Now we’ve spent the last couple of weeks crying into our cereal over *spoiler* the demise of Laurel Lance, the Arrow writers have decided that it’s time we cry into our gin, I mean dinner as well!

Let’s brace ourselves for Arrow S4:E19 Canary Cry recap!

We’re at a funeral, but it’s not Laurel’s, in fact she just got up to say the eulogy! It’s flashback time! We’re at Tommy Merlyn’s funeral, who was Malcolm’s son, Oliver’s best friend and Laurel’s boyfriend. He died saving Laurel, and he and Oliver had an emotional goodbye. Tommy’s death led to Oliver’s pledge not to kill anyone, and Laurel’s drug and alcohol addiction. Anyhoo, Oliver is watching the funeral from a distance, finding it all too painful.

Now we’re at the hospital just after Captain Lance has found out that his daughter Laurel has dies. He goes to her bedside, and breaks down in tears.

Diggle and Oliver are in the bunker, and Diggle has arranged for his wife Lyla and baby daughter to go to a ARGUS safe house, in case Andy tries anything. Diggle doesn’t think he will, but he never really knew his brother so he’s taking every precaution. Oliver tells him not to blame himself, pot meet kettle, but Diggle knows that it’s his fault. Oliver tried to warn him but he wouldn’t listen. He will never forgive himself for this one. A news report comes on television announcing the death of Assistant DA Laurel Lance, Damien Darhk is the leading suspect, and is still at large.

There’s a gun deal going down, and here’s the Black Canary kicking ass and taking names! Huh?

Felicity and Thea arrive, and Oliver briefs them on the current situation. They need to find Darhk, but Thea is hesitant. Captain Lance also arrives with a newspaper article he has just come across. It’s about the Black Canary breaking up the gun deal, but this was after Laurel’s death. Again, huh? Felicity digs up the footage, and Captain Lance thinks that maybe it could be Sara? Or is Laurel still alive? Oliver checks out the bag of Laurel’s things from the hospital, her sonic device is missing. The device that is only keyed to Laurel’s vocal chords, and therefore only she can use.

Oliver and Capt Lance head to morgue, and Laurel is still there, and still dead. Capt Lance is shattered all over again and leaves. It’s the same doctor who was there when she was brought in. Oliver thanks her for her discretion, and she she tells him that it’s doctor/patient privilege and helping was the least she could do. Oliver mentions that at least 12 others saw the Black Canary come in to the hospital, and there was Black Canary activity after she died. The doctor mentions a patient that comes into the ER all the time, and she was there last night. But that pesky doctor/patient booshite stops her from telling him her name.

Flashback time, and Oliver is at Laurel’s apartment after Tommy’s funeral, he didn’t know where else to go. Laurel invites him in, but he tells her that wouldn’t be a good idea right now. He tries to write Tommy’s eulogy, but then realised that he didn’t have the right to say any of those things. Oliver thinks he failed Tommy, he was given a chance to save the city after coming back from the island but he couldn’t. And now Tommy’s dead.

Felicity is trying to track down the patient from the hospital, and notices that Diggle is not responding to anything she’s saying. He tells her about Oliver’s warnings about Andy, and says that Laurel is dead because of him.

Thea is with her boyfriend Alex having dinner, and she thanks him for making the statement about Laurel’s death. They’re suddenly interrupted by the Black Canary, who addresses Alex by name, and then unleashes the Canary Cry, shattering all the windows. She starts to bash him up, all the while screaming that he works for them, and she pulls out a gun. Thea tackles her, then unmasks her. She gives the Canary Cry again and Thea is blasted off, while the Canary flees.

Thea calls it in to Oliver, and he’s on her trail in no time. he catches up with her in an alley. She accuses him of leaving them, and he has no idea what she’s talking about. She shatters his eardrums a few more times, and tells him he left them at Reddington. Let them there to die and failed this city. She escapes, leaving Oliver deaf and confused.

Back at the bunker, Oliver tells them that the device has been modified, his earplugs didn’t do a thing. Oliver thinks that she was talking about Reddington Industrial, where they were all held prisoner over Christmas. This girl must be one of HIVES’s prisoners, or volunteers as Damien Darhk refers to them. They decide the checking missing persons for a family missing a teenage daughter. Felicity finds them immediately, and it’s the Sharp family. Both parents died of hypoxia two days after Christmas, daughter Evelyn missing. Oliver is starting to agree with Evelyn, they did fail the city by leaving the others there.

Capt Lance goes to see Nyssa at the apartment, and he collects all her things. He asks her want else he needs for when she comes out of the Lazarus Pit, but she tells him that the Pit has been destroyed months ago. There is nothing Nyssa can do.

Felicity and Oliver have a chat, once again he’s tried to do the right thing and came up short. Once again he feels responsible, and she tells him that she is also feeling some guilt. Diggle came to her looking for someone to absolve him, but she couldn’t do it. She wanted him to take the blame for a bit, because she herself feels like she’s at fault too. She should have been there with the team, and she could have made a difference. Laurel should still be alive. Thea calls and tells Felicity that Diggle has misled her about going to check on Lyla. Felicity has trackers on them all, and tells her she’ll look in to it.

