Monday, April 9, 2018

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 3, Episode 18 - The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly

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



Plot

With Mallus freed, Rip Hunter becomes determined to improvise a new plan that doesn't involve using the six Zambesi totems. Amaya, in turn, becomes more determined than ever to use the totems to destroy Mallus once and for all while Sara wants to seek out new bearers. It all leads down to a Legendary showdown in The Wild West... but not everyone may be making it out of this fight.


Influences

Weird Western Tales (the general theme), every cartoon that involves the themes of the heroes combining positive energy and elemental powers for an ultimate attack and the movie Ghostbusters (the team goofball causes an elemental being to manifest in a silly form.)


Goofs

With all the references to Care Bears and Voltron, they really should have dropped a reference to Captain Planet too. (Elemental jewelry being used to summon a perfect being?)


Performances

It's a brief thing, but the short scenes of Tala Ashe and Johnathon Schaech as Zari and Jonah Hex become friendly (despite Zari's obvious aversion to a man who wears a Confederate officer's hat) are magical.


Artistry

The final battle between The Legends and Malice's forces is perfect.

The CGI for the battle between Malice and The Perfect Being, while not wholly realistic, does work for what it is.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The title is a parody of the classic Western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

This episode reveals that Mallus' true name is Malice. Strangely enough, there is a long history of comic book villains named Malice, but only one of them is from DC Comics. These include two Black Panther villains, an evil secondary personality of The Invisible Woman, an alternate universe version of The Invisible Woman, a body-less X-Men villain who possessed others, a Ghost Rider enemy and two characters from two separate Image Comics series. The DC Comics Malice is the daughter of the New God Vermin Vundabar and a member of The Female Furies.

Ray identifies the town of Salvation as lying in North Dakota, though in 1874 it was still known as The Dakota Territory. North Dakota did not become ratified as a state until 1889.

Nate compares the original Totem Bearers unifying their powers to The Care Bear Stare - an attack used in The Care Bears cartoons where the titular animals would fight beings that thrived on negative by radiating their positive energy through focused blasts of light that emitted from their tummies.

Nate also compares using the Zambesi totems to create a perfect being of light to counter Malice to the cartoon character Voltron - Defender Of The Universe - who was formed by a combination of five robot lions.


Technobabble

By removing The Time Drive of The Waverider, Rip makes it unstable. He hopes to use its explosion to temporarily delay Malice, though it will likely kill him in the process.

Salvation is a temporal blind spot to those who have the ability to see through time. Sara presumes that this applies to a time demon like Malice as much as it did The Time Masters. This turns out to be dead wrong.

Zari creates a "temporal beacon" program to contact The Legends allies across time in order to find likely totem bearers.

Code 1-1-3 in Nate's system for PA announcements means "Everyone Report To The Bridge." It seems likely this is the code Nate meant to use in the last episode, when he usded Code 1-3-1, which means they're serving pancakes at breakfast.

The process for creating a perfect being of light using The Zambesi Totems is thus: Fire provides the spark of life. Air gives it breath. Water gives it blood. Earth gives it flesh. Spirit gives it a soul. Death gives it the power over Malice.


Dialogue Triumphs

Gideon: I believe I know what you are planning. It is extremely reckless with a low likelihood of success.
Rip: Well, then. It seems like I've finally learned how to think like a Legend.

Sara: Rip?!
Rip: I'm a little busy at the moment, Sara!
Sara: Look, you didn't tell us that you were buying us time with your life.
Rip: Listen carefully: this gambit will not kill Mallice. I'm only delaying him long enough for you to make an escape.
Sara: There has to be another way!
Rip: No. There isn't. (calmly) It's all right, Sara. I should very much like to see my wife and son again. I will miss you, Captain Lance. You and the rest of The Legends. My one hope is that you all live up to that name.

