After last week’s Beetlejuice aping space adventure, Legends of Tomorrow attempts to steer its course towards what it knows best: ripping off George Lucas.
1. Indy-ish
This episode felt like two different George Lucas films rubbed together. While not exactly Nazis (despite what Mick says), this had the ‘fighting the Germans for a religious artifact’ plot that the two best Indiana Jones films featured (don’t @ me). On top of that, the nature of the cliffhanger – the MacGuffin lost, the team member on the other side – felt a lot like The Empire Strikes Back. There was a lot here that really worked from an emotional standpoint, even if the plot still makes less sense than some dick pills commercials.
But that’s sort of this show’s bread and butter: it is supposed to be the goofy, popcorn installment of the CW-verse. Arrow is the gritty action film, The Flash is sci-fi, Supergirl is fantasy, and Legends is the half-empty blockbuster. I can enjoy a fluffed up nothing, if it is fun (what’s up Independence Day!), but this season, the show has forgotten what fun has meant for large swaths of the year.
2.Emo Nate, Emo Amaya
The two new characters for this season – Nate and Amaya – have both been put through the ringer as of late, what with Amaya (stupidly) lookinginto her future, and with Nate losing his grandfather all over again. The show still doesn’t know exactly what they want to do with either, or with them as a couple, but this week did a nice job giving them something to do, even if that something is to be mopey and listen to the Smiths (ok, so they never mention this explicitly, but you know Nate was rocking some “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” once everyone left the library).
The show needs to figure out what the gameplan is for next season, vis a vis the cast. Last year, they lost the Hawks at the end of the season, and it looks like both Snart and Mick may be out, too. I would bet Amaya is not a full cast member next year, but Nate sticks around. We’ll see.
3. Return of the Snart
I know that the show held off bringing Snart back full-time for awhile, to really give the idea that he was just in Mick’s head a little more credibility in this episode, but the Legion of Doom would have been so much better if Snart had been a part of it for longer. It would have set up Mick’s heel turn nicely, it would have allowed the Legion to feel more formidable, and it would have made the crew even more scenery-chewing.
But I’m glad he’s back; Wentworth Miller plays the character in a fun way, even if he did call the Legends ‘losers’ so many times that you’d think he was the cocky jock in an 80’s ski camp movie. His presence on the show can’t hurt it, and there’s still a chance that Mick can turn him back.
4. Tolkien
First of all, you can tell that the entire cast was directed to say Tolkien a very particular way (tol-keeeeen). I’ve heard it pronounced about 10 ways before, so on one hand, I’m glad they added some consistency, but on the other, it sounded super awkward coming out of their mouths.
Overall, it was about as effective as any of the Legends celebrity appearances as gone, if not significantly better than George Lucas and his fake beard earlier this season. I wish I had more to say about Tolkien in this episode, but there you have it. There was some fun wordplay reflecting his novels (Stein says “One does not just walking into a battle” or something), and there was a nice tie-in to his real life Catholicism to include the MacGuffin killer of the blood of Christ. It was an appearance that was certainly gimmicky, but also fun and made a little sense. Really, that’s all I ask.
5. Spear! Spear!
Things look pretty bleak for the Legends right now, and I’m impressed how much drama the spear has delivered thus far. I hope that the last two episodes can more reflect this vibe – a fun, pulpy adventure – and less some of the dumber episodes of earlier in the season.
