Recap / Legends of Tomorrow S3 E13 "No Country for Old Dads"

Rip brings Wally onto the team, as they try to find Ray, currently a prisoner of the Darhks.

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Tropes

• Actor Allusion:
  • Darhk puts on a bowler hat, looking a bit like Dum Dum Dugan from the Howling Commandos.
  • The romantic tension on display between Ray and Nora probably has something to do with the fact the actors are married in real life.
  • Probably a completely unintentional one, but the German Dr. Vogel is played by Adrian Hough, who you might know as Haytham Kenway...or the German guy from Hyundai's "3 Executives" commercials. Case in point.
• Aesop Amnesia: Despite his secret-keeping being what alienated him, Rip is determined that nobody (or, at least, Sara) knows the "truth" about Ava.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Damien Darhk's dating profile says that he likes to destroy the world to remake it in his own image, and that he likes trying new restaurants.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Ray's former boss Alan, who gets his neck snapped by Damien.
  • The man whom Nora killed to steal his car didn't seem too sympatheic due to being lecherous towards her.
  • Director Bennett who was killed by Grodd, though Sara thinks he was at least a good man.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Older Damien keeps the timeline intact by killing Dr. Vogel as his past self would have originally done, thus ensuring the world still never learns of cold fusion.
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: "I knew he'd be a good influence on you," says Damien to Nora about Ray, appalled.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Nora takes control of the Anansi totem.
• Bad Liar: Ray, as he himself mentions.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Nora wishes her dad was more serious. Then she almost gets killed by his no-nonsense past self.
• "Be Quiet!" Nudge: Nora hits Ray in the car to make him stop spouting bad lies to the guards of the Berlin Wall.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the end, Wally is able to extract Ray from the Darhks, while simultaneously taking the Fire Totem from Damien.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: It should come as no surprise that Damien and Nora do not have the healthiest father-daughter relationship, though by the end of the episode they seem to be working some things out, thanks to advice from Ray.
• Black Comedy: Darhk having a heart-to-heart about fatherhood...with a recently-murdered corpse.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Nora acts like this as she's arguing with her dad.
• Brick Joke: Ray getting kidnapped last episode is rather serious...but his teammates didn't even realize it until now.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Nora calls out her father during the episode for acting like an egoistic manchild and using her as a host for Mallus.
• Camping a Crapper: In the original timeline, Dr. Vogel is killed by Darhk while he's on the toilet.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Cupid's profile appears on Darhk's dating app.
  • Upswipz and its founder Alan return.
  • Kuasa alludes to Benatu Eshu killing her with the Fire Totem, and she is still leery of the totem as a result.
  • Damien mentions how he hates speedsters, owing to his difficult relationship with Eobard Thawne back in season 2. Also, when Barry once saved the Green Arrow from his wrath.
  • Wally and Sara recalled how they met each other at Barry and Iris's wedding and fought against Nazis.
  • The usual God/Grodd correction.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Past Darhk was hired by Big Oil execs to assassinate Dr. Vogel and destroy all his notes on cold fusion in order to keep the world dependent on fossil fuels.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: At the episode's end, Grodd uses his sheer physical force to crush Bennett and a few other agents.
• Dark Secret: Apparently, there's something about Ava that Rip does not want Sara to find out. Whether it's for her safety or to prevent heartbreak is currently unknown.
• Deadpan Snarker: Nora gets in several zingers against both Damien and Ray in this episode.
• Disconnected by Death: Grodd kills Director Bennett this way, followed by stomping his video phone out.
• Doomed by Canon: If Dr. Vogel had survived his published work on cold fusion would have had massive consequences for the timeline, so it was unlikely this was going to happen.
• Dramatic Irony: Past Darhk says he'll never have kids because they make you weak, unaware he's fighting his future self and his future daughter.
• Due to the Dead: Subverted: Rip, Ava and Sara are shown to be shocked at Grodd beating Director Bennett to death...for a few seconds, before Rip points out that this means Ava is the new leader of the Time Bureau, meaning she can take over the Mallus case and pardon Rip so that he can help.
