Plot
With most of the team in the custody of The Time Masters and Vandal Savage back on the way to his proper place in time, things have never looked bleaker for The Legends. But Captain Cold and The Canary are still free!
Influences
Star Wars (Snart and Sara's hiding on-board The Waverider mimics the smuggling compartments on the Millennium Falcon), Doctor Who (the general time travel trickery plot, The Time Masters act just like The Time Lords, the free will vs. predestination theme and a mention of reversing the polarity), Back To The Future (Jax working with the past Stein to fix a time machine is reminiscent of Marty McFly working with the younger Doc Brown and the free will vs. predestination theme), the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (the sequence where the crashing time-ship computers burst into song mirrors HAL's break-down), Pinocchio (reference is made to being a puppet without strings, Snart quotes the song "I've Got No Strings" from the Disney version) the animated movie Justice League: Starcrossed (idea of a Thanagarian invasion of Earth) and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (the concept of The Oculus is basically a high-tech version of The Book Of Destiny.)
Goofs
How is it The Time Masters are able to predict The Legends going after the Oculus Wellspring but are totally unprepared for Jax's arrival from 2016 in the jump-ship? Logically, that should have been completely under the control since all of Jax's actions took place outside of The Vanishing Point.
If Rip Hunter saw Ray Palmer die trying to destroy The Oculus Wellspring, but they are able to control their destinies while inside The Vanishing Point, why didn't he try to have anyone except Ray work on disabling The Oculus computer?
Performances
Honestly, the whole cast is on-point tonight and everyone gets at least one great scene. Arthur Darvill's heart-breaking realization that even in victory over The Time Masters and Destiny, he still couldn't save his family. The scenes between Brandon Routh and Dominic Purcell in the kitchen. The scenes between Victor Garber and Franz Drameh as they try to repair the Jump Ship. The final scene between Ciara Reene and Casper Crump. And every single moment Wentworth Miller and Caity Lotz are on-screen, but especially when they are together.
Artistry
The special effects work throughout the episode is of cinematic quality.
Trivia Of Tomorrow
Druce claims that in 2175 a group of aliens called The Thanagarians invade the Earth and only Vandal Savage's leadership can preserve the human race. In the DC Comics Universe, The Thanagarians are a war-like race of winged humanoids.
Some versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl in the comics and other DC Comics cartoon series were Thanagarians.
Technobabble
Martin Stein must merge with Jefferson Jackson periodically to maintain nuclear cohesion.
Gideon uploaded herself into the latency core of The Waverider to avoid being wiped out by The Time Masters.
The restraints binding Kendra in Savage's timeship are made of Tiberian Steel.
Mick Rory was only given a partial induction when he was transformed into Chronos.
The Oculus Viewing Chamber is the Time Master's most powerful window into the past, present and future. It is the source of all their information on the timeline. It's existence is known only to The High Council of The Time Masters. It not allows them to view any event in space and time - it also allows them to shape time as they see fit.
Choice and Free Will are illusions thanks to The Time Master's manipulation of The Oculus. The only place in the universe where free will and choices are truly possible is within The Vanishing Point itself. Rip says this is most likely due to The Vanishing Point existing outside of Time.
As they are repairing the Jumpship, Jax says that Stein is drawing too much power from the sequestrian manifold.
Gideon establishes an uplink with the omnimatrix mainframe of The Time Masters, so that Rip and Ray can remotely disable their tractor beam.
Past Stein tells Jax not to forget to initiate the quantum attenuator once he locks onto The Vanishing Point.
The Oculus is a massive temporal computer, most likely powered by a scaled-down supernova. Deactivating the core-contained supernova should create an anomalistic event. (i.e. a very big explosion.) Ray describes the explosion as, on a scale of 1 to 10, a googolplex (i.e. 10 to the power of 1 followed by 100 zeroes)
At one point, Ray must reverse the polarity matrix of The Oculus computer.
There is a fail-safe to prevent tampering with The Oculus. In order for The Oculus to be destroyed, someone must maintain physical contact with the fail-safe lever.
Tabula Rasa is a Latin phrase meaning "blank slate". Ray quotes the phrase when referring to the status of their destinies in the wake of the destruction of The Oculus.
Dialogue Triumphs
(As Rip finishes his sales pitch to The Legends)
Ray: So what do you think?
Snart: I think that's five minutes of my life I'm not getting back.
Stein: He just showed us the entire world in flames.You can't turn your back on that!
Snart: Observe.
(Snart and Rory turn around and leave.)
Druce: You were a fugitive from justice.
Rip: You're helping Vandal Savage take over the world. I have a feeling that our definition of 'justice' may differ somewhat.