Rip: Goodbye.
Sara: (quietly) Goodbye, Captain. (shouting) Gideon, get us out of here!
(Malice approaches Rip, growling and throwing fireballs, but unable to reach him because of the force field. The Waverider flies past them and disappears. Malice growls in rage.)
Rip:
Ironic, isn't it?! A time demon who has run out of time!
(The Drive explodes, creating a portal that pulls Malice into it.)
Damien: (depressed) Well, I hope you're here to make good on your promise and kill me. Which would work out for both of us. It would be a real win-win.
Sara: Mercy killing's not my style. Even if it were, you don't deserve my mercy. You deserve to live out the rest of your days knowing that you destroyed your own daughter.

Sara: Ray? Nothing stupid.
(Sara leaves the lab. Damien turns to Ray.)
Damien: Is she right? Are you really planning something stupid?
Ray: Maybe. Probably. (pauses) Most likely. But it could fix this whole thing. And get Nora back. 


Sara: So who died and made you Sheriff?
Jonah Hex: That would be the old Sheriff.

Sara: We are not here to cause trouble. We're here to avoid it.
(Suddenly, there is the sound of shooting out in the streets. Everyone runs out to see three riders approaching.)
Jonah Hex: This the trouble you aiming to avoid?
Sara: ... not exactly.
(The riders stop to reveal themselves as Blackbeard, Julius Caesar and Freydís Eiríksdóttir. Their eyes glow red, indicating their possession by Malice.)

(Ray punches Nate and runs onto the now activated jump-ship. Nate can be heard pounding on the side of the ship, asking Ray if he's gone crazy.)
Damien: You know, not that I couldn't watch Pompadour get punched out all day, but you could have just told him where we are going. (pauses) Where are we going?
Ray: To right before Mallus took over Nora. And I can't tell anybody because we're not supposed to travel to events in which we've participated in.
Damien: Hah. And no one on your team trusts -me-?
Ray: Well, that goes without saying.

Zari: Sara wants us to find new totem bearers but we're a little short on allies.
Jonah Hex: Well, The Legends, they may be... an unorthodox lot, but they got a knack for making friends. 
Zari: Like you?
Jonah Hex: (grunting) I don't take a shine for most folks.
Zari: (smirking) Me either.

(Amaya is running through how to use the totems to create their "perfect being".)
Amaya: Nate...
Nate: (firmly) I will use The Earth Totem to give Voltron flesh!
Sara: You've got to stop calling it that.
Nate: I will never stop calling it that!

(Sara is reluctant to wield The Death Totem)
Mick: (earnestly) Don't worry. If you turn into witch bitch, I'll kill you.
Sara: ... thank you.
Mick: You're welcome.

(The six totem bearers join hands and the totems light up. The following conversation takes place telepathically.)
Mick:
Why does Pretty have such girly hands?
Nate: Damn... this Lyoga root is strong!  Concentrate Nate. Think about "Voltron: Defender of the Universe."
Wally: I kind of pictured myself wielding something cool. Like a lightning totem.
Zari: Am I crazy, or is Jonah Hex hot?
Sara: Eh. You could do worse than Hex.
Zari: Wait. You can hear me?
Amaya: We can all hear each other.
Mick: Even what I said about Pretty's girly hands?
Everyone Except Mick: YES!

Ava: I got your message. We all did.
(Helen and Kuasa nod to The Legends.)
Jax: You guys just can't seem to keep yourselves out of trouble, can you?

Sara: All right. We're facing an army of Romans, Vikings and Pirates. But you know what today is? Today is the day that we prove that Rip did not sacrifice his life in vain. And today is the day that we prove that we are not losers! And today is the day that we earn the name Legends!
(Everyone cheers as Sara slams back a shot of whiskey.)
Sara:
Now... how do we sneak out the back?

