Sunday, May 12, 2019

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 4, Episode 14 - Nip/Stuck

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




Plot

A wedge is driven between the team after Mick makes a tough call when Sara hesitates and the team is trapped in the Ice Age as a result. While Neron takes John Constantine back to the Dark Ages in a bid to win his assistance, Zari and Nate try to hatch their dragon egg as Mona and Nora fight to retake the Time Bureau from a power-mad Gary Green.


Influences

Nip/Tuck (the title), The Hitchhiker's Guide The The Galaxy (the gag in Ray's survival guide about how to survive an avalanche), The Empire Strikes Back (Sara and Gideon have a tribute to the "Never tell me the odds." scene.) and Hellblazer Annual #1 (character of King Kon-Sten-Tyn. )


Goofs

It was previously said that demons cannot survive long on Earth without a host body yet Neron wants to open a two-way portal so that Tabitha can come to Earth without needing a host. (Either that rule only applies to summoned demons or the rule doesn't apply to Tabitha, who isn't a proper demon.)


Performances

Once again, Matt Ryan delivers a masterful performance - both as King Konstentyn playing against himself and as John Constantine, with the moment where John realizes that the Puca healing him means.

Caity Lotz and Dominic Purcell get a nice moment together as they are searching Ray's room and reflecting on how, if Ray is gone, then they are the only two original Legends left.


Artistry

The script has a nice metaphor at its core, with King Konstentyn exploiting the fear of his people to gain literal magic power in the same way certain real world politicians exploit people's fear of the unknown to secure their own power.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This is the first episode in which Ray Palmer does not appear as a character, though Brandon Routh appears, playing Neron in Ray's body. With this episode, this makes Caity Lotz the only actor who has appeared in every episode of Legends of Tomorrow playing the same character and Sara Lance the only character to appear in every episode.

Matt Ryan has a dual role in this episode, playing both John Constantine and his ancestor King Konstentyn.

King Kon-Sten-Tyn first appeared in Hellblazer Annual #1 in 1989, where he was revealed to be the last of the pagan kings of England and the first to follow Arthur after the fall of Camelot.

The Arrowverse version is just about as big a bastard as his comic book counterpart, who sacrificed his two sons to extend his own life and conned the Christians invading England by pretending to convert to Christianity and building temples that were truly devoted to the Pagan gods disguised as Christian churches, all while building his own magical power.

John cuts off King Konstentyn's right hand. In the comics, King Kon-Sten-Tyn lost his arm, but had it replaced with one made of enchanted metal.


Technobabble/Arcana

Demons do not need a host body to come to Earth if they are able to access Earth directly through a portal.

Demons cannot fashion portals in and out of Hell on their own and require a mortal magic user to open the gates for them.

Gideon is able to tune the magic-o-meter on the Waverider to John's specific magical frequency. It will enable Gideon to find him as soon as he casts a spell, no matter where or when he is.

Dragon eggs must be kept at a constant warm temperature underneath the mother dragon.

The primary temporal delineator of the Waverider is rendered nonfunctional due to the extreme weather of the Ice Age.

The portals to Hell John fashions are strictly one-way and are designed to draw people in by force.

John admits he doesn't have the power to create a stable two-way vortex between Earth and Hell.

It is explained that Mick can't use his heat wave gun because it will burn up all the oxygen they have left under the ice before they can begin to melt a way out.

A puca is a nature spirit in Celtic mythology. It is not evil, but can become fearsome as it reflects the nature of the people around it. It will bite and snap at wicked people but be kind and helpful to good souls.

A magician can use the emotional energy of other people to empower their own magic. In this case, King Konstentyn boosts his spells with the power of fear. John learns the same trick by watching him in action, finding the energy to stabilize a portal to Hell into a two-way door.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Gideon explains how she plans to track John down.)
Nate: And what do we do till then?
Zari: Stress eat.
Mick: Drink.
Charlie: Yeah, how'd you lot survive until now? 

