Usually a show’s obvious one-off episodes are the ones you want to skip (can we say Smallville noir episodes?), but the great thing about LEGENDS OF TOMORROW is that they can go anywhere and bring in pretty much any DC character they want to. And I love the fun they have with bringing in Jonah Hex. The Wild West is a great place to test your metal (there really aren’t enough Steel puns on the show), and it’s always fun to see how the LEGENDS OF TOMORROW will step up.
After a time pirate alerts the villainous Turnbull to a mine full of a powerful ore, the future of America hangs in the balance.
The team, minus Stein (who is having severe head pains and strange visions of a past he doesn’t recognize), heads off to find Jonah Hex and figure out how to stop Turnbull.
After saving Jonah, Sara explains to him that Rip is gone and that she’s in charge of the crew. Listening to a woman isn’t exactly in Jonah’s skill set, but Sara reminds him with one of her usual sassy quips how easy it is for her to kill people.
Sara sends Mick and Amaya into a bar with a plan to use Mick’s greatest strength: drunken hostility. If they can get him to start a fight, they can get Turnbull’s attention. Which sounds like a fool-proof plan since Mick loves a good brawl, but in a shocking turn of events, Mick befriends Turnbull (he’s a thief, of course they’d bond) and no fight comes.
While Jonah and Sara wait outside for the fight to start, the rest of the team disguised as tax collectors (in the Wild West, this may be the worst disguise ever) goes to find out how Turnbull has gained the money and power to create his country. What they find is a Dwarf Star mine. I imagine if using future tech in front of people from the past is bad, giving them an insane amount of the mineral Ray uses to power the Atom suit is a disaster of epic proportions. And when an overly impatient Jonah starts a fight with Turnbull instead of letting the plan play out, we get our first taste of how terrible that can be. Dwarf Star bullets that make things disappear and even Nate can’t withstand? Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!
While Nate gets patched up and the team regroups, we get our weekly heart to hearts.
After recounting his experiences with Turnbull in the past, Jonah hopes to get through to Sara about why he wants to be the one to end him. But with her recent interaction with Darhk still fresh in her mind, Sara gives Jonah a recap of the revenge lecture she’s been getting, letting him know she understands more than anyone but there’s a better way (we’ll see if Sara still feels that way next time she crosses Darhk’s path).
We also have our standard Jax/Stein get your life together meeting, but this time it’s Jax reprimanding Stein on his health. Seeing Jax go behind Stein’s back to talk to Gideon and then confront him about the issue was great. I love protective Jax moments.
We’ve also finally found someone who isn’t afraid to have serious conversations with Mick about who he is. Amaya, being used to having to control the animal within, feels like she understands Mick and calls him out for acting recklessly and putting everyone at risk for what she believes is an act that misrepresents his true nature.
And our two Legends struggling with the idea of hero vs powers? They had a moment where Nate believed he wasn’t a hero because he isn’t unstoppable. But Ray gets the line of the night, one that resonates far behind the context of the show, “I realized weakness, not being invulnerable, is what makes a hero. There’s no bravery without fear.”
He’s also the one that has the AHA moment about Turnbull’s plan (can we just admit that Ray’s brain is his superpower…it’s at least tied with his awesome Dad jokes). Ray informs the team that Turnbull is going to use the railroad to transport the Dwarf Star (duh, it’s the old West). The team acts fast, with everyone (except Stein again) taking their places.
Sara, pretending to be a cowboy, takes Jonah to Turnbull, turning him in for the bounty.
While he’s distracted and his camp is infiltrated, Mick and Amaya head to the mine to blow it up, while Nate, Ray, and Jax hurry to stop the train. Nate, focusing on Ray’s words as a mantra, is able to call on enough power to stop the train. While Sara keeps Jonah from killing Turnbull with a simple look (Sara’s superpower is definitely keeping it 100). With Jonah’s situation wrapped up, and history once again on track, we focus inward to the team.
Nate’s stopping of the train allowed Ray to collect all the Dwarf Star he needed to power Atom suits for pretty much forever. And as a thank you he made Nate a suit of his own (in a matter of seconds. It must be wonderful to have a machine that can make clothes instantly). Jax decides Stein’s visions have to be memories being created by something that was changed by their continuous interaction with the younger Stein. This leaves Stein worried because he knows he loves the woman in his visions, and what does that mean for him and Clarissa. Is anything in this world sacred?!
Amaya and Mick’s new found understanding is probably the best thing to come out of this episode. I love that she is able to see beyond that rough exterior that he’s put forth. That the woman who couldn’t see more than a brutish beast before, now sees the giant heart inside him. And I can’t wait to see where this relationship goes as she helps him learn to control the animal within. He was looking for a new partner after all.
Since there’s not a new episode on Thanksgiving Day, this one was obviously not going to be meant to really move the plot of the season along. Viewers would forget too many details, so there would be no point in really diving into the story. But what they could do was set up where our LEGENDS OF TOMORROW will go next. And just that simple line of, “Our friends back in 2016 need our help,” was enough to get my heart racing. We’re going home, and it’s finally time for the most epic crossover ever.
Written by Shannon Brewer, LoT Beat Writer -- Click to read Shannon's posts
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