DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS

As always, we start with a “Previously…” segment.

JEALOUS LOVER

To start, we see Sara waking from a nightmare, where she sees a little girl on board the Waverider.  She wakes and is comforted by Ava, who she is in bed with.  Ava tells her that she shouted “John” in her sleep, as in Constantine.  Sara tells Ava what went on before with them and she becomes very jealous.  Sara makes a mention of Ava being her “girlfriend”, something that Ava is extremely pleased to hear. Gideon interrupts them, giving notice of anachronisms getting worse thanks to Mallus’ team, causing havoc across the while of history.  Sara gives orders to the team on who goes where, whether it be saving Einstein or anywhere else.  Just as they are all about to go, Sara gets a headache.  Oh oh! The only way she can stop it is by taking the Death Totem out of the box in was placed in last episode. – Nice opening.  Love Ava and Sara, their relationship taking on a new dimension with the mention of the word “girlfriend”.  I also love the insecurities that Ava has, away from her tough, Time Bureau agent persona.  It gives her so much character and I love that.  Seeing her jealous of hat happened with JC was quite sweet. 

CALLING OUT TO YOU

The headache that Sara is suffering is, actually, the Death Totem calling to her, something Sara is quite aware of.  She wants to call Constantine, however, he doesn’t own a phone so this is not gonna happen.  Sara has to,therefore, deal with the Totem, and Mallus herself.  Mallus shows Sara herself, as Black Canary, the version of Sara that died years ago.  BC Sara tells our Sara to control the power of the Totem and bring back those who have died. – Awesome, we know what’s coming and this is gonna be fun.

UNDER ATTACK

After their mission, Amaya and Zari are back on the ship, and wake Mick up from a nap.  They want to know where Ray is and they search the ship for him.  Ray is found battered and bloodied, unconscious, on the floor of his laboratory.  They notice a gun near him, still smoking.  Mick and Amaya start to search the ship for the culprit, they find Sara, or ho they think is Sara.  She’s possessed, wearing the Death Totem and up for a fight.  And fight they do, with Sara coming out on top (possessed or not, this would always be the case).  Sara is about to stab Mick, but thankfully, Wally speeds in, saving them all and taking them to the med bay.  Sara goes off to the bridge, putting the ship on lockdown. – Possessed or not, Caity Lotz still looks great doesn’t she?  Nice little surprise to see her like that, although we know that she’d be possessed.  Great make-up work, and those eyes!!

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

Ava has appeared as a hologram and is aware of what is going on.  She is asked to get hold of Constantine for his help.  In the med bay and, because of the lock-down, they are unable to get out.  BUT, with Wally West, it’s no problem and he phases out, opening the door.  Wally makes his way, speedily, to the bridge but is met by an apparition of Jesse.  He knows that it isn’t really her, but can’t help but tell her how he has changed since they broke up and is glad that she broke his heart as he has now found his inner peace.  Before Wally can do anything to help, the apparition has been replaced by Sara and she knocks Wally out. – Playing with the hero’s minds, a common trope of villainous entities in superhero stories.

SEARCHIN’

Ava (and Gary) have found Constantine who, for some reason, is chasing a chicken around a property to help a woman’s son get married.  Ava is very convinced by him but he soon has an idea on why they are there, because Sara is under the control of Mallus.  He tells Ava that they need to get the help of some Egyptian undead ferrymen (something like that anyway) and he sits to start a chant, as he has a deep connection with Sara.  Ava has a similar connection and wants to be part of this so joins with him.  Unfortunately, Mallus is aware and stops them getting entry in to the realm. – Ha, great start to JC and Ava’s first meeting, very funny, Ava still jealous showing a great side to her character.  

LOOK AROUND

Back at the Waverider and Nate goes to look for Wally who hasn’t come back.  Zari, in turn, wants to see if she override the lock-down on the ship.  Nate finds Wally, however, Zari is not so lucky and is faced with her little brother who, as we all know, is dead.  Zari is aware that he is not real but it still hits her emotionally, and she says goodbye.  She is about to smash a part of the ship but, as expected, Sara appears, grabs her and chokes her.  Thankfully, the real Sara, who is trapped in the void created by Mallus, holds him off for just a short time and Zari is ok…..ish (well, she’s not dead).  Nora Darhk is also there and she just smiles arrogantly as Sara struggles to hold Mallus off. – Good stuff, god to see where the real Sara is and a surprise to see Nora there alongside her.  Again, preying on the minds of the team and affecting them emotionally is a dark thing to do. 

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

And Constantine is trying to work on another plan.  However, it’s not him that comes up with it, no.  It’s #ControversialGary.  Now, Gary is an expert on Dungeons and Dragons, I kid you not and it makes him understand what the Legends would do in a situation like the one they are in now.  He tells them about a game of D & D he took part in, very similar to the situation they are facing.  The solution?  The team need to fight the Death Totem with something as powerful, another Totem.  – Ok, so kudos to Gary for coming up with the plan, albeit in a such a geeky way.  Fair play.

