"No Country For Old Dads"
This week's Legends of Tomorrow has got to be one of the greatest episodes of the series yet. To put it simply, everything from the way characters are being highlighted, the explanation and exploration of time altering and how our big bad is interwoven, and the utilization/welcoming of a familiar face was all very well crafted. It's hard to say for Legends sometimes as you never really know what kind of episode you'll get. Will you get a serious and dramatic episode where our characters are faced with a difficult obstacle to overcome or will you get an episode where we hang out with [insert historical figure] and pun our way to the tone of a goofy sci-fi comedy. Sometimes the notes hit and sometimes they don't, so I'm happy to say that this week' entry managed to combine the two tones delivering something highly satisfying.
Continuing on from where we left off last week, we start things off seeing Ray, now a prisoner of the Darhks, being threatened with torture. Since the show's beginnings, Ray's Atom suit has always been shown as a supposed risk to history if the wrong eyes or hands got a hold of it at the wrong place and time. However, sometimes the show fails to remind us of this crucial fact, so I thought it was great to have Damien threaten Ray with putting his suit into Genghis Khan's hands which Ray counters by saying that the Legends would eventually fix the anachronism. This however leads to him threatening to kill Ray's mother in the 1960's which immediately gets him to cooperate. It's this straight forward ruthless nature that I enjoy from Darhk in addition to his very over the top nature. Something that greatly benefits this episode.
Later, after revisiting Upswipes, which Legends fans will remember was the place where Ray got a job at during the beginning of the season. Here we get to see the more cartoony and fun side of Damien that I mentioned earlier as he nonchalantly talks about dating again with his daughter while magically lifting Ray's former boss up to the ceiling. With Ray being forced into fixing the fire totem, he states that cold fusion is necessary to fix the totem which haven't been invented yet. This sparks what I consider to be the moment where the episode transitioned into "Best of the Season" territory as Damien claims to have assassinated the man that cracked Cold Fusion back in the 60's as a hit job. We're then greeted with a great flashback of 60's Damien with a crazy hairdo invoking Charlize Theron from Atomic Blonde prepping to kill said scientist.
It's cool that we get to see a bit of history with the character's implied rich background considering his immortality, connection to the League of Assassins, grand life missions, and dabbling in the supernatural. This is one of many things that Legends has done incredibly well where Arrow fell short of with their presentation of Damien Darhk. It's almost as if this series is essentially fleshing out the villain the way it was intended to be and Arrow was merely just an introduction. It's an idea that I'll get to later in the review, but Legends has a history of eventually finding ways to fully utilize a character's potential.
Another thing that I enjoyed here (aside from seeing Darhk during different eras of his life), is the entertaining family drama that is shown between him and his daughter. Nora stating that she should be the one to stop his 1962 assassination mission with the help of Ray triggers a fatherly figure persona in Damien which I never thought I'd want to see. It's strangely charming seeing Damien sort of give his "dad talk" to Nora almost personifying her mission idea with Ray as a date. Again, Legends, in my opinion, seems to be the go-to series that takes heroes and villains from other Arrowverse properties and utilizes them in ways that fully expands their reach while offering character scenes that we never would have gotten beforehand. And yes, a funny "dad talk" is in that wheelhouse as we're given personality traits that Arrow may have understandably sidelined to keep the show's tone intact.
Also, the idea of a 1960's assassin Damien being our villain of the week is by far one of my favorites of the season. The fact that Ray and Nora is forced to be pitted against her own father in his badass prime (which Damien himself warns her about) made for a fun, unexpected, and unpredictable dynamic. On the subject of things that are unexpected but works, it's interesting that we see Ray giving Nora a pep talk about her being more than what she envisions of herself and that she can prove her capabilities to her father without the need of magic. It's a little strange to see our heroes amping up the villains' confidence, but it works almost perfectly here considering the characters in question.
Keep in mind that Ray...well...he's Ray. He's a genuinely kind and caring individual who still sees the young and innocent girl from the ward even through Nora's extreme adult version. So what might, on the surface to some, come across as a random scene showing how "goody two shoes" Ray can be even for the villains, it actually all adds up in the end. It also helps that the characters together have perfect comedic and dramatic contrast with each other which can make for an excellent dynamic duo. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually wouldn't mind seeing another episode that pits this trio (Damien included) on another adventure together. Who would've thought that these three would have such a fantastically entertaining dynamic? Legends definitely knows how and when to pair up certain leads together.
