There was little TV news from last season that excited me more than The CW announcing another DC superhero spin-off, Legends of Tomorrow, with Caity Lotz‘ Sara Lance as one of the leads. Fans of the first, and arguably best, Canary have waited impatiently to see how Arrow (or The Flash) would bring Sara back. As of the Arrow episode, “The Candidate” and the preview for the next, “Restoration” it looks like the means of Sara’s revival has been all but confirmed. Laurel plans to take Sara to Lazarus Pits and resurrect her sister despite knowing all the dangerous side-effects that occur. This is without a doubt the worst possible way to bring Sara Lance back to life.
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Where has Laurel’s Character Gone?
It’s a problem that the Lazarus Pit has started to become Arrow’s get out of death free card but the real issue is what Laurel resurrecting Sara does to Laurel’s character. Laurel’s entire journey in Arrow season 3 was her developing an identity outside of her sister’s shadow. Laurel’s first method of coping with Sara’s death was to become Sara and she discovered rather quickly that is a terrible idea. Mainly because the only qualification Laurel had to be a vigilante was that her dad was a cop, whatever that means.
In the episode “Canaries” (coincidentally one of Arrow‘s best episodes ever) Laurel has to literally fight the specter of her dead sister. By episode’s end, Laurel finally moved past her grief and her very odd form of denial. Laurel acknowledged that Sara was dead, that she wasn’t Sara and she never would be and that was OK. After “Canaries” Laurel became the Black Canary for herself not in some misguided attempt to honor her sister. She came to peace with Sara’s death and the event didn’t consume her. Sara’s death was still a defining moment for Laurel but THE defining moment.
Early in “The Candidate” Arrow even demonstrated how Laurel had learned from her mistakes. When Diggle told Laurel that he had been on an all-consuming solo mission to avenge his own sibling, Laurel told him that path would only end in tragedy. Laurel knew at that moment that lying and doing whatever you want is a problem. She just seemed to forget that all by episode’s end. Laurel lying to Oliver and taking Sara’s body from her grave to resurrect it in Nanda Parbat stands in direct contradiction with what she told Dig. Not to mention it looks particularly stupid considering so much about “The Candidate” was about how Thea being brought back has damaged her more than helped. Laurel doing this brings her character right back to where she was before “Canaries”. The more mature person that Laurel was after “Canaries” being nothing more than a passing phase.
Two Lazarus Pits Too Many
I’m beginning to get irked how easy Arrow seems to be making using a Lazarus Pit. They are exploring the ill effects that have come with Thea’s bath but it’s not enough. If Sara is brought back by the Pit, which every bit of evidence seems to suggest she will be, that makes two trips to the Pit in less than eight episodes (overall) of Arrow. Death should have some amount of weight especially on a show like Arrow where it happens quite frequently.
Now that magic and metahumans have been introduced in this universe there are other ways to bring Sara back. It could be a more mystical, more isolated and mysterious event. Something that can’t be replicated so easily and achieved by a quick plane trip to some nondescript, vaguely Middle Eastern land. There doesn’t even seem to be a limit to how many times the Pit can be used. Ra’s grew tired of using but that was after centuries of sustaining himself on it. There needs to be restrictions in using the Lazarus Pit and bringing Sara back with it, is certainly not a way to do it.
But what do you think? Does Laurel wanting to use the Pit betray her character? Are you fine with Sara being brought back up the Lazarus Pit? Or would you rather Arrow find some other way to find to bring back Sara for Legends of Tomorrow? Or is that is a red herring and Sara will be brought back by some other means?
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8pm on The CW.
(Images courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
