Movie Review: Sunset Boulevard

Score: 10/10

As part of the ‘First Thursday of Every Month’ Classics, I took a stroll down Sunset Boulevard and revisited an old friend, whose star has faded—like the once glistening pavement now marred by the passage of time.

…I’m talking about Norma Desmond.

She once was a silent-picture actress who used to be big. Though she’d defiantly tell you…

“I am big. It's the pictures that got small.” - by Norma Desmond

And so we witness the mental breakdown of a woman trapped in a past she could never go back to; after all, movies have words now.

There’s so much about this movie that is brilliant, including this one shot of Norma visiting the studio. A microphone passes overhead and gently bumps into her, sort of like a nudge, reminding her of something she angrily wants to forget… She is no longer a star and she never will be again.

It’s something that many can relate to albeit in a different way, without the cameras and such. Like working in a job until one day technology has gotten so that your skill is no longer required or you have someone become outdated, making you feel as if you’re being left to pasture.

A stranger comes a knocking

Our window into Norma’s world is seen through the eyes of a man who comes to her house. Joe Gillis finds himself unable to get through to her or unwilling to waste his time trying…

“You don't yell at a sleepwalker - he may fall and break his neck. That's it: she was still sleepwalking along the giddy heights of a lost career.” - by Joe Gillis

(some spoilers)

Joe is a broke screenwriter, who’s creditors are knocking. But without a screenplay that anyone wants to buy, he finds himself at her doorstep.

She’s wealthy and he can smell the money from her estate, which houses just her and her man servant, Max. Thinking he’s got one over on her, Joe convinces her to offer him a job to work on a screenplay that would be her comeback. But ultimately, he plays into her hands.

And so we watch as he ends up trapped in her web with a dark cloud blanketing him. He can’t seem to free himself.

But why does he stay?

It’s the question that makes sense when watching the film. He’s has no money. And aside from a few friends, he doesn’t seem to have much else in Hollywood. As so he believes he only has two options: stay there with her or go back to his small town home and start a new life.

Though, I think there’s something deeper. Her life is one of solitude and being around her taps into a similar feeling. It borders on a psychological issue for him. A sense of helplessness that festers into anger. Anger at himself and in Norma for being Norma. She can’t help who she is because she’s sick. And every minute he stays with her, makes him sick as well.

Until he sees a friend…

Betty represents the light. A wannabe screenwriter, who reminds him of how he used to be—filled with life and hope.

Sunset Boulevard is a compelling, yet tragic tale of two people who get what they want in the harshest way possible. Joe is part of the larger than life story and Norma gets to be in front of the cameras once more.

The Hateful Eight: A Western Murder on The Orient Express

Score: 9/10 

Just like how the Orient Express finds itself disabled by the snow, The Hateful Eight finds its characters stranded in a habidashery during a snow storm. The story flows like an Agatha Christie novel but with the edginess of a Tarantino movie.

It even comes equipped with its own version of Hercule Poirot, just as calculating and clever, picking up on the smallest of clues from the onset; which led me down memory lane, to a game I used to play a lot as I muttered to myself, “Colonel Mustard in the living room with the pistol”… No… “Professor Plum in the kitchen with the poison”… “Miss Scarlet in the study with the rope”…

But this version of Sleuth Poirot comes with a dark streak, which leads to one of those uncomfortable scenes that makes us cringe yet applaud Tarantino’s brilliance. He has a knack for creating stressful scenes and offering the audience a release through the use of music—like he did in that infamous Pulp Fiction scene.

Tension

The movie begins with a bondsman transporting a woman to be hanged. They pick up a hitchhiker and the bondsman is antsy because the about-to-be-hanged-woman is worth a whole heck of a lot of money and he has no intention of letting anyone take his bounty.

As time goes on, the group grows. And the audience anxiously waits to see who could be making the first move on the bounty.  Not to mention that a collection of gun wearing strangers increases the chances of this thing getting mighty ugly.

Dialogue

A trademark in any Tarantino film. The characters have a lot to say. It’s not an easy task to make characters compelling through dialogue; but each character has its own voice and the stories they tell conflict with the other characters, creating conflict with each sentence.

