Legends of Tomorrow Episode Guide - Format Key

As in my earlier episode guides for The Flash, Arrow and Supergirl, I'll be using a form inspired by what I think is the finest episode guide ever written - Doctor Who: The Discontinuity Guide by Paul Cornell, Martin Day & Keith Topping.  Here is the quick rundown.


Plot: A quick summary of the main story.

Influences: Specific media which may have inspired or otherwise influenced the episode.

Goofs: Holes in the plot, visible wires during the stunts and other things that don't work the way they should.

Performances: The actors and their craft - how well the characters are played.

Artistry: Anything on the technical side of things that is notably well-handled, such as set-design, lighting, sound effects, cinematography, etc.

Trivia Of Tomorrow: Random things of interest and references to the comics.

Technobabble/Arcana: Pseudoscience terminology used to justify the unlikely.and/or impossible things that sometimes happen in superhero shows as well as anything regarding the rules of how science and magic work in the Arrowverse.

Dialogue Triumphs: Anything the characters say that make you want to put on a cape and fight for justice!

Dialogue Disasters: Anything the characters say that make you roll your eyes or snort in disbelief.

Continuity: Direct references to previous episodes or events on The Flash and Arrow.

Location: Where and when the story is set.

Untelevised Adventures: Stories that take place off camera, but are referred to.

The Fridge Factor: How badly Canary, Hawkgirl or any other female character on the show is manipulated by the story in order to build up the male characters.

The Crisis Factor: How badly the heroes are manipulated to look incompetent and badly trained compared to whatever villain they're facing.

The Bottom Line: Is it good or bad?  Why is it good or bad?  How can they make it better/not make it worse?


Got any suggestions on a category to add?  Let me know in the replies.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 10 - Blood Debts

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



Plot

With Felicity in the hospital following HIVE's latest attack, Oliver begins tearing apart Star City's criminal underworld searching for Damien Darhk. But Ollie isn't the only one hunting Darhk. Lonnie Machin - now calling himself Anarky - has come out of hiding and he wants revenge on his former employer.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the Lian Yu sequences), Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (Oliver going over the edge dealing with people who nearly killed the woman he loves) and Batman: The Killing Joke (heroine is paralyzed to fuel hero's rage at villain).


Goofs

Despite Oliver's restated commitment to not-killing, surely kicking a HIVE Ghost into a live electrical box is pretty darn close to lethal?

How is Speedy unaffected by the Canary Cry despite being between Laurel and Anarky when it goes off?

Anarky says that "the blonde called you Speedy", when is alone with Thea. In fact, Laurel called Thea by her real name when she was saving her from Anarky and never used the name Speedy until after Anarky was unconscious.


Performances

David Ramsey doesn't get a lot of time on-screen this week as Diggle but he nails every scene he's in, as usual.

Also as per usual, the scenes between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Richards are the best parts of the show. Their chemistry is amazing and the final scene is all the more powerful for how different Felicity seems in the wake of everything that occurs four months from now. The contrast between how Felicity appears in that moment versus how she usually seems is truly astonishing.


Artistry

The fight sequences in the fifth segment - both the one between Anarky/Speedy and Green Arrow and the one between Green Arrow and Damien Darhk - are well choreographed.


Trivia

Oliver's battling not to lose himself in the wake of the woman he loves nearly dying is taken directly from The Longbow Hunters.

Felicity's being paralyzed mirrors what happened to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke.


Technobabble

Anarky's boobytrap in his foster parents' home utilizes motion-sensors hooked up to machine guns.

Speedy makes use of a bola arrow to catch Anarky.


Dialogue Triumphs

Laurel: How are you feeling?
Felicity: I have never been more ready to have a bunch of guys poking around inside of me. (realizes what she just said) Doctors!  Doing doctor things!

Quentin: So you're back to dropping bodies?
Oliver: It's just this one.

Lyla: How's Felicity?
John: She's in surgery. It's a long procedure. I'm going to go to the hospital in a bit but I needed to come here to get something first.
Lyla: What?
(John just leans forward and kisses her.)

Laurel: I thought we'd already worked past this.
Quentin: There's no working past a father caring about his daughter.

Conklin: Well, I count five guns. And you've got one. What are you going to do?  You can't run.
(Oliver clicks the safety and puts the gun under his own chin)
Oliver: I'm not running.

