Pictured (L-R): Dianne Doan as Anh Ly, Tala Ashe as Zari, Maisie Richardson- Sellers as Amaya Jiwe/Vixen and Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/Atom. Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.
One nation under Grodd!
This week saw the Legends travel back to 1967 in the middle of the Vietnam War to distract them from the incapacitation of Sarah. Problems arise when the team underestimates the level eight anachronism, and find themselves facing off against a telepathic super gorilla. The one and only Gorilla Grodd.
I want to start out by saying how happy I am with the Mick’s storyline this episode. It was only an episode or two ago that I mentioned how I was getting a little tired of Mick simply being a joke machine, and not getting any story focus. The writers must have noticed this themselves, and I’m happy they did. We were provided with some of the strongest Mick content to date. Seeing Mick interact with his father, and slowly realize that he may not have been the monster he thought, had a nice emotional impact to it.
Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave (left) and Evan Jones as Dick Rory (right). Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.
Zari even had some good stuff this week. Grodd’s reign over the Vietnamese and American subjects brought with it parallels of Zari’s authoritarian future. Interesting questions arose, such as the idea of imprisoning Grodd back with Argus. While Grodd is a big angry gorilla, he is still simply just another Meta like several of the Legends. The whole storyline led to some good Zari moments, including a great speech to the missionary women of Grodd’s encampment. Zari’s connection to the whole situation was easily one of the better ones throughout this episode, and was certainly handled better than some others that we’ll get to here in a second.
Now let’s talk about Grodd. I love Grodd, and I’m pumped every time he shows up. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that he was underutilized. While his plot was grand enough (attempting to jump start WWIII), his way at going about it was rather dull to watch, with the backdrop of Vietnam and his mind controlled camp not feeling very inspired. Especially since last time we saw him involved Gorilla City and a huge coliseum battle.
One place the episode could have better handled Grodd was when it came to his dealings and interactions with Amaya. The mystical totem bearer who has a deep connection to the animal kingdom should easily be one of the main focuses in this particular scenario. Yet besides one brief moment where she activated her totem, the connection between Amaya and Grodd was hardly explored. More than that, her lesson learned by the end of the episode in relation to Kausa/Grodd felt completely unearned and random. This seemed to be a trend, as much of the closure of the episode felt rushed and sudden for nearly all the cast and plot. I mean they even celebrated their victory over Grodd when they had no reason to believe he had been fully defeated—who for all they know could have been just running around just like he was when they first got there.
Dianne Doan as Anh Ly (left) and Tala Ashe as Zari (right). Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.
Along with Grodd’s disappointing usage and the sudden wrap up of everyone’s stories, there were other things that simply fell flat this week. Stein and his gang of past geniuses was a good idea, but was executed poorly. Personally, I was over the Einstein joke after the first time. Then there was the unbelievably silly and completely unnecessary president storyline, which led to a lame payoff involving pie—something that seemed more important than making sure their anachronism was truly solved.
While the episode had more potential than it seemed to realize, it wasn’t all disappointment. Mick got a substantial story, while Zari got something to do that wasn’t spouting annoying lines. With Damien saving Gorilla Grodd (not that the Legends even considered his fate), hopefully that opens him up for plenty of more appearances down the line. I just hope he doesn’t end up like the last two major Flash villains that have made it over to the show.
What did you guys think of the episode? Excited for the huge crossover event next week? Feel free to let us know down below in the comments.
Franz Drameh as Jefferson “Jax” Jackson. Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.
Bonus notes:
- Nate and Mick need to team up more often.
- The Grodd CGI was still incredible, especially him jumping all over the Waverider.
- Sarah randomly wakes up, conveniently in time for some top secret pie.
- The reference to the fact that we keep seeing younger versions of the team—or people related to them—being involved in the anachronisms was a great tease at a pattern that we should be paying attention to. Something that easily could have been coincidental from the writers, seemingly has a reason and place within the big picture.
You can catch new episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow when they air on The CW network every Tuesday at 9pm EST
