REVIEW: DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW - SEASON 5, EP: 1: "Meet The Legends"
Hey, kids! We are BACK for another calamity filled, racous, wild, crazy roller coaster ride with our time travellling friends, the Legends! When we left our rambunctious group of misfits, they had just saved the Earth from the menace of Neron. Zari had faded away into what was to become her brother, Behrad, and now our intrepied time masters are now famous celebrities! So, without further ado, let's check back in with our kitschy kids, and see what has transpired with them since their last battle, and the fallout from Crisis.
We begin our 5th season with documentary filmmaker Kevin Harris, following Team Legends, as they discuss themselves and their newfound celebrity. Ava Sharpe discusses helping a Senator from last year from being turned into a monster, and how they saved him, but he's not thrilled with them, and is looking to get the Waverider impounded. The Time Bureau is now defunt, and the team needs money, hence why she authorized this documentary. Nate discusses being left out of the crossover, how he had died for all of 2 minutes, loves being able to be a historian, time traveller, and owner of Heyworld---but he feels something is missing in his life. We get the "new" guy, Behrad Tomaz, who is the brother of Zari, talks about his journey to become part of the Legends. Charlie is very carefree about the whole ordeal. Says she only stayed around until she got her powers back, but kind of liked this group, so she's stuck it out. but then decides to take off for who knows where. We get Mona Wu, who has lycanthrope, and turns into a werewolf, is now Mick Rory's agent, and looking to better market his Rebecca Silver novels. She's quite aggressive in negotiations..causing her wolf side to emerge when angry.
Gary Green, the resdient klutz and stooge, talks about the year he had, what with trying to impress Ava at the Time Bureau, to assisting the Legends, and becoming possessed by Neron. He's now joining John Constantine on his missions, to which Constantine tells himn to get his rear in gear, and he's also not sure WHY he's dragged Gary OR the documentary crew with him.
Kevin then asks Ava about Sara and her response to the documentary crew. Ava admits that she hasn't discussed that with Sara yet. And she's going to spring it on her, as they prepare a party to welcome Sara, Ray, and Mick back from the latest crossover. She arrives, and they are happy to see her, but Sara isn't thrilled, and neither is Mick, who pushes the camera away from his face. Everyone is trying to put on a brave face for Sara.
They are talking to Ray Palmer, who goes over his past year, what with being possessed by Neron, and the negative stigma it has had on him. We see how the pubic has treated him since his return, which is avoidance. He then discusses Nora Dhark, and what she's been up to...making public appearances at parties for kids, as we see her looking less than thrilled in her Fairy Godmother outfit, as she fulfills her duties. Then, out of nowhere, they feel the Waverider shake. The team belives it to be a timequake, and asks Gideon the source of the disturbance, but she isn't very responsive. It seems she' has a virus in her system, They do manage to pinpoint the source of the disturbance: 1917 Russia. Sara preps the team, and wants the film crew gone, but they're staying, much to Sara's disapproval. Gideon speeds them on their way without much notice.
They land in 1917 Russia, and disguise themselves in order to witness the funeral of Rasputin...who, according to history, was killed by a jealous Czar over his affair with his wife. With the film crew in tow, they come upon the funeral, only to witness Rasputin rise from the dead and freak out the gatherers. It turns out, Rasputin is the cause for the timequake, and they need to fix it. Sara is trying to get the team focused on the task at hand, instead of them worrying about the documentary crew. She starts barking out orders as to resolving the issue, while she and Behrad try to fix Gideon. Ava pulls Ray aside and asks how she's really doing, and Ray says she's taking Ollie's death pretty hard.
As they begin to go through the motions of getting ready to solve the Rasputin mess, Mona, Ray, and Nate argue about what to call their time "villains".
Back in 2020, Constantine and Gary are going "soul" searching. They got a lead about a young boy being possessed, and the mother called for help. John and Gary enter the home, and they see the possessed boy crawling up the wall. The possessed boy then calls John by name, once John uses a cross to subdue him. John recognizes the demon called Masur (I think), and wants to talk about what's going on down in hell with Astra. John decides to take the possessed boy out for drinks, and Gary follows.
Sara and Behrad are busy trying to repair Gideon, when she wonders why it is he isn't in business school, and he replies that he likes what's going on with the team. He then brings up Ollie to Sara, and she says she's dealing with it. Ava, who had decided to get Sara a "feel better" or "get well soon" type card, stumbles upon B (as Sara calls him), and her conversation about Ollie. B says he has something for her, and gives her a drawing he made of her, Laurel ,and Ollie. He figured that would make her feel better, and it actually does. Ava sees this, a little saddened, and walks away. We see her talking to the filmmakers about getting Sara a Condolence card, that regarded Ollie's loss as "friend who you lost that slept with you and your sister", which was completely inappropriate. She then feels that she needs to resolve this Rasputin issue before the team totally screws it up.
