Father Issues And Grodd Preoccupy "Welcome To The Jungle"

The Good: Moments of character, Special effects
The Bad: Poor use of humor, Very simplistic plot
The Basics: Legends Of Tomorrow brings Grodd back to the DC Television Universe in "Welcome To The Jungle," which is an erratic episode.


With an entire universe of villains, it is always interesting to see in what direction Legends Of Tomorrow goes. For the third season of Legends Of Tomorrow, a new Big Bad has been insinuated by Rip Hunter, but by "Welcome To The Jungle" the show is fairly preoccupied with Damien Darhk as the adversary. "Welcome To The Jungle" picks up after an attack by Darhk, his daughter, and Amaya Jiwe's evil grand-daughter. So, instead of suffering yet another episode where Darhk is the primary adversary, it is refreshing to see a different DC Universe villain come back into play.

"Welcome To The Jungle" picks up after "Helen Hunt" (reviewed here!) and the consequences of the prior episode resonate throughout it. After all, Damien Darhk nearly killed Sara Lance and she remains in a coma in "Welcome To The Jungle" and Dr. Stein wanted to alter the Firestorm matrix to free Jefferson Jackson.

In December 1967, Alpha Team in Vietnam is attacked and only one American soldier manages to escape the threat found there. With Captain Lance out of commission, the Waverider crew decides to randomly pick an anachronism to fix. The crew picks a Level 8 Anachronism in December of 1967 in Vietnam to fix. At the height of the Vietnam War, the Waverider crew finds things surprisingly peaceful as most of the populace in the area has been subdued . . . by Grodd.

While Mick Rory and Dr. Heywood encounter Rory's father in the jungle, Jiwe, Tomaz and Palmer go looking for the anachronism. The trio finds Grodd while posing as journalists and shortly thereafter, the anachronism escalates from an 8 to a 10 and Gideon informs the team that a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia is imminent. Grodd plans to bring peace to humanity by killing President Johnson and letting humanity wipe much of itself out.

"Welcome To The Jungle" finally has characters within Legends Of Tomorrow questioning their own relationship to the anachronisms and that is refreshing to see. It's no longer treated as random that Stein ran into his ancestor, Palmer's younger self was part of an anachronism, and now Rory has encountered his own father. Mick Rory finally sees a different side of his father, which is almost enough to make up for the truly lame joke that introduces Dick Rory to the narrative. Rory has been a pleasant surprise for Legends Of Tomorrow by playing him with more depth and complexity than he previously was revealed as having. "Welcome To The Jungle" manages to deepen the character without completely undoing his flaws.

Zari Tomaz runs into a decent moral dilemma in "Welcome To The Jungle" when Palmer reveals that Grodd used to be in an A.R.G.U.S. prison. Given that Tomaz comes from a time where A.R.G.U.S. is a villain, the idea of capturing Grodd and sending him back to A.R.G.U.S. makes her uneasy.

That Grodd would use the chaos of the Vietnam War to try to alter human history is an intriguing one, but like most Grodd stories, "Welcome To The Jungle" has a somewhat simple problem/simple solution to it.

Outside the Grodd storyline, "Welcome To The Jungle" is preoccupied with Mick Rory and the strength of the episode will truly only be revealed by how Rory acts in subsequent episodes. Resolving issues with Rory's father makes for an interesting character journey and Dominic Purcell performs the slow transition in his character well. The other decent performance in the episode undermines Dr. Stein as Caity Lotz portrays Lance as clearly under Grodd's influence.

Ultimately, "Welcome To The Jungle" is a pretty average hour of television: nothing truly stands out and develops, but very little is truly horrible in it either.

5/10

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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"Zari" Becomes The Latest Addition To Legends Of Tomorrow!

The Good: Decent use of humor, Adequate performances
The Bad: No real character development, No big moments that lead to stellar, Very simple plot
The Basics: "Zari" introduces a new mystical amulet to Legends Of Tomorrow in an otherwise lackluster episode.


