[Spoilers ahead]
Director: David Geddes
Writers: Keto Shimizu and Grainne Godfree.
Starring: Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Franz Drameh, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Nick Zano and Dominic Purcell
Summary
The Legends find themselves in the middle of cold war disarmament talks in 1987. Thawne convinces his erstwhile and future partner, Damian Darhk, to get to the White House and cause a kerfuffle. Sara, Ray (now with Captain Cold’s gun), Mick, Martin and Jax head there to stop the madness. Spoiler alert, they screw it up. Amaya and Nate go to a secret JSA training facility where they find cobwebs and Lance Henricksen (as Obsidian). Martin and Sara have a heart to heart about who she is and who she is not. Mick and Ray have the same talk about who Ray is and who he is not, but it goes quite differently and is pretty funny. Episode five of the newly reported 17 of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has it all.
Positives
There is pretty great fight scene in close quarters. That is when the White Canary is at her best. Since this is her team, it is important that she get to lead by example. She takes on a 6 foot 5 Soviet thug with nothing but her mad skills and her high heels. Nate gets all Steeled up and does some serious damage of his own. It is well choreographed and highly believable. This show works best when the things that happen are reality based. Yes, time travel and Firestorm happen, but those effects are never as good as the rough and tumble brawls.
Jokes a plenty in this episode. Mick gets them all. Why? Dominic Purcell is really good. I can only imagine how much fun it is for the writers to give him lines and how much fun he has growling them. Additionally, there are some touching moments with Martin and his younger self and his younger wife. We forget that time doesn’t stop for the Legends. Back in 2016, time marches on without them. Martin is married and somewhere, Clarissa is alone, like always.
Neal McDonough is maybe the best TV villain ever. His run on Justified was simply amazing and his portrayal of Damian Darhk on Arrow and now on LOT is spot on sinister. There is something about the coolness in his eyes and the smirk on his face that makes me wonder if he is a good actor or just that creepy. I suspect the former, because who would want to work with someone who was the latter? If there is ever going to be a major acting award for the Arrowverse it is going to go to him.
Negatives
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Rip.
Rip who?
Exactly. Where the hell is Rip Hunter? Look, I am not knocking Zano. He is really good as Nate and his character performs well as team historian, but it is Rip Hunter’s ship. It is Rip Hunter’s team. Yes, Sara is a badass and her leadership is just what the team needs, but come on. Find Rip Hunter.
Verdict
Action, drama, jokes and touching moments of character development. To use proper lingo from the time period, episode five is totally radical.
Easter Eggs
At the very end of the show, Thawne gives Darhk a seat in the time travel sphere that he used in season one of The Flash. Pretty cool.
Sara gives away the ending of Arrow, season 4. Darhk wants to change it. How will that play out across the Arrowverse and in Flashpoint? There is a lot going on.
As was the case early on in this season, Back to the Future gets it’s due. Once again there are two Martin’s and Jax says, ” Don’t go all Doc Brown on me.”
Obsidian has a boyfriend. In the comics, Todd Rice is openly gay. It was a nice touch here. The Arrowverse does not always stick with the source material, so it was good to see that the LOT team made that choice here.
