Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2, Episode 17 - Aruba

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



Plot

With Amaya dead, Snart alive, Stein having forgotten who he is and The Spear of Destiny destroyed, all of reality is in risk of falling apart under the weight of too many paradoxes. In order to save everything that is, The remaining Legends must break the cardinal rule of time travel and risk an encounter with their past selves in order to destroy The Spear of Destiny before The Legion of Doom creates Doomworld.


Influences

The film Back To The Future 2 (heroes fighting to recover an artifact to prevent a dark alternate timeline from coming into being), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (time-travelers have to help their past selves while avoiding being spotted), The Wizard of Oz (the movie is playing the "There's no place like home...." line during the vision Sara has about resurrecting Laurel, the whole idea of a heroine having her power taken away so she can return to a normal life, Amaya's Ruby Slippers), Men In Black (the memory-erasing light guns return) and countless Doctor Who episodes, particularly the writings of Steve Moffat, where the usual rules regarding time travel are broken to a create a farcical atmosphere.


Goofs

Why is Damien Darhk hanging around STAR Labs? Thawne should be just as likely to kill him as The Legends if pushed, given Darhk and the rest of The Legion of Doom betrayed him.

The prop heart that Thawne rips out of Ray Palmer's chest looks incredibly fake and plastic.

Why do the time quakes not start until the two Rip Hunters see each other?  All the other time duplicates were already in the room together.

Why don't the dozens of Thawnes bull-rush Past Sara before she can activate The Spear? Why do they waste time picking off everyone else first?

When did Past Sara learn the phrase to activate The Spear of Destiny? (Presumably Future Nate taught it to everyone before they tried to escape the Past Waverider?)

Katie Cassidy still cannot emote worth a damn.

The CGI for Thawne's death is incredibly cheap looking.


Performances

Once again, Caity Lotz is the episode MVP. Most of the episode's power moments require her to do most of the heavy lifting, including a magical little scene where Sara has a long talk with herself. It almost makes the sudden revival of the "Sara is dark and broken" subplot from Season 3 of Arrow tolerable. Almost. Still, the fact that the material works half as well as it does is a credit to Lotz's talent as an actress. It only falls apart when Lotz is forced to act for two opposite the Botox-faced Katie Cassidy.


Artistry

The effects work to have the various past and future incarnations of The Legends interact is rather brilliant.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

Instead of the usual opening narration, the episode opens with a montage of Season Two highlights, set to the song Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers.


Technobabble

Ray and Jax assumed that The Waverider was broadcasting using a quantum frequency. That would only be possible if the quad band antenna array was in alignment.

The current team of Legends - Jax, Mick, Sara, Rip, Ray and Nate - will cease to exist once The Spear of Destiny is destroyed, since they never would have existed if The Legion of Doom hadn't have stolen The Spear and created Doomworld.

A time quake is the result of two versions of an individual from different times interacting with one another.

A time storm is a paradox, much stronger than a time quake, which results when two versions of an individual attempt to time travel together,

The memory-erasing guns are used to erase Merlyn, Snart and Darhk's memories of what happened.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Rip looks out the pilot's window of The Waverider at a dome-like object from which light pours from the bottom.)
Rip: Gideon? What is that? Is that another ship?
Gideon: Negative. It appears to be... a desk lamp.
(Comprehension dawns on Rip's face as he realizes what's happened. We see a long shot of the shrunken Waverider hovering above the main desk in the middle of STAR Labs.)
Rip: (quietly) Oh, bollocks. (regular voice) Right! Engage our cloak and plot a course!
Gideon: Heading, Captain?
Rip: The nearest open window.

(The Legends have just made radio contact with Rip.)
Ray: Rip?
Rip: Yes, Doctor Palmer. I've homed in on your location.
Jax: Well, haul ass over here and come pick us up!
Rip: There may be one  small problem with that.
(The shrunken Waverider hovers into the rest of the team's view.)

(Darhk is strangling both Jax and Ray with his magic telekinesis as the shrunken Waverider flies into the room and circles around to face him.)
Rip: Gideon, fire!  Fire everything!
(The Waverider begins firing its lasers into Darhk's chest. Unfortunately, at this size, it is less than effective.)
Darhk: Awww... isn't that adorable?  Is that the best you've got?
(Mick enters the room from behind an oblivious Darhk.)
Mick: How about this?
(Mick pistol-whips Darhk across the back of the head with his flame gun, knocking him out cold.)

(Ray picks up the vial holding Christ's blood.)
Ray: Well... that was easier the second time around.
(There is a streak of red-lighting as Thawne appears, vial in hand.)
Thawne: I knew you idiots would come back from 2017. Apart from being incredibly stupid, you are just -so- predictable!
Ray: (powering up his lasers): Give me back the vial!
(Thawne squeezes his hand and the vial breaks.)
Thawne: (deadpan) What vial?
Sara: (over radio) Ray! Ray, get out of there, now!
Thawne: You know, my allies keep giving me the same, simple piece of advice?
(Another streak of red-lightning and one metallic clang later, Ray Palmer is standing there with a hole in his chest plate.  Thawne is standing where he was.. clutching a still beating heart. Without a word, Ray falls backwards as Thawne lets the heart fall to the ground. He looks down at Ray's corpse.)
Thawne: They were right. I should have done that ages ago.

Mick: Never stolen anything from myself before. Could be interesting.

Mick: Not for nothing, but Aruba would have been a better option.

(Thawne runs into the tent where Darhk and Snart are talking. With him is a confused-looking Merlyn, who glances around, momentarily terrified as he finds himself somewhere else.)
Thawne: Gentlemen.
Merlyn: What the hell is going on here?!
Darhk: That's what I was going to ask. Aren't you supposed to be searching for The Kalabros Manuscript?
Merlyn: (testily) I was.
Thawne: And I found him. And I brought him here. We no longer need The Manuscript. We have a different problem. The Legends are here.
Snart: We know. I just punched Mick.
Thawne: Not -those- Legends. And I'm not your Eobard. I'm from the future.
Darhk: (bored) Yeah, what else is new?
Thawne: (sighs in annoyance) Okay. I mean -your- future. One where have The Spear of Destiny and The Legends from -that- future are here now too.
Merlyn: Wait - there's two sets of Legends?
Snart: (annoyed) When do I get to rob a bank?
Thawne: Just deal with them!
(Thawne turns and takes a step to the tent exit.)
Darhk: Where do you think you're going?!
Thawne: To get backup.
(Thawne disappears in a streak of red lightning. The sudden rush of wind hits Darkh like a punch to the gut, forcing him to spit-take his drink.)
Darhk: I hate it when he does that.

(Past Sara has just ordered Past Ray to deal with her "fake" self over the radio.)
Past Ray: Sorry, Sara.
Future Sara; For what?
Past Ray: Listening to you.
(Past Ray punches Future Sara and throws her to Past Rip as Past Mick tries to punch Future Jax.)
Future Jax: Woah! Big dude! Chill out, bro! We're not impostors!
Tolkien: This is madness! What has come over you people?!
Future Sara; If you would -
(Future Sara ducks under Past Ray's punch, which hits Past Rip.)
Future Sara: - just -
(Futura Sara grabs Past Ray's arm and punches him in the stomach.)
Future Sara: - let me-
(Future Sara punches Ray in the face, knocking him down.)
Future Sara:  - explain!
Past Sara: (over radio) If fake me is anything like real me, Ray's going to need some help.

Future Rip: We are not The Legion. Believe it or not, we are actually future iterations of yourselves who have traveled back in time to prevent some form of calamity.
Past Sara: I don't believe it! Why would Rip Hunter violate the First Rule of Time Travel?
Future Rip: I'm asking myself the very same question.
(The door at the far end of the room opens as Past Rip enters the room. He looks at his future self as they both speak in unison.)
Both Rips: Oh bollocks.
(There is a great rumbling that shakes the ship.)
Past Jax: What the hell was that?!
Future Rip: It's a time quake.
Past Rip: The result of us interacting with ourselves.
Future Nate: Well, that wasn't so bad.
Future Rip: Yeah. Give it time.

Past Sara: Whose bright idea was it to do the one thing that could jeopardize all of time?!
Futura Sara: Yours.
Future Mick: (To his past self) What the hell are you starring at?
Past Mick: Just imagining what you'd look like without teeth.
Both Saras: Knock if off, Rory!
Past Stein: I can't believe that even we would do anything so foolish, unless something went terribly wrong the first time we were here.
Past Ray: Uh - I can't help but notice...
Past Amaya: ... not all of us came back with you.
Past Nate: What happens to us in the future?
(There is a long pause as the future Legends just look at each other.)
Future Mick: (chuckling) Well... (points to Ray) Dead. (points to Amaya) Dead. (points to Stein) Good as dead.

