DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is the kind of show that had everything to go wrong.
I’ll be the first to admit that after watching part of the first season, I jumped ship fast and didn’t come back for a long time. But after hearing people raving about it for years, I thought I’d give it a second chance.
And boy, am I glad I did. After an insane two-week binge session marathon, I caught up on this amazing show and I am absolutely in love.
Because when they could have jumped the shark – and let’s face it, they kind of did – they only screwed things up for the better, as they always say.
This show is just so much fun in a weird, hilarious way, at the same time that it gives us great, heartfelt storylines and amazing representation. My only regret is that I didn’t get into it sooner.
Last night’s Miss me, Kiss me, Love me was a fantastic follow up to the season premiere. While last week we found out that after Heyworld, the Time Bureau is no more, and that the timeline was severely altered for Zari – who never lost her family, never lived in a dystopian reality and never met the Legends.
But for Nate, even though he is good friends with Behran – Zari’s brother, original totem bearer and now a Legend – it feels like there’s something missing. And when Gideon started malfunctioning, he managed to retrieve a lost video message from our original Zari, telling him she loved him and that he should look for her.
Nate Meets Z Nation
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Episode 3 introduced us to a brand new Zari, and honestly? Bring back our original, master of sarcasm, totem bearer baby Zari Tomaz.
I miss her already and I really, really, really don’t like the new Zari. And that’s a testament to Tala Ashe’s talent, because she managed to create a completely new version of a character she’s been playing for the past two seasons, and show us how one change to the timeline can completely alter someone’s life.
Because social media mogul Z (and her Z Nation) is the complete opposite of our beloved hacker Zari, and I just miss my baby Z a lot, okay?
So Behran invites Nate to go to his dad’s birthday in 2044, as a way to reinforce his cover story that he’s in business school – and not traveling through time as the air totem bearer and superhero. Nate is still a little freaked out and obsessed with the video he retrieved from the original Zari, but he agrees to go with his buddy B to take his mind off of this.
And who happens to be one of the first people he sees at Behran’s parents’ mansion? Z Nation herself.
She obviously doesn’t recognize him and is the epitome of the airhead digital influencer, and dear lord in heaven, I want to shake her so hard to make her remember her previous life.
So things are awkward and Nate can’t stop staring at her, going as far as asking her if she felt like they had known each other in another life (really, Nate?!), and everything is just very uncomfortable.
But when Z confronts both Nate and Behran about what they have both been doing for the past two years, and how she recognized them from the Heyworld incident, Behran opens a portal to the Waverider and takes his sister there to stop her from spilling the beans to their parents.
So now Z Nation is stuck in the Waverider with no memory of her time travel adventures, while the Legends have zero recollection of who she is. If this isn’t a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.
Someone please bring our original Z back.
Bugsy Siegel and the Golden Age of Crime do over
While Nate and Behran were off in 2044, the rest of the Legends went after an Encore in Los Angeles in 1947. Our newest hell escapee was none other than mobster Bugsy Siegel, who came back to life intent on owning LA and everyone in it.
Of course, this is all happening because Astra is hell-bent on being a very rich, very powerful big bad this season, and thus, she’s setting free the souls of every evil scum that has ever walked this Earth.
Bugsy was just the third on her long list of evil souls, and despite Constantine’s pleas, she’s not backing down. And not only that, she’s banking on John’s guilt. After all, she ended up in hell because he couldn’t save her and she knows he doesn’t have the courage to kill her now.
Back in 1940s Hollywood, Bugsy is blackmailing the entire city to do his bidding. So when Sara and the team arrive in town, they meet Ginny, a wannabe actress who wants to get out of Bugsy’s grasp.
Even though she betrays them at first, in the end Constantine convinces her to help them. She would get the hellfire gun from Bugsy and Constantine would help her destroy the blackmail evidence the mobster had on everyone in town.
Of course, it all goes wrong – as it always does on this show – and poor Ginny ends up blown up and very dead. Constantine is furious and takes Bugsy straight back to hell, before killing him in front of Astra.
When he only has one bullet of hellfire left, he can’t take the shot to kill Astra because all he sees is that little girl he couldn’t save. So he lets her live, vowing to make things right and save her from herself. Which I’m pretty sure will backfire and blow up in his face before the season is over.
Other highlights from Legends of Tomorrow
Can we please talk about how much I love Ava Sharpe? My favorite ex Time Bureau Director is basically having an identity crisis.
She doesn’t have the Time Bureau anymore, she doesn’t have her apartment, she doesn’t have responsibilities, so she just does not know what to do with herself.
When Sara inadvertently sidelines her on this mission, she gets stuck on surveillance duty with Mick, of all people, and ends up completely hammered in 1947. Her performance on stage – both in her mind and what actually happened – was the absolute highlight of this episode for me.
Sara transforming into a 1940s gossip reporter was absolutely hilarious and brilliant. Caity Lotz nailed every single one of her scenes with Bugsy.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesdays at 9/8C on The CW.