Legends of Tomorrow: Wet Hot American Bummer

November 13, 2018 7:51 PM - Season 4, Episode 4

The Legends adopt the buddy system while hunting a mystical being that is attacking a children's summer camp. Constantine dons shorts. Ray makes his own lanyard. Sara teaches Ava about childhood. Mick shares a drink with Charlie while Zari and Charlie clash.

AV Club Review

AV Club gets excited because it gets namedropped in the episode.

Reason why Nate didn't appear in this episode.

posted by sardonyx (11 comments total)

I really enjoyed this episode.

First Ava and John are really good together. More of this pairing, please. John also worked well with Ray, who seems to have a knack for meshing well with the pricklier members of the team. It was also fun to see John be forced into the group costume experience, and I wouldn't mind to see a bit more of this.

I'm not sure about Mick and Charlie. The writers seem to be pushing Mick away from whatever personal growth and maturity he has achieved while working with the team and turning him back toward a more criminal path. Maybe this will just be a short-term detour, but I don't want to see him ostracized and at odds with the team. Sure, it's good when he is able to offer his unique perspective or utilize his own talents and skills, but I like him feeling more comfortable with the Waverider family and finding a place in its mission. Please don't screw up Mick. He's kind of the big, gruff heart of the show.

I thought the way the producers handled that final scene with young Ava and young Sara was really well done. There is no need to put child actors into situations they likely aren't mature enough to really process. I don't think Ava's younger double really was a good physical match to her adult self, but young Sara and young Ava did a decent enough job mimicking their elder counterparts.

It was nice to see Ava opening up to Sara about her insecurities about her origins and past, because not much as been done with the clone plot since it was revealed.

I wasn't expecting young Sara to have been so pro-camp. Out of the Lance sisters, I would have pegged Laurel for being the one really into the experience, with Sara being a bit of a rebel. At least, that was sort of how teenage Sara was presented on Arrow, but I guess people's personalities can take a 180 between their tween years and their older teen ones.

I'm sure we're never going to encounter any of the campers again, but the comic-reader part of me has to wonder about how much of John's energy and life force was put into that young boy he saved, and how much of it was corrupted by the evil that has claimed John's soul. Would the boy have a future career as a practitioner of the dark arts? Or as a magician trying to save himself from an unfair damnation?

We know that the Swamp Thing show is chugging along. (I saw some casting news the other day for Alec Holland.) I wonder if Matt is going to get the opportunity to pop up as John in yet another DC TV property.

As mentioned in the AV Club review, the dialogue and the characterization was really well done. Ray taking pride in his camp days while not realizing the insult behind his nickname. The whole discussion about Ray falling under Nora's "spell" and just handing over the time stone and John warning Ray off of dark and dangerous people like himself and Nora was also spot-on in terms of their characters. Sara being exasperated when she realized John didn't know if the potion was going to work, Ava falling for the Swamp Thaaaang prank--really, pretty much everything was firing on all cylinders this episode.
posted by sardonyx at 8:39 PM on November 13, 2018 [4 favorites]

What's your take on the emergency treatment plan for John: Success or vale of tears?
posted by Samizdata at 9:35 PM on November 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

What's your take on the emergency treatment plan for John: Success or vale of tears

Whenever a character is injured near the end of an episode and has to sleep off their damage in the medbay, it's usually a sign that they are sitting next week's show out. It happened to Sara last season and Rip before that. Is John in next week's preview clip?
posted by Servo5678 at 5:08 AM on November 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

It might take a while, but I suspect everything will turn out fine (or relatively fine) for John, only because he's still so vital to the current mission. Charlie may be able to identify evil magical creatures and perhaps even fight them (if/when her powers come back) but the Legends still need somebody who can handle the heavier magical duties, and for now that's John. The only way around that would be to have Nora replace him and take over that function, but somehow I can't see DC be willing to sideline the better-known Constantine for an essentially unknown character--although I could be way off in my assumption.
posted by sardonyx at 7:25 AM on November 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

That is a good thing. I really enjoy Matt Ryan's portrayal of Constantine, and I really appreciate the fact that Constantine escaped cancellation hell, so to speak. I also love the face he has joined up with the derpiest time travellers EVER.
posted by Samizdata at 12:34 PM on November 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

Yeah I suspect the next episode will have Nora filling in the magical duties while Constantine's on the mend, and that will probably set her off either with or against Charlie, since Nora was responsible for unleashing Mallus, and while Charlie's glad to be out of prison, she's still has a good heart.

I really liked the camp stuff, and how terrible Ava was as a counselor, and how sweet it was that Sara gave her their own camp memories.
posted by numaner at 9:39 PM on November 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

> numaner:
"Yeah I suspect the next episode will have Nora filling in the magical duties while Constantine's on the mend, and that will probably set her off either with or against Charlie, since Nora was responsible for unleashing Mallus, and while Charlie's glad to be out of prison, she's still has a good heart.

I really liked the camp stuff, and how terrible Ava was as a counselor, and how sweet it was that Sara gave her their own camp memories."

I am good with Nora swapping in for a spell, so to speak, and Ava getting a bit of a childhood was lovely. Also watching youngAva and youngSara kicking some butt was fun too.
posted by Samizdata at 5:46 AM on November 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

As mentioned in the first episode thread I just picked this up again and haven't yet watched season 2/3 so this is the first time I've seen Nora Dahrk rather than hearing her name referenced.

That's Brandon Routh's wife! Right! So his love interest is his wife? cool. cool cool cool. Although kinda awkward if their onscreen chemistry turns out to be lacklustre.

Also I have no idea why Jess Macallan had no childhood and fake parents. But so far I've seen murderous unicorns, evil disney fairy godmothers, the queen's butt, and Constantine wearing camp counselor outfits so it doesn't even register on the weird meter.
posted by Justinian at 1:38 AM on November 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Also I have no idea why Jess Macallan had no childhood and fake parents.

For this, you just need to watch one episode: Season 3, Episode 16, "I, Ava", and it'll clear all that up for you (more or less...I mean, it's Legends, so...have fun and don't think too hard about it) and it's a pretty good episode to boot.

I am still tremendously enjoying this season so far, I gotta say. I dunno if the fact that I actually was a camp counselor at an overnight co-ed summer camp in the 90s made me love this episode even more but it certainly didn't hurt.
posted by mstokes650 at 12:08 PM on November 16, 2018 [5 favorites]

If you have a functional sense of humor, this season of Legends makes it hard to find an episode you won't like. So happy the writing bullpen finally surrender to the lunacy implicit in the premise...
posted by Samizdata at 5:39 PM on November 16, 2018 [4 favorites]

For this, you just need to watch one episode: Season 3, Episode 16, "I, Ava",

I did, and then I HAD TO watch S03E17 and the season finale S03E18.

So happy the writing bullpen finally surrender to the lunacy implicit in the premise...

That happened well before the end of S03, because that shit was nuts.
posted by mikelieman at 6:48 AM on November 17, 2018 [5 favorites]