Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e13 – Knocked Down, Knocked Up

I’ve been worried about “Legends of Tomorrow”’s renewal for a while now—though it’s not like The CW has renewed any of their shows, they’re just not renewing early this year—but if Knocked Down, Knocked Up ends up being the series finale… it’s a dreadful series finale.

As a season finale, it’s generally okay. It’s way too full, primarily because of how much time is spent introducing Donald Faison, who presumably will be back as regular (or at least a recurring guest star) in the potential next season. Faison’s the “fixer” at the fixed point where Matt Ryan has to go to save his potential boyfriend, Tom Forbes. Fixed points in time can’t be changed without apocalyptic consequences.

The episode ignores Forbes having no idea Ryan’s a time traveler or ready to throw caution to the wind and have a loving, gay relationship in 1915 or whenever. Presumably, that character development would happen next season.

Ditto the episode ignores Adam Tsekhman and Amy Louise Pemberton being reunited after Pemberton’s AI partner (also Pemberton, just voice) tried to kill him last episode.

The episode doesn’t even have enough time for the Forbes rescue mission, which has been Ryan’s entire purpose on the show. At least playing this character. There’s a rushed moment with Ryan realizing he’s been misremembering the battle (having suffered years of untreated PTSD); again, maybe they’ll get to it next season.

However, the episode nicely bookends the relationship between Pemberton, Olivia Swann, and Lisseth Chavez. They started the season together with Swann trying to magic a solution to their spaceship problems; they end the season with Swann trying to similarly magic a solution. Only evil AI Pemberton’s gotten wise and created herself an android body; there are a cute couple Terminator references. Well, at least one, but then also just the general vibe.

Caity Lotz gets a big arc for the episode—discovering even more repercussions to being half-alien now—and it gets the most immediate resolution. Since it’s such a dire mission—the last time they tried changing a fixed point, it was a disaster—Lotz decides to keep her news a secret from the team (and wife Jes Macallan in particular).

There’s also a farewell for a regular cast member, which comes off very convenient and somewhat underdone. It’s also potentially got huge ramifications for another cast member if the show gets renewed, anyway. Otherwise, everyone’s just left with the undercooked finish.

Other than Pemberton, Swann, and Chavez, Lotz probably gets the best episode. Tala Ashe and Shayan Sobhian get the worst. They’re accessories. Nick Zano, Tsekhman, and Ryan probably get second-best. Jes Macallan seems disinterested with the entire outing until halfway through. Maybe it’s director Kevin Mock’s fault for not keeping the energy up, or perhaps it’s just emphasizing introducing Faison at the expense of the regular cast.

Faison’s charming enough. It doesn’t matter if they don’t get renewed, though.

As many fingers crossed as humanly, alienly, and robotically possible, the show goes on, especially given the episode’s punting on all the character development.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e12 – Too Legit to Quit

The network hasn’t renewed “Legends of Tomorrow” yet, so when Adam Tsekhman makes a meta-reference to the show’s weekly air time… it’s cute but isn’t a great landing. Especially since the episode’s all about the show ending.

There’s a real quick resolve to the cliffhanger. The evil robot version of Olivia Swann escaped Hell and stabbed Amy Louise Pemberton in the back, mortally wounding her. Unless they can get the spaceship’s med lab online, which requires plugging back in the evil AI running the ship (also Pemberton, in her “traditional” voice-only performance).

Luckily for the team, AI Pemberton can’t let anything happen to human Pemberton since the only plan for eliminating the humans is decompressing the ship while it’s in the (presumably atmosphere-free) time dimension.

So while Caity Lotz and Jes Macallan devise a plan to take back control of the ship (again), human Pemberton tries to make a deal with AI Pemberton to let her friends survive. The eventual solution is just the end of the show. They’ll all quit being “Legends” and stay in their timelines (it’s unclear if they can still superhero). While Lisseth Chavez goes into the Jefferies tubes to try to take back control of the ship, human Pemberton and boyfriend Tsekhman bring everyone in to see a glimpse at their future without the “Legends.”

The flash-forward reveals new careers as children’s TV hosts, politicians, parents, influencers, and so on. Except no one—outside Lotz and Macallan—has anyone from the “Legends” in their lives, and few of them can connect these future successes with their current ambitions. There’s some good acting—no surprise—from Tala Ashe, who’s particularly distraught, as well as Matt Ryan, who finds out he does not get to save his dude, which was the whole impetus for him joining the team this season. Well, rejoining as a different character.

