Legends of Tomorrow 3x18 Recap: "The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly" (A Fun, Fitting Finale) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly"

Original Airdate: April 9, 2018

Well, I could tell just from the title alone that this was going to be an epic episode. But then, I’ve gotten to where I expect epic episodes from Legends of Tomorrow. This show consistently delivers, so long as you’re okay with your shows getting a little silly and poking fun at themselves (which I absolutely am). It’s what makes Legends of Tomorrow such a charming show. There’s not a lot to take too seriously here and that’s the fun of it. I wouldn’t accept this sort of campiness from Arrow, but on Legends, it absolutely works. And the show knows it too; they take it and run with it.

In the finale, we dive right into the final fight — directly where we left off at the end of the last episode. The team is fighting Mallus, who is an enormous demon now. Wally provides a distraction while the team retreats to the Waverider. Meanwhile, Rip sacrifices himself to help the team out in the final fight. He takes the time drive from Gideon and plans to use it on Mallus. When it becomes unstable, it will consume Mallus. It won’t kill him, but will delay him so the Legends can make their escape. He gives an emotional goodbye to Sara over the comms and then... he’s gone. And Mallus disappears from 1992.

The team is justifiably sad. Amaya tells them that it wasn’t the totems that failed in their fight against Mallus — they did. So they need to take the totems somewhere and hide them. Sara suggests the Old West. In particular, Salvation, North Dakota. Sara goes to see Damien and refuses to kill him. She wants him to live out his days knowing he destroyed his own daughter. That is pretty cold, Sara. But understandable. Ray has an idea that could fix everything and get Nora back. Damien is definitely interested in that.

In Salvation, the Legends roll into town in full Western gear and head right for the saloon for a strong drink. Because obviously drinking will help them come up with a plan. Sara suggests that they need proper totem bearers. Amaya and Zari were born to wield their totems, but the rest of them aren’t. They then spot Jonah Hex and promise him they’re not in town to cause trouble, but to avoid it. Of course, that’s when a possessed Caesar, Blackbeard, and Leif Erikson’s crazy Viking sister roll into town. So much for avoiding trouble.

There’s some funny banter-arguing over how to pronounce Mallus before Zari insists that it doesn’t matter. God, I love this show. Obviously, these guys want the totems and no one is giving them up. So there’s an ultimatum for them to surrender the totems at noon the next day. The team returns to the Waverider to regroup. Over there, Ray is loading Damien onto a shuttle. Nate interrupts them and Ray punches him out before taking off to get to Nora before her death.

Amaya is doing a vision quest — going back to talk to her ancestors about the totems. She thinks they’re the right people to wield the totems, but they need to know how. She feels responsible for Mallus being released, so she has to be the one to do this. Nate insists on going on the vision quest with her. Of course, he overindulges and gets super high instead. But this Nate is a delight so I’m not complaining. The two see the ancient totem bearers holding hands in a circle, focusing, and the powers from the totems joining together into one power — a being of light. Sorta like Voltron.

Zari is trying to find new totem bearers, per Sara’s request, and has a little moment with Jonah. They make a friendly wager about the “smoke signal” that Zari is sending out to ask for help. Meanwhile, Nate calls everyone to the bridge and, with Amaya, they tell everyone what they learned. Lo and behold, Nate invokes Voltron which just confirms that he’s my favorite. Great minds think alike! Amaya tells Sara that they need her to wield the death totem, and she relents. They go outside to “practice” joining their totems together with Amaya coaching them through it. She tells them to envision the perfect warrior and the totems activate. But they’re all thinking of different things, despite being in one another's minds. Amaya warns them to clear their minds and the totems join powers. But what comes out is a misshapen monster that Mick immediately lights on fire and kills. Amaya wants them to try again but Sara wants to find people who are worthy.

That’s when the cavalry shows up! Ava, Helen of Troy, Kuasa (how?!), and Jax arrive to help. All of them are changed, thanks to things the Legends has done. Kuasa followed a lighter path, Helen is totally an Amazon warrior having lived on Themyscira, and Jax has a family. Holy cow. He’s married with a child and I did not see that coming! Aww, he named her Martina. That’s so sweet. I miss Stein.

Meanwhile, Ray and Darhk are back in 1992 in Zambesi and they’re running out of time to come up with a good plan of how to save Nora. They approach her and Darhk uses the nanite gun on her, just like Ray did once upon a time. He holds her in his arms and tells her he did it because he couldn’t watch her become a monster just like him. However, Mallus taunts them — killing Nora’s body won’t stop him. He leaps into Darhk and Damien orders Ray to take Nora back to the Waverider before he morphs into the giant demon. So that’s how Darhk dies. That’s almost noble. Back on the Waverider, Ray revives Nora and explains what Damien did to save her. He holds her as she screams out her grief.

Meanwhile in Salvation, Ava lays some truth on Sara. They aren’t there to wield the totems, just to provide help. The Legends have to be the ones to do the work. Ray arrives with Nora in tow and quickly explains what happened. They fill him on what’s going on there and then... time’s up. The Viking, Pirate, and Roman armies — all possessed — show up. Sara gives the team a great pep talk: “Today is the day we earn the name Legends!” If you ask me, they’ve earned it already. This whole show has. It’s the characters that ground these fantastical elements. Their reactions to the situations and each other are so relatable that you can excuse the ridiculous (as well as enjoy it) because they’re reacting like any average person would. If that doesn’t make them Legends, I don’t know what does.

Sara taunts the armies with the totems and the battle begins. Everyone gets a chance to shine in the fight that follows. The team wins fairly easily, but of course that’s not the end of it. It’s just the beginning. The armies reanimate and the Legends don’t have much time. So part of the team runs off to try combining their totems while the others hold off the armies and buy them time. But the bad news comes when the armies stop fighting and all kneel: Mallus is here. The team is busy imagining a powerful light, goodness, and Sara warns them to focus. There’s a Ghostbusters moment where Nate thinks of Beebo and so everyone else does too. And that’s what they manifest.

The giant Beebo faces off against Mallus and everyone watches on, stunned. And the big stuffed blue thing does a pretty good job of kicking the demon’s butt. “Beebo want CUDDLE!” And with a piledrive to end all piledrives, Mallus is defeated in a giant heart-shaped poof of stuffing and fur. The Legends climb out of the resulting crater, proud of themselves. As they should be. I LOVE THIS SHOW.

All the non-possessed armies are sent back to their own proper times and everyone says their goodbyes to their allies. The Legends give up the totems to Kuasa who takes them back to Zambesi. Bureau agents are taking Nora away but Ray stops them to give her something of Damien’s: his time stone. He’s giving her a second chance and he warns her not to waste it. Jonah Hex gives Zari his hat (and they flirt) which is interesting. Amaya tells Zari and Sara that she has to go home to her other family, and Sara tells her she’ll always be welcome on the Waverider. Nate drops Amaya off on Zambesi and it’s a bittersweet goodbye. He’s about to wipe her memories but she stops him — she doesn’t want to forget this time.

The rest of the team heads to Aruba to celebrate their victory with a well-earned vacation. They’re joined by Gary — dressed up as Constantine — which gives them a moment. That’s when Constantine himself shows up and chides the all for opening up a door when they let Mallus out of his cage. Now, there’s all sorts of nasties out there. But that’s a problem for next season.

Thanks for joining me as I recapped Legends of Tomorrow this season. It’s been an actual joy. I adore this show and hopefully those of you reading these recaps love it too. It’s absurd, but in the best way possible. I’ll miss these goofs until they return to my TV screen next season!

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Legends of Tomorrow 3x17 Recap: "Guest Starring John Noble" (Make America Grodd Again) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"Guest Starring John Noble"

Original Airdate: April 2, 2018

Listen. I neither like Grodd nor the stupid slogan they’re poking fun of, but I like Legends of Tomorrow and I like their irreverent treatment of current events (and past events and future events...) so I’m willing to wave that annoying tagline aside as I dig in to what I hear is a pretty darn funny episode.

We begin almost exactly where we left off last week: Nate gathers the team on the bridge of the Waverider to tell them that one of the shuttles has been taken. They soon learn it was Amaya who took it back to 1992. But before they can go after her, they get a call from Rip Hunter. Grodd is going after Barack Obama at college in 1979. So they split up again — Wally and Nate go to Zambesi to talk some sense into Amaya, with Sara and the others going to save Obama. There’s a particularly amusing moment where Ray tells Obama to “Run, Barry, run!” before shrinking the overgrown gorilla. Sara zaps Obama’s memories so he won’t remember them.

Meanwhile, Mallus is rapidly taking over Nora’s body, much to Damien’s alarm. He fears that when the demon finally escapes his prison, his daughter will die. He’s a villain, yes, but right now his biggest concern is losing his daughter. He tells her he’s going to go check on Grodd, but he goes to the Legends instead.

In Zambesi, Nate and Wally quickly find Amaya and they try to talk her out of interfering. But it’s not working. While Sara and the team are headed back to the Waverider, they run into Damien. He needs their help. The team is rightfully skeptical of trusting him so he gives them the water totem as a gesture of good faith. He explains how he wants to save his daughter and stop Mallus, because otherwise she’ll die. Ray tries to get the team to give Damien a chance. Ava wants to take him into custody, but Sara chooses to trust him. For now. Ava’s not happy about that.

Meanwhile, Nate and Wally encounter the older Amaya where she’s presiding over a ceremony passing down the spirit totem to her daughter, Esi. But she’s chosen not to show up, much to the older Amaya’s consternation. Nate and Wally go ask the young Amaya what’s going on. She tells them she’s planning to convince her daughter to take the totem, which could save the village. Wally wants to adhere to the timeline but Nate is on Amaya’s side, offering to go talk to the older Amaya.

