Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e15 – The Fungus Amongus

“Legends” ends this season with a cast change-up—ten main characters were too many, so they’re reducing to eight. One of the goodbyes is more surprising than the other, though only one of them gets anywhere near the attention it deserves. The other receives a rush job. Can’t really get into details without spoiling. There’s also a little bit of next season set-up, but barely any. Certainly not like coming back to find you broke time or unleashed demons or aliens. It’s a mellow finish, which is appropriate because it’s a rollercoaster.

Last episode ended on three big cliffhangers. One of them turns out to be fine immediately. The other two get wrapped together in the solution, which has the team trying to save Earth from invading aliens by going into the future to find a not-yet-evil version of Raffi Barsoumian to help them. Meanwhile, they’re also trying to figure out how to help ailing Lisseth Chavez and recovering from Matt Ryan betraying the team to get his magic back.

So the episode’s got to find time to resolve evil Barsoumian turning off Earth’s “keep the aliens away” defense system, Chavez’s relationship with her newly rediscovered and alive in 1920s Texas mom Alexandra Castillo, Dominic Purcell’s relationship with babies mama Aliyah O’Brien, Ryan and Tala Ashe’s relationship, and Caity Lotz and Ava Sharpe’s nuptials.

Starting with Shayan Sobhian’s return to a broken time and spaceship, it’s pretty clear Ashe and Ryan aren’t going to get the emphasis. Ryan’s arc is in its epilogue stages, but for all the hard stuff for Ashe, the show just puts her in her room and closes the door. Even after she gets some attention, it’s so slight and so pointless a scene… they could’ve just left it out. It’s just too much going on at once, and I’m all of a sudden worried it means Ashe might be one of the next cast members to go.

Lotz and Macallan have some nice scenes together, with Adam Tsekhman and Nick Zano stepping up to help out with pre-wedding jitters. Since neither of them have arcs to resolve, they’re just support, and it’s an uncompleted nice. The way the plot shakes out, Sobhian goes from doing a bunch at the beginning of the episode to very little by the end. No arc for him either.

Barsoumian’s fantastic as the not-yet-evil version of himself (he’s just a really fun egomaniac to have around).

David Geddes’s direction is more middling than not, and when he does find some good insight into a scene, he’s got to rush through it. Just because it’s a time travel show doesn’t mean there’s not a set runtime. The episode could’ve used another ten minutes.

Some charming work from Olivia Swann for her making friends arc, though they hopefully give her better-looking magic powers by next season.

There’s also a really big, really sappy moment, and it works because it’s “Legends” and “Legends” always manages to find sincerity in its absurd, silly, epic contrivances. It’s a perfectly solid season finale. Outside Geddes’s direction, all my gripes are because the show just doesn’t have time and space to fully utilize its cast. There are worse problems to have.

And it’s the first time in ages we’re going into a new season with no idea what to expect. Maybe first time ever?

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e14 – There Will Be Brood

It’s a very, very busy episode. Even though nothing really fulfills its potential, director (and former series regular—who doesn’t cameo) Maisie Richardson-Sellers keeps things moving at a satisfactory pace. It’s not until the end of the episode you realize how little the main team has been in it. Instead, in addition to resolving evil Matt Ryan’s team-up with season villain Raffi Barsoumian (sort of), the episode does a deep, and thorough reveal on Lisseth Chavez’s origin.

Ryan and Barsoumian steal the time machine spaceship to go get Ryan his magic back—also, the special effects on the magical “Fountain of Imperium” are outstanding—with Chavez and Olivia Swann tagging along. They just happened to be on the ship at the time while everyone else isn’t. Once they get to the past—1920s Texas—Chavez is pretty sure local healer Alexandra Castillo is her mom and doesn’t want bad oil guy Steve Bacic messing with her.

So while Barsoumian is boring Ryan with all the science behind how they’re going to get his magic back, Swann’s trying to convince Chavez they need to concentrate on stopping the team-up, not trying to figure out what’s so familiar with Castillo. Everything turns out to be intricately connected, which is a reasonably neat trick for the episode—Ray Utarnachitt and Marcelena Campos Mayhorn—until the third act when they rush the dramatics to get to the cliffhangers. Next episode’s the season finale, and there’s a lot left to resolve, including three potentially dying regulars (who may or may not be time anachronisms now). There’s actually so much I’m wondering if the show’s just going to hurry through it instead of trying to logic it out.

