Plot
With The Spear of Destiny in the hands of The Legion of Doom, reality has been rewritten and The Legends have never existed! Still, success has not eased tensions within The Legion of Doom's membership. Shockingly, the fate of The Legends and all of reality may rest on the broad shoulders of Mick Rory, who has never found it easy to be a hero...
Influences
Countless science-fiction stories involving restoring a timeline that has been changed.
Goofs
While the question of Mick's trustworthiness is debatable, why in the name of Odin's ravens would you leave the guy you don't trust unattended, in the home of one of your teammates with his mother upstairs making sandwiches, after telling said untrustworthy person that you don't trust him?! Even ignoring the potential danger to Mrs. Heywood, what's to stop said untrustworthy person from going off and doing something untrustworthy?
Performances
Emily Bett Rickards has a fun cameo as an alternate version of Felicity Smoak who dons a costume in the wake of the rest of all of Team Arrow (save perhaps Mister Terrific) dying.
Honestly, the whole ensemble is on fire to such a degree it's hard to pick anyone out as the best.
Artistry
The script for this episode is strong, filled with lots of witty dialogue and the perfect balance of drama, action and comedy.
Trivia Of Tomorrow
The episode opens with a new narration by Eobard Thawne.
At one point Snart says that he and Rory could be tossed in Iron Heights Prison and plot an escape for old time's sake. This is a clever nod to the show Prison Break, which Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell starred in before being cast in The Flash.
The STAR Labs reactor building in which Jax and Stein are working on Thawne's secret project resembles the domed-base of The Legion of Doom from the classic Challenge Of The Superfriends cartoons.
Nate remarks that Ray's pet rat looks like an Indiana as Ray and Rory argue about his name. This is a nod to the Indiana Jones movies, where we find out that Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr's nickname came from the dog that he had growing up.
Technobabble
Among Eobard Thawne's many scientific accomplishments in the new reality are figuring out cold fusion, saving the polar bear, fixing global warming and making desalination sustainable.
Nate Heywood calls the inconsistencies in reality that he discovered "scars". He theorizes that when reality was rewritten, his subconscious picked up on the inconsistencies in the new reality whenever he saw something that conflicted with his memories of the old reality.
Ray borrowed a set of dipole magnets from STAR Labs in Star City.
Ray constructed an energy gun which he calls a Transreality Multiplexer. It targets irregularities in the hippocampus, acting like a Ctrl-Z for memories (i.e. like an undo command on a computer). In short, it can restore the memories of people who had their minds altered by reality changing.
Nate notes that Ray's random impulse to work on such a device was the result of a scar prompting Ray to try and create something to fix reality despite his completely lack of training and resources in the new reality.
Gideon spent the last year working on new algorithms to redirect power from the the idle quadrants of The Waverider. This, in theory, could allow them to boost the power of Rip's distress signal.
Jax says that the reactor Stein is building will burn 1,000 times hotter than the sun once it was fully operational. Depending on if he was referring to the surface temperature or the core temperature, this means the reactor would burn somewhere from 58,000 degrees Kelvin to 150 million degrees Kelvin.
Dialogue Triumphs
Eobard Thawne: (voice-over) My name is Eobard Thawne. With the help of Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn, Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, I have obtained The Spear of Destiny - an ancient artifact with the power to rewrite reality itself. And we have. It's a brave new world!
Amaya: The mayor would like a word... Miss Smoak.
Felicity: (in a deep, gravely voice like what Oliver Queen uses as Green Arrow) Then maybe he should have come down here himself instead of sending The Bimbo Brigade.
Merlyn: You keep ignoring my requests for a meeting.
Thawne: Because there's no reason for one. Our partnership is ended! You got what you wanted. Your wife and your son are both alive and in good spirits. Your daughter Thea adores you! Nyssa Al Ghul is trapped in a miserable, closeted life in the middle of Ohio. And - hey - you can even clap again! What more could you possibly want?!
Merlyn: How about The Spear of Destiny? There are still some things in this world I would like to see changed...
Thawne: How many times do I have to tell you this, Malcolm? The Spear is safest in my hands. Besides, I'm the only one who knows how to use it.
Merlyn: That's because you destroyed The Kalabros Manuscript!
Thawne: Well, it's not my fault you don't retain information like I do! Speedster brains are handy that way.
(Snart and Rory exit a diamond exchange. A guard comes running at them. Rory shoots a fire blast the guard barely ducks away from.)
Snart: Cool it, Mick. We already got what we came for.
Rory: Just heating things up.
(A team of police officers run up as they round the corner.)
Cop: Don't move! Both of you on the ground!
(Rory draws his gun and aims it at the cops. Snart holds back.)
Cop: Mr. Snart! Sorry. Sir. We didn't realize it was you. Carry on.
(Rory looks confused as Snart just smiles and the police put their guns away and break ranks, leaving Snart and Rory a clear path to walk away.)
