Written by Ray Utarnachitt & Tyrone B. Carter
Directed by David Geddes
Ray: "I'll have you know, I am no stranger to the world of magic."
Constantine: "Yeah, don't think I haven't heard how Nora Darkh had you eating out of the palm of her wicked little hand."
It might be winter right now, but for the Legends this week, summer has come early with a spate of child related deaths at a summer camp getting their interests when a movie franchise going by another DC character's name has their attention. Swamp Thaaang, anyone?
Heading to Camp Owaga in the summer of 1995, you've got Sara, Ava, Ray and Constantine as the kind of counsellors you've expect them to be. You've got Ray being cheerful and super helpful with the kids, Sara being something of a cool aunt, Constantine mostly snarking in the background and Ava being something of a drill sergeant, which was enough to earn her an unflattering nickname and to become the victim of a fairly tame prank as well.
One of the strengths of this story was the reminder that Ava doesn't actually have a childhood so her inability to deal with children made more sense here. I knew the show wasn't going to drop the implications about her being a clone but this wasn't one of the ways I thought the show would also tackle the issue.
Having Constantine give Ava and Sara a spell to turn them into kids in order to get the other kids to open up about their real fears of a monster chasing after them worked pretty well to boot. There was a good enough likeness with the younger actors portraying Sara and Ava and it was amusing that cheerful and cute Chad turned out to be the monster rather than the more mean spirited Paula.
As for Constantine and Ray - pairing those two characters together was always going to be a good thing and having them work through their differences to help save the kids as well made for some characters moments. While Constantine did come across as a bit too nasty to Ray over Nora, he wasn't exactly wrong either about Ray's feelings for her. Speaking of Nora, she came back and just in time as Constantine's self sacrifice took a lot out of him and the Legends will need another magical person to help save him.
Away from the main plot this week, the B plot also had Charlie trying to escape her prison by tricking Zari, bonding with Mick over alcohol and shared prison experiences and even giving the Legends tips on how to deal with the baddie this week. It was enough to earn her freedom and a place on the Waverider with the gang. When Nora joins up as well, it really is going to be a very female led ship. Not a criticism by the way.
- Swamp Thing might not be appearing in this universe (but he'll have his own show in 2019 on DC Universe) but Constantine mentioned his association with the guy.
- Nate and Gary were no shows here. Nick Zano has his reasons as to why he didn't appear in this episode on his latest Instagram post.
- Did the show really quote a previously negative review that AV Club gave them? That's something else, alright.
- Chronology: 1995 for the most part. Not sure when Nora is but I guess probably 2018.
Wet Hot American Bummer was the camp tale I didn't expect but it was definitely one that I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to. There wasn't anything in regards to what Constantine is running away from this week but the continuity on Ava's clone origins and Charlie's insertion into the team, coupled with Nora's return, it's all good though.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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