Past Sara: In the future you're from, The Legion gets The Spear?
Future Sara: ... yes.
Past Sara: So this is my fault?
Future Sara: It was more of a... team effort, really.
Past Sara: Can I ask you a question? Do you wish you would have used it?
Future Sara: (without hesitating) No.
Past Sara: But you could have stopped all of this!  I mean, you could have erased The Legion of Doom from existence. You could have kept your team alive!
Future Sara: You know why I... we... can't use it. The Spear... it draws on our desires. Our weaknesses. Our hatred...
Past Sara: Our darkness. We're not strong enough to wield it.
Future Sara: The Spear is a weapon. And you know what we do with weapons.

Future Nate: (To Past Nate) I want you to do the things I wish I would have done instead of the things I wish I would have said. You want to know why? Because there's nothing - nothing worse than looking back at your life with regret.

Future Sara: Everybody clear on the plan?
Past Sara: Run like hell. Try not to die.
Future Sara: (To the Future Legends) What about you guys? You ready?
Future Jax: Other than the fact that I can't Firestorm and Nate can't Steel?
Future Nate: You bet your sweet ass we're ready.

(Darhk and Merlyn are firing at The Legends with their futuristic guns. Suddenly, they both seem to run out of power.)
Darhk: Damn it.
Merlyn: Damien, I think we should go back to basics.
Darhk: Yeah, you're right. Killing's gotten so gosh darn impersonal lately.
(Merlyn draws his bow as Darhk draws his sword.)

(Future Mick overpowers Darkh and pins him over a barricade. He puts his heat gun to Darhk's chest as we hear the familiar sound of Snart's cold gun powering up.)
Snart: Let him go, Mick.
Future Mick: I'm not listening to you anymore.
Snart: C'mon! Is that any way to talk to your old partner?
Future Mick: I don't have a partner. I have a team.

Past Ray: I can't believe we made it.
Future Sara: Don't jinx it.
(Suddenly, red lightning appears on the horizon and surrounds them.)
Past Jax: Awww! He jinxed it!
Past Mick: I hate that guy.
(Suddenly, Future Rip goes flying, falling to the ground, apparently punched dead.)
Thawne: Not that guy. These guys!
(Thawne stands before The Legends but the red lightning continues to dance around them, as more and more Reverse Flashes stop until there's a few dozen surrounding them.)
Thawne: You traveled back in time to help yourselves? I figured I could do the same. You know, it's true what they say - if you want something done right, you really have to do it yourself.

Future Sara: You did it.
Past Sara: You would have done the same.
(Future Sara looks down as her body begins to fade into smoke. She looks up at Past Sara and smiles.)
Future Sara: Remember - Legends never die.
(There is a moment of quiet as the team gather themselves up.)
Nate: Really?  Goonies?
Amaya: What's a Goonie?

(Snart and Mick walk into a warehouse.)
Snart: Should have done this in France, Mick. Could've saved us both a lot of time.
Mick: I didn't bring you here to kill you, Leonard.
Snart: So what are we doing here?
Mick: This is where Thawne recruited you for The Legion. I'm going to wipe your memory and put you on the right path.
Snart: You mean the path where I join up with some Brit twit and die trying to save the world?
Mick: No. You die trying to save your friends.
Snart: Still a death sentence.
Mick: You know what your punishment is, Leonard? You end up being a better man. And so do I.
Snart: (scoffs) Better? You mean softer.
Mick: No. I mean better.

Sara: Stay out of trouble.
Rip: What? Without you lot? I think that will actually be quiet easy.

Sara: Guys? I think we broke Time.
(Everyone looks out the windshield of The Waverider. The skyline of 2017 Los Angeles is made up of varying styles of building. Perhaps more worryingly, a pack of raptors are converging on the crashed ship...)


Dialogue Disasters

The whole of the scene with Laurel and Sara when Sara uses The Spear.


Continuity

Sara had no idea that Nate and Amaya had begun developing romantic feelings for each other.

Thawne used Ray Palmer's ATOM suit to shrink Rip Hunter and The Waverider.

Thawne kept Ray's suit in another lab in the Central City STAR Labs complex.

The team return to the setting of 215.

Future Ray dies after a confrontation with Thawne, where Thawne destroys the vial of Christ's blood before it was destroyed originally.

Future Jax dies taking an arrow shot by Merlyn to save Past Stein.

Jax has apparently been training with Sara, proving capable enough in a fight, to snatch an arrow from Merlyn's quiver, stab him in the leg with it, grab Merlyn's bow from him while he's stunned and smack him in the head with it.

Future Rory is killed after being shot in the back by Snart, impaled on an icicle.

Future Nate is killed by Darhk, stabbed from behind with a sword.

Future Rip is killed by one of the Reverse Flashes.

Future Sara fades out of existence after Past Sara uses The Spear of Destiny to depower itself.

Malcolm Merlyn is returned to his crummy Star City apartment in 2017 and has his memory erased.

Leonard Snart is returned to where he was pulled in 2014 Central City and has his memory erased.

Damien Darhk is returned to where Thawne first approached him in 1987 Miami and has his memory erased.

We see the ruby slippers that Nate gave Amaya in 211.

Amaya decides not to return back to 1942 yet, deciding that if she has a destiny, it will wait for her.

Amaya and Nate officially become a couple.

Rip decides to leave The Waverider, taking The Jumpship to go his own way. He tells Sara he has nothing left to teach her about being the Captain of a Time-ship.


Location

Central City - 2017.
A battlefield near the Somme River in North-Central Framce - 1916
Central City - 2014.
Miami - 1987
Los Angels - 2017


The Fridge Factor

Sara's sudden crisis of faith in this episode regarding there being too much darkness inside of her to use The Spear of Destiny drudges up one of Arrow's most annoyingly stupid plot beats (i.e. the idea that Sara had a natural darkness inside her while Laurel had a light). Every bit of character development Sara had over the past season of this show, growing confident as a hero and a leader as she took over the team, is aborted so that Sara can fall back into the role of the emo whiner who isn't worthy of happiness or love that was forced upon her to justify her removal from Arrow at the end of Season Two.

What makes this even worse is that the universe (or whoever is speaking to Sara in Laurel's form) agrees with her assessment that there's no light in her and that she's a broken bird.

The crowning touch?  Sara can't use the spear until a man tells her that he believes in her.


The Bottom Line

Ignore the fifth segment and it's a solid episode. One might have a spirited debate as to which is more painful - Katie Cassidy's under-acting or Matt Letscher's over-acting. I opt for the former since Matt Letscher is at least amusing when he goes over the top and when you're having to boss around the likes of John Barrowman, Neal McDonough and Wentworth Miller you have to go big or go home. As is, this episode would be perfect if it weren't for their need to tear down Sara Lance in Act 2 to make Act 3 work. Still, the matter seems to be settled once and for all and we can look forward to more of Captain Canary kicking ass and taking names in Season Three.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2, Episode 16 - Doomworld

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




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.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2, Episode 12 - Camelot/3000

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



Plot

After discovering a dead Doctor Mid-Nite in the year 3000, the team head back to the court of Camelot in search of another piece of The Spear of Destiny. Unfortunately, Rip Hunter and The Legion of Doom are one step ahead of them...


Influences

Camelot 3000 (the title and concept of melding Arthurian legend and science fiction), A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court (idea of modern man proving himself a wonder in medieval times), Star Wars (Ray creates an energized sword or light-saber and jokes about the copyright infringement) and the Doctor Who episode Robot of Sherwood (a time-traveler is confronted with the reality of a legend that they insist never existed.)


Goofs

Nate refers to 507 AD as being Medieval times. Most historians do not consider the Medieval period to have started any earlier than 600 AD. (Then again, Nate is not most historians and the details - such as King Arthur existing or full plate being used in 6th Century England - may be different in the DCTVU reality.)

Star Wars jokes aside, the "light saber" that Ray fashions out of Galahad's sword is a longsword - not a saber.

Given Nate's earlier romanticism of his superhero grandfather and the fact that he grew up reading about the wonders of ancient times due to his hemophilia, his skepticism regarding Ray's desire to be a knight seems really out of character.


Artistry

The sword fight between Darhk and Ray is pretty good.

The costume design is fantastic, though I'm sure Nate would nit-pick the historical accuracy of the armor and weapons depicted.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The episode opens with Nate giving the standard introduction.

