LEGENDS OF TOMORROW 3.10 Review “Daddy Darhkest”
This post contains spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow.
Check out the previous review here.
When the Legends of Tomorrow are away the demons will play, apparently. It’s been a decent-sized hiatus since we last saw the Legends kicking ass and making quips, but after far too long a break, DCTV’s favorite dysfunctional team has returned to serve the laughter and the undercover feelings. “Daddy Darhkest” brings John Constantine to the Waverider in search of Sara. When performing an exorcism on a young girl (who just so happens to be Nora Darhk), the demon he’s trying to excise says Sara’s name. We spend about fifteen minutes waiting for them to reveal that it’s Mallus, despite the audience being well aware, and then the fun begins!
John Constantine and Sara Lance are a trip and a half together, but not nearly as fun as he and Leonard Snart are. Wentworth Miller’s Captain Cold is a gift to whichever DCTV show he graces, but there’s something about the coy Snart playing off of the ever flirty Constantine that makes their interactions exceptional. That’s not to say Constantine and Sara banging in the middle of the episode wasn’t comical fun, but their sameness makes them less interesting than him and the very spoken for Leonard.
After Constantine, Sara and Snart get zapped back to ’69 (nice) after trying to break young Nora free of Mallus’ power, Zari and Ray break into the asylum and get Nora out. Ray thinks it’s a terrible plan, but Zari thinks leaving her there will only make her more vulnerable. Unfortunately Zari didn’t bank on a television in a coffee shop showing the blatant murder of Damien Darhk. Young Nora handles watching her father die again just about as well as you’d expect, and Mallus takes over. Another Jitters bites the dust! We learn Mallus is afraid of Zari’s totem though, so that’s helpful.
Speaking of totems, there are two other bearers who just ain’t getting along. Kuasa is still furious at Amaya for abandoning her village, but there’s clearly love between the two women. Nate, not having that familial bond, is totally cool with literally icing Kuasa if it means it will stop her from getting in the way of their mission. Amaya is, predictably, very unhappy with that decision. The two hash things out after Amaya thaws Kuasa out, but it’s not a teary family reunion. Kuasa’s bitter, and perhaps rightfully so, and Nate ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the end, Kuasa lets Nate go, but only because Amaya promises that he is one of the people that can help her. After telling her grandmother not to fail her again, Kuasa flees. Nata and Amaya probably snipe at each other, but we’ll have to wait until later to find out more.
Please bear in mind that all of this is happening while Mick is just trying to watch a damn football game. He even manages to bark a few spot-on orders in the interest of getting back to said game. It’s amazing how he can be completely removed from the story at hand and still be one of the best parts of an episode, but the real MVP award goes to Leonard Snart.
Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell have spent many years together. Their brotherhood started on screen in Prison Break and moved on to become very real. Fast forward to The Flash, and then eventually Legends of Tomorrow, it’s easy to see that the two have grown in both friendship and on-screen chemistry. That chemistry had nothing to do with the bullshit ninja emotion that was brought into “Daddy Darhkest”.
Back in season one of Legends, Leonard Snart dies. This was less because it was the direction the writers wanted, and more because Prison Break was getting a revival. Dominic Purcell decided that he would be just fine doing both, but Wentworth Miller decided it was best for his mental health that he only did one. Throughout his career Miller has been vocal about his anxiety and depression and gone out of his way to help others do the same. Even with those obstacles, he’s always done his best to stay true to himself and his passion, and that’s exactly why his return stint on Legends of Tomorrow was never permanent.
His line “I just feel like it’s time to sign up for a different kind of adventure,” had more meaning than just his character returning to Earth X to get engaged to Ray. He’s always been passionate about writing and directing, and the look he and Dominic share at the end was rude and uncalled for and it’s absolutely okay if you got misty because damn. Legends of Tomorrow will certainly be less because of his absence, but keep your eyes peeled for whatever amazing direction he takes next.
“Daddy Darhkest” wraps with Ray walking Constantine off of the Waverider. Before he leaves, Constantine warns Ray that Sara’s not out of the woods after letting Mallus possess her for the brief moments he wasn’t taking over Nora. That whole part of the episode was questionable at best, but could lead to some interesting drama if Sara does end up going darkside later on in the season.
Also included in the Legends’ return was Damien proving without a shadow of a doubt that while he loves his daughter, she is, in the end, nothing more than a tool to get him brought back to life. We talked about Constantine and Sara banging, but we didn’t acknowledge the fact that Sara and Ava are also going to bang. Oh, and Rip broke out of time prison or something? Is there anyone out there that even remotely still cares about Rip Hunter? No? How about we just replace him permanently with Constantine instead. Maybe bring Arthur Darvill back as a different character since he is absolutely not the problem.
Anyway, if you had thoughts on this all over the place but still wonderful episode of Legends of Tomorrow, you know what to do!
