Something funny happened on tonight’s Legends of Tomorrow – the show delivered a good episode!
1….Wait, seriously, it was good?
I can hardly believe it myself, but this episode was, hands down, the best Legends episode of 2017, if not of the entire season. It had a clear plot, some fun twists, solid character work, no “Day-O” weirdness – it was a functional episode of the show that managed to do everything you’d hope for!
The first thing it did right was give the Legion of Doom ample space to be petty and evil. Dahrk and Merlyn work best as smug, whiskey sipping megalomaniacs, and that’s exactly what we got here. Thawne, easily the most dangerous and, in a weird way, most relatable member of the Legion, was perfectly at home in the driver’s seat. Snart, once the highlight of the show, still seems odd after growing so much last season, just to see him regress incredibly since then. I really dislike Snart coming back as a rebooted version of himself without so much as the slightest hint at who he was becoming last season.
I do have one Legion-based question, though – why didn’t someone just release the Time Wraith?
2. M(ick)VP
Who would have guessed when this show debuted that Mick “Heat Wave” Rory would be the most interesting character on the program? His character is unpredictable, constantly evolving, loves The Passion of the Christ (?), and is the one character on the show who you don’t really know how to peg just yet.
He and Snart have, essentially, swapped roles since last season, with Snart being a little more open to the idea of heroism and Mick being a little reluctant to trust others. The difference here is that by the end of season one, Snart was fully on board with being a Legend; you get the idea that Mick really isn’t just yet. He’s certainly not on board with being a Legion member, either. He’s just Mick – and he’s fascinating.
That said, I hope next season firmly has him in one camp or another – this could get real old, real quick if not resolved sooner than later.
3. Bad hair timeline
Why does every show, when showing younger/alternate versions of the main characters have to be so insane with their hair choices? Nate’s hair was atrocious here, and even Ray – RAY! – had a lame hairstyle in this alternate reality. Why can’t anyone’s alternate version look great? Why can’t they be all suave and sexy, like the ladies are presented. Why do all women get hotter and all men frumpier in alternate universes?
4. The Amaya Problem
This episode definitely played up the deadly nature of the stakes here by having Snart straight up kill Amaya. This was an incredibly effective scene, and one that has real consequences, not just for this season (like the destruction of the spear has), but for the Arrowverse in general.
So, if they can go back in time and stop the Legion from getting the spear, then this reality is never created and, hypothetically, Amaya never gets killed, right? Because if she’s dead regardless, that creates a ton of problems for the future. If Amaya never has a daughter, she can never have a granddaughter, which means that Mari McCabe, who we have seen all over the Arrowverse, never exists. And, as Ray pointed out to Nate, that means that, potentially, all the people that she saved would be doomed, too.
I don’t think the CW would do this, especially as they’ve done two seasons of Vixen on the CW Seed – but there’s gonna be some weirdness with how they explain this one away.
5. A fun twist
Having the Waverider, along with Rip, a prop on Thawne’s desk was a fun twist at the end of the episode. It was silly, but realistic for Thawne, and makes searching for Rip an even tougher challenge. This episode actually succeeded in just about every way and, honestly, I barely recognize this show. Can we close out the season with another episode just like this, pretty please?