As fans of Legends Of Tomorrow wait for the inevitable appearance of the much-alluded to villain that Rip Hunter believes the Legends might be able to thwart, the Waverider crew continues to grow. Every season, the Waverider picks up at least one new crewmember and for the third season, the new character appears to be Zari Adrianna Tomaz. She is introduced in the episode, appropriately titles, "Zari." Zari Tomaz is part of the Captain Marvel (Shazam!) corner of the DC Comics universe and, to be up front, that is a corner I have minimal familiarity with. As a result, my review of "Zari" is a pure review of the Legends Of Tomorrow episode without any influence from the source material.

"Zari" comes immediately after "Freakshow" (reviewed here!), which saw the return of Amaya Jiwe to the Waverider. Jiwe's powers have been acting erratically for her and she has inadvertently become a killer. As the Waverider moves on to its next mission, Jiwe's condition is being investigated by the crew. The final scene of "Freakshow" becomes instantly relevant as the waterbeing, Kuasa, plays an integral role right out of the gate.

Opening in Seattle, 2042, there is a police state that is transporting a prisoner. The transport is destroyed by Kuasa and the prisoner escapes, but the murder of the police is witnessed by Gary, the agent from the Time Bureau. Gary's distress call leads the Waverider crew to Seattle where A.R.G.U.S. is hunting metahumans. After Gary explains the threat represented by Kuasa, Lance, Rory, Palmer, and Heywood go to rescue Zari, Kuasa's target. Zari, however, is not at all interested in being found. While the bulk of the Waverider crew tries to protect Zari (inadvertently leading Kuasa to her), Dr. Stein attempts to analyze what is wrong with Jiwe.

To stop Kuasa, Lance enlists Zari who wants her brother freed from an A.R.G.U.S. prison. While Jiwe and Heywood take a Gideon-synthesized version of a Zambezi root, Zari's true motive is revealed when she steals an amulet from the prison. With Heywood and Jiwe attempting a vision quest, the Waverider crew desperately attempts to find Zari. Palmer manages to track and converse with Zari, who is in shock when she finds her rendezvous point compromised. In the process of rescuing Zari, Jiwe realizes that Zari's amulet is a super-powered totem, much like her own.

The time traveling bounty hunter is an interesting idea and the fact that she is essentially a watery shapeshifter makes her intriguing. It is, in fact, somewhat idiotic that Lance attempts to fight Kuasa with sticks. If ever there were a time when Captain Cold would be useful, fighting Kuasa seems like it would be it. The fact that Rory does not attempt to vaporize her seems suspect.

"Zari" is a very simple episode for introducing the new character. Tomaz is presented very simply as a damsel in distress who is able to fight Kuasa and evade A.R.G.U.S. only through the use of her amulet. Tala Ashe does fine as Tomaz with the material she is given, but her entrance into the DC Television universe is an unfortunately bland one. Tomaz is defined more by her prop than by anything else in her personality, but Ashe is able to rise to the occasion for one of the episode's funniest moments when she Tomaz reacts to Gary spilling the beans about the nature of the Waverider.

None of the main characters of Legends Of Tomorrow are given big moments to play in "Zari" and none of them truly grow or develop. Between that and the simplicity of the bounty hunter hunting a person who needs to be rescued by time-travelers, "Zari" is a bland, but funny outing for the Legends Of Tomorrow.

For other works with Victor Garber, please visit my reviews of:
Legends Of Tomorrow - Season 2
"Duet" - The Flash
"Invasion!" - The Flash
Legends Of Tomorrow - Season 1
The Flash - Season 2
Sicario
The Flash - Season 1
Argo
Milk
Alias
Legally Blonde
Titanic

2.5/10

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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Everyone Punches Mick Rory In "Doomworld!"

The Good: Good performances, Well-paced plot, Decent special effects, Good mood
The Bad: Fairly light on character
The Basics: "Doomworld" brings the second season of Legends Of Tomorrow to a pretty powerful climax (even before the season finale)!


