‘Arrow’ season 3 premiere shocker: Who died, and did ‘The Clam’ set stage for Laurel?

We anticipated that there could be a shocker tonight on the “Arrow” season 3 premiere, but we have to say, we did not quite prepare for things to go down quite like they did in this episode. (Warning: Major spoilers ahead!)

Given that the title for the second episode of the season was “Sara,” we more than expected her to at least make it that far, but it didn’t happen. Caity Lotz’s character seemingly died at the conclusion of “The Calm,” which brings to an end one era of the Black Canary. Are we really that surprised? Probably not, given at least what we have come to know about the series and the show’s mythology. With Sara alive, it was always going to be extremely different for the Black Canary title to be transferred over to Laurel. In the finale, there was the first sign that there was a changing of the guard with Sara leaving something behind for Laurel. Now, that change seems to be permanent.

This article is mostly a reaction to the big news of the night, as we’ll have a full review of everything that transpired pretty soon. For the time being, what a stunning way to kick off the season. If you want to figure out a way to get as many people talking as possible right out of the gate, this is it. With that being said, we’re sure that there are some that are going to be bummed about this.

In a way, we should have seen it coming even more than we did. Lotz was not a series regular, and probably would have been promoted if the plan was for her to stick around.

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Photo: The CW