You'd think with the rise of meta-human superheroes that, even in the future, there would be some ability to fend them off. If that's not viable, maybe round up the present day heroes and bring them forward to act as reinforcements? I'd also cite the existence of magic, but various incarnations of Thanagarian tech have been explicitly stated to resist magic, so that may hold true here.
You have to wonder how an Earth in ruin would be capable of repelling the Thanagarians, but it is then revealed that the time masters have the ability to mold events to their will. To wit, everything the team has done to this point has actually aided Savage's rise as opposed to hindered it. Rip's rebellion, even the death of his family was all engineered for that very purpose.
.....
Wait a minute, why don't the time masters just go all puppet master on the Thanagarians and have them go somewhere else or change their ways so that they're more honorable warriors as opposed to galactic conquerors?
Anyway, I noted before that roaming TvTropes had spoiled some of the big reveals for me, but it's to the episode's credit that they still hit. Martin Donovan deserves no small amount of credit for that, as his delivery of the monologue was incredibly effective. Hero breaking speeches aren't new, but this one worked really well; not just because of the personal nerve it hit regarding Rip's family, but because of the ramifications; specifically, that free will is an illusion and everything has been pre-determined. The level of the time masters' manipulation is also admittedly rather impressive. In true "rag tag bunch of misfits" fashion, the team decides to take their destiny back.
This episode had a solid balance of everything. There were plot twists aplenty, the action scenes were impressive as always, but even with all the heavy stuff, there was quite a bit of comedy to be had. Normally, you'd think that it would result in mood whiplash or would undercut the tension, but it actually manages to avoid all of that. No one's doing pratfalls, but there are several clever exchanges between characters that elicit a solid laugh as the episode progresses.
Another particular highlight is Sara's and Snart's plan to disable the time masters' fleet when they make their escape attempt. You'd think that they just planted timed explosives on the ships, but that's not quite how it plays out. Really, it's one of those things you have to see for yourself.
The episode does also manage to deliver some drama as various characters not only grapple with the nature of fate, but step up to the plate to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Both Ray and Mick volunteer, but it is ultimately Snart who pays the price. I'm sure the writers have a way to bring him back (from what I read, he's set to appear in "Flash's" third season) but I'll give credit where it's due and say that this death is more believable than Mick's was earlier in the season. We actually see Snart on screen when it happens and there's no apparent clever editing at work. Again, I'm sure that there's a back door somewhere, but this was much more convincing.
As the show moves to season's end, you would expect the stakes to be raised and this certainly did that. Not only does it plant seeds for future plot lines, but just the scope of the issues being dealt with was huge. While the time masters were something of a greater scope villain, I do like that the finale is bringing the focus back to Savage himself, as he was the reason the team assembled in the first place.
I do think that Kendra was getting a bit cocky near the end. Yes, Savage may not have the time masters behind him anymore, but he's still immortal. More than that, as he notes, he has a time machine. His ability to make life a living hell for the people of Earth seems like it is still very much intact. Well, for now anyway.
It'll be interesting to see how the team functions next season. As Gideon notes, they don't have a guide to the state of the time stream anymore as everything is now in flux. Will they just fly around randomly and hope that some serious threat just happens to be there? Or maybe they just stay in the present, considering how bad things got in their absence, it would make sense, but we'll see.
Next, we come to the season finale. After that, we'll dive back into the second season of Daredevil because I need to get caught up on this stuff.
Click here to join our Patreon campaign
No comments:
Post a Comment