Legends of Tomorrow S3 Ep. 17 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"Guest Starring John Noble"

Legends of Tomorrow has had its share of meta humor in the past, but this week's episode title alone takes thing to a whole other level. Geeky uses of casting appearances aside, we're given quite the assortment of entertaining and emotional twists and turns with our villains and heroes. With Mallus on the edge of release, let's dive into why this entry of Legends is one that definitely should not be missed for fans.

Opening the episode in one of the more unexpected time anachronism missions, we see Gorilla Grodd attacking a young Barack Obama as a means to release Mallus. Aside from the slightly cheesy "Make America Grodd again" line, it was great getting to see one of the Flash's bigger villains show up again as that series didn't quite leave us on a high note with the character. Now, that's not to say that having him essentially be a hound for Mallus' time altering needs is an improvement, but it does give us more opportunities to see him in action. It's a brief but fun scene having Grodd chase Obama around right before the Legends can capture him in a visually hilarious manner. 

Would it have made sense for him to use his telepathy to affect the team? Sure, but given the entertainment value offered here, and the fact that he is but a minor intro subplot to get to the bigger conflict, I'll let it slide…for now.

Following up on last week's episode where we saw Nora/Mallus actually attack Damien for scheming with Nate, I was wondering how the writers would continue on with their relationship. It would appear that said scene didn't really mean anything as the two are shown in the beginning working together as if nothing happened. Did I miss something? Anyway, putting that aside, I did love the fact that we finally got to see some tease of what Mallus actually looks like through the classic monster silhouette idea utilized in countless of horror/sci-fi films. Damien's fearful look followed by his heart broken expression towards his daughter's life is where I felt the series perfectly continued on with its tip toeing around Damien's potential betrayal. We've seen the caring father figure side to him recently, but it's here where we witness the complete turn around in priorities for him.

Where it gets interesting as far as character dynamics go is when Damien decides to reach out to the Legends for help in saving his daughter. First off, having Darhk on the time ship period already felt like a refreshing image to soak in, but what's really great about this scene is the emergency level contingencies being thrown at him. You have both Ava, Rip, and Mick aiming their guns at him waiting for Sara's order while Ray uses one of Constantine's spells to trap Darhk. As I mentioned recently in my episode review of Gotham, one of my favorite things to see in comic book universes is the world itself in some way adapting to once inexplainable threats. Instead of just threatening Darhk with guns and superpowers, the Legends fight fire with fire via magic. Would be nice to see this adaptive sensibility used more with the team.

During this scene, we have some understandably tension driven interactions between Darhk and Sara (considering their history) while also having Ray be the beacon of peace between them given his bond with Nora. By offering up the water totem as a gesture of good will, I found it refreshing to see Damien with an "unexpected ally" type of spotlight here. Showing something that Arrow never really highlighted enough, we're seeing a loving father step out of his mustache twirling villainous comfort zone in order to protect his family. As a major plus, none of this feels force whatsoever as the season almost perfectly laid out the bread crumbs for this turnaround to eventually take place. For that I say kudos to the writers for nicely setting up and paying off a character twist that could have easily gone horribly wrong.

After revisiting and speaking with the young Barack Obama about her complex no-kill situation with Damien (which was a little random but understandable), Sara realizes that she should perhaps use unorthodox means to defeat Mallus even if it means partnering up with her ultimate enemy. This is where we get the episode title's meta humor twist as the team comes up with an outrageously cartoony plan to essentially do a Mallus impression in order to trick Nora. Who will be doing said impression? Well, none other than the guy that actually does the voice of Mallus of course. That's right. John Noble himself (shown through his Lord of the Rings performance via Mick's movie marathoning) gets tricked by Ray to mimic Mallus as a tool against Nora. Wow...just...wow.

The amount of self aware/Lord of the Rings jokes given here is way too much for me to process at once, and as a Lord of the Rings fan myself, seeing him in costume gearing up for his role was enough to plant a big smile on this happy nerd's face. I loved the fact that Ray got him to read the lines needed to trick Nora as Mallus but claiming it to be a script rewrite essentially. After Ray manages to shrink into Nora's ear using his recordings of John's lines to manipulate her, I did find it to be a little over the top in its convenience. You'd think the real Mallus would show up then and there to flush him out or something. However, like I said with Grodd not using his telepathy, the entertainment value does slightly outweigh the logic, so I'll let it slide for now. I did get to see my favorite film franchise get spotlighted on the show so I can't complain too much.

Now, getting to my favorite scene of the entire episode, seeing Damien speak to Mallus on the Waverider was the big emotional pay off that I'd hope for with his betrayal. With Mallus being temporarily trapped in the same magical seal used previously, Darhk is able to confront both his daughter and the powerful demon directly trying to come to peace with his past mistakes. It's one of the best Damien Darhk scenes in the entire Arrowverse franchise as you can feel the humanity bleeding out from within the character as he speaks of his ultimate failures to Nora before Mallus came into play. What's also great here is the tragedy of Nora's story being stealthily underlined here as Mallus claims that her soul and body was given to him freely which traumatizes Damien. It's a well directed scene and one that perfectly sums up the Darhks' twisted story with our season's big bad.