Sara really wants to kill Damien because she still hasn’t forgiven him for killing Laurel. And she’s annoyed right back at Ava for trusting Rip when he’d lied to her about being a clone. Sara wants Ava to talk to Rip about it and find out the rest of the story. So instead, Sara goes to talk to Obama for advice. He accepts the whole story from her pretty easily, considering. He urges her to go for the more unorthodox approach and she tells him she really misses him (honey, you’re not alone) before wiping his memories. Again.

Sara tells Darhk that she still doesn’t trust him but she’ll work with him under one condition: she gets to kill him when this is over. To restore the proper timeline, of course. And maybe soothe her need for revenge. That too. Damien agrees a little too readily. Shouldn’t that be setting off some warning bells or something? Together, they all plan a way to capture Nora. She’ll only listen to Mallus, so Ray wants to pretend to be Mallus and shrink down and go into her ear. They hear a voice that sounds exactly like aollus and it turns out to be Denethor on Lord of the Rings, which Mick is watching. So they travel to when the movie was being filmed and Ray approaches John Noble at his trailer, giving him new lines from Peter Jackson. He reads them and Ray records him. Very sneaky. And I’m cracking up.

In Zambesi, young Amaya approaches Esi, telling her she’s a distant cousin, and talks to her about taking the totem. She doesn’t want it, despite it being her destiny her whole life. She doesn’t feel she can live up to her mother’s example. So Amaya gives her a pep talk and it works. Meanwhile, Nate goes to take the totem from old Amaya’s room but she wakes up and stops him. She doesn’t recognize him so he shows her pictures of the two of them on his phone. She’s shook. He explains the Legends to her and she wants to know why he’s there. He said he wanted to keep his promise to her — to make sure Esi gets the totem. He tells her to make sure her daughter knows her mother is on her side.

Damien goes to Nora and she’s furious that Mallus is still imprisoned. While she’s distracted, a miniaturized Ray flies into Nora’s ear and plays the altered recording they got from John Noble. She hears “Mallus” tell her to go to the Waverider, take the totems, and follow Damien there. She’s eager to do Mallus’ bidding and so they go. Of course, she realizes she’s been tricked but before she can act against them, she’s trapped by magic. Damien talks to her, trying to reason with her. Mallus taunts him that Nora is gone, and that she willingly gave over to him.

Ava asks Rip why he picked her, and lets him know that she knows about the clone thing. But why did he pick her out of all of them? He said he erased her memory because that was “easier.” Then, she learns that she’s not the first Ava Sharpe. There have been eleven before her. This news rattles her. Sara talks to Damien and they have a bit of a heart-to-heart. He tells her that being without love makes people like them into monsters. That hits a little too close to home, and she walks off.

In Zambesi, young Amaya and Nate watch old Amaya give the totem to Esi. She thinks she erased her memory when she returned, and that’s why she didn’t remember Nate or the Legends. On the Waverider, the team is looking for a loophole that allows the village to be saved. Sara wonders if the only way to kill Mallus is to let him out. And so maybe that means they need to save the village and wield the totems in order to fight him when they do. Damien offers to wield the death totem, since he shares that quality with Sara. Ava hates the plan and goes to leave. Sara tries to stop her, telling her that she loves her but Ava insists there is no her to love and departs.

Wally and Ray go to Zambesi to tell Nate and Amaya what’s happening. They join them back on the Waverider and the team divides up the totems. Nate takes earth and Ray takes water. Damien sees a vision of Nora and she tells him that she’s not dead yet — that she’s still fighting Mallus. She says she made a mistake and apologizes. Damien is swayed by the vision and so he releases Grodd (and embiggens him to normal size) to destroy the village. Sara is angry but Damien insists he needs history to run its course so he can save his daughter.

Esi is trying to fight Grodd and Amaya runs out to help her, but Damien knocks her aside. Nate promises to help and Wally tries to take the totem from Damien, but he uses magic to stop the speedster. The team tries to fight him but they can’t and he pleads with them to let him save his daughter. Meanwhile, Esi is getting her butt kicked by Grodd. The gorilla takes out old Amaya and Nate charges in with the earth totem and flings Grodd away. Looks like he finally had the right motivation.

Damien frees Nora and Ray confronts him, but is unable to call up the totem. While he’s distracted choking Ray, Sara stabs Damien in the back, stopping him. He’s not dead, just injured. Meanwhile, Mallus gets free of his prison and takes over Nora’s body, killing her for good. Well... that sure backfired, didn’t it Damien? The actual Mallus is enormous and pretty freaky and he flies off.

Looks like the team has their work cut out for them. And by the looks of next week’s episode, the battle is going to be epic — in true Legends style.

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Legends of Tomorrow 3x16 Recap: "I, Ava" (Totems and Avas) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"I, Ava"

Original Airdate: March 26, 2018

Sara needs a personal day. Given how the last episode ended, with her breaking things off with Ava, I’m not surprised. She names Amaya as interim captain and takes off. The team is doing what they usually do (including Mick testing out his new totem by using it to cook food) when they get an alert for a new anomaly: Amaya’s granddaughter, Mari, is in the hospital, injured because she never received her spirit totem from Amaya. Ray calls Sara back and that’s about when Gary shows up to tell them that Ava has gone missing.

Sara, Ray, and Gary go to Ava’s office and find that all her personnel files have been erased from the Time Bureau’s system. And at the hospital where Mari is, Kuasa shows up and when Wally and Nate catch up with her, they learn she’s there to protect Mari — not hurt her. So she wasn’t the one who put her there.

At Ava’s parents house, Sara, Ray, and Gary discover that her parents haven't seen Ava in months... and are super fishy about it. When Sara threatens the mother, they reveal that they aren’t Ava’s parents after all. They were hired by someone to pose as her parents.

Back on the Waverider, Mick and Zari are sitting out the adventures because Zari has been tasked with teaching Mick how to use his new totem. Sara, Gary, and Ray meanwhile go to the Bureau and are surprised to find Ava there. She’s acting strangely and when pressed, says she was in Fresno visiting her parents — which they of course know is a lie. Sara wants to know what’s going on.

Kuasa takes Nate and Wally to Mari’s gym and they get her to agree to help them find the spirit totem for Mari — since she’d rather her sister have it than the Darhks — even though the evil duo frightens her. At the Bureau, the team learns that Ava went to Vancouver in 2213, which is a “no fly zone.” So Ava is clearly hiding something there; is she an anachronism herself? To find out, the trio steals the Bureau’s mothership and flies to 2213... where there are Avas everywhere. Sara thinks this place is hell, clearly. As it turns out, Ava is a clone, created by the Ava (Advanced Variant Automation) Corporation.

Meanwhile Nate, Wally, and Kuasa are trying to plan how to get the totem from the Darhks. Kuasa rules out an ambush, wanting to instead lure the Darhks to them. Amaya checks in with Nate, wanting to know what’s going on with Mari. He gives her an update, but leaves out that they’re working with Kuasa. They don’t want anything to happen to Amaya (thus winking Kuasa and Mari out of existence) so Wally is tasked with keeping her safe.

At the Ava Corporation, Ray, Sara, and Gary sneak in and do some investigating. Sara feels that what she had with Ava isn’t real now. One of the newly-made clones wakes up and declares they have no clearance to be there. She fights the group and Sara knocks her out, so they tie her up.

With Nate as bait, the Darhks show up. Kuasa requests the spirit totem in exchange for Nate, and Nora is happy to hand it over. Nate expects he’ll be freed now but Kuasa changes her mind, seeing Nate as a threat to her existence. So she gives Nate over to the Darhks and leaves with the totem.

In 2213, the “real” Ava shows up, having tracked Ray, Sara, and Gary and it becomes clear that she has no idea she’s a clone. Learning that she is causes her to pass out. Meanwhile, Nora threatens Nate. When she leaves, Damien reveals that he’s uncomfortable with the influence that Mollus has over his daughter. The closer he gets to escaping, the worse things are for Nora. Damien is so upset by all of this that he doesn’t even want to torture Nate.

Ava wakes up and she’s forgotten she’s a clone. Ray thinks they should tell her, but Sara isn’t so sure. Before they can decide what to do, they realize the clone Ava they knocked out has escaped. Back on the Waverider, Zari is getting frustrated with Mick and they get into a fight which — to be fair — he had coming. Kuasa, meanwhile, shows up with the totem and Amaya learns that Wally has been hiding what’s really been going on (and that Nate is being held hostage). Kuasa gives her a guilt trip over not saving her village and getting involved with Nate. Amaya tells her granddaughter that she’s beyond redemption.

Ava tells Sara that she regrets them not being together, but the situation can’t be dealt with at the moment because an army of Avas have arrived to take them out. This leads to the real Ava having a bit of an identity crisis, questioning if she’s real or not. Sara tells her she believes in her — she’s real to her. So the real Ava poses as one of the clones and tells the army that she’ll take the “intruders” outside and dispose of them. Before they can get away, however, the clone Ava that the team had tied up interrupts them, calling out this Ava as a “fake.” Together, the four fight all the Avas, including the army, and eventually knock all of them out.

In 2018, Damien is pretending to torture Nate until Nora figures out what is happening and knocks her father out. Amaya and Wally arrive to save Nate but Nora takes away Wally’s speed. Amaya uses the spirit totem she got from Kuasa to break Nora’s magical hold and Kuasa shows up to free Nate. Wally gets his powers back, as does Nate, and they all team up with Kuasa to try to defeat Nora. Kuasa stands up to her, trying to appeal to the human beneath Mollus’ influence. It doesn’t work, however: Nora rips the water totem away from Kuasa and it kills her. Nora gets away, taking her father with her.