My favorite quotes:

“You only need to hang mean bastards, but Mean Bastards, you-need-to-hang!” - by John "The Hangman" Ruth

“The man who pulls the lever, that breaks your neck will be a dispassionate man. And that dispassion is the very essence of justice. For justice delivered without dispassion, is always in danger of not being justice.” - by Oswaldo Mobray

Though it makes me ponder what the theme is after seeing the conclusion to the story. Is it about the injustice of it all or is it as simple as Frontier Justice feels really good.

The down side is the excessive use of the N-word. I understand it occurs after the civil war, but it’s difficult on the ears.

Racial divide

Tarantino boldly explores prejudices as race relations play out when the chess pieces of  confederate and union soldiers are placed inside the habidashery, creating an undercurrent of tension that bubbles up and bursts through the existing dynamic that already exists. It acts like a subplot that could easily become its own entity, but is woven throughout this mystery to keep us unbalanced.

But in the end, it comes together very well in a tense filled showdown. And when it’s all over, it left me wanting to revisit the story to put all the pieces together again.

7 Key Moments in Game of Thrones ‘Home’ and What They Mean

**Spoilers**

This episode felt like a turning point. Here are the 7 major moments and what they could mean going forward.

KEY 1: Jon Snow returns

The last time we saw Jon Snow breathing was during the very last scene of the finale.

During this season, his dead body lay in a room guarded by his dire wolf, Davos and a few trusted men, teasing the viewers as we wait to see if/when he would wake up. And as many suspected Melisandra used magic to bring him back. After all, why else have her return to the Night’s Watch.

The twist: Melisandra had lost faith and it was Davos who persuaded her to give it a go. 

But it wasn’t without drama when Jon Snow doesn’t open up his eyes until everyone cleared the room, thinking her magic had failed.

Question: What will Jon Snow be like when we see him next week?

KEY 2: Lyanna Stark makes an appearance

After taking last season off, Bran returns. He’s been hanging out with the Three-Eyed Raven and having visions.

In what felt like the ghost of Christmas past, Bran’s visions transported him back to when his father was a young boy training much like he did when we first saw the Stark family. In rides Lyanna on a white horse and gathers with her family.  



This is significant since many have suspected that Lyanna is in fact the mother of Jon Snow.

Question: Could Bran ultimately be the one to learn about the Jon and Lyanna connection (if this is in fact the case)?

Another tidbit: Bran saw a young Hodor, but he was able to speak.

Question: What happened to Hodor to make him unable to speak now? And is it connected to Lyanna?

KEY 3: Tyrion has 2 new friends

Tyrion making friends isn’t such a big deal. He’s a fun guy who likes to drink. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with our favorite Lannister.

But these aren’t ordinary friends… they’re 2 dragons.

With Daenerys missing, her dragons have been starving themselves. Tyrion realizes they may need the dragons so he couldn’t let them starve. Using the knowledge he accumulated through reading, he figures he can establish trust with them.

And so he ventures to the cellar, gains enough trust to get close, and then unchains them.

Phew… that was tense.


So what do these 3 key points mean?
Lyanna wasn’t brought in for no reason. So what if, like most people suspect, she is in fact Jon’s mother. And Jon is actually a Targaryen.

Now jump to Tyrion. He built a rapport with the dragons, what if he’s a Targaryen as well. Going back in time, Tywin mentioned that he couldn’t prove that Tyrion was his son. Now he could just have said that to hurt Tyrion, who he deems beneath him. But maybe it’s because Tyrions mother had been with a Targaryen.

So we have 3 dragons and 3 Targaryens (possibly): Daenerys, Jon and Tyrion.

KEY 4: Davos got some Giant help

In the battle for Jon’s body, the Night’s Watch were about to storm in on Davos and his band of not so merry men when the wildlings, led by the giant, stormed in.

 
That giant really comes in handy when you’re in a fight. He’s the definition of a one man wrecking crew.


