Monday, May 24, 2021

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6, Episode 4 - Bay of Squids

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

Plot

The good news is Mick's plan to lead the team to Sara does result in their finding an important alien with information that can help them. The bad news is it also throws them into the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis and threatens to start World War III!


Influences

Dr. Strangelove (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb) -
comedy about nuclear war and the end of the world.


Performances

Shayan Sobhian is a pretty good guitar player and gives a great rendition of Cat Stevens' "Peace Train."

This is probably Dominic Purcell's strongest episode in a season, as Mick gets some honest conflict and we see the cunning, if not exactly smart, crook he was when the series started.


Artistry

The montage of soldiers preparing for war set to "Peace Train" is a fun bit of ironic composition.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This is the first episode of the series not to feature Caity Lotz.

During the battle to recover the nuclear football, John Kennedy injures his back and has to be helped to a chair. Kennedy suffered from back problems throughout his life - a fact that was largely kept secret until after his death.


Technobabble/Arcana

The nuclear warhead Mick accidentally stole is a Soviet SS-4 medium range ballistic missile. 

The alien turbo-charges the Waverider engine using plutonium. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Nate is walking down the hall and freezes up when he sees Zari. They are both still in their night clothes.)
Nate: Sorry.
Zari: Oh, you're not used to my nighttime makeup. I mean, no makeup. Sorry to ruin the illusion.
Nate: No, you, um... you look just like her.
Zari: Oh. You mean the other Zari.
Nate: Yeah.
Zari: I could change my hair if it would help.
Nate: Help what?
Zari: Whatever's happening down there.
(Nate looks confused for a second and then discretely covers his manhood region with his hand.)
Nate: It's not my fault!
Zari: (smirking) Mm.
Nate: I was sleeping!
Zari: Yeah
Nate: It's natural!
Zari: Whatever you say, Steel.

(Mick is rushing everyone out the door after arriving in Cuba.)
Spooner: Okay, hold up, I thought this was a time machine. Why not bring us back an hour earlier? That way, y'all can change out of your PJ's?
Zari: Oh, girl, we don't ask those questions.

Mick: Cover me.
Zari: With what? I'm wearing slippers.

Behard: Look, Captain. Authoritarian leaders, secret bunkers, nuclear missiles, I'm just not feeling the energy of this mission.
Ava: Too bad, because I need your energy, okay? (looks at Mick) Can't afford any hotheads starting a nuclear war.
Mick: Hey, I'm just trying to help you find your girlfriend.
Ava: You know what you can help me do is get the missile back to the people that we stole it from.
Spooner: Wait, the Russians?
Mick: That defeats the purpose of stealing!
Ava: Our job is to protect history. Remember that next time. 

Nate: This reminds me of the 1942 Princeton game.
General Kilgore: Refresh my memory, son, I was too busy fighting a World War.
Nate: Thank you for your service. It was a tie. A defensive stalemate. Neither team put the ball in the air, and neither got close enough to kick a field goal.
General Kilgore: What a terrible game. Both sides lost.
Nate: But... when we're talking about lobbing nukes at one another, that is the only way both sides win.

(Mick and Spooner are walking through the Cuban camp. Suddenly, Spooner cries out and clutches her head.)
Mick: Headache, huh? That time of the month?
Spooner: Very funny.
Mick: No, I'm being serious. My daughter, she has the same...
(Spooner grunts in pain.)
Spooner: Oh, that's very sweet of you then. But it's not my period. It's the alien. 

Behrad: Guys, thought you might like a little update on El Comandante.
Ava: Wait, you're with Fidel Castro?
Behrad: Yeah, we're super tight, but the problem is, he thinks the alien was sent to kill him.
Ava: Why would he think that?
Behrad: Because it tried to kill him. 

Ava: Okay, sounds like you're up, Rory.
Mick: Thought I was in the doghouse?
Ava: That's when we were trying to finesse the situation. Plans change.
Mick: You want us to kill the alien?
Ava: We don't have a choice, okay? Spooner, I need you to help him track it. We need to deescalate the situation and get history back on track.
Mick: Screw history! You kill the alien, you kill any chance of finding Sara.
Ava: And if we don't kill it, then Castro starts a nuclear war, and Sara doesn't have a home to return to, okay? I do not have time to game this out with you, Rory. We will find another way to find Sara.
Mick: Right. Lot of big brains on this ship. I'll just stick with what I know. You should never have cleaned me up. I'm better off doing what I do best: being a goon, killing people.
Ava: Yes.
(There is a long pause as Ava just stares at Mick.)
Ava: That's exactly what I need.
Mick: Right. Least I know what I'm here for.
(Mick grabs his flamethrower on the way out of the room, clearly pissed off. Spooner follows after him.)

Spooner: You know, it wasn't right for Ava to try to pin this all on you.
Mick: I don't give a rat's ass.
Spooner: You were just trying to find Sara.
Mick: No, I was pretending to be somebody I'm not.
Spooner: So you're just gonna go back to being a dumb drunk? That it?
Mick: Yes. 

Mick: You said your job is to protect history.
Ava: I also said your job wasn't to think for yourself, but had you listened to any of my orders, we'd have absolutely no hope in finding Sara, so I... I guess you got this.
Mick: Stop saying nice things. 

Zari: I hate that I'm a reminder of everything you lost.
Nate: You're not. I mean, I guess at first. But now? Now you just remind me of you. 


Continuity

An alien pod lands in the mountains of Sierra Maestra on October 16, 1962 and is discovered by Cuban soldiers.

Rory sounds the alarm to wake the rest of the Legends.

Nate is stunned by the sight of Zari without make-up as it reminds him of Zari 1.0.

Spooner works-out to hip-hop music.

Behrad has Gideon making edible marijuana candy for him to help him sleep.