• Easily Forgiven: Zig-zagged with Rip. Ray is happy to see him, but the others are are a little iffy but given the circumstances they don't make a big deal about it.
• Empathic Environment: Nora had found a way to control the Spirit Totem, which turns the totems' mindscape into a dark and barren wasteland by the time Zari and Amaya begin their Vision Quest.
• Evil Versus Evil: Present day Darhk, later assisted by Nora, vs. 1962 Darhk.
• Failed a Spot Check: Ray's message has him saying "as you've no doubt realized by now, I've been captured by the Darhks." Instantly, Sara and Zari decide to never mention to Ray that they had no idea he wasn't on the ship.
• Flat "What": Rip's reaction to learning about Nazis attacking Barry and Iris's wedding. Given that he was in prison at the time, it makes sense that he wouldn't have heard of it or the subsequent attack on Central City.
• Foreshadowing: Rip mentions that there's a dark secret about Ava.
• For Want Of A Nail: Even in the Arrowverse cold fusion is deemed as nothing more than an impossible sci-fi concept, but only because in 1962 Big Oil hired Damien Darhk to kill the one scientist who had actually cracked the formula.
• Godzilla Threshold: How does Ray get in contact with the Legends once he gets his suit back? Blowing a hole in the Berlin Wall. Which has the side effect of causing a timequake, and tears in the fabric of the timeline.
• Gratuitous German: The German spoken and written during the episode is (again) quite bad.
• He Who Must Not Be Named: Amaya's ancestor in the spiritual plane is wary of the very name Mallus.
• I Choose to Stay: Wally decides to join the Legends. Rip was actually hoping he'd make that decision.
• I Hate Past Me: How Darhk outright says he feels about his 1962 self.
  Darhk: I am gonna kick my ass.
• I Lied: After Past Darhk's demands have been met (by having Dr. Vogel delivered), he still tosses Nora off the building.
• Irony: Ray's message has him saying the team has probably realized he was missing; in truth, they only find out because of that message.
• Kick the Dog: After Darhk tries and fails to force Ray’s compliance by threatening to giving his suit to Genghis Khan, he instead threatens to murder his mother as a baby.
• The Last Straw: Ray blowing a hole in the Berlin Wall caused a massive timequake that began to fracture the time stream. Rip even refers to it as the straw that broke the camel's back.
• Laughably Evil: Between yawning while throwing Alan around the room, talking to his corpse, and his interactions with his daughter Damien Darhk is in fine form. He even makes a "dad joke".
  Nora: I'm annoyed.
  Damien: Hi, Annoyed. I'm Dad.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Since Rip wasn't around for Crisis on Earth-X, when Wally brings up the Nazi invasion, Rip goes "the what?"
• Love Is a Weakness: What Damien Darhk's past self thinks, in sharp contrast to his present self.
• Mythology Gag: Wally grabs a "souvenir": the fire totem.
• Neck Snap: How Darhk kills Ray's former boss after some telekinetic wall slamming.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ray making a hole in the 1962 Berlin Wall is such a major anachronism that it causes way too many holes in time for comfort.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Past Darhk is ruthlessly focused on locating and assassinating Dr. Vogel, and is thus quite different from his present-day self. This appears to be a phase, as the Darhk of The '40s and the Darhk of The '70s were very much like present-day Darhk.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Nate and Mick were on a mission after which Mick got Jerry Garcia's glasses as a souvenir.
  • Director Bennett is overseeing the fixture of an anachronism whereby Alexander Hamilton is viewing Hamilton. Ava expresses her frustration at not being able to get tickets to the show.
• One-Man Army: Past Darhk kills at least a dozen armed guards without any magical powers whatsoever, and comes close to defeating his future, powered self, too.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: When Amaya asks Wally how he knows Nate, he explains that they briefly fought criminals together in Central City, after "some basic bitch" left Nate on his own birthday. Amaya coolly informs Wally that she was that "basic bitch", and Wally zooms out of there as fast as he can. Then again, his choice of words is probably affected by his own recent breakup with Jesse.