It’s a downer of an episode, with the occasional future flash jokes not really enough to compensate for the sense of loss most people are feeling. Especially considering the show hasn’t been renewed, this outing could be the farewell voyage.

There are a couple big twists in the finale; one to get the show to next episode (the short season’s finale) and one to potentially be left unresolved if they don’t get renewed. I hate it when shows play chicken with the network… something “Legends,” usually renewed in January, hasn’t had to do for years.

But their time may be up.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e11 – Rage Against the Machines

One of “Legends of Tomorrow”’s greatest strengths—which I don’t think started until the second season—is finding these absurd, literally comic book relationships between characters and then having actors ably essay them. For example, Olivia Swann has a subplot this episode where she’s being overprotective of Amy Louise Pemberton and showing it through rudeness to Pemberton. It starts as an aside—Swann’s seemingly unconscious of her behavior, so Adam Tsekhman confronts her about it. Tsekhman’s worried about girlfriend (not sure if they’re official actually, but close enough) Pemberton and thinks Swann’s doing it because Pemberton’s basically Swann’s child. Albeit one created through magic and possessing the intellect and memories of a time-traveling supercomputer.

It’s fantastical and ludicrous, and all three actors do a superb job with it. It’s not about finding the mundane humanity in the extraordinary; it’s about humanity scaling up to extraordinary. It’s very cool and “Legends” is very good at it.

The main plot still has the Legends trying to reclaim their time ship. Though it’s more like claim because it’s an evil universe version (sort of). They just don’t know the Robo-Legends are happy to kill every single thing in their way, which forces captain Caity Lotz to reassess and then reassess again after the next tragedy. And then again after the next tragedy. It’s a good episode for Lotz, who has to work through helplessness and futility, mostly on her own, because she’s keeping the futile aspect of it all from the team. Including wife Jes Macallan, who directs the episode and gets injured out onscreen early to give her that time.

Instead, Lotz has to rely on Matt Ryan and Nick Zano for support, with Ryan concocting the eventual plan (though, really, anyone could’ve done it, just gives him something to do). And since everyone else is busy, it teams Zano and Lotz, the series’s longest-running regulars at this point. Some of the time, however, Zano’s playing his Robo-version, which has some obvious and desperate Terminator jokes; Zano’s able to make them work. They’re just silly enough, and he’s just funny enough.

Shayan Sobhian gets a bunch to do as he’s got to infiltrate the evil version of the ship, though he quickly enlists Tala Ashe and Swann’s help. Ashe gets an absolutely phenomenal scene opposite “herself,” having a slapstick fight while no one can figure out which version to help. There’s a strange narrative gaffe—the human Ashe needs to hack a computer, but she’s just a social media megastar, not a hacker, so there are difficulties. She could’ve just brought in her alternate timeline self, who’s literally a hacker. But it’s okay. Ashe is great.

The episode still doesn’t move things along as much as I’d have liked, but I’ve since discovered there are only thirteen episodes this season. They only have a couple more, which means they’re in fine shape. Well, outside the show not having been renewed yet.

The cliffhanger’s excellent too. A little convenient but emotionally rending nonetheless.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e10 – The Fixed Point

This episode’s so well-paced when the surprise guest star appears, I thought it was the end of the episode cliffhanger. Nope, there’s time for another action beat and setting up for next time.

The team goes back to June 28, 1914, intending to save Franz Ferdinand from the assassin, throwing the time line into turmoil so their evil doppelgängers have to fix it. That fixing will require the ship be temporarily without a crew and able to be taken back. Except when Caity Lotz tries to stop the assassins, a mysterious stranger (a well-cast Timothy Webber) takes her aside and explains she’s got to get in line.

Webber’s got a bar for time travelers who are all out to prevent WWI. You get a ticket to try, then everyone watches on a constantly changing news reel. Most people who attempt it die immediately; Lotz has got her alien recovery powers so presumably she’ll be able to survive a failed attempt. But, they still need her to succeed eventually.

That part of the episode is kind of Groundhog Day in 1914 Sarajevo, with Lotz trying and having to repeat after making corrections. They make a great Edge of Tomorrow reference, with Shayan Sobhian telling Olivia Swann they’ll have to watch it. Sobhian and Swann are in the episode a bunch but without anything to do but flirt. They’re not dating yet, they’re just romantically friendly.

