Line #21 Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS3E6HelenHunt


1	The Legends travel to UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood to retrieve a time-misplaced Helen of Troy. Things get complicated when they run into the Cult of Mallus.
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4	!!Tropes:
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6	* AmazonBrigade:
7	** Sarah, Amaya and Zari teaming up to take down a bunch of goons with guns.
8	** Also, where Helen ends up at the end of the story.
9	* AppleOfDiscord: Appropriately enough, Helen is this. Her beauty inspires aggressive jealousy in all men who see her, leading nonexistent to minor conflicts to escalate into wars. [[SoBeautifulItsACurse Helen laments this]], and abhors the prospect of being sent back to Troy.
10	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Both Helen of Troy and probably the Trojan War itself never actually existed in real life and are purely elements of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]], most notably in the poems of Creator/{{Homer}}.
11	* AsHimself: An in-universe example, Helen is immediately cast as herself after wandering onto the set.
12	* BeamOWar: Between Firestorm and Dahrk + Eleanor.
13	* BerserkButton:
14	** Amaya is furious that Kuasa is using the Water Totem for evil, instead of using it to protect people.
15	** Don't remind Darhk that Oliver killed him. He's not over it.
16	* BlessedWithSuck: Helen ''hates'' being the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman because it causes men to fight to the death all around her.
17	* ConvenientComa: Sara is left in one at the end of the episode after nearly being killed by Eleanor.
18	* ADayInTheLimelight: Firestorm taking on Stein's body, a chance for the soon-departing Victor Garber to be part of the action in a powered capacity.
19	* DentedIron: Stein is an old man, and superheroics are taking a toll on him, which is another reason why he wants to leave the ''Waverider''. While Jax's mind is in his body, we learn for the first time that Stein has arthritis, and is also prone to frequent urination.
20	* DistractedByTheSexy: The men on the Warner Bros. studio set either bumped into someone or crashed into something all because they're mesmerized by Helen of Troy. The men of the ''Waverider'' crew are likewise not immune. Averted with any women in her vicinity (even Sara, despite her bisexuality), which gives Zari the idea to drop Helen off on [[LadyLand Themyscira, island of the Amazons]].
21	* DoubleMeaningTitle: A combination of the hunt for Helen of Troy, and the name of [[Creator/HelenHunt a famous actress]].
22	* DudeNotFunny: Both Jax and Stein are not amused when Nate starts laughing his ass off about their swapped body situation.
23	* DudeWheresMyReward: Subverted. Hedy gives Jax a peck on the cheek, and Stein assumes he's not going to get one and is annoyed, only he does and Hedy playfully admits that she prefers older men.
24	* TheDulcineaEffect: Helen has this on literally every man she meets.
25	* DullSurprise: Eleanor and The Legends' reaction to Jax and Stein's body swap is very bland. On the other hand, Nate and Darhk [[ActuallyPrettyFunny laugh their asses off at the situation]].
26	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Eleanor, whom Darhk calls the "apple of [his] eye", is devoted to her father, as shown by how she steps in to save him from Sara.
27	* ExactWords: Darhk said he wouldn't use ''his'' magic in his duel with Sara. Eleanor on the other hand....
28	* FreakyFridayFlip: The experiment to transfer the whole Firestorm powers to Jax end up resulting in Stein and Jax switching bodies. Referenced by name immediately.
29	* {{Flynning}}: Sara and Damien's duel. Fitting for an episode in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood.
30	* GeekyTurnOn: Stein has a crush on Creator/HedyLamarr, both a talented actress and inventor.
31	* HehHehYouSaidX: Jax's reaction after Stein says that both of them don't enjoy being ''inside'' each other.
32	* HollywoodScience: If actual history is any indication, someone else would have ended up discovering the same principles that Hedy Lamarr invented, either at almost the same time or, at the very worst, within a few decades. It's almost never accurate to call anybody "the person who invented X;" more correct would be to say that they are "the person who invented X ''first.''"
33	* InternalReveal:
34	** Amaya finds out Kuasa is from Zambezi, wields a totem, and is her granddaughter.
35	** Sara finds out that Eleanor is Darhk's daughter.
36	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Leading directly to VillainExitStageLeft, below.
37	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Sara learns of Jax and Stein's body-swap, she remarks that it, ''"must be Tuesday"''. Given that, in the US, ''Legends'' is broadcast on Tuesdays...
38	* LoopholeAbuse:
39	** During his duel with Sara, Dahrk agrees not to use magic. His ''own'' magic that is; Eleanor using her magic to stop Sara from killing Dahrk is still fair game.
40	** Noting that the historical record shows Helen disappeared partway through the Trojan War but that it did not change the course of the war itself, and being unwilling to force her back into a life she hates, Zari still returns Helen to her own time, but in a place far away from Troy.
41	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The fact that Helen's beauty entrances every single man who sees her and ''only'' men (Sara barely gives her a second glance) implies that she might have some supernatural ability to charm men that she is unaware of. It's never examined in depth.
