Legends Of Tomorrow plays a thrilling game of Clue-manji
Sure, there are some missteps in the final round, but the gameplay makes for an instant Legends classic
TV Reviews Legends of Tomorrow
Grades don’t matter. Really, they don’t. I try not to metagame these recaps too much, but Legends sometimes demands otherwise, and this is one such moment. “Bored On Board Onboard” is an episode begging for the rare undiluted A, a grade that I’ve only given to one Legends episode in the time I’ve been recapping the show*. And since grades don’t matter, I should in theory go ahead and slap that A in the little box below, but I can’t do it. An “A” episode can include a little misstep here or there, but it cannot include a whole scene where John Constantine does a non-musical version of “The Confrontation” from Frank Wildhorn’s abysmal Jekyll & Hyde. It simply cannot**.
I would do anything for Legends, but I won’t do that.
“Bored On Board Onboard” is a top-tier episode of Legends Of Tomorrow. Ably demonstrating nearly all the show’s considerable strengths with its usual combination of cleverness, stupidity (the good kind), and emotional intelligence, it’s a “classic Legends romp” that gets hijacked by one character’s inner demons, literally and metaphorically. That hijacking is a feature, but it’s also a bug. “Bored On Board Onboard” is elevated from “yay Legends” to “inner turmoil about adding a minus sign to the letter A” by virtue of that feature/bug hybrid. No show but this one could pull such a thing off, and it turns out that this one can’t pull it off, either — but it’s a very, very near miss.
“Bored” starts from a brilliant bottle episode conceit: John’s drag-the-Waverider-across-time-and-space maneuver from “The Final Frame” damaged the ship’s jump drive, and since no one on the present roster has stepped up to properly fill the mechanic role once held by Jax and then Flannel!Zari, the Captains are forced to take the long way home, a route that grows longer with every video game and food fabricator deployment. So the team loses all screen time, thus leaving an opening for Gary to slide in with an overachiever’s favorite party suggestion: a board game no one knows how to play.
Honestly, that alone is a perfect Legends set-up. The sight of the team (minus Mick, but can you imagine what he’d do in that situation) all grouped around the table together? Priceless. But the real stroke of genius comes in the way credited writers Keto Shimizu and Leah Poulliot weave in one of the season’s ongoing storylines: Rolling on his weird blood magic death potion, Constantine decides to flex his disturbingly crampy skills by inserting the team into the world of the board game, a world in which the gaps are filled by John’s own imagination.
What a clever choice. That, again, is a perfect set-up for this show, and especially for a bottle episode of this show, and especially especially for a bottle episode in a Covid season of this show. The team is still confined to the ship, but it doesn’t look or feel like it, and because John is calling on his own imagination to pull off the feat, it makes perfect sense that the setting for his in-game adventure would be his home. Director Harry Jierjian makes the most of the opportunity; the visual language of the game-within-a-game*** is alternately moody and playful, goofy and ominous. The menace and panic build swiftly, but the absurdity lingers (in a good way) until John has his epic, ludicrous Jekyll & Hyde moment.
The situation is absurd, but the stakes are anything but. The show’s brilliant choice to lean into Behrad’s mounting concerns about John’s erratic behavior pays off again and again, ensuring that this Legends romp is always at least a little bit off and tense. Sure, he’s the “starving artist,” but that’s not why he’s so serious. As he tells Zari in the film’s (almost) perfect final act, he loves John — but John’s in trouble, and it’s time other people noticed.
The Constantine addiction storyline didn’t work perfectly for me last week, but it (almost) does here. This time, the tonal whiplash is intentional. John hijacks the game, and then John’s dark side hijacks it some John. So even as the team still keeps playing like the team, they’re dragged further and further into the darkness. The jokes stay the same, but the stakes and energy change dramatically. Last week John yoinked the ship across time and space. This time he yoinks the show from fun romp to disturbing addiction storyline, and it happens so quickly that most of the characters don’t even realize it.
I could go at least another 1,000 words on just the concept, and we’ve yet to really address the Constantine/Behrad/Zari stuff, to say nothing of the B story. Suffice it to say that the episode’s considerable success springs from the smart writing and direction, yes, but even more so from the thoughtful, uncomfortable performances of Tala Ashe, Shayan Sobhian, and especially Matt Ryan, who’s so good in the episode that he almost makes the attic confrontation work. No small feat.
We’re looking at the perks of an actor living with the same role for years: he knows Constantine inside and out. I can tell you that this John is disturbingly different from pre-vampire blood magic potion John; the physicality, energy, vocal quality, and the character’s inner tempo are all slightly off, even before Bad!Constantine**** arrives in his plague doctor mask and terrible cloak.
And speaking of badly-timed arrivals, welcome back, Kayla and also (probably) Bishop! It wasn’t hard to predict that Kayla would be back and pissed about being left on that planet, but I, for one, did not see the Bishop twist coming, just like Gary didn’t see the Lefty twist coming. It’s a thrilling end to a thrilling episode, one that I’m sure will only get better with repeat viewings. It’s not perfect, but few things are. Besides, you can always play again. Let’s do it, because I’m gonna win his time.
