Small note before I start my review of this week’s Legends of Tomorrow episode: With the news of what scumbag Andrew Kreisberg did, and the various responses by cast and crew members over the Arrowverse, we just want to say that we support and believe the women who have stood up and made their voices known. You have strength and toughness that we stand in awe of.
Now on to the show…..
“Helen Hunt,” is of course not about the actress but a time-displaced Helen of Troy in 1930s Hollywood. Like the films of the 30s , the episode gives us suspense, comedy, action and drama. But a little known thing about the films of the 30s is that they could be very dark, or for this episode “Darhk”. Also we get a history lesson on Hedy Lamarr, some inside jokes about Hollywood and a look into what’s coming up for the Legends. If the season is like this episode, then my faith in the show can be restored to what it was in season 2.
Mad About You
The legend of Helen of Troy is that she was so beautiful that men fought countless wars for her. In Hollywood that just means battling between movie studios…which hasn’t changed over the last 80 years either. Even the team struggles to rescue her as the first attempt goes bad thanks to Damien Darhk and the men on the team acting ….well like men do. Moronically.
The second attempt goes better thanks to it just being Sara,Zari and Amaya using common sense to talk Helen into coming with them. However, the real story ends up being who Helen is replacing in the movies: Hedy Lamarr. Without Hedy in the films, she doesn’t get the chances to create many of the inventions we use today. And if we don’t have that stuff, then neither does the Waverider.
I’m glad they chose to highlight Hedy as she isn’t talked about nearly enough for her contributions to history. Damien Darhk knows her role in our lives however and that is why he’s also in the 30s with his sidekick/daughter Eleanor. Here we get a staple of some old-timey films: The Sword Fight.
To save Hedy and Jax (Well, Stein in Jax’s body), Sara and Damien engage in a League of Assassin battle. Now, it is always a joy to see Caity in action but this was a fun one even more so. That Eleanor interrupted it just pisses me off even more. Thanks to the Apple of his eye, Sara gets injured pretty badly by Eleanor’s powers and is only saved by Firestorm.
Now it will suck to see Sara out of action but this does open up a few new stories for the show if they so want to go that route.
-How will Sara cope with what happened?
– Who steps up as second in command when Sara is out? Ray? Amaya? Nate? (Oh God, please not Nate)
These are just a couple of things the team has to cope with. Add on to that that Dark and his crew is still out there and oh boy the team is in trouble. And that’s the Legends of Tomorrow I’m looking forward too.
As Good as it Gets
Our B-story plot was a ” freaky friday” switch between Stein and Jax that unlike most comedy this season was perfect. Victor Garber was good as always but this episode was Franz Drameh’s best performance on the show by far. Between his pitch perfect nailing of Stein’s vocal and physical mannerisms to Jax/Stein’s scenes with Hedy, he was my MVP. I was shipping Hedy and JaxStein so much in this episode. No offense to Helen of Troy but this is what I will remember and enjoy about this episode.
Now watching this a perfect episode? Far from it! The Amaya/Kuasa stuff was barely a blip and not given enough time to hit yet. But it was also the first time in a couple weeks I wasn’t upset at the show and felt good about checking out next week’s episode.
Here’s looking at you Legends.
Other Thoughts
- At the end of the episode, Zari takes Helen to a new place unseen in the Arrowverse : Themiscyra. So this plus Arrow a couple weeks ago confirms that Wonder Woman and Batman are a part of the Arrowverse.
- Will we ever see Wonder Woman or Batman in a DC/CW show? Well we thought we’d never see Superman so never say never.
- Nate was less annoying this week..mostly cause he didn’t do anything so that was a positive.
- Caity Lotz’s old Hollywood accent needs just a touch of work.
- I miss the fashion of the 30s.
- Please look up Hedy Lamarr on Wikipedia or Google. Such a brilliant woman.
Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on the CW.