Their pairing off leaves Tala Ashe and Lisseth Chavez needing a new bestie to spend the episode with. The Ashe and Chavez subplot starts funny and ends profoundly touching. Similarly, Jes Macallan and Matt Ryan have an arc where Macallan’s trying to get Ryan to see past his religiosity and religiously fueled self-loathing (he’s gay). Ashe and Chavez have the better plot, but it’s less ambitious. The one with Ryan and Macallan forces the issue, with Macallan unrelenting. It’s real good.

The episode also allows Amy Louise Pemberton and Adam Tsekhman to be cute together, when appropriate (they don’t have a lot to do throughout). And Nick Zano gets a number of good comedy scenes.

Former series star Maisie Richardson-Sellers is directing (again) and does a good job with it, especially after there’s a plot twist revealing how the time travel snafus have been occurring.

It’s also a good lead episode for Lotz. There’s a balance between the cast, but it’s another outing where she’s very obviously the star of the show, ensemble or not.

And presumably, next time, the show will be done with bridging episodes and they can get back to the season’s A-plot.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e09 – Lowest Common Demoninator

“Legends of Tomorrow” doesn’t have bridging episodes; it has rest stops and layovers. Last episode had the cast playing their evil android counterparts; this episode has them back playing their regular parts, just in a trashy reality show. Several characters get subplot work, mostly Shayan Sobhian and Olivia Swann, Tala Ashe and Nick Zano (and Tala Ashe), Jes Macallan and Caity Lotz, and Amy Louise Pemberton and Adam Tsekhman.

Pemberton leaps the Legends into the “Manor Dimension,” an extra-dimensional mansion where they can hide out and usually get free by going through a door. There’s a magic key. It’s been used to good effect throughout the season. Except they don’t have the key. The mansion is sitting just outside Hell, and when Matt Ryan, freaking out about the situation, leaves the window open, some damned souls get in.

These particular damned sold their souls to demon Giles Panton in exchange for making a successful reality TV show. Something went wrong; now they haunt people, and their presence amps up the drama.

Even someone like Ashe, who grew up on a reality show, finds herself unable to control the demonic influences. That reality show’s going to be important because we find out all about how Sobhian hid from it and that hiding changed the course of his life. He’s also just a boy trying to ask a girl (Swann) out on a date, which means he makes the gallant mistake of following her into Hell. She’s going to negotiate her friends’ safe passage with Panton.

Until Sobhian screws it up and makes things worse.

Though not as worse as when Pemberton, miffed the team is upset at her choice of quantum leap location (not to mention her romance with Tsekhman), turns off her emotions to better navigate the alliances and betrayals of the reality show.

Macallan and Lotz have subplots where they’re melting down individually instead of together, with Macallan obsessed with homemaking and Lotz planning an island vacation.

The biggest drama throughout the episode is Ashe and Zano. And Ashe. So, now regular Ashe is the social media influencer from the near future who Zano can’t stand. Only since they’re on a reality show and it’s turning him into a “Jersey Shore,” there’s a lot of tension between them. They go from almost making out to Ashe deciding Zano’s going to mess up his relationship with her alternate universe version (who lives in her magic bracelet). Ashe creates the subplot out of thin air (and the script, credit James Eagan and Emily Cheever), but it works thanks to Ashe. She’s so good overall, but especially here with the comedy.

Also good with the comedy is Lisseth Chavez, who decides she will outplay her teammates to win the reality show. Though it’s unclear if there are any actual (even demonic) rewards.

Eric Dean Seaton’s direction is fine. The episode’s got a Steadicam vibe, but not cheap aughts reality show Steadicam. It’s a little too professional.

The episode requires a lot from Sobhian—getting into his teenage trauma—and while he’s not the best actor, he’s incredibly sympathetic. And Swann’s able to hold up her part of their burgeoning romance arc.

Plus, the Pemberton and Tsekhman stuff is funny, but also not, but also funny about it not being funny.

Good episode, with some great performances from Ashe, Chavez, and Zano; they’re the three most obviously comedically inclined, and it pays off here.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e08 – Paranoid Android

Every once in a while, “Legends of Tomorrow” will do an episode reminding Caity Lotz isn’t just top-billed on the show or the captain (now co-captain) of the time ship; she’s also really the star. This episode is done from the perspective of the (presumably) android Lotz introduced in last episode’s cliffhanger. Rogue Waverider AI Gideon has created (presumably) android duplicates of the “Legends” to hunt down the human versions and stop them from screwing up history by helping people.

