Among Us Chapter 32.
Art by Jheremy Rapaack.

3. "The Prettiest Girl In the Whole Damn World"

Tom Taylor writes Black Canary better than any writer I've seen since Gail Simone left Birds of Prey.  His depiction is so flattering to the character that sometimes I think he's churning out material specifically for me to geek over.

Of course, that's my overreaction to finally reading a version of the character that doesn't sound like she's only a fraction smarter than the worst dumb blonde joke.

Taylor's Canary is competent, respectable, and a formidable warrior.  She knows Batman's secret identity, and the Dark Knight trusts her to fight against the likes of Superman and Green Lantern, unlike in the New 52 where Batman called Dinah "sloppy and dangerous".

While Green Arrow was undoubtedly the breakout character of Taylor's Injustice: Gods Among Us comic, it was often Ollie's scenes with Dinah that showcased the best of both characters.  Their dialogue was sometimes funny, occasionally sappy, but always playful and honest and true-to-character.

In a world where Superman kills wholesale for "the greater good" and Wonder Woman is basically Lady Macbeth, Ollie and Dinah come off refreshingly familiar.  This is how they should act in the main DC Universe!

From Injustice: Gods Among Us Annual #1.
Art by Bruno Redondo.

Best of all, while Black Canary plays second fiddle to Green Arrow in the first year, she doesn't end that way.  For story reasons, she has to come out of Ollie's shadow, and Taylor has promised that in 2014, Black Canary will take a much more proactive and commanding role.  Bring it on!

From Injustice: Gods Among Us Chapter 33.
Art by Bruno Redondo.

2. The Woman in Black

I started watching Arrow because I knew Black Canary was going to be in it.  I didn't expect to like the show, but I did.  It's not without its faults and I don't think it will appeal to every comic fan, even every Green Arrow comic fan.  It ain't The West Wing or Breaking Bad, but taken on its own it's damn enjoyable entertainment.

And the inclusion of the Canary in the first part of season 2 cranked up the Fun-meter to 12.

Watch.

Campy? Sure, but it's Black Canary and Green Arrow kicking ass together in the flesh!

Also this.

That's just the major action pieces of episode 5, which focuses on the League of Assassins hunting Canary.  Why?  Oh, because she used to be one and trained with either Ra's al Ghul or his daughter (probably not Talia--the other one).

A year ago, my expectations for a live-action Black Canary in a DC movie were zilch.  After seeing how well the creators of Arrow have translated her and Green Arrow for their limited audience, I think there's a very real chance that someday I could see Canary on the big screen.

And now...

1. Unmasked!

Expect a lot of this cosplay next year!

If you were paying attention during the first season, you knew that Dinah "Laurel" Lance could not have become Black Canary, not without years of physical and psychological transformation.  If you were paying even less attention during the off-season hiatus, you knew that Katie Cassidy, who plays Laurel, definitely wasn't going to put on the costume anytime soon.  The big question on fans' minds was: Who is this mysterious Canary?

The secret was out before the sophomore season started for those who knew where to look, but most viewers discovered in the fourth episode that Black Canary was Laurel's sister, the long-thought-dead Sara Lance, now played by Caity Lotz.

I think this was far and away the best Black Canary moment of the year.  Ironically, it deviated quite far from my preferred continuity by putting a brand new woman inside the black leather.  But I like this deviation, and I love how they went about it.  There's the shock value that Sara Lance was presumed dead since the pilot episode.  There's the familiarity that, while believed dead, she is a known character, not someone who comes into Ollie's life for no reason.  And there's the originality to it.  Arrow is not beholden to the history and facts of the comic book Green Arrow; they show that every week.  Sometimes their changes suck, but a lot of times they work for the kind of story they're telling in the medium of television.

The unmasking of Black Canary and the reveal that Sara was still alive blew open the doors of possibility in this show.  Anything is possible and no cow is sacred.  We've since seen the introduction of characters like Barry Allen and Solomon Grundy.  A Green Lantern appearance would not surprise me at this point, nor would a connection to the DC Cinematic Universe unfolding in the Man of Steel movies.

So, maybe not all of the Top 10 were great moments.  I could have spared myself the time by cutting this list to six, but I want to get used to the format, because I think next year will be much better.  We'll see more Black Canary in Injustice: Year 2 by Tom Taylor.  We'll see more Black Canary on Arrow, I guarantee.  And we'll get the first original graphic novel with Black Canary's name on it as she teams up with Zatanna!