This episode takes its name from Camelot 3000 - a 12-issue limited series published by DC Comics from 1982-1985.

Camelot 3000 was one of DC Comics' first direct-market projects (i.e. sold directly to specialty comic shops rather than newsstands and supermarkets, as most comics were at the time.) and it was the first book they printed on high-quality Baxter paper rather than newsprint paper. Written by Mike W. Barr with art by Brian Bolland, the series focused upon King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table being resurrected in an overpopulated Earth in order to save humanity from an alien invasion facilitated by Morgan LeFay.

Ray identifies Sir. Galahad by the fact that he's sitting in the Siege Perilous.  In the Arthurian legend, The Siege Perilous was a chair reserved by Merlin for the knight who was either the purest of knights or the one who would eventually find The Holy Grail, depending on which legend you go by. In either case, the Siege Perilous was enchanted to kill any unworthy knight who dared sit in it.


Technobabble

When Rip Hunter returned for him, Dr. McInder was working on a bio-morphic implant capable of modifying the host's neural processes. It could be used to rid a person of violent impulses or impose them.

Rip Hunter makes use of some sort of telepathic control-crown and the implant devices to mind-control King Arthur and the abducted knights.

Stein later - upon analyzing one of the recovered receivers and comparing it to the implant he "borrowed" from Dr. Mid-Nite's lab - determines they are the same technology.  The commander wears a transmitter, sending orders via electro-telepathic signal to the receiver/soldier. Jax guesses they could hack the signal by boosting the power of the transmitter or giving it to someone with an extraordinarily well-developed brain.

Ray channels the ionic energy of his ATOM gauntlet through Galahad's sword to create a "light saber".

Jax eventually figures out that the telepathic transmitter responds to intensity of thought rather than complexity. This means that Mick Rory is a more suitable commander than Professor Stein.


Dialogue Triumphs

(The team arrive in the year 3000 only to lose the reading on the Spear of Destiny fragment.)
Ray: So we came here for nothing?
Rory: Maybe not. Gideon? Do they have booze in the year 3000?

Sara: Somebody find a light switch or something.
Jax: What the hell does a light switch look like in the year 3000?
(Jax feels along the wall and flips what looks like an ordinary 21st century light switch. The lights come on.)
Jax: Huh. Yeah, I guess there's not many places you can go with a light switch.

Rory: Rest in peace.
Amaya: That's sweet, Mick.
Rory: No, it's what he wrote on the floor. (points to the blood) R-I-P.
Jax: That's not "rest in peace".
Sara: It's the name of Dr. Mid-Nite's killer.

Nate: I just don't get it.
Stein: Please be more specific. That could be a very long list.

(Amaya asks why Sara didn't kill Rip or let Jax do it when they had the chance.)
Sara: Because we're not killers, Amaya.
Stein: Except for yourself and Mr. Rory and...
(Sara gives Stein a warning glare.)
Stein: I'll stop helping now.

(Nate is ranting about how much medieval life sucked.)
Nate: And I'm not even touching skin diseases...
Amaya: Speaking of which, why did you choose to dress like a leper?
Nate: I didn't! This (motions to his costume) is historically accurate. You all look like you're going to a Renaissance fair.

(The Legends are surrounded by knights with weapons drawn. Their leader is on horseback.)
Ray: (in a bad High English accent) Wait! I mean ho! I mean hark! Good knight!  We intend you no harm. We are but mere travelers in this land.
Nate: (muttered) Your dialect is way off.
Ray: I, Raymond of The Palms and my band of merry men - and women - humbly request safe passage to Camelot and an audience with King Arthur.
Amaya: (disbelievingly) King Arthur?
Ray: Yes, you see his crest on their shields.
(The lead knight removes their helmet, revealing themselves to be a pale, red-haired woman.)
Guinevere: I am Guinevere.We shall escort you to Camelot. (stares at Nate) But your leper must remain outside the castle walls.
Nate: I'm not a leper!

Sara: Your tracking in the woods was excellent. There's not many people that can get the jump on me like that.
Guinevere: I was a warrior long before I was a queen.
Sara: Why does it sound like you preferred that?
Guinevere: Politics is not one of my passions. But Arthur is a true friend and ally. I believe in his vision for a more just and peaceful kingdom.
Sara: From what I see, Camelot lives up to its reputation.

(A mind-controlled Arthur is holding Stargirl at knife-point.)
Stargirl: Arthur?
Darhk: (out of the corner of his mouth, in a bad Elvis Presley impression) The King has left the building.
(Darhk looks to Stargirl expecting a reaction.)
Darhk: You don't get the reference? (groans) Pity.

(Sara is trying to persuade a reluctant Guinevere to take command of what remains of the Knights of The Round Table.)
Sara: Look - sometimes the mantle just falls into your lap. Trust me. I know that it's hard. But you are clever! You are brave. And you are a natural born commander. I know you can do this.

(Ray is preparing to go into battle with the rest of the Knights of the Round Table. Nate stops him.)
Nate: What are you doing? These guys don't stand a chance out there! Is this really worth the risk for some dream?
Ray: Yes. Because a long time ago that dream meant the world to a little boy. And he still remembers.
(As Ray marches off, Nate appears to remember something and fumbles for a book in his satchel. He pulls out the volume which had a drawing of a woodcut of a  knight he thought resembled Ray. The woodcut now depicts that knight being laid out in state.)
Nate: This isn't going to end well.

(Ray shows Nate that he is wearing his ATOM Gauntlet and draws his sword. On contact with the gauntlet, blue energy runs through the blade.)
Armorer: (stunned) It's like a saber!  Made of light!
Ray: (giddy) Yeah! Just don't call it a lightsaber! Major trademark issues, right?

Ray: All of these men are willing to die on the battlefield - not for some Spear but...  an idea. And I get it now. Camelot isn't about history. It's not even about some dusty old books that got a lonely kid through childhood. It's about one noble idea - that we can all stand up for what's right, no matter what. I can't walk away from that.
Nate: I believe you Ray. I do. And Camelot's great. But if you don't leave right now, you're going to die here.
Ray: Would it kill you to be just a little bit more supportive?!
Nate: You don't get it, man! I checked the manuscript. I saw your funeral!
Ray: (pauses) Well... sounds to me like the stuff Legends are made of.

(Sara is preparing to leave Ray behind to escape with the head of the Spear of Destiny.)
Rory: As much as Haircut's a pain in my ass, I'm not going to let him fight alone.
(Rory stands and starts to move to the exit.)
Sara: Sit down! That's an order.
Rory: What's an order?
Sara: Don't test me, Mick.
Rory: Don't threaten me, Blondie.
(Sara stands up and stares down Mick.)
Stein: (standing up) I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with Mr. Rory.
(Jax stands up along with Stein.)
Sara: I said sit down!
Amaya: (standing up) Stop! I've already lost one team. I'll be damned if my decision rips The Legends apart too.
Sara: What are you saying?
Amaya: Listen to your gut, Captain. Don't abandon Ray. It may be sentimental but the team should come before tactics.
(Sara looks to everyone else. They all seem to be in agreement.) 
Sara: Alright. Let's do this.

(Jax is able to get the mind control technology to work... giving Rory control of Stein.)
Jax: It worked! I knew it! Okay! Now all we've got to do is amplify the signal.
Rory: What do you want me to do?
Stein: (sarcastically) Just rest your brain, Mr. Rory.
Jax: (flipping switches on the control panel) We'll let you know when it's time to take control of the evil army.
Rory: (smiling wickedly) Ah! Finally, I get to fulfill my destiny!
Stein: God help us.


Continuity

There are flying cars and a cure for blindness the year 3000.

Dr. Mid-Nite cured his blindness and found work as a researcher in the field of cybernetic implants.

Nate is uncomfortable with traveling to the future since it makes his skills as a historian less useful.

Jousting did not begin in England until 1300 AD.

Ray was a big fan of Arthurian lore as a kid.

Women were allowed to be knights in Camelot.

Camelot is a court of equals and Arthur does not want anyone bowing to him.

Stargirl traveled back in time and became Merlin - the wisest adviser of King Arthur.

It is revealed that the final mission of the JSA - referred to by an elderly Obsidian in 205 - was to recover The Spear of Destiny in Leipzig, Germany in 1956. Their mission was joined by Rip Hunter, who told them that the spear could alter reality. They broke the spear into four pieces and Rip took each of the three JSA members - Stargirl, Dr. Mid-Nite and Commander Steel - to a different point in time.

Stargirl used her knowledge of the future to build Camelot up from a middling kingdom and establish King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as guardians of her piece of the Spear of Destiny.