Rory: What the hell's going on? No roasting pigs?
Snart: No need. We're home free, buddy. It's good to be the king.
Rory: No getaway? No chase?
Snart: You want a chase, I can arrange a chase. Even get us tossed in Iron Heights and we can plan an escape, just like old times. How does that sound?
Rory: Boring!
Snart: Well, we can hit up the Central City Bank. They've got a fancy new vault I've been dying to crack...
Rory: What's the point? You own the bank and half the city!
Snart: You mean we own half the city, Mick. We're partners, remember?
(Snart reaches for his phone, which has begun vibrating while he was talking. He glances at it and his smile fades.)
Snart: Hmmm... Seems our next score will have to wait. Thawne is... summoning us.
Rory: Since when do we get summoned?
Snart: Since the man agreed not to erase you and your friends from existence.
Nate: You saved my life?! Why?!
Rory: ... because I'm an idiot.
Nate: This is crazier than any of my crazy theories! You're trying to tell me a group called (making air quotes) "The Legion of Doom" used something called the (making air quotes) "Spear of Destiny" to rewrite reality? Who even names something The Legion of Doom?!
Rory: You did.
Nate: Me?! (scoffs) Now, you only remember the old reality because you're part of The Legion?
Rory: I'm not part of anything. I just made a terrible mistake.
(Nate gets up off the floor after being zapped with the Transreality Multiplexer. His face is oddly calm as he turns around, looks at Mick Rory and then punches him.)
Nate: You son of a bitch!
(Rory grabs his jaw, not knocked back but stunned by how hard the punch was as he looks at the Transreality Multiplexer and then to a completely stunned Ray Palmer.)
Rory: It works!
(Rory zaps Ray with the Transreality Multiplexer. After a second, Ray looks at Rory, becomes enraged and punches him.)
Ray: You!
Rory: (rubbing his jaw) I deserved that.
Ray: Damn straight you did!
Rory: Hey! If it wasn't for me, you'd all be dead!
Nate: Yeah, Mick. Thanks a lot! You trapped each of us in our own personal hell.
Ray: Do you have any idea how many toilets I've cleaned?! So many!
(Sara and Amaya enter the room.)
Nate: Amaya?
Ray: Sara?
Rory: Hey, dumbasses? They have no clue who you are. They work for Damien Darhk.
(Without a word, Sara withdraws her escrima sticks and Amaya pulls her guns.)
(Sara is shot with the Transreality Multiplexer. She is shaken for a moment and then walks over to Mick Rory before punching him.)
Rory: One more person hits me, I'm gonna punch back!
Ray: I can only imagine how those psychopaths are torturing Rip.
(Cut to Rip, passed out on the floor under a table in the galley of The Waverider, where an ornate, clock-themed, multi-layer cake stands. He is quite clearly drunk.)
Rip: Gideon! I've discovered the missing ingredient for my recipe! (takes a swig from the bottle he is clutching) Rum!
(Rip tries to put the bottle on the table and succeeds only in dropping it on the floor. He shrugs at this in momentary confusion.)
Rip: And speaking of which, I'm gonna need you to fabricate me another bottle of it! Ooooh! And some nachoes!
Snart: When your minions bring Mick back, I want to arrange a meeting with Thawne. And when I say "arrange a meeting", I mean -
Merlyn: - one between Thawne and his maker?
Darhk: Cute. A little mustache-twirly for my taste.
(Damien Darhk lifts Sara off the ground with his telekinesis.)
Darhk: I'm going to miss you, Ms. Lance. Having you around to attend to my every whim was too enticing to pass up. Plus it's so hard to find good help these days!
Snart; (sarcastically) Really? Now's the time for a bad guy monologue?
(As Sara escapes with a now unbrainwashed Amaya, all thanks to Damien Darhk deciding to gloat and have Amaya kill Sara instead of just killing Sara himself.)
Snart: Damien? What did I tell you?
Merlyn: (mock-cheerful) For what it's worth, I thought it was a very good bad guy monologue.
(Darhk just simmers in impotent rage.)
(Thawne has just run into the reactor room where The Legends were trying - and failing - to restore Stein's memory.)
Thawne: Well. It looks like you losers managed to remember who you are.
(A flash of red lightning later and Thawne is standing on the other side of the room, holding The Spear of Destiny.)
Thawne: I should have wiped you from existence when I had the chance! Do you have any idea how infuriating it is... to know that Merlyn was right?!
(Darhk and Nate are struggling over The Spear Of Destiny. Thawne wakes up at that moment and they both see his eyes open. There is a moment of silent agreement as Darhk releases the spear and Nate swings, somehow catching Thawne as he's charging them. Thawne goes flying across the room and into a rack of chemicals. Darhk and Nate both laugh in delight and almost high-five before they remember "Oh yeah - you're on the other team.")
Darhk: Perhaps not.
(The two resume fighting.)
