'Legends of Tomorrow': Season 4, Episode 13: 'Egg MacGuffin

 

Some "Legends" episodes try to juggle multiple plotlines.  The results are mixed.  Sometimes the episode is able to provide just the right balance to each, while others feel too crowded.  This one is much more the prior.

This episode not only manages to juggle them, though. They seem to intersect in almost "Seinfeld" like fashion.  It makes it hard to break down, but utterly fascinating and compelling to watch.

The brunt of the episode's focus is on the newly possessed Ray.  The good news is that the possession is much more limited than the last episode's teaser suggested.  Neron can exert some influence, such as taking control of one of Ray's hands or by conversing with him "Green Goblin" style through a reflective surface; however, Ray is still himself.  It is this limitation that Neron hopes to eliminate via using Ray to murder somebody he loves.  

Speaking of, this is another episode that puts a lot of emphasis on love.  The two other sub-plots incorporate it in some fashion.  You have Sara and Ava trying to play matchmaker with Nate and Zari via use of a mission to retrieve the titular macguffin, as well as Charlie convincing Mick to let her pose as Mick's author persona to collect a big check.  Sara and Ava also try to be part of a Waverider book club.

It sounds all over the place, but the writers managed to fit it all together surprisingly well.  Like the best "Legends" episodes, this one manages to also bring a balance of off the wall comedy and pop culture shout outs while also delivering compelling character drama.  

Ray is an obvious example, as he has to battle Neron's urges to murder those close to him (namely Nora and Nate), but Gary actually gets a surprisingly compelling go here.  Not only does he immediately step up to offer to help Ray when Constantine isn't available, but his butt monkey status gets deconstructed and leads to the hapless assistant agreeing to join the demon after realizing that he's sick of it.

Ray himself concedes to Neron's influence when it looks like Nate is about to be killed by Ray's own hand.  Constantine makes an effort to vanquish the demon but is unable to do so.  With a willing host and a new follower, the episode does end with Neron coming away the victor.  It makes sense, as it ramps up the tension leading to the season finale.

Overall, this was a very strong episode.  The plot moved well ahead, the jokes worked, the character interactions were on point, and it leaves you wanting to find out what happens next.  This comes highly recommended. 

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'Luke Cage' Season 2, Episode 9: 'For Pete's Sake'

 

With Bushmaster gunning for them, Luke and the others hide out in a Rand pharmaceutical center that is about to be opened until they can come up with a concrete plan.

This, not surprisingly, leads to a more dialogue driven episode.  It works extremely well as the characters all bounce off each other in fascinating and entertaining ways.  Both the script and the cast bring their A-game so each scene stands out.  You'd think that there would be a highlight or two, but just about every scene works and keeps you engaged for the episode's whole duration.

Misty and Mariah clashing is, of course, fun to watch.  You could almost put those two in a room and just have that be the episode as they are both capable of some pretty amazing snark.  It gets to the point where Misty is on the verge of outright attacking Mariah, but Luke breaks it up before it can start.

Another highlight comes from the fact that we see characters who wouldn't seem to sync up interact.  Luke's dad gets solid scenes with both Mariah and her daughter.  The prior is especially notable as Mariah seems to drop her guard and open up about parenting.  It's a really good scene, even though Mariah is later shown to have just been trying to get the guy's cell phone to make a call.  A later conversation shows that the deception goes even further, as Mariah reveals that she has no love for her daughter and with understandable reason.

The episode does culminate with a big action climax, as Bushmaster and his squad storm the building.  Again, just about everybody gets a chance to shine here.  Luke and Bushmaster face off again, with Luke taking the win, though Bushmaster does give him a hell of a fight.  Misty herself gets to face off against some mooks, and while Mariah doesn't throw hands like the aforementioned characters, she does get her hands on a high-powered assault rifle and dishes out some pain and payback of her own.

While Bushmaster does end up in cuffs and police custody, you kind of figure that it's not going to stick.  This isn't the season finale.  Sure enough, he escapes.  There are obvious parallels to Fisk's but the scene still works really well.  It doesn't feel like a rehash.  The story Bushmaster tells is equally compelling and Mustafa Shakir does a great job delivering it.