In the week since the Legends Of Tomorrow episode "The Fellowship Of The Spear" (reviewed here!), I have given the episode and Legends Of Tomorrow remarkably little thought. The truth is, given the cataclysmic nature of Mick Rory's character shift in "The Fellowship Of The Spear," I was tremendously disappointed in Legends Of Tomorrow. As a result, I went into "Doomworld" less enthusiastic than I usually would as, truth be told, I truly enjoy Legends Of Tomorrow.

Fortunately, "Doomworld" is enough to justify any fan's faith in Legends Of Tomorrow!

It is impossible to discuss "Doomworld" without some allusions to where "The Fellowship Of The Spear" ended. After all, "The Fellowship Of The Spear" saw Mick Rory reunited with a temporally-displaced Leonard Snart and betraying the Waverider crew. The Legion Of Doom found itself in possession of both the Spear Of Destiny and the "owner's manual" which would tell them how to use the artifact, putting all of existence in jeopardy. "Doomworld" follows very closely on the effects of the climax of the prior episode. In fact, "Doomworld" leaps right into the altered universe created by the Legion Of Doom using the Spear Of Destiny.

Opening in Star City, 2017, a villainous Black Canary and Vixen capture the vigilante Felicity Smoak for Damian Darhk, who is the mayor of the city. In Central City, Eobard Thawne is visited by Malcolm Merlyn, who wants to use the Spear Of Destiny more. Thawne denies him the favor and asks Jefferson Jackson to speed up his work in his lab. Elsewhere in Central City, Mick Rory is jaded over how he and Snart essentially run the streets without the police impeding them. When Nate Heywood appears at Thawne's lab, Thawne tasks Snart and Rory with killing Heywood, who seems aware of the changes to reality.

When the bored Rory opts to save Heywood's life, the pair flees to Ray Palmer's makeshift lab in Star City. There, they discover that Palmer (a janitor in this reality) has manufactured a prototype for a gun that restores the memories of those who were scarred by the changes in time and space. The Legends are slowly reunited using the prototype weapon, with Jackson revealing that Dr. Stein has been building a reactor for Thawne . . . one that might be capable of incinerating the Spear Of Destiny and cementing the new, horrible, reality.

"Doomworld" has all of the potential to be a pretty basic "alternate reality" episode much like Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror" (reviewed here!). And "Doomworld" gets off to that type of start. There is a lot of novelty to seeing the actors portraying the Legends playing altered versions of their characters. Jefferson Jackson is a complete dick of a boss, Dr. Stein is browbeaten and at his mercy, Rip Hunter is a drunken cake-maker, and Felicity Smoak is an ill-fated vigilante; all of the performers play their altered selves well and there is still a freshness to it considering that only Arthur Darvill's Rip Hunter has been played as an alternate version before now.

The thing about "Doomworld" is that it does not dwell too much on the alternate version of each character. Instead, the episode is a bit plot-heavy, but it quickly pushes toward a showdown and another big moment for Mick Rory. Dominic Purcell again lives up to his potential by taking a somewhat obvious character moment and absolutely rocking it. Purcell - after Mick Rory is punched repeatedly in the face - performs silently opposite Maisie Richardson-Sellers for a very compelling moment of character.

As a reviewer, there are a wide array of media works that I take in that are easy to watch and review. Arguably one of the best compliments I can give an episode of television is that it was so engaging that I found myself more captivated by the work than analytical of it. "Doomworld" is that. It takes a pretty overdone in genre film and television premise and makes it feel fresh again. "Doomworld" manages to illustrate the world Eobard Thawne would make given unlimited power and plays with the premise in a delightful way.

For other works from the DC Television Universe, please visit my reviews of:
"Invasion!" - Arrow
The Flash - Season 2
"Distant Sun" - Supergirl

[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!]

8.5/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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