Mona talks about the digging into Rasputin's back story, about how he had cured the Czarvina's son, and the two fell in love. Her husband found out about it, and had him killed. They know what they need to do in order to stop Rasputin taking revenge. They also find out that the person behind the assassination was a man named Yousabov. Each of the team begins to prepare. Nate is going with Ray in order to try and talk to him, Mona is going to write him a love letter, hoping it will soften him up, and Ava is getting a gun ready to kill him, to which Mick is on board with.
Nate, Ray, and the doc crew make their way to the castle, and meet with Rasputin. Natie himself tries to talk to him, and makes Rasputin understand the purpose of the film crew. Rasputin goes on about how he is a magician,a mystic, and how he has risen from the dead. He sense something missing from Nate, and wants to hypnotize him to get to the problem. Nate actually agrees, and Rasputin puts him into a trance, and senses that something is very much missing from Nate's life. Up on the balcony, Ava is aimed at Rasputin, and ready to shoot him, but Ray shrinks and enters the barrell of her gun, thus preventing her from taking the shot. Mona then shows up with the love letter, but Mick stops her. He takes it out and reads it...he's actually impressed with her.
Back in 2020 again, and we see Constantine thrown out of the bar with Gary and the kid. John asks the possessed boy about why Astra released all the demons from Hell. He says she wants to break the glass ceiling, create havoc on Earth. Constantine then exorcises the demon from the boy, and tells Gary to get the boy a cab. He needs to get to the rest of the team...Hell is brewing something nasty!
The film crew spots Sara having a moment alone, but she sense them. She calls them out, and asks them if they want a true confessional, so she gives them one. She blatantly admits her annoyance with the documentary crew AND this movie they're making. She's about to say more, but B shows up, and tells her the reason Gideon has been acting weird, is that she has a "phantom data" problem, which is causing the distruptions in her. In her frustration, she asks if B and everyone else wants to stick around and get lit, and B asks if he should break out the good stuff. She's all for it. As they begin to drink, Constantine manages to get a signal through, and tells Sara that bad things are happening in Hell.
Back in Russia, Rasputin has Nate hypnotized, and Nate is describing that missing element as a woman, which WE know is Zari. While that's happening, we see Mick going over Mona's love letter, and helping her embellish it more. Ava has had enough, and finally takes her shot at Gideon (since Ray has now been shot out of her gun as well), and she hits him dead in the heart. But, he manages to spit back up the bullet. Ava's been made, and she's taken captive. Mick and Mona finally get it together to go rescue her, and try to break through Rasputin's shield, but his magic is too powerful for the both of them. Ray goes to wake up Nate, hoping Sara isn't watching or listening to any of this, only to have his com open, and Sara is seeing the whole ordeal on Ray's camera. She downs her drink in frustration.
Once the team arrives back on the ship, Sara rips into them about going on this mission without her. They felt she needed a break, and didn't want to overload her since she got back. She says they can't stop Rasputin because his soul is in Hell. She comments that she has has lost one friend already, she doesn't need to lose more. They ask her what she saw out there, and she says she saw multiple Earths die, a universe reborn. All she wanted to do was come home and talk to her friends about it, not have to deal with a documentary crew. She storms off.
Nate and Behrad talk about what Nate saw in his hypnosis, and he describes this woman he saw, but can't remember her name or anything about her. Behrad then realizes that Gideon doesn't have any "phantom data", she has data from another universe. During their dealings in the time stream, and quite possibly with Crisis, they have "fractured time". He goes to relay this message to Sara.
We catch up with Ava, who's cleaning the kitchen, upset that she doesn't know how to comfort Sara, or make her feel better. She's not used to dealing with emotional issues.
Rasputin has planned a lethal surprise for the Czar and his family---teacakes laced with cyanide. He gripes to one of his servants about having clean goblets. He wants this night to be perfect. Sara has put the plan to stop him into effect, with her and Behrad in disguise...her as a servant, and him impersonating a guard. The Czar arrives with his family, and he inquires as to how Rasputin survived. The teacakes get served to them, and Sara realizes they're poisoned. She manages to knock one out of the Czar's hands, and her cover is blown. Behrad takes another one from their son. Back on the ship, Mona realizes that they left the camera crew back in the castle.
The team knows they need to help Sara out, but Ava doesn't think Sara wants them there, but obviously, they don't listen.
Sara and Behrad are fighting off the guards, when Rasputin possesses Behrad, and attacks Sara. Ava shows up in disguise, and the team arrives to help out their fearless leader. They get the Czar and his family to safety. While in the heat of the battle, Ava confesses to Sara that she wants to be the one she tells everything to, and to be there for her. Ray interrupts their brief moment to inform them that Rasputin has possessed the rest of the guards. They are holding them off best they can, when Ava grabs Ray, and throws him at Rasputin, who--in turn--swallows Ray since he's shrunk. They then tell Ray to enlarge from his Atom size, and he does, thus obliterating Rasputin in the process. Kevin takes one in the arm, but he survives. Sara says there's only one thing missing, and immediately grabs Ava, plants a huge kiss on her, and lets her go, giving a thumbs up to the camera as Ava passes out.
