Written by James Eagan & Ray Utarnachitt
Directed by Mairzee Almas
Zari: "Really? You saved the world."
Ray: "Twice."
Zari: "Then why does it still suck?"
I have to hand it to this season so far. When it comes to female characters, sometimes the show felt on a rather uneven tone with Sara, Kendra and Amaya making up the ratio for the first two seasons but with Gideon getting more personality (and hopefully another physical appearance at some point) and the debuts of Ava and Kuasa in the last two episodes, it seems like the show is getting the male/female ratio on a more even tone.
Of course, Kuasa is one of our antagonists for the season and Ava is more of a thorn for the Legends so when it comes to female characters actually joining the Waverider, Zari Tomaz (Tala Ashe) is the one to step into the plate but not quite so simply, which does suit this show to a tee.
Nope the episode opened with Kuasa on a mission to kill Zari and the rather hapless Gary forced to work with the Legends in order to keep the computer hacktivist out of harm's way. Of course, Zari isn't really that impressed with the Legends but they're useful in getting her into ARGUS under the belief they're helping to rescue her brother. The reality on the other hand turned out to be that Zari wanted to get her brother's totem, which not so funnily enough was also the same thing that Kuasa was looking for as well.
For an introduction episode to our newest regular, this did a great job with Zari. Her moments of sarcasm and defiance with the Legends never made her unlikeable and the show talked about her being Muslim pretty well to boot. I also find it interesting that Zari and Amaya are now connected with their respective totems as well as Kuasa also leaving Amaya a hint of their own connection.
Speaking of Amaya, while she was mainly out of the action until the last confrontation with Kuasa, I am enjoying this storyline with her totem. Given how quickly she encountered Kuasa in this episode, I guess it won't be long before she realises that Mari isn't her only granddaughter. Kuasa didn't say a lot in this one but she's certainly acquitted herself as an interesting foe for the Legends while Zari looks like she's going to be a great addition to the team.
As for the rest of the episode, there was some good comedy at the expense of Nate being high and Gary still being a dweeb (along with Mick's general awesomeness) but at the same time, we might need a breather or two from Sara and Ava's usual antagonistic/flirty banter and even I thought that Stein was being a little patronising over Amaya's totem problem despite meaning well. Jax also had some good moments. As for Ray, well there's another story.
I liked his scenes with Zari but the pirate/biker look was pretty ridiculous to be honest. The interesting part though occurred at the episode's end as we saw a younger version of him hiding from bullies and encountering something in a tunnel. Now that was a good set up for the next episode.
- I'm really not shocked that ARGUS went the way it did in 2042. It was a totally predictable outcome to be honest.
- Loved the trippy sequences with Amaya back in Zambesi during her vision quest. Gideon's reaction to Ava as well was fantastic.
- No mentions of Mallus this week.
- Chronology: 2042 Seattle and 1988 Ivy Town.
Zari added our latest player into the mix and did it pretty well. I think I enjoyed this episode a little more than last week and as much as the premiere episode. I also liked the set up we've got for next week's Halloween episode too.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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