Title: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 Episode 2: “Freakshow”
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction, Superhero
Platform: TV – CW
Director: Kevin Tancharoen
Writers: Keto Shimizv and Grainne Godfree
Rating: TV-14
Release: October 17, 2017
Cast: Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Franz Drameh, Dominic Purell, Maisie Richardson-Sellers
Feature image: Source
[Spoilers]
“Perfect. We’re bringing the circus to the circus.” Sara Lance – Legends of Tomorrow
Six months ago, Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) and Amaya Jiwe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) are celebrating Nate’s birthday. Amaya has baked him some doughnuts, Nate goes out to buy some more. Amaya sees her granddaughter Mari/Vixen on TV; when Nate gets back, Amaya has packed her clothes and split.
Back to the present day on the Waverider, Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) has made a shrinking ray device. Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) are looking at a map of the anachronisms. Sara: “We really messed up time.” Mick: “Look like we gave time acne.” Sara wants to pick an easy anachronism to fix. They pick the P.T. Barnum Circus in 1870. Sara: “Perfect. We’re bringing the circus to the circus.” Ray: “This is a classic slice of Americana. The air is thick with the smell of popcorn, candy and wonder.” Mick: “If I see a clown, I’m outta here.” Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (Franz Drameh): “What, you afraid of clowns?” Mick: “No. I… just don’t like their stupid faces and funny shoes and… razor-sharp teeth.” Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) is not impressed; he thinks it is just a bunch of exhibits to rob the rubes of hard-earned money. Sara sends Ray, Nate, and Jax to find the anachronism. They discover that the anachronism is a Sabertooth tiger. Because he is allergic to cats, Ray sneezes and accidently uses his shrinking ray device to make the tiger bigger. The big cat also escapes. Sara: “Let me get this straight: you three released a giant Sabertooth tiger.” She decides they need an animal expert, Amaya.
Sara goes back to 1942 and talks to Amaya. Sara: “Hey, girl. How ’bout one final mission for old times’ sake?” Everyone is glad to see her except Nate who is still smarting from Amaya leaving him. While Sara and Amaya go after the Sabertooth tiger, Nate gets drunk in a bar surround by circus folk. He steps in to protect the honor of the bearded lady (Christa Anderson) and he becomes Steel. Amaya and Sara shrink the Sabertooth and capture it. Nate tells PT Barnum (Billy Zane) that Ray can shrink, Jax can catch on fire and fly, and that his ex can control animals. P.T. invites Nate, Ray, and Jax to see some ‘limber’ acrobats. The circus strong man knocks out Ray and Jax. They plan to get Nate later for their circus.
Nate is in the dock bay with a major hangover. It takes him awhile to remember where Ray and Jax are. The two men are in a cage; they try to explain to P.T. why they can’t do what Nate said they could do. P.T. has plans for them. Nate and Amaya begin to bicker. Sara spots an agent from the Time Bureau, Gary (Adam Tshekman) spying on them. She tells him they captured the Sabertooth tiger, but unbeknownst to her, Mick accidently let the tiger out of its cage. Amaya and Nate go to the circus to rescue Ray and Jax; both of them pass out from darts. They are now part of the circus too.
“Well, no offense, Amaya, but considering we’re both stuck in a rhino cage, I’d say your plan backfired.” Nate Heywood – Legends of Tomorrow
In their cage, Amaya and Nate finally talk about the night Amaya left. Amaya: “I didn’t go to Zambesi. Not right away. First, I went to Detroit.” Nate: “Detroit.” Amaya: “I had to see her in person. Mari. My granddaughter. I had to see if she was as incredible as people said she was. I watched her save five people in one night. She never knew I was there, but I knew that she was perfect. I know it doesn’t help, but my decision to leave had nothing to do with you.” Nate: “You’re right, it doesn’t. ‘Cause if your “Bad-at-it” granddaughter was in 2017, why’d you have to go back to 1942?” Amaya: “I asked Rip the same question. He said that time hadn’t yet solidified. But if I stayed too long in 2017, then Mari would disappear.” Nate: “Why didn’t you say anything? I hated you for what you did.” Amaya: “I needed you to hate me. So that you would move on. If you knew how much it hurt me.” Nate: “I would have found you.” Amaya: “I wanted to protect my granddaughter, and I wanted to protect you.” Nate: “Well, no offense, Amaya, but considering we’re both stuck in a rhino cage, I’d say your plan backfired.”
