Legends of Tomorrow continue their trip through all of history’s favorite eras with a swing through the Roaring Twenties for the midseason finale, which saw the cast expand with familiar faces.
1. Al Capone
The CW just can’t help itself: there’s a historically ugly character introduced on the show, and they cast him with someone who is far younger and better looking than his historical counterpart. Oh, CW, never change.
The reason for getting Capone and Ness into this episode was a bit suspect at best: the Legion of Doom needed to draw out the Legends, and they felt the best way to do that was to disrupt history. I get that. But wouldn’t a World War, or a famous natural disaster, or a coronation of a king, anything be more of an important moment than Al Capone’s era? Sure, the idea of Capone becoming mayor is probably not good, but Chicago mayors have a history of being corrupt criminals – would Capone have changed all that much? I don’t really think so,
Although there was a part of me that thought the LoD was going to recruit him as a member, Bill and Ted style. Now that would be fun – let the baddies travel all over history to create their ultimate villainous team.
2. Actual villains
Too much of this season has been about fighting against ideas – racism and slavery, nuclear war – instead of clashing with the villains. Say what you want about last season’s Vandal Savage plotline, it gave a throughline that really made things gel, as far as the season’s plot goes. This year has felt more scattershot, and this episode already feels far better than some of the prior installments because there was a very clear goal – stop the LoD. Giving this team a shared goal that is unambiguous and righteous is exactly what the show needed.
It was also nice to see Malcolm Merlyn show up on the show. Merlyn is both the weasel and the negotiator in this episode, and that just about sums him up. On season 1 of Arrow, he was the show’s idea of what a supervillain in this world looked like; alongside a time traveling speedster and a mage, he seems a little quaint, but John Barrowman is such a great part of this universe, and his skills will come in handy, even if just because he’s the only member of the team that has any sort of nuance whatsoever.
3. Actual stakes
This is also the first episode that felt really exhilarating, in terms of truly fearing for the Legends and their safety. Stein’s situation was precarious and his torture was an especially scary moment, but more than that, it is certainly possible that zombies, or plantation owners, or shoguns could take down a member of the team, but there was almost no threat this season that the team, as a whole, really could have struggled against at full strength.
The Legion of Doom (by the way, I’m not making that term up, a lot of the press materials use that, even if it hasn’t been said on screen yet) feels big and dangerous enough to really take down the Legends. Reverse Flash alone is scary, adding some allies and, possibly, the Spear of Destiny, and we’re finally talking. Plus, one of the joys of this show has been seeing all the different heroic interactions – getting that on the villainous side is incredibly fun, especially as there isn’t the grey area of something like Suicide Squad – these are evil fuckers, and they need to be stopped. I’m enjoying watching the Legends do jut that.
4. Snart’s g-g-g-g-ghost!
The whole ‘talking hallucination’ thing is so played out in all media, and it isn’t too different here, although Wentworth Miller is so missed on this show that I somewhat allow it. It is interesting how Ghost Snart is doing exactly the opposite of what Real Snart did: last season, Snart was constantly telling Mick to play ball, because this was bigger than just them. Now that Mick is on board with that plan, Snart is on the other side of it.
Continued belowIt’s interesting, Mick talks about what a good partner does for each other, but he and Snart were at odds for most of their time together. Does this mean that they were bad partners, that we missed the good parts, or that Mick’s memory is rose colored?
Here’s my big prediction for Snart going forward: he’s going to keep popping up in Mick’s mind, and then one day, Mick is going to think he’s talking to his hallucination, and it will really be Snart. He will be recruited, from the past, by the LoD, and will fight against the Legends. However, he will betray the LoD at the end, saving the day.
You heard it here first.
5. Rip’s return
I knew it was just a matter of time before Captain Hunter returned, and the way the show staged it was one of their best moments of the show. The idea that Rip is making movies of his own adventures in the 1960s (with an American accent somehow) is a ton of fun. In fact, that’s an idea that seems way too brilliant for this show, but I am happy to be proven absolutely wrong in that regard.
That’s a truly fascinating and fun cliffhanger to leave the show on, especially as things seem almost too cozy with the Legends right now: Mick and Amaya are getting cozy, Stein’s daughter is going anywhere just yet, Ray and Nate are bro-ing out at an alarming rate. The team seems nice and stable, so throwing Rip back in is a smart way to shake the team up without undoing the work that that rest of the season has spent establishing.
The “Invasion” crossover, to me, really cured a lot of the ills of the CW shows, and puts them in a different context. I know that’s silly, but I feel entirely energized after last week’s event. Now that we have a six week break from these shows, they will feel all the more special when they return.
Although putting this directly after The Flash will test both my time management skills and my marriage.
So, what did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments!
