The Black Canary lives!

Not really, but on Arrow Season 4 Episode 19, Lance was pretty convinced his "rock" had somehow returned from the dead. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case.

Laurel Lance is dead. And so is the Black Canary.

Watching Lance trying to cope with his daughter's death was incredibly heart-wrenching. No parent wants to accept the fact that their child is gone. 

Even though Lance walked into the hospital room and saw his daughter's lifeless body lying there, he still didn't want to accept the fact that she was truly gone. It's called denial, and Lance was feeling it big time.

When he learned there was a sighting of "Black Canary," he was so hopeful. Considering everything he's been through, why wouldn't he be? The idea of Laurel returning and fighting a crime without letting the team know, defied logic, sure, but Lance is in a deep state of grief where logic doesn't exist.

Seeing her body at the morgue (thanks Ollie) made the situation more real, but he still wasn't willing to accept the truth. He turned to Nyssa for help, but when she told him the Lazarus Pit no longer existed, it didn't stop him from trying to find a way, any sort of way, to undo the reality. Of course, he didn't believe a word Nyssa was saying either. 

He's been down this road before. Twice. He knows reality can be changed in an instant.

But this time is different. Laurel isn't coming back.

It wasn't until he stood in front of her coffin at the cemetery, Dinah at his side, that the reality finally sunk in.  He'll never get over it. No parent ever does. 

I'm sorry, Dinah, but she's gone. She's never coming back. She's dead.

Lance

• Permalink: I'm sorry, Dinah, but she's gone. She's never coming back. She's dead.

Oliver and the rest of the team dealt with the tragedy as best they could. It was still fresh, so the shock of it hadn't worn off yet. Everybody wanted to blame themselves. The whole could've, would've, should've game was on full blast.

Even Felicity took part when she told Oliver had she been in the bunker helping them out, maybe things wouldn't have turned out they way they did.

Diggle was so angry, he went on a rampage, almost killing Ruve in the process (not that she didn't deserve it.) After Oliver stopped him from pulling the trigger, all of the anger and guilt wrapped up inside of him came out in a major grown-up, grief-stricken temper tantrum.

And, even though Oliver talked him out of doing something stupid to the mayor of the city, the rage is still there. Andy will pay. Darhk will pay. Diggle will make sure of that.

While the team tried to get a handle on their grief, they also had to deal with a Black Canary imposter who was wreaking havoc on the city.

Evelyn Sharp took on the Black Canary persona to seek revenge on those she felt responsible for her parents' death at the hands of Damien Darhk. I'm not exactly sure why she decided to take on Laurel's persona, but she made for one angry Black Canary.

Why did you abandon us? We needed you, and all you cared about were your friends.

Evelyn Sharp

• Permalink: Why did you abandon us? We needed you, and all you cared about were your friends.

It's also unclear how she got hold of Laurel's sonic device. Did this girl know Laurel's secret identity?

After she attacked Alex while he was having dinner with Thea, Ruve held a press conference announcing that all masked vigilantes were enemies of the city and would be arrested on sight. The number one priority was the Black Canary.

This concerned the team, because Sharp was a teenager only acting in anger because of how her life was disrupted by Darhk. They didn't want any harm to come to her, so they made finding her first their number one priority.

They tracked her to the Star City Plaza hotel where she was planning on killing Ruve. Oliver talked her down from actually killing the mayor, basically telling her she's not doing the legacy of the real Black Canary any favors by doing something so violent.

Thea was upset because she felt Sharp already tainted what the Black Canary was all about, but Oliver had a plan to change that.

During Laurel's eulogy, he told those gathered that Laurel told him who she really was right before she died, and then he waxed poetic on all the good things she did as the Black Canary.

Now the world knows the truth, and the copycat Canary that wreaked havoc is a distant memory.

It was kind of surprising (and a little creepy) that Evelyn was present during Laurel's funeral, hiding in the trees. A couple of times I thought that we were being set up for Evelyn to somehow become part of Team Arrow. It almost seemed like the question was on the tip of Oliver's tongue during a few of their interactions.

Thankfully, though, the idea of a replacement Black Canary was put to rest during the tombstone reveal.

Still, it was strange that Evelyn was there at all. Is she a one-time deal or is there more to come?

I'm not really sure why there had to be a Black Canary at all during this hour. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Was it to show that Laurel's persona inspired others, like Diggle said?

I think the hour would have been better spent showing all the great things Laurel did during the last four seasons.

For a show that loves its flashbacks, it could've come up with something a lot more interesting than the flashbacks that were shown. A copycat Canary, and Oliver flashbacks didn't seem to do her justice.

Other Thoughts:

• "You're just one illegitimate child away from a really awesome Oliver Queen impersonation." Did Felicity really say that? Yeah. She did.
• Why did Oliver have Laurel's bag of things? Wouldn't that have been something that Lance would have kept?
• Flash made an appearance. Will he be part of Damien Darhk's eventual take down?
• Was Evelyn the "Frequent Flyer" the doctor told Oliver about at the morgue?
• Why did Diggle bother wearing the mask if he was just going to tell Ruve he knew she knew who he really was?
• Didn't it sound like a broken record when Oliver got back in the limo, and Felicity told him they needed to kill Darhk? Didn't she say the same thing or something very similar (also in a limo) after she was shot?

What did you think about "Canary Cry"? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you need to catch up, you can watch Arrow online any time, right here via TV Fanatic.

Be sure to join us next week for our review of Arrow Season 4 Episode 20 "Genesis" which airs on May 4 at 8/7c on The CW.  Check out the promo below for a sneak peek!