Laurel: Have you completely lost your mind?
Oliver: I don't have time for a debate.
Laurel: Good. Because there's nothing to debate. What you did-
Oliver: What I did? I did what I had to do after you made it neccesary.Machin was only arrested by the SCPD because you gave him up.
Laurel: You were holding a man prisoner as some sort of personal vendetta!
Oliver: Do you have any idea how many people Damian Darhk and HIVE have killed over the past six months? This may be a vendetta, but it's not personal.
Laurel: I don't know what's worse - you actually believe that or you expect me to.
Oliver: I put a tracker on Machin. He will lead us to Darhk. And then we will take both of them down.
Laurel: And when your master plan doesn't work, you just sent a murdering psychotic back on the streets!
Oliver: Like you did with Sara?
Laurel: That's not fair!

John: Oliver, I know you're hurting, man. But you should know that whatever your play is, I've got your back.
Oliver: But?
John: But you've come so far, Oliver. You've recovered a humanity that you'd lost when I first met you. I know you want payback for what Darkh did to Felicity. And you should. But don't lose what made her fall in love with you in the first place.

Felicity: Tell me you haven't gone off the rails.
Oliver: Well... I just... I can't help but think that... the reason that Darhk is winning is that I haven't been willing to go far enough. And that... if I had, maybe you wouldn't be in here right now. I don't know what the point of what I'm doing as Green Arrow is if I can't protect the people that are closest to me.
Felicity: Well, what's the point of doing it if you lose yourself in the process?
Oliver: Yeah.
Felicity: There's something else we need to talk about.  The doctors... they say that I'm, uh...
Oliver: I know.
Felicity: My point being is we didn't really exchange any vows, so the whole "For better or worse" thing really doesn't apply here.
Oliver: What are you talking about?
Felicity: And maybe the real reason you haven't been here is because...
(Ollie shakes his head, reaches into his pocket, and pulls out Felicity's engagement ring)
Oliver: The nurse... she took this off of you in the E.R. How dare she...
(Oliver slips the ring onto Felicity's finger and squeezes her hand)
Oliver: For better or worse.
Felicity: Okay.

Darkh: Where's my family?!
Green Arrow: I saved them.
(There is a long pause as Darkh just stares at Green Arrow)
Darkh: I want to clear about something. I have shown you repeatedly that you cannot beat me. You saved my family? So I'll give you a few weeks to spend with yours. Enjoy your time. What's left of it.


Continuity

The episode opens with a repeat of the ending scene from 401, where Barry Allen meets Oliver by a grave side. The captions note that this scene occurs four months from now.

Taiana is confirmed to be Ukrainian.

Quentin Lance met with Damien Darhk on the 30th floor of an office building at 832 6th Street.

Lonnie Machin - last seen in 402 - returns.

Thea reveals that Darhk's life-sucking attack stopped her bloodlust to Laurel.

Laurel discovers that her father is dating Felicity's mom.

Laurel refers to the HIVE Ghosts scrambled DNA, which Team Arrow discovered in 403.

Lonnie Machin's foster parents are identified as Crystal and Michael Olguin. It is his blood he used to paint the anarchy symbols at HIVE headquarters.

Andy Diggle was apparently a drug-dealer before he joined the military and he only joined after John insisted in an effort to make his younger brother go straight.

Felicity is permanently paralyzed as a result of her injuries, according to the specialist who came in from Central City to perform surgery on her spine.

The magical tattoo that John Constantine put on Oliver in the flashback scenes in 405 flashes red when Oliver is being whipped. This causes Baron Reiter to order Oliver spared and agree to allow him and Taiana to live, albeit imprisoned, if Oliver helps him with finding what he's searching for on Lian Yu.

Damian Darhk's family lives in a place called Stonehaven.

Anarky escapes into the woods after his confrontation with Speedy.

Andy Diggle eventually gives John some information regarding Darhk. At the episode's end, the two play cards like when they were younger.

Thea reestablishes her romance with Ollie's campaign manager.

Damian Darhk's wife's name is Ruve.

Damian Darkh's wife has a fake ID and denies any connection to him when the police are called on their home. She is aware of his role in HIVE and their ultimate goals as well as whatever Genesis is.

Darhk buys out a hotel called The Fairmount for the month for his family to hide in.

The episode ends with another flash forward to four months from now and concludes with Oliver entering a car where Felicity is in the backseat and she cooling informs Oliver that he has to kill someone. This shows that whoever is in the grave, it is not Felicity.


