REVIEW: DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW - SEASON 5.6: "Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac"
It's been an interesting start to the season for our wayward time-travellling team. We've had Astra, who'd been trapped down in Hell, and whom John Constantine TRIED to rescue, decide SHE wanted to run the underworld, and send some of the most baddest baddies in history back up to the real world for an "encore presentation". And while the Legends dealt with these threats, it was crimping Astra's style, so she took the coin of John's and sped up his time clock, thus making the lung cancer he's GOING to get arrive a little faster. On the verge of death, with the help of his friends, and some convincing from Astra's dead mother, he got a stay of execution. Now, he needs a Loom, that once belonged to the Fates---ONE of which, is Charlie---who destroyed the damn thing, and spread it across the multiverse to ensure her sisters didn't get it back---but Crisis screwed that up. Now, she's on the run, and John needs the Loom...something's gotta give. Meanwhile, Behrad's sister Zari is adjusting to life aboard the Waverider, as she sees what life is like as a Legend, since she's nothing more than a social media infulencer with her own brand. However...she's begun to remember things about her past life there. And will Ray and Nora ever find eternal bliss? We'll find out...
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We take a trip back in time to Salvation 2 years back, as we see the fall of Damien Dhark with the whole Beebo vs. Mallus incident. We see Gary picking up pieces of Beebo when someone emerges from the crater after the battle. It turns out to be Damien Dhark, and Gary freaks out.
Constantine is discussing the Loom of Fate with Sara, Ava, and Charlie. He needs it to save Astra, and Charlie isn't being cooperative. He asks Sara and Ava for help, by going back in time to nab it before Charlie shatters it. Sara and Ava tell him 'no', and that Astra made her bed, now she's gotta lie in it. Gideon then lets the team know there's a new time fracture alert, and it seems like they're headed into the Wild West. Sara calls for the team, but they're not there. Turns out--Ray is still at John's with Nate, Behrad, and Gary, as he's preparing a big meal in order to propose to Nora. He's putting the finishing touches, and puts the engagement ring in a chocolate truffle. Nora arrives, but she's got company in tow, as her charge Pippa is still with her. She's a bit surprised at how all-out Ray has gone for their evening.
Nate is back on the ship, and enters his library, where he finds John rummaging through volumes, trying to get information on how to find the Loom. Nate then regails John a story about a man named Shackleton who'd been obsessed with finding the Loom. He says that he may have tracked a piece of it at the South Pole. John takes that info, and begins to plan his trip to retrieve the piece. Nate then morphs into Charlie, who has used the story as a ruse to throw John off the trail, and keep him busy for awhile.
Sara and Ava look to gather the team for this new Encore threat, and go to Mick's room, where they hear a loud commotion. It turns out Mick has been getting negative feedback on Rebecca Silver by someone. Zari shows up, exfoliating her face, wondering what the noise was. Sara then tasks Zari to help fix Mick's problem and her and Ava take off into the past to deal with this new threat. We then go back to Gary...who seems to be fading in-and-out of existence.
Our trip in time takes us to Kawachinagano 1932....well...er....Salvation 1876. We see Gary tied to some train tracks. A train is coming, but Sara and Ava arrive, and get him off the tracks before the train whizzes by. Gary refers to Ava as "Director Sharpe", and she asks Gary what year he came from. He says 2018, and she says to use his PalmerTech watch to get back to the Bureau. But...he says it was stolen. It was stolen by Damien Dhark. We go back to John's where there's a knock on the door, and Nora goes to answer it, and she sees her dad. He's here to see his dear daughter.
It's apparent that Damien is the latest Encore to repay a visit to the real world. He says he's been roped into Astra's pyramid scheme, and decided to visit his daughter instead. She asks how he got here, and he shows her the PalmerTech watch. He likes the house, and believes that Nora is still doing her black magic thing, and she excuses herself to inform Ray that her dad is there, and they need to hide. So Ray takes Pippa upstairs to avoid trouble. More trouble arrives when Sara and Ava arrive, with Sara carrying the Soul Sword she obtained from Genghis Khan, looking to drive it through his heart.
Zari and Mick are looking at posts online about Rebecca Silver's latest book, and ONE particular post blasts him, and says that the latest book sucks. Zari says that bad reviews happen, and then ignore him. She also has an idea, as she hacks into the person's account to locate them. If he sends them a written copy of the book, he might end up making a fan for life.
Ray takes Pippa to his room, and gives her a program to watch that he used to as a kid: Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac, which is a poor man's Mr. Rodgers, but I digress. He's using it to distract her, and keep her safe. She says the show looks awful, but Ray says to give it a chance. He starts one of the many tapes of the show he has, and says he'll be back. Ray then bumps into Nate and Behrad, and they look excited to congratulate him on his pending nuptuals, but he informs them that Damien Dhark has arrived at the house. Sara and Ava are also on the lookout for him, and it's a girl's only trip.
