Legends of Tomorrow 2-13 Land of the Lost
Sep. 2nd, 2017 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethThe story clearly respects Mick. He keeps coming up with relevant knowledge, in this case knowledge of Time Master procedures that calls back to his Horrible Trauma, and reaching out emotionally to help other people and especially help them maintain their partnerships. Even after repeated rebuffs and being treated like trash by some of them.
The story respects Mick, the Legends do not, and man I want to see them all slapped for it.
Which makes it difficult to care about the other threads of the story. Getting Rip back ought to be as epic as getting Mick back was last year. And there's some good stuff in there, the continued evolution of Sara and Jax into the leaders, the whole evil selves thing.
But then Sara says "Evil Mick... I guess that's just regular Mick, but still."
What does a guy have to do?! He has carried the entire team by now. He drags them out of danger. He won't leave them behind. And he revisits his most emotionally painful moments, the sort that can fell an army, just so he can reach out to team mates in distress. What exactly is it about him that says evil? Especially to Sara, the former assassin, leading a crew who just went to war, again. Sara says they're not killers but that's in really vast error, they've stuck weapons through plenty of people. So what is it about Mick that makes them still call him evil?
I really can't like these people while they're acting this way.
And Mick with Martin is... okay, tasking him to get him a beer is just getting at him, but Mick has knowledge Martin doesn't and Martin is persistently being a dick about it.
And I know Martin has an empathic connection with his partner and is therefore also scared right then, but this exchange with Mick:
~~~
Mick: Sit down, Professor.
Martin: His heart is beating way too fast.
Mick: I said sit.
Martin: I know you think I'm overreacting...
Mick: No, I don't. You care for the kid. I get it, but the way you're acting is not doing him any favors.
Martin: Oh, how should I act, Mr. Rory? Please, enlighten me with your vast emotional wisdom!
Mick: Well, you seem to forget I had a partner too. The reason why Snart and I got on so well was, well, we we trusted one another. We were friends. We had each other's backs.
Martin: Perhaps you've chosen the wrong analogy. Your partner is dead.
Mick: Yeah, well, I'm still on the ship.
Martin: Your point?
Mick: You're not exactly a spring chicken, Professor.
Martin: Your point?
Mick: My point is you're not gonna be around for too much longer, and Jax has to learn how to do this stuff himself. Stop treating him like a kid and more like a partner, partner.
~~~
And yeah, he gives Martin the last empty beer bottle and walks off, leaving him to supervise them alone. And we know they've been in less than an hour, so that's not a lot of stick with it demonstrated, and possibly a six pack of beer consumption.
But Mick *is* demonstrating emotional wisdom. He sees how Martin feels and reaches out. He talks about his partner, the partner Martin heard him say "I love you" to, the one Martin knows he was hallucinating, grieving, hurting for...
... and Martin bats it back with "Your partner is dead."
... I really do not like him very much.
Mick's phrasing is blunt, and his characterisation of his relationship with Snart at best refers to times we did not see, cause they were way more volatile and less trusting when we did see them. He might be romanticising the dead. And spoilers say that's setup for a payof I will not like. But he's precisely right about what's necessary for the living, and Martin takes that advice, later.
Nobody likes being reminded they're going to die first. But he logically is, so it is kind of important.
... I've been wondering since they signed Jax up if Jax would die without Martin, same way Martin would without an other half. They're both Firestorm and the rule applied to the new lady, Valentina, too, so it seems likely. Which means lifespan really ought to be an issue.
But for Mick survival has been an issue. He's still on this ship, meaning, he's having to do all this without Snart, and that's what he keeps thinking of.
It bother me that Mick keeps on having these great if blunt emotional talks, be my partner, be yourself, be a better partner to the partner you chose... but nobody is reaching back. And he's sitting there drinking beer continuously, but nobody says a damn thing, outside of jokes about him being the drunk uncle. What could they say? Well I'm pretty sure Ray's Wis score is too low to actually be helpful, but he does know something about outliving your partner. And he did try, initially, he just... kind of dumped Mick for the new guy. Sara ought to be able to connect, but isn't much reaching out because busy being angry boss. ... and Amaya kind of tried, but again, kind of dumped him for Nate.