Snart: Mick! Hand it over! Like a good boy.
Rory: You mean a good dog. That's all I am to you. An attack dog.
Snart: Now, that's not true. Sure, we both know you're not the sharpest tool in the shed. But that's why we're partners! Remember?
Rory: You're right. I'm not a genius.
(Rory starts to walk toward Snart... then slides The Spear of Destiny along the floor behind him to Amaya.)
Rory: But I'm no one's dog, Leonard. Not anymore.
Snart: Well... I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Rory (to Amaya) Undo this mess.
(Amaya takes up The Spear and begins to chant. Suddenly, she freezes up - literally as a cold blast takes her in the chest and Snart approaches her.)
Snart: I am sorry about your friend, Mick. I know you loved her pieces.
(Snart taps Amaya on the shoulder and she shatters completely. Everyone else stands in shock, except for Rory, who draws his flame gun and stares down Snart. After a few seconds though, he lowers his gun and turns away, walking for the exit.)
Snart: Well, if you want something done right...
Darhk: Well done, Leonard.
Sara: (To Snart) You bastard! (To the rest of the Legion) I'll kill you all!
(Thawne suddenly appears behind Snart.)
Thawne: Actually, I believe that's my line...
Continuity
In the new reality, Damien Darhk is Mayor of Star City.
Sara and Amaya work for Damien Darhk as his enforcers.
In the new reality, Felicty Smoak - her hair now dyed black - is a vigilante fighting against Damien Darhk. We never find out her code-name but she has a purple costume with a mask, similar to the one worn by The Huntress, and is armed with two of Mister Terrific's T-Spheres.
Darhk has a collection of masks from vigilantes he has defeated. The collection includes the masks of Ragman, Black Canary, Wild Dog, Vigilante, Green Arrow, The Flash and Spartan. He adds the mask worn by Felicity Smoak.
In the new reality, Eobard Thawne runs STAR Labs.
Thawne has The Black Flash trapped in a cell in the main lab of STAR Labs.
In the new reality, Rebecca Merlyn and Tommy Merlyn are still alive. Thea Queen is now a loving and devoted daughter of Malcolm Merlyn. Nyssa Al Ghul is trapped in a miserable, closeted life somewhere in Ohio and his severed hand has been restored.
Thawne destroyed the Kalabros Manuscript, ensuring that he's the only person who now knows how to use The Spear of Destiny. He's also holding onto it... despite Merlyn's objections.
In the new reality, Jefferson Jackson and Martin Stein are employees at STAR Labs with Jax acting as Stein's manager.
In the new reality, Snart and Rory have returned to a life of crime. This time, however, the cops allow them to get away with anything.
From Rip's perspective, a year has passed since The Spear of Destiny was used. He has spent that time in hiding, perfecting his baking skills with Gideon, unaware if any of the rest of The Legends are alive or not.
In the new reality, Dr. Martin Stein still has a wife and daughter.
In the new reality, Ray Palmer is a janitor at the STAR Labs Reactor site.
In the new reality, Donald Trump is President of the United States and good friends with Eobard Thawne.
In the new reality, Nate Heywood has become a crazed conspiracy theorist with a blog that only his mother reads, who goes to Eobard Thawne with his theory that reality was rewritten.
The video game that Ray is playing when Nate and Rory find him seems to be based on Ray's actions during the Invasion! storyline. We see a meter on the screen that says "Dwarf Star Energy" and the character is blasting aliens called Dominators who look like the alien invaders from Invasion.
In the new reality Axel - the rat that Ray gave Rory as a pet in 211 - is a test animal at STAR Labs that Ray liberated for use in his own experiments. In this reality, Ray named him Tesla.
Snart implanted a GPS inside of Mick Rory.
The first thing Damien Darhk did in the new reality was reacquire his magic powers.
Damien says that he was told that he killed Laurel Lance in the original reality but that future never came to be for him. He did, however, kill Laurel Lance again in the new reality.
Ray Palmer has a gluten allergy or, at least, prefers gluten-free bread.
Rory recognizes what Aramaic sounds like because he enjoyed The Passion of The Christ.
Snart kills Amaya before she can finishing using The Spear of Destiny.
Thawne uses his reactor to destroy The Spear of Destiny. He then lets everyone - including his treacherous teammates - go free, since it's more satisfying for him to know that they failed to stop him and have to live out the rest of their lives in the reality he created.
As the episode closes, Martin Stein still hasn't had his memories of the original timeline restored.
Sara declares that their only chance now is going back in time to 1916 and stopping The Legion of Doom from getting the complete Spear of Destiny in the first place.
It is revealed that The Waverider has been shrunk and is disguised as a model on the desk in the main lab area of STAR Labs. Rip Hunter and Gideon have apparently been trapped inside it for the last year.
Location
Star City - 2017.
Central City - 2017.
The Bottom Line
Fantastic. Just fantastic.
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