Continuing on this streak of fantastic Damien Darhk scenes, we get a deeply satisfying discussion between him and Sara about redemption and past regrets. For Arrow fans, this was more than just a walk down memory lane as it actually added a new layer to the Season 4 villain's mentality and evolution. Hearing him state that he'd take it all back [Laurel's death] if he could now that he understands the pain of loss was an unexpected and immense breath of fresh air with the usually smirking evil mastermind. I loved the idea of Damien spilling his guts out about love being the one thing that can stop people like him and Sara from becoming dangerous to the world around them. It's an interesting scene as Sara is the one shown here to be a bit cold blooded in the conversation while Damien comes off as a peace seeking man in pain. Well done, writers.

"Always incapacitate your speedster first. That's Day 1 stuff." - Damien to Wally

After Sara decides to let Mallus out of his time cage while giving Damien the death totem to help them defeat him instead of just stopping Amaya's plan, Ava (who we learned to be the 12th of many clones handpicked by Rip) decides that she can't get onboard causing yet another ripple in their relationship. In giving the death totem to Damien making him one of our supposed totem bearing heroes, there's a great moment where he seemingly sees Nora's spirit which sways him to eventually turn on the team. It's a nice little twist as it brings Grodd back into the picture as thee entity that destroys the Zambesi village in history instead of the warlords. What I really admire about this turn however is the fact that Damien is again showing that he's not doing this for power, but as an attempt to rescue his daughter.

Visually speaking, this was a much better villain debut than Reign's from Supergirl, so there is that.

Things however don't go as planned as Nate manages to get rid of Grodd using the Earth totem which inevitably leads to Mallus being unleashed. Here's where things get a little tricky as far as expectations go for me. Many of you will know that I've been super amped up to seeing Mallus finally present his true form which can cause some dangerously high levels of anticipation. Seeing Mallus literally rip through Nora's body was pretty brutal (although it's shown from a far distance), and I did like the fact that he actually looked like a demon in concept. Where I get into nitpick territory is the CGI itself looking a little bit questionable and the design of Mallus not looking particularly compelling. Yes, he does fit the bill as a typical demon boss level baddie, but I supposed I was hoping for something a bit more artistically eye popping and perhaps cosmic in nature. Beggars can't be choosers right?

Overall, I still found the scene to be entertaining as it placed a nice giant bow on top of the various character twists and turns all inevitably leading up to the big villain debut. Amaya's village still gets damaged (only by a different entity now) and Damien still seemingly loses his daughter to Mallus in the end. It's a grim but important reminder to the fans and characters that no one is invincible despite their intentions as well as the fact that time still finds a way to follow through with necessary events. What this does is creates an intriguing predicament now that we have one core antagonist to focus on considering Damien's new shaky alliance with the team. How will they defeat Mallus? Will Ava return after her twisted discovery and discussion with Rip before the season ends? Will Ray become a high tech armored water bender? There is more than enough for us to look forward to with the upcoming season finale.

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. Esi Vs. Gorilla Grodd

Something that I've always wanted to see on the show ever since Grodd was brought on was to see Amaya using the totem to pit gorilla vs gorilla. Instead of Amaya, we have her daughter Esi in the spotlight fighting off the telepathic gorilla. It's a pretty decent scene CGI aside as it shows the daughter in action (something we've never really seen in live action yet). With Nate using the Earth totem to knock Grodd away saving Esi from his psychic hold, one does have to wonder where and how he'll come back into the picture. Will Mallus take control of him as his telepathic muscle henchman? We'll just have to wait and see. 

2. Grodd Is Going After Barry

When Rip alerts the Legends that Grodd is attacking Barack Obama, he uses Obama's nickname being Barry which the team misunderstands. Wally states that Barry Allen is always in these types of situations referencing The Flash's many encounters with the gorilla. On a separate but connected reference, Ray yells out to the young Barack "run, Barry, run!" which is of course the popularly used phrase in the title series whenever Barry has to run his way out of a predicament.

3. Ray's Shrink Ray

When apprehending Grodd, Ray uses his shrink ray to cut the intimidatingly sized villain down to size placing him into a jar. It's a nice reminder to the fans that the Atom does indeed have a new and effective tool to add onto his arsenal of abilities.

4. References To Past Episodes

After placing Grodd into a jar, Ray states that he still might have chew toys left off from the sabertooth tiger which references Season 3 Episode 2 where he shrunk down the prehistoric beast. Before firing off his flamethrower, Mick tells Grodd that he should've dealt with him in Vietnam. This is a reference to Season 3 Episode 7 where Grodd was time displaced there as a god-like figure in a village.

5. Flashpoint Reference

In what may be the 3rd reference of the season to this, Wally brings up Flashpoint to Amaya and Nate warning them that time altering does not go unpunished as shown with Barry attempting to save his mother. It's interesting how many times Wally brings up Barry on Legends yet no one on the Flash series has recently brought up Wally as much. Interesting.

6. Man of Steel Namedrop

Alright maybe not a Superman reference directly, but Nate does label himself as a "man of steel" (not the first time the show has used this phrase) when the question of who will take the Earth totem gets brought up. It honestly made me think back on the fact that no one in any of the Arrowverse series seem to bring up Supergirl in conversation. I find it strange that an alien superhero from another Earth doesn't get referenced at least once in conversation. One also has to realize that no one from any of these shows (The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow) has met Superman yet. Is this perhaps being saved for a future massive crossover? Considering the threat that Mallus holds right now, I'd say a mini crossover of heroes should take place right about now.

7. Season 4 Pic of Damien & Nora

During the scene where Damien looks at both the death totem and a picture of his daughter, this snapshot is a freeze frame from a scene taken from Season 4 of Arrow.

Episode Rating: 8/10