This was a very strong episode and coming down to the final four is bittersweet.  On the one hand, this is gaining some serious steam.  On the other, I have quite a few other shows to get through in order to get caught up. Still, it's going to be interesting to see how things play out going forward.

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'Castle Rock' Season 2, Episode 10: 'Clean'

 

Thus, the season and the series come to a close.  This episode had quite a few loose ends to tie up, but it did it fairly well.

Of course, the first matter of business is dealing with Augustin and his cult.  He announces that he doesn't plan on stopping with the town.  Despite seemingly having a finite number of cultists from 400 years ago, he reveals that he plans to spread their influence worldwide.  Then again, they did get large numbers under their thrall via the statue, so there is at least an established method of achieving the goal.  Even though Annie and the others are unaware of this, it does add some degree of pressure for them to succeed.

The plan is pretty simple: Annie and Chance will go retrieve Joy while Nadia and Abdi set up explosives in the tunnels to blow up the crypts and especially the statue.

The episode does try to throw in some tension.  Chance gets noticed almost immediately when she roams the crowd searching for Joy.  She does try to play along and act hypnotized, but it doesn't work.  We also see her drawing a gun, apparently going for a "take as many with me as I can" play, but they stop that too.  Upon seeing this, Annie lets herself get caught so that she can rat out the whole operation in the hope of negotiating Joy's release.  Joy has been her priority from the jump, but that was still pretty messed up.  She doesn't really suffer any consequence for it either.  Chance calls her on it, but that's about it.

Were it not for Pop's preparation, the operation would have failed.  Even though we saw him inject himself prior to his confrontation with Augustin, it was still awesome to see his foresight.  His ability to pretend to be Etienne was also impressive.  The scene has the added bonus of bringing the schisma back into the fold and revealing how it ties into everything that's happening.

All in all, Pop does manage to allow his adopted children to end the threat once and for all.  Sure enough, blowing up the statue does work, as the townspeople are freed from the spell and are left to flee in terror from the immense swarm of flies that has emerged.

You could argue that it's a little anti-climactic.  All of this happens within the first 15 minutes of the episode, but the last episode put quite a bit of focus on a more direct confrontation.  

It was a little weird to see the "angel" react.  He's not mad.  He doesn't seem disappointed that the 400- year plan was brought to a screeching halt.  He just turns around, walks a few steps and disappears into thin air.

The rest of the episode focuses squarely on Annie and Joy as they try to rebuild their lives after what has transpired.

Annie does make a genuine effort to reach out to Joy, but she seems indifferent.  It's pretty jarring and it does lay the groundwork for what Annie does later on in the episode.  Given what we see, you can't really fault Annie for coming to the conclusion that she did.  A part of me was expecting it all to be in her head.  It's clear that she is still taking fake medication, as she still hears voices; but from what we see, everything happened as we saw it, she just picked up the wrong cues and concluded that Joy was still possessed.

There's another twist regarding Joy's fate.  You kind of see it coming just because of how it plays out and because of how Annie ends up later.  The episode doesn't spend too much time on it and there are plenty of hints to suggest it.  Still, it made for a good episode ending reveal and it puts Annie on the path to do what she does in the original novel.

We do see her pick up and start reading one of Paul's books.  At first, I thought that she and Joy would bond over it and that would feed the hold the material has on her, but she goes off and reads the books on her own.  It happens quite a few times, so the suggestion that she's hooked is quite strong.  I'm not sure I buy her claim that she's his number one fan, though.  She didn't come off as that obsessed with it, not yet anyway.

All in all, it was a solid denouement.  It wrapped things up and tied Annie's story back to where we know it.  The focus on character actually worked overall and the acting was quite strong on both Caplan's and Fisher's parts.    It was a good watch.

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'Castle Rock' Season 2, Episode 9: 'Caveat Emptor'

 

At long last, we come to the penultimate episode of both the season and the series.  Things have been ramping up for some time, so it's no surprise to see everything start coming to a head as the few remaining townsfolk gather together to stop the otherworldly threat.

Fittingly, this is one of the more action heavy episodes of the season.  There's a car chase and shootouts galore. 