(Amaya opens her eyes to look at the perfect being as it is forming.)
Amaya: Wait - Is somebody thinking of-?
Nate: I'm sorry! You said think of something pure and I thought -
Sara: (disgusted) No. You didn't...
Nate: Again, I said I'm sorry!
Zari: Yeah. I can't stop thinking about him either.
(The being continues forming as Jax backs into the saloon, gun in hand.)
Jax: Guys! Whatever you've got -
(Jax spins around and goes slack-jawed as he sees something astonishing. He then runs back out into the street because whatever he was running from is clearly not as bad as what the other Legends have unleashed. The ground begins to shake as the assembled hordes of Malice's troops and our heroes look around, united in terror.)
Jonah Hex: What the Sam Hill is going on?!
Ray: I think this is part of Sara's plan.
(The roof is blown off of the saloon. Everyone looks up in shock as a being lands on the ground before them. It is big, blue and cuddly with large eyes. It is a giant Beebo.)
Beebo:
Mmmm!  I lo-lo-love you!
Freydís Eiríksdóttir: (horrified) The Blue God - he has returned!
(Ray's jaw drops as he tries to say something but instead laughs manically.)
Helen of Troy: That is your Captain's plan?!
Ava: Where in the hell are Sara and the others?
Jax: That is Sara and the others!
Ava: What?!
Beebo: Beebo hungry!
(Beebo runs off towards where Mallus stands in the distance.)
Jax:
Man, have I missed you guys.

Beebo: Beebo want cuddle!

(The rest of the team run up to find the Totem Bearers in a crater as blue fur and stuffing rain down from the sky.)
Zari: Guys, we did it! Our totems united to create a single furry love child.
Mick: Worst. Orgy. Ever.
Nora: (looking around the scene, hoping to see her father) Dad?
Ray: I'm sorry, Nora. (pauses) He died a good man.
Jonah Hex: Damnation. Now I've just have seen 'bout everything.
Ava: (spitting fluff from her mouth) So, wait?  That's it? You destroyed the demon?
Amaya: I'm just glad the ancestors aren't here to see this.
Sara: Yeah, but Rip would be proud.
(Ray laughs again as everyone cheers.)
Nate: We did it, Mick!
(All the totem bearers run forward and group hug a clearly annoyed Mick.)
Mick: Get off of me!

Ray: (To Nora) He died to give you a second chance. Don't waste it.

Amaya: You guys are my family. Always will be. But I have another family waiting for me in the years to come. And they need me more.

Amaya (To Nate): I don't want to forget. Because if I do, I will have lost the only part of you that I'm allowed to keep.

(John Constantine has dropped a large sack onto the beach.)
John Constantine: Now...
(John pulls the sack away to reveal a dragon's head.)
John Constntine: Whose brilliant idea was it to let an ancient demon out of his bloody cage?
Nate: Sara's.
John Constantine: Well, you opened a door, love. And Mallus wasn't the only thing that got out.


Continuity

Mallus' true name is revealed to be Malice.

Rip removes The Time Drive from The Waverider.

Wally and Zari remove the Time Drive from The Waverider's jump ship and use it to fix Gideon's systems so the team can escape.

Rip is apparently killed blowing up the Time Drive in a bid to slow down Malice.

Ray doesn't drink alcohol, but makes an exception because of Rip's apparent death.

The Legends first traveled to Salvation in 111. They arrived there in 1871. This time they arrive in 1874.

Salvation is a temporal blind spot that The Time Masters were unable to see into. Sara believes Malice should be similarly blind to the events that take place there. She turns out to be wrong.

Sara theorizes that the reason why the totems were ineffective against Malice is because the people wielding the totems were not born to be the bearers, as Zari and Amaya were.

Jonah Hex makes his first appearance since 206. Since The Legends last encountered him, Jonah Hex has become Sheriff of Salvation.

Blackbeard (last seen in 312), Julius Ceaser (last seen in 301) and Freydís Eiríksdóttir (last seen in 309) appear as the leaders of Malice's new army.

Amaya journeys into the Zambesi Ancestral Realm for the first time since 313, in order to learn how the first Totem Bearers defeated Malice. Unlike Sara, she believes they can use the totems - they just need better instruction on how to use them properly.

