This week, there were no dinosaurs in The Flash, despite the title of the episode, Arrow was... and Legends gave us one of its best episodes yet.
The Flash: "The Runaway Dinosaur" (Season 2, Episode 21)
Let me get this off the table right off the bat. The Girder zombie storyline wasn't needed here. It did lend the episode some funny bits, mostly involving Cisco ("A zombie? Fa real?"), but it seemed painfully obvious that the whole thing existed for the sake of filler. I would've preferred an episode focused more on Barry in the Speed Force and how the team reacts to his "death."
Speaking of Barry and the Speed Force, his time there had some solid emotional beats involving him accepting his mother's death and the fact bad things are going to happen to him and there's nothing he can do to stop that. But I was left with a lot more questions than answers about the Speed Force that I'm not sure were answered in the episode. Like, how is the Speed Force sentient? Is Barry in some sort of different dimension? It left me confused when I really should have been enlightened, for lack of a better word. But, like I said, I can slightly look past this because I still felt like Barry's conversations with the Speed Force were pretty interesting.
The MVA (most valuable actor) this week had to be John Wesley Shipp. Henry's grief over Barry's apparent death was very realistic, as was his determination to get Barry back. His decision to return to Central City at the end kinda feels like a mark of death in a way, though. Darn.
Other Thoughts:
- "Let's go the Big Belly Burger in Starling City. This place sucks!" ~ Jason Mewes, 2016
- Barry memorized his favourite book as a kid? What a nerd!
- Iris ran all the way from her house to STAR Labs. You go, girl.
- The scene where Iris is all "Take my hand!" to Barry in the Speed Force had to have been ripped straight out of Guardians of the Galaxy. Seriously.
- I like to think that after Zoom gave his speech to those metahumans, he yelled "Now, let's party!" and then a DJ metahuman dropped a sick beat and they all proceeded to break it down and boogie till dawn.
Rating: 7.7/10 metahuman morgues
Next week, Zoom begins his takeover of Central City with a little help from Earth-2 Laurel...
Arrow: "Monument Point" (Season 4, Episode 21)
This was another dumb episode.
Not the same dumb as "Bee-con of Hope," but dumb as in "The writers have no idea what they're doing, do they?"
Was "Monument Point" terrible? No. There were things I did like. It was a hoot seeing some villains from the last season or so, like Brick, Murmur and Anarky. Anarky and Thea's fight at the end was pretty sweet, as was Oliver and Diggle fighting the HIVE Ghosts and Brick. Aaaaaand. I think that's it.
Where do I start with what I didn't like? Let's start with Donna. Why was she in this episode? And what was the point of those scenes with Lance and her? That "arc" was resolved in like 2 minutes, and didn't affect the story in any way at all. And, Donna snoops around Lance's office, and then gets mad at him for lying. AND that lie was justified, in away. I feel like Laurel would be all for Lance saying he didn't know about Laurel being the Black Canary, and this is also so he can get back into his lifelong career. If "honouring Laurel" was so very important to Donna (apparently more important to her than it is to Laurel's own father), couldn't Lance have said something like "I didn't know Laurel was the Black Canary, but knowing now makes me very proud of her and what she did" or something? In summary, I desperately need Donna off this show. Now.
I'm usually someone who can wave off plot holes, but the ones here were much too glaring for me to ignore. The big one: WHY DID THEY HAVE TO BREAK BACK INTO PALMER TECH WHEN THEY COULD JUST GET CURTIS TO SWIPE THE PROCESSOR? The others: Cloning a processor wirelessly and that quickly is impossible. Same with hacking a nuclear missile mid-flight. And oh, look. The device you need to get into that vault is conveniently five feet away from you.
These last two episodes had better be on point to make up for all these recent misfire episodes we've been getting.
Other Thoughts:
- Did Felicity really just suggest planting a bomb in Palmer Tech? Felicity's becoming a lot worse than Laurel once was.
- Merlyn's robo-hand. It's like they're not even trying.
- The set design of "the Bunker" continues to crack me up. Why would you put a giant computer screen on a rolly-pole by an elevator, other than so it makes for an interesting return form commercials?
- I do have to admit that the effect of that town being incinerated by the nuke was very well-done. But I feel bad for saying that.
- "Don't be a pawn...be a Queen. Get it?" Best line of the episode.
- Oh no, Alex! I kind of, somewhat, didn't really care all that much about you!
Rating: 6.4/10 arrows through the wrist
Next week, Oliver and Dig set out to rescue Thea, who appears to be in no mood to be rescued...
Legends of Tomorrow: "Destiny" (Season 1, Episode 15)
My goodness, there's a lot to talk about here. And in a positive light, too. Yay!
First things first. Snart. Probably the best character on this show, which made his death all the more tragic. His sacrifice to save the team definitely fit into the arc the writers have been taking him through, but it wasn't a move I thought they'd have Snart make. It is kind of a shame he won't be around for the finale (or will he?), but I'm looking forward to further seeing how Snart's death affects the crew. (FYI, Wentworth Miller is returning to both Legends and The Flash next season in a recurring role of sorts, so we definitely haven't seen the last of Captain Cold yet. Did he survive that explosion? Will it be Snart's...time remnant? *sighs*We'll have to wait and see)
Snart wasn't the only character who was on their A-game this week. In fact, I'd say all of them were. Even Kendra (even though she had a much smaller role than usual). I was invested in what each of our heroes was going through this week. Rip learning his whole crusade was a puppet show put on by the Time Masters. Sara and Snart rescuing the crew and facing their feelings for one another. Ray and Stein facing apparently imminent deaths, Kendra becoming a prisoner of Savage, Jax getting help from pre-time travel Stein. The weak link was probably Mick, since his re-brainwashing was resolved rather quickly, despite the build-up, but I still thought Mick was great again this week, especially when it seemed like he would make the sacrifice play.
I felt like I was watching a movie during "Destiny." And that's definitely not a bad feeling to have while watching a show like Legends of Tomorrow. In fact, I'd say "Destiny" is the culmination of everything I wanted to see from this show. Well done, guys. Well done.
Other Thoughts:
- I liked revisiting the pilot. It really showed how much the characters have developed since then.
- The return of Captain & Tenille's "Love Will Keep Us Together" was a fun lil' callback, and the second this week a DC show reminded me of Guardians of the Galaxy.
- I usually don't crap on the set-design of this show, but I really felt like the set used for the Oculus building was a little weird.
- Seeing Savage kill Rip's family again was really great with the added context. The way it cut between Savage finding them and the crew battling the Time Masters was awesome.
- Someone on Reddit suggested we should see Mick wielding both the Heat gun and the Cold gun next week. One word: YES.
- About the finale: I hope we don't get into a situation where all the storytelling energy and budget was spent on the penultimate episode rather than the finale ala Arrow Season 3. Don't let me down, guys!
Rating: 9.4/10 boot crushings
Next week, it's the FINALE. Hopefully Legends can end its pretty solid first season on a high note...
Noah
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