KEY 5: Ramsay Bolton’s hug of death

With Sansa Stark gone, Ramsey has no heir potential. He probably should have thought of that before he tortured her, but hey, he is the definition of psycho.

In comes Roose Bolton, whose wife just gave birth to a healthy son… too bad. She should have had a girl…because Ramsey is gonna Ramsey…



During a hug between the Boltons, Ramsey stabs his father to death. Then, in what amounts to such disdain for human dignity, he despicably has his step-mother and baby brother eaten alive by dogs.

I guess he really did prefer to be an only child.

So sickening. But considering he had the body of the woman he loved fed to the dogs, should we be surprised. He’s worse than Joffrey.

KEY 6: Theon Greyjoy returns home

Riddled with guilt, Theon leaves Sansa to return home. Sansa tells him that Jon Snow would forgive him just as she has, but he can’t forgive himself. With Sansa in good hands, he leaves.

But with Sansa gives him an opening to go North as she will vouch for all he has done to help her. So this leaves the door open for him… Hold that thought.

KEY 7: The House of Greyjoy is crumbling

Balon Greyjoy’s brother returned home to say his hello in the form of throwing Lord Balon off a bridge.

Fatherless, Yara wants to be queen. After all, someone needs to rule. But no woman has ever ruled the Iron Islands. So this won’t be easy… Hold that thought.


Looking at Key 6 and Key 7:

Looks like Yara could be facing problems with her uncle back home. But with Theon on his way, it could be what she needs to keep control of the Iron Islands. It could also be a way for Theon to regain some self-esteem.

Now combine Keys 4-7

• With Roose dead, Ramsey can now head up North with his army to battle Jon Snow in order to capture Sansa.
• Maybe Theon will aid them once he’s regained the throne since he is the only male heir.
• With the wildlings helping out, the North will be more formidable than Ramsey suspects.

What did Davos Seaworth see in the snow?

Season 6 of Game of Thrones opens with the howls of a direwolf alerting Davos to something wrong. Davos looks out and spots Jon Snow’s dead body laying in the snow.

A trusted few help carry Jon’s body inside. But after wards, Davos pauses to study the blood left behind from Jon’s body. It was an odd moment, which demanded further inspection.

The Blood stain

Was something there? Hmmm...

Studying it you can see plenty of things—just like the Rorschach inkblot test. And my mind is gravitating toward a dragon even if I don’t see a dragon.

Maybe it’s nothing… nha. Something has to be there, right? There was a deliberate pause.

So let’s look further.

Notice that off to the left you can Davos’ feet. This means that his vantage point was from the left not the bottom of the screen (or picture).

So let’s flip the picture. Notice something?

What is this image?

Let’s examine this: The top portion looks like a pair of horns. It’s even lighter in color much in the same way some horns are. Below it is the shape of a head of an animal and its body below that with a pair of arms off to the side.

If you look at the top, left, there’s something sticking out from the top of the head; or maybe it’s protruding from the creature’s back, similar to when a warrior wears his/her sword—with the sword resting in its guard, which is strapped across its body.

What is this beast?

Looks like an outline of a half man half goat because of the shape of the horns. This is known as a faun. Or perhaps it’s a half man half bull, which is known as a minotaur

To me, the horns look more like a goat.

According to wikipedia, a faun is a “manifestation of forest and animal spirits that would help or hinder humans at whim.” Hmmm, the spirits part sounds promising.

On the other hand, a minotaur seems to have a darker connotation as it was seen in Dante’s Inferno.

Another thought is maybe the blood stain represents a white walker. The white walker that Jon had the infamous stare down with, last season, has a series of small horns, like appendages or a crown, sticky out of his head. Could there be a connection here?

So they’re not nearly as large as the horns etched from the blood stains, but maybe there’s a correlation.

Legends of Tomorrow: Recap “Last Refuge”

(Season 1, Episode 12)
**Spoilers**

Last week’s cliffhanger promised an exciting episode to come and it didn’t disappoint.

The time masters sent a trio of hunters, who followed the team to the wild west last week. This trio was supposed to be really good at what they do according to Heatwave; but our heroes managed to dispatch of them with ease.

