Earth-2’s Laurel Lance has made a new home for herself in Star City, taking on her late doppelganger’s identity and inserting herself into the city structure as the District Attorney. However, is she still evil?

Arrow has drawn out the redemption of Black Siren, henceforth referred to as Laurel Lance, for quite some time. She’s shifted from villain, to antagonist, to frenemy, though the “hero” inside has yet to make an appearance (if it ever will).

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Thankfully, it has been announced that Arrow season 7 will both delve into Laurel’s backstory on Earth-2 and feature Laurel in a Birds of Prey-inspired episode.

In other words, us Laurel Lance fans are finally going to be fed some A+ quality content from Ms. Katie Cassidy.

In a recent interview, showrunner Beth Schwartz was asked about the latter half of Arrow season 7 and delivered the news about the Birds of Prey episode, though she was quite mum about what (and who, outside of Laurel) this could entail.

So, while there hasn’t been much information shared about what can be expected from this episode, I’ve put together a few things I’d like to see from Laurel Lance and her (inevitable, though maybe short-lived) crime-fighting team.

Laurel Lance finally treated as a skilled fighter

Perhaps the most frustrating part of how Arrow has continuously treated Laurel Lance is her fighting skill (or lack thereof).

We saw it with Earth-1 Laurel Lance, the Black Canary, who took self-defense classes her entire life and was able to fight a man and take his gun in season 1. Then. in season 3, she could barely throw a punch at a street thug, even after training with Wildcat for weeks.

With Earth-2 Laurel Lance, there’s a chance to make her a much stronger and experienced fighter.

We aren’t aware of exactly what she was doing on Earth-2, or how long she had been operating as a villain, so the writers have a chance to show what she’s truly capable of with this episode.

Growth in Laurel’s relationships with Felicity and Dinah

One of the stronger focal points of early season 7 was the dynamic between Laurel and Felicity as they worked together to stop Diaz and get Oliver out of prison and between Laurel and Dinah as they banded together to stop the Longbow Hunters.

Luckily, Laurel was able to use her position to get Oliver released, while her deal was to replace his presence with Diaz after his capture.

Arrow season 7 episode 8, which saw Oliver reacquainting himself with Star City, introduced a friendly alliance between Laurel and Team Arrow, particularly after Felicity pointed out that they should all be thanking Laurel for the work she did to get Oliver out.

Dinah and Laurel have a much tenser relationship still, though the ice is finally thawing. Laurel has apologized for killing Vince, which doesn’t put her in the free and clear, but it’s a move in the right direction.

As District Attorney and Police Captain, their paths are constantly crossing, which is something that should be much further explored down the line as Oliver beings to capture criminals and help the SCPD lock them up.

Showrunner Schwartz didn’t reveal who would be part of this extraordinary team, but since the team consists of Oracle, Dinah (Laurel Lance), and Huntress, these three women seem like the most likely suspects.

If it is so, I’d love to see this team-up mend the bond between Laurel, Dinah, and Felicity, and see the three women move into the future set on making Star City a better place, regardless of who helps them to do so.

All three of the actresses love working together, as Beth Schwartz said in her interview with TV Guide, so it’s about time the writers listen to their requests for more scenes together.

More insight on who she is

Over the course of Arrow season 6 and 7, we’ve learned little pieces of Laurel’s backstory on Earth-2 and we’ve seen how she relates to the characters we’re familiar with as they compare to her own versions.

In this special episode, I’d like to see who Earth-2 Laurel Lance truly is. Enough with the back and forth about whether she’s evil or not and finally give us an answer for what we can expect from her future.

If Laurel is teaming up with characters on our Earth for this episode, I’d like to see flashbacks to scenes between her and the Earth-2 counterparts of our characters, so we can understand what Laurel feels when she sees them.

We already know that Laurel lost her Oliver on the Queen’s Gambit and, when seeing our Oliver alive and well, she’s forced to relive that loss every day.

She has revealed that her Quentin died when she was much younger, though Earth-1 Quentin’s death still clearly haunts her and has unlocked something in her that was the key toward her redemption.

Laurel has also teased that her Felicity is nothing like the Felicity we’ve come to know, which could be interesting to see come to life as the conflict of this team-up.

Wishful thinking

This section is not necessarily dedicated to the episode, though here are my hopes (and dreams) for what could come from this episode and beyond.

I’d love to see this episode used as a backdoor pilot to introduce a Birds of Prey TV series, led by Laurel and potentially Dinah.

After this episode, Laurel needs to either embrace her past and move on or step out of the vigilante life and try to settle down under her new identity.

The writers need to stop holding her redemption and future over Laurel Lance fans, who have been desperately trying to support this character after being screwed over when watching Earth-1 Laurel die.

Felicity and Laurel made a great team in the earlier half of this season and that dynamic really needs to continue. If there was a character who could get Team Arrow to accept someone else, it’s Felicity.

And, given that Felicity is headed down a darker path in the future, it would be fun to see Laurel tap into her Black Siren side and be an anti-hero, working with Felicity.

With this episode comes a chance to finally give Laurel Lance what she deserves, which is more than we were ever given with the original.

I hope they use this episode to truly showcase Katie Cassidy’s abilities and give us answers on who Earth-2 Laurel Lance is.

Arrow continues Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.