Damien Darhk is revealed to be The Black Knight who is kidnapping the nobles of Camelot.

The mind-controlled King Arthur kills Sir Galahad.

Nate checks the reference book in which he found a woodcut of a knight that resembles Ray in 201. The woodcut now depicts the knight being carried as part of a funeral procession.

Stargirl was entrusted with the spearhead of The Spear of Destiny. She hid it on the tip of The Sword In The Stone, buried within a rock that only a strong man could pull free. Amaya is able to retrieve it by drawing upon the strength of a gorilla.

Stargirl elects to stay behind in Camelot.

Guinevere is apparently a lesbian whose marriage to Arthur was entirely political.

It appears that Sara Lance is the inspiration for Lancealot in the Arthurian legend - the knight who won Guinevere's heart after she married Arthur.

Ray declares that he would rather make his own fate rather than know what the history books say will happen. We see that Nate's manuscript now has a woodcut of Ray being fitted with a crown by a red-haired woman.

Rip Hunter is now prisoner in The Waverider's brig. The final scene reveals, however, that Gideon is still programmed to respond to his commands.


Location

Detroit, USA -3000 AD
Camelot, Britannia - 507 AD
Leipzig, Germany - 1956 AD


The Fridge Factor

Averted right up until the point that we find out Stargirl fell in love with King Arthur and that for all her talk of duty and her oath to protect the Spear of Destiny, her whole motivation was trying to make a perfect kingdom for the man she loved. Granted, she DID an impressive job of building it up, but making it all about a man kinda kills the strong feminist vibe the episode had until that point, with Sara and Amaya taking charge of respective situations, Merlin being a woman, the existence of female knights in Camelot and Guinevere taking command.

On that note, would it kill them for Sara to meet another strong woman and not have a one-night stand with her? It's fast becoming a running gag and encouraging the promiscuous bisexual stereotype.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode despite some out-of-character moments and the feminist subtext being a little dodgy considering other story elements. The historical purists like Nate may groan but this is episode is simply fun.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2, Episode 9 - Raiders Of The Lost Art

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




Plot

When Merlyn, Darhk and Thawne move to abduct a time-drifted Rip Hunter - who currently believes himself to be a film student in 1967- it creates an Aberration big enough to attract the attention of The Legends... and disrupt Ray and Nathan's lives. As the rest of the team move to rescue Rip and recover The Spear of Destiny that somehow wound up in his hands, Mick Rory asks Professor Stein for a private favor.


Influences

The films of George Lucas, particularly Raiders Of The Lost Ark (the title, name-dropped by Nate, Sara says the story of Longinus sounds like it came from an Indiana Jones movie.) and Star Wars (Ray says he'll channel his inner Han Solo to pilot The Waverider, the team's escape on The Waverider while Darkh and Merlyn shoot at them with laser pistols, the team being dropped into a garbage disposal death-trap)


Goofs

Given Sara was resurrected by something called The Lazarus Pit, you'd expect her to be the least skeptical person when it comes to a story involving mystic artifacts with magical healing properties!

Ray and Nate's memory loss based on the effects of the aberration caused by George Lucas quitting film-making occur far faster than any previous changes to the time-line in any other episode. Stein erasing his marriage from history, for instance, did not cause him to instantly lose all his memories of his marriage!

The only thing faster than Ray and Nate's being changed by George Lucas quitting film-making is how quickly they're returned to normal after George Lucas voices his desire to direct out-loud.


Performances

Arthur Darvill turns in a great performance here as Phil Gasner, seemingly like an entirely different actor - never mind another character!

It's understated, but there's quite a few good bonding scenes here between Sara and Jax - more than in any previous episode - and Caity Lotz and Franz Drameh play them beautifully.


Artistry

There are some subtle visual tributes to the direction of George Lucas throughout the episode. One of the better ones is Darhk and Merlyn standing on the elevator, mirroring Han and Luke in Star Wars.



Trivia Of Tomorrow

The title is a nod to the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The plot is also similar, involving the hunt for a holy artifact (The Spear of Destiny vs. The Ark of the Covenant).

The opening narration is done by Profesor Stein.

Nate refers to Merlyn, Darhk and Thawne collectively as The Legion of Doom. He says the name came from an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon. This is a nod to Challenge of The Super-Friends, where the villainous team led by Lex Luthor was The Legion of Doom.

Longinus is the name of the Centurion said to have been responsible for piercing the side of Jesus Christ with his spear during The Crucifixion. Not mentioned in the Biblical Gospels, the first record of his story and name are found in several books of The Apocrypha.

Also referred to as The Holy Lance, Holy Spear, Lance Of Longinus and Spear of Longinus, The Spear of Destiny is the spear that was used to pierce the side of Jesus Christ during the crucifixion. Many holy sites claim to have the Spear of Destiny in the real world and a number of legends - comparable to those regarding The Holy Grail - have sprung up around the spear and it's mystic powers. One of the more popular legends is that Adolf Hitler was obsessed with the spear and started World War II in an effort to reclaim it.

In the DC Comics Universe, this was literally true and Hitler's possession of the spear prevented the Allies-aligned superheroes from being able to take action against him, due to the spear's power giving Hitler the ability to control the mind of anyone who stood against him.

Ray and Nate, despite their love of George Lucas movies, both object to watching Howard The Duck. Not only is this a jab at George Lucas' most infamous bomb but it's also a nod to the fact that the movie was based on a Marvel Comic series. (Nate and Ray are loyal company men, after all.)


Technobabble

Nate carbon-dated the amulet Sara took from Darhk in 1987. Gideon put its date of origin at around 30 AD.

The amulet contained high concentrations of copper, manganese and zinc - all the ingredients of bronze.

Roman Centurions used bronze for most of their metalwork circa 30 AD.

The Longinus Medallion acts as a compass to The Spear of Destiny.

There is a difference between altering time and altering reality, according to Nate. Changes to reality are permanent whereas changes to the time can be altered and reset. This makes The Spear of Destiny far more dangerous than even a rogue speedster time-traveling.

Cal DeVito was suppose to event a new carburetor for shovel-head motorcycles, before he was killed by Darkh and Merlyn.

DeVito and his friend were killed by sezuki strikes to the xiphoid processes - a close-quarters killing technique used by The League of Assassins.

Jax says it wouldn't have been possible for Rip to use The Waverider's emergency protocols to randomly teleport himself after using them to send the rest of the team away.

Rip Hunter's neural architecture was completely restructured, his limbic system reprogrammed with a new identity.  This is a different phenomena than time drift, requiring technology that doesn't exist.

Ray suggests that Rip's brain could have been altered by impulses coming from the ship's time drive. This "temporal electrocution" as Stein calls it, would be near suicidal as a method of time-travel.

Stein detects a receiver that is sensitive to gravitation-wave transmissions implanted inside of Rory's head. In short, there's an antenna in his head.

Stein theorizes that when Snart was killed by a blast of temporal energy, he might have bonded with the blast and the version of him that Rory is seeing is effectively a "time ghost".

A McGuffin is the generic term for the thing in a movie that everyone is trying to get.

Cognitive dissonance is the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.


Dialogue Triumphs

Merlyn: When we're done here, we need to go to the 1600 block of Vine Street.
Darhk: Why, pray tell?
Merlyn: It's where Frank Sinatra's star is on the Walk of Fame. I have always wanted to see it.
Darhk: I'm not sure if that's part of our little trinket's itinerary.
Merlyn: I said "when we're done". As far as magical artifacts go, this one is frustratingly unspecific.
Darhk: Actually, like most magical artifacts, its ways are nuanced.
Merlyn: That's just a fancy word for vague.

Sara: They must be getting closer to The Holy Lance.
Nate: I'm leaning toward Spear of Destiny.
Sara: I prefer Holy Lance.
Nate: Can't imagine why.

(Gideon has just explained what effect the loss of George Lucas' movies had on Ray and Nate.)
Sara: Wait - so you're telling me that because some film geek drops out of school, my inventor and my historian are now essential useless?
Nate: Yes.
Ray: Hey!

(Sara and Jax turn the corner into the med bay. They find Stein, scalpel in hand, standing over an unconscious Rory.)
Sara: What do you think you're doing?
Stein: Brain surgery. What does it look like?
(Sara and Jax just turn around and walk out of the med bay.)

(The Reverse Flash arrives and knocks down all The Legends, pulling Merlyn and Darkh from the middle of the rapidly turning fight.)
Merlyn: About time you showed.
Darhk: Where were you?
Thawne: Always busy, gentlemen, and yet never late. So... who do we kill first?