Looking forward to 2014!

Top 10 Black Canary Moments of 2013 Part 2

Click here to review 10 - 8.

7. Coming Off the Bench

From Justice League #17, art by Ivan Reis.

Earlier in this countdown I talked about how Black Canary almost joined the ranks of the Justice League in 2013.  The closest she came was fighting on their behalf against the Atlantean invasion in the crossover event Game of Thrones "Throne of Atlantis".

From Aquaman #16, art by Paul Pellatier.

When the League's heavy hitters are taken out of the game, Cyborg calls in the reserves to defend the city of Boston from Ocean Master and the army of Atlantis.  Black Canary, as well as Hawkman, Vixen, Zatanna, Firestorm, Black Lightning, and Atomica, hold off the destruction of the East Coast until Aquaman and the rest of the League ran reinforce them and save the day.

(Apropos I like this team roster a hell of a lot more than the one with Vibe, Stargirl and Catwoman.)

It was great to see Dinah valued enough by the League to fight a war in their absence, even if there is a total lack of discipline and organization to their defense.

Wait, Cyborg's line in the panel to the left doesn't sound very flattering!  Dinah never steps in and takes charge of the battle; she exhibits zero leadership skills.  She can't even prevent a teenager from endangering them all.  Oh God, why does the New 52 hate her so much?!!  Top 10!  I can't even make a Top 10 list that shows her in ten favorable moments!

6. "Where the Hell Did You Come From?"

At this year's San Diego ComicCon, the show runners of CW's surprisingly successful Arrow television series screened a short video that recapped the major beats of the first season finale while teasing the second season's premier.

And the climactic sequence of the video--what drove fans crazy was the first appearance of the Blonde Bombshell played by Caity Lotz.

The Canary would take on a much larger role in the show's second season than fans likely expected.  At the time the video came out, though, it was enough to demonstrate to new and old audiences how bad-ass a character she could be.  Hell, those 40 seconds got me to buy the first season so I could prepare for her screen debut.

5. Change of Clothes

Even though Black Canary didn't really make it into the game Injustice: Gods Among Us as anything other than an NPC who recharges Green Arrow's health (so I've heard; never played it), she did get the full-service concept art treatment.  Below are seven different could've-been interpretations of the Canary by Bernard Beneteau.

Okay, none of these are ideal costumes for Black Canary--not if you want to take her seriously in anything other than a knockoff Street Fighter video game.  Some of them look silly, and some of them make her look more intimidating than she's probably going for.  But, and I cannot stress this enough, I like all of these costumes, every one, more than the Jim Lee-designed costume she wears in the New 52.  I can't explain it rationally, but I would prefer her in even the silliest of the above designs to the one she has been stuck in for the last two years.

Thankfully, these weren't the only options for the digital-first comics that tied-into Injustice.

From Injustice: Gods Among Us Chapter 18.
Art by Jheremy Raapack.

Several artists have depicted Dinah in this bleak, alternate universe, and each one of them does a terrific job rendering her "unjust" costume.  This look is so much better than the conceptual entries above and the New 52 design.  I think the reason it works, even with its faults, is that it honors what I consider the most important elements of Black Canary's costume.

From Injustice: Gods Among Us Chapter 24.
Art by Mike S. Miller.

The three essential things her costume needs to have:

1. Black.  Her costume must have black, preferably black leather or something like it.
2. Blonde.  Whig or dye-job, I don't care, but as long as Black Canary is a caucasian woman, she's a blonde.
3. Fishnets.  Not padding.  Not mesh.  Fishnets.

And three recommended things her costume should have:

1. Cleavage.  It sounds juvenile, but Dinah's bust is part of her aesthetic.  Not as much as Power Girl's, I'll grant you, but it is important to her look.
2. Choker.  She ought to have something around her neck.
3. Jacket.  Not necessary, but she looks better when she has one.

The Injustice costume is still a little more armored and tactical than I'd prefer, but it hits all three "needs" and two out of three "shoulds" on my checklist.

4. You Can't Stalk Someone Who Wants to Be Followed

Early in December I "followed" actress Caity Lotz on Twitter.  Caity plays Black Canary on the television series Arrow.

