DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW - SEASON 5.9

REVIEW:  DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW - SEASON 5.9:  "The Great British Fake-Off"


Our time travelling heroes are on a quest to retrieve the last ring that makes up the Loom of Fate.  They manage to nab the last two during their battle with one of Charlie's sisters.  In the process, however, Zari lost her brother Behrad to said siter, as he died protecting her, while she was within the totem, talking to her alternate self.  Having lost him, she is NOW determined to bring him back, and going to stick by John in the process.  Sara survived a blast from Charlie's sister, Atrapose, which revealed something new about her.  And Charlie stepped up big time to her sisters, and felt like a full member of the team...no more running away.  

Now the race is on...especially since we found out that Charlie's other sister is Lekasis...the Coin Maker in Hell...and the woman who raised Astra, the girl John Constantine is trying to save.  Who wins?  Let's find out!

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This week's little adventure took the team in two different directions, and Sara had NOTHING to do with it.  Turns out, Sara's little whammy from Atrapose caused her to be in some sort of time flux, where she's seeing future events just before they happen, and it causes her to fall into a coma.  This leaves Ava in charge, and they have to find the final ring to put together the Loom of Fate, before Charlie's sisters get ahold of it.  

Before Sara's incident, Charlie explains that she left the last piece with a sorceress named The Enchantress, who was all in on Charlie's idea that the world needed a "shake up" once in awhile.  So, Charlie gave her the last piece, and she made it disappear, where no one would find it if they tried to look for it.  Zari, who is dealing with the loss of her little brother, is headstrong and adamant about finding the last ring, and finding it IMMEDIATELY.  So, John goes to cast a spell to try and locate it, but Sara ends up falling into her coma, and the spell is broken.  As Ava and the team tend to Sara, Zari and John disappear into the past.  There, they are in his home, but it was previously a boarding house, where they are met by an old lady who happens to run it, and a mysterious man who enters named "Mr. White".  They all settle in, and John needs to search his room for the ring.  Zari provides distraction after her and John argue (which they do pretty much through a good chunk of the episode), and she leads Mr. White, who proclaims to be a doctor, to examine her.  When she leaves him to come upstairs to check on John, it turns out that the good doctor is actually Jack The Ripper.  They dispose of him, and realize he's an encore.  Turns out, a slew of encores enter the premises:  Henry VIII, Bonnie and Clyde, a Pirate (didn't catch his name), and Brutus.  Back on the ship, Gideon can't trace where the encores are going, and they think Astra is sending them after John.  So, Ava, Gary, and Mick head into Hell to track her down, and make her back off.

Problems arise for John and Zari, as they soon find out that the encores were sent to find the last ring of the Loom.  Zari and John have to think quick, so John takes over as Jack the Ripper to keep them distracted while Zari searches for the ring.  But the plan hits a snag when all of the encores start to turn on each other, only to have Zari arrive dressed as Cleopatra to stop them from maiming John.  She manages to get everyone to take a chill pill for the moment, but the ruse won't last long.  Her and John continue to bicker as they desperately try to find the ring.  Soon, the encores begin to start bumping each other off, as they too search for the ring.

Ava, Gary, and Mick arrive in Hell, and they manage to find Astra at her club.  Ava isn't screwing around, and wants to know WHY she's sending encores after John.  Ava has the Soul Sword as insurance to get Astra to talk.  She says she hasn't sent anyone after John since they last chatted.  But, she checks her safe to prove that the coins of the encores are there, but they're not.  Astra's lackey says that she gave them to him, and she doesn't remember doing that.  But she has an idea who has.  They follow Astra, only for her to pull a fast one on them, and they're captured.  They can't return to the ship until Gary speaks the spell, and they're all touching him, but they're a little tied up at the moment.  Meanwhile, Astra goes to see Lekasis, who introduces her to Atropose, and they offer her a chance to become their new third sister, and reunite the Loom of Fate.  She can have all the power she wants.  She decides to accept, and goes back to her club, only to free Ava, Gary, and Mick...who'd been bitching about missing his daughter's soccer game.  She tells them that the woman who took her in is a Fate, and she managed to get John's coin before going to free the trio.  They make their escape, and arrive back aboard the Waverider, where Nate and Charlie had been sitting around doing much of nothing---since NEITHER of them are technically inclined, so they can't fix Gideon for squat.  They know they have to find a way to get to the past to save Zari and John fast.  It was Lekasis who sent the encores after John.