Jax: Look. Sara... you can't beat yourself up about this.
Sara: It was my responsibility as Captain to make sure that everyone gets back on this ship. Everyone. And I failed...
Jax: You call getting a piece of the Spear of Destiny and the medallion a failure? The Legion have nothing!
Sara: They have Rip! We lost him, Jax. Again!
Jax: But they won't have him for long. If I know one thing about you, it's that you don't give up. When you really want something, you are unstoppable, and God help anybody that tries to get in your way. We are going to find him. And we are going to bring him home.
Sara: Is that a promise?
Jax: That's a prophecy.



Dialogue Disasters

Sara: Hey, hold on - this all sounds like an Indiana Jones movie.

George Lucas: What I really want... is to direct!


Continuity

"Shogun Ballistic" is the shutdown code for Gideon's primary systems.

Stein learns about Rory's hallucinations of Snart, which began in 208.

Nate listens to rap music to help himself concentrate.

Together, the two amulets Thawne sought form one artifact called The Longinus Medallion.

Jax regularly attended Sunday School and knows the story of Longinus from memory - how his sight was restored by the blood of Christ and his medallion and spear were empowered.

Nate became a historian because of the movie Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

The film Rip is working on in 1967 is called Legends, stars a hero called Rip Hunter and has a villain clearly modeled on Vandal Savage.

Ray refers to Time Drift - the psychological condition where a time-traveler spends too long in an alien time-period, losing all sense of self and memory of who they were - first encountered in 109. He suggests that might explain for Rip's apparent amnesia.

Rip's alias in 1967 is Phillip Gasmer.  George Lucas is the prop master on his film school thesis project.

In the altered timeline, the attack on Phil Gasmer's set causes George Lucas to quit film school. This indirectly causes Ray and Nate to lose all their professional training, as Lucas' films inspired them to their respective careers. Instead, Nate becomes a yoga instructor and Ray becomes a heart surgeon.

Rory remembers having an implant put in his brain by The Time Masters during his time as Chronos.

Phil's movie script tells the story of The Legends. Jax is a character named Max and Sara is a woman named Sandra. It also talks about The Spear of Destiny.

It turns out that what Rip had was a fragment of The Spear of Destiny.

Thawne abducts Rip Hunter before The Legends can get away with him.

Sara recovers the piece of The Spear of Destiny and The Longinus Medallion.

Stein is able to remove the transmitter from Rory's brain but discovers it wasn't working.


Location

New York - Six Months Ago (relative time)
Los Angeles - 1967


The Crisis Factor

The episode seems to break the series' rules regarding the effects of changes to the time line for the sake of comedic effect.


The Bottom Line

A weak script based around a weak idea that is saved only by the strength of the ensemble's performances. Merlyn and Darhk are reduced to the role of laser gun-totting thugs and the rules of how quickly aberrations affect people are tossed out the window for the sake of some cheap jokes. It's telling that the best bits are the dialogues between two characters independent of the central plot.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2, Episode 8 - The Chicago Way

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



Plot

The Legends follow the trail of a Time Aberration to Chicago in 1927, not knowing they've been set-up by Eobard Thawne, Damien Darhk and the latest member of their team - Malcolm Merlyn! When Stein is placed in danger, Sara must choose between saving his life and completing the mission. At the same time, Mick Rory is confronted by an old friend who questions his recent life choices.

Influences

The 1987 film The Untouchables (inspiration for title, general aesthetic and numerous references)


Goofs

This episode is set in October of 1927. While Elliot Ness was a special agent for the Treasury based in Chicago at that time, he did not begin working for the Prohibition Bureau of The Justice Department until 1928.

While this can be blamed purely upon the desire to tell a good story and basing this episode off of an infamously inaccurate film adaptation of a historically inaccurate book, the truth is that Elliot Ness had nothing to do with busting Al Capone on tax evasion charges.  Ness and his Untouchables were assigned to hound Capone's businesses that violated Prohibition while other agents looked into Capone's taxes. It was an investigation headed by U.S. Attorney George E.Q. Johnson and IRS agent Frank Wilson which led to Capone's downfall.


Performances

The episode MVPs are Caity Lotz and Victor Garber, as their respective shoes from the first part of the season wind up on the other foot, with Stein now pleading that it can't hurt to change the past and Sara as the voice of reason for history being preserved. Garber also has a good, if brief, turn playing the disguised Thawne.

There's also a nice bit of non-verbal acting on Franz Drameh's part as Jax seems to realize something is off about Stein upon his return... like the absence of their usual connection.


Artistry

The writing of this episode is brilliant. Not only is there a lot of witty dialogue but the role-reversal between Stein and Sara is brilliantly played with.

Props to the costume designers for some truly elegant work on the period costumes.

The choreography of the Sara/Merlyn fight is great.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

Amaya reads the opening narration at the start of this episode.

The title of this episode was taken from a line from the 1987 film The Untouchables, which was about legendary lawman Elliot Ness and the hand-picked team he used to take on gangster Al Capone.

The quote is "You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's The Chicago Way!" This also seems to describe the cut-throat tactics employed by the villains in this episode.

There's several other references to The Untouchables, including Ray's comment that Elliot Ness looks nothing like Kevin Costner (who played Ellot Ness), Nate introducing Ray as his associate Bob DeNiro while impersonating Ness (actor Robert DeNiro was also in the movie) and Ray doing a Sean Connery impression while paraphrasing the famous line about bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Also referred to as The Holy Lance, Holy Spear, Lance Of Longinus and Spear of Longinus, The Spear of Destiny is - as Thawne says - the spear that was used to pierce the side of Jesus Christ during the crucifixion. Many holy sites claim to have the Spear of Destiny in the real world and a number of legends - comparable to those regarding The Holy Grail - have sprung up around the spear and it's mystic powers. One of the more popular legends is that Adolf Hitler was obsessed with the spear and started World War II in an effort to reclaim it.

In the DC Comics Universe, this was literally true and Hitler's possession of the spear prevented the Allies-aligned superheroes from being able to take action against him, due to the spear's power giving Hitler the ability to control the mind of anyone who stood against him.


Technobabble

Elliot Ness is underwater long enough to develop hypoxia - tissue damage caused by a lack of oxygen. Gideon is advanced enough to treat this, but it does take long enough that Nate has to impersonate Elliot Ness.

The slang term speakeasy referring to an illegal bar came about because one had to "speak easy" in order to learn the location of such an establishment and remain quiet inside of one so as not to attract attention.

Thawne uses some kind of futuristic technology to torture Stein and take on his appearance. This device apparently works on a molecular level, actually changing Thawne into Stein physically.

The Spear of Destiny is the spear that was used to pierce the side of Christ during The Crucifixion. According to Thawne, The Spear can be used to rewrite reality.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Al Capone and some of his men emerge from a warehouse on a Chicago dock.)
Darhk: Mr. Capone?
(Capone and his men turn to see Damien Darhk and Eobard Thawne, in his Reverse Flash costume.)
Darhk: It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Capone: I canceled tickets to the opera 'cause I heard there were new players in town. No one told me it was Halloween.
(Capone's men laugh. Thawne and Darhk chuckle a bit too, agreeably.)
Thawne: Well, it's more like... Christmas.
Darhk: (To Thawne) That's - I like that. It's very good. (To Capone) See, my associate and I have come with a proposition. We've seen how you run your empire and we're impressed. But there's room for improvement.
Thawne: We'd like to offer our services.
Capone: I got a better idea. How about I show you how things are done in my town?
(Capone's men raise their guns. Both Darhk and Thawne sigh. Clearly they saw this coming but hoped to avoid what must come next.)
Darhk: You or me?
Thawne: Ohhhhhhh....  I've got-
(Red lighting rips between Capone's men as Thawne briefly disappears. Capone's men also disappear, one by one. Thawne reappears where he was standing a second later.)
Thawne: -this.
(Capone looks around, playing it cool but clearly surprised.)
Darhk: By now you've probably surmised that my friend and I aren't from around here.
Capone: What do you freaks want?
Darhk: To help! I thought I made - (To Thawne) Did I not make that perfectly clear?
Thawne: New enemies are coming to Chicago and they will endanger your enterprises.
Capone: And you're saying you two can help me out?
(A third man emerges stealthily from the shadows.)
Merlyn: Actually, there's three of us. Pleasure to meet you. My name is Malcolm Merlyn.

Stein: I've always wanted to visit The Roaring Twenties, right in the middle of Prohibition!
Rory: That means no drinking. That's not good.
Nate: Well, actually under Capone Chicago was a hotbed of vice. There was illegal drinking. Gambling. Prostitution.
Rory: Well then! Let's fire up a tub and get there.

