Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Amaya Jiwe/Vixe (left) and Nick Zano as Nate Heywood/Steel (right). Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.
Please Keep In Mind That This Article Contains Spoilers For “Amazing Grace” and Events That Occurred Prior.
When Legends Of Tomorrow started, it wasn’t good. In fact I truly believed that it shouldn’t have existed in the first place. Three years later, and I can safely say that it is one of the best superhero shows (right next to Black Lightning) currently airing on CW. Who’d have thought? That being said, every good show has it’s fair amount of stumbles. “Amazing Grace” was an example of this. It’s a shame that such an important episode fell so flat. An outing focused on the mysterious mythical death totem should have been better. There’s many reasons why I felt this episode failed to deliver, but let me start with the two positive things that we got to see.
First was Mick, and the fact that he was becoming unsettled by all of the changes on the ship—changes that have hardly been acknowledged by the rest of the crew. It’s a good thread for Mick, who especially recently, has really only been there for laughs (and sometimes is completely separate to the core plot). Second was the attention on Wally, and how handy but annoying his powers can be. I mean he can solve problems instantly, so how do you take that into account with every problem going forward? It’s a shame that even Wally’s storyline was weighed down by this episode’s problems.
Wally’s whole lesson was essentially to take his time, be precise. Be the scalpel. Five minutes later (or less), we see the lazy payoff. Wally gives a corny heartfelt speech to Elvis’ father so that he will allow the record to go on air—AND IT WORKS. In no world would such a silly speech so quickly change the mind of an arrogant and stubborn man like the reverend. The episode’s storyline did things like this all over the place. They left logic behind so that they their plot could hit all of the proper stereotypical notes. I mean the father even gives Elvis another chance AFTER GHOSTS RISE FROM THE GRAVEYARD AT HIS CHURCH. No. That’s not how that works.
Tala Ashe as Zari (left) and Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West (right). Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.
My eyes nearly rolled out of my head when the climax of the episode was Elvis singing Amazing Grace to a church filled with ghosts as everyone learned the important value of music. Look. There was value to be had in this episode. The importance of music is not a bad lesson. Elvis’ dead twin brother mixed with the death totem is a gold mine. There just seemed to be a lack of care and finesse to everything, and none of that value was realized. At least Nate was fun…right?
Take all of the campiness aside, the lack of logic went even further than that. Many team members seemed to not take the loss of Elvis seriously. Even Sarah shrugged off the idea of fixing it until Nate pushed otherwise. Elvis’ contribution to music became important for many historical things going forward. It’s a huge anachronism. Yet Sarah (and half the team with her) seemed to have no care in the world past getting the totem back. I know that they were playing their lack of interest in Elvis for jokes. But in an episode that was lacking in nearly every respect, it just wasn’t funny.
“Amazing Grace” addressed the mystery of the death totem, but sadly it fell flat on its face and then some. I haven’t had such an overwhelmingly negative reaction to an episode of Legends since the first season. It’s a shame too, since the rest of the season has been a pretty solid ride. I really hope Legends can pick up the quality for its final stretch of episodes.
Bonus Notes:
- I hope all of these totems don’t need to go in a mystical golden glove.
- A police officer freed our heroes from a jail cell so that he could hide from the ghosts in a cell. A cell with bars, and no solid walls. What?
- Elvis just takes the soul totem off as if he knew if was detachable.
- I did like the Nate and Amaya moment at the very end. So that’s three things I liked.
You can catch new episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow when they air on The CW network every Monday at 8pm EST