Snart: Let's get out of here.
Sara: Wait! What about the team?
Snart: Nothing more we can do for them.
Sara: You're just gonna leave Mick?
Snart: If the Time Masters are half as twisted as Mick said, there's an excellent chance Mick is no longer Mick. Now why aren't we flying yet?!
Sara: Because I'm not going anywhere! And even if we wanted to, we're in a hanger surrounded by an entire armada of timeships!
Snart: It's The Waverider! We've got guns! We can blast our way out!
Sara: This isn't Bonnie and Clyde. And I'm not going anywhere without the rest of the team.
(Snart draws his gun and aims it at Sara.)
Snart: Maybe I didn't make myself clear.
Sara: Don't do that. Don't act like you're that same cold-hearted bastard that I first met. I remember Russia. And you were the one who told me not to kill Stein.
Snart: Yeah, because you seem to have a problem with being a killer. I, however, don't.
Sara: Prove it. Shoot me.
(The two stare each other down. Suddenly, the phone in Rip's room starts ringing. Sara goes to answer it without a word.)
Sara: ... hello?
Gideon: Hello, Ms. Lance.
Sara: Gideon, you're alive!
Gideon: If by being "alive", you mean that my operating system is intact, yes.
Declan: After we're finished, temporal criminals and time pirates alike will quake at the sound of your boot steps.
Rory: Mmmm. Well, for your sake you'd better hope that plan works. Because if it doesn't, that boot's gonna crush your skull.
Ray: What did they do you?
Rip: They showed me the truth.
(Stein allows a piece of the Jumpship to overheat after Jax warned him about it happening.)
Stein: Well... you were right.
Jax: (sarcastically) Oh, don't sound so surprised!
Stein: Well, it's not often an auto mechanic knows more than a nuclear physicist.
Jax: You know, I forgot how arrogant you were.
Stein: "Were"? Why are you referring to me in the past tense? Do you witness my death?
Jax: Relax. You don't die.
Stein: Horribly maimed?
(Snart tells Sara the story of his pinky ring.)
Snart: Three weeks of planning and all I have to show for it...
Sara: ...was a lousy pinky ring. (sarcastically) So sad.
Snart: (sarcastically) Considering i'm about to trade my life for nothing, I think I came out ahead.
(Rory is back in his Chronos armor. He enters the prison block along with Declan. Snart holds his gun on Rory.)
Snart: Put the gun down, Mick.
Declan: Chronos. Fire.
(Rory take's the safety off his gun as he has a stare-down with Snart.)
Rory: Sure thing.
(Rory turns his gun and shoots Declan. He then takes his helmet off and approaches the fatally wounded, but still breathing Declan.)
Rory: As I recall, I made you a certain promise.
Declan: No, I beg of you, no!
(We cut to Rory's face as he steps on Declan's head and a sickening squish is heard.)
Jax: Oh! By the way, I'm going to be real pissed about this whole roofie thing. But I do get over it.
Stein: Roofie thing? I- I would never dream-
Jax: Yeah, you do. (chuckles) But it's okay. It's actually the best decision I never made. (pauses) The future... you want to know what happens?
Stein: No. No. It's - it's alright. I- I know enough. The young man in front of me is proof that something must have gone right on this adventure.
(After Ray suggests destroying The Oculus.)
Sara: I'm with Ray.
Rip: If I'm going to be someone's puppet, I'm gonna be the one who cuts his own bloody strings.
Rory: And I like blowing stuff up.
Ray: We set out on this mission to stop Savage and save the world. Become Legends. Change our fates. That mission hasn't changed.
Snart: This is madness. (smirks) I like it.
Rory: The Time Masters have been known to make mistakes, you know.
Ray: But what if those mistakes were all part of the plan? Actually, I gotta stop thinking about it. The temporal implications are infinite.
Rory: That's why I don't think.
(Snart stands in the doorway of Sara's room. Sara is lying on her bed. Snart holds up his card deck.)
Sara: Not in the mood.
Snart: I was going to apologize for pulling a gun on you. But apparently I was just following a script.
Sara: Doesn't make you any less of a jerk.
Snart: Guilty. So what do we think of Rip's plan?
Sara: Does it matter? Apparently everything we're going to do has already been predetermined by Rip's former bosses.
Snart: It's funny. I always prided myself on being the guy who doesn't play by the rules. Come to find out... I'm the one being played.
Sara: I don't know. I still feel responsible for everything I've done. And it still keeps me up at night.
Snart: It's the things I didn't do that keep me up at night.
Sara: What's that?
Snart: Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's being on this ship, traveling through time. Started to wonder what the future might hold for me. And you. And me and you.
