Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2, Episode 10 - The Legion Of Doom

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here



Plot

The Legends are determined to find and rescue Rip Hunter but first they must find the Spear of Destiny. Professor Stein has some ideas on how to accomplish that but they require bringing in a new teammate - his daughter Lily! Meanwhile, Merlyn and Darhk realize that The Reverse Flash is pitting them against each other and decide to renegotiate their partnership.


Influences

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (three bad men in an uneasy alliance slowly turn on each other) and The Flash comics of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar (presence of The Black Flash)


Goofs

In the opening narration, Darhk says he was removed from the timeline 31 years before his death in 2016. In Episode 205, he left the timeline in 1987, which is 29 years before 2016.

So neither Professor Stein nor his wife told their daughter that he was time-traveling in the adjusted reality?

For that matter, in the new reality, Lily Stein knew nothing about her father's work on his FIRESTORM project or learned of how he became Firestorm during the months he was missing following the Particle Accelerator explosion in Central City?


Performances

John Barrowman, Neal McDonough and Matt Letscher all manage the neat trick of being menacing and funny in equal measure.


Artistry

It's a minor point in the script but I love how Mick Rory is the one to congratulate Professor Stein on the birth of his daughter in Hebrew and nobody bats an eye at the psychopathic arsonist saying "Mazel Tov".

The sword-fight between Darhk and Merlyn is well-executed.

The script overall is a work of art, with lots of witty dialogue that covers up the fact that most of this episode is devoted to explaining away various plot-holes from The Flash regarding the nature of time-travel and the various defenses Time is supposed to use to deal with rogue speedsters.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The episode title comes from from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Challenge Of The Superfriends, where the heroic Superfriends fought a villain group called The Legion of Doom.

The episode opens with an entirely new narration - this time given by Damien Darhk.

Instead of the usual icons for The Legends coming together for the Legends of Tomorrow logo, the icons include the Reverse Flash's red lighting bolt inside a circle insignia, a red arrow icon for Merlyn and some sort of mystic symbol for Darhk.

The "monster' which is chasing after Thawne resembles The Black Flash - a being from the comics who is the angel of death for speedsters.


Technobabble

The Longinus Medallion gives off low levels of ionic radiation.

Lily Stein developed an ionic transmographer that fits in her purse. Martin Stein says he never saw one smaller than a house. Lily says she had an idea of how to hyper-miniaturize the technology while on vacation in Tahiti.

A short-wave ionic pulse activates The Longinus Medallion.

Lilly refers to The Waverider as "a temporal navigation vessel".

The Longinus Medallion's information feed mainlines 1.2 zetabytes of data directly into Gideon's brain.

A mnemonic archive is a piece of future technology (invented in the 22nd century that stores a person's memories.

Time wraiths are creatures that hunt down speedsters who alter the timeline and destroy them before they can cause serious, permanent damage.

Lily Stein is working on developing a new series of synthetic proteins.


Dialogue Triumphs

Darhk: (voice-over) My name is Damien Darhk. In 2016, I was murdered by The Green Arrow. But I was removed from the timeline 31 years before my death by a speedster from the future named Eobard Thawne. Together, with Malcolm Merlyn, the former head of The League of Assassins, the three of us are going to locate The Spear of Destiny - a mystical object which can rewrite reality itself. With The Spear in our possession, we will change our past and our future and the world as you know it!

(Merlyn turns off the TV, where he just saw news footage of Green Arrow killing Damien Darhk. He goes to his couch, pours himself a glass of some kind of liquor, sits down and sighs. Suddenly, Damien Darhk and Eboard Thawne run into the room.)
Darhk: This is the great Malcolm Merlyn? I am unimpressed.
Thawne: Well, he's fallen on hard times. But this man used to be Ra's Al Ghul.
(Merlyn just stares at the two men, as if to silently ask what the hell is going on.)
Thawne: Ah - we haven't met. I'm Eobard Thawne. I'm from the future.
(Merlyn slowly rises from the couch, ready to voice the obvious question.)
Merlyn: What the hell is going on here?
Darhk: Excellent question. Here's another. Do you believe in second chances?
Merlyn: I just watched you die.
Darhk: Yeah. I hear 2016's not my best year but I plan on fixing that.
Thawne: Yeah. But the question for you Malcolm is... do you wish to see your fortunes similar reversed?
Merlyn: By time travel?
Thawne: No. No, something MUCH better.
(Merlyn looks to the smiling Darhk and downs his drink.)

