LONG LIVE THE CORGI - When the Legends discover a fugitive is hiding in 1970’s London, they realize he is part of a gang that is targeting the British Monarchy. Trying to stop the gang, they realize someone from the Legends must infiltrate them. Surprising everyone, Ray is the one to gain their trust after he is put through a series of tests with help from Sara and Rory. Meanwhile, Gary shows Nate the ropes at the Time Bureau, but it turns out to be anything other than an ordinary day at the office.
Enter “Charlie”. So the Legends pick up yet another misfit. That was certainly a creative way to introduce a new character while keeping the same actress, perfectly in keeping with what’s already been previously established. Great callback to “Here I Go Again”. Shapeshifting seems like it would be a useful ability when battling a magical fugitive but Constantine took it away. Hopefully Charlie has other abilities. Does Maisie Richardson-Sellers get to speak in her native accent now?
The lunch lady “Mona” that Gary zapped MiB-style is also supposed to be a new cast member, although my understanding is that she’s supposed to be called “Alaska Yu”.
Poor Nate still hasn’t gotten over Amaya and now there’s an Amaya lookalike on the Waverider. It looks like he’ll be stuck in the Time Bureau a little while longer. He’s also missing his time bro Ray (or rather Rayge) and has to settle for Gary, of all people. It did seem like they had a good time fighting Audrey II.
She saw Amaya in the picture from the newspaper. Ray pointed out each of the people and told her about them. When he pointed out Amaya, he said something like “she’s our moral center, but not with us anymore.” So she saw Amaya from the front and is making some guesses about the 3d version.
MEMORIES FOR A LIFETIME - When the Legends discover that kids at a summer camp have disappeared, Sara, Ava, Ray and Constantine find themselves as the new camp counselors. At camp, Ava struggles to get along with the kids, but Constantine whips up a potion that helps Sara and Ava bond with the children. Luckily, the team finds clues to the whereabouts of the missing kids, but the battle to save them leaves one member in bad shape. Meanwhile, Rory and Zari are tasked with watching the fugitive and Rory finds a kinship with their “prisoner.”
Pretty low key but absolutely solid episode. It was written and shot like the cheap teen slasher flicks it was emulating, with minimal special effects and not showing the monster until the absolute last minute. The kids they got play Sara and Ava were great. It must have been difficult to stage a fight scene with child actors, especially on a TV budget, but they pulled it off.
…I’m in awe with what they’ve managed to turn Legends into.
I struggled with the first season. I only stayed around because of Arthur Darvill: I was missing 11 and Rip Hunter was the closest I was going to get. But from season 3 onwards its just been a new show. Not afraid to reinvent itself. Not afraid to get rid of characters, bring characters back, or turn a character inside out. And season 4 is better than 3. Its such great and fearless writing now: not trying to insert pointless drama but focusing on the characters, the relationships, and bringing the funny.
And there was a pitch-perfect shout-out to the AV Club last week: the review of the monster movie was actually a pull-quote from an AV Club review from a first season episode: that got a well deserved D+ Turns out the writer of that badly reviewed episode also wrote the latest episode, and the episode that got the D+ was also the first thing he had written for television.
The latest got a well deserved A- . That’s just brilliant.
This show has gone full meta, hasn’t it? From Ray commenting that they need to get their ratings up in the first episode of the season, and now this.
That article also has a link that explains why Nick Zano was absent this episode. His wife delivered a baby that went straight into NICU, then into surgery, then into another surgery. Both mother and infant are now doing well.
SOMETHING’S FISHY - A new fugitive is on the loose in 1951 Tokyo and Sara, Zari, Rory and Charlie try to capture it. As Constantine struggles to recover, Ray knows that magic might be the only thing that can save him but must look outside the team for help. Meanwhile, Ava joins Nate and his family for an unconventional Thanksgiving dinner.
That is exactly how this episode is entitled - with three exclamation points!!!
Tagumo is a good name. It seems to have been created in the same way Godzilla was. Tako + Kumo == Tagumo the same way Gorira + Kujira == Gojira. Onlike Goji-Kun, though, Tagu-chan has retained the original named elements - it’s an octopus (tako) who appears to have a spider (kumo)-like carapace…but Godzilla definitely isn’t a gorilla-whale (gorira kujira).
I looked it up: Ishiro Honda, the hapless filmmaker featured in the episode, did indeed create Godzilla in 1954. We can thank Mick Rory for that. I liked how they shot the Tokyo scenes to mimic the cheap color film stock of the 1950s, with flat lighting and desaturated color. And they went to the trouble of staging a kaiju fight in the miniature destructible Tokyo, with Rory’s triple-breasted warrior woman no less.
I thought Biff Tannen was just going to be fanservice for a couple of episodes, but it looks like he’s going to sticking around for a while longer. Does he think he can control all the fugitives with food?
SHOCKED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN -* When Hank Heywood (guest star Tom Wilson) confronts Ava about the spending habits of the Legends, Nate steps in to try and smooth things over by inviting Hank on to the Waverider. The Legends then show Hank what they do by visiting 1920s Paris, trying to capture the newest Fugitive. Meanwhile, Mona is trying to make a good impression with Ava, but her over eagerness gets her and Ava stuck in a cell instead.*
This one was just a comedy of errors, wasn’t it? And it was glorious, from Sara in lingerie to Hank singing James Taylor. I mean, every Legends mission (after Season 1) is pretty much a comedy of errors, but this one even more so. Even Gideon got in a few good zingers.
Ava, Nora, and Mona had a better “Girls Night Out” than The Flash episode of the same name. I think Mona is going to fit right in. I hope she gets to go on a few missions.
Turns out the writer of that badly reviewed episode also wrote the latest episode, and the episode that got the D+ was also the first thing he had written for television.