Using the sketch he drew in 603, Mick was able (with Gideon's help) to find a photo of the alien in question among some redacted KGB files.

According to Gideon, Vladmir Putin was ousted from power in Russia in 2044.

Mick moves the Waverider to go after the alien, leaving John and Astra behind in the present at John's house.

Mick commandeers a Cuban military vehicle he thinks is holding the alien. In truth, it contains a nuclear warhead.

Nate forgot to set the cloak on the Waverider before leaving, resulting in the ship showing up on photos taken by an American spy plane. This leads them to believe that the Russians have some form of advanced bomber.

Nate wrote his doctoral thesis on John F. Kennedy and his use of diplomacy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Nate and Zari go to Washington DC to find some way to infiltrate the White House and ensure JFK doesn't start a nuclear war.

Spooner is able to find out where the alien is listening in on the Cuban army's radio signals.

Ava takes Behrad with her, posing as a Russian scientist named Yevgania Shostenko who is an expert on aliens, while he dresses as a Cuban soldier.

The Cubans believe that the United States has invaded them with mutant soldiers, leading them to commandeer the truck with the nuclear missile before Mick and Spooner can return it to the Russians.

Zari is presumed to be a secretary and has no issue getting into the Oval Office. Nate pretends to be a former Harvard man, whom JFK pretends to recognize from the class of 1940.

Nate is introduced to the rest of JFK's inner circle - Bobby Kennedy, Rober McNamara and Douglas Dillion - all former Harvard men.

General Kilgore is an Army general who is advising JFK to take the country to DEFCON 3, based on the pictures of the Waverider. Nate dismisses the pictures as obvious fakes.

When General Kilgore questions Nate's credentials, he attempts to win over JFK with a football metaphor involving the 1942 Harvard vs. Princeton match.

Ava discovers the Cubans intend to vivisect the alien, which is sedated.

Behrad cannot stand the sight of blood and leaves the operating field to throw up.

Ava is able to delay the surgery by cutting the hose for the anesthetic and knocking out the other medical technicians.

Behrad is mistaken for Che Guevara and, when asked about it, claims to be his cousin Jay Guevara. He is then taken to meet with Fidel Castro.

The Russian Ambassador calls the White House demanding an explanation for the stolen nuclear missile and why the United States is attacking them with a man made of Steel.. JFK has none to offer and says it sounds like the ambassador is drunk and rambling.

General Kilgore shows JFK spy photos of Nate, in his Steel form, fighting Cuban soldiers.

Nate once again tries to dismiss the photos as obvious fakes, but is informed that DARPA had been working on a serum that could turn a soldiers' flesh into metal and had successful secret tests.

General Kilgore believes one of the test subjects of the steel soldier project went rogue and urges JFK to launch a pre-emptive strike on Cuba.

JFK gives the order to go to DEFCON 3.

Castro tells Behrad that he is sick of being a pawn of the Russians but that he now has a nuclear missile that will let him destroy Washington DC on his own.

Behrad shares his edibles with Castro when he asks about the candy.

Spooner's powers seem to be getting stronger. Beyond sensing the presence and emotional state of aliens, she can now almost understand what they are saying.

The alien wakes up as Ava is escaping with it and it almost attacks her. Thankfully, the alien is driven off by Mick and his flamethrower.

Behrad sings Cat Stevens' "Peace Train" to Castro, inspiring the stoned leader to call Washington DC and tell JFK they should live in peace.

The alien almost gets Castro at this point, making him paranoid and spurring him to order they launch the nuclear missile now.

In Washington, the Army has learned that the Cubans now have their own nuclear missile and are preparing to launch it at Washington DC.

JFK gives the order to go to DEFCON 2, but Zari (who is tying up the order) instead gives all of Strategic Air Command a three-day weekend, effective immediately. 

Behrad is forced to flee Castro's bunker after Che Guevara calls and confirms he doesn't have a cousin named Jay.

Ava sends Mick and Spooner to kill the alien before the timeline is disrupted any further.

Spooner senses that the alien is looking for something. She and Mick find it next to the nuclear missile as it is about to launch. 

Mick angrily tells the alien that the rocket is not a spaceship and can't get them off the planet.

Mick tells the alien it can help it get back to its spaceship if it helps him find Sara.

General Kilgore gives JFK the nuclear football and tells him they can use it to get all their nuclear sumbarine captains to fire an all-out strike on the Russians. When JFK wants to call Khrushchev, General Kilgore takes the nuclear football and gets ready to order the strike himself.

Nate reveals his powers and says he didn't go rogue but was working to protect the world from people like General Kilgore.

General Kilgore takes Zari hostage.

JFK leads Nate and his cabinet in a football charge against the army men with General Kilgore.

JFK injures his back during the play.

General Kilgore leaves the White House, firing his gun at the missile, which crushes him as it lands on the White House lawn.  It does, not, however, explode.

It is revealed later that the nuclear missile didn't explode because Mick and the alien removed the plutonium from it.

Mick commanders the Waverider, leaving the rest of the team behind, while he goes into space with the alien to find Sara.

Zari's phones were all on the Waverider when Mick took it.

The rest of the Legends decide they can operate out of John Constantine's house for the time being.

The alien puts on a ring which gives her a human form and allows her to be understood in English.


Location

Sierra Maestra Mountains, Cuba - October 16, 1962
Washington DC, USA - October 16, 1962


The Crisis Factor

Even by the standards of this sow, JFK and the Harvard men in his cabinet playing football with the nuclear football is a bit much.


The Bottom Line

A fun episode that gives Mick and Spooner some much needed character refinement, though it does go a bit too far in its comedic take on nuclear war. Even Stanley Kubrick thought twice about ending it with a pie-fight.

No comments:

Post a Comment