A few hours later, I received this:

Holy--! A direct message from the woman who plays Black Canary?!! Did she see my Twitter handle and address and know what a fan I am?  Is this the start of something--?

Yeah, for all of five minutes I believed this was really, truly a personalized direct message to me.  Then I figured out that she wasn't following me back.  The DM was probably a bot that automatically shoots the same message back to everyone who follows her.  Nothing more.

... Still, it felt really cool for five minutes.  Everything after that was sad and humiliating, but those five minutes were awesome and deserve to make my Top 10 Black Canary Moments of 2013.

What moments will make the final three?

To Be Continued...

Caity Lotz Interview from the Hollywood Reporter

Last week, CW Network aired the mid-season finale of Arrow.  The episode resolved several mysteries while opening up a can of new ones.  One of the ongoing threads of the second season has been the duel sagas of Sara Lance played by Caity Lotz.  There's her current flight from the League of Assassin's and her five-years-old captivity on the island with Oliver.  I'm guessing Sara's situation on the island will be resolved by the end of this season with Ollie thinking she's dead somehow.  Her ongoing flight from Ra's al Ghul's forces, however, could play out over several seasons.

The Hunter and the Bird of Prey

About a month ago, Lotz gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter where she revealed some behind the scenes information on how she read for the part, and her character's development, past and future.  I've highlighted some of the questions I liked with my commentary below.

You can (and should) read the full interview here.

THR: When you were cast as Black Canary, did you know what her identity would be and where she was headed?

CL: No, I had no idea. I actually auditioned for a character named Lisa. (Laughs.) There were fake sides, even what I was reading wasn't the actual character. I had no idea, I just thought I was playing some character named Lisa and then afterwards, I met with [executive producer] Andrew Kreisberg and he told me about it and, yeah, I was really excited.

The fact that the producers were keeping the character's identity under wraps during the casting stage tells me they really had big expectations for not only how the fans would respond to Canary, but to the character's longterm status on the show.

THR: How surprising is Black Canary's past?

CL: It is constantly a surprise for me. All of a sudden I'll get a new script or one of the producers will talk to me and it's like the shock of something new they've created for the character. (Laughs.) The show evolves while it's going, so there are a lot of new discoveries that even the writers are finding so I'm constantly surprised. Where they're taking the character is impressive.

Fans of the Canary are in uncharted territory here.  Her history, her whole identity has been completely altered for the show, so there isn't any roadmap to go on.  We can't assume the writers will revisit familiar stories from the comics because none would apply to her status in the show.

"Isn't there enough S&M stuff going on
with her costume - now we gotta get
ropes involved?"

THR: Oliver has declared that he won't kill anymore, but with Black Canary around, how difficult is that going to be?

CL: With or without Canary, that's a difficult thing, but as of now, Canary's M.O. doesn't include not killing. That's a foreign concept to her. Where she's been trained, killing is all but necessary in her mind. Those philosophies will come at odds between the two of them.

I prefer the hero that doesn't employ lethal force, especially a hero for whom it would come so easy, like Superman and Batman, but as I've said before, Arrow has a different set of rules and expectations.  I don't mind that Black Canary kills right now because she's a damaged person for whom killing is a survival trait.  I'm hoping that part of her character evolution will be Ollie teaching her how to fight without killing, in much the same way that Batman in the comics had to condition his son Damien not to kill after growing up with the League of Assassins.

For more questions and answers with Caity Lotz, read the whole interview.

Black Canary on ARROW S2 E4-6

The fourth and fifth episodes of the Arrow's second season are all about Black Canary and she plays a pretty substantive part in the flashback sequences of the sixth.  Needless to say, these were among my favorite episodes of the series.

Season 2, Episode 4: "Crucible"

Because why should Ollie and Malcolm Merlyn
and Shado and the Huntress and Roy be the only
ones who get to have fun with bows and arrows?
I mean, seriously, share the love!

While Oliver has to deal with a sudden flood of military-grade weapons onto the streets of his city, Felicity has an epiphany regarding the woman in black leather.  Both times the Canary appeared--to rescue Green Arrow from a police ambush and to stop the Dollmaker--Laurel was there.  Maybe the Canary isn't following Oliver, but rather Laurel (Katie Cassidy).