(Snart looks at her, smirking.)
Sara: You want to steal a kiss from me, Leonard? You'd better be one hell of a thief.
(Sara gets up and leaves the room.)
(Snart runs up to Rory, who is holding down the fail-safe for The Oculus)
Snart: Mick!
Rory: Get outta here!
Snart: Not without you, Mick!
Rory: Pretty boy said I gotta hold the stick for the ship to blow. So I'm holding the stick! Now leave!
Snart: My old friend... please forgive me.
Rory: For what?!
(Snart wacks Rory across the back of his head with the cold gun. He then puts it down and takes over holding down the fail safe. Sara runs up.)
Snart: Get him outta here!
Sara: No.
Snart; Just do it.
(Sara looks at Snart. Then she steps close to him, grabs his arm and kisses him hard. He kisses back for a moment before she breaks the kiss, looks at him a moment, then moves to pick up Mick.)
(Druce enters the room with The Oculus computer with a squad of soldiers. Snart continues to hold the fail safe even as they draw weapons on him.)
Druce: No! Shut it down!
(The computer core begins to glow with an intense blue light.)
Druce: Shut it down!
Snart: (smiling) There are no strings on me.
Ray: He traded his life for ours. He was a hero. Which i'm pretty sure is the last thing he wanted to be remembered as.
Sara: But that's what he was.
(Sara wipes away a tear quickly before anyone notices her facade crack.)
Rory: I killed Declan. Druce is dead. The Time Masters have nothing now that their ship is completely destroyed. Yet... I still feel the need to kill someone for Snart.
Ray: Savage still has Carter and Kendra.
Rory: He'll do nicely.
Savage: I no longer need to rule the world, Chay-ara. I now have the ability to change it.
Continuity
Rory says he was able to resist The Time Masters' brainwashing the first time by focusing on his desire for revenge on the other Legends. He says most of those who aren't killed by the Time Masters' brainwashing are made completely mindless.
Rip makes reference to 104 and Druce's offer to surrender to him then.
Druce claims that The Thanagarians are due to invade Earth in 2175 and only Vandal Savage's leadership of a united Earth will be able to repel the invasion and assure the survival of humanity.
Sara makes reference to 105 and Snart stopping her from assassinating Martin.
It is revealed that all of Rip Hunter's actions were engineered by The Time Masters to help cement Vandal Savage's eventual control of The Earth.
It is further revealed that Vandal Savage killed Rip Hunter's family on the orders of The Time Masters, in order to spur Rip to take the actions necessary to bring about Savage's rise to power.
Rip Hunter saw Ray Palmer's death in the future, among the other things Druce showed him to convince Rip that everything he had done was predetermined.
Martin Stein invented the sequestrian manifold.
Leonard Snart has a silver pinky ring he kept from his first robbery with Mick. It wasn't a memento but a reminder that even the best laid plans can go sideways.
The second time Rory underwent The Time Masters' brainwashing, he resisted by thinking about The Legends. He claims he was thinking about how screwed they'd be without him but later threatens to shave Ray's head if he tells everyone he actually cares about the team.
Rory knocks Ray out and sacrifices himself so that Ray and Rip can escape.
Snart knocks Rory out so Rory and Sara can escape.
Sara kisses Snart before escaping with Rory.
Snart seemingly dies in the explosion that destroys The Oculus Wellspring.
Sara seems to be praying as the rest of the team is thinking about Snart.
Gideon is no longer able to check the timeline data due to the destruction of The Oculus. She is, however, able to check newspaper records and confirms that Rip's wife and son are still killed.
Snart planted his ring on Rory as he knocked him out.
The Time Master Savage speaks to at the end of the episode confirms that Druce is dead and that The Time Masters no longer have any capacity to manipulate time. They also cut ties with Savage, saying that time as they have foreseen it is unmoored and they can no longer say what the future will bring.
Location
Star City - January 2016
The Vanishing Point
Central City - January 2016.
The Vanishing Point - Oculus Wellspring
London 2166
The Fridge Factor
Kendra is reduced to a screaming damsel in distress, spending the entire episode either in a cell or in bondage.
The Bottom Line
Damn near flawless. The only real weak moments are - as usual - those involving Kendra and Vandal Savage. Thankfully, these moments are the smallest part of the episode and most of it is focused on the best relationships in the show amid all the action.
If this were to be Captain Cold's final appearance in the DCTVU, it would be a fitting one. I'm not quite ready to write Leonard Snart off just yet, though. Still, as far as ways to go out go, breaking reality and establishing freedom for everyone everywhere after a kiss from Canary is tough to beat.
No comments:
Post a Comment