One of the biggest issues I’ve found with Legends of Tomorrow so far in its run is that, for the most part, each episode has been at least somewhat uneven. Marooned was perhaps the most noticeable example yet. Between the invasion of the pirates, Snart and Sara’s interactions, Ray’s space mission, Rip’s backstory and Mick’s brewing anger, everything seemed a little all over the place (pacing-wise, this episode was a nightmare), and that took away from some of the plots that the episode did well. While this didn’t especially affect the most interesting story of the hour - the conflict between Snart and Mick - other moments that probably should have packed a harder punch didn’t.
Mick’s Heatwave codename is very much a ‘does what it says on the tin’, and we’ve seen his temper flare quite substantially over the past few weeks. That came to a head here, as a raging comment from Rip on Mick’s ‘hiring’ pushed the flame-obsessed criminal over the edge. It was a long time coming, and everything about it - from Rip’s confession to Mick’s hastiness to betray the team - felt in character. Even in his time on The Flash, I’ve felt a disconnect between myself and Mick. Sure, I like him on a pure entertainment level - his desire to set everything on fire is fun - and Dominic Purcell does a solid job of playing a complete psychopath, but he’s hardly a character I actually care about. The investment I had in his farewell(?) arc came primarily from the emotional impact that it has on Snart. We’ve seen him come quite a way since he joined the team, but this was his biggest test yet.
The conversation he had with Sara about his long-time friend did a lot to fill in the backstory of the pair of miscreants, and didn’t feel too much like exposition. Everything felt like it was building up to something, and when the two quite clearly chose opposing sides, the episode seemed to be going only one way. And it did, with Snart taking Mick out into the woods to kill him.
Now, I included a question mark in my above mention of Mick’s farewell, because it wasn’t a conclusive death, with Mick off-screen as the freeze ray was fired in his direction. While the whole scene had a sense of finality about it, with the number of fake-out deaths seen on TV this year, I’m not prepared to be certain of his death until I see a body (and if they do go back on this next week, my review will probably be mostly anger over a complete failure to follow through with this story). But, assuming that Mick is in fact a goner, I’m somewhat impressed by how bold the series has chosen to be in terms of killing off its characters. Is that necessarily a good thing? No, as in the case of Carter, whose death has done the series more harm than good. But it’s intriguing to see it happen (even if this move, in particular, is perhaps financially or schedule motivated as opposed to a straight choice).
While I have concerns over whether Legends will follow through with Mick’s death, I have many more concerns about Marooned’s failure to follow through with breaking the love triangle between Ray, Jax and Kendra. Did we not establish last week that Kendra’s life is complicated enough without a romantic involvement (with someone who isn’t destined to be with her)? And have the minds behind Legends learned nothing from the abysmal love triangle involving Ray that dragged down Arrow’s third season? In my review of last week's episode, I said a lot about the problems a relationship here would cause, and I won’t go back over them now. It is worth noting, though: A couple of scenes of conversation and Kendra saving Ray’s life isn’t enough development to get them to the kiss at the end.Elsewhere in the hour, Rip got some development. This was a nice change from the standard, scratch-the-surface storyline he usually gets, and it was mostly fine. Was it cliché that Miranda took all of the blame for their misdeeds and that Rip saved the day using something we saw in an earlier flashback (wading into Chekov’s hatch territory)? Sure. But I appreciated Legends’ effort to give him something meatier than what we’ve seen so far.
The threat of the pirates was far more minimal than it should have been, and though it didn’t take up too much time, the looming threat of the group (led by Callum Keith Rennie’s John Valor) felt unnecessary, and the whole story was largely forgettable. This was a key factor in Marooned’s questionable pacing, and though most of the character work stemmed from this situation, I can’t help but wonder whether the episode would have been better off without it.
Notes:
- Since the breach wasn’t completely closed, couldn’t Ray have shrunk, flown into the hole and sealed it from the inside?
- “Who doesn’t have a favourite colour?” Someone obviously didn’t see Ex Machina in 2015.
- Can the shows in this universe please stop using lens flares in the background of kisses? It was a cool thing back when Arrow started it (I believe in the season one finale, though there may have been an earlier one that I missed), but now it’s becoming overused.
- This week on Legends of Star Wars… Ray’s chances of survival were less than 3720 to 1 (AKA the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field), while a Wilhelm scream can be heard as Rip opens the hatch doors on the Acheron.
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