Wednesday, January 25, 2017

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 2x09: "Raiders Of The Lost Art"


Written by Keto Shimizu & Chris Fedak
Directed by Dermott Downs

Rip (as Phil): "There is no such thing as Rip Hunter, and there is no such thing as a Time Ship."

Fine, I'll say it - did this show just Human Nature the hell out of Rip Hunter? It feels like it did as the gang inadvertently reunited with him this week and it seems that he's got no clue about well, anything to be honest.

Nope, the poor lad who was residing in 1967 Los Angeles just assumes that his name is Phil and that he's a film student with a recreational drug habit so having both the Legends and the 'Legion of Doom' (someone's not keen on the title) both pursuing him is a bit of a shock to the system. I had actually forgotten that Arthur Darvill is a dab hand with the physical comedy. This episode served as a great reminder on that front.

Rip or Phil's whole reaction to everything was absolutely priceless. I love that Sara and company were trying to get Rip to remember his former life and the guy just thought they were completely mad. I also loved the tie in with his little movie that we saw a little bit more of and then there was the moment where it looked like Rip had come back, only for it still to be Phil tyrying and failing to be a hero.

The upshot of the episode is that our team has the both the medallion and the Spear of Destiny (or the Holy Lance - someone was very keen on that title) but the Legion themselves managed to get their hands on Rip to torture for some of next week going by the trailers. Speaking of the Holy Lance, guess who got to hold on to that little item for some of the episode - George Lucas.

Yup, for a show that shamelessly mentions Star Wars at a frequent pace, this episode did one better by having the gang encounter the future director. It also resulted in having Lucas nearly quit film school and almost be crushed inside a garbage disposal along with a briefly powerless Amaya, Ray and Nate but other than that, it was a fun use for the influential director.

Getting away from the main plots for a bit though, we had both Mick and Stein working together to figure out why the former was seeing Snart (who didn't actually appear this week). As side plots go, I enjoyed it quite a bit and I did find it amusing that for all of Mick's attempts of keeping it secret, both Sara and Jax (who had some great moments in this one) found out rather quickly too.

- Rip's film saw some moments from River Of Time being recreated. Sara is also Sandra while Jax is Max in this movie too.
- Sara didn't like the name Legion of Doom but was pretty content with referring to the Spear of Destiny as the Holy Lance for some reason.
- This was the first episode in the show's new slot as it's now paired up with The Flash. It's also been renewed for a third season.
- Chronology: Mainly 1967 Los Angeles for this episode.

Raiders Of The Lost Art was certainly a fun episode to return with. As much as I don't want Rip to be without his memories for too long, I did enjoy the comedy and pathos this episode managed to get out of him thinking he was Phil though and this team of baddies continue to be strong as well.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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