Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 9 review

Legends is back! And this week's mid-season premiere was brilliantly stupid.

We were left with the cliffhanger at the end of last year that Rip Hunter had turned up in late 60s Hollywood, seemingly making a movie out of his own exploits as a Time Master. It's a pretty well worn trope of science fiction, especially time travel shows – a character has their mind “re-written” so as to make them into someone else, but memories of their past life, their true life, filter through in the form of something they create, a form of art. I expected silliness and silliness is certainly what we got, but through the silliness there was actually a pretty meaningful message.

You see, whilst Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk, two thirds of the newly dubbed Legion of Doom, stalked Rip (or as he's called now, Phil) through '67 Hollywood in pitch perfect Shane Black movie hitmen mode (seriously, they were amazing this week), attacking “Phil” on the set of his film, based loosely on the Legends themselves, it's Rip/Phil's prop master George who becomes the focus of the episode. George you see, is none other than George Lucas, and deciding to give up filmmaking and take a more respectable job, selling insurance, ends up having disastrous consequences on the timeline. Without Lucas creating Star Wars or co-creating Indiana Jones with Spielberg, millions of people wouldn't have been inspired to follow their cinematic heroes into their respective fields. This comes across stupid to Amaya, who literally comes from a time before these films were released, but she recognised that without art, even popcorn blockbusters, the world is deprived of inspiration and by extension, aspiration – as both Ray and Nate, two MASSIVE nerds who were initially inspired by Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark respectively began to lose both their specialised knowledge and their powers, leaving them wholly unremarkable. As odd it it may sound, I know actually know someone who got into archaeology thanks to the Tomb Raider games and Gillian Anderson has spoken in length at the number of women that cite Dana Scully as their inspiration to get into science. Pop-culture made be sneered at by some, but it is what it is, popular culture of the time and one day inevitably, just culture.
 

First trying to convince young George to stay in film school, then literally saving his life from the Legion led to a perfectly ridiculous moment, when stuck in a trash compactor (oh the references!) Amaya, powerless without her amulet, and a useless Ray and Nate begged George to believe in himself. If he could believe that he could create movies, he would go on to inspire generations of men and women to get into arts, science and history – leading to George's charged affirmation that want he wanted most in life was to direct. With this cry, Ray and Nate power up as their personal history was restored and they fought off the Legion to save the day. Brilliant. Nonsense but brilliant.

Arthur Darvill looked great this episode playing the beleaguered Phil, who just wanted to be left alone after doubting his sanity when these characters from his imagination turned out to be real and that, so it seems, he WAS one of them. Pointing out that in his script the macguffin was the spear of destiny which had been split up into pieces and hidden by Rip Hunter was a nice meta-nod to the plot for the rest of this season. Though the existence of this biblical artefact, it's ability to re-shape reality and the implication that Jesus was a real historical figure is still something I wouldn't mind they expended on. Could Jesus himself show up in the season finale?

When Phil stood up to the Legion, bluffing that he was Rip, it was a complete badass moment, kind of spoiled by the obvious gag of the bluff failing when he couldn't get his gun to fire. But can I just say I really appreciated Phil, who ended up captured by the Legion trying to do the right thing. The fact that he, in so much that he is a separate person from Rip with his own mind, memories and emotions, is left to be tortured by Merlyn and Darhk broke my heart. Rip may have been made of sterner stuff and made the sacrifice play to keep the spear of destiny safe, but Phil never had a choice – something I hope the show speaks to at some point. Just like the classic Doctor Who episode where the Doctor hides as human John Smith; Rip hid to become Phil, will Phil have to 'die' to become Rip again?
 

In this weeks major sub-plot, Rory strong armed Stein into helping him with his hallucinations of Snart. Quite cleverly, what starts as a realistic albeit sci-fi reason for the visions, that of a device implanted in Rory's head that Snart's 'time ghost' imprinted on at the time of his death, turned out to just be a red herring as it turns out the device was dead and Rory's hallucinations were simply his way of dealing with the emotional stress of losing his best friend. The big lug has a heart after all.

Welcome back Legends. I missed you. More of this please. With news from a little birdie that a young J.R.R. Tolkien is set to appear later this season, I can't wait.