I love what they did here. They explained the motivation of Reverse-Flash — whom I should start calling Eobard, I suppose — while also giving us a totally relevant parallel story about Lily Stein.
It would have been too much to expect that the three members of the Legion of Doom were buddies from Day One, twirling their evil mustaches and mwah-ha-ha-ing in unison. Of course, there was dissension among the psychopaths. Eobard likes to denigrate and occasionally strangle his minions. Malcolm seems to be depressed and permanently pissed off, probably because he's aware that he may have made a bad choice in joining the Legion. Damien kept rolling his eyes and retorting sarcastically, but he was also quite aware that Eobard was treating him like a henchman. As a criminal mastermind himself, Damien knows what happens to henchmen.
Damien Darhk is starting to feel like an old friend these days. He seems to be the only one of the three with a sense of humor, and of course, Eobard underestimating Damien was a huge mistake. Oddly, Malcolm feels like the least important, but we can't dismiss him; he can be deadly. I loved how Malcolm and Damien kept jabbing each other with taunts about being R'as, about Malcolm's missing hand, until they came to blows with those deadly League of Assassins swords.
Why is Eobard after the Spear when he can time travel and change things? (It's like they were listening to nitpicking fans, isn't it?) Because Eobard was erased from existence by Eddie Thawne's suicide, and his nonexistence is catching up with him. How perfect. So was Zoom as the extremely icky face-dissolved time wraith. I loved the bit in the bank vault when Eobard had to be perfectly still so that the wraith wouldn't see him, even when it got very, very close. Very weeping angels.
Poor Rip. Tortured for information he literally did not have (thank you sincerely for not showing that, show guys), frantically trying to figure out how to get away from his captors, some ad hoc dental work, and now his memory has been altered so that he's one of the League's henchmen. And we all know what happens to henchmen.
It's always fun, but somewhat confusing, when two shows I'm watching (or worse, reviewing) unintentionally intersect in some bizarre way. It's happening with Supernatural and Lucifer right now, and having Rip assassinate George Washington sort of threw me into Sleepy Hollow.
Is it wrong of me to look forward to seeing Rip as a villain?
Anyway. Moving on to the good guys, who took up the smaller half of the episode, Lily Stein had to face a fate somewhat similar to Eobard Thawne's: the threat of nonexistence. I liked the scenes with Lily nearly as much as the Legion bits, and that's saying something.
Martin Stein was obviously using the possibility that Lily could help them with the medallion as an excuse to see his "new" daughter again, but even though the first thing Martin did was directly warn Mick not to tell Lily she was a time aberration, that was exactly what happened. What would this series be without Dominic Purcell? Mick Rory can do something as outrageously cruel as telling Lily she's a fake person, and it's perfectly in character for him, while also being funny and sad.
Apparently, Martin had a lousy father, and of course, he projected that onto himself as a reason not to have kids. Yes, Martin is overly analytical and scientific, and yes, he didn't realize that he was being too distant with Lily, but come on. All Martin had to do was look at his paternal relationship with his superhero partner Jax for the truth, and I liked that he went to Jax for advice, and that Jax gave it to him. Nice performances by Victor Garber and Christina Brucato here. I felt for them both.
I actually started thinking that Lily should join the team, especially after she had that little moment with Ray. But she feels like a character that is going to die tragically, doesn't she? Maybe I shouldn't get too attached.
Everybody remember where we parked:
-- This week, we went to Star City, eight months ago; Central City 2017, Zurich 2025, and New Jersey 1776 on Christmas Day.
-- The saga sell has been done by a different cast member every week. It made me smile that this week's was by Damien Darhk. Appropriate, too, since this episode was mostly the Legion backstory.
-- I loved Rip telling the Legion that they were The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and that none of them were Clint Eastwood. And wow, good continuity, since 1967 film student Rip might have just seen that movie in the theater.
-- Sara is still insisting on calling them "the speedster and his allies" instead of the "Legion of Doom." Which is exactly what Damien didn't want, their enemy seeing Damien and Malcolm as Eobard's henchmen.
-- I absolutely loved that the very Star Trek food fabricator can make everything but the very fakest of foods, American cheese.
-- Please give Rip a haircut. I'm begging you.
Quotes:
Malcolm: "It's not that Captain Hunter's uncooperative. It's that he's not fully in possession of his marbles."
Eobard: "We have an additional advantage over them."
Damien: "Enlighten me."
Eobard: "They're idiots."
And then they cut to Mick. Laugh out loud.
Lily: "I had an idea for hyper-miniaturization when I was in Tahiti. I don't vacation well."
Martin: "I would appreciate it if you — if none of you — would reveal to her that she's an aberration."
Mick: "Why are you looking at me?"
Damien: "This would be easier if we just killed everybody."
Malcolm: "It's strange how he never stays in one place for very long."
Damien: "Perhaps that's why they refer to them as 'speedsters'."
Ray: "Ah. 1998 Blanc de Noir."
Mick: "I like beer. Gets me drunk."
Damien: "So you're kinda like a shark who will die if you stay in one place?"
Damien: "You know what I love about torture? I'm not sure we have enough time for me to list all the reasons, but mainly because there's always another gear to find."
Lily: "I just don't want there to be more secrets between us."
Martin: "Well, in that spirit, I suppose I should tell you that I am one half of a nuclear powered superhero called Firestorm."
Lily: (laughs) "So not funny, Dad."
The second winner of an episode in a row. Four out of four Swiss bank vaults,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
I really love all the Legion of Doom stuff and on top of that we got to see what Zoom has become now. It will be really sad to see Damian and Eobard go when they finally get defeated. Because I don't see them surviving this season and rewriting history.
ReplyDeleteWatching all the Legends of the SuperFlarrowverse shows is even better now because they just casually namedrop stuff from the other shows without restraint. Such a joint universe of many shows was my dream ever since Buffy and Angel during seasons 4/5 and 1/2 respectively.
The opening to this episode almost reminded for a second of the Buffy episode, "Superstar." I love that Legends is becoming a show that doesn't take itself too seriously and can parody itself a bit, the last two episodes have been full of gems from the George Lucas gags and Sarah making fun of the name Legion of Doom, to them even poking fun at Vandal Savage!
ReplyDeleteThis series would be much poorer without Dominic Purcell. He's my reason for watching.
ReplyDeleteDominic Purcell is a national treasure :)
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that makes this season so enjoyable to watch is how well the villain actors are able to really have fun with their roles without going to far and wind up just chewing the scenery. Neal McDonough especially seems to be having an absolute blast playing Damien Darhk ever since he first appeared on Arrow.
I really love the Legion of Doom stuff, too, for all the reasons mentioned.
ReplyDelete