Legends of Tomorrow S3 Ep. 12 Thoughts

"The Curse of the Earth Totem"

This week's Legends of Tomorrow was filled the right amount of fun, goofy, and yet interesting ingredients to make a nearly perfect recipe for a fun time traveling superhero series.  The pirate setting was by far one of my favorites on the show as it reminded me of the good old days spending way too much time playing Assassin's Creed: Black Flag or enjoying the "good" Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Beautiful pirate setting and aesthetics aside (which I seriously hope we get to see revisited in the future), I can definitely say that I'm enjoying the new story arc of the season being the quest to find all of the magic totems. It gives our time traveling band of misfits an adventure that can take them to potentially incredible settings encountering new characters with an interesting and grand sense of purpose behind it all.

Sounds like what the series has already been in essence? Sure, but I personally find the concept of hunting down magical relics in order to stop a powerful demonic entity much more interesting than your typical "time altering problem of the week" direction. In regards to the actual story here, being someone that has always been fascinated by legendary pirate lore and all of the supernatural tales that sails along with it, it was fun getting to see Blackbeard as our celebrity historical guest this time around. With the idea of the earth totem being looked at through the pirates perspective as some cursed treasure creating a zombified knockoff of Poison Ivy, at times, it felt as though I was indeed watching a really fun fantasy pirate series with a time traveling twist.

I'd say this was definitely one of the best cases where Legends utilized its setting to the best of its budgetary capability. The sword fighting, pirate costumes, and tropical background all made for a visually appealing episode (and that's without the random make out sessions). My only main issue is the fact that having Damien Darhk show up every week with the power to literally kill off the entire team has gotten a little tiring now considering…well…he never does. Now, obviously it would be bad to have the villain kill off our heroes, but I find it a little annoying that the show never gives us a legitimate reason as to why he never fully uses his powers. Either way, with the exception of a couple of cheesy pirate performances and a slightly cringeworthy romantic component, I truly enjoyed what this week's episode had to offer overall.

Bonus Thoughts

1. Wally's Future

Aside from getting to see Amaya act out being a badass pirate captain (one of the character highlights of this season in my opinion), we also got to see another character spotlighted differently. With Wally West now getting woven into the show, it was fun getting to see the criminally underused speedster coming out as his own standout individual beyond just being "the other speedster" on The Flash. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about Wally basically abandoning his family with the Thinker situation only to get shoved into another show, but it is refreshing having the character be able to breathe a lot more freely now. This is something that Legends have always succeeded with in regards to the Arrowverse's side characters being able to show off their true potential. 

P.S. 
The 1992 Tokyo karaoke scene between Rip and Wally was the greatest treasure of the episode.

2. Ray's Consequential Heart

Ray feeling guilty about possibly killing Nora was a nice change of pace for the story as we normally don't get to see our heroes feel legit sympathy for the villains. It was also interesting seeing Darhk easily toss Amaya's necklace towards Ray as a bargaining chip showing a bit of humanity for his daughter's life. Too bad it leads to Ray getting captured in the end yet again showing his vulnerability for traps. However, it should be noted that Ray's gun actually works. Let's not forget Constantine's last words to Ray which involved using said gun and Sara when she eventually gets put under the influence of Mallus.

3. Crafting A Connected Universe

One of my favorite elements of this episode is the fact that we get to use present day Star City as one of the settings which is something that I've been hoping that they'd do. Why? There's a part of me that would love to see our present day shows (Arrow and The Flash) to maybe, just maybe, get involved in a Legends episode or at least acknowledge something that happened that week. It's a long shot, but the idea of maybe having Cisco, Diggle, or someone of note stating that they saw the time ship crashing down into the city or some possessed girl at a coffee shop (Mallus from the other episode) would be a clever and entertaining way to show more interconnectivity within this universe. Think along the lines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how almost each film and TV series points out an event that took place from a previous entry. Just a thought.

4. The Dread Pirate Jiwe Brand

The scene where Amaya's pirate captain persona replaces the Blackbeard brand of rum was one of the most fun and brilliant uses of time altering on the show. Yes, it's small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it's the little things like these cute and quirky moments that makes the viewers feel like they're being rewarded for sticking along for the ride. Just one of the many reasons why I feel this series should stay on as long as possible. It's way too fun and filled with potential to get easily sidelined.

Episode Rating: 8/10