DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Review: Guest Starring John Noble (Season 3 Episode 17)

The show burns through a lot of plot (Grodd vs. Barack Obama?!) to great effect but the emotional stakes fall flat on Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 Episode 17, “Guest Starring John Noble.”

For a penultimate episode, this one really delivers on moving the season’s big Mallus-arc forward to its conclusion. It’s rewarding for viewers to finally see elements sprinkled throughout previous episodes finally coming together in a way that makes sense to the story.

Or as much sense as possible for a show featuring time-travel, magic totems, clones, and demon possession.

Plus, with the possible exception of Damien Darhk, none of it requires the Legends to behave in out-of-character ways to facilitate the plot. I find this to be a big issue with other Arrowverse shows, so I really appreciate that Legends of Tomorrow avoids it.

Since Legends of Tomorrow is an ensemble show built around its team, the decision to make various members totem-bearers is a great way to give them all an important part in the effort to defeat Mallus. I am really looking forward to seeing how all the Legends work together in the final battle.

The choice to include a young Barack Obama being attacked by a telepathic gorilla could have gone wrong in so many ways, but as it is only a brief moment in the episode it works pretty well. I especially like Sara seeking advice from the future president later on!

The “Guest Starring John Noble,” portion of this episode is also quite clever and a lot of fun. It’s smart to keep these wackier moments short and sweet. It gives viewers just enough time to enjoy the gag but cuts it off before things get too ridiculous.

Unfortunately, although plot developments are great here, the emotional moments do not hit as well as they should.

Legends of Tomorrow is typically pretty successful at being character focused, which really sets it apart from the other Arrowverse shows. While the actual story elements for character arcs like Sara/Ava, Nate/Amaya, and Damien Darhk fit into the structure of this episode really well, the emotional beats of these storylines are not as effective.

This is not true for all the character moments. Amaya’s scene with her future daughter is great and Jes Macallan’s performance is making me very sympathetic towards Ava.

However, when relationships come into play things stumble a bit. This is frustrating because the framework for a good story for both Sara/Ava and Nate/Amaya is there. It’s just that the writers didn’t fill in the details enough to give these partnerships the kind of heft they need to make the break-ups/make-ups work emotionally.

Sara and Ava flirted a bit, went on one date, spent the night together, and then broke-up within the span of 4-5 episodes. So, even though Sara says she is in love with Ava, as a viewer I don’t have a connection to their relationship.

Same for Nate and Amaya, even though that relationship is more long-lasting. I wish I could be more eloquent, but for some reason the moment those two are in a scene together I feel the need to either fast-forward or pick up my phone to scroll Twitter.

As for Damien Darhk, his attempt at redemption to save his daughter, Nora, from dying once Mallus is freed almost works. Almost. This is mainly due to Neal McDonough’s performance and, to a smaller extent, the writing.

It really is amazing at what giving Darhk effective motivation and scaling back on the scenery-chewing in McDonough’s portrayal can do for his character in just one episode.

I almost feel bad for Darhk during certain moments and though his double-cross is entirely predictable, his reasons for doing so are understandable. A parent (even an evil villain) trying to save their child is something viewers can immediately connect to and it offers a new, welcome dimension to Darhk’s character.

Finally, Darhk feels like an actual person instead of an *insert villain here* bad guy stereotype! If only the show could have given viewers this version earlier, it would have made for much better character arcs — for both Damien and Nora.

As it is, while Darhk’s transformation sort of works within the confines of this episode, it happens too quickly and with too little build-up to really hit viewers in the gut the way it should.

Are you ready for the final battle with Mallus?

What did you think of this episode of Legends of Tomorrow? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Legends of Tomorrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.

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