Legends Of Tomorrow – “Necromancing The Stone” Review

Matt Ryan as Constantine. Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.

Please Keep In Mind That This Article Contains Spoilers For “Necromancing The Stone” and Events That Occurred Prior.

Thankfully, Legends returned this week with their quality intact. This episode did a better job fleshing out the death totem than the Elvis episode by a long shot. Not only that, but the proceedings were far more interesting, and logic wasn’t left in the dust to hit a bunch of check marks.

It does make perfect sense that Sara would be an opportune handler of the Death Totem. It was a great choice introducing that connection, and looping that into Mallus’ hold on her was smart. Now I don’t think she needed the big dramatic visual flair. Honestly those black beady eyes—like Nora has—do the trick just fine, and are actually scarier. That aside, the Sara we got this episode was downright frightening.

I enjoyed the horror angle that they took and ran with. It gave the episode a distinct feel. Sara was this monster that they needed to avoid, but when she shows her face, there wasn’t anything they could do. In fact nearly every froze, because not only was Sara a threat, but so were the teams biggest and darkest secrets. Most of the team were given an emotional moment as they came face to face with those secrets and fear. Wally got to confront his shattered relationship with Jesse, Zari got more time with her dead brother, and Nate was accused by his dead grandfather of selfishly sacrificing him. Some harsh stuff.

Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Amaya Jiwe/Vixen and Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave. Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.

Now another new aspect I really enjoyed was the additional Zambesi backstory that we were given. Learning about the death tribe, and how the other five tribes fought against it, was a neat surprise.  Even better was how that history paralleled this episode’s struggle as Mallus took over the Death Totem while the team scrambled to secure the totems they had. When it came to the totems in general, everyone started to get them. The big one to mention is clearly Mick. It seems obvious in hindsight that he would be the one to wield it eventually. What I love about it, is that it may bring Mick more to the center of the story instead of keeping him consistently to the sidelines. Also becoming a new totem bearer is Nate, who for some reason, never actually attempted to use the totem? But he has it, and it would seem that the rest of the team may become equipped soon.

Constantine was back this week to help out our team. It’s surprising how much character development he’s had since appearing on the show. The recent announcement of his promotion to series regular next season came without a shock, but it’s a decision I’m a huge fan of. He is a character that truly belongs with the team, and he already has a strong foundation on which to stand on. The focus on how broken he is—and how he would have traded Sara for Astra in a heartbeat—was fantastic. We got first hand experience on how adept he is at dealing with that trauma, and how cunning he can be while in the midst of a situation.  

When it came to saving Sara, Ava seemed like the key. Now I wasn’t the biggest fan of the two when they was first introduced. They have gotten better, and there is an investment starting to grow. But I don’t think that the general audience’s investment in the two of them is strong enough to hinge this plot point on them. Even within the context of the story, I don’t believe that Ava would be the thing to bring her back. In fact I even believe that Constantine and Sara have stronger connections that could pull her back…not to mention everyone on the team besides Ava.

Caity Lotz as Death Witch. Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.

Legends gave us a great and interesting story as the season ramps up to it’s climatic hours. With new totem bearers in play, and more to come, things just got a whole lot more interesting. Here’s hoping the show can continue this momentum, and not backslide as we reach the end.
What did you guys think of the episode?  Make sure to leave your thoughts down below in the comments!

Bonus Notes:

• Not so great? Gary’s DnD story.
• I was hoping that Jesse would actually be there when it was announced that she had an appearance. It’s a shame she was only a mental projection. 

You can catch new episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow when they air on The CW network every Monday at 8pm EST