42	* MeaningfulEcho: "Sometimes you have to be crazy if you want to burn bright."
43	* MeaningfulName: The episode title is both literal (hunting for Helen of Troy) and the [[Creator/HelenHunt prolific actress of the same name]], alluding to its Hollywood setting.
44	* MundaneSolution: Hedy's solution for dealing with the body swap: have Jax and Stein merge to become Firestorm. This was actually suggested by Jax earlier, but rejected by Stein.
45	* MythologyGag:
46	** The Hollywood studio they visit is Creator/WarnerBros, producers of the show. We even get a nice, lingering shot of [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} the water tower]] as the episode starts. The title card even has the 1990s era "Time Warner Entertainment" byline (back then most of Time Warner's non-print assets were in a joint venture with phone company US West, hence the slightly different nomenclature; this got dropped after the AOL merger and the JV was dissolved in 2003 after Comcast, who inherited the stake via various mergers, sold it back to TW).
47	** When Jax and Stein merge to restore themselves, the resulting Firestorm has Stein's face and dominant mind. Stein was the main Firestorm (instead of an "advisor" mind) during the nineties.
48	** At the end of the episode Zari takes Helen to Themyscira, home of the Amazons and Franchise/WonderWoman.
49	** Cecil B. [=DeMille=] runs into Ray and remarks on Ray's appearance, and offers him a possible starring role that Cary Grant turned down. Christopher Reeve based his performance as Clark Kent in his Superman movies from Grant's performance in ''Bringing Up Baby'', meaning Brandon Routh did the same in ''Superman Returns''.
50	* NobodyPoops: Jax mentions how often he has to use the bathroom, being stuck in Stein's older body.
51	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent:
52	** In real life, Hedy [=LaMarr=] was from Austria and spoke with an Austrian accent. Here, Celia Massingham uses an American accent for the role (though the actress herself is Australian).
53	** Helen's accent is far from Greek, too, even after she gives up the pretense of being a Hollywood actress. {{Justified\|Trope}} in that previous episodes have established that time-travel sometimes causes you to speak the language of the time and place you end up.
54	* OhMyGods: Justified in Helen's case, as she comes from a polytheistic culture.
55	* PassingTheTorch: Stein is more than ready to give up his part of the Firestorm Matrix to Jax as he is weary of being on the ''Waverider''.
56	* RippleEffectIndicator: When Hedy Lamarr is drawn away from the path her life was supposed to take, many key components of the Waverider disappear, as without her making her contributions to the scientific community, the technological base those parts were developed from never came into existence.
57	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: At the end of the episode, Zari brings Helen to Themyscira instead of back to Troy, as she hates it there.
58	* SeriousBusiness: Stein gets very pissed about Helen screwing with the history of the Golden Age of Hollywood, especially sidelining his favorite actress Hedy [=LaMarr=].
59	* ShoutOut: ''Possibly'' a coincidence, but at one point Jax uses the phrase "[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Nasty in]] [[Recap/FuturamaS4E10TheWhyOfFry the past-y]]".
60	* ShutUpKirk: When Amaya calls Kuasa out on using a sacred totem for villainous ends, Kuasa retorts that Amaya isn't better, leaving Zambesi to travel through time with a RagtagBunchOfMisfits.
61	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Helen, quite literally. She's horribly distraught about the fact that men always start killing each other over her.
62	* SpecialEditionTitle: The opening title is a mockup of a Golden Age Hollywood film.
63	* SuicidalOverconfidence: Darhk boasts he doesn't need magic to kill Sara, seemingly forgetting [[Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS2E17Aruba the last time he fought her without magic]] she kicked his ass. Which she does again.
64	* TakeThat:
65	** When Hedy Lamarr mistakes him for a talent agent, Darhk states "I'm something far more ruthless than a Hollywood agent. If that's possible."
66	** Earlier in the episode, Nate mentioned how the Kardashians have ruined Hollywood.
67	* TemptingFate: Helen comments that at least in Hollywood, men aren't killing each other over her. Seconds later, two studios get into a gunfight over her.
68	* TrickedOutTime: "I hacked history!"
69	* VillainExitStageLeft: Darhk and his daughter teleport away after being overpowered by Firestorm.
70	* WhamLine: When Amaya reveals the Water Witch's name is Kuasa, Ray ''finally'' makes the connection to who she really is. He doesn't tell Amaya who she is until the end, and Kuasa beats him to it anyway.
71	* WhamShot: We see where Zari takes Helen at the end of the episode -- [[Franchise/WonderWoman Themyscira]].
72	* WhatTheHellHero:
73	** Averted, Amaya isn't mad that Ray never told her about Kuasa, since he was just doing his job protecting time.
74	** Played straight when Helen calls the heroes out for wanting to take her back to a place she vehemently doesn't want to return to. Luckily, Zari can find a loophole.
75	* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Helen of Troy, naturally.
76	* YouAreGrounded: Sara towards Mick, Nate and Ray after they started a fight over Helen.

Context Recap / LegendsOfTomorrowS3E6HelenHunt