The first broadcast episode will be the crossover episode “Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 5” on Jan 14, 2020, immediately succeeding Part 4 of the crossover. The season itself premieres the week after, on Jan 21. (It’s complicated.)
Cast changes: Olivia Swann will be added to the main cast, playing Astra Logue. This will be Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/Atom) and Courtney Ford’s (Nora Darhk) last season as series regulars.
Last season saw some time travel shenanigans that caused Zari to have been never recruited by the Legends; her brother Behzad was recruited in her place. Also Astra Logue released from Hell some of Earth’s most notorious historical villains, like Genghis Khan, Joseph Stalin, and Charles Manson. Lastly, the Time Bureau was shut down, causing director Ava Sharpe to become unemployed.
Season 4 was not particularly good - too much werewolf Mona, for one, and silly Gary, for another. I’m hoping Season 5 corrects back to the heights of Season 2 & 3.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION - Sara, Ray and Mick are shocked to discover that the Legends have become famous. It seems that everyone except Sara is loving the spotlight, so much so that they invite a documentary crew on board the Waverider to film them as they investigate a strange new blip in the Timeline. The Legends discover that their new problem is none other than Rasputin, who happens to be straight out of hell, and it might be tougher than they thought. Meanwhile, Constantine thinks he knows the reason behind these new blips and informs the team that it won’t be easy to defeat.
Finally, the official season premiere! The Legends are going to have to deal with post-Crisis changes was well as timeline changes. Would it be too much to ask if the Crisis has restored Zari to the timeline?
Just when you think the Legends couldn’t get more meta, they go ahead and show some real-world YouTube reactors watching last season’s finale. They also have Nate saying, “Something doesn’t feel right,” as the still-MIA Tala Ashe’s credit appears on screen. Both of those in the opening two minutes.
Speaking of credits, Ramona Young is billed as “Special Guest Star”. I wasn’t aware that she was leaving the show. I was just getting used to Mona, too. She was certainly better this episode than the entire second half of last season. She certainly got the most fourth wall-breaking line, “The special effects were kinda questionable.”
Marvel fans were asking if Ant-Man would take out Thanos by flying up his butt and enlarging from the inside. That didn’t happen in Endgame so DC fans obliged them by having the Atom explode Rasputin. And then Constatine drinks some of Rasputin’s remnants so he can go into Hell.
The faux documentary actually served as a good introduction to what the show is all about. The Legends are back!
I like that the show doesn’t take itself too seriously. It makes all the inconsistencies palatable. It’s a good antidote to Supergirl and Arrow. Only Black Lightning handles serious well, IMNSHO.
CANOODLING WITH THE ENEMY - When a new blip lands the Legends in 1947 Los Angeles, it puts them on the trail of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (guest star Jonathan Sadowski) who seems to take pleasure in fraternizing with Hollywood Elite. Sara, Ray and Constantine devise a plan to capture him while Ava and Rory sit on the sidelines for the time being. They soon realize that they need to worry less about Bugsy and more about his girlfriend. Ava is struggling with being on the sidelines with Rory. Meanwhile, Nate accompanies Behrad (guest star Shayan Sobhian) to his dad’s birthday, where Nate meets Behrad’s sister, Zari, who seems familiar to him.
Wow, a hard-boiled detective noir. The dialogue and music were on point. Even Ava’s song didn’t sound too anachronistic plus, you know, it was a fantasy sequence. (I agree it was hilarious.) I would have preferred that the lighting have been darker and moodier. They did get some parts right, notably Constantine’s encounter with Bugsy’s girlfriend.
When Zari rewrote the timeline last season, I was questioning how well her brother would work in her place. I shouldn’t have been so concerned. Behrad has fit in the Waverider like he’s always been another time bro, which in this timeline he has. It’s going to be fascinating how they bring Zari 2.0 into the fold.
Random thoughts:
Holy crap, we got to see both the Atom shrinking AND Nate’s powers in the first ep. Did they just blow through the entire special effect budget?
I think they leaned too far into the supernatural the last season, but the premise this season seems to be the perfect combination of supernatural + time travel.
Glad to see Nate back on the Waverider.
I wonder how they’re going to handle all the baddies, with no Time Bureau to keep them at.
Apparently Charlies actress is filming a movie which is why she took off at the start. Did the writers forget she’s a shapeshifter?
I’ve never been the biggest Zari fan but I hope they get her back to normal soon.
Constantine’s starting to get into the time travel business with his fake accent. Someone get that man a costume.
SURVIVING FAMILY - When the Legends discover a new Encore, Sara, Rory and Ava end up crashing a high school reunion to attempt to stop a serial killer from finishing unfinished business. The Legends devise a plan to send Nate, Ray, Nora, Behrad (guest star Shayan Sobhian) and their hostage Zari, back in time to try and intervene in order to try to save everyone including them. Meanwhile, Constantine is annoyed that Charlie has been squatting in his old home, but it might be the blessing in disguise they were not looking for.
