"Helen Hunt" Is Fun, Well-Performed Legends Of Tomorrow!

The Good: Amazing acting by Franz Drameh and Victor Garber, Good plot progression, Moments of character
The Bad: Simple plot, Crowded character palate (dilutes the impact of some big moments)
The Basics: "Helen Hunt" is generally decent Legends Of Tomorrow that has a few too many characters, but a pair of absolutely amazing performance that elevate the episode.


One of the intriguing character aspects of the third season of Legends Of Tomorrow is how the Waverider crew has parted ways with Rip Hunter. The concept of Legends Of Tomorrow was begun when Rip Hunter assembled the disparate DC Comics and DC Television Universe characters into a crew to attempt to defeat Vandal Savage. So, the idea that the Waverider crew would continue on its own without Rip Hunter and, in fact, in direct opposition to their former Captain is an intriguing one. "Helen Hunt" is the first full episode where the Waverider crew is working entirely in opposition to Rip Hunter's goals.

"Helen Hunt" follows on "Return Of The Mack" (reviewed here!), which has retasked the Legends with once again finding Damien Darhk and his daughter, Eleanor Darhk. "Helen Hunt" is a surprisingly strong, often funny, ensemble piece that plays the usual Anachronism Of The Week concept out in a fresh-feeling way.

Opening in Hollywood, 1937, Helen Of Troy wanders onto a soundstage. The Waverider is in the Temporal Zone, where Dr. Heywood is searching for clues for where Damien Darhk and Ray Palmer is trying to devise a way to separate Dr. Stein and Jefferson Jackson from one another. In the process, Stein and Jax switch bodies. Heywood finds the anachronism; Helen Of Troy and the Waverider heads to avert a war between major movie studios that was not supposed to happen.

When the Waverider crew, less Jackson in Stein's body, infiltrates a Hollywood party where Helen Of Troy makes her appearance, Lance encounters Damien Darhk. Darhk is working as Helen Of Troy's agent and at a parlay with him, Darhk offers Lance a deal. Despite Darhk's warnings, Lance, Jiwe and Tomaz infiltrate a Hollywood party and abduct Helen Of Troy. With the Waverider disappearing piece by piece, Stein goes to get Hedy Lamarr back on historical track to restore the technology upon which the timeship is based.

"Helen Hunt" is a lot of fun. While the plot may be a pretty standard Legends Of Tomorrow episode, the performances in the episode truly raise the bar. Victor Garber and Franz Drameh rule "Helen Hunt." Garber and Drameh spend the bulk of "Helen Hunt" doing impersonations of each other playing Stein and Jackson. One has to imagine the two sitting around honing their impressions of one another to sell the idea that they could pull off the body-switch for their characters and they two actors nail it perfectly. Drameh expertly gets the cadences of Victor Garber. Garber manages to get most of Drameh's tone and cadences down pat as well.

As "Helen Hunt" moves towards its conclusion, the episode begins to feel a bit crowded. As Sara Lance and Damien Darhk begin their inevitable duel, it is broken up by a fight between Amaya Jiwe and Kuasa. Kuasa as a totem-bearer is the natural adversary for Jiwe, but lacking the years of backstory and build-up between the two, it guts the potential emotional resonance of the fight between Lance and Darhk.

"Helen Hunt" continues to slowly develop Zari Tomaz and her plotline in the episode illustrates the weakness of Legends Of Tomorrow as an ensemble piece. Tomaz has a compelling arc that is almost entirely glossed over in "Helen Hunt." Tomaz is new to the Waverider crew and there has not yet been a chance to give her a full episode that truly fleshes her out. As a result, she is being characterized on the fly and the important moments she has in the episode feel more like forced exposure for the character than anything organic.

The episode's final moment is somewhat insulting to fans of the DC Comics Universe, but the bulk of "Helen Hunt" is smart, fun and incredibly well-performed.

For other works with Bar Paly, please visit my reviews of:
Non-Stop
Pain & Gain

6/10

For other television and movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Legends Of Tomorrow In Transition When The Team Is "Compromised!"

The Good: Moments of performance, Some good humor, Hints of character
The Bad: Very typical plot, Shakycam during fight sequence, Time travel elements are moving toward preposterous
The Basics: "Compromised" is an unfortunately average episode of Legends Of Tomorrow that has the Waverider crew squaring off against Damien Darhk in their search for the time traveling murderer!


