Plot
Ray plans a romantic evening for himself and Nora, during which he can finally propose to her. Unfortunately, the night is spoiled by the unexpected arrival of a recently resurrected Damian Darhk and Nora's desire to impress her demonically demented father. Will Ray play along and not reveal their romance when Nora starts pretending she's dating John Constantine? Can Sara be kept from spoiling the evening by killing Damien Darhk? And how does all this time in to Nora's current charge and Ray's favorite childhood program?
Influences
Mister Roger's Neighborhood, various wacky sitcoms centered around the protagonists lying to impress some important person during a fancy dinner and classic Western melodrama (Gary being tied to the train-tracks)
Performances
It's hard to pick out a single moment in the episode, but the non-verbal acting between Courtney Ford and Brandon Routh as Nora sees the engagement ring, realizes what happened and questions Ray about it with only a few facial expressions is amazing.
Artistry
The script is amazing, balancing the farcical aspects of the story perfectly.
The soundless wedding sequence is beautiful and the musical accompaniment amazing.
Trivia Of Tomorrow
The goggles and jacket that John wear as part of his Antarctic explorer outfit are taken from Leonard Snart's Captain Cold costume.
Technobabble/Arcana
The Loom of Fate has the power to change a person's life story without changing the timeline and causing a paradox.
Damien Darhk was able to track Nora by using the location sharing feature on her PalmerTech watch.
Zari is able to scour the metadata from the troll's video to find where they live.
Nora knows a potion that can permanently strip a warlock of their powers.
Damien says that even with the Loom of Fate assembled, you'd need a Fate to put it back together and operate it.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Gary taste-tests the soup. Suddenly, he fades away rapidly and the soup spoon falls into the soup pot. Gary just as suddenly fades back into existence.)
Gary: Did I just fritz out of existence?
(Damien has just shown up on the doorstep of Constantine's mansion.)
Nora: How are you?! You.... are an Encore.
Damien: Look, all I know is I'm up here right now as some soul-harvesting pyramid scheme. Honestly? I can't keep up with these Millennials and all their newfangled world domination plans.
Nora: So you're doing the whole villain thing again?
Damien: Well, no. I mean... it's, it's part of my parole agreement.
Zari: (reading one of Mick's books) This is extremely pornographic.
Mick: Thank you.
Zari: You're welcome.
(John walks by Nate in the Waverider hallway, wearing a heavy winter parka, gloves and goggles over his usual trenchcoat, while dragging a sled. Nate looks at him confused.)
Nate: Where are you going, Captain Cold?
John: Antarctica, of course.
Nate: Yeah? That place is the worst.
John: Well, I'm following up on the lead that you...
(John sees the confusion on Nate's face and immediately puts two and two together.)
John: Bloody shapeshifters!
Nora: Stop it! Both of you!
Damien: This vagrant is trespassing!
John: This is my house, you plonker!
Damien: Your house?!
Nora: (forcing a smile) Well... technically..... it IS his house. His name is on the title. (backing towards John, sliding her arm through his and taking his left hand with her right hand.) But in practice... it's our house.
(Nora gabs John's faces and kisses him deeply. Damien is stunned. So is John.)
Nora: (breathy) Right babe?
(John glances to the side room, where Sara motions at him and whispers "Just go with it.")
John: Right love. My love. Because we are indeed, uh... together.
(Nora and Damien refuse to get along after being sent into Mister Parker's Cul-De-Sac)
Ray: Well! I think this is going to be tougher than we thought, kids. Why don't we travel to the land of Make-Em-Ups, with Gary The Unspeakable Train Abomination?
(Damien goes to the front door and grabs his coat from the rack. Sara comes up behind him.)
Sara: Taking off already?
Damien: (chuckles) Oh, I hate prolonged goodbyes. I'd rather slip out while everyone's in there, still having a good time.
Sara: So where are you going?
Damien: (sighs) I was given this... Encore under certain conditions. I was ordered to cause pain and misery and damn more souls to Hell.
Sara: But instead you decided to check in on your Nora-doll.
