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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Legends of Tomorrow S3 Ep. 16 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"I, Ava"

This week's highly entertaining episode of Legends of Tomorrow brought us quite the care package of action, super power spectacle, and character revelations while dipping its toe into both drama and comedy. In essence, this episode contains all of the essential components that makes up a compelling entry in the Legends series. The time traveling element, which is of course the core of the show, is well utilized here spotlighting characters in interesting ways while also playing towards the show's quirky humor and emotional beats. In addition to getting to see more of this season's big bad in action, let's dive into everything that makes this week's entry a must see for fans.



One of my favorite things to see explored in ensemble driven shows, and something that Legends particularly does a solid job with, are unexpected and fun character pairings. Here we have Sara, Gary, and Ray embarking on a mission to find Ava (an episode worthy adventure). You also have Nate, Wally, and to an extent, Kuasa ensuring the safety of the present day Vixen while eventually facing the Darhks (another engaging standalone mission on its own). Finally, we have Zari training Mick with his fire totem which can easily be seen as the more forgettable segment, but does offer up some fun and interesting interactions. Watching these three story lines play out alongside each other never felt chaotic or, as previously experienced, having the distraction of one side plot with clearly no reason to exist within said episode timeframe.



Starting with the Ava mission, this is where you have a surprisingly well blended mix of comedy, fun, and emotional beats. Watching Sara, who was seconds away from taking some well deserved time off, teaming up with Ray and Gary in order to uncover Ava's whereabouts brought forth a welcoming feast of light heartedness considering last week's slightly darker episode. Visiting a secret point in the future where Ava is revealed to be one of 100s of "perfect" clones was quite the revelation for a character that was still finding her place on the show. We're given some pretty hilarious moments with Gary making his usual awkward remarks as Sara has to confront a nightmare scenario where she literally encounters multiple versions of her ex. Yikes!



An idea like that could have easily been sidelined as a waste of screen time given the current Mallus/magical totems conflict, yet the writers found some way to interweave it into the story playing to the show's mostly successful situational comedy strengths. As a result, we have an interesting new future setting with Ava being center focus, funny character interactions with Gary both freaking out and gushing over his Ava fantasies, and agent Sharpe having to emotionally come to terms with her twisted origins. All of this with a fun action sequence topping things off showing the team face off against an Ava security force. On its own, this would have made a pretty decent episode of Legends, but of course the ride doesn't quite stop there.



Following a time anachronism where modern day Vixen, Mari McCabe, is a vigilante without the Anansi totem by her side, Nate and Wally decide to take on the time fixing duties as Amaya safely sits back as captain of the Waverider. Alongside Ava being revealed to be a clone, I felt this segment could have also been its own highly engaging episode as there were quite a bit of surprises and spectacle to enjoy. Having Kuasa play a double (triple?) agent of sorts for her own justified gain in saving her lineage was arguably the most interesting thing shown with the character so far. It's the most multilayered that we've seen of her intentions and personality making her finally step out of the "side villain" shadows.



With her double crossing Nate's ambush plan towards the Darhks just so that she can take the Anansi totem for Amaya felt like the Vixen legacy and tribe's history had a strong sense of significance to her. Yes, it's been discussed before with her character, but again, Kuasa always seemed to have disappeared in this season's content filled background while everything else was taking place...until now. Her betrayal to Nate amongst her disapproval of his relationship with Amaya didn't feel like a forceful villainous shift, but a legitimate survival move for her own mission. It also puts the totem back into Amaya's hands, so whether or not you enjoy having the Kuasa character around, she does essentially resurrect the Vixen character to her spirit animal summoning glory.



Speaking of the Darhks, this is where we get to our incredible show of power from the season villain. However, before I get to said gallery of magical badassery, there is one glaring weak link in this episode that I must address. After Nora and Kuasa leaves Damien to torturously kill Nate, the two share a slightly cringeworthy interaction in regards to Nora's transformation. Now, as I've stated in the past, I do enjoy Darhk's sometimes cartoony nature as a mustache twirling antagonist, but there is such a thing as "too over the top". In making a joke about Damien having performance issues with torturing due to his distraction of losing his daughter to Mallus, they actually end up downgrading his intelligence and dominant presence. Their plan to trick Mallus by ridiculously faking a torture session came across as funny, yes, but also...well...ridiculous all things considered.



Fortunately, despite Damien almost doing a complete 180 in character presentation, we do get an amazing villain spotlight with Mallus taking on several super powered characters at once. This is exactly the type of scene that I've been waiting for since his reveal, and although we still haven't seen his true form yet, this was the best sample tasting that we've gotten thus far. With Wally showing up to face Mallus, I absolutely loved the fact that Mallus was able to react within the super speed time frame removing his speed temporarily. Not only did it look amazing seeing someone actually rip the speed lightning away from a speedster, which has never been shown before, but it's a nice indication of Mallus' threat level. He's able to take Wally's lightning, absorb it, and reflect it back to him as an energy blast. Damn!



This is then followed up with Amaya finally being able to use her totem to fight yet Mallus' previous corruption of the totem via Nora's use renders her temporarily useless at first. I loved the idea that Mallus is able to negatively influence an object even if he's not currently wielding it as it perfectly plays into the demonic nature of the character. However, and the episode doesn't really spell this out, Amaya is able to eventually snap out of its corruption and fight back. Is this somehow connected to her ancestor to whom we saw previously speaking to her within Mallus' realm? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that two totem bearers were fighting together to take him down simultaneously. Hopefully they acknowledge this in a future episode.