Everyone returns to the Waverider and Ray mind-wipes Gary so he won’t recall 2213 (and the clone thing). Nate tries to comfort Amaya about Kuasa and apologize for keeping things from her but she pushes him away, saying she doesn’t want to have anything more to do with him. She blames her attachment to him for the troubles her family has faced. Zari and Mick make up, something made easier by her fast being over so they share a meal together. They both felt Kuasa die and it sobered them, making them realize these totems connect them all. Sara and Ava have a drink together and realize that Rip is the one who recruited her so maybe he is the one who erased Ava’s files at the Bureau and Sara wants to get to the bottom of why he would do that. Amaya takes a shuttle and sets off to go back in time to Zambezi in 1992 to save Kuasa.

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Legends of Tomorrow 3x15 Recap: "Necromancing the Stone" (The Death Totem) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"Necromancing the Stone"

Original Airdate: March 19, 2018

In this episode, Sara wakes up from a nightmare featuring a creepy little girl who looks like Nora from the asylum. Ava tries to comfort Sara, but she doesn’t want to talk about the nightmare. Apparently, however, Sara called out John’s name while asleep and Ava is feeling a bit jealous. Sara explains Constantine and his role in her life, and Ava’s ego is soothed when Sara calls her her girlfriend. Gideon son calls Sara to the bridge, and Ava jets off to rejoin the Bureau.

Mollus is doubling down on anachronisms so the Legends need to split into teams to deal with it. Amaya and Zari team up, while Nate and Wally form another team. Mick opts to stay behind and help Ray with the fire totem. That leaves Sara on her own to sort out some mess with Einstein. Before Sara can get anywhere though, she notices something strange: the death totem is making an awful racket in her mind. She goes to it and sees a vision of her former self as the Canary — the first Canary in Arrow — telling her that the totem has chosen her and she needs to pick it up. I mean, it makes sense. Sara has died... how many times now? If anyone on the team should wield the death totem, it’s probably her.

Amaya and Zari return after their mission and find Mick asleep, Ray beat to a pulp in his lab, and someone on board, sabotaging the ship and its crew. Zari sticks with Ray in the med bay while Mick and Amaya go off in search of what’s wrong. They find it in the galley: Sara is wearing the death totem but she’s clearly not well. Has Mollus come to play again? She looks like a zombie ninja warrior goddess. Amaya and Mick are no match for her, and Amaya tries to appeal to the Sara that’s still inside. Sara can hear Amaya while Mollus taunts her — that this is exactly what she feared would happen. Wally saves Mick and Amaya from getting totaled by Death!Sara. Zari realizes they need Constantine’s help, since it sounds like Mollus is definitely in the driver's seat of Sara's body. Ava calls and is alarmed, to say the least so the team fills her in on what’s happened with Sara.

Sara has activated the “Nostromo Sequence,” which has the team trapped on the Waverider with locked doors and no power. Wally tries to help subdue Sara so they can get the Waverider working again. She taunts Wally with a vision of Jesse, which distracts him long enough for her to take him out with a freeze ray. In the present-day, Gary and Ava are hunting down Constantine in New York City and find him chasing a chicken as a part of a ritual to get his neighbor’s son married. Don’t ask. John knows that Sara has been taken over by Mollus. Ava tells him that the death totem is involved, and that changes things. Apparently there’s some connection between the death totem, Mollus, and Zambezi. Maybe Sara has something to do with it.

John is tickled to learn Ava has slept with Sara too, and she insists on joining him to the realm of Mollus to save Sara. Mollus isn’t too happy about that, of course. Meanwhile on the Waverider, the team is looking for Sara and Wally, and Nate finds the latter. Wally’s okay but he needs the med bay. Zari is about to take a wrench to Gideon’s inner workings so they can escape on a shuttle when she’s interrupted by a vision of her brother as a young boy. She regretfully turns her back on him but Gideon knocks her back and then Death!Sara attacks. Zari repels her at first with wind, but Sara isn’t that easy to knock down. Zari pleads with Sara to fight Mollus and gets through to her for a moment.

Constantine is searching for another way to get to Sara and there’s a delightful reference to Beebo, whom everyone but Ava seems to love. John says Ava is wound a bit tight, which is putting it lightly. Ava is, however, and she’s stressing about her relationship with Sara in the midst of all of this. John tells her that Sara is worth the trouble. Gary, meanwhile, has an idea borrowed from a Dungeons and Dragons campaign from the previous year, which is strangely fitting for their current situation. Yay, Gary! Apparently, they need another totem to fight Sara. Someone needs to wield the earth totem, so Nate volunteers.

The Legends can do this as long as they don’t split up! Of course, they split up because that’s what Sara wants them to do. Meanwhile in Sara’s mind, Nora Darhk is telling Sara she can’t fight Mollus. Nora blames her path on Oliver killing Damien, but Sara tells her that her path was a choice. Then, Nora shows Sara the things she has done on her own path, including killing a father for the League. Once a killer, always a killer? Nora tries to get Sara to embrace her past and join the Darhks, telling her that this is her destiny.

Nate finds the earth totem and picks it up but has a hard time connecting with it. Death!Sara finds him. So now the fire totem is their last chance to stop Death!Sara. Zari and Amaya are weakened, so clearly Mick should be the one to wield it. It seems fitting, right? Constantine, Gary, and Ava arrive at the Waverider and interrupt Sara from beating up Nate. Constantine tries to expel Mollus from inside Sara, but Death!Sara tries to trip him up the same way she has the rest of the team. But he gets Sara to take his hand and tries to free her.

Mick, wielding the totem, distracts Death!Sara and she lets John go, running off to confront the other totem bearer. They face off, power against power, and Mick overwhelms her. Nora continues to try to get Sara to join with her and Damien, and Ava begs Sara to fight back. Sara can hear Ava and feel her and it gives her the impetus to fight back against Nora. She doesn’t want a life without pain and regret — she doesn’t want to be a demon’s lackey; Sara wants to do better than she has in the past. She fights back and returns, with Death!Sara no more.

John and Sara commiserate over their lives, and he admits that is why he likes to work alone. But he also tells Sara that Ava is a good one. Sara apologizes to Ray and the rest of the team, believing that Mollus uses each of their deepest fears against them... which freaks the team out a bit. Sara tells Ava they need to talk, with Sara believing that she really is death — it will always be a part of her. Ava argues; she doesn’t care about Sara's past. But Sara says that she should. She breaks up with Ava, leaving them both miserable.

I get why Sara feels she needs to push Ava away. I really do. We saw the same thing with Oliver and Felicity on Arrow's third, fourth, and fifth seasons. Sara isn’t comfortable with the darkest part of herself and she’s scared to death that it will hurt those she loves. She has a hard enough time letting her team in and being vulnerable with them. But someone even closer than that? Someone to share her heart with? It’s a tall order for our Captain Lance.

On the totem front, Mick bonding with the fire totem makes so much sense; I don't know why I didn’t think of that sooner. And the same goes for Sara and the death totem, though I imagine she’ll be understandably hesitant to wield it again anytime soon. But who should wield the earth totem? Nate didn’t seem to have the touch. Will it be Ray? Wally? Someone else altogether? I have some questions.

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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!

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Legends of Tomorrow 3x12 Recap: "The Curse of the Earth Totem" (AAAARGH! Pirates!) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"The Curse of the Earth Totem"

Original Airdate: February 26, 2018

We open this week of Legends of Tomorrow in the Bahamas: 1717. It looks a bit like Canada, if you ask me, just with some palm plants placed strategically here and there. Pirates disembark from their boat, striding onto land. One of them is Blackbeard and the other is his girlfriend, Annie. They seem quite enamored with one another and he gives her a giant emerald which she puts around her neck. But there’s something that takes hold of her, and she’s soon bound by vines conjured by the necklace.

Meanwhile on the Waverider in the present-day, the Legends are tracking down the totems. They have two, Darhk has one, and that means there are two still out there — Fire and Earth. The Fire totem is in Detroit with Mari’s boyfriend. They should go try to get it from him but Amaya is nervous about running into her other granddaughter and screwing up her history.

While the others track down the totems, Sara is taking a little time off to go on a date — something she’s uneasy about. She and Ava meet at a restaurant in current-day Star City. Both of them are very nervous and clearly out of their element.

The Legends on the Waverider soon learn that Darhk got to the Fire totem before they did. The good news is that Nate learned where to find the Earth totem. It’s in 1717, in the possession of a man known as Blackbeard the pirate. Or at least it was. Chances are the pirate knows where to find it though. The Legends discuss calling Sara about this but they don’t want to interrupt her date. Nate suggests they leave without her.

So the team poses as pirates and go head into the past Nassau. They discover a pub and ask around about Blackbeard, wanting to join his crew. Amaya tells Mick what’s on her mind — how she wants to help Kuasa but she’s nervous about changing time. He tells her she should act like a pirate and live for the moment. So Mick spreads rumors about how fearsome the Dread Pirate Jiwe is, in order to give Amaya an excuse to let go. Blackbeard shows up right then and introductions are made. With Mick’s help, Amaya reveals to Blackbeard that she’s looking for the emerald necklace. British soldiers led by Darhk show up just then, looking for Blackbeard. He takes Amaya’s totem. Blackbeard offers to draw Darhk a map to the necklace, much to Mick and Amaya’s dismay.

On the date, Sara and Ava talk a bit about themselves. Sara learns Ava has read her file, and knows about her sister. Gideon calls Sara’s voicemail to tell her what the team has done. She tries to play it off to Ava as fine, but their decision’s clearly weighing on her. Still, she doesn’t want to leave the date — not when they’re finally warming up to one another.