Damien: I just wanted to make sure that my little girl is okay. And she is. (smiles) Thanks to the help of you idiots. Plus... Astra's going to recall me soon to an eternity of torture. I didn't want to bum my daughter out with all of that on her wedding night.
(Sara says nothing. Damien offers her his hand. She doesn't take it.)
Damien: I know you'll never forgive me. To tell you the truth, I won't either.
(Sara still says nothing. Damien sighs and looks sad for a moment as he exits out the front door. It's then that Sara looks to the umbrella stand and realizes Genghis Khan's sword isn't there. Sara runs to the front door, just in time to see Damien's body crumble to ashes in a flash of green fire as he stabs himself with the blade. Sara picks up the sword and looks up into the night sky, as the wind blows all that remains of Damien Darhk away.)
Continuity
The episode's opening scene takes place five hours after the destruction of Mallus in 318.
The 2018 version of Gary Green is attacked by an unseen figure while cleaning up the Beebo mess after the battle with Mallus.
John tries to convince Sara to send the Legends after the Loom of Fate, arguing that if they can stop Astra from ever going to Hell, it will stop the Encores.
Charlie says that reassembling the Loom is too risky.
Sara agrees that putting the Loom back together is too risky and they're doing just fine containing the Encores right now.
Sara still has Genghis Khan's sword from 506.
Nate, Behrad and Gary are at John's house, helping Ray prepare his proposal to Nora.
Ray hides his engagement ring for Nora in a chocolate mousse.
Nora is still attached to Pippa from 506.
John has begun chewing sunflower seeds in order to stop smoking.
Nate tells John that there was an explorer named Ernest Shackelton who was obsessed with finding the Loom of Fate and was convinced that part of it was buried at the South Pole. This is later revealed to be Charlie disguised as Nate.
Mick is locked in his room, arguing with a troll on-line who is trashing Rebecca Silver.
Zari is still on the Waverider and is locked in the bathroom, exfoliating in preparation for a new makeover idea.
Sara puts Zari in charge of helping Mick deal with his troll problem.
Gary in 2020 is briefly erased from existence thanks to someone in 1874 tying the Gary from 2018 to a train track.
Sara and Ava rescue 2018 Gary.
Gary reveals that he was attacked by Damien Darhk, who stole his Time Courier.
Damaien Darhk spent two years in Hell but was resurrected and sent back to where he died in 1874.
Nora has a PalmerTech watch.
Nora lies and says she's a master sorceress and that Constantine's house is hers.
Nora asks Ray to keep Pippa happy and distracted so that she doesn't summon her to grant her wishes.
Zari suggests that Mick send an autographed Rebecca Silver book to his troll to win them over, saying every troll is just a disgruntled fan who wants attention.
Ray decides to show Pippa his favorite show when he was a kid; Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac.
Pippa doesn't like Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac but agrees to give it a shot after Ray pays her $20.
Ava and Sara agree to try and take out Damien Darhk without Nora finding out after Gideon tells them Damien is at Constantine's house in 2020.
Gideon says she has a message for Sara from Wild Dog. Sara tells Ava it is nothing.
Zari has never read a Rebecca Silver book before.
The troll makes a video burning the autographed book.
Zari is able to hack the video to find out where the troll lives.
Mick's troll turns out to be Lita - his old girlfriend Allie's 16-year-old daughter. She is also Mick's daughter, from Allie and Mick's 2004 one-night stand in 504.
Nora convinces Ava and Sara to pretend to be her henchman for a night so she can make peace with her dad.
Damien identifies Genghis Khan's sword as 11th century Mongolian in design.
Nora puts Genghis Khan's sword in an umbrella stand by the front door of the mansion.
Sara ignores another call from Wild Dog on her phone, which Ava notices.
Gary agrees to make the anti-magic potion and slip it into Damien Darhk's food so that he'll be powerless and he can be allowed to live as a harmless mortal man.
John was planning to go to Antarctica until he runs into Nate in the hallway and realizes he was conned by Charlie.
Ray had a five-course meal planned for his romantic dinner with Nora. Six if you count the cocktails.
Ava answers Sara's phone and talks to Wild Dog, while she's taking a course out to Nora and Damien.
