Captain Cold is back for his husband partner! Not the evolved, heroic version of Lenny that Barry Allen inspired, but still, he’s flesh and blood, in the here and now, and there don’t seem to be any time consequences after him, so I’ll take it. Let’s not talk about the version that sacrificed himself any more, I’m getting verklempt.
We start the episode in a battlefield in the middle of World War 1, because even though we have a time machine, we can’t go a few weeks forward or backward and complete the mission when the battle isn’t being fought. Where would the fun be in that? The characters all note how dire the situation is, so that we will worry about them for the entire episode. Remember Hawkman and Leonard Snart died last season, so ANYONE COULD DIE.*
Let’s jump back 72 hours. The Legends examine the fragments of the Spear in their possession. They have to find the Legion of Doom’s evil lair to collect the last fragment from them. Rip knows that they’ve been camping out at the Vanishing Point, so off we go. Len sacrificed himself there exactly a season ago, in S1 Ep15, Destiny.
When they arrive, Rip comments that he thought he’d never be back. Mick says they shouldn’t make a habit of it. He comes upon the place where the Occulus was, where Len knocked Mick out and took his place, allowing Mick to live while Len died. Mick is frozen in place, staring at the wreckage, remembering the only man he’s ever loved what happened. Sara finds him and tells him she misses Snart, too, but this is a mission and they need to keep moving. That’s what Snart would want. Mick is still in a daze, but he moves on. Sara was close to Len. It seems like she would have taken a moment there.
Mick says, “He blew himself up. For what?” Sara: “So the rest of us could live.” Mick:”Idiot.”
I don’t think Sara understands that Len blew himself up for Mick as much as he did for everyone else, and that’s what Mick’s thinking about. That’s what the idiot part is for. Mick feels the loss of Len acutely in that moment, but he also feels like everyone might have been better off if Len had let him be the one to die. Not that he wants to be dead. He just understands what everyone thinks about him, has internalized it, and has his own issues on top of it.
Jax and Stein are combined as Firestorm and searching with Rip. They find an obelisk that looks like a good hiding place. Jax transmutates it into a pile of jelly beans. The Spear is hidden inside. The Reverse Flash gets to stand and holler “NOOOOO!!” at them as they fly away.
They lay the Spear fragments out in a line, and the Spear reconstitutes itself. Rip cautions them not to touch it. The Spear will try to lure them all in by preying on their weaknesses and desires, trying to convince them to use it. But, even when used with the best of intentions, its power is corrupting. It’s the monkey’s paw of religious relics. Be careful what you wish for.
That’s why Rip has tried to destroy it. Mick decides Rip hasn’t tried hard enough, and fires his heat gun at the Spear. It doesn’t damage the Spear at all, but it does reveal a Latin inscription. They have to get Nate, who’s been indisposed up until now, to translate.
Nate tells them the inscription reads “One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them” “Born of blood, Undone by blood.” The Spear was made using the blood of Christ, so the blood of Christ can be used to destroy it. They can’t go to the crucifixion because it’s an important moment in time that the Time Masters all pinky swore they wouldn’t tamper with. Nate, however, knew someone, who knew someone, blah blah, far-fetched theory involving the Crusades and Sir Gawain, who carried the blood of Christ around until his death, and had it buried with him in the north of France. Oh, did he forget to mention the name of the young scholar? It was JRR Tolkien, author of the Fellowship of the Ring.
But, they can’t find Tolkien during a time of peace and bring him to the north of France, or just ask him for coordinates. They can only go when he’s already there, so they set a course for France, 1916.
Meanwhile, back at the Vanishing Point, the Legionaires are having fits over the loss of the Spear. However, the Reverse Flash, being an eternal optimist, realizes that the Spear is now complete, and the Legends won’t use it to get rid of them. They’ll hide it, or try to destroy it. The Legion can follow and take the Spear. Damien wants to add his own twist to the plan.
