“Camelot/3000†gave us two very different time periods to explore with the Legends, a futuristic setting which comes with its own share of problems (and solution) and the fantastical Arthurian era of Camelot. This episode did a great job of giving strong plot points with a variety of characters, especially Ray Palmer, Mick and Martin Stein.
The jaunt into 3000 was little more than a quick stop, but we did learn some great details about how the episode would unfold. Dr. Midnite was in the year 3000 where he was hiding a piece of the spear. Before the Legion could get to the spear in the past, Rip split up the spear into various pieces and sent teams members’ of the JSA with them in the past and the future.
Once the crew catches up with Midnite, they find that he was killed by Darhk, who stole the piece of the spear. Luckily Martin Stein couldn’t overcome himself and stole a piece of tech from the future that would help them fight back against Darhk and Rip in the past.
A lot of the excitement revolving around Legends is the fact that they go to interesting eras throughout history, but this time they go to Camelot; interesting surely, but not necessarily an actual part of history, something which Nate hilariously points out time and time again.
Camelot creates that perfect medieval feel with King Arthur’s court and Galahad and all. All the characters really seem to fit into and have a great time with the time period, but none of the Legends match Ray’s enthusiasm. Ray has been the one hero that would always enjoy going to real locations even though the future hangs in the balance. First it was the Wild West, but he goes all in here. At one point he even creates a saber made of light, ahem, a light saber.
The Legends’ goal was to initially find the tip of the spear, but things spiraled much further and turned into a flair tale. In this era, Stargirl was portraying Merlin, the mystical wizard, while protecting the spear. The Legends were able to get the spear with some fancy fighting from all involved, including Stargirl. Rip’s mind controlling device was interesting and effective until Mick, Jefferson and Martin Stein figure out how to overload it.
I love how Stein is portrayed. He is this brilliant scientist who happens to have a huge ego. His ego made him think that it was his “brilliant†brain that would be strong enough to overload Rip’s henchmen, but Jefferson figured out quickly that the device wasn’t necessarily run by intelligence, rather by intensity. Watching Mick mind control Stein was definitely one of the more humorous aspects of the episode.
And for Ray, he got to live out his childhood fantasy of being a knight. Even though he should realize that putting his team in such a situation could have a disastrous outcome, he can’t overcome the urge to live out his boyhood fantasies.
Although the plot line was a bit subdued due to Ray’s kid-like excitement, Ialso enjoyed the back and forth between Amaya and Stargirl about what they should do with the spear and whether they should help King Arthur and his men or ditch out with the spear. It may be the theoretically correct decision to take the spear and run, but Stargirl made her home there and refused to leave. There was also no way that Ray was going to let Darhk and Rip’s army take over Camelot.
I’m still a bit iffy about the flip-flopping of Amaya. She goes from one extreme to another multiple times throughout the episode. I also hate the fact that the end scene features Jefferson essentially threatening Rip that he would kill him if need be. And then once he left, Rip got Gideon to let him out of the cell. For a group of supposed intelligent people, they really didn’t even think about reprogramming Gideon? I also wasn’t sure why we didn’t see the rest of the Legion of Doom considering they could have been pivotal to Darhk’s plans.