On the Waverider, Gideon is freaking out because she’s parked in the Bermuda Triangle, which is messing with her — big time. Zari tells Ray and Nate they need to time jump or the Waverider might disappear. Or something like that. The threat was never super clear.

Rip, meanwhile, is talking to Wally — trying to convince him to help save the universe. He seems to give in easily, offering the speedster a drink. Rip and Wally end up getting drunk (he drinks rocket fuel... the only thing that does the trick). Wally admits that he misses his old friends. Rip spills his heart about his own troubles too; he wants to make it up to everyone he’s let down. So Wally helps him, stealing a time courier off Gary the Time Bureau agent. Wally also steals Rip his brown coat back.

Blackbeard swears the necklace is cursed. He, Amaya, and Mick are about to be executed but the pirates rise up and chaos and sword play ensues. Meanwhile, Darhk is firing canon balls at the Waverider. Yes, really. Nate pilots the Waverider out of there before they’re all destroyed.

In Star City, Ava is alerted by Gary that Rip tore off his time courier (and his coat) and they’re super nervous about what he might do with it. While that is going on, Sara witnesses the Waverider crash landing and leaves the restaurant. Guess the date is over! So what has Rip done with his own personal time travel device, you ask? Obviously bond with Wally. The pair ends up in Tokyo in 1992, singing "Careless Whisper" together at a karaoke club. I could not make this up if I tried.

Sara returns to the Waverider, and Nate and Ray fill her in on what’s going on. Sara is upset and frustrated, instructing Zari to fix the Waverider so they can go help Mick and Amaya. Speaking of the pair, they are frustrated with Blackbeard who’s suffering from some sort of self-consciousness. Mick declares him a coward so the two of them are on their own. They need a ship so they can get to Grace Island and stop Darhk from getting the Earth totem. So Mick and Amaya go back to the pub to hunt for a crew. Amaya does a good job at playing a ruthless pirate and the others are ready to join her... until Blackbeard shows up. He’s upset at the mutiny, but Amaya threatens him with a sword and then he sweetly offers to join up with her. 

On the Waverider, the team learns that Damien Darhk is threatening their friends, so they’re anxious to get going. But then Ava shows up and she’s not happy with Sara for ditching their date. Ava and Sara have it out about their issues. Sara tells Ava that she’ll never be normal; Ava doesn’t want Sara to be normal. They kiss. About time!

Blackbeard recounts the tale of what happened with the necklace and his "Annie." He ended up shooting her and buried her with the necklace, believing she would rise again when dug up. Which is exactly what she does when Nora and Darhk dig her up. She lays waste to everyone, basically, powered by the totem.

Blackbeard uses a portal to get on board the Waverider, wanting to claim it as his own. Ava and Sara have to break up their nice moment to fight the pirates, which they do quite easily. Blackbeard simpers when the two women get the upper hand and offers to let them join his crew.

Amaya, meanwhile, is trying to pep talk Annie about the totem. But before she can make much headway, Darhk breaks her neck, freeing Nora from the vines around her. Amaya fights the Darhks but they overpower her... at least until Nate and Ray show up and the tables are turned. Nora threatens to drain Amaya’s life force but Ray shoots Nora with his nanite gun and she’s hurt badly. Darhk is distracted by his daughter’s collapse so they escape. Ray is wracked with guilt over what he did.

Blackbeard is impressed with the Waverider, before Amaya sends him back to his own proper place and time. Now the Legends have the Earth totem, but Amaya lost hers and Nate apologizes to her for urging her to go on the mission in the first place. She says it’s okay — they’ll get it back and losing it has helped her feel free of responsibility for a change. She and Nate get a little pirate-y with each other and end up going at it like rabbits. Of course.

Sara and Ava have some rum floats in the galley (and the rum is now “Captain Jiwe Spiced Rum,” which Sara approves of). They decide neither of them wants to be normal or have normal dates. They’d rather be themselves, together. So Sara invites the other woman back to her bunk.

Elsewhere... in China, Wally and Rip wake up with hangovers and decide to return to the Waverider. Because they’re lonely, and the Legends are a family. They’ll fit right in, as outcasts.

Ray feels bad about Nora — his pistol is going to eventually kill her. He doesn’t want to kill, especially since he met Nora when she was a child. He wonders if she could have become a better person, like Mick did, if she had different experiences.

In 1717 Bahamas, Darhk is upset over his daughter and Ray shows up to offer a cure... in return for Amaya’s totem. Darhk readily gives it up so Ray cures Nora. She remembers him from when she was a child and it seems to be a fond memory... but then she grabs Ray and tries to drain him. Darhk stops her but they decide to keep Ray, since he may be of value to them both.

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Legends of Tomorrow 3x11 Recap: "Here I Go Again" (Legends Does Groundhog Day!) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"Here I Go Again"

Original Airdate: February 19, 2018

Here is where I admit that I kinda love the “time loop” trope. Ever since I first saw Groundhog Day in the movie theater way back when, I’ve loved the full array of human emotions that a time loop story can deliver. Think about it: there’s always the disbelief, followed by trying to “fix it,” and then reckless over-indulgence, followed by ennui and hopelessness, which then (hopefully) leads to ultimate growth and resolution. I was thrilled to pieces when I heard Legends of Tomorrow was doing a time loop episode, and I was not let down. Not even close.

For all practical intents and purposes, “Here I Go Again” is a bottle episode — a term used for an episode of television that is produced by reusing sets, and it often takes place in a single location. I love bottle episodes. It gives shows a chance to delve into deeper storytelling and characterization with less focus on fancy plot points. In this episode of Legends of Tomorrow, the character we get to know and relate to is Zari. As she’s a relatively new addition to the Waverider, she’s the team member we know the least about. She’s also the least bonded to the rest of the team, with one foot out the door already. That’s something Sara calls her on in the very beginning of the episode — Zari’s caught fiddling with Gideon’s computer instead of performing the upgrades she’d said she’d do while the team was off dealing with a Waterloo crisis (yes, there were disco outfits involved).

The time loop begins after Zari is sent by Sara to fix Gideon. In her frustration, Zari gets sprayed with “time goo” in the circuits. The ship explodes shortly thereafter and Zari’s reverted to the moment she was fighting with Sara. And that keeps happening over and over and over...

Through all of this, Zari learns to ask for help (most notably from Nate) and also gains insight about her shipmates (like Mick’s penchant for writing erotic sci-fi romance in the seclusion of his room). She’s looking for what causes the ship to blow each hour on the hour, but ultimately learns what makes this team her newfound family. While she’d been so desperate to find a way to save her real family back in 2042, she’d been keeping the team at arm's length.

Because of the friction between them, Zari was certain that Sara wouldn’t give the whole time loop thing any credibility but to her surprise, Sara takes Zari seriously. Why? Because Zari is a part of the team and Sara knows to trust and listen to her team. They all work together to find the bomb (discovering Gary from the Time Bureau stuck in the trash compactor along the way. He was sent to alert the Waverider to the bomb but didn’t account for “drift” when beaming aboard so trash compactor it was!), ultimately finding it in the 8-track of Waterloo that they’d brought back on board after the mission. There’s not enough time to defuse the bomb and Zari makes a snap decision to sacrifice herself to save the rest of the team. Before the timer ticks down to zero, she addresses each member of the team, telling them what she’s learned about them and how she’s realized their importance in her life. It’s very emotional.

But when the timer reaches zero, there is no explosion. Instead, Zari finds herself alone on the bridge. Well, not entirely alone. A woman walks in and we realize it’s Gideon — in the flesh. She explains to Zari that when she got sprayed with the “time goo,” her consciousness ran through the simulation she’d uploaded to Gideon in an effort to find out how to save her family in 2042. So while Zari's body has been healing in the med bay, her brain has been running through a quasi-time loop.

You see, Gideon realized via the simulation that the only way to save Zari’s family is for her to do it with the team. But without the time loop, Zari was going to leave the Waverider. So the time loop was a way to help Zari bond with the team, keeping her on board and in a position to fight Mollus and save her family. It’s complicated, sure, but it makes a strange sort of sense for this show.

When Zari wakes up, she explains to the team what happened and what she’s learned. She confronts each team member — from Ray’s secret about Constantine asking him to kill Sara if she’s ever possessed by Mollus again, to Nate and Amaya secretly hooking up on missions and then wiping each other’s memories of it after the fact, to Sara’s desire to ask Ava out on a date. It’s a peaceful sort of ending that feels earned and fulfilling and certainly gives me the warm fuzzies. I love everyone on this team and their place in the story and this episode really helped underline that for me.

But wait... that wasn’t all! We finish with an extra scene of a remote monastery in China where Wally West (from The Flash) is meditating alone. But not for long. He’s joined by Rip Hunter, who has escaped from the Time Bureau prison. He tells Wally that he needs his help to save the universe. You know — usual stuff. I’m excited to see Wally join the show and hopefully the team. He’s my favorite speedster and I have a feeling he will fit right in with my favorite misfits on board the Waverider.

This was one of those episodes that just reinforced why I love Legends of Tomorrow so much: the comedy, the character development, the emotion and drama and plot — it all works together so well. Sure, things get complicated now and then, but most of the time the complicated stuff is just window dressing. At its heart, this is a show about teamwork and found family. And that’s a show that I like to watch.

