Friday, November 04, 2016

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 2x04: "Abominations"


Written by Marc Guggenheim & Ray Utarnachitt
Directed by Michael Allowitz

Jax: "Those Confederates look a lot like -"
Stein: "Don't! Don't! Don't say it!"

Three days after Halloween and Legends Of Tomorrow decides to give us a Zombie episode and I personally couldn't be more happy as a result. This episode was utterly brilliant with some of the best uses of all the main players and a rather harsh but believable look into the Civil War times and how certain people were treated as well.

A Time Pirate landing in 1863 Mississippi had Sara and the gang also pop up there to prevent him from doing any damage and immediately, the gang (minus Ray who got benched this week) encountered members of the walking dead where two interesting developments happened. The first one being Stein's fear of zombies which provided a source of comedy in this episode and the second one, whilst totally predictable, also had Mick infected.

Having both Ray and Stein band together in order to cure Mick while also running away from him when he managed to get loose on the Waverider was actually pretty entertaining too. Character wise, Mick was the right choice to have succumb to being temporarily infected but there was some delightful moments as Stein had to work through his fears to save Mick while Ray himself also had to deal with his own place in the team now that his suit was no more.

I think the episode tackled those subplots as well as the growing friendship that we've been seeing with both Ray and Mick as the latter gave the former Snart's cold gun in a rather lovely moment. Of course, while their storyline was lighter, things get a lot heavier this week too.

Both Jax and Amaya found themselves stuck in a time where their own race was being horrifically treated and it took it's toll on them. Despite Jax's attempts of trying not to change history, he still found himself victim of a horrible slave master and also helped to free the slaves from the zombies attacking the house while letting the horrible slave master die in the process.

I liked the teaming of Jax and Amaya in this episode and thought both characters played off each other. Jax's final scene with Stein was also one of the best moments from the whole episode as he talked about his experiences this week. Amaya has worked better as a character this season and is the stronger of the new additions.

As for Nate, I do think this episode was a better one for him than last week as he seemed less impulsive and had the sense to let Sara take the lead with General Grant as well. I also liked Nate's defeat of the zombie horde but I am really hoping the show isn't considering a future romance with him and Sara. It didn't work last season with the Ray/Kendra/Carter and it won't this season with Sara/Nate, so let's not, eh show?

- At some point, Ray is going to have to build himself another suit. The cold gun is nice but it's not Ray though.
- The show needs to have Amaya channel some other animals because we've seen enough of the gorilla aspect now. Also shouldn't the rest of the Justice Society be looking for her?
- Next week's episode looks like it's going to move some of the Reverse Flash machniations a bit forward.
- Chronology: 1863 Mississippi for the majority of this one. We also never caught up with that Time Pirate beyond the opening scene.

Abominations had a lot to go over - a history lesson, a future president, zombies, brilliant team pairings (Jax/Amaya and Ray/Mick/Stein), Sara proving yet again she's a better leader and Nate getting more accustomed with his new abilities and a rather haunting closing song as well.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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