Legends of Tomorrow S2 Ep. 16 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"Doomworld"

This week's episode of Legends of Tomorrow was by far the boldest and most massive in scope within the entire CW DC Universe thus far. The fact that we're literally witnessing the villains' success story and fantasy world come true right before our eyes is a praiseworthy concept in of itself. This is one of those episodes that is absolutely filled to the brim with little morsels of interesting and noteworthy tidbits due to the nature of the story and characters, so I'll try my best to cover as much as I possibly can.

The villains ultimately won. They literally took over the world.

First, let's start off with the fact that the Legion of Doom's vision of reality presents to us an idea of what the world would be like without some of our beloved heroes. Earlier in the season, we were given a fun villain spotlight episode showing the Legion's perspective on the story and mission adding necessary layers to their larger than life personas. However, in this week's reality bending entry, we actually get to see what each of their distinct vision of success would look like giving audiences an interesting and surprisingly entertaining look into the motivations of our season baddies. Leave it to DC's Legends of Tomorrow to step out of the formulaic superhero TV box in order to give us something truly imaginitive and fun altogether.

What's interesting about this new reality is the fact that, although each Legion member is shown enjoying the benefits of their Spear of Destiny powered heaven, Eobard is the one truly running things in the end. We've already seen teases in earlier episodes of the Legion undergoing a power struggle with Thawne constantly calling the shots, so it's interesting to see that dynamic continue on despite the new empowered lifestyle given to each member. This is of course due to Thawne keeping the spear for himself with plans on destroying it thereby sealing the deal on the new reality. This is where my admiration for this season of Legends comes in as Thawne's rise to power fully redeemed the issue that I had with Vandal Savage's development and end game.

I cannot be the only one who was expecting to see Supergirl's cape here despite it making no sense whatsoever

In this new reality, we get to see what our villains' perfect world would look like such as the death of our iconic heroes of the connected CW DC Universe (shown brilliantly as a glass showcase collection of masks in Damien's office). It's interesting to see Darhk being the one to hold the praise and glory of wiping out all of the heroes one by one without of the other Legion members alluding to their major victories over their arch nemesis.

I also found it intriguing that Damien would utilize Sara and Amaya as his personal hunters to track, capture, and kill heroes for him as some twisted punishment for the two. Strangely enough, I'd love to see an episode specifically focusing on his particular section of this world as the powerful mayor of Star City (which is ironic given Oliver's current situation on Arrow).

As far as Merlin goes, it's cool to point out that, out of everyone one the team, Malcolm is the only one with some sense of logic towards the risk of keeping the Legends alive in any capacity. It's also interesting that we don't necessarily get to see his rewards from the transformation. We're only given quick statements regarding his family being alive and happy followed by an offhand comment linking to his past history with Nysaa Al Ghul. This is one of those episodes of Legends where being a fan of the entire interconnecting universe not only benefits context-wise, but also rewards tremendously in the end. As a fan of Arrow, I was reminded of Malcolm's family history being the seed to his villainous doings which is why this reality is very consistent with his character.

With Thawne, I'd argue that, although we unfortunately don't get to see any implications of the Flash's death being of any benefit to his life other than his new position at Star Labs, we do get to see him as a highly successful scientist. Aside from Damien's collection of executed heroes, this was arguably the most interesting change in reality for me. What makes this such a fascinating choice is the fact that Thawne's true wishes at the end of the day may not have been as close minded as simply killing off Barry Allen. Thawne actually becomes the world's greatest hero in this world through science as oppose to superpowers. This revelation shines a new light on the character now which will hopefully surface eventually during his assumed return to The Flash series.

In regards to Mick and Snart, I absolutely loved the idea of having them continue on with their traditional streak of robberies only with the new twist of police officers standing down due to Snart ownership of half of the city. This decision would make sense for any criminal thief, yet it did feel a bit out of character for Snart who actually enjoyed the challenge of evading the law. Fortunately, this is brought up by Mick who starts showing signs of nonfulfillment with this new set of perks. I loved the idea of Mick being the one to start reconsidering this new world despite how "perfect" things may have seemed on the surface.

Mick sees the cracks in his relationship with Snart

It's amazing just how far we've come with this character since Season 1 considering how he initially started out on the team. It is through Mick that we're given some of the best comedy relief in the episode (which has been a welcomed trend on the show lately)alongside some of the most significant character progression of the season. Not only does Mick eventually betray the Legion after Thawne orders Nate's death, but he also ends up nearly saving the day in the end. It was actually pretty entertaining watching him help gather the team back together with their memories intact leading to almost everyone punching him in the face due to his actions. Suffice it to say, Mick arguably steals the spotlight yet again.