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Legends of Tomorrow 3x10 Recap: "Daddy Darhkest" (Demons) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"Daddy Darhkest"

Original Airdate: February 12, 2018

This midseason opener begins differently than we are used to. We see Star City in 2017 and spooky things are afoot. So is John Constantine. He visits a psychiatric hospital where there is a little girl named Emily who needs his help. It turns out she’s possessed by a demon and he seeks to extract it from. The demon threatens to ensnare Sara Lance as well. Before he can do anything else, Constantine’s busted by the hospital staff. He hypnotizes them and makes his escape, off to find Sara.

On the Waverider, Sara introduces Constantine to the rest of the team — which is amusing as Constantine flirts with, well, everyone, much to Rory’s consternation. Constantine explains to Sara why he’s there, but she insists that she doesn’t need saving from any demons. Nate points out that they are currently fighting a demon named Mollus. Sara wants to join forces with Constantine because they need information so they join him on the trip to save the little girl.

Agent Ava Sharpe contacts Sara and fills her in on what’s been going on with the Time Bureau and Rip (who is still imprisoned). They flirt a little before signing off, which Leo notices and teases Sara about. She tries to argue but Leo isn’t having it. That aside, the team — minus Ray and Zari — move in on the hospital. Kuassa intercepts them so Amaya fights her to give the team a chance to get the little girl to room 237 so they can work. Once there, they learn from Zari that the little girl is not named Emily after all. She’s actually Nora Darhk. She was placed in child protective services and the demon preyed upon her, finding her a vulnerable soul.

Nate goes to help Amaya while Leo and Rory hunt down some drugs to help revive Nora. Nate freezes Kuassa before she can hurt Amaya and while she’s upset at what he’s done to her relative, he suggests they get her on the Waverider before she melts. Constantine, Leo, and Sara wake Nora and ask her what the voices in her head were telling her. All she has is “6,” which is the number of the beast, so Constantine summons Mollus using his name and a diagram drawn on the floor. The demon again uses the girl and taunts Sara. Constantine is unable to get anywhere with him, telling him his tricks won’t work. The girl does an incantation and draws on the floor and the symbol teleports the team away.

The team finds they are still in the hospital, but in 1969. They’re stuck, since they can’t tell the rest of the team where/when they are. They decide to use the paintings to try to communicate with the Waverider, hoping they’d notice a note written on the back. Rory takes over on the Waverider, telling everyone what to do but mostly just because he wants peace and quiet. In the hospital, Ray and Zari find Sara, John, and Leo missing but they discover the symbol that Nora drew. Gideon interprets the symbol and Nate realizes they’ve been sucked into the timeline. Nate wants to try to calculate where the group went, but Zari wants to ask Nora. She talks to her, trying to get through, to find out where their friends were sent. But the girl doesn’t know. And she’s afraid she won’t be able to stop the demon the next time and they’ll lock her up and give her more drugs. Ray is reluctant to remove her from the hospital, but Zari is insistent that a place like that isn’t good for someone with mental problems.

In 1969, Mollus taunts Sara, alarming John and Leo. Constantine warns Sara against letting Mollus get to her. Leo writes a message on the back of the painting but he’s intercepted by the hospital staff who shoot him full of drugs. The doctor believes he’s crazy, given the note he was trying to leave. Constantine warns Sara against giving into the fear that Mollus is trying to use against her. He’s able to ward off the demon and they have a little chat. He opens up to her about his own inner demons and how believes he’ll be going to hell himself when the time comes. He’s seeking redemption. He asks if she’s forgiven herself and she says she hasn’t — she doesn’t deserve it. They have this in common. He gives her a card, something that will help her keep the demons at bay. And then they make out. And, well... you know what happens next.

On the Waverider, Amaya releases Kuassa and they have a chat, grandmother to granddaughter. Kuassa wonders why she won’t use time travel to save her own people in Zambezi. Amaya argues that she can’t interfere in her own timeline, but her granddaughter tells her what happened in 1992 anyway: Men stormed the village, killed Amaya, and set the village on fire. Mari left with her mother, leaving Kuassa behind (and believed dead).

Zari and Ray take Nora to Jitters and they see a news story about Oliver facing indictment for murder. Before they can do anything, Mollus arrives again in Nora’s body. Meanwhile, back in 1969, Leo is about to get a lobotomy but is rescued by Sara and John. Sara tells John to summon Mollus into her so they can fight him, but he’s opposed to that plan.

Possessed Nora wreaks havoc on Jitters. Ray and Zari could obviously use a little help, but Rory is watching a football game and Nate is upset to learn that Amaya is with her granddaughter. She learns that the totem bearer she was meant to protect isn’t Zari, but her. She’s family. Nate rushes in, ready to protect Amaya and Kuassa takes him out. A fight ensues and Amaya protects Nate.

Sara finally talks Constantine into summoning Mollus. Sara is yet against transferred to the other plane and her drawing on the floor shows up in the hospital. She sees Nora while she’s there, crying. She stops drawing the diagram on the floor to chase the sound. She finds the girl and talks to her; she doesn’t want to hurt Ray and Zari. When Zari grabs her arm, it burns and she tells her that she’s “one of the six.” Totem bearers? Is that a clue to how to defeat Mollus? Do they need more of them?

Sara talks Nora into fighting Mollus and — in the present day — the girl is released. In 1969, however, things are heating up as Sara finishes the diagram. Leo and John grab Sara and they are transported back to the year they’d left: 2017. On the Waverider, Amaya pleads with Kuassa to release Nate and she does — albeit a bit reluctantly. She promises to help her, and change her fate.

At Jitters, Darhk shows up and Nora is confused. Darhk tells her that Mollus isn’t bad — he’s going to help her, make her powerful, and will allow her to bring him back to life one day. What he says sounds good to the girl and she embraces her father. He takes her back to the hospital. The doctor heads something called “The Order.” They’ll groom her. So this was basically always meant to happen. Sucks for poor Nora though.

On the Waverider, John is still worried about Sara but she assures him she’s fine. He agrees with Zari that “one of the six” means being a totem bearer, and it might be the key to defeating Mollus. John promises to look into who the other bearers might be before he leaves. He also tells Ray to keep working on his anti-magic gun; they might need it, because Sara will likely succumb to that demon eventually. Leo, meanwhile, decides to return to Earth-X to marry his boyfriend. Sara decides to call Ava and invite her over to “chat,” but Ava tells her that Rip has escaped from prison.

All in all, this was a strong opener for the back half of the season of Legends of Tomorrow. We have movement on the season-long arc, a reasonable plan for how to defeat the baddie, and some good threats looming on the horizon as well. Constantine was a fun addition to the team and I hope we see him again. He brought a fun energy to the group. I’m also enjoying the team-up between Zari and Ray. Plus, next week’s “time loop” episode looks like it’s going to be hilarious!

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Arrow 6x13 Recap: "The Devil's Greatest Trick" (The Curse of the Thirteenth Episode) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"The Devil's Greatest Trick"

Original Airdate: February 8, 2018

The thirteenth episode of each season of Arrow tends to be more hit than miss, I’ve noticed. Over six years, it’s hard not to pick up on the correlation — the thirteenth episode often is my least favorite episode of any given season. Last year, we saw the infamous “gun control” episode and that was probably my least favorite episode of Arrow ever. So it’s safe to say that I went into “The Devil’s Greatest Trick” with very low expectations.

It was a good thing, too. Because this episode failed to make any big waves which is a shame because it did serve as a mid-season culmination of the Cayden James storyline. The bomb we’ve been hearing about for months now was finally primed and ready to be detonated. Original Team Arrow was scrambling, trying to find a way to avert the crisis and keep the city safe. They were out of options and needed to appeal to Cayden in a last-ditch effort to forestall the destruction of Star City. This was aided by Alena — who is still helping the team — finally discovering who killed Cayden’s son. No, it wasn’t Oliver (not that we really thought it was), but a hired assassin. Who hired him though? It had to be someone close to Cayden.

Oliver and Dig brought the evidence to Cayden and he was stunned, immediately suspecting someone on his team to be the culprit. But who? He had a request for Oliver: bring him Anatoly, Diaz, and Siren before midnight or he would detonate the bomb. OTA called up NTA to help gather the wayward henchmen, and — predictably — the newbies griped about it but agreed anyway. Dinah, however, was on a mission of her own to take out Siren. Her teammates had little luck reining her in and no one else had much luck either. Including Quentin, who still insists that Siren is his daughter. Or at least has a piece of Laurel in her. Which... I’m not sure how that works. But everyone, including Siren thought, this notion was absolutely insane.

We were also treated to Cayden’s flashbacks in this episode, which showed his tumultuous relationship with his teenage son. He was working instead of making it to his son’s basketball games, and ironically, was taken into custody by ARGUS agents when he tried to make it to one of those games. It was while in ARGUS custody that he learned his son was murdered and Cayden’s grief was sharp and palpable. You could see how a man would be driven to retribution after that. The unfair imprisonment and loss of his son made him unhinged. There’s a parallel there: Lance is also unhinged by his grief over losing Laurel. He’s compromising his morals as a result — just like Cayden had.

When Oliver, Diggle, and NTA bring Cayden his henchmen, William tags along because he’s afraid something will happen to Oliver. Oliver’s fear for his son reminds Cayden of his own son and when things (predictably) go awry, it’s seeing the father and son comforting each other — and Oliver struggling to protect his son — that makes Cayden lower the trigger for the bomb. After all, he wasn’t able to protect his own son. If there was anyone who was at fault for what happened to Owen James, it was Cayden himself.

Siren gets away when Cayden’s bomb transmitter interferes with her scream-dampening device and in the chaos, Diaz and Anatoly also escape. Siren is confronted by Dinah, who is determined to exact revenge for Vince. Siren very pointedly expresses a lack of remorse for killing Dinah’s lover and that drives the Black Canary to the brink. She’s about ready to kill Siren when Quentin interferes, pleading with Dinah to have mercy. There’s a struggle and Dinah grabs a gun just as Siren lets out a scream. She’s shot, but not fatally and is able to escape.