Unfortunately, Ryan’s still bad as the evil version of himself. Especially when he’s mean to his friends. Everyone’s forcing it: Ryan, his costars, Richardson-Sellers, the writers. It feels very undercooked, which is a bit of a fail as they’ve been working on the subplot since the first or second episode of the season. Maybe they’ll sort it out next episode; hopefully, they’ll sort it out next episode.

Chavez, Swann, and Castillo all have a lot of decent material in the episode. The script fails them towards the end, but the journey itself is solid. Chavez takes the biggest hit in terms of acting. It might be Swann’s best episode if only the material were a little stronger. The writing’s too pat on the showdowns with evil Ryan, and her character arc with Chavez is flimsy, likable, but flimsy.

Barsoumian’s fine. He brings some energy to the villain plot, even as Ryan sops up said energy. Meanwhile, the action with the stranded cast—Tala Ashe, Caity Lotz, Dominic Purcell—is bridging filler, very tense cliffhanger or not.

It’ll be fine as long as they end the season well, but it’s a disappointing episode. The first two-thirds is a lot better than the finish.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e13 – Silence of the Sonograms

I wish Matt Ryan weren’t so good as a softie. He’s almost against type these days as John Constantine, this suffering devoted boyfriend who tries not to gaslight or yell when disagreeing with girlfriend Tala Ashe. The dialogue on their romantic problems—she finds out he’s been lying to her again, hiding his addiction to evil magic juice—is a little trite because it’s a superhero show, and they’re magic people. Still, Ashe and Ryan are so good when they’re sincere. Their chemistry is vibrant. Apparently, so vibrant Ashe got a haircut between last episode’s cliffhanger and this episode’s resolution.

But she sticks it out. Though every time she leaves Ryan alone, it plays wrong, like she’s setting him up for something, but she’s not. The episode will get by on the actors more than the script—credited to Phil Klemmer and Morgan Faust–so it’s not just bad for Ashe.

Jes Macallan gets the other main plot—it’s kind of two B plots and a C plot coming together; the pacing’s excellent, the drama’s just a little too simple. But Macallan’s got the other big plot where she’s interrogating recently cloned season bad guy, Raffi Barsoumian. Barsoumian’s future scientist created Macallan’s clone line, so she’s got a lot of baggage, which comes through in the interrogation; she’s ostensibly running the show, but he might have an edge of manipulating her. It’s good acting from Macallan and Barsoumian without being particularly good writing for either of them. The entire episode is setting up the season finale arc, so it’s kind of like chess pieces being arranged. Or dominos. I’m only thinking chess pieces because Nick Zano and Caity Lotz play chess while doing exposition dumps.

There’s some fun stuff with Dominic Purcell being pregnant—for a while before it gets very dramatic; otherwise, it’s a heavy episode. Adam Tsekhman’s got a few scenes, and they’re funny, but he’s barely around because otherwise, he’d foil the Barsoumian arc early. Ashe enlists Olivia Swann and Lisseth Chavez for help with Ryan, and it’s a fun but too short team-up.

The episode’s trying to keep the costs down on a bridging episode by focusing on character development to get things set for the sci-fi superhero action, but… the script’s just not really there. Enough. The idea’s there, the actors are there, the dialogue isn’t. Nico Sachse’s direction helps.

But good acting without much fodder from Macallan, Ashe, Barsoumian, and Ryan. Half of Ryan. If Ryan were better at his green kryptonite evil version, who knows. Otherwise, maybe one more C plot, and it’d have probably been fine. It’s still okay. It’s just actors deserve better writing on a character development episode.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e12 – Bored on Board Onboard

The episode finishes with four actual cliffhangers—two characters are unconscious, one has a secret revealed, and Caity Lotz has walked in on something shocking not involving any of the other three. The implication is even the return of the season big bad–“Legends” only has three episodes left this season, and so this episode’s definitely sending them into the end game.

