One of the things I love about Legends of Tomorrow is that it knows how to do unique storylines…but one thing that’s been popping up a lot in Legends as of late is their reverting to “cliche” storylines in order to do…something. And that “something” isn’t good, or fun, or funny, which brings us to “The Final Frame.”
The premise for this one was honesty all over the place and it really hurt its quality in a variety of ways. First and foremost, after finding a mysterious alien cube, Sara, Rory, Spooner and Astra are all warped into a cosmic bowling alley straight out of The Big Lebowski. Completely with overstylized alien bowlers, because why not, right?
The catch? Those “alien bowlers” trick the into playing “Cosmic Bowling” and if the Legends lose, the planet gets enshrined forever…because reasons. Who were those aliens? Why do they have the power to shrink planets down? Who knows? We don’t find out, because…we want to see the Legends go bowling? Right…
Then, because the Earth gets turned into a bowling ball (more on that later), those on Earth, in this case Nate and OG Zari are trying to figure out what’s going on…while also figuring out…their relationship?
This for me was one of the dumbest parts of this episode. Nate and OG Zari FINALLY get back together, and then after meeting an incredibly stupid couple, and the stupidest of the two tries to give advice “from a magazine”, Zari goes into meltdown about whether Nate and her can really work and it was SO ANNOYING!!!
We know THESE two love each other, Nate almost broke the timeline to get her back, and then they spent a LONG time together in the totem and then weeks together outside of it and yet Zari still has doubts about whether they can work? That’s an insult to OG Zari because unlike her 2.0 version, she’s actually SMART!!!
Now, let’s get back to the “Earth is a bowling ball” thing. They showed that the Earth was literally a bowling ball, complete with fingers going into the holes of the ball and then the Earth “feeling it” when it was rolling, hitting pins, and so on. Call it “comic magic” or “TV logic” but the Earth would’ve been destroyed a thousand times over during that game. And then it was “returned” by Sara rolling it out of the place…but how did she know that would work? In their own words, they were in a bowling alley “at the edge of the universe” and yet just rolling the sphere outside would put it back? How does that work?
The only real good part of the episode was Constantine showcasing how “power amped” he is and how that’s affecting him mentally. And now that we know this is his “final season” (which is stupid for various reasons) it makes it all the more tragic that warning the “owner” gave us.
Oh, and I will kill Gary Green…I will find a way…somehow…
In the end, “The Final Frame” did nothing for the plot, the characters, and so on. It’s a lowpoint in a season that’s been very inconsistent in trying to figure out what it wants to be.
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
Nerd Comments