Mick is isolated in this crew and only sometimes has done anything to merit it. ... he did threaten to kill Martin if he told about his hallucinations, that's a problem on several levels. So yeah, sometimes, but... it's like they've written him off and aren't even noticing his actual actions.
But the story keeps giving him good stuff, it's just the crew being jerks.
Other threads of plot... Amaya and Nate are... I mean, there's story in someone who has to be put back in the right bit of history solely to have children, but it is NOT Nate's story. Amaua's 'Destiny' defines her as a mother, the end. I don't care how Nate feels about that because it's none of it his choice anyway. Give Amaya her own story.
Rip and Gideon... okay. She's always been there for him. But isn't that more about partners than kissing? Not that I'd object to other partners being more kissing.
Also, mind control everywhere.
To note, mind control has been used by Time Masters on Mick, by Eobard on Rip, by Malcolm on Thea, and by Damien on... everyone? He had a lot of pills. The technology is around and all the evil players have used it.
... which I consider a cheap excuse for OOC to make angst. Mick's turn was best justified, easy to believe without the mind control, hence most affecting. Rip had his moments. And what happened to Mick was filled in this season, more detail, so not seeing it in advance don't necessarily mean much.
This seems to me relevant, as far as spoilers have told me, for other characters real soon.
... Sara in Rip's mind, still in her White Canary gear, is interesting contrast to Captain Lance and this year's clothes. She wasn't an assassin in his mind, but she wasn't as far from it as she is now. It's good stuff, visual shorthand for a whole argument. Pity the rest of the crew had nothing like it, but, for Sara, you could make an argument for too ruthless, it's just the dramatic middle, not her usual end point.
Rip taking against the Legends for arguable versions of themselves is so much more interesting than "Eobard did it"
Giving him in brain matrix powers is kind of cool but just... hits things til thy go away? No moral persuasion involved.
And he didn't decide which is real, he let Gideon decide for him, which is very partners but also a potential problem...
I like Mick a lot more than I like his friends, but Mick also needs to stop drinking and threatening people, so I can see where they're coming from.
If this ship had a Counsellor then like 90% of the plot would be fixable with 2000% less drama.
The story respects Mick, the Legends do not, and man I want to see them all slapped for it.
Which makes it difficult to care about the other threads of the story. Getting Rip back ought to be as epic as getting Mick back was last year. And there's some good stuff in there, the continued evolution of Sara and Jax into the leaders, the whole evil selves thing.
But then Sara says "Evil Mick... I guess that's just regular Mick, but still."
What does a guy have to do?! He has carried the entire team by now. He drags them out of danger. He won't leave them behind. And he revisits his most emotionally painful moments, the sort that can fell an army, just so he can reach out to team mates in distress. What exactly is it about him that says evil? Especially to Sara, the former assassin, leading a crew who just went to war, again. Sara says they're not killers but that's in really vast error, they've stuck weapons through plenty of people. So what is it about Mick that makes them still call him evil?
I really can't like these people while they're acting this way.
And Mick with Martin is... okay, tasking him to get him a beer is just getting at him, but Mick has knowledge Martin doesn't and Martin is persistently being a dick about it.
And I know Martin has an empathic connection with his partner and is therefore also scared right then, but this exchange with Mick:
~~~
Mick: Sit down, Professor.
Martin: His heart is beating way too fast.
Mick: I said sit.
Martin: I know you think I'm overreacting...
Mick: No, I don't. You care for the kid. I get it, but the way you're acting is not doing him any favors.
Martin: Oh, how should I act, Mr. Rory? Please, enlighten me with your vast emotional wisdom!
Mick: Well, you seem to forget I had a partner too. The reason why Snart and I got on so well was, well, we we trusted one another. We were friends. We had each other's backs.
Martin: Perhaps you've chosen the wrong analogy. Your partner is dead.
Mick: Yeah, well, I'm still on the ship.
Martin: Your point?
Mick: You're not exactly a spring chicken, Professor.
Martin: Your point?
