Legends of Tomorrow: Bishop's Gambit
June 14, 2021 9:59 PM - Season 6, Episode 6 - Subscribe
After moving in with John, the Earth-bound Legends pick up his styling cues. It's red and black for everybody.
Okay, that's not the plot summary, but I didn't want to give anything away. Plus, seriously, I couldn't help but notice the repeated (and unexplained) colour scheme.
I'll start with John. For most of the episode was in his standard black pants, red tie and white shirt, but before that he had on the red and black housecoat for his tour of the premises. Behrad was preaching to the pizza delivery guy wearing a red, white and black plaid shirt over a redish T-shirt. Astra had on tight red cropped pants with black heels and a white/grey-toned top. Spooner adopted the red and black colours for her jacket (paired with a white top and black pants) during the visit to the sanitarium to pick up Amelia, as did Ava with her red-and-black checked coat and black hat. Nate and Zari are the only two outliers with Nate either in olive and black or blue/grey and Zari in all black or black with animal print. What that says about the characters, I have no idea, but it's got to mean something, right?
I feel like something got left out this episode when it came to a discussion about magic. Last episode's spell wiped out all the magic in the area, but apparently it didn't because Astra is still learning it use it and the totems still work. John isn't Homo Magi/Magus like Zatanna or (sorry, drawing a blank on magic users who have popped up on Legends who might qualify), he's just a regular human who has studied the dark arts. Theoretically, he should be able to relearn what he knew before or use enchanted items. That is, unless the song didn't wipe out magic but rather placed some kind of magic inhibitor spell over top John (and everybody else), but again, that doesn't explain why Astra is conjuring fire and forcing people to share memories (unless because she sang the song she wasn't affected). If it is an inhibitor spell, then it should be reversible (probably by Astra as she has inherited her mother's talent). Argggh! We really needed a clearer explanation of what exactly happened. (And so does Zari, but then again, John has always been spectacularly bad at relationships, although I thought he was finally getting better at them.)
I don't know what to say about Alien Amelia. I don't really like the character, but I guess she's important as a warning as to what can (and likely will) go wrong in future episodes. Truthfully, I'm not loving this human and alien evolution engineering in space plot at all. Not the premise, not the villain, not Alien Gary, nothing. I mean Kayla is fine, and it's nice to see Mick putting all his experience to good use, but there are other ways that could have happened and they could have hooked Mick up with his ideal alien girlfriend in a completely scenario.
Sara was Sara in all her prime glory: fighting, scheming, never giving up, sticking up for her friends, all while looking fabulous. I thought they went a bit heavy handed on the scars bit considering we rarely see them on Sara (unless there's a particular reason for it). It's just that most of the time, the make-up department can't be bothered. We've all seen Sara die before--she has been dying since Arrow, so I can't get too worked up about whether the living and breathing Sara shares the same physical body as the one who landed on the planet.
Ava hooking Gideon up to the TV was cute. The opening shot following John as he prowled through the house looking for tea was well done.
AV Club review
Okay, that's not the plot summary, but I didn't want to give anything away. Plus, seriously, I couldn't help but notice the repeated (and unexplained) colour scheme.
I'll start with John. For most of the episode was in his standard black pants, red tie and white shirt, but before that he had on the red and black housecoat for his tour of the premises. Behrad was preaching to the pizza delivery guy wearing a red, white and black plaid shirt over a redish T-shirt. Astra had on tight red cropped pants with black heels and a white/grey-toned top. Spooner adopted the red and black colours for her jacket (paired with a white top and black pants) during the visit to the sanitarium to pick up Amelia, as did Ava with her red-and-black checked coat and black hat. Nate and Zari are the only two outliers with Nate either in olive and black or blue/grey and Zari in all black or black with animal print. What that says about the characters, I have no idea, but it's got to mean something, right?
I feel like something got left out this episode when it came to a discussion about magic. Last episode's spell wiped out all the magic in the area, but apparently it didn't because Astra is still learning it use it and the totems still work. John isn't Homo Magi/Magus like Zatanna or (sorry, drawing a blank on magic users who have popped up on Legends who might qualify), he's just a regular human who has studied the dark arts. Theoretically, he should be able to relearn what he knew before or use enchanted items. That is, unless the song didn't wipe out magic but rather placed some kind of magic inhibitor spell over top John (and everybody else), but again, that doesn't explain why Astra is conjuring fire and forcing people to share memories (unless because she sang the song she wasn't affected). If it is an inhibitor spell, then it should be reversible (probably by Astra as she has inherited her mother's talent). Argggh! We really needed a clearer explanation of what exactly happened. (And so does Zari, but then again, John has always been spectacularly bad at relationships, although I thought he was finally getting better at them.)
I don't know what to say about Alien Amelia. I don't really like the character, but I guess she's important as a warning as to what can (and likely will) go wrong in future episodes. Truthfully, I'm not loving this human and alien evolution engineering in space plot at all. Not the premise, not the villain, not Alien Gary, nothing. I mean Kayla is fine, and it's nice to see Mick putting all his experience to good use, but there are other ways that could have happened and they could have hooked Mick up with his ideal alien girlfriend in a completely scenario.
Sara was Sara in all her prime glory: fighting, scheming, never giving up, sticking up for her friends, all while looking fabulous. I thought they went a bit heavy handed on the scars bit considering we rarely see them on Sara (unless there's a particular reason for it). It's just that most of the time, the make-up department can't be bothered. We've all seen Sara die before--she has been dying since Arrow, so I can't get too worked up about whether the living and breathing Sara shares the same physical body as the one who landed on the planet.
Ava hooking Gideon up to the TV was cute. The opening shot following John as he prowled through the house looking for tea was well done.
AV Club review
I thought this episode was stronger than most so far this season, but yeah, I'm not really in love with the various plotlines.
Are we going to get a scene where Bishop gets tranqed at John's house because he didn't stay on the white squares? I feel like there's a possibility that's a setup, but I also feel like the sort-term memory of the writers room might be... compromised if you know what I mean.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 5:24 AM on June 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Are we going to get a scene where Bishop gets tranqed at John's house because he didn't stay on the white squares? I feel like there's a possibility that's a setup, but I also feel like the sort-term memory of the writers room might be... compromised if you know what I mean.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 5:24 AM on June 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Sometimes there’s Gary…on the outside of the torlet.
posted by MrBadExample at 9:36 PM on June 25, 2021
posted by MrBadExample at 9:36 PM on June 25, 2021
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posted by sardonyx at 9:03 PM on June 15, 2021