It turns out that Pop is something of a prepper.  He's got guns and bombs stashed away and is able to instantly lock down the store where he and the others take refuge so that it acts as something of a bunker.  It was pretty cool to see him in action.  Not only does he hold his own in the aforementioned confrontations (which is impressive given his age and failing health) but he is also quite shrewd.  He's able to put pieces together quickly in several instances in ways that benefit the group.

He's the one who figures out who the mole is, he figures out why Augustin and his followers don't just storm the building, and he even figures out what they are looking for.  

It turns out that Warden Lacy documented his time keeping the kid prisoner and Augustin wants those letters to help discern where their "angel" may have gone.  I did rather like the references to the events and characters of the first season.  Sure, they only touch on that, but it was still nice to see everything coming together.

While the action is certainly gripping, the episode also delivers some well-done quiet drama scenes.  The interrogations to figure out if the cult has managed to infiltrate them were gripping.  If the show had more time, they could have drawn this out and really played into the paranoia aspect as characters constantly questioned and turned on one another, but thanks to Pop's aforementioned deductive skills, the mole is revealed fairly quickly.

Annie doesn't get too much screen time, but she does still leave an impression when she does.  I'm not going to spoil it, but her scene with the tied-up infiltrator will definitely not be forgotten by viewers anytime soon.  Also, having her pick-up a sledgehammer first when she was weighing her options for interrogation implements was a nice touch.  It goes unused, but the nod was still appreciated. 

The episode was pretty heavy on montages.  The last one was probably the best as it went over the scene with the most emotional weight.  The first two were OK but having three in one episode is a bit much, even if we are nearing the finale.

All in all, though, this was a strong episode.  It definitely kept me engaged and it does leave threads open for the final episode.  On the one hand, it'll be good to finally cross this one off the list.  On the other hand, it'll be sad to see it go.  Sporadic as my viewing has been, this has been a solid series overall.  I honestly can't recall there being a bad episode in the bunch. It really could have gone on longer in all honesty.  But that's neither here nor there.  

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'Luke Cage' Season 2, Episode 8: 'If it Ain't Rough, It Ain't Right'

 

The show may have jumped streaming services, but we continue on.  

I did have to play a bit of mental catch up, as it has been a while.  The episode does take its time before moving forward.  It works, as characters are mourning losses; so, a slower, more somber tone is more appropriate.

Overall, the episode is still largely dialogue driven.  The police interrogations actually are a highlight for the episode.  Mariah and Misty clash quite nicely and the detective also manages to give Shades a run for his money as she quickly picks up how things went down with Comanche and Ridenhour.

Most of the characters do get highlight moments, but Mariah likely comes out the episode's MVP.  Her character goes through an emotional gauntlet and Woodard pretty much nails all of it.  Oddly enough, the one weak bit was when she was supposed to be genuinely shocked by Ridenhour's death.  Her big no fell flat, which is ironic as it was supposed to indicate the opposite.  Still, Mariah endures fear, anger, potential betrayal, and her trademark confidence all within the span of 40 or so minutes.  It's impressive.

The scene where she and Shades clash is another highlight for the episode.  It seems like a wedge is going to be driven between the two, but their bond endures.  I could have honestly seen it go the other way.  It's a little jarring, but seeing Shades go back to motivating Mariah to get her gangster groove back was still pretty heartwarming in its own weird way.

Luke himself is largely relegated to the sidelines.  He gets some hero moments, but there's a lot of other stuff going on and he takes it upon himself to go make sure his dad is safe.  To his dad's credit, he doesn't flinch when Luke says that gangsters are gunning for him.

In fact, when the gangsters do make their move (apparently forgetting any rules about killing on hallowed ground), he beats one down as retribution for shooting his son.  Yeah, Luke is bullet proof, but it was still a noble and heartwarming sentiment, and an awesome moment in general.

I don't know if I'd mark this as a stand-out episode, but it definitely has its strong suits.  It moves at a brisk pace and there are plenty of solid character moments.  The finale also makes good with the action as the shootouts are pretty tense.

The episode ends with Luke suggesting that they call Danny for a favor.  It would be a cool hook, except that Danny doesn't show up until the episode after next.  I guess we'll have to wait and see what the favor was, then. 

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You're Chad? I'm Whelmed

 The "Chad" archetype is designed to instill a sense of defeatist resignation, right?  He is the top 10% tier "high value man" whose "sexual market value" (so...power level?) is so high that you can't hope to compete.  To wit, you don't even register on a woman's dating scouter...radar.

