Legends of Tomorrow was only off air again for one week because of the extended Arrow finale, but it’s still annoying – fortunately it’s back now with the aptly named “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me,” and hopefully that’ll be enough interruptions for now. This week, most of the gang went to Los Angeles, 1947, to tackle the resurrected Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and his magic gun, while Nate accompanied Behrad to visit his family – thereby introducing us to the altered timeline’s Zari.
0. New Opening Credits, Who Dis?
(Yes, this is only here at the start so you don’t think I forgot.) We got a new opening sequence! It’s very scrappy and punk rock, finally reflecting how the show has become less pretentious over the years, as well as the addition of Constantine and Charlie (who’s still awol this week). It’s cool, it’s ok, it’s still very short.
1. Constantine Plays American Detective
While in Golden Age Hollywood, Constantine poses as the murdered P.I. Webb to get close to Jeannie Hill, a young budding actress who was taken advantage of by Siegel, and who knows he’s supposed to be dead. It was pretty hysterical hearing Constantine put on an utterly unconvincing American accent, but it highlighted how, in every other respect (from his clothes to his attitude), John’s always basically been an Englishman playing an early 20th century gumshoe, a wannabe Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe who happens to be an exorcist – this environment was a perfect fit for him and I’d love to see him in more film noir-style tales.
2. Ava is a Real Legend
Ava was just great this week, and I’m not just talking about her drunken singing that forces everyone out of Bugsy’s bar and allows Sara and Mick to discreetly tackle the gangster. (I may be a bad singer/writer/everything, but at least no one’s ever said I was worse than when “the Hindenburg went down.”) I loved her conversation with Mick at the bar as they kept a lookout, confiding in her sense of aimelessness now that the Time Bureau is officially dead in the water, as it was an amazing contrast from their awful first dinner as friends. Her waking up on the Waverider and swiping Mick’s bottle – even though he’s spat in it (old prison habit)! – demonstrates she really is a loser now, so congratulations Ava: you’re officially a Legend!
3. The Last Honest Cop in LA
While Constantine plays hard boiled invesigator, Ray poses as a police officer to try to obtain Bugsy’s weapon after he’s arrested following a confrontation with Mickey Cohen’s goons. This being LA in the ’40s, the police department is filled to the brim with corruption, and Bugsy’s arrest amounts to a minor warning. Even when Ray thinks he’s met an honest cop named Sullivan, it turns out he’s also in on a plot to kill Jeannie before she can use a stash of incriminating evidence Bugsy hid. Cuffed to a steering wheel, Ray is unable to warn Constantine that Jeannie’s car is rigged to explode before it’s too late: afterwards, a forlorn Constantine grimly remarks, “Forget it Ray, it’s Burbank.”
On returning Bugsy to Hell, Constantine mulls using his gun on Astra and ending these disruptions to history permanently, but he knows avenging Jeannie like that won’t do anything, since alive or dead, Astra has accumulated too much influence in the underworld. Ray congratulates John on doing the right thing, pointing out how happy he and Nora are now, but Constantine remarks he’s doing as much for himself as for Astra. I think the contrast between Ray’s optimism and Constantine’s cynicism is definitely one of my favorite dynamics on the show, and I’ll miss it greatly when Routh departs the show this season.
4. Smarter Than It Looks
Legends of Tomorrow has always been a pretty progressive show, willing to bust our romantic conceptions of the past, and provide better representation than a lot of more high-minded shows (ever since Sara and Jax called out Stein’s rose-tinted vision of the racist, biphobic ’50s in season one). The idea this week that Jeannie had been exploited by Bugsy demonstrated how #MeToo isn’t just a post-Hays Code problem, but always has been an issue in the workplace, Hollywood or not.
Continued belowOn a much more pleasant note, I loved how much Farsi dialogue there was during the scenes with Behrad and Zari’s parents – outside of any terrorist-related TV show, how much Farsi have you ever heard on an American TV show?!
5. Screaming
So speaking of the Tomaz family, I can safely say despite her lighter hair, and her higher-pitched social media persona, Zari the influencer is still very much Zari the hacker. She’s the same old wise soul, embarrassed that she’s still famous for having a pet dragon as a girl, and well aware her brother stole the Air Totem and is definitely not attending business school. She’s also suspicious of Nate, eventually realizing he and her brother were both at Heyworld, prompting Behrad to transport her to the Waverider to explain. The episode ends with Zari freaking out in terror as she realizes she is outside time and space and without any phone reception – all I can say is welcome (back) to the Legends Zari, hope you survive the experience (again)!
Bonus thoughts:
– “We’re gonna need a bigger pantry”: Constantine tasting people’s remains just makes me laugh out loud everytime now.
– I kept waiting for Bugsy to say Sara was laying the old school lingo on too thick, apparently she has just the right amount!
– Ray saying he was sent by Deputy Chief Wiggum made me laugh more than it should have.
– Haley Strode (Jeanie) previously played young Dolores Mentallo on Doom Patrol (she’s got one of those Golden Age Hollywood faces I guess).
See you all next week folks! Thank goodness the State of the Union didn’t delay this one this week.