But the thing I’m now most curious about is who’s going to show up at Lotz and Jes Macallan’s wedding. I’m not sure they’re going to have time to do it this season, what with Covid during filming (even though the Arrowverse doesn’t seem to have had a pandemic, lucky them), but at the beginning of the episode, Lotz and Macallan are wedding planning and banter relates to possible guest stars. Grant Gustin and Candice Patton are seemingly out (the “Flash” stars always lead to a supervillain appearance), but Katie Cassidy (or one of her surviving incarnations from the later seasons of “Arrow”) is in. It’d be nice if the Arrowverse A-listers showed for the wedding; while the “Legends” always seems available to the other shows, it’s been a while since other shows have come around.

Well, minus David Ramsey, but he was directing.

However, wedding planning is not the point of the episode. Most of the team is trapped in a magical mystery mansion, leaving Adam Tsekhman and Dominic Purcell in charge of the ship. After last episode’s interstellar mission, the Legends are stuck in space, and it’s going to take them three weeks to get home. They try to amuse themselves while conserving energy but can’t, so they decide to go pen and paper (not really) with a board game.

Hence the very amusing title, Bored on Board Onboard. They’re bored on a board game onboard a ship. It’s cute. Almost as cute as the subtle Clue references later on, including Olivia Swann and Lisseth Chavez getting annoyed with the shortcuts across the board not necessarily being helpful. When the game starts, they’re playing it on a game board, but Matt Ryan (who’s high on his evil magic juice) wants to show off to Tala Ashe—and piss off her brother, Shayan Sobhian because the evil magic juice is turning Ryan into a dick. So he casts a spell, and they’re in the board game, slowly becoming their appropriately assigned characters, trying to find the murder amongst them.

The episode’s best when they’re still doing the murder mystery game before it turns into a bickering triangle between Sobhian, Ryan, and Ashe. The character stuff isn’t bad, but it’s also not particularly good. It reduces Ashe (back to her glamour girl variation from the flannel one) to prop up Sobhian while only giving Sobhian protective brother stuff. Meanwhile, Ryan’s got an addiction arc brewing; he’s better at that aspect of it than the dickish stuff because the dickish stuff isn’t fun; it’s dramatic fodder. Ryan’s so much better when he’s fun on “Legends.”

There are some decent surprises and solid performances. It’s a good episode—nice direction from Harry Jierjian—but by the end, it’s clearly just… well, moving the pieces around the board to prepare for the season’s final arc.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e11 – The Final Frame

It’s a team-building episode with some big-scale wackiness—big scale—and a little romance thrown in. Plus, Jes Macallan (who also directed) and Adam Tsekhman trying on wedding dresses. The episode doesn’t spend much time on any one set of characters—they’re either paired off or grouped together—and while it’d be nicer to have more time with, say, Tala Ashe and Nick Zano, it works. Especially since the main action revolves around a round of bowling.

Caity Lotz, Dominic Purcell, Olivia Swann, and Lisseth Chavez end up in an intergalactic bowling alley where they have to play the league champions (and possible New Gods) for the fate of the human race. Except everyone in the place appears human because alien bowling alley owner Alvin Sanders, who’s supposed to be adorable and is enough, just loves the bowling alleys of Earth and the aesthetic.

After fumbling around Sanders as a wise character for a while, he eventually gives Lotz a pep-talk, and it captures bowling well. The episode’s about minor problems with major consequences. Purcell’s mad at Chavez because she likes bowling and he doesn’t, while Swann’s a pissy tween (I really hope it’s intentional on her part because she’s great doing it) who’s never been bowling before. Lotz is a great bowler and isn’t sweating it.

On its own, it’s okay but not really enough. But with Ashe and Zano feeling the real-world repercussions of the game while on a romantic camping trip gone wrong, it gets there. Ditto Macallan and Teskhman’s dress subplot. The only lacking story is Matt Ryan and Shayan Sobhian; it’s all about Ryan doing evil magic drugs and lying to Sobhian, who’s happy to hang out with his sister’s boyfriend. If they’re played it straight, the awkward hangout, it’d have been fine. But Ryan on the evil magic juice—and only thinking of hiding it in his flask in the last fifteen minutes—it’s not great. Ryan’s not doing the bad thing well. Hopefully, he improves since it’s the only rising drama for the rest of the season; Lotz and crew were tracking down the last rogue alien, which is probably resolved thanks to the bowling thing too.