On the Waverider, Ray, Zari and Wally are all out cold, so they are unable to take on the power of the Totem.  Nate decides tat he will wear the Earth Totem, hoping to gain the power from it.  When he picks up the Totem, he spots Sara and runs away into the ship. – Fair play to Nate standing up for this one, although I do feel it was obvious that it was never going to work for him.  No idea why, it just seemed obvious, maybe him being too confident to carry out the task, I don’t know.

GHOST OF DAYS GONE BY

Yes, it’s time for Nate to have his head messed with as he sees the ghost of his grandfather, Commander Steel The First.  Again, he knows that this isn’t real but he still can’t help but be overcome by the evil Sara who knocks him out and tells him of the guilt he should feel for Henry’s death.

 

 

At the same time, our Sara, the real one if you like, is finding it difficult to defend herself to Nora.  Nora can’t help but remind Sara of the things she has done, telling her about her darkness and how herself and Sara are much alike.  A vision of one of Sara’s kills, a particularly bad one appears before them, a murder she committed in front of a mans daughter.  “Once a killer, always a killer” is what Nora teases her with.

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE

Just as the Evil Sara is about to add another kill to her record, the team of JC, AS and G arrive on the Waverider.  Thanks to using magic, Constantine has managed to follow the Death Totem to the Waverider.  Constantine chants and throws holy water over Sara but it has no effect.  Sara’s body floats and Mallus takes over her body fully.  After tossing Ava and Gary out of the way, Mallus teases Constantine about a girl called Astra Logue, someone JC was unable to free from a demon.  Constantine appears to be falling for it but plays along so he can get closer to Mallus.  However, just as things are gonna get tasty, Mallus notices that he has bigger fish to fry…

LIGHT MY FIRE

… as Mick has made the decision to take on the Fire Totem.  He didn’t want to go an a mission and, thanks to Ray starting the cold fusion process to bring the Totem back to life, it’s ready to use, albeit reluctantly at first.  He starts to hold fire in his hands and, as Sara makes her way to the lab, he throws fire balls at her, knocking her out.  – Yes, Mick the hero.  I bloody love this and think it is a great way to give him purpose as I felt that, at times, his character has been forgot about.  Boom!

COME HOME TO ME

Ava rushes to Sara’s side and pleads with her to come home to her.  In the void, Nora is asking Sara if she will tell Ava who she really is.  Sara rejects Nora’s offer to join her team but is struggling with something that was said to her about living a half-life as a Legend and embracing her past because she can’t erase it.  Thankfully, Sara comes around but not without it being a massive fight. – Great stuff, emotion from Ava, the worries of Sara in the void.  Loved how Sara was brought back and the close up work on her eyes as they change looked brilliant.

IS IT REALLY YOU?

In the med bay, Ray has come around too.  Sara walks in and, despite his question of it really being her, she apologizes for what has gone on.  She tells them that she believes Mallus was preying on their fears in order to recruit them all.

IT’S OVER NOW

Sara goes to her room, where she needs to speak to Ava.  Because of everything that has gone on, including everything from her past, Sara tells Ava that she “can’t do this” and has to end their relationship.  Despite her plea’s, Ava leaves the ship in tears.  Sara lies on her bed and finds a note under the pillow on the other side that reads “Spot reserved for the girlfriend of Sara Lance”. – This is heartbreaking stuff and is so well played by both actors, especially Jes Macallan who sells it perfectly.  I also feel that this is very quick.  Sara has always wanted to be happy and she has found that with Ava.  They know they can fight anything together and should be together.  I am sure it will work out, certainly hope so as they are a great couple.

NEW GAME

From a heartbreaking scene we are taken to Gary, yes Gary, who appears to be giving a monologue to end the episode.  To be fair, it is so well done and fits the episode so well and is quite dramatic.  He ends it with “the true battle is just the beginning”.  The, JC pops up with a “Thanks Gary” as he throws a dice in the air to get a new game of Dungeons and Dragons going. – This was a great ending to a tense episode.  


A cracking episode that gets us back to the series arc.  This featured some great fight scenes involving the evil Sara Lance.

Loved the claustrophobic feel of the scenes on the ship when the team were seeing apparitions from their past.

Gary – not as annoying as he has been before.

Mick The Hero – how much did I love that?

So much emotion, particularly between Sara and Ava, but plenty from the rest of the team as well on seeing their past come back to haunt them.

Certainly frightening, having an almost horror like feel to it.

No Damien Darhk – Bonus.

Great episode all round – 9/10

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Thanks for reading.

Cheers, John