2/13/2018

‘Legends of Tomorrow’ S3E10 Recap: “Daddy Darhkest”



Although we don’t have any new episodes for Supergirl, The Flash, or Arrow for a little while, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has finally returned.  Our favorite group of time traveling heroes was last seen this past December, but after a brief hiatus, they are back to continue to keep all of existence safe.  After the death of Stein, Jax was without his Firestorm counterpart and decided that his time on the Wave Rider has come to a close.  But when one door closes, another opens.  John Constantine, who had his own cult show on NBC before guest-starring on Arrow for a little while, is back, and he needs the Legends help.

Just from the opening credits, it looks like we’re going into the world of the occult.  After all, why bring John Constantine in it if he’s not gonna be doing all sorts of weird magic.  While that arc didn’t work as well in Arrow, it just might work here on Legends of Tomorrow.  Remember, all the magic stuff done on Arrow helped bring us Damien Darhk, and he’s not one of the best villains in the Arrowverse, and Neal McDonough is having a blast playing the character.  The episode begins with us catching up with John Constantine, who is still dabbling in the dark arts.  He heads to Star City to perform an exorcism on a young girl named Emily, who we find out is possessed by Mallus.  As with most possessions from movies like The Exorcist, Mallus taunts Constantine and name drops that he will soon possess Sarah Lance.  John decides that he has to seek her out to not only warn her, but enlist her for help.


The Legends decide to team up with Constantine to help with the exorcism.  One thing they are finally bringing from the comics is Constantine’s fluid sexuality and his cigarette smoking.  It was an integral part of his character that for network TV censorship purposes, was never used for his show on NBC.  However, the CW is more LGBT friendly, so they decided to stick with the source material as he flirts with Earth-X Leonard Snart as well as Sarah.  Sure, there will be some people in more conservative circles saying the show’s making the character bisexual, but all that proves is they don’t really know his history.  Now, most TV shows also censor smoking thanks to the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act made during the 70s, but once again, this is a big part of the character.  In tonight’s episode, they have their cake and eat it too as there are many times where he’s about to light up, but gets a funny look from someone on the Legends team.  It’s only at the end of the episode that Constantine finally lights up and takes a drag.


The team sneaks into the asylum where Emily is being helped in order to perform the exorcism on her.  Soo enough, Mallus shows himself and in full control of Emily causes all hell to break loose.  In addition to making everything fly all around the room using some sort of telekinesis, Mallus also uses a spell of his own which transports Snart, Constantine, and Sara to 1969.  They have to now figure out a way to get back to their own timeline, and they don’t have the Wave Rider to transport them, and the other Legends don’t know when they are (as they had to go off coms during the exorcism).  As they are in an asylum in 1969, they can’t just say they are from the future, because that’s crazy, right?  In fact, Snart gets caught trying to place a message on a painting he knows will show up in the future, only to have a nurse prepare to lobotomize him.  All while Snart is about to get lobotomized by the Arrowverse’s version of Nurse Ratched, Sarah and Constantine are trying to figure out a way to stop Mallus.  They are also growing close, so the two naturally hook up.

In the present, Kuasa has shown up, and after Nate uses Snart's Cold gun on her, she’s held prisoner.  There, she and Amaya are at odds philosophically.  With Kusa being Amaya’s granddaughter, she’s more resentful as to how her life ended up, which has made her into a supervillain aligned with Damien Darhk.  She reveals to Amaya a little bit about her future, even news about her impending death and how it causes problems for her daughter and granddaughter.  Amaya tells her that she will save her Kuasa, which causes her to temporarily stop trying to kill Nate.


In the present, are still in the asylum trying to reach Emily, who it turns out is really a young Nora Darhk, Damien’s daughter.  However, she’s still being controlled by Mallus.  Mallus uses the same telekinetic powers as previously.  When Zari touched Norah, Mallus reveals that she has the ability to hurt him, thanks to the Totems.  This means that anyone who has a totem will be needed to take him down.  Back in 1969, Sarah realizes that she will need to become possessed by Mallus in order to try and stop him.  Constantine uses a spell to bring her to Mallus’s realm so that he can take over her body.  There, she runs into Norah as well, and the two work together to fight back against him.  Just as they find a way to take their bodies back and the Legends in 1969 find a way back to the present, Damien Darhk comes to take his daughter away.  In Nora’s timeline, her father just died, but thanks to time travel, he’s there in the flesh for her.  Whatever goodwill Ray and Zari made with her goes out the window as she goes with her father, as we know she will be one of their adversaries when she gets older.


The entire episode Mick has been busy watching a football game and couldn’t be bothered with demons, magic, and possession.  Snart decides to head back to his own Earth and marry boyfriend (Earth-X Ray).  This will probably be the last time we see Wentworth Miller in the Arrowverse as he was reported to be stepping away from the role.  Constantine also departed to continue his own adventure into all the magic going on.  However, the Legends have a new problem, Rip Hunter (proven right about the existence of Mallus) has escaped custody of the Time Bureau, so the Legends have to find him.

Next week, the Legends are caught in a time loop, their own Groundhogs Day from hell.