The episode’s got opening titles setting up the new, evil team, and then there are appearance changes as well. Lotz is bustier in her android version, and Nick Zano has hilariously big arms because evil Gideon has a sense of humor. The other big change is Adam Tsekhman doesn’t appear in the episode, but his character’s alien form does. And this version likes eating people more than Tsekhman’s.

The team feeds the alien the innocent people history demands they kill, and history demands they kill a lot of people. Their mission this episode is to clean up after the Chernobyl disaster. Not the actual disaster, but the disaster of the good Legends saving a bunch of people. So Shayan Sobhian and Lisseth Chavez delight in irradiating terrified people to death while Lotz wonders if good guys should act differently.

When Lotz’s revised mission is to force Soviet general Ego Mikitas to lie to the citizenry about the Chernobyl threat being averted, he directly challenges her self-identification as the hero. A little investigating later, Lotz realizes there’s something else going on, and she especially can’t trust team doctor Jes Macallan.

After the recap and the conclusion of the cliffhanger, the episode starts with Macallan mysteriously resurrecting dead teammates. Everyone notices it—Sobhian and Chavez don’t care thanks to bigger guns—and Lotz can convince Tala Ashe to think differently.

It gives Ashe something more to do? She and Lotz don’t get to team up much anymore, and Ashe has been playing a different version of her character for a couple seasons, so bringing her back to the norm and then doing a Stepford riff on it has a lot of layers for Ashe to work with. Plus, there’s a lot of humor to the new characterization; it’s a dark episode, so the gags help. Zano’s goofy arms are worth at least a smile every time (and they’ve got an excellent spoof commercial tying into another DC property).

The finale’s depressing and raises some questions about how time travel adventuring shows work in general—but for a done-in-one concept episode. Lotz gets to do a good arc.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e07 – A Woman’s Place Is in the War Effort!

So, A Woman’s Place Is in the War Effort! bombs Bechdel in a really, really bad way. Like, there better be a scene cut or some really good excuse because it fails it by not giving Kimleigh Smith a name. She’s a Black woman working in an airplane factory in World War II; the Legends end up there and need to work to steal parts so Matt Ryan can rebuild his time machine, and Olivia Swann has a giant arc with Smith. Swann lost her temper at the 1940s racism and had to take over the factory, so the Legends don’t unintentionally get everyone fired, and Smith’s trying to convince her to slow down on the progress. It’s an awkward arc, feeling somewhat dated, especially since World War II movies erase Black people in general and Black women in particular. Still, they eventually get to a good point. Lots of character development for Swann, who seriously feels like she’s being groomed to take over the show.

But no name for Smith. So an amazing Bechdel fail.

The shitty racist boss at the plant is guest star Jason Gray-Stanford, who looks really familiar (I think it must be from “Monk”), and he takes a relatively long break from the episode because there’s not really time for him. In addition to being trapped in the WWII Homefront, the Legends also have to confront Raffi Barsoumian, who went from being the season villain to the second biggest Legends fan after Adam Tsekhman.

There are now eleven team members this season. Eleven. They’ve got to be reaching some kind of breaking point.

The main plot is Swann, Caity Lotz, Jes Macallan, and Lisseth Chavez at the plant. Lotz and Macallan get to work the floor because they’re blond white women. Swann and Chavez get sent to janitorial because shitty racists, but soon discover Smith and the other custodians are helpfully engineering-inclined. Amy Louise Pemberton’s around as Gray-Stanford’s newest suffering secretary, and it’s a good A-plot. Lots of suspense, lots of drama, some laughs. Including Macallan doing an “I Love Lucy” homage and what could be a “Ted Lasso” but probably isn’t. “Lucy” for sure, though.

The B-plot is Shayan Sobhian trying to teach Nick Zano how to be a good host, Persian-style, so Zano can impress Tala Ashe’s family when he moves into the totem dimension with her. They really need to do an episode in the totem; so far, I think they’ve shown a single room and implied another identical room, and neither seems good for “moving in together.” Sobhian and Zano are using Barsoumian as a hospitality learning opportunity because even though he’s ostensibly their prisoner, he’s really just an entitled house guest.