John returns home and gets into a brief magical duel with Damien, who goes to investigate when John calls out for Gary in the foyer.
John and Damien have never met before but they know each other by reputation.
Nora tells Damien that she's dating John and the house actually is his house. John immediately plays along with this after Nora kisses him and Sara signals him while Damien's back is turned.
Pippa tells Ray that it's pretty clear Nora is trying to hide him from her dad.
Mister Palmer said everyone should be free to love who they want without being ashamed in Season 8, Episode 15.
Lita is named after singer/guitarist Lita Ford of the Runaways.
Allie did look up Mick when she found out she was pregnant, but he was in jail at the time.
Allie finally told Lita who her father was when word got out that Mick Rory was Rebecca Silver.
Mick erases Allie and Lita's memory of his visit.
John tries to grill Damien for information on the Loom of Fate.
Sara got a job offer to work in Star City in some capacity with Rene Ramirez and hadn't discussed this with Ava.
Sara claims she was going to discuss it with Ava, but that she was making arrangements for both of them to move to Star City.
Damien had a strict "no-fraternization" policy for all of his henchmen.
Nate and Behrad convince Ray that he should confront Damien with the truth about him and Nora.
According to Damien, there is no chocolate in Hell.
Ava gets the mousse with the engagement ring in it.
John takes the ring and proposes to Nora.
Nora refuses the engagement and finally tells her father the truth.
Damien realizes Nora tried poisoning him and blames her hero friends.
Charlie, Nate and Behrad go with Pippa to Constantine's house after Pippa wishes them there.
Pippa wishes everyone into the reality of Mister Parker's Cul De Sac.
John makes reference to the events of 408 and how Sara was a puppet in that reality as well.
Sara says she was only considering the job in Star City because she thought Ava wanted to settle down somewhere normal.
Ava said she wanted that before but she's having a lot of fun on the Waverider now. Sara says that she'll turn down Wild Dog's job offer then.
Charlie explains she destroyed the Loom of Fate to keep her sisters from controlling everyone's lives.
John points out that with the Loom pieces in one universe there's nothing to stop her sisters from assembling the Loom of Fate and using it for the wrong reasons.
John promises Charlie that he'll help her destroy the Loom of Fate once and for all if she'll help him find it and use it to save Astra Logue. Charlie agrees.
Behrad appears as a bike-messenger who delivers a Safe Space Sombrero that makes it so that only the person wearing the Sombrero can speak.
Damien and Nora work out their issues with some honest talk, after Nora explains that being a fairy godmother and helping kids is her choice - not something Ray or anyone else forced on her, unlike everything Damien ever did forcing her to become an evil sorceress.
Damien admits he's been an ass and says he is proud of Nora.
Nate appears as the smiling sun in the Mister Palmer's Cul-De-Sac world.
Pippa releases Nora from her service.
Gary is no longer afraid of trains.
Nora accepts Ray's proposal and suggests they get married that night while her father is there.
Gary is, as he asked last week, the flower boy for the wedding.
Nate acts as Ray's Best Man.
Sara conducts the wedding ceremony, presumably in her capacity as a Captain.
Damien tells Ray that he appreciates that he makes Nora happy and asks him to support her. He asks Ray to leave the Legends because Nora needs to be in the real world to do her job.
Mick says that the fact that Lita isn't already in jail at her age proves she's better off without him. Zari disagrees.
Damien tells Nora he's going to give up the evil-doing and return to Hell to serve his punishment.
Damien tries to make his peace with Sara. She refuses to shake his hand.
Damien kills himself with Genghis Khan's sword.
Location
Salvation, Dakota Territory - 1874
Northumberland County, UK - 2020
Central City - 2020
The Bottom Line
Darn near perfect in every respect and a fitting swan song for Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk. Darhk's a polarizing figure in Arrowverse history. Many disliked the jokey tone of the character in Arrow. Many disliked him being brought back to be a villain twice in Legends of Tomorrow. Still, this episode does a good job paying tribute to both sides of Damien - the comic relief baddy and the sinister sorcerer - and the whole ensemble get at least one moment to shine throughout.
No comments:
Post a Comment