Oliver shared several very tender moments with William in this episode, most notably at the end in the bunker where he promises his son he’ll never let anything happen to him. Oliver also promises to always come home to William, which his son smartly points out that he can’t exactly promise. I also can’t help but think that William is already angling toward joining the team someday, if not taking over his father’s role. There is a lot of Oliver in the boy, and the need to help and protect is strong.

We also see that Siren escaped because Quentin helped her. He has her in the back of his car, promising that he’ll get through to the part of her that is just like Laurel if it’s the last thing he does. She looks at him like he’s insane and for once, I agree with Siren. Has Quentin suffered one loss too many and now has gone completely around the bend? Forget the “Can Black Siren be redeemed?” question; what about Quentin Lance? Because right now, I see total character assassination happening.

Back at the police station, Oliver speaks to Cayden and the latter gives the former the number of an account that holds all the money he embezzled from the city. That’s nice, because it means at least now the city isn’t bankrupt. He also tells Oliver to be a better father than he was. I think that’s Oliver’s plan. It seems Cayden is prepared to pay for his crimes. What he doesn’t expect is to see Diaz come strolling in. Apparently, he’s buddies with the new police chief. He tells Cayden that he was wrong to try to destroy the city. No, the real objective is to take over the city — which is what he plans to do. He reveals to Cayden that he was the one who killed his son before knifing him in the neck, killing him.

I’m not a huge fan of Diaz, and I’m even less of a fan of Siren. I liked Cayden, if only because I’m a fan of Michael Emerson. With him gone now, I’m nervous about the villain for the rest of this season. I have a small hope that the show will reveal that Alena has been working with Diaz the whole time, because that might help some things make sense (the doctoring of the videos and pictures, for one).

So, yeah. The thirteenth episode curse lives on. There was very little Olicity, only scant OTA action, and the family feels with Oliver and William were too sparse to make up for the rest of the clunkiness. But, again, I didn’t expect much out of this episode so I’m not too disappointed. But I do wish for better in the weeks to come. I would suggest dropping the nonsensical “civil war” storyline with OTA and NTA and the whole Black Siren redemption thing, for starters. But I won’t hold my breath on that one.

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Arrow 6x12 Recap: "All for Nothing" (A Whole Lotta Nothing) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"All for Nothing"

Original Airdate: February 1, 2018

The title is pretty much an indicator of the whole episode. Everything the team did was for nothing. Well. Almost. Felicity (with Alena for the assist) pulled a last-minute minor save but it feels like almost too little in the face of everything else that was lost.

To recap: Oliver and the SCPD are trying to get around Cayden James’ chokehold on Star City. They bring in ARGUS (and ARGUS divers), but Cayden sees the move and takes the divers out. Oliver is running out of patience and city money to keep paying this madman. He tells Thea to move ahead with setting up shelters for the citizens. They won’t save everyone, but it’s a start. William is tucked away in a safe house with Raisa and a Playstation 4. Meanwhile, Quentin is being followed by Black Siren, and I care so little for this storyline.

Dinah meets with Vincent and he tells her that he didn’t know about Cayden’s plan to take the ARGUS agents out. He’s very concerned with making her believe that he’s on her side. She is, and they kiss. We get some flashbacks to how the two of them met five years ago, and how they worked undercover together. And, ultimately, how Dinah believed he died when the blast from S.T.A.R. Labs hit. It’s re-treading covered ground and a huge indicator that things aren’t looking good for Vince’s future on this show.

Elsewhere, Cayden is getting suspicious. He knows there’s a mole in the operation and is determined to figure out who. He doesn’t like unexpected surprises and not being able to trust his comrades. Back at the bunker, Oliver and Felicity reconnect. She reads the stress on his face and tries to ease it as best she can. They promise that once Cayden James is dealt with, they’ll go on a honeymoon to Aruba. Their sweet moment is interrupted by an alert from one of Felicity’s computers — they’ve located Vigilante. Felicity contacts Dig and he and Oliver meet up to confront Vince and demand to know where Cayden James is located. Vince tries to convince them that he’s on their side but Oliver isn’t buying it. He’s about to shoot him with an arrow when Curtis and Rene pop out and say that they’re working together. They were going to share that information... eventually. And I’m sure it’s not just me who finds that hugely hypocritical given the reasons NTA had for splitting off from OTA in the first place.

They all converge at NTA’s new headquarters — H.I.V.E. — which Felicity compliments, mind you (remember that for later). Things are tense between the two factions and Oliver clearly is reluctant to trust Vince. They discuss finding the bomb that Cayden has hidden and Vince lets them know it’s not going to be that easy. But Felicity has a plan for how to find it. But it’s going to take some significant risk from Vince to accomplish it. He’s willing to do it, much to Dinah’s chagrin. Oliver wants to speak with him alone and that ends up being a growling match between the two vigilantes. Oliver does not trust him but Vigilante doesn’t care; Dinah trusts him, that’s all that matters. Plus, Vigilante knows Oliver needs him to try to save the city.

Elsewhere, Thea meets with a city official to try to see if they can find more money to send Cayden. She’s clearly at the end of her rope. So she talks to Quentin, noticing how upset he is. He tells her about Black Siren and Thea urges him to try to talk to her. Quentin thinks she wants to reach out but is afraid. Thea is willing to help him reach out to her. Frankly, I don’t really care about the storyline as a whole, but long story short, he finally talks to her and tries to convince her that she’s just like his dead daughter. Predictably, she doesn’t care for that and takes off.

Meanwhile, Dinah is concerned that Oliver pushed Vince, but he assures her he’s doing it because it’s the right thing. She’s afraid of losing him again. He promises her that she won’t. Famous last words much?

Now it’s NTA’s turn to come to OTA’s territory. And instead of saying something remotely polite, Curtis runs down the bunker. Ugh, I’m about done with Curtis. His arrogance is getting to be the worst thing ever. Dinah, thankfully, is all business and they connect with Vince over the comms while he runs this operation against Cayden James. Felicity gets him into the server room and he gets the “sniffer” working but before it can finish downloading, Cayden pops up and confronts Vince. NTA and OTA look on in horror as Cayden grills Vince and the latter tries to stall for time until the information is entirely uploaded. Felicity feeds Vince what to say to Cayden to get him to buy that he knows what he’s doing in the server room. There’s a lot of posturing and threatening quips traded. It looks like Cayden buys it and the information is all uploaded so Vince grabs the drive and heads outside to transmit and then dispose of it. Vince is headed back to Helix when he’s intercepted by Anatoly and Cayden. The former tazes Vince and down he goes like a sack of potatoes. Oh come on, who didn’t see that coming?

Felicity brings Alena into the bunker to help go through the data on Cayden’s server. There’s a lot there — and a lot of junk too. Dinah and Rene get frustrated with waiting and head over to Helix to meet up with Vince. Of course, Vince isn’t there. He’s a captive of Cayden James who grills him about turning traitor. Ricardo and Anatoly both take turns torturing Vince, but he’s not talking. So Anatoly steps up his game. Time for the big (torture) guns. As soon as Dinah and Rene figure out that Vince is not at Helix, they run back to the bunker. Felicity has found a big warehouse where she believes the bomb is located, but they need the entire team there in order to find it. Right on cue, Vincent’s comm is activated and they hear him being tortured. Dinah is immediately frantic. She demands that they go rescue him. OTA is firm about taking out the bomb instead. NTA backs up Dinah. So the teams are split. WONDERFUL.

Dinah and NTA hit Cayden’s headquarters with a vengeance. Meanwhile, Oliver and Dig try to get to the bomb and have their hands full with Cayden’s soldiers. They’re looking for the bomb but they can’t find it. They’re running out of time. They do come across a bunch of innocent civilians tied up in a room with a smaller bomb. The purpose is to make them choose between saving the people or finding the bomb. Oliver tries to catch up with Anatoly while Dig frees the hostages, but the bad guys get away with the bomb. Meanwhile, Dinah reaches Vincent right as a small bomb goes off. Dinah is trapped underneath the debris and before Vincent can free her, Cayden enters with Black Siren — who uses her cry to blast Vincent into a wall, impaling him on some rebar. Dinah struggles to free herself so she can stop the inevitable but she’s unable to and is forced to watch as Black Siren uses her cry to basically blast Vincent’s brain to oblivion. Cayden and Siren leave and Rene and Curtis run in and free Dinah. But it’s too late. Vince is dead.

Dinah is shook and Curtis and Rene are at a loss. They want to help her but don’t know how. She tells them she’s grateful that they had her back and asks if OTA got the bomb. When she hears that they didn’t, she’s devastated; Vince died for nothing. Oliver and Dig return to the bunker and Felicity tells them that Vince died. They’re concerned for Dinah and Dig reassures Oliver that they made the right call, going after the bomb. But it’s not all for nothing: Felicity and Alena found some good stuff on Cayden’s server, including the footage of Cayden’s son’s murder. It’s clearly fabricated since Oliver wasn’t even in town. But even better, the fabrication is the same as the bogus “expose” photo from the start of the season. The person who leaked the photo and gave Cayden this footage must be close to him. But who? I’m wondering if its not Alena herself.