Zari and Mick check back online to see if the fan he sent the autographed book to go it. They did, and they post a video of them opening the book...then proceed to burn it. Mick gets pissed, and he and Zari find out the location of this person, and decide to pay them a visit. So, they go to Central City. When they arrive at the culprit's house, Mick has a written statement given to him by Zari, while she's filming this with her cellphone. It turns out that the perpetrator of the book burning is a ginger-haired girl. She gives him grief, and when he starts to tell her off, Allie shows up at the door. He wonders what she's doing there, and she says it's her house. And that is her daughter, Lita. And...surprise, surprise! Lita is Mick's daughter. He then passes out right at the door....with Zari commenting on camera about a plot twist.
Nora is giving her father the grand tour of John's house, which he's impressed by. He can feel the dark energy about, and she keeps running with the lie, that she's still evil. She hears something at the door, and she sends her father to the study, she'll be back. She answers the door, and it's Sara and Ava. Nora knows what they're going to do, but she asks them for one night to have with her dad, and to solve the problem HER way. They reluctantly agree. They follow her into the house, where they meet her dad waiting, and Nora spins the yarn about Sara and Ava being her underlings. He notices the sword in Sara's hands, and he's impressed with hit. Nora takes it out of Sara's hands for now, to try and keep SOME semblance of peace. Once in the kitchen, Sara just wants to destroy him, but Nora says that since this is John's house, they have all the ingredients they need to cast a spell to get rid of Damien's powers. Gary volunteers to make the potion, and Ava says they should just kill him and be done with it. Nora then invokes Book Club on them. Ava can't believe it. But Nora wants just one more night with her father. If it goes south, then they can kill him. During this time, Sara's phone keeps ringing, as it's Wild Dog calling, and Ava answers it, talking to Rene about WHY he's calling.
John is all decked out in winter gear, to battle the Antarctic cold, as he heads to the South Pole to search for the piece of the Loom. Nate bumps into him, calls him "Captain Cold", and wonders where he's going. John says he was following up on a lead about the Loom based on what Nate told him, but Nate looks puzzed. John realizes he's been duped by Charlie, and stoms off in a huff, having ditched the winter gear. He says he's going to find this Loom HIS way.
Wild Dog calls Sara again, and she chats him up a little bit, says she's busy at the moment, and she'll get back to him. They want Gary to speed it up with the potion, but he says he has to do it right. He tells them to come back, it SHOULD be ready for dessert. Sara and Ava reluctantly serve dinner to Damien. But things go from bad to worse for Nora, because John has showed up, pissed off at Charlie. Damien spots him, and they renew plesantries. Damien is attacked by John, who tosses fireballs at him, and he's thrown back. Nora bursts in to halt the battle before it gets bad. She then tells her dad that she and John are together. John looks at Sara, who tells him to play along. So, he gets into it, and backs up Nora. Damien is actually pleased with this.
Ray's room, as they continue watching Mr. Parker, Pippa asks Ray why he isn't with Nora. He says that she needs time with her dad, and he's giving her space to do so. She ends up quoting Mr. Parker, saying that he should love whomever he wants to love, and to let her know. Ray is surprised she's quoting the show, and feels she's right. So, she calls Nora to her, since Nora is still her Fairy Godmother. Nora scolds Ray for having her called upstaris, as she's TRYING to juggle all the tension balls in the air at John's, and Ray asks if she's hiding him on puropose. Nora admits that she is, because she's trying to protect HIM from her father. She's trying to prevent anyone from getting killed. She also pleads with Ray that she needs the one night with her dad...and with that, she vanishes back to John's. Pippa asks if Ray would like a change of shoes, Mr. Parker style, he says he would.
Back with Mick, Zari, Allie, and Lita. Allie recounts how she hooked up with Mick years ago, and she got pregnant with Lita. She named her after Lita Ford of the Runaways, as Mick says. She would've told him about her, but he was in prison. Lita chimes in and says that apparently, her Mom's standards were low, but her father's sperm count was high. She found out that they hooked up at the reunion. Lita still hates him, and thinks he writes crappy books. Mick's heard enough, and takes out a mindwipe gun and zaps them. He goes to zap Zari, but she stops him. He then gets up to leave, and says they were NEVER here.
