Arrow‘s midseason finale gave fans some holiday cheer, a shocking breakup, and possibly a major change for one of the show’s villains.
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Spoilers for tonight’s midseason finale of Arrow, “Irreconcilable Differences”, below!
Tonight’s episode saw Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) being kidnapped by Laurel Lance/Black Siren (Katie Cassidy) as a way for her and Cayden James (Michael Emerson) to score leverage over Team Arrow.
Laurel held Lance captive, giving the pair a chance to talk about their past run-ins together. Lance asked Laurel if he reminded her of her Earth-2 father, and Laurel revealed that he didn’t — because her father died in a car accident when she was 13 years old. The two realized that they followed the same rituals for Laurel’s birthday, despite hailing from separate Earths.
Later on in the episode, Team Arrow attempted to exchange a piece of stolen technology with Cayden so that Lance could walk away safely. The deal didn’t go as planned, and Laurel and Lance quickly ran outside. Laurel got close to Lance’s ear, a tactic she’s used to Canary Cry people to death in the past. But instead, Laurel whispered for Lance to run, and cut the zip ties that were handcuffing him together. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) watched this happen, but Laurel used her Canary Cry to create a diversion for the two to escape.
Sure, Laurel might still have some ties to villainy — particularly with Cayden James’ new ensemble of antagonists — but this gesture does feel like the first glimpse of something more. After all, fans of both versions of Laurel have been championing a storyline like this for quite some time – shout out to the #RedemptionForBlackSiren hashtag – , and the show’s executive producers have begun to hint at it as well.
“I don’t know if there’s any question about whether or not the [idea] of redemption will come up; it has to,” executive producer Wendy Mericle said earlier this year. “Her father is there. Oliver is there. Everyone is going to be asking whether or not it’s possible to find a little piece of Laurel, the Laurel Lance they knew and loved, in there somewhere.”
Fans will just have to wait and see what Laurel – who is featured quite a bit in the midseason premiere promo – does next when Arrow returns from winter hiatus on Thursday, January 18, 2018.