Thea tells Quentin that they might have been wrong about Laurel. She tells him that Black Siren killed Vince and Quentin is shaken by the news. She’s sorry to be the one to have to deliver it, but it’s time for Quentin to face some facts about his not-daughter. Over at Dinah’s place, she’s mourning Vince when there’s a knock at her door. It’s Oliver. He’s not there to apologize; he knows he was right to go after the bomb. But he’s also very sorry that Vince died. He tells her what they’ve learned about Cayden, and how they have some viable options for taking Cayden down for good. She doesn’t want to hear it. She’s ready to go back to being a killer and she plans to start with Black Siren. That’s the first smart thing she’s said in ages! I wish her the best of luck.

Compared to last week’s stellar episode, this week was solidly on the “meh” side of things. However, I did not find it to be entirely without merit. We had an adorable Olicity scene, which always fills me with a warm satisfaction. We got to see the advancing of this Cayden James plot, bringing us to next week’s climax. At least it looks like a climax. While I wasn’t super invested in Vince and Dinah’s story or their relationship, I like how it set up a Canary vs. Siren showdown. Also, the NTA crew continues to act like jerks, while OTA smells like a rose. That feels like vindication to me.

So not the best episode but not the worst either. I’m rather used to how Arrow operates after all these seasons, and episodes 10-15 each year tend to be more miss than hit, so this fit in well with that expectation. At least I didn’t see anything that enraged me, which is good enough in my book!

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Arrow 6x11 Recap: "We Fall" (The Price We Pay) [Contributor: Marilyn]

“We Fall”

Original Airdate: January 25, 2018

This week’s Arrow was a singularly fantastic episode, perhaps one of the best of the series. That’s not hyperbole either. This episode brought together all the elements that make Arrow great and even gave us something new to love: a strong family dynamic. And, shock of all shocks, I loved it.

The day starts with all kinds of technology malfunctions across town: car accidents, hospital equipment backfiring, elevators shocking people (including Captain Pike)... even a plane crash. It’s Cayden James demonstrating his power. Meanwhile at the Queen’s apartment, we are treated to the most adorable domestic scene. Oliver and William are having an arrow shooting contest using suction cup arrows. William is a natural and even bests his father, which he gloats about. Oliver is very obviously proud. I’d say the kid is poised to take over for his dad someday. Hopefully far in the future. Felicity joins them and she and William discuss some schoolwork that goes rather adorably over Oliver’s head before William heads off for his field trip. That leaves Oliver and Felicity to exchange a good morning kiss — something much appreciated by the fans. Of course, after that, the news of the day catches up with them and Oliver needs to rush off to deal with the fallout while Felicity heads to the bunker to see if she can find out what’s going on.

At the bunker, Dig is training hard now that the chip is working. He’s feeling better and stronger than before. Felicity fills Dig in on what’s going on and then when Oliver is roped in, Dig brings up the idea of looping in the newbies — just so they can put pieces and knowledge together faster. It’s a smart move. At the precinct, Oliver talks to Quentin, asking him to fill in for Captain Pike. Meanwhile, at the NTA Lair where the bitter are still bitter, Curtis answers a call from Felicity and she mentions putting their heads together. NTA agrees and when one of Curtis’ t-spheres comes to life, they realize it’s locking onto Vigilante’s visor again. Dinah suggests they use it to trap him, which just seems too simple. But what do I know. So they get their super suits and head out.

Thea rushes into the precinct and Quentin fills Thea in on what’s going on, promising to help in whatever way she can. She suggests setting up off-grid safe zones for people to hide out in until the crisis is over. Oliver goes to City Hall while NTA hunts down Vinnie. Vinnie confronts Curtis, telling him that he’s undercover with Cayden James. But Curtis isn’t buying it, and neither am I. Vinnie then asks for Curtis’ help and tells him to go to the subway tunnels: to save some lives there in an hour's time.

Meanwhile, Mayor Queen is addressing his staff about the crisis and the death of a councilman when Cayden James shows up. He gives the absolutely fantastic fake name of “Ben Gale,” which is the most brilliant Lost reference I’ve ever seen in a show. Anyway, he’s there to tell Oliver what he wants from him. He’s got control of the city’s infrastructure and wants money — lots of money. $10 million dollars to be exact, by that night and every night afterward. Oliver says that will bankrupt the city. Cayden doesn’t care, and wants him to suffer. Oliver insists he didn’t kill his son but Cayden insists that he did — one year ago today to be exact when he accidentally shot him. Something about that is weird. Oliver doesn’t miss a shot. Ever.

At the bunker, Felicity is working away, trying to find a way to counterhack Cayden James. But she can’t. She learns from Alena that Cayden manipulated her several episodes ago, getting her to help him load up a virus, which is what allowed this whole sequence of events to happen. Oliver shows up and tells them about Cayden, his demands, and his insistence that Oliver killed his son. NTA calls up Felicity to share some intel, asking her to look at the subway where the systems have gone offline. She offers to help Curtis get it online but he cockily tells her that they can handle it without her help. But Felicity notices that Cayden is shutting down all access in and out of the city. Which means that William’s school bus is stuck in a tunnel.

On the bus, William is being taunted by some bullies (they give him crap about his mom being hot which... I can’t argue that. Felicity is pretty fine) while Oliver and Dig suit up to go save William. NTA is dealing with the subway thing but honestly, after Curtis’ rudeness to Felicity I don’t even care. Surprise, surprise, Curtis is unable to fix the issue on his own and Dinah has to use her cry to stop the subway trains from colliding. Dinah has her faults in this all, but she deserves a better team. Back in the tunnel, the gas lines blow and the kids on the bus are panicking. William keeps a level head, getting all the kids out the emergency exit at the back of the bus. On the way out, he gets trapped behind a fallen sign. Oliver and Dig arrive and Spartan helps all the other people get out of the tunnel while Oliver goes to look for William. He finds him and frees him from behind the sign. They hurry to safety before the tunnel is engulfed in a fireball, but now William knows that his father is suiting up as the Green Arrow — something he promised him that he wouldn’t do anymore. Whoops.

Oliver and Dig bring William down into the bunker and he has a look around. He’s pretty upset with his father for being the Green Arrow again. Oliver doesn’t really have an excuse, he feels he has to be the Green Arrow right now. William is clearly hurt, but Oliver doesn’t have time for a discussion. He has to go meet Thea and asks William to hang at the bunker until he returns. NTA, meanwhile, is feeling super cocky and I can’t wait until they’re knocked down about fifteen pegs. Curtis tells Dinah that he got the information about the subway from Vinnie; she and Rene are both pretty annoyed about that fact. Curtis tells them that Vinnie claims he’s a double agent, but Dinah doesn’t really believe that. She’s adamant about not working with Vinnie again and lets them know this in no uncertain terms.

Thea and Quentin want to help people but no one is showing up at the safe zones; they’re all too scared. Oliver has an idea though. Back at the bunker, Felicity is talking with Alena who believes that Cayden was sent faked evidence that Oliver killed Cayden’s son. They just need to track the evidence — a USB drive — and find who sent it. Dig, meanwhile, is disappointed that he’s not back under the hood. He wants to be the Green Arrow, partly for William’s sake. Felicity feels bad for the boy, but is unsure what exactly to do. She’s still learning how to be a step-mom. Oliver is on television, holding a press conference — telling the public what is going on, who is doing this to them, and urging everyone to go to the safe zones.

Unfortunately, Cayden is entirely expecting this turn of events. Oliver returns to the bunker and Felicity fills him in on what she’s learned about the evidence that Cayden has. Oliver does a pretty good job at looking like he understands her mile-a-minute babble. William is still sitting alone, sulking, and she says he should go talk to him. He will but he’s not quite ready yet. Felicity gives him a bit of a pep talk about dealing with William. She tells him that the thing that hurt her the most about her relationship with her father growing up wasn’t so much the bad that he was doing, but that he didn’t tell her about it. She didn’t like the lies. She believes William can handle the things that Oliver has to do so long as Oliver is telling him the truth about them. Elsewhere, Dinah is still ticked at her teammates and they tell her they won’t work with Vinnie if she doesn’t want to. They agree to discuss it reasonably. Vinnie signals NTA with Morse code to the t-sphere, telling him that Cayden and his crew are going to attack one of the safe zones that Quentin and Thea set up. Dinah agrees they should suit up and head out.

They show up at the safe zone and are joined by Dig and Oliver, who were alerted by Curtis about what was happening. This one time they agree to work together. And right on cue, Cayden’s crew shows up with guns to terrorize the citizens. The heroes drop in and engage the gunmen while Felicity and William watch from the bunker. Actually William is nervous, concerned for his father. She gives him this great speech about how Oliver does what he does, why he does it… but how she loves him anyhow. Because there’s no guarantees in life, especially this one, but it’s worth it to help. This wonderful speech is intercut with shots of the team fighting the gunmen and it’s really rather stunning. Vinnie saves Rene in the field and Dinah sees it. And William starts to get perspective on why his father does what he does, and how important it is to have faith in those we love. THIS right here is why I love the show.

NTA lets OTA know that nothing has changed before everyone stalks off to their own respective corners. Back at the bunker, OTA can’t help but notice that they don’t know where NTA got their intel about the raid. Oliver goes to talk to William while Dinah meets with Vinnie and thanks him for the help. It looks like they’re patching things up. At the Queen family apartment, they’re having a family meeting. Oliver apologizes to William for lying and promises that there will be no more secrets and no more lies. He says if William wants him to stop being the Green Arrow, he will. William tells Oliver that Felicity showed him what he does and the boy gets that the city needs him to be a hero. Plus, he’s not as worried about being an orphan now: he has Felicity. That’s pretty fantastic and just about everything I’ve wanted from this little family. I may even have had a tear or two in my eyes. Oliver and Felicity share a sweet, tender moment before Alena interrupts with a text, telling Felicity that they were unable to find out who sent Cayden the evidence. And Oliver has to get to City Hall. Cayden’s deadline looms near and he’s decided to... pay him. That just seems like a really, really bad idea. He promised the city he wouldn’t negotiate with terrorists. And here he is, caving to those demands.