• Parents as People: Darhk has a pretty hard time understanding that Nora isn't that little girl from Arrow Season Four anymore.
• Pet the Dog: Nora actually refrains from torturing Dr. Vogel when he mentions his family.
• The Reveal:
  • Why is the Cult of Mallus deliberately creating anachronisms? Because time itself acts as his prison. The more time is damaged, the sooner Mallus will break free.
  • Also, Darhk's real age is revealed to be 275. He honestly tries to enter it into his Upswipz profile, but the app caps it at 199.
• Sand In My Eyes: Both Darhks react this way after their heart-to-heart conversation.
• Seen It All: Darhk isn't too troubled when he sees his future self using magic.
• Ship Tease:
  • The romance between Ray and Nora starts here. Nate even accuses Ray of having the hots for her near the end of the episode, and one of Ray's nos has an audible question mark. There are also several gags where Ray and Nora's mission is referred to in the same terms as a date ("Use protection", "I was supposed to have you back by now!", etc.), and they disguise themselves as a married couple. Routh and Courtney Ford are married in real life.
• Shout-Out:
  • Past Darhk's hair and demeanor are meant to be evocative of Anton Chigurh, as the title of the episode indicates. More generally, the episode as a whole could be seen as a Shout-Out to The Coen Brothers; e.g. with the split-screen moments being used similar to Fargo.
  • Director Bennett has to stop Alexander Hamilton from seeing Hamilton.
• Stable Time Loop: What inspired Darhk to become an Evil Sorcerer? His future self, apparently.
  Past Darhk: Magic. I should look into that.
• Stock Scream: One of the East German guards Darhk disposes of let's out a Wilhelm scream.
• Talking to the Dead: Darhk talks to Ray's former boss as if he is his therapist...after he already murdered him.
• Terminator Twosome: Played with: 1962!Darhk simply wants to kill Dr. Vogel as part of his job, and Nora and Ray are interfering with that. Meanwhile, Present Darhk goes back after them to make sure they don't die (this is more concerning Nora than Ray).
• That Came Out Wrong: Darhk telling Nora to use protection. Nora responds with disgust, then Darhk hands her a gun.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Ray takes a moment to preemptively wince before ordering his suit to destroy his bonds with the suit's blaster. Fortunately for him, he manages to get free without losing a limb or two.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Hilariously, Darhk sees Ray as this to Nora.
• Undying Loyalty: No matter how many times Sara reprograms the Waverider, Gideon will still do whatever Rip asks without question. Then again considering as seen in season two, Rip has placed safeguards and command overrides to be used at his discretion. Also considering that she calls him Director Hunter, instead of the more familiar Captain Hunter. Then Gideon may not have a choice regarding where her loyalties lie.
• Villains Out Shopping: While torturing poor Alan with his magic, Damien Darhk apparently created a profile on the UpSwipz dating app. Also applies to Cupid since her profile was the only match.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: All Nora wants is to prove herself as a master villainess.
• Wham Episode: Nora manages to unlock the Anansi totem, corrupting its powers to Mallus's side. Also, Rip mentions there is something about Ava that Sarah can never find out about.
• Wham Line:
  Rip: Gideon, delete File #354Z. Sara can never find out the truth about Ava.
  Gideon: Yes, Director Hunter.
• You Are in Command Now: At the end, Grodd slaughters Director Bennett and much of the Time Bureau's leadership, leaving Ava Sharpe as the de facto director and getting Rip off the hook for his prison break.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Nora says this to Ray. She's right, but that doesn't stop him from shooting the Berlin Wall to create an aberration, alerting the Waverider to his location.
• Worf Had the Flu: Magic-enhanced Darhk versus his younger, Badass Normal self. The only reason the latter had the upper hand for most of their fight is because the older Darhk was busy trying to prevent Nora from falling.

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