'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 3, Episode 5: 'Return of the Mack'

Going by this episode's plot hook, you might expect a standard, entertaining stand alone episode.  Seeing the team travel to Victorian era London to battle a vampire is an easy sell for most viewers.  I'm guessing this episode aired around Halloween because it takes on a spookier tone than other episodes. It helps it stand out while also keeping the show entertaining and fun.

While the vampire is revealed to be something of a Scooby-Doo-esque hoax (I'd say this is a spoiler, but the episode's pretty old at this point, so I don't think there should be a problem) we do get some supernatural goings-on as the plot involves an apparently legitimate psychic conduit and a resurrection ritual.  

A vampire would have made for a good one-off adversary, but instead, the episode builds up to the season's big bad, the oft mentioned "Mallus".  We don't see him, exactly.  Like Savitar, he starts off as a creepy disembodied voice (courtesy of John Noble) that is speaking through another person.  He even refers to himself as a god.  Is this a future Legend who is trying to create the circumstances that lead to his/her own existence?  I don't know, we'll have to wait and find out.  

In the meantime, he gets a nice forboding introduction, as Rip is dead set on proving he/it exists.  The Time Bureau believes he's a myth, but apparently the Time Masters were terrified of even the idea of Mallus' existence.  

It was nice to have Rip back.  It's not the warmest reunion, but it did seem like the characters were on the way towards mending fences.  Sadly, the way this episode ends, there's no apparent chance of that happening.  It's a pity.  Darville was great, but he does offer up a grim warning about what the team is about to face before he is dragged off by the Time Bureau. 

As far as sub-plots, there is some progression in regards to the "breaking up" of Firestorm.  Again, the plot relies heavily on the team needlessly keeping secrets from one another.  On the plus side, Jax's short term memory loss did provide some levity.

It's going to be sad to see Garber leave.  He has such a strong presence and often acts as the emotional cornerstone for both the team and the show.  I don't know how you're going to fill those shoes, but I pity whoever gets stuck with that gig.  

For some reason, and for the third time now, the idea of being Firestorm in 2018 is never brought up.  The hero can continue to exist and Stein can see his family, everyone wins, yes?  I guess this team is dead set on being time traveling superheroes now.

I did like the Curtis cameo.  It's nice to see small overlaps like this with shared universes.  Given the premise, this one is usually pretty compartmentalized, but they found a way to work it in without it feeling shoehorned. 

The plot does lag a little in the middle, less because of slow pacing, but because it seems like the story is getting a bit too convoluted for its own good.  It evens out as the episode progresses, but it is still a weak spot.

The inclusion of the song which inspired the episode's title was also forced in both instances.  While "the mack" could return to who was resurrected, it seemed like it was only included so that the name made sense.  

Really, though, that's a nitpick. 

This was a strong debut for the season's big bad.  The other Arrowverse shows seemed to have held off, and waited for the episode just before the big crossover to really get their arcs moving.  This gives them a bit more room to build up hype for their own plot before we get to that upcoming event (which I'm looking forward to, of course).  Hopefully, we see that momentum carry on as we move further into the season.

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'The X-Files' Season 11, Episode 8: 'Familiar'

After the last episode broke the mold and went the avant-garde route, this episode brings viewers back to the well, with an episode focusing on two FBI agents investigating the death of a young child in a small town.

Not surprisingly, Mulder thinks supernatural forces are at work, while Scully thinks that the monster in question is all too human.  Unlike a lot of their cases, both seemed equally plausible.  In fact, I was convinced that this would be an episode where the monster did turn out to just be a run of the mill human.  Not knowing which way the plot was going to go was a pretty welcome addition.  It made it more engaging for the viewer.

Ultimately, this episode gets to have its cake and eat it too.  It does showcase the horrors of mob mentality and rushes to judgment, but we also get some creepiness of the more supernatural variety, as witchcraft and demonic entities are at play.  The fact that the episode pulls off both as well as it does is one of its major strengths.

That being said, I'm torn on Mr. Chuckleteeth, the children's show character that acts as the primary form of the titular familiar.  It's effective enough, but it does fall in to that "Annabelle" trap of being so creepy that you wonder why any parent would want their kid anywhere near it.  For that matter, how are the kids themselves not weirded out?  Even those Teletubbie expies were freakish.

The climax itself was exciting and tense, but it in hindsight it did seem a little anticlimactic.  With all the talk of a door to Hell being opened, you'd expect something bigger than what we got.  As complex as things seemed, it all wrapped up very quickly. The fact that the agents didn't really do anything also ends up being a negative as ultimately, they were just along for the ride.

By and large, the script and acting are solid.  Characters act in a believable fashion.  Even when one of the cops goes off the rails and attempts a roaring rampage of revenge, you get why he's doing it.  The scenes of family members (and the town as a whole) being distraught over the deaths adds a bit of poignancy to the episode as well. 

This episode is not as strong as its predecessor, but it works well for what it is.  With only a handful of episodes remaining, seeing some forward momentum on the ongoing story would have been nice, but I'm not going to complain about getting a solid stand alone monster of the week episode. 

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 3, Episode 4: 'Phone Home'

Ray's sudden childhood death sends the team to 1988 to investigate.  It turns out that young Ray has befriended a baby time displaced Dominator; this naturally gets him into a little bit of trouble.

As the title would suggest, this episode is mostly a giant homage to E.T.  It doesn't come off as derivative, however.  It captures the heart behind the film and carries it into its own plot.  We get a good glimpse at what Ray's childhood was like and it results in some significant character development.

It all feels natural and the episode does a good job of working in what we already know of Ray into what we see here.  His love of Arthurian lore is even given a nod, as invoking that rhetoric is a way that Zari manages to gain his trust.

Speaking of, even Zari manages to show some layers that she wasn't able to in her debut episode.  If it seemed odd that I never even brought her up, it's because she was just kind of there.  Here, she has an arc as she goes from skeptical loner to making a genuine attempt to forge the sort of bond that Ray talked about in the show's opening scene.

The others each get moments as well.  Mick is apparently a fan of musicals.  It adds some depth, but having Mick's lines delivered in Purcell's growly voice did add another layer to the scene's humor.

Even the dominators get some depth.  Well, at least one does.  With a baby dominator missing, it's not surprising that the mother comes looking for it.  When she is reunited with her child, she is visibly happy and doesn't push the conflict any further, choosing to leave instead. 

I'm torn on the Martin sub-plot.  Even if the series recap didn't remind you that he was about to have a grand-daughter, it's pretty obvious that Stein wouldn't have any sort of nefarious intent.  It made that whole plot line seem a little hollow.  It pays off, however, as Jax and Mick's reaction to learning the truth does end up being rather heartwarming.  Jax is stunned that Stein thought that they would have a problem with Stein wanting to be there for the birth of his grandchild and even Mick is determined to get him there after he sabotages the jump ship to keep Stein from what he thought as ratting them out to the Time Bureau.  The latter even brings cigars to mark the occasion.

Not surprisingly, this episode also provides a healthy dose of humor.  It seems like Nate is being relegated to comic relief as he spends this episode lusting after Ray's mom.  It is used to fuel the romantic tension with Amaya, but hopefully he's able to contribute more in future episodes.

This episode delivers everything you come to watch this show for.  It seems like the show really has found its groove as every episode this season has managed to bring the goods.  Hopefully the momentum can continue.  I have to really book it on these as the fourth season starts in a month.  Granted, I'm behind on pretty much everything, but this has more of a ticking clock to it.  I don't want to fall into the same trap I did before and have to wait for the new season to hit Netflix before I can watch it. 

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