Legends of Tomorrow Review: Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac (Season 5 Episode 7)
Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Episode 7, “Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac,” brings back an old departed character for a plot straight out of a sitcom, and it is basically perfect.
It might not be immediately apparent, but this episode continues this season’s trend of aping a particular genre or, in an even broader sense, evoking a kind of feeling that the show can go to insane places with. For Legends of Tomorrow, this is a means to an end.
Similarly, the majority of “Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac” is constructed in such a way that it feels like an episode of New Girl at its most bonkers. That is the niche subgenre that the show is taking and running with here. What it leaves us with is an episode full of pretend relationships, buffoonery, and hilarity.
Legends of Tomorrow never fails to be one of the funniest shows on The CW, but this week it takes that to a whole new level. It’s all absurd and heightened in a way that feels specific to the series itself but that’s only part of what makes the episode so exceptional.
It takes these moments of Arrowverse drama, such as Constantine’s long-running feud with Damien or Sara’s vengeance against the latter, and twists it into being supremely silly in a way that only this show could do.
When we get to the point during the third act where everyone gets sucked into the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood knock-off show, it’s not even that big of a deal because we’ve already been in that mood for most of the episode. This is just a cherry on top of the cake.
This is an episode that’s all in service to Nora and her emotional journey over the last couple of seasons on the show — along with setting up Ray and her leaving the show for good. It’s ultimately a testament to the excellent character work that the show has put into her character and how important that is to them.
At its core, this an episode with a clear-cut message that feels obvious but is perfect as a celebration of Nora: Be happy with who you are. Nora herself is this character with such a tremendous amount of baggage and darkness to her and has really struggled to get to that point.
It’s the reason that she scrambles and tries to come up with this elaborate backdrop of her life for Damien because she always feels that push and pull. She has done wrong things, and she has messed up, but she also hasn’t had agency over her life until now. She does and that’s what makes her declaration at the end so amazing.
It’s the culmination of everything she has been building up to as a character and makes it feel all the more special while being surrounded by this crazy and zany plot.
It’s sad to know that we’re reaching the end of her character journey (and Ray’s too, by extension), but it’s gratifying to know that this is where we are leaving her. She has emerged strengthened by a found family in the wake of trauma and pain and she gets to be okay with who she is now.
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 Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.