Tuesday, February 27, 2018

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 3x12: "The Curse Of The Earth Totem"


Written by Grainne Godfree & Ubah Mohamed
Directed by Chris Tammaro

Sara (to Ava): "Sometimes we screw things up for the better."

Possibly but going by the end of this episode, this might not be one of those times, Sara. Let's see - you guys got the Earth totem but Damien and Nora managed to swipe Amaya's totem and get themselves a hostage in a reckless Ray trying to save Nora. Bless Ray, the guy means well but this should've been the one time he stayed out of things.

Of course prior to Ray's capture at the end of this one, this episode could've easily been split into three different parts. The main part being Nate wanting to collect the Earth totem and getting the gang to head to the Bermuda/Devil's Triangle where an encounter with Blackbeard (Jonathan Cake) was also imminent.

Seeing Amaya in Captain Jiwe mode with Mick as her right hand man was absolutely fantastic. We haven't had as many interactions with Amaya and Mick this season and this episode served as a great reminder that they're an excellent team, so I'm hoping there's some more interactions with the two of them in the future.

The duo's interactions with Blackbeard, who was used more for comic relief and skulduggery than being an actual menace was amusing but the arrival of Damien and Nora soon meant that things took a serious turn. I am hoping that once this season is done with that Damien is rested as a character. As for Nora, given how quick she was to subdue Ray, perhaps she's too far gone to help. Then again, given the synopsis for next week's episode, maybe not.

Of course when we weren't dealing with pirates, we were also on a date with Sara and Ava. The writers really have sped up the ladies budding relationship and we had some light flirting and embarrassing stories on display before both Gary and a crashing Waverider interrupted things. I do like that we saw a bit of the old Ava in the mix as well this episode before both her and Sara realised they didn't want to be normal. Also, they were pretty great at taking out Blackbeard and his own pirates.

As for Rip and Wally - I absolutely adored their scenes together. I don't think Wally really needed that much persuading to join the Legends but seeing Rip on the charm offensive while admitting his shortcomings was great though. Seeing the two of them also getting drunk on rocket fuel and breaking out in karaoke to Careless Whispers was priceless.

- The Earth totem corrupted Blackbeard's lover, which was why he killed her and left it alone. The sixth totem has been spoiled online but it'll be revealed in the next two episodes.
- Why didn't Sara stop by and talking to her father/meet her sister's Earth 2 counterpart, prior to her date with Ava? Gary once again popped up to be humiliated and give some vital information, this time regarding Rip to Ava.
- Amaya, Zari, Ray and Nate all had different hair looks this week. Zari was the only one other than Sara not to actually set foot in the Bahamas.
- Chronology: 1717 Bahamas, 1992 Tokyo and 2018 Star City and China.

The Curse Of The Earth Totem worked all of it's three separate but interconnecting storylines well with the right amount of time being dedicated to all three of them. I don't think it's as strong as the previous two episodes and I kind of felt Kuasa should've had some role in this one but overall, it's still a pretty hearty adventure.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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