Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac

For other uses of Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac, see Mr. Parker's Cul De Sac (disambiguation).

"Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac"
Information
Season 5 » Episode 6
Episode number	74 of 110
Original airdate	March 10, 2020
Written by	Keto Shimizu James Eagan
Directed by	Ben Bray
Chronology
Preceded by	"Mortal Khanbat"
Followed by	"Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness"

"Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and the seventy-fourth episode overall. It aired on March 10, 2020.

Synopsis

Ray plans a date night for him and Nora, but all goes awry when an Encore shows up making the team think on their feet and create a lie to keep the Encore at bay. While trying to fool the Encore, Ava learns what Sara was really doing while she was away and confronts her. Charlie and Constantine make a deal to work together, which will benefit both of them. Meanwhile, Rory is upset when he gets negative comments about his book, so Zari helps track down who the critic is, and Rory gets more than he bargained for.[src]

Plot

In the scene, there were various brief clashes between the Legends and Damien, which at last brought about him doubting Nora's capacity. A solitary wish later, and Damien and the Legends were whisked away into Ray's preferred youth TV show, Mister Parker's Cul-De-Sac, a quite straightforward play on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. After the sort of wild trade that could extremely just occur on Legends, Damien sees the blunder of his ways and gives Ray and Nora his approval to wed.

The wedding is wonderful, with the remainder of the Legends commending their companions' affection, and Damien pulls Ray aside to demand that it's significant he take Nora off the Waverider and attempt to have an ordinary existence with her, so she can concentrate on fulfilling kids in her job as Fairy Godmother. This sets up the following week's tear-filled goodbye among Ray and the Legends, something that was evidently not well known in the background.

Having at long last given his girl harmony and joy - something he was always unable to accomplish for her when she was youthful and he ought to have been there for her - Damien escapes. After a short discussion with Sara (Caity Lotz) wherein he offers her his hand, and she rebukes him (he did, all things considered, slaughter her sister on Arrow), he goes out, having conceded that he knows only Hell is hanging tight for him and that Sara was likely right not to pardon him.

What Sara sees one minute past the point of no return is that Damien, on out, had taken the blade of Genghis Khan, one of the Hell weapons that won't simply kill the Encores yet totally annihilate their spirits, eradicating them from presence. Outside, Damien ends his own life before Sara can stop him, at last finishing the long curve that Legends started for him when they reintroduced his little girl to the arrangement.

Cast

Starring

• Brandon Routh as Dr. Ray Palmer
• Caity Lotz as Captain Sara Lance
• Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Charlie
• Tala Ashe as Zari Tarazi
• Jes Macallan as Ava Sharpe
• Courtney Ford as Nora Darhk/Fairy Godmother
• Olivia Swann (credit only)
• Amy Louise Pemberton as Gideon (voice)
• Nick Zano as Nate Heywood and Charlie
• Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory

Special appearance by

• Matt Ryan as John Constantine
• Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk

Guest starring

• Adam Tsekhman as Gary Green
• Shayan Sobhian as Behrad Tarazi
• Mina Sundwall as Lita
• Madeline Hirvonen as Pippa

Co-starring

• Lisa Marie DiGiacinto as Ali
• Erik Gow as Mr. Parker

Uncredited

• Johnathon Schaech as Jonah Hex (archive footage)
• Franz Drameh as Jefferson Jackson (archive footage)
• Tracy Ifeachor as Kuasa (archive footage)
• Bar Paly as Helen of Troy (archive footage)
• John Noble as Mallus (voice; archive recording)

Production

Preparation ran from August 30 until September 10, 2019. Shooting ran from September 11 until September 23, 2019.