I am always intrigued by how television shows follow up on truly amazing episodes that are more or less bottle episodes in a serialized context. With Legends Of Tomorrow, the show had one of its series-best episodes with "Abominations" and it had to follow that high-point with something. "Compromised" is that something and it is a Legends Of Tomorrow episode that returns to the season's primary adversaries of Eobard Thawne and Damien Darhk. Unfortunately, "Compromised" is a painfully average episode of Legends Of Tomorrow.

"Compromised" follows "Abominations" (reviewed here!) and with Ray Palmer being a change in alter-ego in the prior episode, it is hard not to discuss some elements of the prior episode in the review of the current one. Elements of "Abominations" resonate through "Compromised," including Jefferson Jackson having a strong reaction to experiencing the American Civil War first hand.

Opening in Miami, 1987, Damien Darhk acquires a hatchet from Emperor Nero through a drug deal when he is rescued by Eobard Thawne. Aboard the Waverider, Jackson and Stein have a debate on the nature of their team while Ray Palmer acclimates himself with the cold gun Snart left behind. Nate Heywood designs a temporal seismograph and they discover a time aberration in 1987, the day before Reagan and Gorbachev signed their nuclear disarmament treaty. Arriving in 1987, Amaya and Heywood discover the J.S.A. training facility she remembered is gone, but Obsidian (Todd Rice) remains and Heywood accidentally knocks him out. At the White House, Dr. Stein sees his younger version of himself and Palmer and Rory see Damien Darhk working for the U.S. Government.

When Sara Lance makes an attempt on Darhk, the mission to find the time traveling killer goes sideways. Rice wakes up and fills Amaya in about what happened after she left and Lance redefines the mission to surveil and identify the temporal manipulator. While on surveillance, Rory and Palmer witness the younger version of Dr. Stein being stabbed by Darhk. After Stein is healed, the Waverider crew heads to the State Dinner where Darhk has a plan to make a mysterious side deal that will alter history!

Throughout "Compromised," Ray Palmer and Mick Rory try to figure out how Palmer will take over as the new Cold. Palmer is listless and attempts to create a more badass persona . . . which is not an organic transition for him. Similarly, Rory is close to experiencing actual emotions and he is deeply uncomfortable with that. That allows Rory to deliver some of his best lines of the series that have some real humor to them. Rory basically reaches out to Palmer to be his friend and Palmer has to turn to Stein to figure out just how to do that, which helps the character transition work better.

The interplay between Dr. Stein and his younger self is pretty wonderful. Graeme McComb returns to the role from the second part of the "Pilot" (reviewed here!) and he is masterful in "Compromised." McComb has Victor Garber's speech patterns down perfectly, which is impressive and he makes the character seem absolutely like a younger version of Stein.

Lance Henriksen arrives on Legends Of Tomorrow as the aged version of Todd Rice and he is good in the role. Rice is a more cerebral role than some of Henriksen's other parts and he carries himself with enough gravitas to be taken seriously as a former superhero who has lost all of his compatriots.

"Compromised" loses serious points on the details. During the fight against the KGB, Amaya calls Obsidian by his mundane name, which is a ridiculous slip. When the Legends encounter a bomb at the state dinner, Firestorm could easily transmute it to disarm it. And when Lance and Heywood see the speedster, Lance declares that he is faster than The Flash . . . which she would have no reasonable frame of reference to recognize.

The budding romance between Amaya and Heywood feels forced in "Compromised." Some of the jokes between Palmer and Rory also feel forced . . . like to make the jokes land, Ray Palmer suddenly seems far stupider and less mature than ever before. Finally, director David Geddes creates a truly nauseating sequence with the hand held shaking camera during the fight sequence between Lance and her team and the KGB thugs.

Ultimately, Dr. Stein's part in "Compromised" is fun and saves the otherwise underwhelming episode from being a true and complete disappointment.

For other works featuring Lance Henriksen, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Cyrus
Alien Vs. Predator
Millennium
Dead Man
Alien 3
Aliens
The Terminator

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Legends Of Tomorrow - The Complete Second Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the sophomore season of the time traveling hero team here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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So Many Cop Outs: "Progeny" Undermines Legends Of Tomorrow!