Tolkien got sick while he was at war in France, so most of the team goes to look for him among the wounded and ill. Amaya is reminded of the future her village faces. Mick sees Len, and follows him outside. Mick thinks he’s hallucinating Len again, so he tells Len the basics of the plan as they talk. Almost all of it is what Eobard had already guessed. Len gives Mick a hard time over working with the Legends, calling him their trained pet, and reminding him that the others will never really trust him. They’ll always see him as a thug. But Len and Mick were partners. If Mick takes the Spear, they could be again. He whacks Mick in the head before he leaves to prove that he’s not a hallucination. Just a gentle love tap.
Nate and Rip find Tolkien in the trenches. We will now hear many lines from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings quoted exactly or barely changed for the rest of the episode, so that Tolkien can use them later in his books. Rip tells Mick to steal them an ambulance. They bring Tolkien to the Waverider and heal his illness. As soon as he wakes up, Rip and Nate tell him they are on a journey to destroy an object of great power, the Spear of Destiny. Tolkien has heard of it, but his research is back in Britain. He uses the Waverider’s resources to locate Gawain’s grave.
Mick looks at the Spear, which is just hanging out on the parlor table. It’s calling to him, sensing his temptation. He almost picks it up, but Stein stops him. Mick explains that he saw Snart earlier that day. Stein doesn’t believe that Mick really saw Snart. He thinks that the trip to the Vanishing Point triggered new hallucinations. Mick goes along with him. Sara yells at Mick for manhandling Stein, then tells him to get ready for the next part of the mission.
Tolkien has figured out that Gawain was buried in a church in Amiens. They figure out the code that leads them to where he’s interred behind a stone wall. Gawain’s shield has an engraving that leads to the spot where the vial of blood is buried.
Before they can get any further, Len, Damien, and a bunch of soldiers join them. Rip realizes that the Legion must have gone back and picked up Len before he joined the Legends. Len tells the Legends that Mick told him their plan to destroy the Spear. Tolkien makes a copy of the engraving as they’re being attacked, then the Legends escape. Mick defends the Legends. Len is surprised that Mick cares about the others, and tells Mick that the others don’t care about him.
Back on the Waverider, the Legends accuse Mick of purposely betraying them. Martin uses the word thug, the exact word Len told him they’d use. Even Sara isn’t very supportive.
Nate and Tolkien look over the engraving to determine where it’s meant to show. Tolkien figures the spot out, and realizes it’s a horrific battlefield at the moment. The blood will glow when they bring the Spear close enough to it. They just have to get close enough without getting killed. Amaya wants to use the Spear to change reality so that it will be easier to get the blood. Mick thinks they should listen to Amaya, but Sara snaps at him to stop talking. She lost him at that moment, when he was told he wasn’t even allowed to voice an opinion like the rest of the group.
And, we’re back to where the episode started, in the trenches, with a war going on. If only there were some way to stop the shooting and get away from the Legion. JFC, these people need to watch Back to the Future at least once a week. IF ONLY YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE AND COULD SLIP AWAY FROM THE LEGION FOR A BIT AND AVOID THE FIGHTING. The blood’s been there for hundreds of years. Surely it’ll last until the battle’s over, or you could go backwards until just before the battle started. But then we wouldn’t have a reason for the desired ending.
The Legends try various ways to get to the middle of the battlefield, like convincing the two sides to cease fire long enough to clear the battlefield of the dead and wounded. The plan doesn’t seem to be working, but they make a run for it anyway. Eventually, Rip takes over and declares the cease fire on his own.
The vial of blood is just sitting on the surface, waiting to be found. Maybe it felt the Spear coming for it, and dug its way to the surface. It should have hopped up into Sara’s arms and squeaked “hello,” too, although then it would have been sad when it gets broken in a minute.
