The death of Laurel Lance in Arrow Season 4 was a tragic event that sent shockwaves through the series, which can still be felt today. The loss of such a fan-favorite character, along with all her connected legacy from the Green Arrow comics, was an exceptionally dark moment for the CW superhero drama already known for its grim tone. But the introduction of Laurel’s Earth-2 doppelganger, known as Black Siren, gave Arrow a chance to create an entirely new version of the character, with a completely different story.

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This Laurel had a harder edge, a more villainous attitude, and less of the complicated emotional baggage the Earth-1 version often struggled with. In many ways, Black Siren felt like a fresh start for a character the show often had no idea what to do with in the past. This iteration even came complete with an obvious initial narrative arc – redemption for her previous sins.Black Siren first appeared in the Arrowverse as an unrepentant villain, teaming up with evil speedster Zoom to battle Barry Allen on The Flash. Much of her subsequent time on Arrow has been equally dark. Over the course of two seasons, she partnered with at least three different Big Bads. She killed multiple people – including Dinah’s boyfriend – in very violent ways, and terrorized hundreds more, all while expressing little remorse. In fact, she gleefully rejoiced in most of her killing sprees.But over the course of Season 6, Black Siren basically joined Team Arrow – sort of. At least, she mostly stopped trying to kill them. She protected Oliver’s secret, befriended Quentin and ultimately chose the group over her evil partnership with Ricardo Diaz. That’s progress, right?Yet, despite her regular onscreen presence Arrow has failed to really use Black Siren to her full potential. The show waffled about whether she was a hero or a villain, while offering little insight into why she chose either side. Her motivations were murky and, other than a sentimental attachment to Quentin, she had few defining character traits. In fact, up until this point, Black Siren has primarily existed in relationship to others: To the men she works for, the father she never had, or the dead woman whose face she shares. We haven’t had much chance to get to know Black Siren independently, or to discover what kind of life she wants for herself. So in Season 7, Arrow needs to give Black Siren the narrative space to become her own person.Black Siren will never replace Arrow’s original Laurel Lance. But she shouldn’t have to. Her story is complicated and interesting enough to stand on its own, without making it about the woman who came before her. But in order to give the character a real future, Arrow must fully reckon with her past. Because other than looking exactly like Laurel, we barely know who Black Siren is, let alone what she wants or why. What happened to her on Earth-2? How did she handle losing her Oliver, or growing up without Quentin? Was she a thief or an assassin before she got her metahuman abilities, or after?Any possible redemption for Black Siren must first start with atonement: A full accounting – preferably with flashbacks – of how she became the woman she is today. Afterward, we may or may not feel any more inclined to forgive her for her actions since arriving in Star City. But we would at least have a better understanding of the choices she made, and what drove her to make them. Because in spite of her powerful abilities, Black Siren hasn’t had much agency in her Arrowverse run to date. She’s been constantly partnered off with a string of villainous and terrible men, and in these partnerships – whether romantic or otherwise – Black Siren is largely a secondary figure, a glorified henchwoman, whose job is to follow the orders of others.Arrow doesn’t do a great job of explaining Black Siren’s reasoning for partnering with these men. Does she enjoy inflicting pain on others? Is she angry at or jealous of the life her doppelganger had? Is she desperate for approval? Just trying to survive? Want does she want from all this? We don’t know, because the show never explores her inner life in any significant way. Arrow seems deeply uninterested in Black Siren’s perspective on anything that happens around her or what her goals might be beyond simply staying alive. Even her slow turn toward the light in Season 6 is largely driven by Quentin’s insistence that Black Siren must have good in her, rather than her own realization that she could – or should – choose to live a different way.Arrow’s Earth-1 Laurel is gone, and trying to force Black Siren into the same roles she once played is both a disservice to the original character and waste of the new one (and yet, Season 7 will apparently see her becoming Star City's DA, following the career trajectory established by the original Laurel). Sure, there are similarities between the two women. They’re doppelgangers, after all. But this Laurel is a completely separate character, and Arrow needs to depict her as such. The question of whether Black Siren will ever become truly good is still an open one, but she has made tentative steps toward change. The thing is, she’s doomed to failure if Team Arrow – and Arrow viewers – decide that “being good” means “being exactly like the original Laurel Lance”.If Black Siren ultimately decides to seek redemption, it has to be on her own terms. She deserves the chance to decide what being a hero will mean to her going forward. (Or if she even wants to be one at all.) Figuring out who she is now and what she wants to fight for is an integral piece of this Laurel’s journey, and one we as viewers deserve to see. Will she make all the same choices as our Laurel? Of course not. And she shouldn’t. She’s not obligated to live Earth-1 Laurel’s life simply because that version of the character is no longer around do so.Instead, let’s see what Black Siren wants for once. Because at the end of the day, what makes her story interesting are the ways in which she’s different from the Laurel we knew, not the ways the two women are the same. We know plenty about the original Laurel’s past. It’s time for the new Laurel to define her own future.