Snart: Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
(Rory chokes on his beer as he looks up to see Snart standing in the doorway of the med-bay.)
Rory: Leonard! (shaking his head) I must be losing my mind
Snart: Of course you are. Why else would you still be here, taking orders like a well-trained puppy? You're not right in the head, Mick! That's why I'm here. To set you straight.
(Snart crosses the doorway and disappears. Rory begins chugging down the rest of his beer.)

(Nate and Ray are arguing over who should be taking the lead in planning in Sara's absence.)
Rory: Enough! If you want to nail Capone and Rex's killer, we can't do it by playing a boy scout or a historian or a policeman. We do this my way! Like a criminal!

Merlyn: It's been a long time, Sara. You look good for someone who's come back from the dead.
Sara: Why am I not surprised that you and Damien Darhk would find each other?
Stein: What do you want with us?
Merlyn: You have something we need. And while my partners think I'm a fool for trying, I would like to broker a deal with you. You have in your possession an amulet. Give it to me and I will give you nine years of your life back.
Sara: What are you talking about?
Merlyn: Oh, maybe Oliver didn't tell you, but I was the one who arranged to blow up The Queen's Gambit. That was the day everything changed for you, Sara. Hundreds of dominoes tumbling... Dr. Ivo... Slade Wilson... The League of Assassins. Losing your sister?
Sara: And you losing your son.
Merlyn: We both get clean slates.
Stein: Why don't you just ask your speedster friend to take you back in time?
Sara: Because Malcolm's just his errand boy, sent to retrieve the amulet. Why is it so important?
Merlyn: What does it matter? I'm giving you and your sister a chance to live normal lives. To go back - maybe go to college? Meet a nice boy - or a girl - and settle down.
Sara: No thank you. I was never meant for those things. And I know that now. And besides, you can't just go back and change things like that.
Merlyn: (laughing) Why not?
Sara: Because Time is sacred. And it can't be changed to suit any one person's desire without harming the lives of countless others.
Merlyn: But you wouldn't remember any of this, would you? You would be blissfully unaware of time travel. Of loss. Of heartbreak. You'd be happy. And isn't that what matters most in the end?
(Merlyn starts to walk off.)
Sara: Hey Malcolm?
(Merlyn freezes.)
Sara: I'll take a nightmare that's real over a dream that's a lie.

Stein: I have a daughter.
Sara: A what?!
Stein: A full-grown human progeny, who I never even knew I had. This beautiful, brilliant-
Sara: And not real!
Stein: At first, no. But then I remembered! I remembered the countless nights I spent pacing the neighborhood, trying to get her to sleep. The- the- way my heart melted the first time she smiled at me. (chuckling) The distress she caused her kindergarten teacher when she insisted on singing the periodic table instead of the alphabet! I remembered all of it!
Sara: But none of that happened to you.
Stein: But the memories are real. They are a part of me now. She is a part of me now. And I love her.

Thawne: I'm not going to lie to you. This - um - little toy usually leaves the subject... well, dead. But I've adjusted it so that you should only feel a little bit of pain. In theory.

(After Amaya calls Rory over the comms)
Snart: Awww. sounds like a sweet little angel, whispering in your ear. Problem is angels always want you to do the right thing and doing the right thing gets you killed. I should know. You wanna stay alive? Best listen to the devil.

Snart: What's next, Mick? Long walks on the beach - just the two of you?
Rory: For a figment of my imagination, you're really beginning to be a pain in my ass.
Snart: Look, I get it. She's easy on the eyes... tough in the fight.
Rory: She's just a friend. The only friend I have. Since my last friend blew himself up.
Snart: Care for a little advice?
Rory: From a dead guy? No.
Snart: Don't let the new girl rope you into her death wish. This whole 'sacrificing yourself for your friends' thing isn't as fun as it sounds. Trust me.

(Jax knocks Thawne off his feet with a blast of the speedster gun.)
Thawne: My speedster weapon! Impressive!
(In the blink of an eye, Thawne is back up, Jax is disarmed, and Thawne is strangling him with one hand.)
Thawne: Unfortunately, for you, the effects are only temporary.
Jax: What did you do with Stein?!
Thawne: Oh, I wouldn't waste my energy worrying about him right now.
Jax: Whatever you're gonna do, do it now!
Thawne: In a rush to die, are we?
Jax: (choking) I wasn't talking to you.
(A second too late, Thawne sees a shrunken Ray Palmer jumping off of Jax's shoulder and growing rapidly larger, hitting Thawne with the full force of his weight.)

Ray: (Sean Connery voice) Isn't that just like a thug? Brings a Tommy gun to an ion blaster fight?

(Merlyn is rifling through Rip's study. Sara drops down silently from a duct above him. Merlyn smirks, still somehow sensing her presence.)
Merlyn: The League taught you well. But unless you hand over the amulet, I'm going to have to teach you a few new lessons.
Sara: Those who cannot do, teach.

Amaya: You were right. The bad guys really do have more fun.
(Amaya kisses Mick on the cheek.)
Amaya: Not that you're a bad guy.
(Amaya leaves the room as Snart appears.)
Snart: I hope it was worth it. All this for a kiss on the cheek and a cheap bottle of booze. That speedster could have killed you, Mick. What then?
Rory: I'd be dead like you.


Dialogue Disasters

Ray: You know, if this is the week the Feds get Capone's ledger, why does it take four more years for them to take him down?
Nate: Because it's the federal government.


Continuity

Jax refers to 203 and how a training accident in the cargo bay damaged the ship.

Jax was an only child.

Amaya read her mother's old magazines as a girl and dreamed of Chicago during the 1920s.

Nate notes that The Chicago Police Department of the 1920s was probably the most corrupt in history.

According to Gideon, in the altered timeline where Elliot Ness died, Al Capone became Mayor of Chicago. He spent October 24, 1931 - the day he was supposed to go to jail for tax evasion - kicking off Oktoberfest.

According to Nate, Shipping Dock 39 was where Capone disposed of people he wanted to get rid of with "Cement Shoes". It became known as Cadaver's Cove.

Amaya wanted to be a cop as a young girl.

Mick begins to have hallucinations of Snart mocking his efforts to befriend Amaya and reform himself.

Jax tells the rest of the team about the secret armory he and Stein found in 203 and how it contains a special gun that can stop a speedster.

Merlyn refers to the events depicted in Season 2 of Arrow and how Sara Lance's life was changed by his blowing up The Queen's Gambit nine years earlier.

Sara learns about Lily Stein.

Thawne uses the device he used to become Harrison Wells in F117 to impersonate Stein.

Nate notes that Al Capone is very organized and has neat handwriting.

Ray does a decent Sean Connery impression.

Thawne refers to killing Rex Tyler in 202.

Thawne claims to have invented the anti-speedster gun Jax and Amaya use against him.

Thawne abandons the fight with Amaya after an alarm on his watch goes off.

Sara agrees to trade the amulet for Martin Stein's life.

Amaya stole a bottle of booze from Al Capone's warehouse as a gift for Mick.

The two amulets Thawne was seeking are really part of one amulet. Together, they create a portable planetarium of sorts which Thawne calls a compass.

Thawne tells Merlyn and Darhk about the legend of The Spear of Destiny and how the first step to finding it is Captain Rip Hunter.

The final scene shows a film director in 1967 Los Angeles who looks a lot like Rip Hunter, only he has an American accent.


Location

Chicago - October 17, 1927
Los Angeles - 1967.


The Bottom Line

A worthy mid-season finale that answers just enough questions to satisfy yet creates enough new mysteries to keep us drooling for the next two months. January 24th can't come fast enough.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 8 - Invasion!

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




Plot

Oliver Queen wakes up in a world where his parents are alive and well and Laurel Lance is his loving fiancee. It seems like the perfect life but something about it seems wrong somehow...

Meanwhile, Felicity and the rest of Team Arrow must deal with a new threat, with a litle help from The Flash and Supergirl.


Influences

Independence Day (Cisco, Curtis and Caitlin attempting to hack alien technology), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Curtis name drops the movie twice), Star Wars (Curtis refers to his translator device as The Threepio Processor in honor of the translator robot C3P-O), J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (universal translator technology, named-dropped by Cisco in describing The Dominator's ship), The Perchance To Dream episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman Annual #11 - "For The Man Who Has Everything", The JSA comics of Geoff Johns (Mister Terrific being an Atheist), The 1988 DC Comics crossover event Invasion and various Gardner Fox Crisis comics.