It’s a good episode. It’s way too full—even with some okay scenes, Ashe, Ryan, and Tsekhman are lost in the shuffle—and it could be more ambitious in the factory stuff, but it’s a good episode. It’s Swann’s first episode where she gets to run her own plotline, hence the feeling she’s in line for a promotion.

We also get a big cliffhanger involving the rest of the season; no spoilers, but let’s just say someone’s got a Plan. It ought to be fun. And there’s a nice bit of emotional weight to a twist, which may have repercussions later. So not a big enough swing—and a startling kind of fail—but “Legends” remains in excellent shape this season.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e06 – Deus Ex Latrina

“Legends” hasn’t been renewed yet, and it’s kind of been a bubble show forever, which is why it’s always so nice when they get an early renewal. But this season now seems to be arranging things for a send-off. At least, potentially. Events are perturbing towards closure—or at least not unresolved cliffhangers—and it kind of feels like a victory lap season.

Though it might just feel that way because they do so well here.

The gang has lost their time ship, and last episode teamed up with a 1920s scientist, played by Matt Ryan (in a different role than usual), to get back to the future. Unfortunately, Ryan didn’t account for so many people in the time machine (seriously, there are now nine regular Legends), and they time-crashed off course. Where? Unclear. Maybe dinosaurs.

So while they’re trying to get settled for the night, splitting off into groups for character developing adventures, last season’s big bad, Raffi Barsoumian, has teamed up with an evil AI version of Amy Louise Pemberton (who’s now become a human member of the gang), to destroy Legends. AI Pemberton wants to save the timeline from those meddling Legends; Barsoumian’s just mad they kidnapped him and wiped his mind.

The audience found out about the AI Pemberton and Barsoumian teaming up a few episodes ago, but now we see what they’ve been doing. And it’s actually stuff we’ve already seen, like the time ship getting destroyed in the season premiere or the robot J. Edgar Hoover (Giacomo Baessato) showing up and hunting them down. It’s multiple episodes of the show proper, but it’s all in a row for AI Pemberton and Barsoumian because they’re on a time ship. One of Jes Macallan clones is on board with them, and AI Pemberton doesn’t like her, which leads to some great 2001 riffs.

Meanwhile, in the past—whether prehistoric or not is a plot point—everyone’s stressed out, including regular Macallan and Caity Lotz, who thought they were on their way to a honeymoon in Tahiti. So while Olivia Swann takes Macallan to work out her aggression gathering firewood, Lisseth Chavez takes Lotz to work out hers hunting for dinner. The Swann and Macallan stuff ends up being better than the Chavez and Lotz stuff, but there’s also more of the former. And it’s a scene where Swann really comes through.

Tala Ashe and Shayan Sobhian babysit Ryan, who’s freaking out, leading to some wonderful bonding between Ashe and Ryan. Now, these two actors played love interests in their other “Legends” parts, so there’s something of a base chemistry, but these characters are entirely different, and it leads to some more excellent work. I forgot how great Ashe is in this version of the character. She’s been doing the other one full-time for what seems like two seasons, and this episode’s a great return.

Then there’s a comic subplot for human Pemberton and Adam Tsekhman, who are delightful together, and Nick Zano building the camp while talking himself through relationship decisions.

Plus, the big reveal of where they actually are in history and how it will affect them.

It’s an excellent episode. Kind of a bridging one, kind of a catch-up one with AI Pemberton and Barsoumian’s scheming, and then also kind of a breather. The enormous cast gets a chance to chill and reset, and the episode takes the time to let them.

So even if they do wrap it up and don’t play chicken with a renewal… damn, I hope they get renewed.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e05 – It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist

When I read Matt Ryan was leaving “Legends of Tomorrow” as John Constantine but returning in a different part, I initially assumed it was Constantine-adjacent. But it’s not. Even after he started showing up in the opening credits photo roll—“Legends” does a speed-roll of the regular cast without text—and then appeared in every episode’s “starring” list; it seems like a very weird CW “you’re a regular but not getting paid for every episode” deal, I figured it’d have something to do with Constantine.

But this episode, when he finally shows up as a socially awkward, shy, and goofy scientist who can’t stand up to boss Thomas Edison (Chris Britton)? Well, it seems reasonably settled. Ryan really is playing a new character. It also has me wondering if his Constantine being retired means they’re trying for another movie.