(Merlyn claims he can use his hypnosis training to break down the walls in Rip Hunter's mind.)
Thawne:
Is this some... technique you picked up with the League of Assassins?
Merlyn: The League didn't call me "The Magician" for nothing.
(Darhk sighs and rolls his eyes as he looks out the window.)
Thawne: Well, be quick about it. Speedsters aren't known for their patience.
(Merlyn glowers at Thawne as he leaves the room.)
Darhk: What's to stop Hunter's crew from finding the rest of the Spear before Merlyn finishes unscrambling Hunter's brain?
Thawne: The workings of the medallion are lost to history. Trying to get it to reveal its secrets will prove difficult. Plus, we have an additional advantage over them.
Darhk: Enlighten me.
Thawne: (shrugs) They're idiots!

Thawne: This is what I get for relying on a washout and a dead guy.

(Merlyn and Darhk are arguing about the best way to go about robbing the Swiss bank.)
Merlyn: Hunter is an asset! One that we can use to gain access to our objective! To not use him is foolish!
Darhk: Oh! Well, in that case I would have to defer to your superior expertise in foolishness. But if your plan goes south, it's not our speedster friend you need to worry about.
Merlyn: One thing I hate more than taking orders from him... is being threatened by you.
(Darhk and Merlyn glare daggers at each other. Merlyn suddenly smiles.)
Merlyn: Luckily, Damien... I don't find you threatening.

Every single "Why are you looking at me when you say that? gag.

Ray: Wait - she wants to try networking the ancient amulet with an advanced AI system? I'm totally helping!

Merlyn: What do you think's going on with him?
Darhk: It's simple. His mind is pudding.
Merlyn: Not Hunter. Thawne. It's strange how he never stays in one place for very long.
Darhk: Perhaps that's why they refer to them as speedsters?
Merlyn: (smirking) What? You think he left us behind in 1967 Los Angeles because he had a more pressing engagement? What about what he said to us earlier?
Darhk: That he wanted to kill one of us?
Merlyn: No! That he didn't know why he was relying on us! I mean, fair question - why does a time-traveling speedster need to rely on anyone? Thawne's hiding something. (grinning) Wouldn't you like to know what it is?
(Darhk chuckles along with Merlyn and then goes cold dead serious.)
Darhk: Thawne said we knew each other back in 2016. Do I really become so stupid that you think these mind tricks will work on me?
Merlyn: I am not trying-
Darhk: In a trio such as ours, turning one against each other for your own benefit is not only obvious but cliche!
Merlyn: Thawne does not treat us as equals to him. And until he does, neither of us is getting what he wants.

(Merlyn and Darhk are struggling, blades at each other's throats.)
Phil: Okay! Stop! Stop! Time out! Time out! Can't you see that this is what your boss wants! For his underlings to be at one another's throats? Like... literally?
Merlyn: He is not our boss!
Darhk: (To Merlyn) Did he just call us underlings?
Phil: Oh, I'm sorry.  Uh...Henchmen.
Darhk: (pointing his sword at Phil) Try again.
Merlyn: Wait, wait, wait... what if he's right?
Darhk: Oh, you actually care what this pudding-brain hippie has to say?!
Phil: It's just like the movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Three bad guys. Nobody knows who to trust so they all end up screwing each other over.
Darhk: (To Merlyn) It's an interesting theory. (To Phil) Which one are we?
Phil: The point is that neither of you are Clint Eastwood and so neither of you end up going home with the gold.
Merlyn: We're not after the gold.
Phil: Yeah, I know, I now. I know what you're after. (To Merlyn) You - you want to change your past. (To Darhk) And you - you want to change your future. And the fast guy is the only one who can make those two things happen.
Merlyn: (To Darhk) I told you! Thawne doesn't treat us as equals. Even the hippie knows it! And he also knows that the only way to stop Thawne from screwing us over is for us to work together.
Darhk: Two former memebers of The League of Assassins versus a speedster?
Merlyn: I am liking those odds.