Len and Damien appear out of nowhere as soon as the vial is in Nate’s hand. Damien, always pleasant when he can be, praises them for achieving the cease fire. Then the fight over Mick the Spear starts. Mick’s the one who ended up holding it. Sara wants him to hand it to her, Damien and Len want him to bring it to them. Suddenly the Legends are his friends who can’t imagine he’d betray them and who’ve always had his best interests at heart. Len thinks the Legends are using Mick, while Len has been his loyal partner for decades. Mick decides he wants to have a chance to change his past, and to be with Len again. He walks over to join the Legion. Len sets off a grenade as they’re leaving, to keep the Legends too busy with the battle to follow. The Reverse Flash whisks them away. Mick tells Sara he wishes things could have been different.
Sara calls Jax to bring the Waverider around to pick them up. Amaya is frozen on the battlefield, as she has been a few times during the episode, thinking about what will happen to her village in the future. Once inside, Amaya scolds Sara for this ridiculous plan. They should have just used the Spear to begin with. Now it’s in the hands of the enemy. The others attack Mick for betraying them. Ray points out that they never trusted Mick, and he picked up on it. Rip says, “Apparently Mr Rory’s not entirely stupid.” Wow, can’t imagine why he left. Everytime I start to think Rip is likable, they remind me that he’s actually an arrogant *ss. Arthur Darvill is the one who’s likable.
Then Nate gets all worked up because they haven’t saved the world for Tolkien yet. Please, can’t we send Nate home already? Rip says they had to save time, blah, blah, blah. I’d take him more seriously if he didn’t change time whenever he wanted to suit his own purposes. Nate decides the Legion is probably too dumb to use the Spear anyway, because, yes he truly is THAT arrogant. Or pouty. The Reverse Flash may be a jerk, but he’s never been written as stupid. He’s a time traveler that knows what he’s doing, and usually the smartest person in the room. Don’t underestimate the guy.
The Legion, of course, know what they’re doing, they were just waiting to get the whole gang together. Mick’s slightly perturbed that they’re sharing the Spear with the rest of the Legion. Malcom was rounding up the spellbook that contains the ritual for changing reality. Once everyone arrives, they all grab the Spear and recite the spell together.
Next week, the Legends live in Doomworld.
The other Legends’ attitude toward Mick is being played up for this episode, but he’s always been treated as lesser by the others. He believes it about himself, so he put up with it. Seeing Len again reminded Mick that there was one person who saw more in him, and that maybe he could have been more if the circumstances of his life had been different. The Legends never stopped calling him a dumb thug. Rip, in particular, always looked down on him, so it’s no coincidence that it’s gotten worse with Rip back. He tips the group balance toward privileged, educated white men, with Amaya also almost always aligning herself with the more educated group. Sara, Jax, and Mick have very different stories from the rest, and they’ve all been marginalized at one time or another because of their history and who they are: a person of color, a woman, and a person with a mental illness, and probably some undiagnosed processing issues as well. Amaya is a woman and person of color, but she seems to have been respected by the JSA, and in her village. While Sara and Kendra were close friends in season 1, Amaya gravitates to Nate and Ray. She’s argued with Sara more than she’s tried to be friends with the only other woman on the Waverider. Jax’s partner, Stein, has always had issues respecting people with less education than himself. Even Ray didn’t measure up in the beginning.
*J/K I mean someone could die next week or the week after in the season finale, but it’s not going to be just anyone. It’ll be one of the foreshadowed characters. And it won’t be in the episode reserved for Hobbit references and the return of Wentworth Miller. Nothing that happens next week in BiffWorld Doomworld will be permanent. That would leave the final episode for big deaths. I think that by the end of the finale the cast changes will be mostly retirements instead of deaths. There will likely be deaths that are undone before we get to the end of the finale though. Stein, Nate or Mick could stay dead. Mick needs to prove he’s a hero, and he has nothing left if he and Len break up Len stays dead after this. Nate has nothing to live for but his heroism, is chronically depressed, and is now mourning his grandfather as well. Stein’s imminent loss has been foreshadowed like crazy.
Arrow’s Felicity get’s a costumed Doomworld cameo! She looks like she could be an assassin.
Metawitches 
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