This was a great episode, solid from start to finish. Yes, the newbies are continuing to be super annoying. But I think it’s beyond apparent by now that their overconfidence is a house of cards and that will come tumbling down soon. They’re cocky and arrogant and that will work against them. The only questions are how and when? The rest of the episode gave us a blessed lack of Black Siren (and so Quentin and Thea weren’t weighed down like last week) and a lovely abundance of Felicity really getting into the groove of being a step-mother. Plus, Oliver is no longer lying to his son about being the Green Arrow so that is also a good development. If only all Arrow episodes could resonate like this one, we would be a lucky fandom indeed.

Join me next week when we watch “All for Nothing,” which sounds more than a little ominous.

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Arrow 6x10 Recap: "Divided" (OTA vs. Newbies) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"Divided"

Original Airdate: January 17, 2018

We open this episode with Helena Bertinelli’s cousin doing some business dealings — shady or otherwise. Cayden and his crew show up, offering to buy his port and he declines. Black Siren does her thing on him and they tell him he has 24 hours to reconsider. Threats are made. Meanwhile, the OTA is chilling in the bunker being, you know, the OTA. Oliver is making arrows and Felicity is in need of coffee, which Dig kindly supplies for her. Curtis is coming over to help Felicity work on Dig’s arm implant and Oliver isn’t going home to take care of William (who doesn’t know his dad is back on Green Arrow duty) because he’s determined to bring down Cayden James and can’t really relax until he does.

At City Hall, Quentin and Thea reconnect and she tells him she’d like to be his new assistant since Rene Ramirez is, obviously, not working there anymore. Thea gets why Rene was let go but she’s concerned that it’ll look like retaliation against a “whistle-blower.” Quentin is fine letting Oliver worry about that and... oh, he already hired an assistant. But he can use a chief of staff!

While Felicity and Curtis are working on Dig’s chip, they get some weird feedback. But it goes away and so they get back to work. Except... the chip still isn’t working. Dig is getting frustrated, understandably. There’s some interference again and Felicity figures out that it’s signal interference — they’re being bugged. Vince drops by the precinct to visit Dinah, which she thinks is dangerous considering he’s currently wanted for vigilante activities. He wants to meet with her at the pier the next day after her shift ends. She’s a little hesitant but agrees.

Felicity and Dig meet up with Oliver and they tell him about the bug. They realize Black Siren put it there when she broke into the bunker months ago. But for the moment, Cayden doesn’t know that OTA knows. Oliver rushes off to confront who he thinks is Cayden James, but is actually Jerry Bertinelli. Jerry tells the Green Arrow about the visit from the baddies and the threats made against him. And since Jerry’s technically the enemy of his enemy, then maybe they’re allies. Oliver brings the information to Felicity and there’s cute and witty banter about getting in bed with the Bertinellis that I enjoy a lot more than I probably should.

Elsewhere, Rene is bonding with his daughter and because she is perceptive, she wonders why he’s not going to work. Rene doesn’t know what to tell her, but he does promise that no one will take her away from him again. Curtis stops by and Rene asks him to help with the evidence that Watson has against him. He wants to be able to recant his testimony. Rene doesn’t feel great about how he betrayed Oliver, and Curtis says he’ll work on it.

Dinah meets Vince for her date and she’s having a great time — walking along memory lane, and sharing some funny and embarrassing stories. Vince is charmed but he warns her that this thing with them is complicated. She’s used to it but she’s not the Black Canary at the moment and she’s okay being with him just for now. They nearly kiss but are interrupted by Vince receiving a text. He tells her its from an informant but it’s actually from Cayden James.

Oliver and Thea have a bit of a moment in the mayor’s office when she tells him that she wishes she could be more help to him and the team — but she’s just not there yet. Oliver says she will always be his Speedy. Felicity calls, informing Oliver that they tracked Cayden. Dig warns him against rushing in unprepared but there’s nothing stopping Oliver now. He discovers not only Cayden James but Black Siren as well.

Oh. And also an enormous bomb. Cayden has some of Curtis’ T-spheres, which he tries to use against Oliver. But Oliver has an arrow for that! Cayden brings in reinforcements and blocks out Felicity on the comms so Oliver is truly alone in the field against everyone — including the Vigilante. That’s not great. But for whatever reason, Cayden lets Oliver go, saying it’s not the time to kill him.

Dig and Felicity are horrified to hear about Cayden’s posse. Dig says they need a team of their own but Oliver refuses to bring the newbies back in. He can’t go into the field with people he cannot trust. Felicity suggests a sort of compromise — Oliver does not have to go into the field with them, but should share information with them at least. After all, Dinah deserves to know the truth about Vince. Quentin tells Thea that he’s conflicted about Black Siren and thinks he might have seen Laurel in her eyes. He doesn’t know what to think but really wants to find a way to get through to her. Thea cautions him against going down this road because he could get killed if he does.

Felicity invites the old team over to the loft — neutral ground, I suppose. Dig tells the newbies that Black Siren had the bunker bugged and Dinah is upset they didn’t tell them their identities were compromised sooner. Then, the OTA tells Dinah that Vince is working with Cayden. She doesn’t believe them, naturally. So once again we return to the storyline of "the newbies reach another impasse with OTA." In my opinion, the newbies come off poorly in the exchange.

Oliver meets with Bertinelli again, just as he’s leaving town, for fear that Cayden will target his daughter. But Oliver wants him to make a final stand — he’s confident they can end Cayden together. Meanwhile, Dinah meets with Vince... and punches him. Fair. Turns out she believes Oliver a little more than she let on. Vince doesn’t deny his involvement, and Dinah’s furious and feeling betrayed (understandable). She tries to arrest him but he gives her the slip.

Oliver is sure that Dig, he, and Felicity can handle whatever comes their way — without the newbies. But Dig is less sure. Curtis, meanwhile, tries to help Rene learn what Watson has on him. He finds an audio recording and it’s likely the evidence that Watson has. And it was likely leaked to her by Cayden via the bug in the bunker. Dinah shows up and tells them about Vince. They catch her up on what they found out and they wonder why Watson went after Rene and not the rest of them. They want to take on Cayden James and his super posse, forming their own team outside of Team Arrow.

Felicity tells Dig and Oliver that the Bertinellis are bringing in the Red Lions — a death squad from Chechnya. Cayden, who is watching, isn’t concerned and plans to ambush them. Of course it’s a trap set by OTA because they wanted Cayden to overhear them. Bertinelli shows up as anticipated and is met with Richard Dragon and his goons. Oliver is there and there’s all kinds of fighting hijinks but Black Siren blasts Oliver into a wall and Felicity warns Oliver to get out. Oliver is overpowered by Anatoly and Vigilante, while Cayden stops Bertinelli from escaping. He gives him a choice, and Bertinelli is about to side to with Cayden and shoot the Green Arrow when he triggers an explosion which allows him to escape. Bertinelli offers Cayden the port and he’s thanked for that but is shot and killed anyway. That’s bad etiquette.

Felicity gives Oliver a pep talk, and Oliver admits he can’t be out in the field alone against a group of baddies. It’s just not smart. The group meets again with the newbies, trying to bury the hatchet. Oliver tells Rene he understands why he did what he did, but it also meant taking Oliver away from his son he reacted angrily. An olive branch is offered but Oliver says they don’t have time for grudges; they need to work together.

Curtis can’t go back to the way things were though. Rene and Dinah back him up and reveal that they plan to work together and try to help the city — but they’re not going to work with OTA again. Felicity says Cayden wants to split them up and they are playing right into his hand. Oliver tries to warn them about what they’re up against with Cayden, and wishes them luck. Before the newbies leave, Curtis gives Dig the new chip and believes he solved the problem.

At City Hall, Quentin comes across pictures of Laurel and Thea apologizes for telling Quentin that Laurel/Black Siren couldn’t change. After all, Malcolm did (... did he though?) and maybe she can too. She offers to help him try to break through to Black Siren. Or Laurel. That is a terrible idea. Meanwhile, the newbies set up shop in the old Helix headquarters. They toast to “partners they can trust,” and I want to throw multiple things at their heads.

Cayden confronts Vince about his concerns — he worries about his relationship with Dinah. But Vince doesn’t think it will be an issue. After all, he knows how to play her. Meanwhile, Felicity puts the new chip in Dig’s hand and breaths are held while waiting to see if it works. It does! Dig is back in business! 

Final thoughts: 

• I love to see OTA together again, interacting with each other and relying on each other like the well-oiled machine we always knew they are. 
• Still, it was super frustrating to see Dig sidelined by his bum arm/hand the whole episode. 
• Black Siren is useless as always. Yawnsville. 
• Dinah was frustrating this episode. She tells Oliver she doesn’t believe him, but she actually does? And her reasoning for maintaining anger with OTA was flimsy as heck. 
• (Honestly, in a battle of loyalty, I’m always going to side with OTA.)
• Cayden James was sufficiently creepy this episode. Bringing ALL the baddies together like that felt like a legitimate threat, so good job there. 
• The fight sequences in the warehouse were very clearly directed by Bamford, but I mean that in a good way. The way he likes to maintain the camera on Oliver and just show brutal hit after hit feels really claustrophobic and tense and I feel works really well in a scene like that. 
• There was not nearly enough Olicity in this episode. Not a single "Mr./Mrs." joke or anything. Fix that in the future, show. 

That’s it! Arrow is back and not a moment too soon. Next week we get an episode where it sounds like William is in a bit of danger, thanks to Cayden James.

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