Trivia

• This the highest rated episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow with a rating of 9.1 on IMDb.
• The episode's title is a reference to the TV series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The similarities between this and the program in the episode are as follows:
  • Both begin with the host (Mister Rogers/Mr. Parker) entering through the front door, singing the theme song, putting on a red cardigan, and changing his shoes.
  • The host speaks as though he is talking directly to the viewers.
    • However, while Mister Rogers used one-on-one terms (most notably "neighbor"), Mr. Parker speaks to multiple people (i.e. "boys and girls").
  • At some point, a mailman (Mr. McFeely/Behrad the bike man) arrives with a delivery.
  • The host uses the mailman's delivery (in Mr. Parker's case, the Safe Space Sombrero) and gives commentary.
  • A model train (the trolley/Gary the Unspeakable Train Abomination) takes viewers to a fictional world (Neighborhood of Make-Believe/Land of Make-em-Ups).
  • The fictional world has puppets (in Mr. Parker's case, Sara and Ava) and at least one human (Lady Aberlin/John) who teach viewers a specific skill (in this case, communication).
    • However, unlike Mister Rogers, Mr. Parker does not voice his own puppets.
• This episode was originally scheduled for March 3, 2020, but was later confirmed to air on March 10, 2020. This could be due to the Super Tuesday elections.
• After Nora suggests making a potion to strip Damien of his powers, Gary makes his presence in the room known, saying "I volunteer as tribute" (offering to make the potion); a reference to the Hunger Games trilogy.
• Mick's discovery of his daughter is similar to when Stein discovered he had a daughter in "Invasion!" after unknowingly inspiring his younger self in "Compromised" to be more attentive to his wife.
• When the Legends end up in the Land of Make 'em Ups and Constantine sees that Ava and Sara have become puppets, he says "Are you bloody kidding me? Puppets; again?" referring to the Puppets of Tomorrow timeline he experienced in the season 4 episode "Legends of To-Meow-Meow".
• Ironically, Gary begins the episode getting tied to the railroad tracks in Salvation by Damien Darhk and later gets turned into a toy train because of Pippa's wish.
  • When everyone goes back to normal after Pippa releases Nora as her fairy godmother, Gary says; "It worked! I'm not afraid of trains anymore." Presumably, his experience at the beginning of the episode left him with siderodromophobia.
  • Coincidentally, right before Gary encounters Damien when the latter is resurrected a short time after the Legends killed Mallus by turning into a giant Beebo (leaving chunks of Beebo's fur all over the ground around the spot where they killed Mallus, which Gary's working on tidying up) Gary sings "Oh, I've been cleaning up some Bee-bo; just to scrub the time anomalies awa-ay. Can't you see the blue fluff blow-ing", to the tune of the song "I've Been Working on the Railroad" as a parody of the aforementioned song.
• Damien walking Nora down the aisle is part of the "giving away", a wedding tradition in which a family member (usually the father) of the bride hands her off to the groom.
  • It's possible that Nate does something similar and acts as the replacement "family" by escorting Ray (suggesting that Ray asked Nate to be his best man), or they simply chose to walk together.
• Gary flickering in and out of existence due to events in 1874 with his 2018 self is similar to what happened to Ray in "Phone Home".
• Nate being turned into a smiling sun is a possible reference to the PBS Kids program Teletubbies.
• Sara says that a power like the Loom of Fate should not be used by anybody, possibly in reference to the Spear of Destiny.
• Sara has a job offer from Rene Ramirez a.k.a. Wild Dog from Star City. It's also a continuation of a plot thread from back at the beginning of the Season 3 premiere ("Aruba-Con", where Sara was unable to get a decent job because a) she was legally dead, and b) she was basically a non-existent person because of her time travel escapades. This time around she made sure to invoke the clause of having a friend in high places (the mayor) to get a better job offer.
• When Constantine is preparing to leave for Antarctica, Nate calls him Captain Cold, a reference to Leonard Snart who is a former legend. Ironically, Constantine appears to wear a winter coat which looks similar to Snart's coat. It's possible that Constantine was borrowing one of Snart's parkas in order to go to Antarctica or may have a similar spare. The former seems more likely, as Constantine also appeared to have Snart's goggles around his neck.
• This is the first episode in the series to take place in Salvation but not feature Johnathon Schaech as Jonah Hex.
  • However, he was seen in flashbacks, which are archive footage from "The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly".
• This episode marks the final appearance of Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk, respectively.
• Constantine tries using magic to combat Damien Darhk's powers as the latter is using magic to choke Ray, Damien shouts "Brexit!", and sweeps Constantine aside via telekinesis. "Brexit" is a term that refers to the UK's withdrawal from the European Union; said withdrawal first began in 2016.
  • Interestingly, the UK didn't begin separating from the European Union until late June 2016; about a month after Damien had been killed by Oliver Queen.
• Audio and video from the webisodes "Mr. Parker Fish Food" and "Mr. Parker After 5" can be heard in this episode.

Goofs

• Damien Darhk mentioned himself being in Hell for two years, however, he died in 1992 and chronologically, it is supposed to be 28 years ago.
  • Although this is accurate by real world view, as "The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly" aired in 2018, and for the Legends, two years have passed since then.
    • This is reflected in a caption when Sara and Ava save Gary from the train, where it reads, "Two years earlier, Legends time." It's likely that Damien simply meant that from Nora's perspective, he'd been gone two years.
• While fighting with Damien Darhk, Constantine mispronounces "heirloom" as "hair-loom" (pronouncing the "H", which is actually silent).
  • Additionally, Nate accidentally says that Ray is "growns up", unless this was intentional for comic effect.
• The montage of the Legends hugging right after the wedding is actually just multiple angles of the same shot, except for Nate and Ava's high-five.
• When Damien Darhk shows up at Constantine's house and tells Nora about how he's an Encore, he says "Look, all I know is, I'm up here right now as part of some soul-harvesting pyramid scheme. Honestly, I can't keep up with these millennials and all their newfangled world domination plans." However, the millennial generation encompasses those born between 1981 and 1996. Since Astra, who released Damien's soul from Hell, would've been born around 2005, this would make her part of Generation Z. Regardless, the mistake was reasonable since Astra appears as an adult woman and not a 15-year-old.
  • In a minority viewpoint, author Neil Howe, co-creator of the Strauss–Howe generational theory, defines the Homeland Generation as those born 2005 onwards. However, Howe described the dividing line between Millennials and Generation Z as "tentative", saying "you can’t be sure where history will someday draw a cohort dividing line until a generation fully comes of age" since people like Astra were still born in the early part of the new millennium.
  • It's also possible that the Crisis may have significantly changed Astra's date of birth; causing her to have been born several years earlier in the new timeline.
• Encores have previously been shown to appear in the time and place where they died. Damien Darhk was killed in Zambesi in 1992, but was resurrected in Salvation in 1874.
  • However, Damien's return as an Encore may have occurred in the way that it did due to the fact that Damien died upon Mallus taking over his body in 1992, with Damien returning instead a short time after Mallus was killed; making his resurrection in 1874 appropriate.

Gallery

Videos

DC's Legends of Tomorrow 5x06 Promo "Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac" (HD) Season 5 Episode 6 Promo