Nora is back to continue keeping all the plates spinning. As they're sitting down to dinner, John and Damien talk shop, and John uses this time to bring up Damien's love of collecting magical artifacts, and asks him about the Loom of Fate. This does NOT sit well with Sara, Ava, and Charlie. Damien raises and eyebrow with interest, and says he never got that one. Talks about how it was shattered into pieces, and spread across the multiverse. John says that it's all in one universe now. Damien says that you'd need a Fate to reassemble it. Nora is despearate to change the subject. Sara's getting snippy, and Damien senses a bit of hostility in the room. Ava lays into Sara about why she DIDN'T tell her about the job offer from Rene in Star City. Ava is upset she hid this from her, and Sara tells her that she was THINKING about taking the job. And Ava wonders if it would be a long distance thing again. Sara says that's not the intention. If she takes the job, she would have Ava with her permanently. Damien says THIS is why he never allowed fraternization with the staff. In the kitchen, Gary has finally finished the potion, and pours it into the chocolate truffle.
Back at Ray's room, Ray is being consoled by Nate and Behrad. Nate admits that maybe he's rushing things with Nora too quickly. Ray decides that he's going to talk to her regardless.
Dessert is served, and everyone is enjoying it---well, Damien is especially, and Ava bites into hers, and discovers the ring. They all notice the ring, and Damien surmises that the ring was misplaced, and given to the wrong person. John, quick on his feet, apologizes, and takes the ring from Ava, and goes to propose to Nora. Ray has made it downstairs, and Nora realizes who the ring was from...and her eyes say it all---she's happy. When John proposes, Nora flat out refuses. She can't keep the lie going anymore. She finally admits to her dad that this isn't her house, Sara and Ava aren't her henchwomen, and she's not with John, she's a Fairy Godmother, and she's in love with Ray. Ray goes up to Damien and admits he loves Nora. He asks for her blessing, but Damien is upset that he was lied to. He was gone 2 years, and this is how he's treated. He then uses his powers to subdue the team. Sara's had enough, and she grabs the Soul Sword, and goes to stab him, but he stops her, notices what the sword is, and takes it from her. He plans on killing all of them...Nora included.
at Ray's room, Charlie has joined Nate, Behrad, and Pippa watching the show, when they get an alarm from Gideon about a disturbance coming from John's. They're all set to head out and Pippa wants to go. They refuse, but she wishes it, and it's granted.
At John's, he's battling Damien, and blasting him, and Damien is not happy, though he DOES consider Constantine a better man for Nora than Ray. He says that Ray and his friends brainwashed her, and that she's nothing more than a fairy. Pippa witnesses all this, and says that she wishes that they were all in Mr. Parker's show. With that, the entire team and Damien are now in the show. Ray comes in as Mr. Parker, and introduces Damien and Nora as his guests. He asks them what their problem is. Damien goes first, and says that Ray has brainwashed Nora. Nora replies that he's acting like a child, and can't handle it. Ray then says that maybe it's time to go into the land of make believe, and he hears the sound of the train. Gary is the train of abomination, and he zips by on the track. We then see John and Charlie sitting at a table, while Sara and Ava pop up as puppets---which just annoys John all the more. Sara and Ava work out their issue with Rene's job offer. Sara felt that maybe Ava wanted to settle down, and put down some roots. Ava says that she's having too much fun on the ship, and so Sara says she'll tell Rene to stuff his job offer. They make up, and say to John and Charlie that communication helps. John says that he NEEDS the Loom to help save Astra, and stop these Encores. She says that she destroyed the Loom, because NO ONE should have that kind of power, and everyone should have free will. He promises that once they save Astra, he'll help her destroy the thing permanently. Charlie likes that idea, and agrees to John's deal. Ava and Sara give a big "YAY" for communication.
Just then, bike messenger Behrad shows up with a package. It's the Safe Space Sombrero. Damien takes it to talk, and he says that it's Ray and the team's fault that Nora's life is a mess. Nora grabs it, puts it on, and says that it was HER choice to be who she is, NOT theirs. She LIKES helping kids. Being raised by a death cult and not her father---that was NOT her choice. It was HIS. Her working with kids helps her cope with that. She likes her life now, and she's never going back to what it was. He had a vision of her life to where she was happy. She says she is, and all she wanted was for him to be proud of her. He is proud, and they hug. Just then, Nate the Sun rises,and everything is rosey. Pippa is watching all of this, and thinks that her family is better than this messed up group. so she relases Nora from her obligation. Everything returns to normal, and Damien shakes Ray's hand. At this point, Nora says yes...she will marry Ray. And since everyone is there, she wants to get married right now. So, Sara ends of officiating the wedding (she IS Captain of the Ship, so that gives her the right), and the celebration is on.
Damien ends up pulling Ray aside, and says that Nora needs to be in the real world to do her job, so Ray and her need to leave the ship to do so. Ray understands, and Damien gives him his blessing...but will be back to kill him if he screws up. He then laughs, and says just kidding...but he isn't. Just to put a spark of fear into Ray. Mick made it to the ceremony, and is nabbing some cake when Zari passes by. He tells her that both Allie and Lita are better off without him. Zari asks if he's really sure about that---and Mick takes off.