Back in time at the boarding house, the encores Bonnie and Clyde find Jack the Ripper tied up in his room, and discover that it's John in the house, looking for the ring.  They go to take him out.  At this time, John and Zari have exhausted their search for the ring as well, and realize that because the Enchantress cast such a spell that they wouldn't FIND the ring IF they were looking for it, they give up the search, and end up discussing their flawed pasts.  Suddenly, they're being hunted by the remaining encores, and John puts Zari in a secret hideaway, and goes to defend what ends up becoming his house.  He ends up in a showdown with Jack, Clyde, and Bonnie.  Clyde is taken out, and that leaves Jack and Bonnie to deal with.  Just as John looks like he's gonna be killed, Zari shows up, and finally figures out how to use the power of the totem, and dispatches with the remaining encores.  Just then, the rest of the team shows up to save them.  They take the weapons each of the encores had, and, lo and behold, John and Zari manage to find the ring, which was sitting in plain sight.  As they take off, John knows the old lady is wearing a disguise.  She denies his accusation that she's something else, but he leaves with a wink.  It turns out, it was the Enchantress, who wishes him luck, and disappears herself.

Back board the ship, everyone is happy for a mission well done.  Zari and Nate hug, but she eyes John at the same time.  Celebration is short, though, when Ava informs John that Lekasis is the Coin Dealer, also to Charlie's surprise as well.  John is also shocked to find out that Astra is how aboard.  She chose to save her mother instead of becoming a Fate.

This episode had a pretty decent pace to it, and moved fairly quickly.  It moved along the plot, and had some mild humorous moments in them---especially between John and Zari, who pretty much too center stage in this episode, as John had to deal with a Zari who is still adjusting to this whole scenario with the team.  They did manage to bond when they weren't bickering with each other, and managed to work well together despite the odds.  Zari finally being able to use the totem was a good sign, and to see her dressed up like Cleopatra and use her powers gave me an old school Isis feel.  Gary was his usual self...but thankfully in small doses.  Mick still trying to bond with his daughter, and finding a way to have a relationship with her is cute---even if it drives him up the wall.  Nate has been fairly useless since we've returned.  Two episodes in, and he hasn't done much.  Outside of giving a brief history lesson on what she did with the last piece of the Loom, Charlie took a backseat as well.  Ava has really embraced her role as a co-team leader in times of crisis where Sara is unavailable.  She's coming into her own, and I dig it.  

Sara's coma is interesting here.  Not sure what's going on with her, and I hope we find out before the end of the season.  How will her getting whammied by Atropose have a long term effect on her?  What will this mean down the road?  

Astra joining the team and spurring the Fates makes this even more interesting.  But it also shows where Astra's heart truly lies---wanting her family back.  As much power as Charlie's sisters can offer her---she still wants her mother back.  Now...whether or not she's playing them all like a fiddle to get the other two pieces is something to ponder on.  We shall see in the next couple of episodes.  

FInally...The Enchantress.  Now...if this is their way to introduce her into the Arrowverse...I'm all for it.  Hoping to see her somewhere down the road.  Oh, and we got a Vandal Savage reference again.  I keep wondering when HE will show up again...and will we get the Vandal of old---terrorizing the team as he did in Season 1?  

More questions...and hoping for more answers.  We're getting close, folks, so strap in...the ride only gets wilder from here.

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Until then...Time Is On Our Side!