Less than five minutes into Legends of Tomorrow, we get a fascism mention. Why can’t this be an escape for me?
1. The 80’s as an endless source of humor
From Damien “Miami Vice” Darhk to the references to Top Gun, Back to the Future, and more, this episode reinforces the recent idea that 80’s nostalgia is instantly hilarious. Now, I’d be lying if I said that there were references/nods that I found amusing, or if there was nothing to be gained from plundering the ‘me generation’ for laughs, but I wish the show tried just a little bit harder to find actual jokes here. Sure, Darhk in a white suite, no belt, gun shoved in his waistband is a solid visual goof, but without substance, those jokes are empty.
The show does try its hand at some faux-serious business later on, involving Darhk in a plan to profit off of the US/Soviet nuclear arms talks. This being the CW, there would never be anything remotely critical of Reagan’s presidency, and he’s reduced to ‘old guy who likes jelly beans’ which, though true, is sort of missing the point. I’m not calling for the show to all of a sudden be The West Wing, but part of the fun of a time travel show is that you can give the audience an idea of that era. Last week was a great example of that: Jax had his eyes opened by the cruelty of slavery.
The closest thing to a character being influenced by the times was Jax wearing that absurd, faux-cowprint shirt. Vixen at one point mentions that by 1987 there must be equality for women and, of course, that isn’t the case. Vixen could, easily, have been the Jax of this episode, juxtaposing her hopes for 40 years in the future with the reality of her experience. Sure, she was a little busy with Obsidian, but it could have been a small element that would have greatly helped the episode’s depth.
2. Corporal Cold
The whole “I’m gonna try to be Snart” thing was never going to work for Ray, and Mick is an odd choice for the person to get Ray out of his funk, or tell him to be himself. But even with the built in awkwardness, this story worked this week because Ray is a character we all root for, even when he’s obnoxiously vanilla. He’s the closest thing the show has (or, had, until Nate showed up) to a traditional hero. His pursuits never border on the selfish, and his actions rarely cause controversy.
That’s why the Mick pairing is fun, as he is the polar opposite. Mick is all about himself, and often deviates from the plan when something catches his eye. The show also has crystallized (pardon the pun) Snart in Mick’s eyes. And while he was the one who suggested Ray for the job, Mick is also protective of Snart’s legacy, and that’s brought a bit of tension to their pairing.
Overall, the pairing is working right now, but it is probably getting close to the end of its rope.
3. Young Marty
I love that Stein’s nickname of “Marty” is essentially a Back to the Future reference. I also like how old Stein has, now twice, encountered his younger self and found him to be a bit of a douchebag. I think that would be true for all of us to a certain degree, seeing how we used to be with the lens of the current day.
The reason it works so well is that old Stein is sort of a dick himself and, while he sees that, he doesn’t necessarily try to change himself too much. He knows who he is, and while that may frustrate him, he knows that he can’t do too much. He tries to be nicer, but there’s a certain amount of pretension that is essential to who he is. You see that the heart is there, both in young and old Martin, but it often gets obscured.
One question, though: why does his wife stay with him? Young Stein appears to pay her next to no mind, despite her being great, and beautiful to boot. As the resident older character, the show can have far more fun with his past than the other characters’, and so this probably won’t be the last we see of Marty Stein.
Continued below4. More like Oldsidian, amirite?
Due to the proliferation of casting announcements, set pictures, spoilers, etc, it was known that Lance Hendriksen would be playing the older Obsidian, and we get to see him here don the hood and cape. One of the lingering questions of this season so far was “why hasn’t the vast network of heroes and vigilantes not run into the JSA in the current day?” Well, this episode begins to answer that question.
Now, here is where time travel may make your head hurt: let’s say that, at the end of the season, Rex Tyler is saved by the Legends taking out the Legion of Doom. If Rex is saved, does the JSA continue? If they JSA continues, does the Cold War still happen? If the Cold War doesn’t happen, etc. All of that leads to this inevitable question: if the JSA is still around in 2016, is there a need for the Legends?
Try not to think too hard about that, but I’m sure we will have to answer questions like this sooner than later.
Anyway, Obsidian. The character is an odd choice for the show to use, although he had two things going for him that made a lot of sense: a unique power set for the show, and the fact that he is openly gay in continuity. I’m glad the show kept both of those elements intact. The handling off his sexuality was extremely casual – it literally took one sentence – but continued the CW’s not mincing of words when it comes to their characters’ sex lives. The show is very matter of fact about the fact that Sara is bisexual, Jax is heterosexual, and now, Obsidian is homosexual. It is a part of their characters, but not the only interesting or relevant point about them. Good for them for taking that position, something that is somehow still rare on TV today.
That said, Vixen took that pretty much in stride, didn’t she? I wouldn’t image a person in their twenties or thirties in 1945 would be so quickly understanding of a man coming out to them. To be fair, maybe it went totally over her head, and thought he was talking about his roommate.
The one negative with Obsidian being a 40’s member of the JSA is that it probably rules out his dad, Alan Scott appearing on the show. We can always hope, right?
5. Damn Sara, you cold (and might have just fucked the future)
Sara’s verbal dress down of Darhk was one of the best moments for her character. She wasn’t going to kill him; instead, she was going to tell him just how bad his life would get. It was devastating and perfectly inline with who Sara is on the show.
That said? This goes back – as it often does with me – to what Doc Brown tells Marty in Back to the Future: no man should know too much about his own future. We see that come to plan, as Darhk and the Reverse Flash set out to change his future. Could Sara’s telling him do the same thing that her killing him would have done? I hope not.
Let me know what you guys thought of the episode in the comments!