The Good: Moments of performance, Ethics, Moments of character
The Bad: Undermines all of the key plot and character aspects to keep the series going.
The Basics: Legends Of Tomorrow explores a mediocre "Progeny;" an average episode that starts with so much potential and then is executed in a particularly banal way.


Treated too often like the ugly stepsister of the DC television universe, Legends Of Tomorrow is not without its moments of real ambition. To date, the show has tried to find its footing and has been conservative in its leaps into the future. "Star City 2046" (reviewed here!) is the only whole episode to be spent in the future, albeit a tangent future that was theoretically erased when the crew of the Waverider eventually returns to its vanishing point at the end of the series. "Progeny" promised viewers a trip to 2147, which is loaded with potential.

"Progeny" continues the mission that began in the final moments of "Left Behind" (reviewed here!), with the Waverider crew headed to the future to try to stop Vandal Savage in an all-out assault. The episode comes on the heels of a character-intensive episode that has to be alluded to to properly review the new episode. After all, "Left Behind" ended with Palmer and Saunders exploring a relationship and Mick Rory being captured by the Waverider crew after he was revealed to be the villain Chronos.

Opening with Rip Hunter talking to Mick Rory, he admits that he is responsible for how Snart treated Rory. Arriving at 2147, Hunter guides the crew toward the Kasnia Conglamorate, a 22nd Century company that has taken over an entire country. Hunter goes to a Kasnia stockholder's meeting where he sees that Savage is directly involved in the Board of Directors. Afterward, he witnesses Savage mentoring Per Degaton, a boy who grows up to overthrow much of the remaining world order for Savage before Savage kills him and siezes power. Hunter wants to kill Per Degaton before he can unleash his Armageddon virus and wipe out most of the world's population.

While Lance, Hunter, and Snart work to abduct Per Degaton, Palmer, Stein, and Jackson visit a company that is utilizing Palmer's technology to create an autonomous police force that will be part of Per Degaton and Savage's rise to power. When it appears that the abduction of Per Degaton has no genuine affect on the timeline, the crew tries to regroup. Hunter takes Per Degaton in the jump ship

Throughout "Progeny," there is a "will they or won't they" aspect to killing Per Degaton. The episode almost instantly cheats the argument by revealing that the abduction has minimal effects on the timeline. The episode makes little sense on some of the key details. The first is that Hunter has mentioned that after each time mission, Time Masters have to return to the Vanishing Point to get computer updates. In other words, Gideon would not necessarily have conclusive proof over the effect of any action Hunter took (especially if he has not actually executed Per Degaton already). Similarly, the whole point of the Palmer subplot with the automated Atom suits is that the crew needs a way to disable the automated police in order to make the abduction possible. Palmer and his team do nothing disruptive, yet the automated police do not respond to gunfire and the child abduction that happens in broad daylight.

Victor Garber's Professor Stein has a strong moral core that comes out the moment Hunter weighs killing the child to save the world. Garber is convincing when he expresses outrage over killing Per Degaton. The episode is peppered with moments that Garber, predictably, shines.

The rest of the episode's character moments come from a brief exchange between Lance and Rory and the resolution to the Palmer/Saunders relationship. Palmer discovers he has a child - and is convinced it was conceived before he left the past. Saunders is having visions of her past life with Carter and their son, Aldus. Their relationship, which ended with potential for continuing and growing in "Left Behind" is all but destroyed in "Progeny." Palmer's character arc takes an interesting turn in the final moments of the episode and it is one of the better reversals in Legends Of Tomorrow up until now.

The special effects in "Progeny" are good, especially for the army of automated police officers.

Unfortunately, "Progeny" is a long series of cop outs. The episode starts with a pretty solid premise; the crew of the Waverider has the chance to kill a would-be Hitler. The only real benefit of the episode is that the result illustrates that Hunter's mission has the potential to end in abject failure. Rip Hunter has the potential to make the future much worse than it originally was. That is a marginally interesting twist, but whether or not it is satisfactorily played out in the subsequent episodes remains to be seen. If nothing else, "Progeny" makes a strong argument for the idea that killing Vandal Savage must occur before 2147 to ensure that the Waverider crew does not make the world worse before they succeed in making it better.

For other works with Jewel Staite, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Serenity
Wonderfalls
Firefly

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Legends Of Tomorrow - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the premiere season of the time traveling hero team here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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