Damien and Nora talk about him turning over a new leaf. He needs to move onto the next chapter, but promises he won't be far, and will check in from time to time. He says he loves her, and she loves him. He then goes to take off...looking back one more time at his newlywed daughter with her husband. He walks off. As he goes to leave, Sara catches up to him. He knows that he's going to get grief from Astra for not coming here to raise a bunch of chaos, but Sara replies that he just wanted to see his daughter. He knows she hates him, and apologizes for what he did. He goes to shake her hand, but she refuses. He gets it....and he doesn't blame her. He wouldn't shake his hand, either. He thanks her and the team for making Nora happy. He leaves. Then, Sara notices that the Soul Sword is gone. She races out the door to chase after him, but sees him impale himself with it, thus being banished yet again. This is where the show ends.
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Well...we got a little bit of everything tonight---not really any action as far as ass kicking goes, but we got STORY...and sometimes, that's good as well. Of course, this being the Legends, we did get our share of campiness as well. The whole Mr. Parker kids show motif was a good way to toss some of that in, as well as the cheesy way Ray had originally set up his proposal to Nora. All in all, it worked out in the end, and we got some more movement in a couple of storylines, as well as a huge SHOCKER out of the deal.
First of all...I had NO idea that Rene was trying to lure Sara BACK to Star City. I think that clears up Sara's absence during that couple of episode stretch where Ava had to run point with the team (of course, we know Caity Lotz had been setting up, and directing one of the shows), and that she had contemplated LEAVING the ship, to take a job with Rene, and have Ava with her. Sara, the settling DOWN type? Guess Crisis effected her more than we know. Even though she's decided NOT to take the job, because Ava is just having a blast being on the ship and the team, I'm still curious to have them explore that further.
Ray and Nora FINALLY tie the knot! We've been building to this the last couple of seasons, and now it's finally done! Congrats on those two! And to have Damien Dhark be an Encore, and---instead of causing trouble like the others---he went against the grain, and assuredly pissed off Astra by just showing up to spend time with his daughter. And, although it's not QUITE the future that he had envisioned for Nora---the fact that he realized that THIS is what she wanted was enough. It also allows Nora one last time with her father, before he heads off back to Hell. And though he tried to make peace with Sara, she still can't bring herself to give him that. That wound will run deep forever. But she WAS surprised that he took himself out with the Soul Sword. With all that said, this was the set up for Ray and Nora's departure from the team, which I feel either happens in the next episode or two. But I don't see them sticking around for the season finale. Ray and Nora's story is finished...and I think it's time for Ray Palmer to pass the mantle of The Atom down to Ryan Choi. At least...that's what we HOPE happens!
Okay...color us STUNNED to find out that Mick Rory has a kid?!! I get that he was a rotten kid (and a more rotten adult), and had a fling or two in school...but who saw the whole "I had a kid with a gal I hooked up with in high school" coming? I thought it was just cute that he had a girlfriend back home--but to have a kid because of it. Of course, Mick does what the does best when faced with anything close to human emotion---he runs away from it. But, I honestly can't BLAME him for that, either. Lita already hates him, thinks his writing sucks, and already HAS a bad idea of her dad. Mick, KNOWING the kind of person he's been...can't see himself as a father figure. It's too hard for him, and--knowing how messed up HIS family life was growing up---would feel the kid is better off NOT knowing him. How they address this in the future will be interesting indeed. We've seen SOME humanizing of Mick over the years...but this is much deeper than usual. But, Lita only knows the BAD parts of her dad's life---she has NO idea about him being a Legend. So, to see her dad as the "good guy" is not something she's going to be privvy to unelss it comes out somehow.
We really got no movement on Zari this week...other than the fact she knows how to hack into computers. But she took a backseat to Nora and, too a lesser extent, Mick's story this week. This DOES allow her to bond more with other memebers of the team. as she did with Ava a couple of episodes back.
And lastly---John and Charlie came to an agreement about the Loom. John made a good point this episode as well---who's to say her sister's haven't gotten to the pieces already. So, it's going to be a race against the clock to get the Loom for him to save Astra and restore her family, before Charlie's family gets the Loom back, puts it together, and messes things up. I get and support Charlie's reasoning, but what she did wasn't enough. John offers to destrory it permanently---so I think that's a good deal for her.
It was a sweet, kinda campy, sentimental episode that gave us a happy ending of sorts. Ray and Nora are finally married, and they're going to go off into the sunset, leaving the team down two members. But as I said--hopefully Ray passes the Atom suit to Ryan Choi, and he joins the team.
Glad you guys stopped by, and I DO hope you plan to subscribe, comment, and tell everyone within earshot to check me out here. I appreciate it!
Until next time...Time Is On Our Side.
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