Goofs

There's a lot about the dream world that doesn't make sense. Why didn't the dream world give Diggle and Sara their perfect lives, like it did Oliver, Thea and - to a point - Ray? While John wasn't exactly unhappy as The Hood until Oliver showed up, it's hard to believe he wouldn't have Lyla or John Jr. in his life. Ditto Sara seemingly not having any role other than to revel in her sister's happiness.  Were The Dominators too cheap to generate each of the heroes their own perfect world? Was the confusion meant to prolong their time in the dream world as their minds were read? Why bother with hostile memories which threatened the reality of the dream world? And why bother having a portal out of the dream world in the first place?

When did Cisco get a piece of the Dominator's ship? (Possibly a scene that was cut for time?)

Why has Wild Dog's sudden hatred of super-powered people never come up regarding the guy wearing the magical costume made of rags who is on his team?

The villain of the week is beaten far too easy and serves no purpose other than to give Supergirl and The Flash a chance to show off.

Why does the dream world create ghosts of two people who haven't died - Felicity and Roy Harper - as Ollie is about to leave? (I know this was the only way they could give Roy Harper an appearance in the episode, but it doesn't make sense in the logic of the world.)

Cisco says that geographical coordinates don't have negative numbers. In fact, negative numbers are used to note areas south of the equator in latitude and west of the prime meridian in longitude.


Performances

Stephen Amell gives one of his best performances ever, trying to say good-bye to the parents he lost as he breaks away from a perfect world.  It gets even better later on, opposite Willa Holland, as she makes a convincing case for staying in the dream world and allowing themselves to be happy for once. It's a heartbreaking moment and a great performance for both actors.


Artistry

The editing team did a fantastic job of patching together the various clips for the flashback sequences.

The special effects for the Flash and Supergirl vs. Dr. Washington fight are top-notch.


Trivia

As the title suggests, the main inspiration for this four-part crossover event between all of the DCTVU shows was the 1988 crossover event Invasion!

Invasion! was based around the idea that an alliance of alien worlds - led by The Dominators - attacked Earth due to their concerns that Earth's growing metahuman population would become a threat to their planets.

The Dominators in the original comics had yellow skin, a red circle in the middle of their foreheads, claw-like fingernails and sharp fang-like teeth.

The DCTVU version of The Dominators resemble the comic-book counterpart for the most part, save that their skin is more grey than yellow. Also, they do not wear clothing, which the comic book Dominators did.

This episode was the 100th episode of Arrow.

This episode was the third part of a four-part crossover between all of The CW Network's DC Comics superhero shows.

The story for this episode greatly resembles the plot of Perchance To Dream - an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. In that episode, Bruce Wayne finds himself in a world where his parents are alive, Selina Kyle is his fiancee and he is no longer Batman, though he starts to have feelings that he was Batman after seeing Batman in the street. He eventually realizes he's in an illusion - one crafted by The Mad Hatter to give him a perfect life.

In this episode,Oliver Queen's parents are both alive and he is about to be married to Laurel Lance. He is no longer Green Arrow, but has visions of being Green Arrow after having an encounter with The Hood in the street. He eventually realizes he's an illusion - one crafted by The Dominators to keep him distracted.

There are a number of other common plot-beats between the two shows, including the search for an entrance to a hidden superhero hideout, an attempt to unmask one's own superhero alter ego and an incongruous building (a clock tower in Perchance To Dream, the Smoak Electronics building in Invasion!) leading to the way out of the dream world.

The story for this episode also resembles the classic Alan Moore Superman story For The Man Who Has Everything. In that comic, Superman falls prey to a parasitic plant called The Black Mercy that causes its host to hallucinate their perfect world as the plant feasts upon their body.  As in that story, any attempt to resist the reality created by The Black Mercy results in the dream world attacking the host or the host's loved ones appearing and begging them not to leave them.

Oliver name-drops the story, saying at one point that "he has everything."

For The Man Who Has Everything was adapted for the Supergirl TV series in S113 - For The Girl Who Has Everything.

In the comics, Oliver Queen had his own encounter with a Black Mercy plant in Green Lantern (Volume 4) #7 and #8. In that story, both Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen were attacked by a Black Mercy that primarily focused on Hal Jordan, creating a perfect world for Oliver Queen based on what Hal thought Ollie's perfect world would be like. Oliver Queen saw through the illusion and as able to break both of them free of the dream world. Something similar happens here, with John Diggle and Sara Lance both realizing there's something wrong with the supposedly perfect reality they are part of.

Curtis Holt expresses reservations about the idea of a divine plan that includes space monsters. This is a nod to the JSA comics where Mister Terrific was a staunch atheist despite working with colleagues who claimed to have powers granted by divine and magical sources.

In the dream world, Malcolm Merlyn says that Tommy Merlyn couldn't make it to the wedding because he's working triple-shifts in his new job as a doctor in Chicago. This is a nod to how actor Colin Donnell - who played Tommy Merlyn in the first season of Arrow - is now playing the role of Dr. Connor Rhodes on Chicago Med, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire and was unable to do a cameo in this episode due to his busy schedule.

Felicity tracks the location of Team Arrow to -3.127 Latitude, - 23.7987 Longitude. This indicates somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean... or above it.


Technobabble

The first attempt to hack the Dominator technology fails because the team tried to plug human technology into a Dominator power source. This caused a power overload, which requires them to find a regulator.

Van Horn industries developed a prototype regulator for NASA. It was perfected, but it was stolen by a Dr. Laura Washington - a scientist who has been augmenting her body with various stolen electronic implants. The implants give her enhanced strength, stamina and electricity-based powers.

The martial art Sara uses to fight Deathstroke in the dream world is Jeet Kune Do - a hybrid martial art heavily influenced by the martial arts philosophy of Bruce Lee.

Rory Regan identifies the "soup" created by Curtis' translator as Gamatria - a Kabbalistic method of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on those of their constituent letters. In Hebrew, each letter has a numerical value. Gamatria is the calculation of the numerical equivalents of letters, words or phrases.

Felicity tracks the location of Team Arrow to -3.127 Latitude, - 23.7987 Longitude. This indicates somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ray examines the technology The Dominators were using to keep them under and determined it used a neuromorphic interface similar to what he used to control the ATOM suit. This means The Dominators may have been probing their subconscious for intel while the shared hallucination kept their minds occupied. Ray further theorizes that the five of them (Sara, Diggle, Thea, Oliver and himself) were abducted because they were ordinary humans.

Gideon translates "Klic-Clac-To Nick-Lava Shack-too" to "We are nearing completion of the weapon."


Dialogue Triumphs

Curtis: I feel like Elliot in E.T. - "It's working! It's working!"
Cisco: Your tech guy quotes movie, huh?
Felicity: Yeah.
Cisco: Reeeeal original.

The Flash: What's your damage, man?
Wild Dog: My damage is that people like you two have the power of gods yet you think you can make the world a better place just by putting on a fancy costume.
Supergirl: No! We... we think we make the world a better place because, well... well, we do!

Ollie: These head games aren't over. They are going to push back against whatever we do.
John: Push back? Like how?
(Oliver looks to one side, where Deathstroke emerges from the bushes, twirling a sword.)
Ollie: Like that.

(Sara Lance catches Deathstrike's sword arm, disarms him and runs him through with his own sword. She then looks down in astonishment, holding the katana in a defensive kata whilst in her bridesmaid dress.)
Sara: How did I do that?

Thea: It's too bad Tommy couldn't make it, though.
Merlyn: Well, they've got him working triple shifts at the hospital these days. Besides, Chicago isn't exactly next door.
Thea: I can't believe he's a doctor now.
Merlyn: Well, he says the same thing about you, Miss Entrepreneur.
Thea: I don't think running Verdant makes me an entrepreneur.
Merlyn: No, but it makes you successful. Your father should be very proud of the woman you've grown into.