If you look at what Chad actually brings to the table though, it's not a lot.  Abs and money...that's... it.  Anybody can bring that to the table.  If this is supposed to be some unbeatable adversary, I'm not impressed.  Furthermore, as far as foundational building blocks for a strong, happy, healthy, long-lasting relationship go; those things suck.  

You have to wonder if, on some level, the "manosphere" knows what a weaksauce opponent Chad really is.  I mean, even within the confines of their own narrative, he's constantly losing to the...what do they call 'em?  Oh, right, the uh "beta-simps". 

No, Dave, they're not "losing"; the women are settling because they can't get him

Are they, though?  Chad's an over-valued asset who doesn't have staying power.  Is it any surprise that women eventually drop him for something more substantive?  With his metrics, you could easily argue that a woman would be settling by staying with that.  If you're going to go "all in" would you want to do it with Gamestop or Proctor & Gamble?

OK, so Chad is a bush-league, two-bit, punk @$$ honky; should we put the kaibosh on him?  Hard as it may be to believe, I say, no.  There actually is a way we can use this phantom figure to our benefit and that is by reversing his polarity.

Rather than use him as a tool to engrain passive defeatism (honestly, hasn't progressive post-capitalism done more than enough of that already?) he should be used as a motivational tool.  Make him your "Kakarot" figure; the one you push yourself to surpass and transcend.  Maybe it benefits your dating/love life, maybe it doesn't, either way you still come out ahead.

The key takeaway here, though, is that Chad is a goober and you can totally take him.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 4, Episode 12: 'The Eggplant, The Witch, and the Wardrobe'

 

With Heywood Sr. out of the way, Neron moves onto the next phase of his plan, which involves abducting Ava and possessing her so that he can have control of the Time Bureau and its resources (more specifically, all the captive monsters.)

Suffice it to say, Sara is not fond of this plan.  As such, she resolves to descend into Ava's own personal purgatory to get her soul back.  Constantine is not initially on board with the plan but does eventually decide to go along.  

Sara does acknowledge her own experience of coming back from the dead and retrieving her soul, but it turns out that this is a completely different kind of endeavor.  As this is Ava's own purgatory, it involves a lot more metaphors that represent her own doubts, fears, and anxieties.  It's a little on the nose at points, but it provides the necessary character insight and does allow the two characters to work past them to reforge their damaged relationship.  The whole shopping/megastore setting could have been cringe, but the episode actually made it work.

On the flip side, the Nate/Nora reunion isn't what it could have been.  After building up the idea that her presence has to be kept secret, the crew is made aware and doesn't really seem all that bothered by it.  Even Nate relents surprisingly quickly.  I guess he trusts Ray, but you'd think they'd want to maintain that tension for at least a little while.  He just kind of shrugs and goes back to what he was doing.

He does get some degree of closure, though.  While Nate initially wants to shut the theme park down, he decides to keep it going, coming to view it as something that made his dad a better man.  It does still seem like a pretty bad idea.  Nate himself even kinda/sorta makes the "Jurassic Park" comparison, but ultimately, the idea will live on.  What comes of it? It's hard to tell at this point.

The other main source of conflict comes from Neron himself, who is pretty easily captured by the remaining legends.  However, much like Madam Gao, this actually works to his advantage as he can wreak mental havoc on crew members, stirring up anger, creating tension, and escalating already existing ones.

Nate comes close to making things more difficult for the team.  It makes sense, as he is angry over the death of his father, but the team is able to talk him down.  Oddly enough, it's Ray who messes things up.  In his defense, he didn't know what was happening, but him walking in distracted people, which allowed Neron to escape  

While it wasn't initially clear what happened, the episode's closing wham moment lets us know just what happened to Neron after that big explosion.  It turns out that he had jumped into Ray's body.  The bit was well done, with a dog viciously attempting to attack Ray.  It's odd at first, but once he starts whistling, you know what's happening.

There's only four episodes left in the season.  Neron is still on the loose and the episode even hints at some sort of demonic partner named Tabitha.  What she has to do with the endgame isn't clear, but that's something to be uncovered later, as we move closer to the finale.    

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