Friday, November 16, 2018

'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 3, Episode 6: 'Helen Hunt'

The temporal anomalies place Helen of Troy in 1930's Hollywood.  It seems the woman's beauty lives up to its reputation, as it isn't long before film studios are vying to make her a star.  Not surprisingly, things escalate quickly.

For her part, Helen doesn't want people getting violent in her name, the chaos just happens to surround her.  The way the episode plays it, it almost comes off like some sort of metahuman ability.  Alas, there's nothing to suggest that and we're supposed to believe that it's just men being men.

Yeah, this episode has a weird misandric streak going.  It's heavy-handed and eye roll inducing at points, but thankfully, the good in the episode outweighs the bad here.

It's trying to do "girl power", but it's done badly here. This episode shows why people would roll their eyes at the message when common sense would dictate that there's no reason to.  We've known since Arrow's second season that Sara Lance is an awesome character, I don't need to be told this after half a decade of being shown.

The inclusion of Hedy Lamarr does help make up for this.  I was unaware of her and figured she was fictitious.  Nope, real actress who made real contributions to scientific development. Shining a spotlight on her not only provides a much better way to display female capability, but allows for some education to seep into the over the top superhero romp. 

I was concerned about the "freaky friday" subplot between Jax and Stein, but that honestly ended up working out really well.  Both actors did a good job of capturing the opposite character's mannerisms and it gave us plenty of great humor highlights throughout.  I think Darhk busting out laughing when he finds out what happened stands as my favorite moment, though.

Speaking of, Damien's return is another plot element that could have become a detriment.  Thankfully, McDonough continues to shine as the villain.  The fact that he's clearly having a blast playing the role also adds to the viewer's enjoyment.

He seems to have some sort of end goal, though we don't know what it is.  He offers to let the Legends live if they just return to the present and let the anachronisms run wild.  All he says is that "it's good for business".  I guess it's something that will be uncovered later.

One thing we do learn, however, is that the woman who revived him is his daughter.  It gives her a bit more motivation for reviving him and allying herself with him.  Seeing as she is looking to be a recurring villain, it's for the better.

Other familial relations are brought to light as Amaya learns of her connection to Kuasa.  While the two do get more screen time together than they did before, not much is done.  At the very least, Amaya displays some contempt for how Kuasa is using her totem.  Whether the enmity becomes more personal later on remains to be seen.  Either way, this sub-plot is allowing the "Vixen" animated series to have an effect on the larger Arrowverse, which is nice to see. 

As to that wham shot revealing where the Legends end up dropping off Helen when she reveals that she was quite unhappy in her own time (spoiler alert: it's Themyscira,) I hope the show does something with it.  It's a fitting enough resolution to Helen's arc in the episode;but a part of me is somewhat vexed, as it's highly unlikely that Wonder Woman will appear in the Arrowverse.  Then again, it is just supposed to be a nod to comic fans, so I'm probably overthinking it.

Then again, there are other Amazons.  Maybe have Artemis or Donna Troy or Cassie appear in Diana's stead.  Heck, have Donna be Helen's new identity, the last name could be her way of acknowledging and paying tribute to her roots, but still marking a new chapter in her life's story with a new first name.   

It would be a shame to establish that and not have it go anywhere. It does leave the possibility open for future plot potential, so I suppose there's that.

This episode was not without its problems, but all things considered, it could have been a lot worse.  It had some good banter, character arcs were advanced, and the climax was very reminiscent of something out of "Dragon Ball Z". In the grand scheme of things, that's not too shabby.





















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