Arrow shoots scenes for episode 419 "Canary Cry" in Central Park in Burnaby in February

THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 419 "CANARY CRY". DO NOT continue reading or viewing the photos if you do not want to see or read any possible spoilers to the episode and have not seen it yet.
(WARNING - if you haven't seen episode 418... same goes for that)
.
.
.
last warning
.
.

Arrow was filming scenes for episode 419 "Canary Cry" a few months ago in Central Park in Burnaby. It was 1 of the worst kept secrets in TV. After all the writers of Arrow telegraphed it from episode 1 of this season that someone on the show was going to die around that time. Of course the death happened on episode 18, but the funeral scene for the fallen Laurel Lance aka Black Canary will be in 19.

I give credit where credit is due. When I go to a set, especially Arrow where they have been reasonably accommodating to the public watching, I expect SOME challenges at times in photographing a set. I understand they dont too often TRY to be disrespecting of fans watching, but they still want to keep their work somewhat protected. So I treat it like a chess match. Its a matter of finding the right moves to give yourself the best chance to get the best angle while not upsetting them enough to block you. Its 1 of the reasons I get as many great shots as I do, I dont step on too many toes. But with such a major spoiler scene about to be shot, the crew were on major high alert this time and the word was out.... try to prevent ANYONE from getting pics of the set. To the credit of their containment team, with the exception of the few I got of the casket and grave stones and a couple of Paul Blackthorne, the actor playing a minister and a few of the background extras they did their jobs exceptionally well. In chess, they had me at checkmate pretty early, and eventually I had to surrender to their well formulated plan. I COULD have more aggressively pursued better angles and surely got some good shots, after all it was a public park, but as I said, I prefer not to step on anyones toes... so I kept looking for a good angle that was out of the way, but never quite found one for too long.

Now, onto what was filmed. Although I never saw more than the back side of 1 scene being shot where people were entering the grave yard, I still know more or less what was being shot. As has been stated many places, including by me, two funerals were shot. One present day (who we all know NOW is Laurels) and 1 flashback. DESPITE multiple bloggers/vloggers stating it was Saras flashback funeral, IT IS NOT. Perhaps they felt that because of the tombstone pic I posted that day from the set. But it wasnt for her. The flashback was Tommys funeral. Many current & guest star cast were on set that day, but the only 2 I physically saw on set at any time were Paul Blackthorne & Alex Kingston during the present day scene. Like I said, I didnt get to see much of the filming due to spending so much time scouting for a spot that was better. Stephen Amell, Emily Bett Rickards, Katie Cassidy and others were seen on set throughout the day for the scenes by some fans who were patient enough to wait for them.

As for the "Clayton" grave stone. Many have speculated it said William Clayton and that the year on it was 2016. To them I will tell you, that IS correct..... but why was I so sure the funeral wasnt for Olivers son?? Well, thats simple. While the grave DOES have his first name, last name and the current year... it says 2001-2016 on it. Meaning whoever died in that plot is FIFTEEN, several years older than Olivers son. This is why when I commented on twitter saying I thought I saw a spoiler, but was mistaken.... thats why. The dates in the end didnt add up. Was it a clever ploy by the arts department to try & trick anyone that saw it into thinking thats who it was for? Or just an outright coincidence? I mean Clayton isnt a terribly rare name, but not SO rare that the name William Clayton on a tombstone in a show where there is a character named that wouldnt reasonably make some suspicious.

To those who kept pointing out there is no grave stone for Laurel in the scene..... well, I am assuming none of you have ever been to a funeral in a cemetery. Tombstones go in well after the person has been buried. Sometimes weeks, sometimes months afterwards. The lack of such a marker for her plot is how it should be. If they had 1 there, it would have been a piece of absurd TV writing that would be borderline inexcusable. As much as I chirp about the Arrow writers being terrible the past 2 seasons, this is 1 thing they got right. Also, another reason it should have been obvious to people it wasnt for William.

Anywho... after a couple hours of failing to find a great spot. I gave up, and accepted on this day I just wasnt going to see much.

Later that night I went to a 2nd Arrow set that had the scene you see in the trailer of the "new Black Canary". But, it was pissing rain, and again, due to the set up, no seemingly good angle (but in this case it was the rain that annoyed me enough to leave) so I left before seeing Madison McLaughlin there on set. Will she permanently become the Black Canary & if so how? Or is she a 1 off episode interpretation of the character? Either a copy cat or hallucination or flashback to Laurels mom as a youth? We will have to wait & see. I can confirm the BLACK CANARY will be in the season finale.... in what capacity? Who knows? Who is playing her in it? You'll just have to wait & see.

Honestly, the highlight of my day came when I met up with a chipmunk/squirrel (I've lived here 40+ years and still dont know which is which.) who was just too adorable to ignore.

Arrow episode 419 "Canary Cry" will air on The CW this Wednesday in the U.S. and on CTV in Canada.