(Moira and Robert Queen try to talk Ollie into getting ready for the wedding.)
Moira: This is your life now.
(Oliver sighs and steadies himself.)
Oliver: No, it isn't.
(Oliver hugs Moira tightly.)
Moira: Oliver?
(Oliver moves to hug his father, fighting back the tears.)
Oliver: I'm so... I'm sorry.
(Oliver lets go of Robert and walks to where Thea and Sara are standing in one corner of the room.)
Oliver: Speedy...
Sara: She knows, Ollie. She knows and she doesn't want to go!
Thea: The better question is why would you want to?
Sara: Because none of this is real.
Thea: It's real enough, ok? (tearing up) It's - it's better than our real lives. In -in this life, Laurel is alive. My parents are alive...
Sara: But those are not your parents!
Thea: They remember the only lullaby that would actually work to put me to sleep. They remember every day of my life, okay? They even smell like them, Ollie!
Oliver: They're not them, Thea. I want them to be. But they're not. (To Sara) Where are John and Ray?
Sara: They're waiting outside.
Oliver: Give us a few minutes.
(Sara nods and heads for the exit.)
Oliver: We can't stay here, Speedy. No matter how much we want to, we can't.
Thea: Why not? What is waiting for us wherever we are right now? Nothing. Nothing but pain and suffering.
Oliver: Thea, we have responsibilities. We have people who count on us.
Thea: There's Flash and Supergirl and people with actual powers now. Whatever needs to be done, they can handle it. We - we finally have a chance to be happy. I mean, why - why can't you just for a second accept that maybe this is your reward for all the sacrifices you have made?
Oliver: I didn't make those sacrifices for a reward Thea. I did what I did because I thought it was right. And seeing all this... it has just... it has shown me that there is so much more to do. So please - I'm begging you to come with me because I cannot do it alone.
Thea: But... I can't lose them again. I can't lose my family.
(Oliver just stares at her but finally nods.)
Oliver: Okay. Okay. All right.
(Ollie hugs her)
Oliver: I want you to be well. I want you to be happy. I love you, Thea.
(Ollie lets go of her and leaves, leaving Thea alone.)



Dialogue Disasters

Wild Dog: Super powers are evil, man. And I don't want anything to do with them. Or with either of you.

Wild Dog: If super powers are a thing, it's good that there are guys like you to help the world.


Continuity

The episode opens with a scene of Oliver running through the woods on the Queen Manor estate. This mirrors the opening shot in the first episode, where Oliver was seen running through the forest on Lian Yu.

Rory tells the rest of Team Arrow that Felicity called him and told him that Oliver, Thea and Diggle had been abducted by aliens. This happened in F308.

When introduced to Rory Regan, Cisco says that makes him the second Rory he knows and the first one that isn't a douche. This is a reference to Mick Rory a.k.a. Heatwave.

Cisco uses his Vibe powers on one of Oliver's old broken bows to locate him. This gives him a vision of Oliver and company in some kind of statsis pod in some kind of alien environment.

Wild Dog has a hatred of metahumans. For some reason, it doesn't seem to apply to Ragman.

In the dream world, Thea gives Oliver a hozen as a gift before the wedding rehearsal dinner. This is the same arrowhead neclace that Oliver gave Thea in the first episode,

In the dream world, Robert Queen has just been elected mayor of Starling City and Oliver is supposed to take over Queen Consolidated when he takes office in two months.

In the dream world, Star City it is still called Starling City.

Oliver suggests Walter Steele take over as CEO instead of him. In the original universe, Walter Steele did take over Queen Consolidated after Robert Queen's death and married Moira Queen.

Oliver briefly has visions of his father's death and the sinking of The Queen's Gambit from the first episode,

Oliver briefly has a vision of Laurel as she appeared before she died in the hospital in 418.

In the dream world, Quentin Lance is still a Captain in the CCPD and he likes Oliver Queen.

Oliver briefly has visions of his establishing his first Arrow-cave and confronting Quentin for the first time as The Hood in the first episode,

Looking at a map of Starling City, Oliver briefly has visions of his campaign for Mayor of Star City during Season Four and the secret passageway to The Bunker in his campaign headquarters.

Sara Lance claims to only like girls. This may be a side-effect of The Flashpoint Reality because she had been bisexual during the first four seasons of Arrow and the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.

In the dream world, Ray Palmer is a business associate of Robert Queen, who is trying to put in a bid to take over Queen Consolidated. He is engaged to Felicity Smoak, though he has memories about his fiancee being a woman named Anna.

Both Sara Lance and Ray Palmer have visions of each other and their time together on The Waverider when they "meet for the first time" at the rehearsal dinner. The scenes of their visions include their first time riding on The Waverider together (L101), the two walking down a street in 1940s New York (L201) and a fight in the League of Assassin's headquarters (L109).

A Merlyn Global Group building is visible in the Starling City skyline.

While being strangled by The Hood, Oliver has visions of his meeting John Diggle (101), Diggle angrily driving after Ollie snuck off (102) agreeing to take him on as a partner (104), the two of them eating at Big Belly Burger together (103), John's wedding to Lyla Hall (317), the death of Andy Diggle (420) and John Diggle calling Oliver his brother (407).

Oliver also has visions of Felicity Smoak. The visions depict the first time he saw her (103), their first date (301), their first kiss (301), their first time making love (320), her near death at the hands of Damien Darhk's men (409) and their fake wedding (416).

In the dream world, John Diggle is The Hood and is working with Felicity Smoak out of The Bunker. He says he became The Arrow after returning from serving in the 105th Airborne out of Kandahar. He did things he wasn't proud of and came home to atone for his actions.

In the dream world, Andy Diggle is still alive and working in personal security.

While hugging Moira Queen, Thea has a vision of Moira's death from 220.

Diggle makes reference to a Russian lady downstairs when he intrudes on Oliver and Laurel. This is a reference to Rasia - a house-keeper in the Queen household staff, first seen in 101,who apparently did more to raise Oliver Queen than his mother did.

The creature that Diggle draws from one of his dream flashes is a Dominator.

Sara Lance knows Jeet Kune Do.

Sara Lance has a vision of the battle between The Flash and Green Arrow vs. The rest of The Legends and Team Arrow from F308. She also remembers Oliver, Thea, Diggle, Ray and herself being abducted by The Dominators.

In the dream world, Tommy Merlyn apparently moved to Chicago after getting his medical degree.

In the dream world, Thea is still running the night club Verdant.

Oliver has another vision from the first episode, after his father uses the phrase "that is not going to finish well".

The Smoak Technologies building was first seen in the Star City of 2046 in L106.

In escaping the Queen Estate, Ollie, Diggle, Sara, Thea and Ray must fight Merlyn, Deathstroke, Wintergreen, several of Eddie Fyer's mercenaries from Lian Yu and Damien Darhk.

Before leaving the dream world, Oliver has visions of various friends and family, who speak lines about who he really is and how much they meant to him. These include Moria Queen calling Oliver "her beautiful boy" and saying "she could not be more proud" (220), Felicity Smoak saying you honor the dead by fighting and that Oliver is not done fighting (222), Tommy Merlyn saying he was wrong to call Ollie a murderer and saying that he is a hero (123), Roy Harper telling Ollie that he saved his life and gave him purpose (212) and how this time they had to save him (319), Laurel saying that she knows who Oliver is in her bones - a person who doesn't give up (221) and Robert Queen telling Oliver that "It's your responsibility now."(101)

Nate Heywood picks up Sara, Ray, Thea, Diggle and Oliver in The Waverider. He was given their coordinates by Felicity.

Ray examine the technology The Dominators were using to keep them under and determined it used a neuromorphic interface similar to what he used to control the ATOM suit. This means The Dominators may have been probing their subconscious for intel while the shared hallucination kept their minds occupied. Ray further theorizes that the five of them (Sara, Diggle, Thea, Oliver and himself) were abducted because they were ordinary humans.

Gideon translates "Klic-Clac-To Nick-Lava Shack-too" to "We are nearing completion of the weapon." Gideon further determines that the Dominator ship is moving straight for Earth.


Location

A Dominator spaceship in orbit above the Earth.



Untelevised Adventures

Cisco somehow got a piece of alien technology off of the Dominator ship that crashed in Central City. This did not happen in F308.


The Winick Factor

The subplot with Wild Dog's hatred of people with super powers comes out of nowhere, doesn't make any sense given the presence of Ragman on the same team and is far too quickly resolved.


The Bottom Line

In looking back at Arrow's past, this 100th episode reminds us of many things best forgotten. For every novel touch (i.e. the wink and nod explanation as to Tommy Merlyn's absence referencing Colin Donnell's new gigs), there are glaring absences (i.e. no Manu Bennett as Deathstroke?) and a lot of plot holes regarding how the shared dream world works. Katie Cassidy still cannot convey any emotion but annoyance convincingly and fails to emote even when offered a script that requires her to do nothing but look sexy in a towel or look sad in a wedding dress.

Despite this, the dream sequence might have worked had the whole episode been focused on it, but the cuts back to reality and the crossover only serve to distract from the drama of Sara, Oliver and Thea having to pull themselves away from their loved ones. The subplot with Wild Dog suddenly hating people with powers only to change his mind after The Flash and Supergirl save him is nearly as lame as the villain of the week. Overall, this whole episode is a bit of a mess, made tolerable only by the excellent performances of the core ensemble in the dream sequence.