'Legends of Tomorrow' season 2, episode 9: 'Raiders of the Lost Art'

The second half of the season for "Legends of Tomorrow" kicks off...on a new night for some reason.  I'm not going to lie, I don't understand the logic behind that.  I know CW has a new show, but it seems like it would have been simpler to have it on Tuesday night.  "The Flash" is a pretty solid lead in and having it this way seems like it throws everything out of whack.  I'm sure it's temporary, but still.

In any event, where the last episode showed the heroes getting played and bested every turn, this one veers more towards lighthearted comedy.

Even the villains, the newly named Legion of Doom come off as more lighthearted.  It's odd, given that they spend the episode ruthlessly hunting down George Lucas (it makes sense in context) but while the witty banter is enjoyable, it did seem to undercut their menace to some extent.

While we're on the topic of "Legion of Doom", I did like how the debate on how effective a name it was became something of a running gag in the show's early scenes.  It would have been interesting to get the villains' take on the name, but that could come later.  I could see Darhk or Thawne embracing it, to be honest.

The only thing I didn't get was the Hanna Barbera cartoon nod.  I have no idea how "Super Friends" can exist in this reality.  The writers' hearts were in the right place, and it was just a one-off gag, but it stuck out to me.  Having Ray say that Kara looks like his cousin was a meta-nod, but it still felt like it could fit.  Mentioning a DC superhero cartoon in a show about DC superheroes, not so much.

If ever the line was going to fly, it would be in this episode, which does get a bit meta at points.  We get some self-deprecating whacks at season 1 and its lackluster villain. The fact that the spear of destiny is a complete macguffin also gets lampshaded.

The real highlight of the episode turns out to be the return of Arthur Darville.  We do get an explanation as to what happened, though, as we saw in the finale, Rip isn't quite as we remember him.  Of course, he doesn't remember either.  It leads to a rather stark contrast in personas.

While his pitiful state is largely played for laughs, you really can't help but feel for the guy.  His reactions can sometimes come off as exaggerated, but it still feels like how anyone would react under those circumstances.  Not only does it seem like Darville is having fun with it, but it adds a layer of humanity to everything that's going on.

Between the episode title and the aforementioned fact that George Lucas plays a somewhat prominent role, you can figure that this is largely an homage to him and his work.  The two villains wield lasers and one scene even has the heroes trapped in a closing trash compactor.  Really, though, the tribute plays out most prominently in Ray and Nate, who have their histories rewritten when their actions cause him to drop out of film school and pursue a different career.

It was well executed, with both characters suddenly stammering over words with seemingly no explanation.  When Ray flat out wonders why people expect him to understand some piece of future tech, you know something's up.  It only goes downhill when it results in the literal negation of their powers and abilities.

Actually, this episode nerfed a lot of the cast, didn't it?  Considering the villains were two badass normals, it's understandable from the writer's perspective, but it gets taken to extremes.  Ray loses his suit, Nate loses his powers, Vixen has her necklace stolen (a bit too easily, if you ask me), and Firestorm is more or less sidelined due to Stein being busy tending to Mick, who is intent on figuring out why he's seeing Snart.

That's more muscle that the team was lacking, but it did result in a rather entertaining subplot. It turns out that Mick and Stein have a fun dynamic.  I'm kind of surprised that the show hasn't really utilized it yet, but hopefully these two share more scenes because it resulted in some of the episode's highlights.

One downside is that it took a long time to go an obvious route.  The microchip implanted by the time masters was a nice red herring, but ultimately, it was a psychological effect due to both grief and cognitive dissonance over Mick's current state vs who he was.  You don't even need to be a therapist to figure that out.

I know some were guessing that the visions of Snart were intentional gaslighting on the villains'.  Maybe that was too much of a stretch?

It doesn't help the pacing issues.  While there clearly wasn't enough plot to make this a 2 parter, parts of this did feel rushed.  It seems like the team puts the pieces (almost literally in the case of the amulet) together a bit too easily.  The fact that the two biker thugs that Darhk and Merlyn kill turn out to be major figures in the automotive industry, resulting in a time aberration was also a bit too convenient.

Still, the episode was quite a bit of fun.  The humor is really what helped carry it.  The over arcing story is advanced to some extent, but I think the jokes are going to be what sticks out to viewers in the long run when looking back on this episode.

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