So Ollie stakes out Laurel's apartment to find Canary (Caity Lotz) watching her.  He captures Canary in a nifty snare trap.  She drops a sonic grenade like the kind she used to get them out of the police station, but this time, Ollie had the foresight to wear earplugs.

Canary speaks to Oliver very familiarly, even calling him by name, and warning him that her identity will rock his world.  He removes her mask to discover the Black Canary is... Sara Lance, Laurel's sister, long thought drowned on the boat that marooned Oliver on the island six years ago.

Ollie has plenty of questions, but she doesn't want to answer yet.  Her sonic grenade explodes into a smoke cloud; when it evaporates, Ollie is alone on the roof.  When he regroups with Diggle and Felicity, Ollie reveals that he knew Sara didn't drown on the Queen's Gambit, but he still thought she was dead because of something that happened a year after the shipwreck.

Back at her clock tower hideout, Sara talks to her young friend Sin.  They exchange a few cryptic remarks about their past.  Later, Sara goes to Ollie's club, Verdant, to find out if he's revealed to her family that she's still alive.  She stays vague about her whereabouts for the last couple years, only hinting at the kind of rough crowd she fell in with to learn how to fight the way she does.  Before they can say much more, Sara's father, Detective Quentin Lance, shows up to ask Ollie for help with his daughter.  Of course, he means Laurel, who has been having problems with drugs and alcohol since Tommy Merlyn's death and her capture by the Dollmaker.  Sara slips away, unnoticed by her father.

Wait, why is her hair different?  Oh, damn --
 I think this screen grab is from the wrong show!

Ollie recruits Canary to help him take down the episode's villain, a gangster called The Mayor who is running guns into the Glades.  Green Arrow and Black Canary naturally make an effective fighting team, watching each other's back and even trading weapons at one point; he uses her bo staff and she uses his bow.  It's a nice little moment.  Anyway, they stop the Mayor and Ollie convinces Canary not to kill him.

Ollie and Sara meet again the next day when she goes to visit her friend Sin in the hospital.  Ollie thinks Sara should tell her family that she's still alive, but she tells him who she really was died on the island.  She also says everyone would hate Ollie forever if they knew what really happened.

Meanwhile, during the flashback sequence, a younger Ollie has been captured and taken prisoner aboard a freighter called Amazo.  He is taken to the captain's quarters where he discovers Sara alive for the first time.

Season 2, Episode 5: "League of Assassins"

After a flashback sequence revisiting Sara's last moments aboard the Queen's Gambit before it sinks, she wakes up in present day in a guest bedroom of Queen Manor.  Ollie tries to convince her to go see her family, but she still thinks it's a bad idea, that there are things from her past that she cannot reveal because they are unforgivable.

In another flashback, we see Sara lying on a piece of debris adrift in the ocean.  A canary lands beside her, chirps, and then takes off.  She follows the bird's flight path, leading her to see a ship in the distance.

While Ollie and Sara discuss Moira Queen's trial, an assassin dressed in what looks similar to Malcolm Merlyn's Dark Archer costume, breaks in and attacks Ollie and Sara.  They fight him to a standstill and he escapes, but not before showing his face, clearly revealing that it's not Malcolm or Malcolm's ghost or anyone Ollie knows.

Ollie takes Sara to the Arrow Cave where she meets Diggle and Felicity.  Ollie gives Felicity some dirt the assassin left so she can trace him back to his hideout, because you know, that's something Felicity can do.

Sara tells the others she doesn't want them involved.  She reveals that the mystery man was gunning for her, not Ollie, and that he was a member of the League of Assassins.  Diggle and Ollie thought the League was nothing but a myth, but Sara assures them it's real and that she is was a member, taken from the island and trained at Nanda Parbat.  This is why Sara cannot return to her family.  She is not the woman they remember; she is a cold-blooded murderer.

Felicity traces the assassin's dirt to an abandoned factory.  Green Arrow and Black Canary confront the man, Al Ow-Al, who claims to have trained Malcolm Merlyn.  Arrow demands that the League stay away from Canary, but that threat doesn't go over very well.  Two more assassins show up and they all begin fighting, with Ollie taking on Ow-Al and Sara fighting the other two.  One of the assassins wounds her, and Ollie breaks off the attack to escape with Sara.

