Arrow - Who Are You - Review

Arrow returned with “Who Are You?” written by the team of Ben Sokolowski and Brian Ford Sullivan and directed by Gregory Smith. I was happy to see the return of Katie Cassidy and I was also happy to see the Russian flashback storyline return to some form of relevance.

While I knew Katie Cassidy couldn’t really be coming back as Laurel – our Laurel – I was still disappointed that she was Earth 2 Black Siren. Still, there’s some hope she can be “saved” by Oliver (Stephen Amell). Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) decides to throw a party for Laurel – which turns out to be an elaborate ruse to get her DNA.

The party itself is a pretty sad affair as nobody is in a particularly partying mood. Felicity is still devastated over Billy’s death, and Curtis (Echo Kellum) is distraught over the loss of Paul and doubting his worth to the team.

Rene (Rick Gonzalez) and Rory (Joe Dinicol) are freaked out about Laurel coming back to life. I do really hope that the writers haven’t gotten Paul out of the way so that Curtis and Rory can hook up. In this episode, however, it’s Rene who somewhat surprisingly helps Curtis find his purpose and place in the team. I have to say that I continue to enjoy Kellum a lot more in his dramatic scenes than when he’s doing over-the-top comic relief. I’m also more impressed with Dinicol so far that Gonzalez, though Gonzalez show more range in this episode – they need to move him past the angry young man who won’t follow orders.

There’s a particularly good scene between Felicity and Rory when he finds her working late at the lab – doing that DNA test under the radar. She discovers that the DNA is a match and Rory suggests evil twin – which is essentially what Black Siren is. She turns up and blasts all of them with her super-sonic scream before Oliver shows up and she takes off – disgusted it took them so long to figure out who she is. Naturally, it was Prometheus who let Black Siren out.

Meanwhile, Diggle (David Ramsey) is back in jail, and this time he’s determined to fight the trumped up charges. Oliver meets with DA Chase (Josh Segarra) who has already figured out that the Green Arrow was manipulated into killing Billy, so he’s going to keep the whole thing quiet to prevent a panic and see justice done. Oliver recruits Chase to defend Diggle.

In the first flashback, Ishmael (David Meunier) is working Oliver over. He finds the picture of Laurel that Oliver carries with him and realizes that the picture – and therefore the woman – has great significance for Oliver. Oliver doesn’t go home to her because after everything he’s done, he’s a monster that she wouldn’t even recognize.

In the present, Black Siren reaches out to Oliver, telling him that Prometheus forced her to act and asking him to meet her at Black Canary’s statue. Naturally, it’s a trap – and the statue ends up getting screamed to pieces. We see a much harder edge to Felicity in this episode and Rickards does a great job bringing this new dimension to the character. I do hope that they don’t make Felicity a lot harder than she’s currently become, however. She goes to another frequency to tell the other team members to kill the Black Siren if she double crosses them.

Oliver subdues the Black Siren by dart. I did love that after they jumped the gun, Rene and Rory tried to make excuses – she spooked them! Felicity gives up and tells them that they are terrible liars. Felicity tells Oliver that Black Siren is playing him. Oliver stresses that they don’t know why she’s not like the Laurel they know.

Oliver has a nice heart to frozen heart with Black Siren. There’s a terrific shot of Oliver with Black Siren. She seems to be letting Oliver in and warming up to him. His death in her world over 10 years ago, clearly affected her deeply. She tells Oliver that she moved to Central City for a new beginning – but it didn’t work out. She tells him that once you let the dark in, it’s hard to escape. Oliver insists that they get to choose who and what they are – Laurel can beat the darkness.

There’s a nice scene with Felicity working out with the heavy bag. I loved Oliver coming in and correcting her form – so that it can parallel Felicity punching Black Siren, keeping her wrist straight and maintaining her form! Oliver insists in this scene that he can reach the Laurel still inside Black Canary. Felicity points out that he doesn’t have a PhD in psychology.

