Legends of Tomorrow: Raiders of the Lost Art review, S2, Ep. 9

Legends’ sophomore season had taken some weird and questionable turns. Still, there was a sense it was going to have a strong second half following the mid-season break. If the rest of the season plays out like Raiders of the Lost Art, we’re in for one heck of a ride.

A lot of the historical figure cameos can come off forced and goofy. Maybe some audience members care about Einstein or Grant, but George Lucas? An entirely different story. In an inspired moment of knowing the target audience, having the fate of Lucas hold the fate of the future was fanboy-tastic.

Raiders was Legends at its best without the silly missteps that have wasted some interesting scenarios. Both the Legends and the Legion of Doom — name dropped by one of Nate’s favorite Hanna Barbara cartoons —  found Rip, who had the Spear of Destiny.

The 1967 Rip has a serious identity crisis thanks to screwing around with the time engine. It was a neat twist that Rip was subconsciously playing out his adventures as an aspiring film director with his prop guy George Lucas. That the sight of his team didn’t trigger his memory suggests this won’t be a quick fix subplot. And getting caught by Reverse Flash definitely won’t do him any favors.

Breaking up the spear will no doubt help the show’s focus. The series always works best when the team has a clear agenda instead of randomly fixing time anomalies.

Darhk and Merlyn continue to be a blast together. From motorcycle jacking to patiently listening to elevator muzak, all of their scenes were killer. I’m hoping at some point this year we get an episode entirely devoted to the Legion.

But the Legion didn’t monopolize all the great scenes tonight. Rory wanted Stein’s help to cure his hallucinations of Snart leading to some really funny moments. The brain surgery bit with Sara and Jax was awesome. Amaya’s interactions with Nate and Ray were terrific too as she was every hot girl scoffing as the guys geeked out over Lucas’ influence. And Jax got more to do this week as well, encouraging Sara and actually getting in on a fight.

Raiders was a tremendous example of how great Legends can be with the right mix of humor, action and time-traveling mayhem. I can’t wait to see this rivalry with the Legion of Doom play out through the rest of the season.

Rating: 9.8 out of 10

Photo Credit: The CW