In TV, shows in their second seasons are always worried about the “sophomore slump”. For those wondering, that is the phrase used when a show has a subpar second season compared to its really good first season. It makes me so happy to say that Legends of Tomorrow did not fall to this. Instead Legends has had a exceptional second season and continues it’s streak with the penultimate episode of season 2.
“Doomworld” delivers everything you would expect a Legends of Tomorrow episode to give you : Action, Drama, Suspense. Humor and a Surprise you never see coming. But first lets talk about the special cameo at the beginning of the episode, shall we?
OVERWATCH’S LAST WATCH
After a quick smug voiceover by Thawne, we get straight into the action as black leather clad Sara and Amaya are chasing after a purple hooded individual through the streets of Star City. After a quick chase, the superhero gets tripped up by her footwear (Next time use tennis shoes!) and it’s revealed to be one Miss Felicity Smoak!
The “Bimbo Brigade” as Felicity calls them, takes her to Damien Darhk and we see how dire the reality is now thanks to the Legion’s Spear of Destiny tampering. All the heroes we know and love have been killed as viewed by Darhk’s mask trophy case. So the last one standing is Felicity. This doesn’t shock me at all because in these types of situations , it’s never going to be the stronger or faster heroes that survive. It always ends up being the SMARTEST and no one is smarter than Felicity Smoak in the “Arrowverse”. While Felicity is a hero with or without a mask in the regular reality, it was nice to see her in the outfit this once even with the return of the dark goth hair as well.
After a little bit of taunting and a defiant Felicity swearing she will never stop fighting for Star City, Sara snaps her neck and we witness something we will probably never see again: The Death of Felicity Smoak. Even though it is a alternate reality, it was still a jarring sight that I hope we don’t ever witness again. This is when I knew things were pretty F’d up now.
As for the other Legends, they were going through their new “Loser” lives. Jax and Stein were working on some sort of reactor for Thawne. Jax was the overbearing, cruel boss to Stein. Ray is a janitor at Star Labs who lives to play video games, and Nate is a conspiracy theory expert with some of the worst CW hair you will ever see.
The Legion are living high on the hog except for Mick who is having buyers remorse for his betrayal and not loving this new reality the Legion has created. Mick is not the type of guy I feel that likes the easy way. He’s the type of person who if you asked him to choose between walking through a open door or climb a large wall to get to the same point, Mick will always choose the wall.
Also Mick just wants to be seen as a equal as well. That’s why he betrayed the Legends in 1916. He felt like he wasn’t a equal part of the team. Sure Mick may be psycho at times but even psychos have feelings too. So when Nate comes in with his awful hair and a conspiracy theory that something is messed up with the world, this leads to another choice for Mick:
Help Cold kill Nate and keep living the easy life as a baddie or help Nate and have unbelievable odds to change back reality to normal as a good guy.
Mick being Mick pick option B and knocks out Snart and helps Nate escape. It was a nice thing to see Mick do the right thing but also still be himself.
GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
So the first stop for the dynamic duo is to go to the smartest man they know, Ray Palmer. Unfortunately however, Ray is too busy gaming it up to be of any help. Until, Mick spots something Ray has been tinkering with. You see, while all of the memories are gone, traces still are felt by each or as Nate calls them “Scars”. Shockingly, the janitor has made a device that returns their former memories to them. I swear, if this was any other show, you’d be screaming “Come On! Really?” but it works for Legends. It just does. So after a bit of back and forth, Mick says basically screw it and fires it at Nate. It works and Nate’s first reaction is to punch Mick in the face for his betrayal. This will become a theme as Ray does the exact same when he’s returned to normal.
Boys Night out is stopped by Sara and Amaya under orders from Darhk and Merlyn to kill the three. After a little tussle, Nate tries to save the day by pleading to their humanity? No he tells Amaya they had sex and then tries to demonstrate his powers which Mick tells him the spear took away. Good work Nate, good effort . Thankfully they are able to zap Sara with the scars gun and the old Sara Lance is back. Who immediately punches Mick in the face. Like I said, it’s a trend.
Amaya though goes running back off to STAR Labs as the team decides to hide out at Nate’s mom’s basement to think with delicious sandwiches.
Some of you may ask “Where’s Rip?” while all this is happening. Well he is still on the Waverider in a drunken cake mess. The Waverider is stuck wherever it is and needs it’s power systems worked on. Seriously when Rip gets drunk and depressed, he bakes cakes. A ton of them. This is also a much-needed scene of humor as Arthur Darvill delivers laughs with just the facial expressions he uses for Rip and his bantering with Gideon. After a few encouraging words from Gideon, Rip feels inspired and is off to fix the power and send out a distress signal.
Quick Note: How did Rip and Gideon become such a good ship? I mean, is it weird to ship a man with his ship? Please don’t answer that.