Meanwhile, Chase meets with Diggle. Walker (Garry Chalk) arrives and is going to transport Diggle, who insists that Walker will put a bullet in him the minute they leave. Chase stalls and ultimately resorts to having Diggle hit him, so that he can keep him in Starling City – at least for the time being.

Felicity brings Black Siren a drink of water and there’s another great split shot of the two. Felicity tells her that Oliver thinks he can save her, but he’s not seeing just Laurel, he’s seeing a shot at his own redemption. When Black Siren asks what Felicity thinks, she admits that she thinks Black Siren should get used to living in cages.

As Felicity walks away, the power goes out and the dampener for Black Siren goes down. Black Siren screams her way out – but again, it’s Felicity being smart! She’s put tracking nanytes in the water so that they can track Black Siren back to Prometheus. This darker version of Felicity wants Oliver to kill Prometheus to avenge Billy. I’d find this change in Felicity a little more in character if we’d had more of a chance to see her and Billy’s relationship.

Oliver tells Felicity that he failed Laurel before and he can’t fail her again. Felicity tries again to point out that this isn’t Laurel – at least not their Laurel. Oliver also takes responsibility for Billy and tells Felicity that he will get justice for him.

It’s the second flashback that again gives us some insight into the present. Ishmael tells Oliver that it’s circumstances that make something poison or nectar – something Oliver tells Black Siren in the present. Ishmael goes on to point out that Oliver isn’t to blame for the darkness within him. If it weren’t for the Island, he’d still be that harmless, obnoxious college kid. Ishmael tells Oliver that he can give him a family that won’t see him as a monster – Bravta will accept him as he is. All he wants is Oliver’s obedience – or Oliver dies.

Felicity gets a hit on Black Siren and wants to wait for Prometheus to show up, but Oliver refuses to wait. Curtis lends his expertise on the tech side by building a portable siren dampener. Black Siren takes out Rene before it can get up and running, and Oliver engages Prometheus. Oliver shoots Prometheus with diazepam, but Prometheus has a tolerance to it!?!? Black Siren goes after Felicity, so Oliver goes to save her. I loved him punching through the wall! Great stunt work as always.

Once again, Oliver tries to get through to Black Siren, telling her that if she kills Felicity, she’s killing the person she was before she lost her family. Oliver shields Felicity until Curtis gets the dampener up and shuts Black Siren up! And then we get the epic punch from Felicty.

Felicity is icing her hand and then considers that her plan was stupid as it put innocent people in danger. Oliver tells her that she was right. He also says that he’s sorry about Billy and that he was a good man. Felicity adds, “like you.” Oliver tells her that he’s keeping Black Siren close – at ARGUS – and that he isn’t giving up on her.

In the final flashback, Oliver is saved by the appearance of the mysterious Talia (Lexa Doig). I loved the way her face morphed from Laurel to Shado to Talia. This is the mysterious woman who taught that move to Oliver that we heard about in the last episode.

Oliver and Felicity watch as work crews pick up the broken pieces of the Black Canary statue. Oliver tells Felicity that it’s time to have a more meaningful and lasting tribute to Laurel. Somewhere out there, there’s a woman worthy of Laurel’s legacy.

Cut to Hub City and a sleazy pool hall. Two creeps are bothering a woman and get screamed out the window… I’m not thrilled with this particular development. How much more of a revolving door do they have to make out of the Black Canary?

Some good fight scenes as always in this episode and some lovely camera work. While I liked seeing Curtis work through his self doubt, especially with Rene’s help, I am disappointed that they seem to be just letting his marriage be over too easily. I like the new tougher Felicity, but I hope they don’t take it past the point of strength and into “difficult.” I was happy to see the flashbacks back to being relevant to the main plot – it’s what’s made the flashbacks interesting and seamless storytelling up to now. What did you think of the episode? Are you looking forward to seeing yet another Black Canary? Is Oliver being stupid about Black Siren or can she really be saved? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!