Kevin finishes up his documentary by explaining what the Legends did with Rasputin's remains, putting bits of him in different condomint jars. He talks about them finding more questions as they team rebonds once again. In the theater audience, the crowd roars with applause at the movie. Kevin is backstage with them before they go out for a post movie Q & A, Kevin wants them to go out there and be "bigger", and more boisterous, bigger personality, and really sell the movie. The team then goes out and immediately disavows ANY of these events happened, and that is was made up and a sham, and that time travel is impossible. The fans then boo, and turn on them, but they feel it's for the best. Kevin, however, sees it real differently. They arrive back on the Waverider, still troubled about finances, and Mick shows then a fabrage' egg he lifted. It's worth a lot of money, and he said he's a thief, it's what he does.
John shows up with Gary, having caught the show, and needs a bit of Rasputin to conjure a spell to get to Hell. Much to Sara's dismay, John drinks one of the jars of Rasputin, then tells Sara that Astra released all these evil souls from Hell, and he's going down there to stop it. Sara tells him to be careful, and he casts the spell and he's gone.
Mick talks to Mona, and tells her that she's got great talent as a writer. Therefore, he is turning over "Rebecca Silver" to Mona, because it interferes with his love for being a thief. Mona is overwhelmed, but says she'll do him proud, considering his world saving work distracted him from having better novels the last few times. Therefore, she is leaving the team to go and write. She needs to be elsewhere for inspiration, wheras Mick has lost his here on the ship.
Hank is with Gideon, going over what she knows, when she shows him an anomaly that happened during the Heyworld inicident. He sees Behrad, but it also switches to Zari (which he still doesn't know by name). The system shuts down, and a video recording from Zari shows up. A message she left Nate before she vanished. She says that if he's gotten this message, she is gone. And she wanted him to know that she loves him. With that, the message ends. Gideon reboots, and says that the memory scrub is complete. But Nate wants Gideon to replay the message, but he can't get it back.
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Once again, we jump back into the hijinks, and this was a pretty solid episode for the Legends. We got to get the typical mixture of humor, drama, and slapstick comedy. This episode, like everyone else in the Arrowverse, deals with the fallout of Crisis, as well as picking up where they left off after Neron's reign of terror.
First and foremost---Sara. She returns after having lost her best friend in Oliver, watching multiple Earths die, and being the Paragon of Destiny. She's in mourning and dealing with a lot on her plate. It doesn't help that the team has invited a documentary crew on board to film their everyday lives on board the ship, and what it's like to be a Legend. She isn't ready for this kind of exposure. She just needs to be able to get out what she saw, and have friends there to be supportive as she grieves Ollie. Instead, for her, it's like a circus. Not what she wants at this time. She's got to find her groove again, and--as usual--the rest of the team muck it up, and she's got to clean it up. Credit Caity Lotz for carrying this episode with her range of emotions and typical fiery presence and humor. We see Sara lighten up a little more as the episode ends.
The rest of the team is all but too excited to ham it up for the camera in order to cash in on their newfound fame. It causes issues, of course, and distracts them from really helping Sara when she needs it, and in their zeal to impress the filmmakers, they get overzealous, and their mission goes awry. Charlie took off, and she wasn't available, and as we saw at the end of this episode, Mona is going off to write, so we won't really be seeing her much this season (the actress is only recurring this season). So, this frees Mick to go back to what he does best--being a thief, a smartass, and a cranky, reluctant hero.
It seems that the big issue this season will be the souls of all the evil people from the past have been released by Astra, and will cause problems with the time stream. Constantine has gone down to Hell to fight off what's coming, but only he can hold out for so long. It will soon come a time when these souls reanimate, and cause issues for the Legends on Earth.
Nate's story is one that they decided to pick up after the season finale. His memories of Zari are there, but he doesn't know her by name, and is the one event that was unaffected by Crisis. He lost the memory of her after he died oh so briefly, but never forgot her. Gideon's issues with retaining past data, but having it cause viral issues, forces them to reboot her system, but in the process, the video Zari left, professing her love to him, is now gone. I wonder how long it will be before we see Zari again. Nate's journey to rediscover her will also be a big story as the season progresses.
We mentioned Charlie leaving, Mona is going to write as Rebecca Silver now, and we're still wondering when Nora Dhark will manage to get back with the team, since she's stuck being the Fairy Godmother---which doesn't seem like a fun job to her. How she gets out of that to help the team is anyone's guess.
And, with no Time Bureau to answer to, the Legends are pretty much independent and on their own to pursue their destiny---to repair time.
That's it for this week, and remember the usual: subscribe, pass the word along, and leave some comments below. What did YOU think?
Until next time...
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