DC's Legends of Tomrorow S03E10 Review: Hellblazer Rebirth

DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Season 3, Episode 10: Daddy Darhkest

We come back to Legends of Tomorrow, in a pretty solid episode which features Matt Ryan's John Constantine return to the CW TV universe for the second time. While we don't really get any conclusion to the plot threads brought up in his own TV series (and frankly, it's not like anything there's a particularly huge burning question beyond "yeah, some stuff happened") it's definitely highly welcome to see this snarky brit return for another showing, and to make things even better, it's even a plot-relevant and good story, too.

That said, I'm not a big fan of the final act, though. It's something that Legends of Tomorrow really likes using, about how somehow multiple events happen at in sync despite, y'know, taking place in different time periods. Sure, it looks dramatic and all, but one of the biggest points of why I can't take Legends of Tomorrow super-seriously is that when Sara is talking to Nora's soul in 1969, it somehow causes Sara to interact with Nora's soul in 2017. Not the other times that Nora's possessed. Just the one in 2017. Yes, magic and time travel is involved, making it extra wonky, but still.

There's also a very, very painful "SHIP THEM, VIEWERS" moment between Sara and Ava, which I thought didn't quite have as much chemistry as it should've. Constantine and Sara worked a fair bit better, though. 

A majority of this episode takes place in a particularly sinister asylum, which is already a place associated (unfairly) with near-demonic screeching and sinisterness. John Constantine's series both televized and on paper also feature our titular cigarette-smoking, snarky-ass hero deal with asylums on a near-daily basis, and it ends up delivering some pretty chilling scenes. Not quite to the level of outright horror that NBC's Constantine sometimes indulges in, but it's definitely far more horrifying than Legends of Tomorrow's normal fare, especially one moment at the end with the possessed Nora Darhk going full Exorcist with cracking neck and head-banging action.

Essentially, we learn for sure that this season's big bad, Mallus, is straight-up a demon from hell, and that Sara's brief encounter with Mallus in the previous episode has caused a connection between the two to be formed. The ragtag band of Constantine, Sara and Leo Snart show up on the asylum in 2017, but an exorcism gone awry causes Nora-Mallus to blast them to 1969. There's some genuinely great moments where Constantine's less-than-stellar track record is called into question, and the fact that the innocent, pre-Madame-Eleanor Nora Darhk is genuinely a terrified little girl who's been through some shit means that it's pretty damn chilling at times. 

I do like Constantine throughout it all, snarking his way through every situation, flirting with both Leo and Sara, acknowledging the characters in-comic bisexuality before fucking Sara in 1969. Both Constantine and Sara are pretty strong-willed people and are played by very fantastic actors, so it's definitely a great delight to see them both interact. Sara ends up forcing Constantine to channel Mallus in order to re-activate time travel runes and all that jazz, and because Sara's awesome she manages to wander through the wonky spirit world and restore 2017!Nora. Somehow. 

I really wished the episode didn't try to do so much, because I genuinely groaned every time we cut away to the B-team. Heatwave roaring and cheering at the football game (and Nate unexpectedly joining in) is hilarious, as is him taking charge later on, but the entire scene with Ray and Zari befriending Nora felt reallAmay shoehorned in and clunky in a forced way to shove the fact that Nora's just a helpless, scared little pawn that's totally going to be redeemed at the end of this season. Ultimately I really feel that the episode could've made this leg far more interesting or dropped it entirely. It all ends up coming to naught as Darhk time-travels back to re-bring Nora back into the asylum in order to grow up into adult!Nora and travel back in time to resurrect Darhk in the past... yeah, this chunk of the episode's time-travel logistics actually does make some sense. 

Kuasa and Amaya get to face off and argue a bit about how much of a coward Amaya is for not returning to her village and stop it from being destroyed despite having access to a time ship, and apparently that's Kuasa's reward for working with Darhk -- the chance to revert this particular bit of history. In that regard, Kuasa's essentially Season One Rip Hunter, desperate to avoid a particularly nasty but personal piece of history from ever occurring. It doesn't devalue the feelings and decent scripting between the two, though, and in this relationship, Kuasa ends up being fairly more interesting than Mallus's vagueness is. 

Leo Snart's.... he's all right. He's wholly unnecessary to the plot, and as fantastic as Wentworth Miller's performance is ("Gay. Not Blind."), it's clear that the script didn't really need him, and there's no real reason to keep him around after the previous episode. I really wish he would stick around indefinitely... but at the same time, I also miss dashing-rogue Captain Cold. 

Overall, it's not the perfect episode, but it's definitely one of the more enjoyable ruts out there for Legends of Tomorrow. Or maybe the dual dose of Wentworth Miller and Mark Ryan guest-starring is just making my inner CW-DC fanboy happy. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Multiple references to the aborted Constantine TV show are made. While we don't know with any real finality what's gone on there, we do know that it ends up with Constantine's soul damned to hell (no real surprise, really). The Newcastle incident and the girl Constantine fails to save, Astra, is mentioned several times. Constantine's guest star in Arrow's fourth season is also mentioned, which is how he knows Sara. 
• One of the meta moments is Constantine failing to light his cigarette throughout the entire episode, which is likely a dig at how NBC refuses to let Constantine smoke on-screen. Demons are fine, but cigarettes aren't?
• Sumner Asylum, the location that this episode takes place in, is named after Gordon Sumner, real name of the musician Sting, who, in turn, is the inspiration for John Constantine's character. 
• Vixen notes the five totems of Zambezi, the backstory of which is covered in the Vixen animated series. 
• The events of Arrow's fourth season, which heavily features Damien and Nora Darhk, are mentioned and seen in TV reports several times.