There's already a lot of BDSM stuff going on with that costume, but holding
the bo staff like that just adds layers and layers of subtext.

Oliver stitches up Sara back at the hideout.  He and Diggle reason that Sara's family could become targets if the League really wants her to surrender, so Ollie goes to protect Laurel and Felicity goes to warn Quentin to get out of town... which goes horribly.

Knowing that her father won't take any warning seriously that doesn't come from her, Sara has no choice but to reveal herself to Quentin.  They reunite in a touching embrace and then go to a restaurant.  She doesn't answer his questions about where she's been, but when an abrupt noise startles her, she accidentally exposes her keen reflexes and killer instinct.  Being the good cop that he is, Quentin realizes that she is connected to the Arrow, that she's the Black Canary, and she has been back in the city for weeks.  He realizes that Felicity's warning about him being in danger was true, and that the danger is because of Sara.  He asks if she would have ever revealed herself if her family wasn't in danger.  She says no, and then they leave.

Meanwhile, in the flashback sequences, Sara has been locked in a cage in the ship and abused, until a white man calls the guards off of her.  The man introduces himself as Dr. Anthony Ivo, and claims that he is keeping prisoners in cells as part of his work to save the human race.

Sara brings Quentin to the clock tower, where they are ambushed by Al Ow-Al and the two other assassins.  The Canary has a number of traps set up that throw her enemies off their footing.  Green Arrow arrives in time to stop one of the assassins, while Quentin manages to shoot and kill another one.  Canary fights Ow-Al and kills him over Arrow's objections.  She lets the last assassin live so he can take a message back to Ra's al Ghul's daughter that her family is off limits.

Sara and Quentin have a touching father-daughter moment, but she has to leave in order to keep her family safe.  As long as she's around, the League will keep hunting for her, so she can't be close to her family and friends.  She also can't let her sister or her mother know she's alive because they would never stop looking for her.  Then Sara leaves.

Later, Quentin visits Laurel who is still sheltering an addiction problem.  He promises her things will get better, but he cannot reveal the secret.

Years ago, aboard the Amazo, Ollie is taken to the cabin where he sees Sara who has now been working with Ivo for a year.  She smacks him and addresses him as a prisoner.

Season 2, Episode 6: "Keep Your Enemies Closer"

Sara only appears in the flashback sequences as Ollie tries to understand his new situation as a prisoner aboard the Amazo.  We learn a little bit more about Ivo's plan.  He is looking for the remains of a Japanese submarine crew who were doing genetic experiments to create super-soldiers or super-humans in the 1940s.

Sara appears to want to help him, feeding him information to keep him safe and keeping his identity a secret.  However, she also betrays him, tricking him into revealing that Shado and Slade Wilson are still alive.  However again, she intervenes on his behalf when Ivo is going to kill Ollie, so her loyalty at this stage in the game is entirely unknown.

New Identity/Origin

Obviously, this is not the Black Canary of the comics.  That doesn't bother me, though, because this is not the Green Arrow of the comics.  This show is its own entity with its own rules and history and characterizations and I've grown to both accept and admire that.  So I have no problem with this twist on Black Canary.  Hell, I love it!

After watching the pilot episode, I had a difficult time believing Laurel could ever become Black Canary.  Well, problem solved: she doesn't.  Instead, it's her long-thought-dead sister who trained with the League of Assassins to be one of the best, most cunning warriors in the world.  Halle-freaking-lujah!

Each episode of this new season is as good if not better than the one before, so there is plenty to get excited about.  This mini Black Canary saga, though, has been my favorite storyline in the series.  Obviously, I'm biased about the character, but it feels like a dramatic twist that was earned instead of forced.  The shock of Sara being alive is unexpected, but not ludicrous, and making her a darker, even more tragic reflection of Ollie, adds new dimension to both of their characters.

I hope she comes back again in the second half of the season.

Black Canary on ARROW: S2 E1-3

I had a lot of problems with the first couple episodes of the CW Network's Arrow.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to sit through the whole first season.  But after episode four or five, something just clicked.  I don't know if the show "found itself" or if I just stopped minding the deviations from comic book continuity--maybe both--but I really started digging the series.  All of the supporting cast started to shine (except for Tommy Merlyn), but never at the expense of Oliver.

