Wednesday, March 08, 2017

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 2x13: "Land Of The Lost"


Written by Keto Shimizu & Ray Utarnachitt
Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Rip: "I can't leave you, Gideon."
Gideon: "No, Captain, you can't. I will always be here."

Every now and then, a TV show gives you an episode with things that you didn't know you particularly wanted as a viewer but after it ends, you actually want a bit more. This was one of those episodes.

With Rip being able to override Gideon's control and cause havoc on the ship, the gang really needed to band together and bring their former Captain back into their way of thinking. Cut to Mick coming up with the suggestion of entering Rip's mind to fix him. Cue Mick also assisting Stein with this process while Sara and Jax enter Rip's mind at the very risk of being trapped in there as well.

This is where the show somewhat lifts from The Doctor's Wife as Sara and Jax go down some creepy corridors and have to contend with evil versions of themselves before being seperated. For Sara, this means being locked in a cell with a more subdued and defeated Rip, who needs coaxing to free his mind from Eobard's control but for Jax, it's an opportunity for the show to actually show us a regular we haven't seen in humanoid form before.

I have been thinking for a while that the longer this series runs for, the more likely we'd have a scenario where Gideon would appear in human form. This episode presented us with that opportunity and did one better by having Amy Pemberton herself appear on screen. To say that Rip, Jax and Sara's interactions with Gideon were the highlight of the episode would be an understatement but it truly was.

Coming away from this episode a few things popped up in my head - one, that Rip and Gideon have the same kind of relationship that the Doctor and TARDIS have and two, that we should get an arc of sorts where we can see Gideon in human form again. Out of everyone, I think Gideon played one of the biggest roles in getting Rip back to his normal self.

Of course while the main part was Rip being brought back to the good side, we also had Nate, Ray and Amaya looking for more bits of the Spear of Destiny (and Nate's grandfather). This subplot had so many great moments, including callbacks to where Ray was at the start of the season, Nate and Amaya taking things a little further while Ray let the former in on about Amaya's future and Mari being a factor while Amaya herself got to make friends with a dinosaur. It's moments like this that highlight how delightfully offbeat the series can be.

- The episode with the stinger of Eobard targeting Nate's grandfather, the latter who was training to go into space, setting up next week's episode nicely.
- Points for Nate this week by mentioning that Sara was bisexual. Sara also found Gideon in her human form attractive.
- This episode had the best use of Amaya's powers so far. Unfortunuately going by Nate and Ray's discussion, I also felt the show might be setting up her departure. Can we keep Amaya and lose Nate instead?
- Chronology: Prehistoric times and the 1960s by the episode's end.

Land Of The Lost was trippy and a little owing of another time travelling show but while it brought about the end of the enjoyable Evil Rip arc, it is nice to have him back properly in the fold again. As for who gets to lead the Waverider between Rip and Sara, I say let both of them do it.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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