Keep note that Stein is the only one still mentally trapped in the new reality

On the Legends side of things, it was crazy watching everyone live out their Legion driven illusion without really taking notice except for Nate. The new boss-employee dynamic between Jefferson and Stein was strangely too ironic which leads me to wonder if Mick might've chosen that role for them somehow. We also see Ray being a janitor of Star Labs who secretly experiments on a memory device through some sense of impulse. One would call this careless on the Legion's part for not completely rendering the Legends useless. We do learn the reason behind the Legends being alive in this reality pointing to Eobard's personal desire to punish them individually. However, what takes place here isn't so much torture, but more along the lines of Thawne's personal feeling of victory.

"Gideon, I just discovered the missing ingredient to my recipe!" - Rip Hunter

Here enters another hilarious segment of the episode being Rip Hunter's new direction onboard the Wave Rider (which is brilliantly staged as a mini model at Star labs) as a drunken and broken down cake decorator of sorts. Interestingly enough, this episode does have its light hearted moments that are worthy of a laugh or two despite the very bleak scenario taking place. My one nitpick here was that I wasn't entirely sure why Rip was able to have such a great deal of awareness while also having enough access to Gideon onboard the ship (despite its miniature size). This is another one of those situations where I have to ask myself why the Legion would underestimate his capabilities considering his knowledge. Sloppy villain sensibilities?

This episode is officially bad guy monologue approved

Minor nitpicks aside, I had an absolute blast with this episode down to the very end where we got a tease of both the Legion and the Legends targeting Thawne as their common enemy due to his success in destroying the spear. Just the idea alone of having two opposing teams joining forces to take down one god-like enemy is compelling enough to get excited for (if they so choose to follow down that path). Not only was this a captivating villain spotlight episode, but also a surprisingly strong continuation of the Heatwave story arc. I now look forward to seeing where Legends of Tomorrow progresses from here on out as it truly feels as though anything can be made possible moving forward in this series. 

Bonus Content

1. Damien Darhk's Fantasy World

In Damien's perfect world, he has acquired his magic back, taken out the vigilantes of Star City and Central City, and is the mayor of Star City with his own personal vigilante hunting squad.

Who Has Damien Killed?

Vigilantes executed: The Green Arrow, The Flash, Spartan, Laura Lance/The Black Canary, Ragman, Wild Dog, Felicity Smoak, and Vigilante (which is interesting considering his current secrecy on Arrow). Hmmm, does Diana Drake's Canary exist in this reality? 

2. Malcolm Merlin's Fantasy World

In Malcolm's perfect world, both Tommy and his wife is alive, Thea adores him as oppose to hating him, and Nyssa Al Ghul is trapped somewhere in Ohio. The offhand Nyssa comment possibly alludes to him being Ra's Al Ghul in this new world. Also, he got his hand back! It's interesting to note that Merlin still had new changes to make in mind. Perhaps Arrow fans might be able to fill in the blanks a little bit there.

3. Eobard Thawne's Fantasy World

In Eobard's perfect world, The Black Flash is captured (which one must ask how this fits in with the Speed Force), the world looks up to him as being the most successful scientist with several world changing accomplishments, has a personal relationship with the President, Barry Allen is dead with possibly his team, and Star Labs is under his ownership now.

4. Amaya's Death

Amaya's death was pretty surprising (especially by Snart's hands), but I do have to admit that the impact wasn't as strong as I would've thought. Perhaps this has to do with the idea of time travel retconning still dangling in our faces every week.

5. The Iconic Hall of Doom

Words cannot describe how I excited I was as a fan of the classic Super Friends cartoon to see the iconic Hall of Doom structure in all of its glory. This may just be the coolest thing that any of the CW DC series have ever done visually speaking.

6. Callbacks Involving Ray

Not only does Ray play a video game starring his very own Atom suit as the player's character, but we also get a callback to the rat that he gave Mick as a pet during an earlier episode.

7. Felicity Is A Vigilante

In an awesome twist, we see Felicity being presented as a badass vigilante (who looks surprisingly cooler than some of Arrow's costumed attempts). Her shocking and merciless death by Darhk's hunters was a great way of showing just how bleak this reality truly is for our heroes. 

8. Prison Break Reference?

Snart briefly pitches the idea of intentionally getting thrown into Iron Heights prison only to break out like old times. This might just be a reference to the series Prison Break starring both actors as brothers who ironically attempts to break out of jail.

9. Sandwich Jokes

Out of the several legitimately funny jokes in this episode such as everyone punching Mick, the bit surrounding Nate's mother making the best sandwiches has got to be my favorite. It's absolutely random, yet hilarious and charming all the same.

10. Damien Uses Laurel's Death As A Tool

One of the coolest moments of the episode for me is the moment where Darke basically uses Laurel's death as a way to exploit Sara's emotions to reveal herself. This shows not only Damien's tactical mind towards his enemies, but also Sara's remaining fractured state regarding her sister's death.

Rating: 9/10