Arrow Recap With Spoilers: Canary Cry

The episode opens at a funeral, where Oliver is invited up to deliver the eulogy but can't be there. Instead, Laurel stands up to say a few words.

The funeral, which took place in May of 2013, was for Tommy Merlyn, where Laurel delivers an impromptu eulogy complete with a veiled swipe at Oliver, while he watches from the sidelines. Then, she says something to redeem him as he walks away.

In the present day, Lance walks through the various members of Team Arrow and steps into Laurel's room, where she's still there on the bed. He cries, and the doctor hands off the Black Canary costume to Oliver. Lance can barely speak and staggers away from the room.

At the Lair, Oliver and Diggle talk about the situation with his brother. Diggle feels bad that if he had listened to Oliver instead of trusting his brother, Laurel would be alive now.

On News 52, Alex announces via a press conference that ADA Laurel Lance has died and that her presumed killer, Damien Darhk, is still at large.

An arms deal is going on in a parking lot when a woman dressed like Black Canary uses her sonic scream to knock the men down, steals everything from an open car trunk, and make off.

At the lair, Felicity, Thea, and Diggle show up to respond to Oliver's call for Team Arrow. Lance shows up soon after with a newspaper that indicates Black Canary was back in action last night. Lance is desperate to believe Laurel is still alive, which the team tries to discourage, but they can't come up with a better idea.

When they head to the morgue to check on Laurel, her body is still in the drawer, taking the wind out of Lance's sails. He runs out, but Oliver stops to tell Laurel's doctor that he believes somebody stole the sonic device from her belongings. The doctor says that there's a fairly regular patient who might be a good suspect, but she can't tell him who it is due to confidentiality rules.

In the flashback, Oliver goes to Oliver's apartment to talk to her about Tommy's funeral. Oliver tells her that he stayed up all night working on a eulogy, but couldn't get past the idea that he failed Tommy. She tells him that he can't blame himself for what happened to Tommy, but Oliver says she would blame him too, if she knew the truth.

At the Lair, Felicity is trying to track the new Canary via facial recognition, but Diggle is distracted. He admits to Felicity that his brother was working with Darhk and responsible for what happened.

Alex and Thea are on a date, trying to distract Thea from everything that's going on. She asks him why he became a political operative, but before he can answer, the woman wearing Black Canary's costume and sonic device attacks him. She nearly kills him before Thea stops her, and then calls Oliver in. When he goes to challenge her, she hits him repeatedly with the sonics, saying that he "failed this city" when he "left us to die" at Reddington. She runs away.

Since Cisco had keyed the device to Laurel's voice, it shouldn't be working for this girl — but somehow it is working. Oliver says Reddington was the place where HIVE was holding Team Arrow hostage during the Christmas party. Apparently this girl's parents died that night, and she blames Green Arrow.

At his home, Lance has called in Nyssa in the hopes of using the Lazarus Pit. She says she already destroyed the pit and he leaves, distraught.

At Oliver's abandoned campaign headquarters, Felicity comes to find Oliver alone, beating himself up over everything that's happened. Felicity says she's blaming herself, too, but Oliver tells her that really the reason he blames himself is that it gives him a reason for unreasonable situations.

Thea calls Felicity to say Lyla called looking for Diggle, but that he was supposed to be checking on her.

As Spartan, Diggle stops Ruve Adams's limo by shooting the drivers and pulls her out of the limo. When starts getting smart with him, he pistol-whips her. As he's about to shoot her, Oliver arrives and knocks the gun out of his hands with an arrow, telling Diggle he can't attack the mayor of the city, no matter who she is. Diggle says that he has to find his brother and get him off the streets. Oliver tells him that Laurel would expect them to be better than this.

On TV, Adams blames Team Arrow for killing Laurel, saying that Black Canary attacked her chief of staff and then one f the vigilantes attacked her car tonight. She has ordered the DA to issue arrest warrants for Team Arrow, starting with Black Canary.

Oliver knows that a frightened teenage girl is now in the crosshairs and says they need to find the fake Canary — Evelyn Sharp — before the police do.

Nyssa calls Oliver to talk about her fear that Lance is in pain but also denial. Oliver tells Nyssa that he's agonizing over not being able to help.

In the flashbacks, Oliver and Laurel sit around looking at old pictures and talking about losing Tommy. She asks him about what Ollie had said earlier about wanting to make the city a better place, and suggests they could do it together. The two kiss, and she says she's excited about the future, but Oliver is clearly upset.

At a former League of Assassins hideout, Oliver arrives to stop Lance, who is looking for League members who can help him bring her back. Oliver tells Lance that if there was any way to bring her back, he would, but there isn't.

Lance tells him that Laurel was his rock — the one who helped him through losing Sara, through his divorce, everything. He can't imagine functioning without her.

At the Lair, Felicity apologizes to Diggle for not speaking up fast enough to help him out of his guilt. The two talk about it, encouraging one another that what happened wasn't their faults.

Just then, they get a facial recognition hit — Evelyn is going to attack Ruve Adams at a gala.

At the gala, Adams is glad-handling the crowd as Team Arrow is looking for Evelyn. She's caught by a security guard, but uses the scream to disable him. She shoots a couple more guards on her way to the ballroom where she plans to attack Adams. Oliver stops her, telling her that while he knows she wants revenge, this isn't the way to get it. She says it's the only way she has left. In the ballroom, at the last moment, Oliver manages to talk her down using the real Black Canary as an inspiration. When Adams sends a SWAT team after Oliver, he shoots a grappling hook arrow at the ceiling and gets away through a skylight.

Back at the Lair, Thea is upset that Evelyn has sullied the Black Canary's legacy — but Oliver is sure that's not going to happen.

Later, at the cemetery, Dinah Lance is still in denial about Laurel's death, sure that she's going to come back to them like Sara did. Oliver stands near her casket to deliver a eulogy. In the course of her eulogy, with Evelyn looking on, Oliver tells those assembled that Laurel was killed in action as the Black Canary, and that if Laurel were here, he knows that she would expect them to live up to her example and save their city.

In a final flashback, Laurel is in her apartment when a note is passed under the door. It's from Oliver, who tells her that he has to go away, and maybe he'll come back eventually. He gives her the photo of her that kept him company on the island.

Later, at her grave, Oliver stands alone before a headstone when Barry arrives. Oliver tells Barry he's going to kill Darhk, and asks to be left alone. Then he touches the face of Laurel's headstone and cries. Beneath her name, and the dates of her birth and death, is inscribed "The Black Canary."

In the limo, a crying Felicity tells Oliver that they have to kill Darhk. Oliver says he knows, but he doesn't know how. He says that he's seen the magic before, back on Lian Yu, and it's more than just magic: it's darkness, and he's never been able to overcome the darkness. Felicity says she refuses to believe that Darhk is unstoppable, or Laurel will have died for nothing.