Either way, Ryan’s new character is a fine addition. The rest of the cast keeps confusing him for a different departed “Legend” of yore, which becomes a fun running gag. There are high stakes this episode, ones it actually goes about resolving instead of dragging out for half the season, and the first act of the season seems to be coming to a close. Five episodes in seems a little late for my tastes, pacing-wise, but it was worth the wait. Especially once they stop messing around and reveal why Amy Louise Pemberton is so worried about getting to the team in New York.

Because they’re going to blow up after stealing Ryan’s time machine prototype, a fact Pemberton always possessed, had presumably told Olivia Swann and Lisseth Chavez about at least an episode ago, maybe two episodes ago, but the audience is just now finding out. It’s kind of a bummer they used such an eventually obvious, cheap device, but it’s also a fun subplot for Pemberton, Swann, and Chavez in this episode. They’ve got to get to New York by tomorrow and are running two weeks behind, so Swann casts a luck spell, and they have all sorts of adventures. It trades entirely on the trio’s considerable charm.

Especially since the main plot ends up being so heavy. After a fun introduction to Ryan’s new character, setting him up as a comic foil for Caity Lotz, it becomes this dire race against time—literally, of course—as Lotz has to save the team from her own impetuousness.

There’s also some relationship stuff for Tala Ashe and Nick Zano. Not high drama, but compelling and a nice side bit for Adam Tsekhman’s shipper gag. “Legends” is very good at being self-aware, maybe never more so than with Tsekhman, who just gets it.

The episode’s a little disappointing, if only because it’s such an excellent done-in-one time travel episode; the finale is a little too cryptical. The audience knows more about the season villain than the heroes, but the heroes know more about the next stage than the audience. It’s like they forgot to include an establishing shot somewhere.

Very solid direction from Andrew Kasch, and Lotz and new Ryan have good chemistry. The concept’s strong, even if the landing is rocky.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e04 – Speakeasy Does It

I don’t know what other time period “Legends of Tomorrow” could get trapped in for a season—which presumably keeps costs down (as does no one really having any expensive superpowers anymore)—but the twenties is working out. Especially with Tala Ashe getting to directly address the racism, sexism, and homophobia they’re all now experiencing. Well, except Nick Zano. And she calls him out for it too, which is great (especially since the show did an “it’s okay, it’s not your fault for being a white man” on Zano a few episodes ago).

This episode has the Legends stuck in Chicago and getting involved with Hamza Fouad’s speakeasy troubles. Fouad runs an unsegregated speak, which—historian Zano explains—the mob didn’t allow, making it an extraordinary spot. The team’s running low on funds thanks to Adam Tsekhman’s overtipping (one of the episode’s many great quick details), and so they team up with Fouad to replenish their coffers. Likewise, Foaud’s running low on booze, and they just happen to have a magical inter-dimensional mansion with an endless supply of whiskey.

Except they don’t account for Foaud’s mobbed-up landlord, Sage Brocklebank, taking issue with the replacement booze. So all of a sudden, the Legends—led by Ashe—have to find a way to help Foaud.

Meanwhile, Olivia Swann, Lisseth Chavez, and Amy Louise Pemberton are on their way to Chicago from Texas. They’ve just hooked up with Aubrey Reynolds’s girl band, and they’re trying not to disrupt the timeline, which isn’t easy with Pemberton blurting out future facts to the various people they meet and Swann refusing to let men push them around.

When they get to Chicago, they find themselves between a rock and a hard place because Reynolds’s boyfriend turns out to be very bad guy Brocklebank, who Swann knows from her time in Hell.

There are many good moments for Swann, Chavez, and Reynolds in that plot; ditto Ashe and Fouad in the other one. Plus, a great “action” sequence for Jes Macallan and Caity Lotz, with a great punchline. And then there’s this bonding C-plot for Tsekhman and Zano.

Keto Shimizu and Emily Cheever get the script credit; it’s got some very strong moments. Kristin Windell directs, getting some excellent deliveries from Swann and Chavez in particular. Ashe’s fantastic, but she’s always great, no matter what the show throws at her. But Swann and Chavez finally get to deliver on the potential the show usually screws up for them.

And Pemberton is getting comfortable on screen as well. She’s still a little awkward—some of it’s obviously the character—but she, Swann, and Chavez are delivering an excellent “B” team.

“Legends” obviously can’t go on forever, but it easily has a couple more seasons in it. This episode showcases how well the actors keep the characters going no matter what budget, cast departures, or worldwide pandemics throw at them.