When the Berlin mission starts to go array, and our Damien decides to jump in and help, we're given a 2nd dose of funny yet strangely emotional and interesting father-daughter moments with the Darhks. I love the talks that Damien has with Ray about struggling to be a father while the undertone of world domination and demonic possession gets thrown in as a "normal family crisis". This all leads up to one of my favorite scenes of the series being present day (or however you'd describe it) Damien taking on his 60's counterpart. It's an absolutely badass fight scene and a great way to present our central villain in a somewhat heroic light as he attempts to save his daughter. It's a nice visual metaphor for Damien potentially breaking away from his old self while also interweaving some fun time effecting results.
Aside from the incredible visuals of Darhk using his magic to both stop his counterpart's bullets while also stopping his daughter from falling to her death, we learn that this is actually the moment where he discovers magic to begin with. The scene where 60's Damien says "Hmm, magic…I should look into that" made me smile as this was one of the rare situations where time altering is used in an equally brilliant and fun way as opposed to the traditional fan service and goofy manner. Not that there's anything wrong with seeing our team hilariously interact with historical icons, but sometimes it hardly truly feels as if these missions have any significant impact in the grand scheme of things. However, just a simple line implying that Damien using his magic in front of his past self is what encourages his future interest is absolutely genius.
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| Notice the purple hue to Nora's use of Amaya's totem and the heart shape symbol at the center. Something I never really noticed through Amaya's use of the relic. |
Speaking of interesting ways in which this episode shows cause and effect with time and space, I thought it was a fantastic choice to show Nora's awakening of Amaya's totem causing a magical ripple in the world between worlds (more on that later). I find it interesting that it's an actual selfless act that causes her to unleash the powers of the totem which is something that I normally wouldn't get in these types of stories. Usually when a villain is thrown into a situation where they must perform an act of "good" of sorts in order to be granted power, there's always some loop hole for them to exploit and avoid such a task. However, with Nora, we're actually given a genuinely emotional scene where she attempts to selflessly sacrifice herself to save her father. Again, Legends throws us another welcoming wrench in the conventional superhero/villain machine.
This is then followed up with another similiar situation as far as interesting time altering cause and effect scenarios go. Ray decides to blast a building in Berlin in order to signal an anachronism for the Legends to find which causes yet another tear in time. All of this amping up what was just being warned to us about Mallus' needs for time to be shattered turning the episode into a ticking time bomb thriller. Suffice it to say, this is definitely one of the most engaging entries of the series yet.
And, as icing on an already delicious cake, we finally get to see Kid Flash in action once Sarah gives him the "Let's see how fast you really are" green light resulting in him saving Ray from Nora. It's the iconic "Hulk?...smash" moment from The Avengers where we get to see one of the most powerful superheroes onscreen finally let loose. The visual FX are great showing Kid Flash leaping over buildings to get to Ray, but more importantly, we're given a spotlight hero moment for Wally which is something that was scarce on The Flash. What was that I said about Legends taking in characters from other shows and utilizing them better? He even steals the fire totem from Damien without him noticing. Honestly, I couldn't be happier seeing Wally finally given his much deserved screen time.
We then see what is probably the most random villain cameo via Gorilla Grodd killing the director of the Time Bureau. Is it essentially there to swiftly put Agent Sharpe in a higher and much more significant position on the show? Sure, but it's also a nice reminder that Grodd is still very much a part of the Legends corner of the Arrowverse while also delivering something fun for fans like myself to geek out over. Also, we can't just sideline that implication that Sharpe is much more interesting than we think as Rip orders Gideon to delete an Ava related file from the Wave Rider. Hmmm.
So, with Wally now being an awesome new addition to the team, Rip getting his job back, Ava having an unexpectedly larger position, a bizarrely charming father-daughter focus with our villains, and excellent editing (which I don't usually praise with the series), I can safely label this as my favorite episode of the season. Now that Mallus is slowly but surely crossing over to our reality through Nora (as implied by the ending's creepy possession scene), it'll be interesting to see just how our band of misfits will deal with a god-like enemy that is putting the soul of a once innocent girl at risk. Are we ever going to actually see Mallus or will the shattered face of Nora be our visual representation? There are so many things to look forward to as this episode perfectly acts as the core puzzle piece to our story and villain. My enthusiasm for this season has now exponentially skyrocketed from before.