Zano and Ashe’s arc involves them trying to reconnect after their time apart—this version of Ashe, who gets the phenomenal nickname “Flannel Zari,” usually lives in a, well, kind of a genie bottle situation. It’s all going well until the next campsite over is glamping Chad and Becky (Gavin Langelo and Jenna Romanin, respectively), who provide comic relief and dramatic impetus. There’s some excellent acting from Ashe and better Zano than we’ve had all season. Though… as always, am I the only one who remembers Zano grew up immunocompromised? Did it get ret-conned away at some point, and I missed it?

Anyway. Good episode. Hopefully, the Ryan stuff works out, and Macallan’s directing debut is fine work.

Also great “Star Trek” joke.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e10 – Bad Blood

There’s got to be a name for this episode’s narrative device; splitting the cast, so half are offscreen dealing with one plotline, leaving the rest of the cast to deal with their own. Then next episode, you get the other half of the story. Or, I’m somewhat confident has been the case with “Legends” before, you don’t. So next episode will not be Tala Ashe, Olivia Swann, Shayan Sobhian, Nick Zano, and Adam Tsekhman trying to contain a rapidly growing alien creature, which happens offscreen or down the hall or in the other room throughout this episode. It’s a bold move since it’s the first time this version of Ashe (the original character she played on the show) has interacted with long-lost brother Sobhian; we don’t get to see it.

Instead, it’s a pregnancy crisis for Dominic Purcell and daughter Mina Sundwall, with the action plot going to Matt Ryan and Lisseth Chavez. They are trying to get Ryan’s magic back in thirties Spain during the Civil War. It’s always Ryan’s episode—he’s plotting at the beginning with the portrait of Aleister Crowley (voiced by Matt Lucas)—and he gets some good scenes with Chavez trying to locate his moral compass, but the Sundwall and Purcell stuff is good too. Both are pregnant, something Purcell’s not too happy about, and Sundwall’s worried about him. For timey wimey reasons. Sundwall’s always been a welcome guest star—she gives Purcell shit with impunity, and it adds something to the character; he’s better with her around, like the character moments they’re able to get. Purcell’s got like four things he does really well on “Legends,” but with Sundwall, they sort of triple.

So good enough plot for Ryan, with some twists and turns and a good monologue for both he and Chavez. She maybe doesn’t hold her pistol seriously enough but is working out to be a fine addition (something they even comment on at the beginning of the episode). There’s also solid acting from Spanish Republican fighter Leo Rano, who’s got the key to the magic fountain Ryan’s looking for. Grainne Godfree gets the script credit; the script does a great job with that plot thread, which sort of drags Ryan along while Chavez runs to keep pace and make sure he doesn’t crash into anything. They’re a good team-up.

Caity Lotz and Jes Macallan aren’t on the episode much either; offscreen looking at wedding venues. Will next episode be their misadventures and then half the cast fighting a giant alien? I think the former’s more likely but also, maybe not. “Legends” is very assured in its narrative choices, and this many episodes in, I default to trusting their judgment. Plus, the cliffhanger with Ryan is going to be a bitch to wait through an episode on.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e08 – Stressed Western

So it doesn’t look like Fist City, the Old West town where the Legends end up this episode, was a real place. Director and star cameo David Ramsey (from “Arrow”) does play a real guy, however; first Black deputy U.S. marshal Bass Reeves. The real guy’s mustache looks better than Ramsey’s fake one. But only barely.

Ramsey’s just around for the episode, literally in the background most of the time; his lawman has become an outlaw and the town’s now run by outlaw turned lawman Nic Bishop. And Fist City has become the nicest, politest town in the West. Could the pleasantness have anything to do with the time traveling alien the Legends are hunting, especially since Nick Zano—who actually gets not just his share of the episode, but to address having not gotten his share of episodes all season—says the town should be the roughest, most dangerous town in the West?

There’s a really good reveal on the niceness thing, which leads to the cast having to be nice to one another as well, even as resentments grow. Jes Macallan isn’t totally cool with Caity Lotz coming back from space as seemingly immortal alien hybrid clone, Olivia Swann finds Lisseth Chavez annoying and doesn’t appreciate being paired with her for bonding purposes, Matt Ryan’s mad at Adam Tsekhman for not telling him more details about a magic energy-giving waterfall, and Shayan Sobhian really doesn’t want sister Tala Ashe bugging him about his sex life. Or telling him about hers.