The Fridge Factor

Felicity is paralyzed in order to give Oliver a more personal reason for hunting down Darhk.


The Winick Factor

It's hard to say what's stupider - Laurel's calling Thea by her real name in front of a villain (not that he notices - see Goofs) or Laurel's sudden decision to stand on ceremony and take Anarky into custody despite him being their best chance at hunting down Darhk because Oliver is indulging in a vendetta. It's not just stupid - it's hypocritical in the extreme given everything Laurel has done in the name of personal vendettas. And Ollie and Diggle both rightly call her on her bullshit given everything Laurel pulled regarding Sara.


The Bottom Line

Much ado about nothing. Anarky is as lame as ever and his efforts to get Thea to give in to her bloodlust are as pointless as they are nonsensical and nothing comes of them in any case. There's some minor progress between Diggle and his brother but most of that occurs off-camera. The Lian Yu sequences seem even more pointless than ever. Really, the only thing that saves it are the performances of Stephen Amell, David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards and all the magically little scenes between Ollie and Felicity.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but Olicity is the best thing about this episode.

Also - for everyone who told me I was wrong and Feliicty was sure to die?

Told you so. ;)

Lucifer #2 - A Review

God is dead and The Devil is the prime suspect. But Lucifer is not guilty and has himself been the victim of an attack with a strange weapon, the likes of which he has never seen before. To prove his lack of guilt (for Lucifer could never be said to have been innocent of anything), he will partner with his brother Gabriel and the two will journey to the one place where many may be found with motive, means and power enough to slay both God and Devil - Hell itself! Yet even now events play out on Earth that may hold even direr consequences for Lucifer...


Lucifer is a gorgeously Gothic work. Lee Garbett's utilizes a streamlined style that is light on details and heavy on the inks. There is an inherent darkness to Garbett's work that suits this series well. The colors by Antonio Fabela are mysterious and moody. And the letters by the legendary Todd Klein are as grand as one would expect.


Holly Black does not do things by halves. Within the span of two issues, she has perfectly captured the essence of the characters from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Mike Carey's Lucifer and begun telling a tale that is familiar yet unique. It remains to be seen what may come of the subplots involving various mortals, including a school-teacher who finds a bottled demon in her parents home that may be familiar to long-time Vertigo Comics readers. All I know is I cannot wait for next month's issue!

Astonishing Ant-Man #4 - A Review

Astonishing Ant-Man has one of the best title pages in the business. Not only does it offer a helpful recap of the series so far - it also makes you laugh! We should expect this sort of thing from Nick Spencer, of course, but it's still a nice touch.


Spencer understands what far too many Marvel writers failed to grasp about lovable loser heroes like Scott Lang or - until recently - Peter Parker. Namely that is isn't fun for readers to see a loser lose all the time. Keep dumping tragedies on a hero and you destroy any sense of fun.

Therein lies the irony of Scott's life and the secret to his likability in this series - he's good at being a superhero.  Unfortunately, being a superhero doesn't do much to pay the bills and Scott's heroic instincts are about the only thing he has going for him. He stinks on ice as a businessman, a father and a judge of character but you admire him more than you feel sorry for him... even if he has been reduced to working security for an ex-girlfriend and is parenting by proxy to keep his daughter safe.


Ramon Rosanas art is the perfect match for Spencer's script. Rosanas has a great gift for expressions and comedic timing.  The color art by Wil Quintana proves equally adept, with a variety of tints being used to subtly mark flashbacks and other special scenes.

Secret Six #10 - A Review

With Black Alice leaching away all the world's magic at an accelerated rate and the magical pillars holding back terrors beyond imagining close to destruction, Earth needs a hero. THE hero, in fact. But can even the might of Superman thwart the sheer moxie and insanity of The Secret Six? And will Black Alice save the day herself by making the ultimate sacrifice?


There is little I can say about this issue's story without giving away the game completely. So I will say only two things. Gail Simone does a grand job of both balancing several subplots and surprising even a jaded reader like me. And her introductory text, in which Zatanna watches Superman in action before approaching him for help, is one of the best bits of writing about Superman I've read anywhere.


The artists for this issue continue to perform at their usual level of high quality. Dale Eaglesham and Tom Derenick are two of my favorite artists and it's a relief  that I don't have to choose between them this month. And Jason Wright does a masterful job finishing things up with his coloring.