DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW 6.4

 

RECAP - DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW  6.4:  "Bay of Squids"  

Yes, kids!  Another week has arrived for our CW shows, and we kick our week off with the Mirthful Misfits of Time.  Last week, they managed to save Zari's ex, DJ S'More Money from being killed by an alien, and in the process, Zari and John got closer, and are giving this relationship a real try.  Ava finally threw down the gauntlet to Mick as far as his attitude goes, and Sara was injured, and discovers a man who's been looking for her for quite a while, as Gary tries to find her, after devouring a bunch of Ava Sharpe clones.  We have no idea what happens from one week to the next, but we KNOW the team will find itself in trouble yet again, as they try to capture and take down another alien that's mucking up the timeline.  So, let's find out what trouble they managed to cause THIS week...

This week found the team land smack dab into the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis back in 1961, as Mick asserts control of the Waverider after finding out where their next alien landed, which was Cuba.  However, what Mick DIDN'T do is ensure that the ship was cloaked, and hence left the team exposed to prying eyes.  But before things really hit the fan, they end up in the jungle, where they land inside a truck that is carrying a nuclear warhead that the Russians had.  Mick ends up stealing the truck so that they can make their escape and find the alien, that just makes things worse.  Now, the team has to split up, find the alien, deliver the warhead back to the Russians, and prevent nuclear war by setting history right.  So, Ava and Behrad head to the Russian base to find the alien and nab it, Zari and Nate head to Washington to ensure that President Kennedy doesn't go nuclear, and Mick and Spooner...well, Mick has to return the warhead because he messed up the mission.  

Zari and Nate arrive in Washington, and manage to get into Kennedy's cabinet meeting, where they're discussing Russia, the nukes, and Cuba.  Nate does his best to try to implore Kennedy to use diplomacy, but the head of the Army is pushing for the President to arm the nukes and go to Def-con 3.  When they receive intel about a new "bomber", Nate looks at it, and it's the Waverider.  Try as he might, the President orders them to go to Def-con 3. Meanwhile, Ava and Behrad infiltrate the base, and get into the OR where the Russian doctors are going to open up the alien.  Ava does her best to fit in as a Russian doctor, but when it comes time to open up the alien, she has to think fast.  She begins the incision, and Behrad has to bail....he can't handle it.  And once he gets out of there, he bumps into some Cuban soldiers who mistake him for a friend of Fidel Castro's...so they take him to Castro himself. Spooner and Mick end up bringing the warhead back to the Russians. Ava then slices the gas lines, and allows the other doctors to be hit with laughing gas until  they've passed out.  She then grabs the alien, and tries to get out of the base with it.  She meets up with Mick and Spooner, but as they try to load it onto the truck to make their escape, it awakens an attacks, and manages to flee.

Things get MORE tense for Nate and Zari, as now Castro has the nuke, and he's looking to make a statement.  The General of the Army is highly pressing the President to arm the nukes and go to Def-con 2, which he does.  Behrad, at this moment, is trying to convince Castro to find peaceful means, including serenading him.  Eventually, Behrad gets into this CBD gummies, and Castro asks for some.  It doesn't take long before Castro is stone out of his mind.  As he goes to the door to leave the room, the alien is right there.  He slams it shut, feels he's under attack, and goes to arm the nuke.  Back in the US, Washington gets word of this, and the General decides to call an audible and arm the nukes, since he feels the President won't do it.  He's willing to accept casualties on the US end as long as Russian and Cuba are stopped.  Then, it becomes the President and his staff to try and stop the General and his from initiating Armageddon.  Using football analogies, Nate and Zari manage to prevent World War III by obtaining the suitcase with the arming keys to the nukes.  The General...still not willing to quit, goes outside to finish the war.  Back in Cuba, Castro arms the nuke and sends it off.  But thanks to Nate and Zari getting to Kennedy, the crisis is averted, and a missile falls harmlessly onto the White House lawn, only to crush the General in the process.

With things being crazy in Cuba, Behrad makes his escape from Castro, and Ava realizes that they have to destroy the alien...and find an alternate way to find Sara.  Mick, Ava, Spooner, and Behrad all find the alien, and Mick and Spooner manage to communicate with it.  It says it wants to go home, and Mick says that he's willing to help---as long as it helps them find Sara.  It agrees, and they all depart....with the timeline having been righted yet again.  The team meets up, and Mick feels his sense of purpose now, as he and the alien will now head out on the Waverider to get her home, and to find Sara.  The rest of the team then decides to head to Constantine's to wait out Mick, and see if he comes back with Sara.  Zari isn't sure John's going to like it.  As Mick and Kayla (as we discover her name) the alien fly off...he starts setting ground rules...but she changes form into that of a beautiful woman with an image inducer...and she certainly has Mick's attention. 

Not much to unpack here....fairly formulaic "alien/timeline rescue" of the week, and not too much plot to it, outside of Mick, and the usual brand of hijinks you'd expect from the team.  We had no Sara or Gary this week, so we took a break from THEM to focus on this mission at hand, which propels Mick forward into HIS story (this is Dominic Purcell's last season on the show, which will leave Caity Lotz as the only original member from when the series started), in finding Sara.  Ava is settling into her role a little more as Captain, and has had her rows with Mick as of late, but I feel she's gotten his respect, because she's taken charge and stood her ground.  As for Mick...him going on the mission with Kayla gives him a meatier storyline, since he's usually around for comic relief, and when they need something stolen or set aflame.  With this being Purcell's last season, I think this is their way of sending him off in style, and allows him the honor of rescuing Sara Lance....his only true friend left on the team.  And when he leaves, the team is truly changed once more, because another core member is gone, and it leaves Sara with a bunch of newbies in a sense.  The team that Rip Hunter put together in Season 1 is pretty much gone, except for Sara.  And when Mick DOES leave, it's going to be hard for her, because that's like losing a brother, and her real best friend on that ship.  So, the emotional beats there are pretty good hopefully.  But it just FEELS right that Mick is the one to find her and bring her home.

We had a Zari and Nate team up, and they did pretty well together.  Nate was lamenting at the beginning of this episode about missing HIS Zari, who's inside the totem that both this Zari and Behrad have.  And Nate has, at times, seen HIS Zari in this version....but as the episode went on, and at the finish---he finally sees this Zari for who SHE is...and it looks like Nate can finally start to move forward.  Nate has always seemed like he was stuck in place as a character.  Hopefully, this will propel him forward with new development as the season progresses.  And aside form Ava...Sara is going to need a best friend to lean on...and that should be Nate.  And with Nate moving forward, it will allow us to put more on the Zari/John relationship, and see how THAT develops.  Spooner has a purpose on the ship, but she's still not a character that's grown on me yet.  There's just not enough there to make me like her much.  But with Mick leaving, I guess they need someone to be rough around the edges like HE is to fill that role---and that'll be her.  But there STILL needs to be more there for me.  Behrad....I dunno.  He's gone backwards as a character.  I'm trying to figure out just what in the hell his purpose actually IS---other than being the new comic relief.  Because, honestly, he's been fairly useless this season.  He spends more time being stoned and unwilling to engage in anything to help the team.  As Zari has taken on a bigger role and embraced it...he hasn't.  And while they CAN work great as a team, I just feel he's an albatross right now.  

What do YOU feel is good and/or bad about this show right now?  What can be done to improve it?  Do you feel Legends has run its course?  Subscribe below and share your thoughts with me.  

Until then....Time is on our side.