Mick: My point is you're not gonna be around for too much longer, and Jax has to learn how to do this stuff himself. Stop treating him like a kid and more like a partner, partner.
~~~
And yeah, he gives Martin the last empty beer bottle and walks off, leaving him to supervise them alone. And we know they've been in less than an hour, so that's not a lot of stick with it demonstrated, and possibly a six pack of beer consumption.
But Mick *is* demonstrating emotional wisdom. He sees how Martin feels and reaches out. He talks about his partner, the partner Martin heard him say "I love you" to, the one Martin knows he was hallucinating, grieving, hurting for...
... and Martin bats it back with "Your partner is dead."
... I really do not like him very much.
Mick's phrasing is blunt, and his characterisation of his relationship with Snart at best refers to times we did not see, cause they were way more volatile and less trusting when we did see them. He might be romanticising the dead. And spoilers say that's setup for a payof I will not like. But he's precisely right about what's necessary for the living, and Martin takes that advice, later.
Nobody likes being reminded they're going to die first. But he logically is, so it is kind of important.
... I've been wondering since they signed Jax up if Jax would die without Martin, same way Martin would without an other half. They're both Firestorm and the rule applied to the new lady, Valentina, too, so it seems likely. Which means lifespan really ought to be an issue.
But for Mick survival has been an issue. He's still on this ship, meaning, he's having to do all this without Snart, and that's what he keeps thinking of.
It bother me that Mick keeps on having these great if blunt emotional talks, be my partner, be yourself, be a better partner to the partner you chose... but nobody is reaching back. And he's sitting there drinking beer continuously, but nobody says a damn thing, outside of jokes about him being the drunk uncle. What could they say? Well I'm pretty sure Ray's Wis score is too low to actually be helpful, but he does know something about outliving your partner. And he did try, initially, he just... kind of dumped Mick for the new guy. Sara ought to be able to connect, but isn't much reaching out because busy being angry boss. ... and Amaya kind of tried, but again, kind of dumped him for Nate.
Mick is isolated in this crew and only sometimes has done anything to merit it. ... he did threaten to kill Martin if he told about his hallucinations, that's a problem on several levels. So yeah, sometimes, but... it's like they've written him off and aren't even noticing his actual actions.
But the story keeps giving him good stuff, it's just the crew being jerks.
Other threads of plot... Amaya and Nate are... I mean, there's story in someone who has to be put back in the right bit of history solely to have children, but it is NOT Nate's story. Amaua's 'Destiny' defines her as a mother, the end. I don't care how Nate feels about that because it's none of it his choice anyway. Give Amaya her own story.
Rip and Gideon... okay. She's always been there for him. But isn't that more about partners than kissing? Not that I'd object to other partners being more kissing.
Also, mind control everywhere.
To note, mind control has been used by Time Masters on Mick, by Eobard on Rip, by Malcolm on Thea, and by Damien on... everyone? He had a lot of pills. The technology is around and all the evil players have used it.
... which I consider a cheap excuse for OOC to make angst. Mick's turn was best justified, easy to believe without the mind control, hence most affecting. Rip had his moments. And what happened to Mick was filled in this season, more detail, so not seeing it in advance don't necessarily mean much.
This seems to me relevant, as far as spoilers have told me, for other characters real soon.
... Sara in Rip's mind, still in her White Canary gear, is interesting contrast to Captain Lance and this year's clothes. She wasn't an assassin in his mind, but she wasn't as far from it as she is now. It's good stuff, visual shorthand for a whole argument. Pity the rest of the crew had nothing like it, but, for Sara, you could make an argument for too ruthless, it's just the dramatic middle, not her usual end point.
Rip taking against the Legends for arguable versions of themselves is so much more interesting than "Eobard did it"
Giving him in brain matrix powers is kind of cool but just... hits things til thy go away? No moral persuasion involved.
And he didn't decide which is real, he let Gideon decide for him, which is very partners but also a potential problem...
I like Mick a lot more than I like his friends, but Mick also needs to stop drinking and threatening people, so I can see where they're coming from.
If this ship had a Counsellor then like 90% of the plot would be fixable with 2000% less drama.