Something curious happened to Legends of Tomorrow after season 4’s midseason break: the show, which was our second favorite comic book TV series of 2018, disappeared from our 2019 shortlist. That was probably because of the prolonged break until now, being outweirded by Doom Patrol, or the overemphasis on non-comic book characters in season 4’s second half, but in any case Legends season 5 has a lot to prove it hasn’t peaked at being TV’s most bananas superhero show. So, onto this week, where the Legends are famous now, and brought a crew to film them capturing the resurrected Rasputin in 1917 (as you do).
1. Behind the Laughter
The season opener takes on the mockumentary format pioneered by This is Spinal Tap, The Office et al., with filmmaker Kevin Harris being commissioned by Congress to ascertain whether they should continue funding the Legends. It feels awkward at first, which is generally the tone of a mockumentary, but moreso since this is Legends, which has always felt more cartoonish. Still, it’s an economic way to get the audience up to what Legends have been doing with their newfound fame (even if it’s a bit odd Constantine, who’s not technically a Legend, agreed to do it), and as this week’s adventure began to heat up and the music kicked in, it gradually felt more and more like the Legends we know and love, albeit with handheld cameras.
2. Behrad is Lit
We only got to meet Zari’s brother, Behrad Tarazi, briefly at the end of season 3 thanks to the abrupt rewrite of reality that swapped out his sister for him, but he quickly endears himself to us and already feels like a natural part of the gang – how can you not love a guy who uses time travel as an opportunity to show the documentary crew his newborn self in the maternity ward!? (Who needs baby photos, right?) He seems to be the Third Musketeer to Nate and Ray, and a smoking buddy for Sara too (that Air Totem sure is handy for driving out the stink of weed). I loved his conversation with Nate on the inversion table, it really felt like they do this thing regularly, and that cartoon he drew of Sara, Oliver and Laurel was adorable!
3. The Ghost of Oliver
Speaking of whom, there’s a strong attempt in this episode to reckon with Sara’s grief over the death of Oliver Queen in “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” as well as the trauma of everything else she witnessed during that event. The team’s spectacularly uncoordinated (and failed) attempt to get Rasputin is the result of them thinking Sara needs some space, which demonstrates sometimes the person you think needs to be left alone, actually needs you to be there with them all the way (something reinforced when the Legends join in on Sara’s own attempt to apprehend Rasputin goes south). It’s not all unexpected poignancy though – I audibly gasped when Ava reminded the audience Sara’s relationship with Oliver began when he was dating her sister.
4. Thanus
Before Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, there was a popular joke that Ant-Man would defeat Thanos by going inside him and then blow him up by turning into Giant-Man. (You can guess where he was supposed to go inside.) Here, Sara disables Rasputin (whose historically recorded superhuman strength is augmented to appropriately ludicrous levels) by tossing Ray into his mouth, and ordering him to expand – it’s an incredibly gross gag, with viscera splattered everywhere, but hey, it works! I felt later, when Constantine drinks Rasputin’s blood to return to Hell after finding out Astra was responsible, was even grosser and funnier, though Lord knows why – I basically do that during Communion after all.
Ray seemed pretty shaken about being used like that, although he got sometimes you have to use the lethal option, and besides, Rasputin wasn’t technically dead, he’s like a vampire, he’d reconsitute himself if the Legends hadn’t divided his remains between jars. That said, I can imagine something like this factoring into his character’s departure later this season. I wanna give him a hug right now, provided he still doesn’t smell like the inside of a debaunched monk.
Continued below5. OK, Uhuh
The Legends end the documentary arrangement by claiming to be frauds who use “questionable” visual effects, seemingly torching their popularity. I’m not buying that part right now, this is the world of the Flash (and now) Supergirl and Black Lightning, but I understand the writers only wanted to flirt with the idea of the Legends being famous for one episode, before returning them to being the lovable losers they are – I suppose the public will take the justification to deny whatever they can just to carry coping with this weird world.
Then, Mick tells Mona he wants to retire from being romance novelist Rebecca Silver, as it’s interfering with his thieving – I get a stolen Fabergé egg is worth more than his book revenues, but it feels like backtracking on his character development. However, he wants Mona to take over, and she decides to leave the Waverider to get the life experience needed to write well. Well, that’s an intriguing turn, but also feels like more backtracking, writing her out, given she’s one of the least popular characters. Also, while I understand the need to balance so many characters, it is weird this happened after Zari was written out, Charlie departed early this week on the jumpship, and Nora was busy being a Fairy Godmother: we better get a girl’s night out to balance things later this season.
Bonus thoughts:
– Nate doing Sara’s thing, brilliant.
– Ray called Superman handsome, that’s technically narcissism right?
– It’s neat how they keep swapping out Ramona Young with her height double Sisa Grey.
– Thanks for the mental image of baby Hitler vs. baby Stalin, Nate.
– I laughed when Ava greeted Rasputin as Anastasia, because I initially thought it was one of the guys under the veil (not something I’d put past the show).
– Constantine namedrops Hades, firstborn of Cronos, but I’m not getting my hopes up for the Greek gods to finally start figuring into the CW world.
All in all, not as strong as season 4’s opener, but still a delight – see you all next week folks.
It’s time to play the music
It’s time to light the lights
It’s time to meet the Legends on Legends of Tomorrow tonight.
It’s time to put on makeup
It’s time to dress up right
It’s time to raise the curtain on the Legends of Tomorrow tonight.