Mona: Ava, are you sure this is the best time for performance reviews? 
Ava: There's no better time to assess the performance of our operation.
Mona: But are you sure Gary's qualified for... responsibilities? 
Ava: Of course, Mona.Gary Green is all the man we need.

(Upon locating John Constantine)
Gideon: He's in the part of North America that would come to be known as the Donner Pass, named after a doomed group of settlers in the 1800s who resorted to cannibalism after their food supplies ran out.
Sara: There is such thing as too much exposition, Gideon.

Mick: No one's turning me into beef jerky!

Sara: Gideon, how long until the ice thaws? 
Gideon: The Ice Age ends in 11,121 years.
Charlie: All right, who are we eating first? 'Cause shotgun, not.

(Mona persuades Nora to help her figure out what's going on with Gary.)
Nora: Okay, I will check on Gary, and you contact the Waverider and see if Sara knows anything.
Mona: Mm-hmm.
Nora: And then we're gonna find out what form 37-C is.
Mona: Okay.

Sara: Look, I'm pissed at you because that - wasn't your call to make!
Mick: Someone had to make it. It was our only chance to take out Neron. I made the call you should have!
Charlie: All right, guys, come on. Just pick away, will you? 
Sara: No, this is good. All of a sudden, now, you care about the mission? Where were you when Neron took Ray in the first place? 
Mick: Oh, you're gonna put that on me as well?! 
Charlie: All right, as much as I wanna watch you guys duke it out, lets save it for when we're not freezing to death?
Sara: You know what? Both of you off scamming people at some book convention while there is a demon on our ship!
Mick: Mm, let me get this straight, Captain? You're the only one that can have fun outside of this rusted bucket of bolts? All you do is spend time with the girlfriend and nothing's ever, ever your fault! 
Sara: You know what? You have all the answers? (Sara drops the ice axe) You get us out of here.

(Mick and Sara are digging through Ray's room.)
Sara: (holding up a box) "Cards to Save the Timeline: a team-building card game by Ray Palmer?"
Mick: (grunts) I miss hating him.
Sara: You remember that night when we all met, standing up on that rooftop, and Rip told us that we were gonna be legends? 
Mick: Mm-hmm, embarrassing. (pauses in realization) You know what? We're the last of the originals.
Sara: Weird.
Mick: Yeah, weird.
(Sara picks up a photo of the team from where they first went back to the Old West.)
Sara: Legends were different back then.We were different back then. (pauses) Look, I know that book convention was important to you. And I'm really glad that you got to go.
Mick: (nodding) I'm glad you have Ava.
Sara: Thanks.
(Mick grunts as he moves to another pile of books.)
Sara: Guess we're growing up and hopefully not growing apart.
Mick: Ah! Here we are.
Sara: What is it? 
Mick: (holding up a book) "Ray Palmer's Survival Guide." 
Sara: Let me see this. (starts flipping through the book)  Oh! Hey! "What to do if you're caught in an avalanche."
Mick: Uh-huh, what does it say? 
Sara: Yeah, we've already tried all of these..."If all fails, remember you still have each other... So enjoy that as long as it lasts."
Mick: Ah. We're dead.

(Mona is locked in a cell in the Time Bureau.)
Mona: Who's gonna bring me food if I'm stuck in here? This is how I'm gonna die, isn't it? Without any books or laughter... in the basement of a government building?! 

John: You know, to tell you the truth, I'm bloody well terrified.
(The puca purrs at John.)
John: No. It's not the eternity of torture or the people who are after my head, no. It's that I'll have to watch Raymond and Astra and all the others I've failed be tortured along with me. Even led the Legends to their death. And you're next in line.
(The puca snarls.)
John: Yeah, that's right.You sense the rottenness inside me, don't you? No better than the bloody king.
(The puca reaches up and touches the wound on John's head. It heals instantly.)
John: (confused) Why would you heal a bastard like me?
(The puca purrs at John and he smiles - an honest smile - as he realizes why.)

