Wednesday, May 08, 2019

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 4x14: "Nip|Stuck"


Written by Ray Utarnachitt & Matthew Maala
Directed by David A. Geddes

Constantine (to Neron/Ray): "It may be too late to save Ray or Desmond or the Legends but at least I'll get to send you back where you belong."

For the second time in this fourth season we get an episode that is largely Constantine focused. Not to be biased or anything but don't be shocked when I say this will go down as one of my favourites this season. Last time we left John, he got himself taken prisoner by Neron and this episode saw the latter using our occultist for his own ends.

First there was having Constantine as bait to get the Legends trapped under a lot of ice in order to keep them out of the way and then we got to meet one of John's ancestors - King Kon-sten-tyn in order to trick the former into actually helping out. Needless to say, Neron's plan couldn't have gone any better.

I mean, he managed to tap into John's humanity with seeing Constantine bond with a Pooka while also dualing his less magical tolerant ancestor and then there was Tabitha herself being freed. I hadn't expected Tabitha to have actually been the Fairy Godmother but more of Jane Carr for the remainder of the season isn't a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.

This was a great episode for Matt Ryan. We saw a Constantine who started the season forced into banding with the Legends to one who now was willing to go to hell in order to save them all and Ray from Neron. While I do doubt that we'll have him around as a regular next season (and please, CW, prove me wrong there), I am loving the character growth this season has given the character all around.

With Constantine currently in hell, there was also Gary to deal with. His nipple came with a hypnotic eye and only Mona/Wolfie were able to save the Time Bureau from whatever tyranny Gary would've subjected them all. While Gary's turn is understandable, it's also a shame that he didn't show some internal conflict as well, even if this episode did give Adam Tsekhman a bit more to do than usual.

As for Mona, she's not been my favourite this season but I did like that she was able to spot what was going wrong and helped rid Gary of his hypnotic nipple while banging Nora and Ava's heads together. As for the Legends themselves, we had some infighting with Sara and Mick before everyone followed one of Ray's handy guides to get themselves out of a potentially icy death.

I didn't like that Mick went over Sara's head but I do think he had a right to call her out during one scene. Saying that, I loved the card game with the gang and the purpose it ultimately served. Ray might not be having the best of times right about now, but I do think/hope that Constantine will be able to save Ray along with himself in the next two episodes.

- Meeting King Kon-sten-tyn was a great way to get Matt Ryan in a dodgy wig and some period costume this week.
- Astra was mentioned a lot in this episode. I wonder if this means that Constantine might actually get the chance to free her as well.
- Nate and Zari were outed as a couple, courtesy of Charlie and to the surprise of absolutely no-one. Wextible is a cute enough name for a baby dragon though.
- Chronology: Donner Pass and 533 BC for all the Constantine/Ray scenes. I'm guessing the bit hell though was to show us Dis at the very end.

Nip|Stuck definitely set up some good stuff for the next two episodes. Brandon Routh is clearly having a blast as Neron and the Constantine content in this episode was some of the best we've had in the second half of the season along with the group dynamics and Bureau antics. I really can't wait to see how the remaining two episodes will wrap up this arc.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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