Enter Al Capone and the Legion of Doom.
Yeah, you read that right. Can it get any better than one of the world’s most famous mobsters being recruited by the Arrowverse’s biggest baddies to lure the Legends to 1927 so they can acquire the amulet Thawne’s been after?
After a season of what seemed like nothing but team building one-offs, it was nice to finally get a pay out in the form of the Legion. Thawne and Darhk may have a ton of powers and intense evil plan making skills, but bringing in Malcom Merlyn gives the team a certain “You’re gonna suffer but you’re gonna be happy about it” element. Because if anyone knows how to destroy your life while keeping a smile on his face, it’s Merlyn. And does anyone rock those 20s clothes as well as Barrowman (we all know I’m going to say Caity, right)?
With the Legion ready to get to work, they convince Capone to kidnap Eliot Ness. Ray (who like most of us gets his knowledge of the story from The Untouchables) and Nate are supposed to head off the kidnapping, but you know their 'bro-mance' is really not known for getting things right the first time. With Ness captured, and subsequently injured by Capone, history is rewritten when he isn’t available to find Capone’s ledger and take him down for tax evasion. In an attempt to stop the aberration, Nate goes undercover as Ness with Ray as his partner while the rest of the team (sans a bored with doing good Rory and his babysitter Amaya) take on roles in one of Capone’s speakeasies.
With a team of people from the future guiding his every move, Capone manages to have a clean bar when the authorities come to do a raid led by the Not-Ness- Nate. And if that doesn’t suck enough Sara and Stein get taken by Thawne and Darhk leaving the Legends to figure out a plan without either of their normal guides.
When fighting a team of rogues in a world of criminals there’s really only one way to fight fire with fire, which means we FINALLY get the moment we’ve all secretly been waiting for RORY IN CHARGE!!! Now on a normal basis, Mick Rory is known for being rough, abrasive, and entirely unstable. But now…yeah, now he’s a thousand times worse, because Mick has recently started seeing visions of his former partner, the deceased Captain Cold.
Now, we all know in the comic book world what is dead is never dead, but the teasers of Snart’s return did not bring him back to life as we would have expected. Instead we’ve got a slightly (using that word loosely) unhinged Mick arguing with the ghostly memory of his lost partner. Thankfully, he’s able to put that aside long enough to lead the crew in a rescue mission.
Meanwhile, Merlyn is creating a game of Bad Cop/Crazy Psychotic Cop for Sara and Stein. He offers to change the future for Sara by not issuing the order to destroy the Queen’s Gambit, promising her a normal life with Oliver, Laurel, and no assassination attempts (by her or on her), all she has to do is give up the amulet. Sara, who has suddenly become wise after the closure the Dominators provided her (hopefully she didn’t see the end of the Arrow mid- season finale because that closure would be completely ruined), tells Merlyn that time is sacred and you can’t change it for one person’s desires.
After Merlyn leaves she credits Stein with her change of heart, which leads him to revealing the truth about his time aberration daughter, Lily. Sara is, rightfully mad and disappointed, but the reaction time is short lived because in comes the Crazy Psychotic Cop, Darhk.
Darhk takes Stein (because seriously who would be dumb enough to untie Sara even if it’s to torture her), but Stein makes her promise not to give up the amulet no matter what happens to him. As Thawne, the enforcer, pins Stein down to “torture” him, the Legends break in to save them.
While they are battling their way through, Snart reappears telling Rory that he needs to listen to the devil on his shoulder and remember what it’s like to be the bad guy. This is contrasted by Amaya being the angel in his life, coaxing him to share his feelings, do the right thing, and even accept hugs (can I respond to all hugs with an I’m hungry break away from now on?).
It takes about 3.5 seconds for the Legion of Doom’s secret plan to come to light, once the team gets back on the Waverider. Thawne, who tried his big power play by becoming Stein, is busted after the first interaction with Jax (because when you’re telepathically linked with someone and they suddenly don’t even know what they call you, it’s pretty easy to know they’re a fake). Jax catches Thawne on the cameras using his speed to scour the library, and rushes to get Nate and Ray to help him save Sara, who is about to walk into the room.
Jax gets the chance to use the Speedster stopping gun, only to find out it only works temporarily. As Thawne is about to kill him, miniature Ray explodes with a power punch (loved seeing Ray using his mini powers again), and then Merlyn shows up with a group of gangsters to kill everyone. As Nate and Ray take on the squad destroying the ship, Mick and Amaya (who he just saved…aww) outsmart Thawne to stop him from taking the amulet, while Sara takes on Merlyn herself.
Line of the night definitely goes to Sara (which was tough with that Clue reference thrown in there) as Merlyn attempts to talk down to her about how he will teach her a lesson, she gives him a challenging grin, reminding him that those who can’t do, teach.
With the chance to kill Merlyn literally in her hands, Sara instead chooses to make a bargain for Stein’s life, giving the Legion the amulet, because as she tells Stein somethings are more important than history.
If ever there was a phrase that could end up being completely untrue this would be it, and boy, are the Legends going to find that out when we come back after the break. Turns out the amulet, which we willing gave Thawne, will lead the way to the Sphere of Destiny, which will, in turn, allow the Legion of Doom to rewrite reality. So, yeah, that decision by Sara (and that seemingly nice statement) is going to be pretty damning.
But there is hope…sort of…ish…in the form of a very confused, very American sounding, Rip, who we see working on a Hollywood movie set in the 60s. He may not be the Captain we remember, but maybe he’s still the Rip who can save the day.
Written by Shannon Brewer, LoT Beat Writer -- Click to read Shannon's posts
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