So the time masters have decided to send their big gun. A woman named Pilgrim, who doesn’t just go after her targets… She goes after them when they’re younger and have no idea what’s coming. Woah!

As so here we are, the episode starts and it’s exciting.

The team uses the computer to determine the probabilities of who Pilgrim will go after and “when” she will go after them.

Heatwave is the first target—a teenager, who just witnessed the death of his parents when the house burned down. This offers some good character insight when they save young Heatwave and bring him on board the ship.

Adult Heatwave doesn’t think too fondly of young Heatwave, which shows just how little he thinks of himself. But before it all ends he gives the boy advice to not be his adult self. See, the kid started the fire unable to stop it. Has blamed himself and dealt with the anger at himself for his entire life.

Next is a teenager Sara. It was nice to see Sara if for no other reason than we got a cameo of her father. I love these crossovers.

But then complications arise when they can’t determine who is next. But the answer comes quickly when Ray finds himself all bruised up and about to die with Hawkgirl by his side. That’s because his “not so much younger” self is being beaten by Pilgrim.

But the they manage to barely save him in time.

However, they can’t risk being unable to save the next person, so they decide to kidnap the rest of the group as infants.

This offers the funniest moments when Rip and Heatwave find Stein’s mom giving birth in a car. This scene dripped with irony as Heatwave is dressed as a doctor, his frame busting out of his doctor’s white coat. He claims to be a doctor and they take baby Stein.

All in all, there were some really nice connections in this episode. Teenagers Sara and Heatwave. Firestorm got to meet his father, who died when he was young. Rip and the team met Rip’s foster mom and boy Rip… we’ll get back to boy Rip later.

As fun as everything was, one little item managed to soil the episode, but only a tad. Sadly, the angst between Hawkgirl and Ray continued. Ray asks her to marry him and she said yes. But like so many love stories, there’s that moment when he overhears that she doesn’t want to marry. And this temporarily breaks them up.

As much as I enjoy the show, the weak spot is Hawkgirl’s love life. It seems to be her major plot point every week. But maybe that will end because at the end of the episode, she decided to marry him. Crosses fingers that the angst is over.

So, let’s return to Rip as a child…

With the team holding their younger selves, Pilgrim kidnaps their loved ones in hopes of making a trade—them for their loved ones.

This culminated in an awesome looking and tense finale to the episode. With all of them together in a room, they attack. But she has the ability to slow down time. Everything freezes, stops in its track leaving a beautiful display of characters and fight or flight mode and their discharged weapons is a petrified state.

Just when you think Pilgrim will win the unexpected happens and boy Rip saves the day.

I don’t know what will happen next, but this episode was fun to watch and Pilgrim was indeed formidable!

Legends of Tomorrow: Recap “Progeny”

(Season 1, Episode 10)
**Spoilers**

The team travels to the future where Savage is training the progeny, which is the title of the episode. The progeny is a boy Savage is training to essentially become the next Hitler. Because in the future of THIS future, the progeny will grow up to be a man who will be responsible for a dire future where a worldwide infection spreads and Rip’s family is murdered.

This poses a moral dilemma… if you had the chance to kill Hitler as a child would you?

The episode flirts with this. Most believe the kid can change. The future isn’t set. Captain Cold, being the “bad guy”, is all for murdering the child. Even Rip is down for it—after all the kid will be responsible for Rip’s family’s death. But talking about it is a whole lot different than actually doing it.

So they kidnap the boy and Rip is this close to ending it here and now. But he doesn’t. Instead he tells the kid to be like his father, who is the opposite of Savage.

But this makes the future worse. Initially a virus was going to spread in 5 years from now; but now it’s a matter of days before the future is destroyed. And why so soon? Because Savage can see the writing on the wall. He convinces the kid to murder his father; thereby, removing any doubts. And so the dominoes fall.

And now for the subplots:

Hawkgirl’s memories of her soul mate and their past life together with their son comes racing back. Feelings too. But her heart belongs to Ray and she admits that these memories make her feel like she’s cheating on Ray. Seems a bit odd that a couple years with Ray trumps several lifetimes with her soul mate. But, okay.

