“Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me” is a perfect example of the fact that, when Legends of Tomorrow is running on all cylinders, no other show can match it’s heart and humor. After all what other show would be able to mix together:
- 40’s Noir
- Mystical Thriller
- Cop Drama
- Awkward Reunions
Legends of Tomorrow not only delivered all of this in “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me,” but also we got to see new sides to a couple of beloved characters in Ava and Zari. And oh boy, did we get to see a different side of Zari here. So before we touch on the main story, let’s find out what has become of Zari Tarazi since we last saw her back at Heyworld.
FAMILIAR, YET COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
We finally get to see our first glimpse of the new version of Zari in “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me.” No lie, it’s going to take a bit of time to get used to. This version of Zari now is basically a 21st century social media influencer thanks to being “Dragon Girl.” Now focusing on likes and retweets, Zari lives to show everyone around the world how important and popular she is.
Much like Nate, we are used to the version of Zari that we fell in love with : kind, caring and loyal. However, as Nate sees when they meet at her dad’s birthday dinner, she’s not quite like that anymore. Now don’t get me wrong, Zari is still hilarious with the quips but she’s not quite our Zari….
BUT when Nate finally gets to talk to Zari alone, they start to connect like the Zari and Nate of last season. Even with Zari sees through the bogus ruse of Nate being a professor of Behrad’s. Even though Behrad says that Zari is just trying to play Nate to find info on the family’s air totem, I saw a glimpse of the Zari that we had known through the years. The Zari that Nate became friends with, and then fell in love with.
The episode ends with Zari confronting Behrad and Nate about Heyworld all those years ago. So, of course Nate and Behrad come up with a great plan to explain to Zari what happened right? Oh come one, you know they weren’t going to. Instead they transport her onto the Waverider to stop the questioning.
Just want to point out that Tala Ashe delivers a bunch of funny moments in this episode. Zari’s freakout at the end was the cherry on top. Tala’s performance deserves a ton of praise, as her ability to play Zari as a social media queen, yet still show that side of Zari that we all grew to love over the years is something only a few actors can do. Tala did it masterfully.
The main story of tonight’s episode has the Legends of Tomorrow dealing with the latest encore causing havoc in time, one Mr. Bugsy Seigel. One of my favorite movie genres is noir, and Legends of Tomorrow delivers the goods here. Constantine, Sara and Ray are mistaken for a private eye (John), a secretary (Sara) and a cop (Ray) by the damsel in distress Jeannie. Sara tries to run a honey trap on Bugsy early, but not only does Bugs survive it but also is revealed to have a special Hell gun that can kill anything permanently.
I want to highlight how two characters have changed since hooking up with the Legends of Tomorrow: John Constantine and Ava Sharpe.
This season, we’ve seen Ava become a full-fledged member of the team. But as anyone who has been the head cheese in charge knows, it’s hard to go from being the leader of something to just one of the team instead. This feeling hits again when she is basically stuck on the sidelines with Mick as back-up in case anything goes wrong. Now this being Legends of Tomorrow….naturally something goes wrong. But in the meantime, how does Ava deal with these feelings of not being needed?
If you answer: get rip-roaring drunk, congrats you win! But instead of playing it off seriously, it’s mostly played off for laughs and I understand it. It’s very important to show different sides of these characters and one of the strong points of the show is when they focus on Ava. Hopefully Legends of Tomorrow can go back to this later in the season and focus seriously on this. Losing that kind of power does something to someone, no matter who you are. It will be interesting to see how someone like Ava deals with that further in the future. That can be for another day though. Instead let’s talk about this instead..
WHAT A PERFORMANCE AVA GIVES. I had no clue what a terrific singer Jes MacAllan is. Her rendition of “This Girl is Poison” was by far the show-stealing scene of the night. Much like Sara was at the end of the performance, I was beaming with pride at how confident and happy Ava was singing that song. Also boo to the people at the bar who didn’t like Ava’s singing. I’ve heard 40’s music, and believe me Ava’s singing was nowhere near as bad as some of the songs from back then.
Constantine has been put the ringer in his time with the team so far. Remember everything that went on with his ex-boyfriend Desmond last season, including saving him only to lose him again? Add onto that his own self-convinced failure to save Astra from what she’s become. It would be enough to wreck anyone. Through it all though, John has also learned to believe in the good in everyone, as he does with Jeannie even when it looks like she has betrayed them a couple different times. Playing a hard-boiled detective with a soft inside wasn’t just an act for John in “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me.” That’s who John Constantine is. A hero. Someone who cares more than he lets on.
When Bugsy has his corrupted cops blow up Jeannie with a bomb in her car, you can see how much it hurts John that it felt like he failed another person who needed him. So when he goes to confront Astra at the end of the episode with Bugsy and the Hell Gun in tow, I was convinced he would shoot her. Instead, John tells her that he won’t stop trying to save her. He shoots Bugsy to prove that he hasn’t gone completely soft, but as Ray tells him after he returns back to the Waverider.
“It’s good to know there are still some good guys left.” John Constantine might not be a great person but he is a person trying to do good. If that isn’t a Legend, I don’t know what is.
LEGENDARY THOUGHTS
- No Charlie or Nora in this episode either. Next week’s episode “Slay Anything” sounds more promising though, we get to see our two fan-favorites again.
- Sara Lance making that 40’s reporter outfit sexy was truly the stuff of legends.
- Like The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow had a new intro sequence. Not feeling it yet but it could grow on me.
- “Forget it, Ray. It’s Burbank.” If you don’t do a reference to Chinatown in a noir-themed episode something is very wrong.
Legends of Tomorrow airs on the CW on Tuesday Nights at 9/8c.
