nerd radio

Get ready for the new daily show

TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Legends of Tomorrow Season 7 Episode 10: The Fixed Point

January 27th, 2022 by Todd Black Comments

I’ve made it VERY clear that the first two episodes of Season 7B were just…not good IMO. And I stand by that. Which is why I’m VERY happy to announce that “The Fixed Point” honestly was great, and might be the best episode of the entire season.

Why is that? Because it FELT like a true LOT episode. Granted, I will say that we’ve had a few of those this season, but it felt different here. Especially after they made sure to clean up the cliffhanger from last week’s episode. Because as many LOT fans were thinking, breaking a key moment in history would break reality and that goes directly against the mission of the Legends, so why in the world was Gideon suggesting it?

Simple, because she KNEW that doing it would force the Fake Legends to appear and “fix the timeline” and then they could get their timeship back. A refreshingly simple plan, even if there are some issues with it but this time…I’ll let it slide.

Which led us to the first of many fun twists. Not the least of which was the “Fixed Point Bar” where a bunch of time travelers try and stop the same sequence of events as the Legends, but fail…every time. And the Legends have to partake in the “game” if they want to try it, and they do…and fail, repeatedly. Because “time” won’t let them stop this fixed point for obvious reasons. Having Sara do the missions in a “Live. Die. Repeat.” kind of way (also called Edge of Tomorrow if you recall) because of her alien healing (still mad she’s part-alien for the record) was a clever use of her new abilities as well as putting a mental weight on her when no matter what she does or how prepared she is…she fails.

Seeing the team come together to help support her was good and felt VERY Legends (unlike last episode…and the one before that…), so I appreciated it. And then the Thawne twist? Yeah, that was something.

You might even think, “you hated that, didn’t you?” If they played it as a cameo, then yes, I would’ve. But instead, they tied it to the lore and made it clear how THIS Thawne is doing what he’s doing and WHY he’s doing it. They explained it rather well and it makes sense that the Time Wraiths would want to help keep the timeline safe via characters like Thawne (more on this later though). Him and Sara going from fighting to bartering and finding a better solution was a nice little cheat to helping both sides win, potentially of course, we still have to see how this played out.

Another rather surprisingly good part of the episode was the sideplot of Quinn and Ava trying to figure out how to save his love and complete his “divine mission”. The twist here is that Quinn is fine with not just saving his man, but living without him because he truly believes that him loving another man was a true “sin against God” and thus his “divine punishment” was to live without him.

This was a DEEP thing they dove into, and it could’ve easily gone wrong, but instead…they did it the right way, and sent a message that many (including certain people I know in my own family) should hear. Because for untold years, one of the biggest qualms against open LGBTQ+ relationships was that of it being a “holy sin”, but as Ava pointed out, no matter what God you worship, you should be allowed to love. Love is love…is love…is love. And that was a beautiful way of doing it, saying it, and having Ava saying it really shows how far her character has come because she was once “all business” and now is living proof that even the most unlikely person can find true love and enjoy it without fear. So why not him?

I legit felt myself welling up at this scene because…it was beautifully done.

Heading to the not the best stuff, I do feel that Spooner’s “coming out” was a bit squashed in. I didn’t mind her and Zari 2.0 bonding per se (though certain parts were a bit on the nose…), but her going from “coming out” to “there’s the bad guy!” felt like a rushed moment when it should’ve been a more momentous moment, not unlike the scene with Ava and Quinn. Plus, it felt odd that the two were “still feeling each other out” when they’ve been on the Waverider for a while, just saying.

Also, the “bullies” that had a 180 on a dime were just…poorly placed. They were literally there to shame them, and then randomly come through for them in the clutch? No.

Oh, and Gideon? I really don’t like what she’s become. And no, not just because of her relationship with Gary (which is terrible and I still want to kill Gary Green), but because of how they’re portraying her. It’s just…dumb, it’s really dumb.

Finally, and I’m going outside of LOT for this, Thawne noted that he was put at the fixed point to ensure that the future continued, and by that logic, there are other fixed points out there that shouldn’t be messed with. One of which is no doubt the birth of The Flash in Barry Allen. And yet, the point of Armageddon (if there was a point to Armageddon…) was that Reverse-Flash was able to undo fixed points in time so that he could make his Reverse-Flashpoint. Not to mention, we’ve seen universe-altering things happen multiple times so…are we to believe that those Fixed Points could be changed, but not this one? Also, doesn’t this mean there are OTHER fixed point bars out there for the other key events? Yes, I’m getting into timey-wimey stuff, but it does make you wonder.

Even with those questions in mind, “The Fixed Point” was a true return to form for LOT and I hope that next episode builds upon this momentum because this season needs it.

OH! And props to former LOT Maisie Richardson-Sellers for directing this episode! You did great!

4/5

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!