DC’s Legends of Tomorrow - S3E5 - Return of the Mack 

Previously on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, “Phone Home”

When Are We? 

1895 London

The Mission

Nate discovers an outlier in his map of Legends-caused anachronisms, and the team heads to 1895 to investigate: a vampire stalking the streets of London. There, they find Rip also hunting the vampire as he believes it’s being sought by Mallus, an ancient evil recruiting beings for its master plan… whatever that may be. In exchange for calling off the Time Bureau, the Legends agree to help Rip locate the vampire and trap Mallus.

Side Missions 

Turns out, there’s no vampire at all; just several people dabbling in the occult and in service of Mallus. The dead bodies drained of blood were their doing, using the blood to reanimate a dead body that fell from the sky. The body belongs to none other than Damian Dahrk (Neal McDonough). Sara doesn’t want to run the risk of Dahrk being resurrected, while Rip wants to use the resurrection ceremony to draw out Mallus. He uses yet another Gideon override command to trap the Legends on the Waverider while he and some Time Bureau agents ambush the ceremony.

Zari confronts the guilt she feels over fleeing instead of staying to fight A.R.G.U.S; something her brother did and died for it. A seer, Madame Eleanor (Courtney Ford), supposedly connects with her brother’s spirit to taunt her, but this seer is later revealed to be a disciple of Mallus.

Ray and Jax break Firestorm’s psychic connection in the first step to figuring out how to separate them for good. Stein finds out and is insulted that Jax would attempt it behind his back.

Mission Report

Of course, Damian Dahrk is resurrected and immediately sets about killing Time Bureau agents as Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack” plays. It’s probably the best scene on television for all of 2017. He gets away with Madame Eleanor, but not before making sure the Legends know he remembers everything they did to him.

Amaya reveals their totem connection to Zari, who finally accepts that she was meant to have her brother’s totem. A bit harder to accept is the fact that she can’t go back in time to stop her family from dying to begin with.

Stein eventually agrees to help Jax separate them, and acknowledges that Jax was doing what he thought was best.

Sara, done with being betrayed by Rip, alerts the Time Bureau to his actions and he’s detained. As repayment, the Bureau agrees to stop hunting the Legends.

I’ve watched this episode more times than I’m comfortable admitting. It’s just so damn good. Dahrk’s PalmerTech smartwatch was swiped by a coroner when his body was discovered. Its alert being “Return of the Mack” is what tipped off the Legends he had it, then Nate sings it as he’s tied to a table waiting to be experimented on by Stein’s ancestor (also played by Garber), and finally, we’re blessed with the song as Damien Dahrk takes great pleasure in killing people just mere moments after being brought back to life. Awesome.

Mick’s obsession with killing vampires was also funny and played to great effect when he’s disappointed to learn there will be no vampire staking on the mission. Also, how adorable was he in his reading glasses as he devoured Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”?

Guest star Courtney Ford played Madame Eleanor with such devilish glee. She was also thoroughly convincing when Mallus spoke through her to taunt Rip, licking her teeth like a true predator.

However, my favorite moment of the episode had to be when the team is bracing themselves for impact after Sara instructs Gideon to fire on the Waverider’s cargo hold as it’s the only way they can create an exit from the ship. Ray asks if they should all hold hands. Mick slaps his hand away, and Nate snaps, “This isn’t Toy Story 3,” yet reaches out to hold Ray’s hand anyway. Bless.