It turns out that Nate has been drinking far too much of the Lyoga Root tea when he took it. One is supposed to take one sip of the tea - not drink the whole cup.

Amaya discovers that The Totems were meant to be used together, with five totems giving form to a perfect being of light and the Death Totem allowing Malice to be made mortal. Without the Death Totem, the other five totems could only imprison Malice.

Code 1-1-3 in Nate's system for PA announcements from 317 means "Everyone Report To The Bridge." The song Ray wrote to help everyone remember the codes actually got stuck in Mick's head, causing him to remember that one code. ("If the code is 1-1-3, it's off to the bridge, for you and me.")

Amaya refers to Mick running into his father in 307.

Amaya refers to Zari taking up the Air Totem in 303 and how their totems called to each other.

Wally says that maybe his joining The Legends in 313 wasn't a coincidence either.

Wally takes up The Water Totem in Ray's absence.

Sara takes up The Death Totem again.

The first effort to create a perfect being fails. Mick kills the resulting creature with his fire gun.

Damien and Ray travel back to Zambesi in 1992, hoping to knock Nora out before her body is destroyed to give Malice a physical form.

Helen of Troy, now trained as an Amazon warrior, makes her first appearance since 306.

Kuasa makes her first appearance since her death in 316.

Since the alteration of the past in 1992 and the salvation of Zambesi, Kuasa's fate has changed. Kuasa has now grown into a good soul, who is anxious to fight alongside her legendary grandmother. She describes Amaya as "The Woman Who Saved Zambesi." Kuasa and Mari also now share The Spirit Totem. This indirectly means that the events of the Vixen animated series never happened.

Jefferson "Jax" Jackson makes his first appearance since 309. While it has been a few months since The Legends have seen him, for Jax it has been five years since he flew on The Waverider, meaning this version of Jax was retrieved from 2023. During those five years, Jax has gotten married to an unnamed woman (Nate comments on how he is wearing a wedding band) and Jax has a daughter named Martinia.

Damien steals Ray's naninte gun and uses it to shoot Nora. This drives Malice into possessing him instead. Ray takes the wounded Nora and returns to Salvation as Damien.

Ava has never ridden a horse before.

When The Legends try to create a perfect being this time, they create a giant Beebo doll.

Kuasa is given the Death, Earth, Water and Fire totems to guard until they find new bearers.

Jonah Hex gives Zari his hat.

Ray gives Nora Darhk her father's time stone.

Amaya returns to Zambesi in 1942. Nate does not erase her memory.

The team now consists of Sara, Ray, Mick, Nate, Zari and Wally. They go on vacation in Aruba together, much to Mick's annoyance.

Ava and Sara have made plans to celebrate their victory later, but Ava is busy cleaning up all the anachronisms caused by the latest adventure.

Gary Green has been traveling with John Constantine and is wearing a John Constantine cosplay.

John shows The Legends the severed head of a dragon, informing them that other things escaped from Malice's prison when he was released.


Location

Salvation, Dakota Territory - 1874
Zambesi - 1992
Zambesi - 1942
Aruba - 2018



Untelevised Adventures

Apparently John Constantine and Gary Green fought a dragon.


The Fridge Factor

Averted hardcore. Indeed, after seeing how easily Helen of Troy is able to handle multiple enemies, the only real goof here is that Hippolyta didn't send a horde of Amazons to help Helen in this fight. Then again, given what one Amazon can do, there wouldn't be much of an episode of a score of them ended the fight in two minutes


The Bottom Line

Absolutely perfect. Does it always make sense? No. Is it goofy as all get out? Yes. But unlike every other CW Superhero show, Legends of Tomorrow has embraced its goofiness without making its characters into total idiots to make its stories work. In doing this, it has perfectly captured the spirit of the comic books that inspired it. And I can't wait for Season Four.

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