Genre of the week: 80’s slasher flick. Or pretty much any 80’s teen movie, from Revenge of the Nerds to Footloose. The Encore of the week was the Prom Night Slasher aka Freddy Myers, whose name is a combination of Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street and Mike Myers from Halloween. Or rather, the real killer was Freddy’s mom, which I should totally have seen coming.
We finally got Courtney Ford back and she was great. Nora has really turned over a new leaf from when she was Damien Darhk’s daughter. Masie Richardson-Sellers is also back from filming in South Africa. It doesn’t seem that Charlie has changed much.
Zari seems to be slowly coming around, which is good since I don’t much like the vapid iZari. Plus it looks like we’re going to be keeping Behrad for a while. I note that their last name in this timeline is Tarazi, while in the original timeline it was Tomaz. They no longer need to hide their religion.
I usually find LoT amusing, and I found this episode amusing, but I want these shows to still tell an over-arching story that is going somewhere. I feel the season story is moving too slowly, and if history of television is any indication, will end up being rushed in the last 2-3 episodes.
This is the third series I know of featuring Dominic Purcell, and he is so, so, so much better and personable here than I’ve seen anywhere else. He’s the hero of LoT. They always give him enough camera time to leave me wanting more, which is good, and rarely too much that I tire of him.
WHEN THE CAPTAIN’S AWAY - When Sara is called away on business, she leaves Ava in charge and Ava tries to impress the team as they try to take on their latest Encore, Marie Antionette. With Zari still on the ship, Behrad (guest star Shayan Sobhian) convinces the team to bring her along on the mission which they all hope isn’t a mistake. Meanwhile, Constantine finally confronts someone from his past with the help of Charlie, which leads him on a journey through his past.
Behrad really fits well with the team. For all that he’s a new character, he acts like he’s always been with the Legends. Which, in this new timeline, he’s supposed to be, so that’s some great writing right there. We’re slowly getting old Zari back, with the red flannel, the donut and the hair. Is it possible that we can keep both him and Zari?
I don’t think they quite explained why Marie Antoinette looked like Nora. Also why she’s still alive after losing her head. And what’s with the bad French accent? The real Marie Antoinette (as mentioned in the episode) was from Vienna, so she should have a bad German accent.
Charlie absconding with the jumpship and winding up in Constantine’s place was actually part of the main plot of saving Astra. Charlie destroyed the Loom of Fate and scattered the parts throughout the multiverse. Could current events be somehow a consequence of Crisis, since the old multiverse was integrated into a single Earth Prime.
Ray at one point video chats with Nora and asks something like, “Are you sure you’re not related to Marie Antoinette? Because she looks just like you!” Other than that, no, I don’t think there was any explanation.
Pure fanspec: we already know that various alternates have dopplegangers who are completely different people (Earth-1 Ray Palmer and Earth-96 Clark Kent, for example), and we know that a number of Earths were combined into Earth Prime, so maybe Marie Antoinette from another timeline was a doppleganger of Nora, and that Marie Antoinette got folded into the new post-Crisis Earth Prime?
The real reason, I would bet, is that the writers and producers are simultaneously trying to give the actress more screen time (Courtney For is a series regular now, isn’t she?) while minimizing Nora Dahrk’s appearances, as they’re already having trouble juggling all of the main characters.
As to how she survived beheading - she’s an Echo. Echoes can’t be killed. Rasputin survived being exploded into meat jelly (he’s still alive, just packed into mason jars).
I somehow thought that Rasputin would reconstitute himself. Else, why pack him into separate jars? I don’t think that jelly-Rasputin would be a very formidable opponent.
Incidentally, they’re called “Encores”. Like an act that’s finished its performance and gone off the stage, but then comes back for more.
A STEP AHEAD - *With Sara still away from the Waverider, the Legends find a new Encore with Ava’s new invention, the Prognosticator, and must now try to defeat Genghis Khan in 1990s Hong Kong. Constantine’s life is hanging in the balance, and Ray, Nora and Gary all try to help him, but Constantine tries to make a deal with Astra instead. Meanwhile, Behrad has been confused about Charlie’s recent behavior, but they all learn why Charlie is trying to out run her past and from what. *
This week’s genre: John Woo Hong Kong action, complete with guns blazing all over the place, a Mexican standoff, and doves flying through frame for no reason (other than that it’s cool). Also, Mongols on scooters. Caity Lotz directed the episode and she really had her work cut out for her.
I like how they incorporated Maisie Richardson-Sellers’ absence into Charlie’s storyline, and that she has some history with Behrad. It just sells the conceit that Behrad has always been a part of the team.
Charlie being a literal Fate was rather unexpected. The Greek Fates were traditionally Clotho the spinner (who Charlie is supposed to be), Lachesis - who measured the thread of life, and Atropos - who cut it. Together they wove every mortal and immortal’s destiny. That the once scattered pieces of the Loom of Fate have come back together is indeed a consequence of the Crisis.
