McKenna Hall

McKenna Hall is a fictional police officer featured on the CW Network superhero action series Arrow. Played by actress Janina Gavankar, she was introduced in the season one episode, "Vertigo".

Biography
McKenna Hall was a police officer for the Vice Squad of the Starling City Police Department. In addition to being an old friend of trust-fund baby Oliver Queen, she was also a colleague of homicide detective Quentin Lance.

McKenna reconnected with Ollie after his younger sister Thea was arrested on a DUI charge after she had crashed her brand new car while high on a new designer street drug called Vertigo. Ollie tried to get information about the case from McKenna, hoping to find a lead towards Vertigo's supplier - a man known only as the Count.

Once the Vice Squad caught a tip on where the Count was looking to make a deal, McKenna and Quentin Lance busted the scene. As it turned out, Ollie was going under cover pretending to make a deal with the Count when the bust took place. The criminals scattered and McKenna fired several shots at the fleeing drug dealers from the window of her squad car, but they got away. However, she was able to positively ID Oliver at the scene of the crime - a fact that earned absolutely no good will from Detective Lance, who already despised him. McKenna and Lance went to the Queen estate to confer with Oliver's mother, Moira Queen.

A short time later, McKenna was promoted to the Major Crimes unit, with a focus on concentrating activity within The Glades. She was assigned to investigate a string of high-end robberies being committed by a British jewel thief known as Dodger.

McKenna rode shotgun on a task to bring down an assassin named Guillermo Ballera, but her team was too late as the vigilante had gotten to him first, planting an arrow deep into his chest.

McKenna's next assignment was to safeguard Malcolm Merlyn during a humanitarian awards ceremony. Detective Lance had received a tip that someone was going to make an attempt on Merlyn's life. This proved to be true as several members of the Chinese Triad began sealing off the room and working their way towards Merlyn. McKenna pursued the leader of the group, China White, into a corridor where she was engaged in a fight with the vigilante. McKenna got the drop on the hooded adventurer, but the vigilante fired an arrow into a fire extinguisher and used the escaping gas to mask his escape.

McKenna Hall and Detective Lance began training their resources on another murderous vigilante - Helena Bertinelli, a self-styled "Huntress" (as Lance called her), who was seeking to assassinate her mob boss father who was in protective custody. They succeeded in apprehending Bertinelli, whom they knew had an association with the hooded vigilante. McKenna asked her to identify the vigilante and Helena told her the truth - Oliver Queen. However, neither Hall nor Lance believed her.

Helena Bertinelli escaped from police custody, but Hall knew exactly where she was going. They raced to intercept her before she could reach her father at the safe house. Helena murdered several US marshalls and had another altercation with Queen. McKenna got the drop on both of them, but Helena fired a shot that pierced her vest, causing her extensive injury.

McKenna was rushed to the hospital where surgeons succeeded in saving her life. Although she was in stable condition, she knew that her career as a cop might be on permanent hiatus. She decided to transfer to a hospital in Coast City that specialized in recuperative therapy.

Personal life
McKenna Hall had a natural attraction to Oliver Queen and he liked her as well. Oliver clumsily asked McKenna out on a date, which she accepted, but the evening proved unsatisfying for her, especially after Oliver snapped at her when she began asking questions about his experiences on the island.

McKenna decided to give Oliver another shot, but these moments also ended unsatisfactorily for both of them. She attended a birthday party for Tommy Merlyn with Oliver, but the situation was made awkward by the unexpected arrival of Tommy's father. Later, McKenna and Oliver tried to share meal together, but their respective vocations pulled them away from the dinner.

Their next attempt at a date actually went off fairly successfully, albeit briefly. Oliver invited McKenna to come out with him to his new dance club, and McKenna enjoyed getting out on the floor.

Notes & Trivia



 * McKenna Hall is a character that is unique to the continuity of the Arrow television series and has no DC Comics counterpart.


 * Actress Janina Gavankar is no stranger to playing a cop. She also played Deputy Leigh Turner in several episodes of the short-lived ABC supernatural drama series The Gates. Coincidentally, Arrow actor Paul Blackthorne also appeared on the series as an opportunistic vampire named Christian Harper. Additionally, Janina is known for playing shape-shifter Luna Garza on several episodes of HBO's True Blood.