Wolfie: (To Gary) You will do no more harm with your nipple!

(Ava enters through a Time Corridor onto the deck of the Waverider.) 
Sara: Ava? You okay?
Ava:  It's a long story, but Gary took over the Bureau. He nip-notized everyone.
Nate: Yeah, you're gonna have to explain that.

(John looks at the landscape around him - an urban dystopia darkened by factory smoke, with a fiery volcano in the background.)
John: Bloody Hell.


Continuity

Neron tells John that he needs him to open a portal to Hell so that his beloved Tabitha can join him on Earth.

Nora gets her photo taken for her official Time Bureau agent ID. Mona is placed in charge of her orientation.

Gary speaks with Ava in private. Afterward, she declares that Gary will be in charge of administering this year's performance evaluations.

Nate sets up an incubator for the dragon egg in the Waverider's lab after finding a book about dragons among Constantine's collection.

Neron set a trap for the Legends at Donner Pass in the Ice Age. When Mick fires the Waverider's weapons, Neron just teleports himself and John away. The weapons trigger an avalanche that traps the Waverider under tons of glacial ice.

Neron takes John to Ancient England, where his ancestor was a Celtic king called Konstentyn and the first great mage of the Constantine bloodline.

It's revealed that Len Snart had several fur-lined hooded jackets in the same style, which the Legends use to stay warm. According to Charlie, they all smell like sandalwood.

King Konstentyn is revealed as the one who originally drove a wedge between magical creatures and humanity, by exploiting the fear of his people of what lived out in the woods to increase his own magical power.

King Konstentyn plans to open a portal to Hell and send a puca there.

Nate names the dragon egg Wickstable, because that was the name he gave the dragon in the imaginary theme park he created as a kid.

Zari puts the egg under her shirt after she reads that skin-to-skin contact is needed to hatch a dragon egg.

Charlie changes into Mick in a bid to try and get him and Sara to start working together again by apologizing to Sara as Mick. When that doesn't work, she tells them Ray wouldn't be wasting time arguing with his friends.  Mick and Sara agree and realize that as prepared as Ray was for every disaster, he may have had a plan for what to do if the Waverider was trapped in an avalanche.

Nora is brainwashed by Gary Green.

John tries to talk to his ancestor, but is knocked out on suspicion of being a face-stealer and is sentenced to be sent to Hell with the puca.

Sara orders Gideon to turn up the heat and make hot cocoa and S'mores so that everyone can be comfortable and enjoy themselves if they are going to die.

We see the Legends play two rounds of Ray's "Cards To Save The Timeline" game. The cards make reference to the events of 209 (lethal Star Wars homage), 411 (escape via musical number), every time a member of the team betrayed them to the bad guys and every time the Legends snuck into a party in period-appropriate clothing.

John cuts off King Konstentyn's right hand and stabilizes the portal to Hell that he made, freeing the puca in the process.

Gary Green is revealed to have acquired a hypnotic eye where his left nipple once was.

Mona's Wolfie form is revealed to be a separate personality, who takes control after Gary tries to forcibly hypnotize Mona.

Wolfie is able to literally break Gary's control on Ava and Nora by banging their heads together.

John enters the portal to Hell, intending to save Ray.

Neron uses the portal to summon Tabitha, who is revealed to be the Fairy Godmother from 402 and Neron's lover.

Wolfie bites off Gary's evil nipple.

Tabitha binds herself to Gary and starts granting his wishes, saving him from Wolfie, Ava and Nora.

The episode ends with John in Hell.


Location

What Will Be Northern California - Donner Pass - Ice Age, Three Million Years Ago
Washington DC - Time Bureau HQ - 2019 AD
England, Near Stonehenge - Celtic Village - 55 BC.


The Bottom Line

A solid, fun and funny episode that also has a few sweet and touching moments. 

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