This week on Legends of Tomorrow, the Waverider gang had to prevent the Cuban Missile Crisis from not resolving itself after Fidel Castro (Tim Perez) became convinced an alien pod in his backyard was a Bay of Pigs sequel. Nate and Zari infiltrated the White House, while Ava, Mick and Spooner tried to retrieve the alien, and Behrad attempted to mellow El Comandante.
1. Growing Pains for Mick
The main struggle in this episode was Mick trying to be more responsible after the inspiring speech Ava gave him last time, taking point after detecting the alien in 1962, only for his attempts to help to inadvertently lead him to deliver the Soviets’ nuke to Castro. His self-confidence wasn’t helped by Ava’s weirdly patronizing attitude: she was surprised to hear him using big words, which was bizarre considering he is a popular author. But by the end, Mick and Spooner convinced the alien to work with them, and removed the nukes from Castro’s missile, so yay for Rory: no one can say there’s no brains under his brawn after this.
2. Chill Out Castro
Behrad’s feeling out-of-place, apparently tired from all the hectic nonsense the crew gets up to, but the writers found an appropriate place for him: trying to placate Fidel with marijuana edibles, after being mistaken for Che Guevara. I thought the entire premise was great, but Behrad posing as Che’s cousin Jay Guevara was a groanworthy pun too, and it was topped off with a surprisingly profound musical montage, set to our resident stoner giving a lovely rendition of Cat Stevens’s “Peace Train.” It genuinely persuaded me that Castro was moved to forgive Kennedy until the alien attacked.
3. Literal Nuclear Football
We watch Legends of Tomorrow for wonderful, unexpected nonsense, and Nate lining up with John F. Kennedy (Aaron Craven)’s administration at the Oval Office desk, to tackle the warmongering General Kilgore (Nic Bishop)’s bunch for possession of the nuclear football, was exactly that. Zari using the Air Totem to keep the suitcase in the air? Fantastic. The notoriously unwell Kennedy suddenly hurting his back? Brilliant — and only possible on this show.
4. Nate/Not Zari
Well fancy that: Constantine wasn’t in this episode, so Zari was paired up instead with her predecessor’s love interest, Nate, which emphasized how much confusion he feels seeing a woman who resembles his lost love, but isn’t her. I’m glad Zari 1.0’s memory, and Nate’s unlucky romantic history, aren’t being swept under the carpet, and I’m very intrigued to see how this unusual love triangle (or, really, quadrangle?) develops and gets resolved.
5. MICK, NO
Mick’s deal with the alien involves him using the Waverider to help her find her ship alone, which is awkward given Spooner translated for him. Fortunately, she reveals a ring that transforms her into a human visage (Aliyah O’Brien), which Mick is awed by. Mick, no! Remember she’s a tentacle monster with chicken wings on her face, and a giant maw for a chest? Or maybe she’ll turn out to be your love interest: you are single after all, and who am I to stand in the way of true love? Legends everybody!
Bonus Thoughts:
– This is the first episode without Sara, which is a plus; no need to stretch out her storyline over every episode, otherwise it’d become butter over too much bread.
– It’s nice to know Putin is eventually ousted in… 2044.
– Aaron Craven’s JFK voice isn’t the best, but the President had such a distinct and distracting accent, I can understand not bothering with it that much.
– You’d think JFK would notice Zari is dressed exactly like his wife, right? It’s weird.
– This show is breaking all kinds of taboos with Mick assuming Spooner is having period pains, and mentioning his daughter’s struggles with those.
See you all in a couple of weeks, when we catch up with the Waverider-less Legends crashing at Constantine’s house in: “The Satanist’s Apprentice.”
