Hello everyone, I’m your new reviewer for Legends of Tomorrow season three. While I don’t consider the show great television, I do get a great kick out of it as a Doctor Who and Star Trek fan, and it’s probably my personal favorite of the CW’s DC shows. It may not be as emotional as The Flash or Supergirl, but neither of those shows have Confederate slavers being killed by zombies, so there. Now let’s crack on:
1. Fake out
The season two finale seemingly implied all of time had crashed together ala the Doctor Who series 6 finale “The Wedding of River Song.” Arthur Darvill apparently couldn’t bear the thought of going through all that again so the Time Bureau show up to quickly clean up the mess and disband the Legends. It was to be expected really, given the cost of CG dinosaurs, that they wouldn’t be the main antagonists of this episode, so they are promptly exited stage left.
Instead we’re treated to our heroes trying to lead normal lives. Sara’s job leads to a (somewhat strong) violent fantasy oddly reminiscent of the big moment Rosa Diaz had in last week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Given the way the world is though, it’s no wonder all TV writers are letting actresses run wild with violent revenge fantasies. Of the lot, only Steel still plays superhero, which treats us to a lovely cameo from Wally West. Given I’d usually watch The Flash before Legends as it would air earlier in the week, this was a pleasant surprise. (The Bureau must’ve been so pleased Barry was no longer around mucking up the timeline.)
2. Great Caesar
Finally in Aruba, Mick finds himself greeted by Julius Caesar (Spartacus veteran Simon Merrells) on horseback. Sorry to get all linguistic, but I want to point out that when introducing himself, Caesar accurately pronounces his name as “Yulius,” given the Great Vowel Shift that gave us the “J” sound wouldn’t happen for centuries. However, he also calls himself “Caesar” with a soft-c, when it was pronounced “Kaiser” (yes those Germans were awfully pretentious). It’s a jarring inconsistency, one poor Victor Garber has to later explain away with a heck of an awkward line of exposition.
Caesar’s presence feels like an excuse for a) having Mick scoff Caesar salad, b) Ray and Nate shamelessly quote Ghostbusters and c) have an opportunity for someone to say “Great Caesar’s Ghost!” without using Perry White. He gets to play some mind games with Sara, preying on her ambitions to best Rip, allowing him to nick Nate’s book on his future. (Very Back to the Future II.) However, given how confidently Sara emerged from her confrontations with Caesar, it felt contrived, as if the twist only transpired because there were still 12 minutes left in the episode.
3. Mick continues to be the best
Let me list all the reasons I loved Mick this week:
– He rightly calls a Time Bureau agent a “damn missionary.”
– He nonchalantly commandeers the Waverider.
– He swipes right for Gideon on Not Tinder.
– He punches Caesar in the nose.
4. Gods and Amazonians
Caesar calls Sara an Amazonian, and I suppose she would have been tall for their time. It naturally opened my mind up to Themyscira in the CW Universe, which Warner Bros. would never allow, yet there’s so much you could do with Wonder Woman’s corner of the DCU without using her. Consider the Greek gods, whom Jefferson understandably mixes up with the Roman ones. How exciting would that be? I don’t know who Mallus is, therefore that don’t excite me, but the First Born would.
5. Home is where the journey is
The episode ended with everyone realizing their place is on the Waverider, flying through time and space. Yet I can’t help but feel Stein is being a little selfish. Everyone ages as they time travel, unless there’s some line from the first season I’ve forgotten, but in Stein’s case it’s more and more likely he’ll miss his time with his family. Hopefully upcoming episodes will consider the issue of him spending so much time away when he ought to be enjoying grandfatherhood.
Continued belowBonus thoughts:
– The Time Bureau are so much like the Men in Black they even have their own neuralyzer. Well at least someone remembered the film’s 20th anniversary.
– Was that that really the same King Arthur actor?
Next week: B’wana Beast.
