Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Legends of Tomorrow 3x13 Recap: "No Country for Old Dads" (Blast to the Past) [Contributor: Marilyn]


"No Country for Old Dads"
Original Airdate: March 5, 2018

So to kick off "No Country for Old Dads," Sara and Ava are enjoying a domestic morning together when Zari interrupts them in the galley, and they realize that Ray isn’t around. They ask Gideon — who doesn’t know either — but tells them they are being hailed by Gary at the Time Bureau. He found a phone with a message on it... from Ray.

Ray then informs them about his abduction by the Darhks. The team also learns that Nora can’t control Amaya’s totem until she connects with it spiritually. And Darhk can’t use his fire totem that he stole until he “fixes” it.

Sara is looking for Ray when Rip and Wally step aboard the ship and explain their presence. Rip wants to atone for the bad he’s done, and Wally runs just a bit afoul of Mick. You know, normal team stuff. Meanwhile, Darhk wants Ray to fix his fire totem. Obviously, Ray refuses — until Darhk threatens to kill Ray's mother. So he relents and says he needs a lab. The Darhks take him to the Upswipz HQ (where Ray worked, if you recall) and Damien torments the CEO while Nora tells Ray to get to work. Damien is using the app to try to find a date, frustrated that the only person he’s matched with is Carrie Cutter. Haaaaaa.

Ray tells Darhk the bad news that he can’t “restart” the fire totem unless they either travel back to the Big Bang or invent cold fusion. Which is impossible, of course. Well that is until Damien reveals that it’s actually happened before; he just murdered the scientist who made the breakthrough back in 1962. Damien’s ready to go back to East Berlin and stop his younger self but Nora tells him he can’t do that because if he runs into young!Damien, bad things will happen. Instead, she wants to go back with Ray, which Damien thinks is a terrible idea — she could get hurt! But he gives her a gun and his begrudging blessing.

Unfortunately, Vogel (the scientist) won’t work with Ray and Nora until he’s sure that his family is safe. Of course, they’re all working against a clock with young!Darhk on his way to murder Vogel. It’s not as easy as it sounds. (Aside: there’s an interesting kind of chemistry between Ray and Nora, but that's probably only because of the fact that the actors are married. Nora is about to use their time travel doodad to bring them back to the future when young!Damien shoots it, destroying it. They make a quick escape in a truck but Damien is on their tail.

Nora wants to torture Vogel, but Ray convinces her not to — along with Vogel, who tells her he’s already endured the most pain by losing his family. He won’t give up the secret to cold fusion until he’s reunited with them. Nora’s supremely frustrated, mostly because her dad sees her as a little kid, not as an equal. Ray says it's not all lost; they just need to get Vogel across the border into West Germany and reunite him with his family. Nora thinks it’s impossible since she can’t use her magic. Ray says they just need to forge papers. So they set about doing it themselves using a lab that is currently not occupied. Aww look, they’re bonding.

In the present, Darhk is upset that Nora and Ray didn’t come right back like they’d promised. He pours his heart out to the deceased CEO of Upswipz and then decides to go after Nora, traveling back to 1962. Meanwhile, Ray, Nora, and Vogel are trying to get across the border with their forged papers. It’s a bit dicey but Nora brings the scary and they’re admitted. But young!Darhk has them in his sights. Before he can shoot, however, a body appears. It’s our version of Damien Darhk. Oh dear. He gets in the car with Nora and Ray while young!Darhk is still shooting at them. The car speeds away from the checkpoint, regrettably back into East Berlin.

Back at the office where they forged the papers, the Darhks get into an argument when Damien wants to bring Vogel back to 2018 to torture cold fusion out of him. Nora explains how that won’t work and then accuses Darhk of never really caring about her. After all, what sort of father forces his daughter to merge with a demon? She’s got a point. Damien tells her that Ray’s kindness has infected her and made her soft. Nora walks out and runs right into young!Darhk.

Meanwhile, our Darhk complains to Ray that he can’t connect with Nora. Ray urges Darhk to tell his daughter how he feels — how he’s proud of her. Young!Damien calls to barter for Nora’s freedom in exchange for them handing over Vogel. This leads Old!Damien to mutter angrily, “I’m going to kick my ass.” God, I love this show. He ties up Ray and runs off to save his daughter, taking Vogel and his doll with him.

Of course, that’s all easier said than done and while the elder Damien has magic, the younger is in better physical shape and he gets the upper hand. Young!Damien throws Nora off the roof and our Damien struggles to hold her up with his magic and try to fend off the younger version of himself. She tells him to let her go and, rather reluctantly, he does, shouting that he loves her. In that moment, Nora’s finally able to activate the spirit totem she’s been wearing and uses it to fly back onto the roof. She saves her father from his younger self.

While back at the office, Ray spots his Atom suit and voice activates it. But when he gets to the roof, he finds that Voegl has been shot and is dying. Before he dies, Vogel reveals to Ray that the secret to cold fusion is in the doll. Ray tries to take the doll but Nora uses the totem to stop him. He can’t shoot Nora, so instead he blows up a nearby building, hoping the resulting time quake will alert the Legends to where (and when) to find him.

On the Waverider, Amaya encourages Zari to ingest an herb which will guide her on a vision quest to help them locate Amaya’s totem. The spirit world looks pretty tainted and Amaya says something is wrong. They encounter Amaya’s ancestor and she explains that her totem is in the possession of someone evil and that they are corrupting it. The ancestor warns that they need to get Kuasa and her totem back as well. She also tells them that if time breaks, then Mollus will be freed and bad things will happen.

Ava tells Sara that the Bureau still can’t find Ray, and Sara is throwing knives at a picture of Darhk. Frustration abounds. So of course she chills out by kissing Ava, and Rip sees them. Meanwhile, Ray’s gambit worked, but it worked a little too well — the aberration has done significant damage to time. The Legends then travel back to 1962 to repair the damage before time can break... and to save Ray too. Wally snatches the fire totem from Damien before the Darhks use their time travel technology and disappear.

The team reunites happily back on board the Waverider. Ray fixes the fire totem and works on the cold fusion, while Amaya fills everyone in on what she and Zari learned. Things are great, until Director Bennett of the Time Bureau is trampled by Gorilla Grodd during a briefing with Ava. Ava’s shaken... and also now apparently the director. One of her first acts? She reinstates Rip as a Time Agent. Elsewhere, Ray and Nate talk about Nora, and Nate tells Ray he thinks he has is attracted to her. Obviously, Ray does have feelings and thinks there’s hope for her. Nate warns him to protect his heart. Wally decides to stay with the Legends — after a little coercing from Sara and Rip — and Ava leaves to join the Time Bureau. Rip asks Ava about Sara and she admits that she has feelings for the White Canary. Rip asks Gideon to delete a file that contains the “truth” about Ava. Uh-oh.

The Darhks lick their metaphorical wounds — especially after losing the fire totem. But their relationship seems to be fixed somewhat, when Damien apologizes for taking her for granted and not letting her know how great she is. He gets choked up, but Nora gets a little reminder from Mollus about who is in charge. Double uh-oh!

All told, this episode was a delight, as Legends of Tomorrow episodes often are. The highlight was easily Damien Darhk and his quick-witted quips. He’s showing more and more heart lately too, which is actually kind of nice. Wow, a redemption I might actually care about! Hey, Arrow — take notes! Anyway, Wally is now a Legend and Ava has a secret and things are cooking right along. Next week? Elvis!

0 comments:

Post a Comment