Ruve Adams is in her limo, when Diggle appears in the road. He shoots at the windscreen, and takes out her security with tranquiliser darts. She gives him some lip, and he pistol whips her. he demands to know where Andy is, and when she refuses to say, he tells her to give Damien Darhk a message. He’s not playing games anymore, and aims his gun ready to shoot her. The gun is shot out of his hand by Oliver, and Ruve runs. Oliver tells him what he is doing is madness, she is the Mayor. She has everyone on her side and he can’t go after her like this. Diggle rips off his mask, and tells Oliver he’s so angry he can’t breathe. He has to find Andy before he hurts someone else he loves. Oliver tells him that if Laurel were there, she would tell him not to forget who he is, and that they can never become Them.

Back at bunker, they’ve had no luck finding Evelyn. A news alert pops up, and it’s Ruve Adams telling her story about being attacked by a vigilante. She also adds in that her Chief of Staff, Alex Davis, was attacked by the Black Canary the night before. She also informs the public that they were all present at the death of Laurel Lance, and has requested that the DA issue arrest warrants for them all, beginning with the Black Canary. Ruve knew that Laurel was the Black Canary, and now has the police gunning for a scared teenage girl. They need to find Evelyn first.

Nyssa calls Oliver to meet, and tells him that Capt Lance is refusing to accept reality. he tells her he’ll keep an eye on him. She asks if he’s okay, and he tells her that he feels powerless to stop Darhk, and now Ruve Adams is dragging the Black Canary through the mud as well.

Flashback to Laurel and Oliver going through old photos, a week after Tommy’s funeral. They reminisce and share a kiss. A week after the funeral. A week. One week. Seven days. One hundred and sixty eight hours. Really. Really?

Oliver intercepts Capt Lance trying to hunt down the League of Assassins hideout, and tries to get him to stop. Capt Lance tells him he’s lost a daughter, and there’s no way he can know what that feels like. Oliver tells him he’s lost his mother and his father, and HE has also lost Laurel. Oliver tells him that if there was any way to bring hr back he would find it and do it, but there isn’t. Capt Lance totally breaks down, she was his rock and he just can’t do this.

Felicity apologises to Diggle for not being there for them all, but Diggle has accepted the fact that it is all his fault. He can’t believe he was so blind. She tells him that it is not his fault, and Laurel would want him to know that. They get an alert that a camera has picked up Evelyn outside the hotel where Ruve is staying. Diggle wants to let her go, but Felicity tells him that she’ll be ruining the rep of Black Canary forever.

The team stakes out the hotel, trying to find Evelyn before Ruve’s security team does. One tracks her down, and she lets out the Canary Cry. It travels through all the security teams headsets, and the head of security tries to get Ruve to leave. She tells him to let the Black Canary come, let her try.

Evelyn also has a gun and shoots her way through security to the ballroom. Oliver catches up with her and tries to stop her, but she tells him it’s the only way she has left. She goes in and sets of the sonic device yet again, and everyone hits the floor. Oliver follows her in and she turns and shoots him, before turning the gun on Ruve. Oliver gets up and tells her that this is not the way to get justice done. This is not what the Black Canary stood for, and if Evelyn saw her at Reddington that night, she would know that she was a hero. He tells her to ask herself, what would the Black Canary do? She relents and runs, and Ruve tries to have Oliver arrested but he arrows his way up to the ceiling and out of there.

Back at the bunker, Thea is furious that Evelyn has changed they way the media and the public think of the Black Canary. From now on she’ll be thought of as a gun toting would be murderer. Oliver promises that he’s not gonna let that happen.

Capt Lance and his ex-wife arrive at the graveside Laurel’s funeral. The cemetery is full of mourners, and the funeral is almost an exact replica of Tommy’s. This time when asked to say a few words Oliver is there. He tells their story, they’ve been friends almost their entire lives. They loved each other, and he was lucky enough to hear that from her before she died. He tells of her becoming a lawyer, but how that wasn’t enough. He tells the crowd that she wasn’t just at the prison as the ADA, she was there as the Black Canary. He tells them she wasn’t a criminal, she was a hero.

In one last flashback, Laurel gets a letter from Oliver. He’s left Starling City, he has to spend some time alone, and he’ll be gone for a long time. He hopes she understands, and to never doubt his love for her.

At the cemetery, Oliver is standing over her grave when Barry Allen arrives to apologise for missing the funeral. He was busy with Zoom. He tells Barry that he knows that this isn’t his fault, but he has to stop it. He’s going to kill Damien Darhk. He tells Barry he wants to be alone, and breaks down crying after he leaves. Oliver gets in his limousine, where Felicity is waiting. He asks if she’s okay, and she tells him that he knows what he has to do. She tells him if Darhk wins then Laurel dies for nothing, and he has to find a way to fight the darkness.

And we’re out. One thing more to note for this episode was Evelyn Sharp, back to her normal self was watching Laurel’s funeral from a distance. Is she going to become Starling aka Evelyn Crawford, a member of the Birds of Prey as per the comics? Inneresting.

Looks like Oliver and Diggle are finally getting down to business next week! See you then!