Dominic Purcell is in the episode less than Ramsey’s cameo. Otherwise the entire cast is very, very busy.

While last episode felt like a season finale—so much so my good lady wife was surprised we had another “Legends” so quick—this one feels like a season premiere. Ish. There’s a lot of resolution and another character heading off on their own quest, so there’s setup too. Lotz and Macallan are able to find the—no pun—humanity in their newly complicated relationship (did they always call each other “babe” three times a sentence, I feel like I’d remember it) and it ends up being a rather affecting arc.

Plus the Zano stuff. He gets to loudly monologue for a few minutes and it seems like he’s got some plot developments coming. Though it also seemed like they were divvying out plot lines to maximize cast screen time before and then they just rushed to getting Lotz, Tsekham, and Purcell home as soon as possible.

Swann and Chavez’s reluctant bonding storyline also goes really well. And Ashe and Sobhian are great bickering at one another.

“Legends” seems somewhat shaky because there’s no obvious overarching narrative but it’s also incredibly solid on the acting, directing (Ramsey does a fine job), and writing fronts. The episode’s exceedingly well-plotted and very successful; it even sets goals for itself and then achieves them.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e07 – Back to the Finale: Part II

This episode packs in a lot. The action beats are numerous, suspenseful, and intense. The difference between the second two adjectives being “suspenseful” means the plot is engaging while intense means the scenes in the plot are engaging. It’s also maybe got Caity Lotz’s best acting in the series to date. She’s very much the lead of the show in her story arc, which isn’t the norm, but then she’s also like a major guest star in the other story arc.

In the present, big bad Raffi Barsoumian has just dropped a major reveal on Lotz; her reaction to it, which was last episode’s cliffhanger, kicks off Lotz’s strong performance this episode. She does it just right (all of Lotz’s strong scenes this episode involve her opposite someone not in the regular cast or at least not regular with Lotz; she and Lisseth Chavez are going to have Chavez’s best scene in the series so far this episode too). She’s still trying to escape Barsoumian’s planet, which is going to involve Dominic Purcell, Adam Tsekhman, Jes Macallan (not as her regular character but one of Barsoumian’s clones), and a little of Aliyah O'Brien. In addition to Barsoumian, of course, who’s a very fun big bad and really manages to be dangerous while silly and absurd. Because he’s just a future tech bro.

Back on Earth, the team has finally had it with the waiting and Shayan Sobhian gets super-stoned and decides he’s going to travel back in time Back to the Future: Part II style to save Lotz from the aliens. Except the rest of the team gets the idea and goes back to stop him, which leads to it sort of being Nick Zano’s plot line (he’s the most experienced team member so he’s in charge; sort of). They can’t really do too much with the season finale from last season because they don’t have Maisie Richardson-Seller guest starring so they can’t run into her. So there aren’t a lot of hijinks; there are some and they’re good, but mostly it’s the team sitting around being sad and thinking about life while being time traveling superheroes.

There’s good stuff for all the cast, though the least for Tsekhman (because there’s just so much going on) and Macallan (at least as far as her regular character goes). But Matt Ryan and Tala Ashe have good stuff, Olivia Swann gets some good stuff with Sobhian (I had to tell myself not to ship because I can’t handle the disappointment), Purcell, then Chavez too. Lots of nice juxtaposing in the script (credit to Morgan Faust and Mark Bruner); some of it gets highlighted, some of it is just echoes.

The episode’s got a surprisingly relaxed finish, especially since it’s seemingly ending the first act of the season story. But it’s also a very good relaxed finish.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e06 – Bishop’s Gambit

The episode opens with a great tracking shot of Matt Ryan walking around his British manor and seeing how the “needing a place to crash” Legends team is wrecking havoc. Who knew the (further) secret to making John Constantine click was to make him lovable? Unfortunately, it’s kind of the only impressive work director Kevin Mock does in the entire episode. It’s mostly fine direction, with some creativity as far as Jes Macallan playing a bunch of clones and then the alien world’s atmosphere being delightfully low budget and tech, but Mock can’t do two shots and the episode’s full of two shots. When Caity Lotz and season villain Raffi Barsoumian face off then do a banter thing with show tunes, the close-ups and one shots are great. The two shots—the necessary two shots—are not.

