Arrow 8x9 : Green Arrow and the Canaries review

Be warned there will be *SPOILERS* involved in this review. With that being said let's get into it. 

Arrow's second last episode ever begins with Laurel showing up to a club. Inside she quickly warns a young woman to leave as her safety is in jeopardy. Of course she doesn't listen and does end up getting kidnapped by two people who drag her out with Laurel in hot pursuit. We quickly get a shot of the city before Star City 2040 appears on the screen. We are in the future again and it's after the events of Crisis On Infinite Earths. Next up we see Mia Queen waking up in her room. She checks up the latest news but is interrupted by JJ who we know as Deathstroke in the future but it turns out that both him and Mia are very much together in this new version of reality. JJ even proposes to Mia who says yes just as she is about to graduate from college. Something her father never did. Speaking of her father it's now been 20 years since Oliver sacrificed himself for the Earth thus creating this new reality. Mia is a socialite just like her father once was and along with JJ look set to become Star City's new power couple. We're then back with Laurel who we see walking into a bar where she asks for the owner. The owner turns out to be none other than Dinah Drake who we see singing at a piano in the bar and boy does she have a great voice. Dinah and Laurel meet up above the bar where Dinah now lives. Dinah mentions how she just woke up with this new life with her not even having an identity. Dinah Drake doesn't exist in this new reality much to Laurel's surprise. But Laurel is here for a reason and that is because of the girl who was kidnapped at the start of the episode. Turns out that she is Bianca Bertinelli (adopted daughter of the Huntress Helena Bertinelli) and three days from now her body turns up in the bay of Star City which leads to Star City becoming a crime riddled zone in 2021. Not believing what she's hearing Dinah eventually gets roped in by Laurel but they are missing one person.

Mia Queen is next seen attending a graduation party where Laurel and Dinah show up. Mia actually doesn't know who they are but that issue is soon resolved as Laurel uses tech given to her from Cisco thanks to Martian Manhunter's mind powers which she places on Mia's arm restoring all of her memories. The memories come flooding back to Mia as she remembers everything. Her dad, his sacrifice, who JJ truly is and everything else in between. Mia ultimately ends up too getting roped into Laurel and Dinah's little Canary Club as she refers to it is. She and the two Canaries have their first outing together which sees Mia suit up for the first time since Crisis and while it doesn't go horribly it does suffer from neglect from Laurel and even a bad beating given to Mia by a Bertinelli heavy. One thing I did love about this episode is the chemistry between Laurel, Dinah and Mia. It was perfect on so many levels and if these three do indeed carry the rumored Arrow spin-off Green Arrow and the Canaries then I just know it will be extremely well led. 

The episode draws to a close as JJ and Mia's relationship is pushed to the limit. Mia knows of what JJ did in the past but that is not the current JJ but she is still skeptical of him. She even breaks into his office and scans his computer to see if he was behind the kidnapping of Bianca Bertinelli. He wasn't instead he was hiding their honeymoon plans from her on his computer. Mia's jumping to conclusions leads to JJ asking for some space which further puts Mia into the fight for her city more and more. All 3 ladies eventually learn of Bianca's location and Deathstroke is indeed in this new reality and it's actually Slade Wilson's son Jericho who was previously dating Bianca. A giant face off ensues inside of the abandoned building which is set a blaze by Jericho but not before he mentions something about ''her'' not letting any of this happen and we see a tattoo close to his hand. Mia, Laurel and Dinah escape with Bianca as fires engulf the air behind them which was a really cool shot. With Mia now fully committed to her double life the episode ends with her and William seen standing by a statue dedicated to the Green Arrow Oliver Queen. It's a nice moment but of course it gets ruined by something as a new threat seemingly emerges. Both Mia and William get hit with darts to the neck which knocks them both out. We see William getting carried away as not seconds earlier he was seen holding the family heirloom which was handed down from Oliver to Thea now to him and Mia. There's writing on it that is identical to that of the tattoo that Jericho had. A new secret organization?? the final thing we do see is more people break into JJ's house and restore his memories with the same tech Laurel used on Mia. His memories come flooding back to him also with views of him killing Zoey and even fighting against Mia. The episode ends right there and then as more questions are left unanswered rather than answered and honestly I'm okay with all of this especially with the heavily rumored spin-off happening. The episode overall was really, really good. The chemistry between Mia, Laurel and Dinah Drake was sublime. The action was as usual Arrow style really good and going forward I'm intrigued to see who or what this new threat is. Arrow's final episode is next week and it will be a 2 hour finale. Truly the end of an era is almost upon us. 

★★★★