So I got really excited when I finally finished the first season, knowing that my pretty bird, Black Canary, would finally get a real appearance in the second season premier.

Season 2, Episode 1: "City of Heroes"

This image brings me back to elementary school.

Black Canary shows up toward the very end.  Thea Queen's boyfriend, Roy Harper, is patrolling the Glades, looking to play hero and probably die young.  After saving a potential rape victim, he is outnumbered by the assailants, when all of a sudden, a blonde woman in black leather comes to his rescue.  The Canary uses a bo staff that separates into two batons.  She wails on the would-be rapists and runs away without a word to Roy.

It was already confirmed that this Canary isn't Dinah "Laurel" Lance (played by Katie Cassidy) or her mother (played by Alex Kingston).  This Canary is played by Caity Lotz, and aside from being a different woman, she is clearly better trained than Laurel.

So who is the mystery woman?  Someone brand new?  Or someone we've met before...?  The only other mention we've ever heard "a canary" was a pet bird given to Laurel's sister, Sara, when she was a kid.  That episode, notably, was written by Geoff Johns.

Season 2, Episode 3: "Broken Dolls"

When Oliver is lured into an ambush by Laurel, the Canary comes to his rescue.  Using a sophisticated sonic device, she incapacitates an entire S.W.A.T. team and leads the Arrow to freedom.  Then she disappears.

The Arrow recruits Roy Harper to find this "blond in black leather".  Roy tracks down a woman named Cindy--who goes by "Sin"--and followers her to a clock tower above a church.  The Canary knocks out Roy and questions him, thinking he has been sent by a cryptic "them" to bring her back.  She lets him go when she realizes he's not working for who she's running from.

Later, the Canary shows up to help Arrow stop the Dollmaker.  She's nearly killed when a lucky break drops a bunch of steel pipes on her head (d'oh!), but she turns out fine.  Ollie wants to take the man alive, but Canary kills him before vanishing again.

When Canary returns to her hideout, a man is waiting for her--a man dressed similarly to the Black Archer from season 1.  This isn't Malcolm Merlyn, however, just an assassin dispatched by none other than Ra's al Ghul to bring Canary back.  She says she's never going back and gives the assassin the chance to leave.  When he pulls a knife, she takes it and kills him.

So... Black Canary was trained by the League of Assassins and is on the run from Ra's al Ghul...?

I freaking love that!

Is it too early for them to get married and her to stab him
through the eye during sex like in the comics?

The preview for this week's episode shows the Canary revealing her identity to Oliver, and it looks like it blows his mind.  Who could it be?

...

Okay, enough sources have already revealed that Canary is Sara Lance.  That might explain how she happens to be around whenever Oliver or Laurel are in trouble.  How Sara survived drowning and what happened to her over the last five/six years is a mystery we'll have to watch unfold.

The Costume

I have zero complaints and actually a lot of affection for this costume.  I miss the fishnet stockings, but the stitching in her leather pants at least gives an impression of that cross pattern--a very nice touch.  As for the rest: I really like the mask, and... well, let's not mince words, I appreciate the cleavage.

I'm not crazy about the bo as her weapon, but it's not bad.  And I love her "Canary Cry" being a sonic weapon used to escape the police trap.

Black Canary to Appear in CW's ARROW Season 2

I assumed there would be no significant Black Canary news to come out of San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, but I was wrong.  The teaser trailer for the second season of CW's popular Arrow TV series premiered and features the first in-costume appearance of Black Canary.

Check out the full trailer below.  Or jump ahead to 2:27 mark to the Canary kicking ass.

More surprising than the appearance of Black Canary in costume was the identity of the actress who would suit up.  Regular viewers who know the characters have expected Oliver's friend Dinah "Laurel" Lance to eventually become Black Canary, since, y'know, that's who she is in the comics.  Laurel has been a regular part of the show since the beginning, played by actress Katie Cassidy.

This Black Canary, though, will be portrayed by Caity Lotz.  

As fans were rightfully confused by this turn, Zap2It reached out to Arrow's show runners and got the scoop on who this character is and what this might imply for the future of Laurel.

I still have never seen an episode of this show, but I might have to start if Black Canary becomes a regular fixture of the series.  Hell, I'd even check it out just to see Bronze Tiger debut in Season 2!