Thursday, April 04, 2019

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 4x09: "Lucha de Apuestas"


Written by Keto Shimizu & Tyron B. Carter
Directed by Andrew Kasch

Mona (to Mick): "You were right, there is no such thing as happily ever after."

And this episode felt so lighthearted. I mean, I knew Mona's relationship with the Kaupe couldn't last if the show was going to keep her around as a regular but even I was a tad surprised by the end scene of this one, in spite of it being massively telegraphed.

This week two relationships came to an ending of sorts. Mona and Konane would've separated anyways as Mick's words about the two of them being from different worlds was enough to make her look at her relationship logically and try to break away from him before he was killed off and Mona revealed that she too was now a Kaupe by killing her boyfriend's killer.

This episode was pretty heavy on Mona as a character, which I suppose was fair enough as Charlie's introduction episode (the same one that debuted Mona) largely focused on her and while Mona is not my favourite new regular this season, I think Ramona Young carried the episode pretty well and worked with the Legends too, especially Mick, who unsurprisingly was mostly irritated by her even if he did give her some sound advice towards the end.

The action itself was also a nice change of scenery as the Kaupe had been hiding out in Mexico and winning wrestling contests as El Lobo while the history of El Cura was being sacrificed as a direct result. This put Constantine into fanboy mode as instead of wrecking a timeline like he did in the previous two episodes, he ended up fixing one by taking on the role of Cura's coach with predictably amusing results. The big brawl between Lobo, Cura, the Time Agents and everyone else was also the funniest moment of the episode with both Constantine and Charlie encouraging the chaos of it all.

On a serious note though - the episode didn't waste time in making the Legends aware of Hank torturing magical creatures despite their initial skepticism of Mona's claims and it was nice to see both Nate and Zari team up in order to keep a watchful eye on Hank. Saying that, I could've done without that cringey exchange where Nate's mother told Zari she had child bearing hips. I implore this show not to make Nate and Zari a thing, at least romantically.

As for Sara and Ava - did this episode just break them up again? I mean it's good for them to occasionally differ on their methods for dealing with this but this episode sort of regressed Ava to her earlier standoffish side in order to bring back that previous divide between the Time Bureau and the Legends. Hopefully though, it doesn't drag and I'm saying this as someone who's not generally too fussed about Avalance as a pairing.

- We briefly saw Mike the Spike again and Ray's brief flash card moment as acting captain gave us reminders of both Vandal Savage and Damien Darhk again.
- Gary got himself memory wiped when he tried and failed to bring in Mona. As you do. We can also add Mona to the growing list of people who has read Mick's books.
- Going by the trailer for next week, it does look like Nora will finally be back in the mix as well.
- Chronology: Mexico 1961 for a good portion of this episode.

After a four month break, Lucha de Apuestas might not be the strongest episode to come back with but it's a solid mid-season opener that probably depends on how you take to Mona as a character. I think to her credit, she does seem a decent fit with the Legends and it's nice that the gang are on to Hank and that Nate too isn't naively taken in by his father.

Rating: 7 out of 10

No comments:

Post a Comment