Jax: (staring at Stein's mug) Is that whiskey?!
Stein: Of course it's not whiskey! It's brandy! What do you take me for - a sailor?

(Merlyn and Darhk have strung their trap on Thawne.)
Thawne: It seems you two have formed an alliance. There's just one problem...
Merlyn: That you're the only one who can give us what we want? Yes. We know.
Darhk: You're always so quick to remind us how much we need you, Eobard.
Merlyn: But clearly you need us.
Darhk: You could have gotten into this vault all by yourself. Why didn't you?
(The alarm on Thawne's wrist starts beeping. He looks down at it, clearly nervous.)
Merlyn: And for that matter, why would a man who can travel through time always be in such a hurry?
Thawne: We don't have time for this!
Darhk: Oh, I've got all the time in the world...


Continuity

It is confirmed that the version of Malcolm Merlyn working with The Legion of Doom was pulled from time from the end of Arrow's fourth season. (i.e. May 2016)

Merlyn is trained in the art of hypnosis.

Sara still refuses to call their enemies The Legion of Doom.

Merlyn is unable to use hypnosis to retrieve Rip Hunter's memories because there's nothing to retrieve.

Darhk finds a barcode engraved on one of Rip Hunter's teeth. It turns out to be account information for a security deposit box in Switzerland. The box was last accessed in January 2025.

The rest of The Legends learn about the existence of Lily Stein.

Lily Stein learns about her status as a Time Aberration, brought about because of Martin Stein's talk with his younger self in 205,

Rip Hunter's security deposit box number is 4587.

The photos of the Speedsters The Legends analyze include Kid Flash, The Rival, Trajectory, Jesse Quick, The Flash and Jay Garrick - The Flash of Earth 3.

The food replicator on The Waverider is capable of simulating anything except for American Cheese. Ray finds this ironic, given that American Cheese is already synthetic.

Stein says the reason he and his wife originally never had children was because he was afraid that he would be as distant and cool as his own father was in raising him.

Nate hits upon the idea that their speedster enemy is the opposite of Lily Stein - someone whose existence was erased due to a time aberration rather than being born as a result of one. This spurs Stein's memory regarding the battle between Team Flash and Eobard Thawne.

Stein relates the events of F123 and how Eobard Thawne was erased from existence thanks to his ancestor, Eddie Thawne, committing suicide. He also explains how The Speed Force acted as a buffer which protected Thawne to a point.

Nate theorizes that the reason Thawne needs Merlyn and Darhk to help him is that Thawne has to keep moving so that reality doesn't catch up with him and erase him from existence.

Thawne later confirms this, making mention of The Time Wraiths (first seen in F217) and how he is being hunted by a being that is similar yet far worse.

The creature hunting Thawne resembles the villain Zoom following his abduction by Time Wraiths in F223 - a zombie-like being in a black Flash costume. The creature tracks speedsters in motion and cannot sense them if they stand perfectly still. The creature also has a physical form, as Thawne is successfully able to push it into a bank vault. (While not confirmed this being greatly resembles The Black Flash from the comics - the angel of death for speedsters.)

The episode ends with Rip Hunter, in 1776, attempting to assassinate George Washington.


Location

Star City - May 2016
Undisclosed Location sometime after 2025. - Eight months after Merlyn left 2016 from his perspective.
Central City - January 2017.
Zurich - January 2025.
New Jersey - December 25, 1776.


The Bottom Line

A fantastic episode which puts our villains in the spotlight and lets them run wild to great effect.

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