The other more interesting subplot is “what to do with Heatwave?” He’s in a holding cell. Sara and Rip try to talk to him but Heatwave holds to his hardened demeanor.

And then Capt. Cold has his own conversation and plays “let’s make a deal”. We fight… You kill me and you can escape. Or I kill you and well…. You die… wanna play?

The chose is easy, Heatwave plays the game. Capt. Cold enters the cell and gets a beat down. Look at Heatwave, he’s a big dude after all.

Heatwave’s about to deal the fatal blow. Kill Capt. Cold and you can run. But he doesn’t. He reneges on the deal and let’s Capt. Cold live. But there’s a catch…. He tells Capt. Cold that they’re all going to die.

Heatwave is let out of his cell… docile and ready to play with others. He tells them that since he didn’t kill them that the time masters will send a team of hunters after them all with one goal in mind… kill them all. And these hunters aren’t as rational as Heatwave, which tells its own story.

Rip asks what they should do.

“Run,” Heatwave replies.

Heatwave is the king of one liners. Nice to have him back.

Walking Dead: Recap of season finale “Last Day on Earth”

(Season 6, Episode 16)
**Spoilers**

The season finale is upon us…

As someone who doesn’t read the comics and didn’t read any spoilers, I had no idea what to expect. And when it ended my heart was racing and I was sicken.

What the heck just happened!! OMG!!

So Carl and Morgan had a side adventure with Carol nearly dying at the hands of a man she fought with on a previous episode. Morgan saved her even though she didn’t want to be saved.

Now, let’s get to the Rick section. With Maggie sick and on the verge of losing her baby, Rick, Abe, Sasha, Rosita and Eugene drive the trailer to find a hospital.

This proves difficult as the road leads to a detour of Negan’s men. They try another route and there’s another detour. This goes on all day and they are left with no other choice but to leave the trailer and carry Maggie through the woods. Eugene was left behind to drive the trailer, allowing the others to flee undetected.

However, the plan turned out to be a trap.

The group wanders into Negan’s group to find that Eugene was taken hostage along with the trailer.

A van opens and out comes their friends Daryl, Michonne and Glenn. The good guys are forced to their knees (including a sick Maggie). 

And so it begins… The moment when you realize that they may have met someone worse than the Governor.

This scene is eerie like something out of a horror movie. Tension builds as Negan steps out and finally reveals himself. He speaks with a psychotic charm.

And you just know it won’t end well. The look on Rick’s face, the defeat, the fear. He wants to kill Negan, but he can’t. He’s feeling something he hasn’t felt in a long time… helplessness. He’s at Negan’s mercy and Negan doesn’t have mercy.

So now they work for Negan. Negan takes half of everything they own and will continue to do so forever, much like the group they met up and tried to help. One could understand why that other group paid Rick to kill Negan.

But before Rick’s group is free to work for Negan they must pay a price for the people they killed.

Negan says: “I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people you killed more of my people. Not cool, not cool. You have no idea how not cool that {bleep} is.”

And so comes that moment that builds and builds until the viewer finds themself holding their breath. Negan holds a bat wrapped in wire designed to inflict damage. And someone is going to get a beating, a beating so bad they may not live theough it. It will be brutal and it won’t be swift.

But who? Who will pay the price?

Negan toys with the group and the audience. “inni minnie minie mo…” each member flinches, sheds tear, trembles except Abe, who’s prepared to die for the others. But the choice isn’t his. That honor belongs to Negan.

The bat points to person after person until he makes his choice. He bashes one of the group, but who? We still don’t know. The camera takes on the view of the victim. Blood pours down the frame. Another swing… fade to black.

And it ends…

We will have to wait until next season to see who died.

But there is a hint. It probably isn’t Rick or Carl because Negan says “Anybody moves, anybody says anything cut the boys other eye out and feed it to his father”.

