Family. We love them, while at the same time they drive us insane. In “Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac,” the Legends of Tomorrow deal with family in the way that only Legends can. Whether it’s a evil father encore back from the dead, or a newly discovered daughter who trashes your work, family is always there to teach you valuable lessons about yourself: Who you were,who you want to be and most importantly who you are now.
So, let’s dive into “Mr. Parker’s Cul De-Sac” by talking about one character that goes through a lot of emotional moments involving family. The family she had and the family she’s gained: Nora Darhk.
The MVP of this season so far in my opinion has been Nora. From helping Freddy Meyers not become a psycho killer in “Slay Anything” to standing up for herself to her dad in this episode, Nora has been one of my favorite characters on Legends of Tomorrow for a while. Seeing her try to deal with her dad (the one and only Damien Darhk) while convincing everyone to help her out was one part hilarious, and one part thriller. Add to that trying to take care of her kid charge Pippa, and Nora’s going through a lot right now.
Much like Ray, I wanted Nora to be honest with Damien from the start but instead Nora just wanted to be able to spend time with her dad. No one can blame a daughter for feeling that way. So Nora is able to convince her friends to help her out: from John pretending to be her boyfriend to Sara and Ava as her henchwomen. I actually enjoyed this even with the lying, because it showed how much the Legends truly care for Nora. She has become a part of the Legends family and no matter how wacky or crazy things get, that family will always be there to help her.
Nora’s plans go astray however when Ray shows up to try to warn her about the chocolate mousse. Seems old Raymond put the engagement ring in there as a surprise.
(Sorry Ray, but the “ring in a dessert” trick was done before by Oliver Queen. Should have tried a different tactic.)
This leads to Nora finally admitting the truth to Daddy Darhkest, and he doesn’t take it very well. Things are looking bad….and then they look downright silly as Pippa wishes for everything to be like Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac, as Ray got her hooked on the Mr. Rogers-look alike tv show.
It’s in this setting that we have my second favorite part of the episode (we’ll get to my favorite part in a second). Throughout the entire episode, Damien has treated Nora like she’s still his evil baby girl, including continuing to call her “Nora Doll.” Nora finally has enough and lets her dad know that she has changed. The Nora Darhk he knew isn’t the same one that stands before him. This Nora has grown into someone who has friends, people she loves and cares about. As she tells him “I’m not the Nora doll you remember. And I’m not going back.”
I can’t say enough good things about how Courtney Ford nailed this scene. It showcased how much Nora has changed from the first moment we saw her. Nora’s character growth has been one of the best things Legends of Tomorrow has ever done.
After that, Damien understands and agrees that Nora has changed. Even gives his blessing to walk her down the aisle, as we get to my favorite part of the episode. NORA AND RAY GET MARRIED!!!
It was such a touching moment to see two characters who deserve to be happy actually get to be happy. Feels like we don’t get that nearly enough in the Arrowverse. Which is why it still astonishes me that Ray and Nora are leaving soon. Why you are getting rid of two of your best characters is still something I don’t understand, but I’ll rant about that later. For now, let’s just feel happy about the happiness of Nora and Ray.
The other family storyline deals with Mick finding out that old rule number one of time-travel : changing the past always have future consequences. Someone has been trashing Rebecca Silver books online up to the point of burning one of the books. With the help of Zari, Mick tracks down the troll only to find out that the mystery reviewer is named Lita.
Oh and also the daughter he had thanks to hooking up with his high school girlfriend at their 2004 reunion in “Slay Anything.” Whoops Mick.
Finding out you have a daughter that hates you is never easy, and Mick takes the easy way out of avoiding it by mind wiping them to forget he was there. I’m interested to see where it goes from here, because this feels like the classic “Dad meets Daughter who hates him, but slowly bonds with him over time” trope written all over it. Mick has never been one of my favorites over the years. If this story arc gets me to enjoy his scenes more, well then I am all for it.
LEGENDARY THOUGHTS
- Seems Sara was hiding a secret offer from Wilddog to move back to Star City and have a full-time job there. It was nice to see Ava mad about it, because they were on the opposite sides of how you expected. Sara wanting the steady life in Star City while Ava was showing how much she loved the action adventure life with the Legends. They make up at the end of the episode, but it feels like AvaLance will have this discussion again someday.
- Glad they let Sara confront Damien about what he did to Laurel. Damien realizing the pain he has caused in that moment was so damn good. Also, I had a feeling he was going to use Sara’s magic sword to kill himself. This looks like the last time we’ll see Damien Darhk, but considering this is Legends of Tomorrow….Never say Never.
- Constantine and Charlie have a brief arc here where she tries to trick him into searching the South Pole for the LOOM.
- Ray gives Pippa $20 to watch Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac. Understandable as if someone gives me $20, I’ll watch any tv show for a while.
- Ray having 5 portions of dinner ready for his big date with Nora feels like the most Ray Palmer thing ever.
- Pippa releases Nora as her fairy godmother but I’m pretty sure she kept the $20 bucks. Smart kid.
- “Oh cool. You have a troll.”
- Nate and Behrad talking about how Ray and Nora’s kids will have that Palmer jawline was hilarious.
- Did anyone else think that Mona might be the person trashing the Rebecca Silver books or was that just me?
Legends of Tomorrow airs on the CW at 9pm on Tuesday Nights.