Meanwhile, the Legion of Doom are having some serious trust issues with Thawne. Bad guys having trust issues? Shocking! As Snart, Damien and Merlyn discuss how to get rid of Eobard , Sara returns to try to get Amaya to go with her back to Nate’s. While a good plan, it fails miserable as Damien sees right through it like a plate glass window. So Darhk taunts Sara with the one things that will always affect her : Laurel’s death. It doesn’t take much for Sara to punch him in the head and end the ruse.
Darhk has his magic though and delivers a evil bad guy monologue that wasn’t that great. Sorry Malcolm it wasn’t. Sara luckily though has the scars gun and fires it at Amaya. With her memories returned, she and Sara are able to escape and also give Jax his memories back in the process too.
LOSERS
So the team reconvenes at headquarters (Nate’s mom’s) and figures out what Thawne’s plan is : He wants to bulid a reactor so powerful that it could burn the spear of destiny. Hence the grueling hours he’s making Stein work to get it going. The Legends’s plan : Grab the spear and say the word of god to freturn everything back to normal. The team gets ready to go stop Thawne but before they leave Sara puts Mick on the bench. I understand why she did does, the team is still reeling from his betrayal. You can see the hurt on Mick’s face from it but also you can see that he isn’t going to listen to her. Amaya gives one last glance before leaving.
Mick however comes up with his own plan. He decides to go back to the Legion and tells them Thawne’s plan. Their plan is now : Let Thawne fight the Legends while they get the spear. Solid plan if downright devious. But what do you expect from the Legion of Doom?
As for the Legends plan, it goes in the toilet fairly quickly. Jax tries to get Stein’s memories back but instead get the scars gun broken by Stein. Jax, why didn’t you shoot first and ask questions later?? Stein triggers a alarm and the team is suddenly surrounded by the speedster Thawne himself.
Thawne taunts the so-called “Losers” and is about to throw the spear into the reactor when he’s stopped by the Legion. Cold knocks him out and it becomes a battle between the Legends and the Legion to get the spear. In the ensuing mess, Mick ends up with the spear once again.
This is when the real test of Mick happens. Both sides are asking him to follow them , to go with their side. Remember that Mick just wants respect. To feel like a equal. In the end , it comes down to Snart and Amaya talking with him.
This is Mick’s life in a nutshell — Snart representing the dark , evil side of his life. The one where he was always treated like dirt so he acted like it. Amaya is representing his life with the Legends, one where he is part of a team. Has respect and even dare I say, friends.
Mick makes the right choice this time and hands the spear to Amaya. All seems right as Amaya starts speaking the word of god to turn everything back to normal but suddenly Cold freezes her solid! I knew something bad was going to happen but to have it happen to the two people Mick’s cared about the most in his life was stunning. What happened next even more so as Cold shatters Amaya into pieces in front of Mick.
It’s a shocking moment to the team as Nate is in tears and the rest of them look on in shock. Mick points his heat gun at Snart in pain but just can’t pull the trigger. However, Thawne is back in the game and takes the spear and with one final taunt, drops it into the reactor destroying it.
Thawne then lets them all go as the Legends and Legion are defeated. Not out of any sentiment but because he knows that he will love seeing them live the rest of their lives in this world. Man, what a dick!
So all hope seems lost as the Legends retreat back to Nate’s mom’s basement and are mourning their fallen teammate. Sara does have a plan though! Go back to 1916 and stop themselves from losing the Spear in the first place. Sure there is a good chance that time may collapse on itself, but what the heck why not give it a try? Only problem as Sara points out , is that Rip and the Waverider are still MIA.
Cue the dramatic music however as Rip and Gideon have got the Waverider back online and are sending out a distress signal!! Except for one problem….the Waverider is not the size of that toy Millenium Falcon you would get for Christmas as a kid. This might make things a little more tough for Rip and the team.
So “Doomworld” gave us an alternate look at our heroes and a study into the man Mick Rory has become. Sure the Legends lost again but this ragtag bunch of losers will never give up. I mean, they already have a plan to save the day again! All they have to do is go rescue Rip and the Waverider, restore it to it’s original size, Go back to 1916, stop the Legion from getting the Spear of Destiny and hope time doesn’t fold in on itself.
PIECE OF CAKE. (That hopefully Rip made)
QUICK THOUGHTS:
- It does suck that we still haven’t gotten a one on one Captain Canary confrontation. I wanna see Sara’s reaction to having fight Snart in combat up close and personal.
- I wonder how good Rip’s cakes are? He made a ton of them but considering he was probably drinking it more than he was putting in the cakes, his rum ones probably stink.
- It was nice seeing Sara back in black.
- Felicity Smoak will always go down fighting no matter what universe.
- It was sad seeing all those masks there in Darhk’s trophy case. The Flash, Green Arrow, Spartan, Ragman and Wilddog among the masks.
- “My mom’s not going to like that.” “Does it look like I give a damn?”
- We got to see the Hall of Doom!! And it was on water! For a old fan of the Super Friends cartoon , it was a mark out moment.
Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on the CW.