There was a lot to like on Arrow Season 3 Episode 13, though we’ll start with a mini complaint.
The face-off between dueling canaries on “Canaries” was a bit of a letdown. The fight sequences needed to be one-sided, removing a great deal of drama, while they were actually difficult to follow as well.
That’s what happens when both combatants are wearing the same outfits.
While Arrow does action very well, Laurel’s best hallucinatory moments instead were emotion-based this week; take when Vertigo “transformed” into an angry Quentin… or when a proud “Sara” glowed at her sibling from above.
The best scenes in the installment, however, were saved for Thea and Oliver.
It would have been easy and predictable for the former to be angry at the latter for all his lying, but she instead took the more rational and mature route.
All those occasions Thea believed Ollie to be a flake and or a liar? “You were saving someone,” she said.
Thea did, however, have a beef with her father for driving her and her brother apart, all while being aware of Oliver’s identity. This segued nicely into tension between members of Team Arrow when Oliver booted Thea from the Foundry.
Felicity led the way, giving a speech about the squad’s newfound independence, while Diggle later made it clear at the bar:
The team has turned into something else. It has evolved into a cause that can live beyond its founder. "Can you live with what it’s become?” he asked Ollie.
Back to Laurel: she realized she can never be Sara. Nor should she be. She has to be herself. So, as you’ll see when you watch Arrow online, she came clean to her father about everything.
Toward the end of the hour, Malcolm informs Oliver and Thea that to ever take down Ra’s al Ghul, they must first conquer any fears the villain may use against them as a weapon. So Oliver says goodbye and he and his sister make camp on Lian Yu.
What did you think of this truth-telling hour, Arrow Fanatics?
Sound off below and prepare for Arrow Season 3 Episode 14, "The Return," to air on Wednesday, February 18.