Kuasa eventually returns freeing Nate in order to help save Amaya leading to another showdown of power. This time Mallus manages to knock back everyone with a wave of telekinetic power prior to fighting and ripping out Kuasa's totem from her chest. It's a visually impressive scene with Nora extracting the totem out of Kuasa's water form while also giving us a significant character death. Wally then manages to gain back his speed rushing everyone out to safety. Judging by Amaya's snapping out of the totem's dark influence and Wally gaining back his speed, are we to deduct that Mallus can only temporarily cancel someone's power temporarily? Also, is Mallus cutting Wally off from the speed force temporarily or something else entirely. Again, one of those questions that I hope gets answered down the line.



So, with Mallus now having the water totem in his possession after losing the Anansi totem (which Nora shockingly deemed insignificant), one does have to wonder how this battle of magical relics comes to a close. Is this a Thanos/Infinity Gauntlet situation (Marvel reference) where we must try our earnest not to give him all of the totems for the universe's safety? Or is the show implying that Mallus doesn't necessarily need every trinket to get what he wants in the end. With the Legends now possessing four of the totems, it would appear that they currently have the upper hand right? Well, let's not forget that we still haven't seen our season big bad in his true form as time slowly withers away. Also, with just Nora as a vessel, he's able to effortlessly take on 2 trained totem bearers on his own. Perhaps a certain concerned father figure can help out the team?



With Ava accepting her situation as being a clone, it does bring up the obvious question led by the characters being Rip Hunter's decision to place her in that position. It's a nice way to bring Rip back into the fold while uncovering more secrets about this new character who I can safely now say has found her place on the show. With several scenes showing off different super powers back to back while giving us a nice big tease of Mallus' power, I definitely enjoyed what this episode had to offer with our characters. Successfully blending comedy and drama with Ava's story and Amaya's lineage alongside her questionable relationship with Nate, there was quite a bit of entertainment to be had here. Considering the cliffhanger showing Amaya attempting to return to 1992 in an attempt to save her granddaughter, things are looking to be quite interesting for the upcoming episode.


Bonus Thoughts
Easter Eggs

1. Totem Power Training

During the more forgettable yet entertaining enough portion of the episode, we see Zari struggling to train Mick to harness the Fire totem's power. Here we see Heatwave, as expected, hilariously utilizing the totem to cook hot dogs and pop popcorn. After getting in an argument with Zari, she uses her wind totem to spin him around in a whirlwind. Where some may find this to be nonsensical and unnecessary, it is a nice show of intent for both totem bearers. Mick isn't going to randomly transform into a selfless warrior of magic and the writers are aware of this, so take this as his first steps into an interesting new hero journey. Although, having him call her a bitch did seem a little bit out of place.

2. A Tremor In The Force


Where the Mick-Zari portion of the episode gets a huge thumbs up from me is the moment Kuasa's death affects them through the totems. It's a surprisingly emotional moment and beautifully showcased through both Zari and Mick holding onto their totems with sudden distress. To have someone like Mick rush off to get a drink, and not for his typical alcoholic desires, after someone who's only been an enemy to him dies speaks volumes to the deep connection between the totems. It's a well crafted dramatic moment that cuts through some of the more comedic points getting across the significance of Kuasa's death as well as the spiritual link shared between totem bearers. It also leads into a fun heart warming interaction between Zari and Mick where Zari speaks about her missed family traditions and Mick...well...simply states that he's hungry.

3. Sara Deducting That Ava's Family Is A Fraud


One of the more hilarious beats of the episode alongside everything that flew out of Garry's mouth is Sara pulling a knife on Ava's fake mother who is revealed to be an actress. It's a funny moment showing Sara's eagerness to grab a weapon as a questioning tool as opposed to simply using words. It's also an interesting reveal having Ava's life be artificially created. It'll be interesting to see how Rip justifies this entire charade.

4. The 2nd Fastest Man Alive


Wally gets annoyed at Kuasa not acknowledging his power and immediately claims to be known as "the fastest man alive". This leads to Nate correcting him stating that he's actually the 2nd fastest to which Wally hilariously tries to sidestep his comment in front of Kuasa. This is of course referencing Barry Allen who, at the moment, is indeed the fastest man alive and Wally's previous mentor. What I'd like to know is whether or not the Flash series will reference Wally's current whereabouts since Legends has no problem referencing its companion series.

5. The Brave & The Bold


During Kuasa's dramatic conflict with Nate being in love with Amaya, Damien states that their situation reminds him of watching "The Brave and the Bold". This is a play on both the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" while also being a reference to DC Comic's "The Brave and the Bold" comic series. It can also be a reference to the DC animated series of the same name starring Batman and various other characters in the lore.

6. Vixen's Vigilante Lair

Although, this is technically considered to be a potential reality where present day Vixen isn't in possession of the Anansi totem, our super powerless vigilante's lair gets shown off. Having only appeared on Season 4 of Arrow as far as live action appearances go, this may have been the first time that we've ever seen her lair. That is of course, this version of the character's lair which may be completely different than the real Vixen's considering the lack of magic being involved. We do see an arsenal of various types of ancient weapons giving audiences an idea of what type of hero Mari might be.


7. Star Wars Reference

During the fight against the Ava clones, Ray randomly mentions that it's the 2nd worst attack of the clones which references the Star Wars Ep. 2: Attack of the Clones film. This sequel (prequel) was known as one of the worst Star Wars entries to hit the theaters.

Episode Rating: 9/10

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