On the Waverider, Sara has Gary at gunpoint so he can tell Agent Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan) that everything is under control and if anything happened, it might be his fault. Agent Sharpe doesn’t believe him and boards the ship. Sara sends Stein and Mick to rescue the rest of the Legends while she deals with Agent Sharpe. Sharpe tells Sara that she is there to arrest them, Sara tells her she has been waiting for her. Sara and Sharpe begin to fight.
To keep P.T. from shooting Amaya, Nate goes Steel. P.T. keeps shooting Nate in Steel form until he eventually goes back to his normal form. Amaya goes gorilla to protect him. Ray and Jax are a conjoined twin act who are supposed to be jugglers, but they can’t juggle. Mick leaves when he sees clowns. Martin has an idea, and he disguises himself as a clown. The other clowns find out and attack him. Mick shows back up to fight the clowns; Martin gets to Jax and they become Firestorm, which entertains the circus audience. Amaya is ready to kill P.T. but Nate is able to talk her down.
Back on the ship, Sara and Sharpe are still fighting. Both evenly matched women gets tired and takes a water break. The escaped Sabertooth tiger shows up and grows back to its huge size. Sara uses the stolen Time Bureau tech she has to save Sharpe. Sharpe: “I don’t believe the anachronism has been dealt with.” Gideon (Amy Louise Pemberton): “Believe it, Agent Sharpe. As I’ve already communicated to Director Bennett, 1870 Wisconsin is anachronism-free.” Sara: “Ah, even our A.I. doesn’t like you.” Sara asks Sharpe what Rip needs the Legends to fight. She won’t tell Sara. Sharpe doubts they can handle it anyway.
There’s a greater evil coming. Something even the Time Bureau is afraid of.” Sara Lance – Legends of Tomorrow
Amaya confesses to the crew that about a month ago, she couldn’t control her powers; the animal she became was in control. She killed the Belgian soldiers who were trying to take over her village; hunting them down. The crew tells her to stay because she is one of them. Sara tells her they’ll need her and explains why. Sara: “We got a new problem. Rip has been hiding something from us. There’s a greater evil coming. Something even the Time Bureau is afraid of.” [There is dramatic silence. Then, everyone bursts out laughing.] Jax: “What could be worse than an immortal Egyptian demigod?” Stein: “Or an evil speedster?” Ray: [shaking his hands in mock fear] “I’m afraid of the Time Boogeyman.” Nate: [still laughing] “I’m literally crying.”
Somewhere else near a lake, a robbed figure summons a woman, Kuasa (Tracy Ifeachor) from the lake. The robbed figure is a follower of Mallus and he wants Kuasa. She looks evil and wet.
Amaya is back in the fold and she comes back with a secret. Nate is mad at her for leaving him without an explanation. When he finds out she did it to protect her granddaughter Mari and him, he eases up on the anger. Not before, he had gotten drunk and put the rest of the legends in danger by telling P.T. Barnum somethings about them. The reason they were with P.T. Barnum was to find an anachronism, a Sabertooth tiger. In their usual fashion, they initially screw up the mission but are eventually able to solve it. Their screw up brought the Time Bureau. It brought another confrontation between Ava Sharpe and Sara Lance. They should just kiss already.
It was a good episode. The circus scenes were funny, and the fight scene between Sara and Sharpe was great. They seem to get as much a kick out of fighting each other as I get in watching them. We meet a new villain Kuasa, but we haven’t met the big bad of the season, Mallus yet.
Grade: B
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