Summer camp is a place for making new friends and learning about yourself. The time you spend there can never be forgotten, whether you had a good experience like finding love with a special person or if you had a bad one… like what the campers experience during “Wet Hot American Bummer.”
The Legends investigate some strange doings over at Camp Ogawa. And while the campers got a few life moments they will never forget, so did the Legends, as they learned a little more about each other and experienced moments of love and friendship. So which do we talk about first?
A Great Episode For AvaLance
Well, AvaLance, of course! The episode opens with Sara and Ava enjoying a little domestic bliss (possibly Netflix and Chill?). I suspect Sara picked the monster flick they’re watching, as nothing gets people more horny than a good horror/monster film.
(I have no idea if it does. Hit up the comments section if it does work for you.)
But romantic plans get sidelined when they realize the movie is based on an anachronism from 1995. Apparently a real swampy-like monster attacked and kidnapped kids at a summer camp and magic is afoot, so the Waverider heads to Maine to check it out.
Sara, Ava, John and Ray go undercover as camp counselors. This brings their personalities out, and I loved it. Seeing Ava be her hard-ass self to the kids while Sara played the cool mom felt very much like how they would raise their kids if they ever have any. (I don’t think they would, but it’s The CW, so rule nothing out). Ava plays the strict/hated camp counselor so well that it leads the other girls to trick her into believing in “The Lake Beast” and taking a dip into the lake. I must commend Ava for sticking around after this to still help out those kids. Because seriously, if they had pulled that shit on me, I’d let the monster have those kids’s souls to do whatever they wanted with.
So the team comes up with a new plan – turn Sara and Ava into teenagers to gain these kids’ trust. The potion and the plan actually work as they bond with the other campers through talking and later a game of truth or dare. After getting some info on a string the last kids took to a spot where they have their first kisses, Sara and Ava meet up with the big bad — nope not the creepy old lady but the creepy young dude. Wow, lots of creepy people are camp counselors. On second thought , I’m kind of glad I never went to camp now.
With help from newest team member Charlie (more on that in a second) and a Constantine spell, the monster is defeated. Sara and Ava are back to their adult selves but with a little more understanding of each other, and what makes them such a good pairing. See they are the typical opposites attract but that can only last so long. AvaLance looks like it has staying power because Sara and Ava bring out a different/better side of each other. Nyssa fans might kill me, but I think Ava is the first person that Sara has truly felt comfortable enough with to let her guard down. Not be so closed in. Ava, on the other hand, while being a clone (admit it, you forget that sometimes too.) is a lot more free than she has ever been with Sara by her side. Yes, we saw Ava be hard-nose, disciplining the campers, but even last season Ava would have never agreed to become a teen in any circumstance.
Now I don’t know what the future holds for AvaLance, but I do know that both Sara and Ava look and feel happier when they are around one another — much like that special love you find in summer camp. It feels like you can take on the world and the way the magical creatures keep getting more powerful..they might have to.
An Unusual Team
Now let us talk a little about the other team-up at the camp – Constantine and Ray. You had to have known that they were going to be partnered up at some point. The moody, sarcastic troublemaker with the straight arrow white knight. TV Trope Writing 101 right there, but it still felt fresh and fun. Little by little John is warming up to being a Legend. The snarkiness is still there, but it feels like the kind you express to people you care about, instead of people you barely tolerate. Seeing them working together was enjoyable. The scene where Constantine tried hypnotizing kids to get information on the monster was pretty fun (especially compared to Ava’s tactic of “HEY JERK, TELL ME WHAT’S HAPPENING”).
“Wet Hot American Bummer” ends with Constantine getting severely hurt by magically giving a kid some of his life force. (It involved shed skin and just typing that sent a shiver up my spine.) The damage is so bad it looks like the Legends can’t do anything for him. The only hope seems to be using magic to cure magic troubles. And Ray knows someone who might help, if they can only just find her –Nora Darhk.
I’m going to be so happy to see Nora again. Since she’s not fully evil, there is more untapped potential for her character. I just wish we could have gotten a episode of the team chasing leads trying to find her instead of what will probably end up being 3 scenes of searching at best. The episode does end with a glimpse at what Nora has been up to: She’s found steady employment at a Renaissance Faire… as a witch! Eh in this economy, who am I to judge? Get whatever work is paying out there, sister.
As we lurch further to the mid-season mark, magic is the key of this season of Legends of Tomorrow as it also tried once again to mix comedy and horror with somewhat successful results. While I appreciate the homage to 80’s teen slasher films, it’s time for Legends to think outside the box…for them to do something big.
..eh could do worse than a Godzilla tribute. See You Next Week Legends!!
LEGENDARY THOUGHTS
- The B-story was Mick and Charlie bonding and Charlie being freed from her cage aboard the ship. Mick bonding with someone who has the face of a person he liked a lot (even had a crush on, I believe) isn’t shocking, though the little amount of time it felt spent on this story was. A story where Gary acts like a idiot will get several scenes but this only had 2-3 at the most? I hate that this got the short end of the stick.
- Constantine references Swamp Thing at the beginning of the episode and my comic book geek heart just grew two more sizes.
- “He talked about getting to first base with one of the girls at the other place. But how can they play baseball in the dark?”
- The actors who played Teen Sara and Teen Ava did a really good job of nailing their characteristics.
Tune in tonight to @TheCW_Legends and see these amazing young actresses play us better than we play us! pic.twitter.com/fYuKO2Eokx
— Caity Lotz (@caitylotz) November 12, 2018
Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW Mondays at 9 p.m. Eastern.