Legends of Tomorrow: Recap “Left Behind”

 

(Season 1, Episode 9)
**Spoilers**

This was a second part of a 2-parter. Previously on Legends of Tomorrow, part of the team (Ray, Sara and Hawkgirl) were stranded in 1958 when the other members are attacked by Kronos and forced to flee in the ship.

At the start, the group is further divided when Capt. Cold is kidnapped by Kronos.

The earth bound team feels a sense of hopelessness regarding the return of their friends as time passes and the ship hasn’t returned.

Jump two years later and the ship returns to collect Hawkgirl and Ray, who have created a life. Ray seems content almost reluctant to leave it all behind. After all he’s a teacher and he has students. Hawkgirl, on the other hand, is all too eager to leave that behind. This causes some tension between the couple but that’s resolved quickly enough.

But where is Sara? She parted ways and went where she was most comfortable… the league of assassins. And of course, in her training, she’s ahead of the learning curve because she’s done it all before.

It was nice to see Ra's al Ghul again. And in 1960 his daughter, Sara’s ex-lover, isn’t born yet.

The group (sans Capt. Cold, who we will get back to) go to gather Sara but it’s not as easy as it would appear. She’s totally ingrained in her life, so much so that she rats them out to the league willing to watch them die.

I didn’t really like this part. Sara had made friends with them and now she’s back to her assassin status, ready to kill them. But she snaps out of that and returns with her ship mates.

So let’s get to Capt. Cold. He’s handcuffed to the bridge with Kronos standing there, looking all Darth Vadar. Capt. Cold wants to know why he was kidnapped and not Rip. The answer should be obvious to him but it isn’t.

And here comes the surprise. Kronos removes his helmet and there is Heatwave, who was supposed to be killed by Capt. Cold… OOPS!

In the world of TV, if you don’t see someone die, they probably aren’t. And I’m quite okay with that. Heatwave, along with Capt. Cold, is a fun character.

A flashback shows us that Capt. Cold didn’t kill Heatwave and was planning to return and get his friend. But time went by with Heatwave being saved by the time masters instead. They trained him, brainwashed him and now Heatwave has been the killer Kronos all along, traveling through time.

Kronos attacks the ship and a battle ensues. Meanwhile, Capt. Cold freezes his hand, cutting it off, to free himself.

The team traps Heatwave in jail and decide to try and unbrainwash him or maybe re-brainwash him to their advantage. Either way, they see value in him.

And what about Capt. Cold’s hand? Luckily they have some kind of cloning and gave him a fresh new one. 

Walking Dead: Recap “Not Tomorrow Yet”

(Season 6, Episode 12)

**Spoilers**

How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why? - these are the questions Rick asks newcomers to assess if they’re good enough to join his group.

Why do I bring this up? I’ll address that later.

This episode has Rick and company coming back to town and holding a meeting in the church. And what’s on the agenda? Certainly not a prayer and communion. More like, hey we have to go murder some peeps, ya’ll in?. After all, they can always come back and do confession time, except that, well… the priest is enlisted in this mercenary mission.

This season has done a great job of surprising us. For Rick and his group to come this far. This demonstrates just how ahead of his time Shane really was.

In all fairness, Rick’s group is doing what it has to to survive. This group, led by Negan, nearly killed Abe, Sasha and Daryl just awhile back. They are threatening Jesus’ people while holding one them hostage. Negan’s people need to be stopped because as we know in this apocalyptic world, if you let evil be they’ll only find you and take you out later.

And so they decide to attack Negan’s group and “kill them all” (for those who’ve seen Spartacus). However, before doing so, there’s a break up and a hook up.

Abe dumps Rosita. When she asks why, he replies “when I first met you, I thought you were the last woman… I was wrong.” Ouch.

Meanwhile, Carol is falling in love and kisses and Alexandrian. Her character was softer in this episode then  before. She baked cookies, put a cookie on Sam’s grave, decided not to rat out what Morgan did during the invasion and didn’t want a pregnant Maggie going on the mission. She even woke up in the middle of the night to scribble her kill count into a note book. It wasn’t something she did lightly. It felt like it had taken an emotional toll on her.