Bonus Thoughts
Easter Eggs
1. Amaya & Zari's Discovery
During the first half of the episode, I kept thinking to myself how much I was having a blast with the Ray/Darhk story and that the other Legends' component of the episode could easily be thrown away. Boy was I wrong. During Amaya and Zari's quest through the world between worlds, we learn the most crucial information about Mallus yet…his goals and imprisonment. One of Amaya's ancestors shows up in the overly blueish hued dimension to warn them that Mallus has been caged by time and was imprisoned by the first totem holders. It's a fascinating idea and one of the most intriguing pieces of the Arrowverse's lore so far.
Amaya also puts the pieces together that Damien's time anachronism frenzy was their way of breaking time creating the perfect window of escape for Mallus as a result. Again, I absolutely love this concept as I feel we've never really had such a cosmic and mind bending villain yet in this constantly expanding universe. It's another reason why I really appreciate having this series around.
2. Is Cold Fusion A Reality Now?
Something that could easily be sidelined but definitely shouldn't be is the fact that Ray has the solution to cold fusion. Yes, this formula was pitched as essentially being the missing piece to the fire totem repair issue, but the cold fusion is an absolute game changer in the world of science. It begs the question if whether or not Ray and/or the Legends will reveal this to the world potentially breaking time even more drastically than before.
3. Cupid Easter Egg
This one's an interesting nod to Arrow fans, but during Damien's search on the Upswipes app, the only profile picture to show up is that of Carrie Cutter. Fans of Arrow will recognize her immediately as Cupid who was last seen being arrested by the ACU during Season 5. It is implied during a fun little easter egg on The Flash that she may be a member of the new formed Task Force-X (also known as the Suicide Squad). Now, with that in mind, when did she have time to create an online dating profile I wonder. Is she currently doing missions for ARGUS? Only time will tell. Still, I find it funny that Damien would be interesting in a completely insane, love and attention obsessed previous villain of Oliver's.
4.Crisis On Earth-X Wedding Reference
After boarding the Wave Rider with Rip, Sara and Wally recounts their last encounter being the wedding fiasco during the Earth-X crossover. It's nice for the Arrowverse to finally make this reference as it can be frustrating watching these shows never reference significant events in their universe's lore. Keep in mind that aliens invaded, Nazis from another dimension invaded with doppelgängers of our heroes among other things. It'd be nice to see characters reference these things every now and then to remind audiences that these events actually do leave an impact on the world. To that I say "Kudos to the writers for this brief but necessary throwaway line". Also, Rip's reaction to Wally mentioning Nazis attacking was absolutely hilarious.
5.Damien's Dating Profile
As the Darhks take residence at the Upswipes office, Damien decides to check in on his online dating profile which he states that his hobbies include destroying the world and remaking it in his own image. Also, he likes trying new restaurants. Another fun character tidbit revealed here is his age which he nitpicks that app does not precede 199 years old. After the rooftop fight, Damien reveals his age to be 257. Or...I guess this version of Damien.
6. Eobard Thawne Reference
Immediately after Wally saves Ray, Damien walks out stating that he hates speedsters. This can either be a reference to him having to work with Thawne during Season 2 or perhaps even further back to when Barry snatches up Oliver from his clutches during the "Legends of Today" crossover.
7.Atomic Blonde Homage?
The action scenes and visual aesthetics of their Berlin mission strongly reminded me of Atomic Blonde down to Damien's choice of hairstyling, the action choreography surrounding his gunplay, and the cold bleak color pallet of the scenery.
8. Damien Speaking About His Parental Feelings...to a Dead Guy
There's really not much to say here except for the fact that Damien Darhk may just be the best thing that happened to the Legends of Tomorrow's villain roster. It also goes without saying that Neal McDonough is a national TV treasure at this point in his history of playing this character. I demand that we get more Damien Darhk talking about his personal feelings regarding parenting or relationships in some twisted environment or situation.
9. Sara Keeps A Picture of Darhk To Slash Around
Not only was the maniacally smirking picture of Damien that Sara had slicing around hilarious, but it's also a nice visual reminder of the ongoing grudge that she has with him for murdering her sister during Season 4 of Arrow. Again, I'm a huge fan of the idea of superhero properties acknowledging significant past events or conflicts, so kudos to the writers for delivering on a a pretty fun way to do so.
Episode Rating: 9/10
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