The story’s split between Lotz trying to escape from Barsoumian’s liar, not knowing Dominic Purcell has arrived to save her (he’s brought along alien-in-disguise Aliyah O'Brien for help but she’s not much help), and then the team trying to figure out what Jennifer Oleksiuk’s got to do with Lotz. Oleksiuk’s half-Amelia Earhart (literally), half-alien, and Lisseth Chavez seems to be able to communicate with the latter half, providing Chavez a subplot for most of the episode.

She’s still at best okay. Having her play a seemingly alt-right loner makes it hard to like her—though Shayan Sobhian tries to bond with her this episode and Sobhian’s so likable some of it rubs off for a good while—but it’s not the most compelling turn of events. Especially since there are some very convenient plot developments (enough it feels more like a bridging episode than anything else, which is appropriate enough six in) and the episode always seems primed for something more.

And then it turns out the more is a big cliffhanger. But not exactly a cliffhanger. It’s a reveal at the end of the episode as cliffhanger, not hard, not soft. Somewhere in between. I had expected the separate story arcs—Macallan and company staying with Ryan, Lotz and Barsoumian, Purcell and O’Brien—to get their own episodes (save on the special guest star money) but “Legends” seems to be throwing them together, which isn’t helping any of them.

It’s fine. It’s just a busy bridging episode. Some good acting from Ryan and Tala Ashe, some not good acting from O’Brien (seriously, the Arrowverse shows always manage to screw up at least one recurring guest star cast), some decent acting from Lotz, Sobhian, and Macallan (with asterisks on Macallan).

Olivia Swann’s around a very little bit after getting her own episode, learning magic, covering for Ryan. She’s got more to do than Nick Zano, who still needs to find a subplot this season.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s06e05 – The Satanist’s Apprentice

This episode goes far in reminding how much better Olivia Swann is at being likable than villainous. It’s her episode—and sort of Matt Ryan’s—recapping what she’s been doing all season since she hasn’t been with the main cast. She’s been suffering in Ryan’s giant mansion, which is falling apart and doesn’t have internet and the neighbors are racist. Ryan promises to fix things with magic but he’s always too busy getting busy with girlfriend Tala Ashe (who are mostly just adorable together when onscreen).

Swann’s so frustrated she helps Aleister Crowley (voiced by Matt Lucas) escape into Ryan’s body and they plan on using magic to get Swann on her feet. All that story is set before the previous episode’s cliffhanger, which has the main cast needing to crash at Ryan and Swann’s.

Meanwhile, Caity Lotz finds out more about her mysterious captor (Raffi Barsoumian) while turning to convince some of the Jes Macallan clones—Barsoumian’s the creator of the clone line—to revolt and help her escape. To limited success. With a big “Wynonna Earp” reference in the narrative; so big it’s a surprise they’re not on the same network.

Loitz also directs the episode and does an outstanding job. Swann’s arc gets a little too easy in the narrative—and Lotz’s own arc is mostly padding—but when it’s time to get really weird, Loitz and the show handle it beautifully. Turns out getting help from Crowley (I’m not sure if Lucas voices over Ryan, but it seems likelier the more I think about it) isn’t going to go well for Swann, Ryan, or the rest of the team.

No one really gets much to do besides Swann, Lotz, Ryan, Macallan, and Lucas; Ashe gets a little, Shayan Sobhian gets a little (but mostly just in voice acting). Macallan’s okay with the clone stuff but they’ve done all they can do with it after an episode. There’s also a setup for another season story line, which just happens to coincide with the two already in progress. We also get to see Barsoumian’s master plan but it’s only theoretical at this point.

Barsoumian’s fine. The story’s going to make or break his big bad.

It’s a decent episode then an awesome episode once they get around to the cliffhanger resolution, with only a few missteps and thin scenes by the finish. I noticed Lotz’s name on the directing credit so I was a little more observant than usual maybe; she does a really good job. Like, Swann gets a great showcase episode here, starting with the opening Flashdance riff.