Fast forward to the mission. A series of events lead them to the moment. And the killing begins with Maggie and Carol waiting at the road. It’s a blood bath with shot guns rattling off and bodies dropping.

But it’s the quiet moment, the moment when Glenn enters a room where two people sleep, that packs the punch. Knife in hand, he does the unthinkable and takes one of them out, knowing this will stay with him forever. Standing over the second body is Glenn’s friend (an Alexandrian) who pauses and Glenn, who is at a point of no return, further hurts his already damaged soul and makes the kill for his friend. This was a horrific moment for Glenn and it weighed heavy on this audience member.

With a group we have been following taken to murder, the sun rises, morning comes and as we settle in to ponder what we just witnessed, a survivor exits on a motorcycle. Daryl nabs him. Beside this man is a walkie talkie with a female voice coming through.

She says she has Maggie and Carol. And now the game has changed. They probably should have scouted the area a bit better. But that’s how it goes.

So next week with Carol and a pregnant Maggie kidnapped what is our group going to do? I can’t wait to find out.

Now back to the questions Rick asks potential newbies:

How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why? -

The first question is easy. The two that follow, not so much. After what they just did, do we hear these questions from Rick again?

Legends of Tomorrow: Review “Fail-Safe”

(Season 1, Episode 5)


**Spoilers**

This episode is the second half of a two parter that finds our heroes or “legends” separated.

We begin with Dr. Stein in Star Labs talking science with Cisco; though it’s quite evident to Dr. Stein and the audience that this isn’t Flash’s Cisco. Instead the room dematerializes in what could be described as something out of a Jordi La Forge hologram. It was a ruse to get Dr. Stein to reveal the formula for firestorm with Dr. Stein really in a Russian lab talking to a sexy scientist. A bit far fetched, but heck I’ll bite if it gives me a cameo of Cisco.

Ray and Heat Wave are new residents in an all but glamorous Russian prison. This couple were the interesting pair-up. Complete opposites: Heat Wave aware of his surroundings and avoided conflict, Ray acting like he’s in his first day at College trying to make friends and instead finding himself on the wrong end of a beating. One couldn’t help but speculate if this is the episode where Heat Wave learns a lesson… Let’s hold that thought.

Rip plans a rescue mission which has Hawkgirl and Firestorm sitting out. One has to wonder how many times Hawkgirl may have to sit out missions where Savage is close by.

The rescue mission does involve Cap. Cold, who’s just in it for Heat Wave, and Sara. However, Rip has given Sara a secret mission—if she can’t extract Dr. Stein then she must kill him to save future earth. And so as the mission goes on, she is left with this very choice with Cap. Cold as her voice of reason, which lends itself to the obvious irony. This was nice because we get to see these characters bonding and going out of their emotional tendencies. Sara, who would have taken Dr. Stein out in the past, finds herself with an internal struggle and the realization that Rip is not like her past boss.

Back to the odd couple: The Russians torture Heat Wave and Ray in the hopes of getting Dr. Stein to give up the scientific goods, though it looks like Heat Wave is getting the brunt. But just when Heat Wave is about to get the hammer treatment (literally), Ray interjects and ends up, as Heat Wave called it, being used as a pinata. So when Cap. Cold rushes in to the rescue, we have that internal dilemma we were hoping for. With a passed out Ray, does Heat Wave leave him behind and save himself as per Cap. Cold’s request OR risk his life to save Ray? He chooses to save Ray.

These are the moments that make Cap. Cold and Heat Wave the most fun characters. They’re bad guys who, not only have the coolest lines, but offer the most character growth. Two thieves who deep inside have a heart and we want to see it.

Meanwhile, the sexy Russian scientist merges with Dr. Stein. Firestorm and Hawkgirl refuse to remain behind and join the fight.

The good guys win. They celebrate with vodka with Ray thanking Heat Wave getting all sentimental. Heat Wave  responds with “less feeling, more drinking” and they do until Boba Fett zaps their ship, which ends up back in Sara’s home town—but in a different time and a whole new Arrow…