* My esteemed predecessor, Oliver Sava, also gave out several As, including the one earned by “Here I Go Again,” another top-notch bottle episode.
** Unless, of course, he is actually performing that terrible song.
*** If you, like me, just experienced some RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 6-related anxiety, I’m sorry and me too.
**** Addiction is a disease, not a moral failing; that, however, is clearly how John sees himself. I’m hoping the show continues to treat it as the complex issue it is, despite the seeming reductive binary established here.
Stray observations
- This is the kind of episode where the comments are going to be filled with people asking why I didn’t mention this scene or that one, so let me just say this before we transition to the B story: Yes, that thing you loved is a thing I also loved. Only so much space in these reviews.
- I was convinced that the killer was Gideon, based partly on the bloodthirsty Gideon stuff we’ve been getting this season and partly on the title. A little bummed they didn’t include Gideon somehow, to be honest.
- Does Nate use his extremely helpful superpower in this episode? Steel is not flexible (and also rarely steel).
- Episode MVP: Good gravy, Matt Ryan, you are not messing around this season.
- Why the fuck not?: It would be Mick’s Hair, but… Lefty.
- Line-reading of the week: “I’m a starving artist. I’m nothing but serious.”
- Flannel!Zari and Fancy!Zari. Wonderful.
- This one’s for Outlander fans: John’s demon-self has big man-in-a-bear-suit energy.
- Gideon, what’s the most meta moment?: Iris and Barry on the D-list. As fellow A.V. Club contributor Kate Kulzick observed to me (via text) after the episode concluded, it’s perfect that Barry and Iris are to Sara and Ava what Oliver and Felicity are to Barry and Iris.
- Episode title ranking: 1. Stressed Western. 2. Bored On Board Onboard. 3. This Is Gus. 4. Meat: The Legends. 5. Ground Control To Sara Lance. 6. Back To The Finale: Pt. ii. 7. Bishop’s Gambit 8. Bay Of Squids. 9. The Satanist’s Apprentice. 10. The Ex-Factor. 11. The Final Frame (a perfectly good title!) 12. Bad Blood.
- This week’s Legends in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend song form: This doesn’t so much sum up the episode as it sums up Gary Green’s vibe:
59 Comments
What I found interesting was that also the show quickly took the og members off the board. Then the cooperative members (Spooner and Astra) then Gary.
I was touched by how upset Behrad was by finding Spooner & Astra dead, and how he didn’t want Zari to see them. He is a good dudeAlso I really love Spooner & loved her enthusiasm for her game character being a big game hunter, or at least having a gun. She is cute, smart, and violent. What’s not to love
Matt Ryan is really giving some amazing final performances in the Constantine role. The path out is now clear, except for whether it’s through death or a more peaceful exit, and I can’t decide which I want to see more, just because of how well Ryan would do either.
For a brief moment after he pulled “consumptive doctor” I thought we were going to get the character switch in this episode as a result of magic board games.
Him still being totally game(and him being totally into the idea of the game in the first place) after pulling “Consumptive Doctor” is probably nothing, but it adds a hilarious layer to John’s character here.
Reading this reminds me how far behind I am on this series. I’m getting the gist of the story, but I’m sure I’m missing all sorts of things.
However, at least for me, it’s always been this way with CW shows. By about season 4 or 5, I get burned out on them and just stop watching. I thought maybe LoT would skate, but it looks like I’ve reached that point. I suppose I can pick it up sometime in the future.
We 100% need to know who else is on those lists and what groups they’re in. is Nyssa in group C or D? Is group D just Barry and Iris (won’t lie, that would be the funniest answer). And let Black Siren attend the wedding Ava, she’s as much Sara’s sister as those actors are your parents.
They could’ve done more with the “becoming their characters” conceit, but that probably would’ve gotten in the way of the character stuff between Z and B so I get why they didn’t have the team totally lose themselves to the game.
Nyssa is definitely group D. Historically she is not a big fan of weddings either. She tried to stab Oliver in the face at their wedding
Let’s be fair though. Oliver deserves to be stabbed in the face…multiple times.
Nyssa was not interested in marrying Oliver or any other dude & fair enough for her to express her objection to the ceremony, League of Assassin-style
What about the Danvers sisters? Kara is, of course, a delight and would brighten up any event she attends but Alex is the wildcard here. I don’t remember, does Ava know about Alex & Sara or is it something that could come back to bite Sara in the ass (ok, I’m holding onto that thought (& image) for later)? And can you really invite one sister but not the other? And how can you invite Kara without inviting Barry?
I’m damn glad I didn’t have issues this tough for my wedding.
They’re already inviting Constantine and you know Alex Danvers would be way classier about it.We know Ava knows about Alex because of the premiere gag where Nate asks her if it’s going to be awkward to call Director Danvers for help tracking down Sara. Leads to the immortal line, “swing a dead cat. Sara never liked to be alone.”
Ava does know about Alex, Nate brings it up at the top of the season when they try reaching out to the DEO for help.
Does ghost-Oliver get an invitation, or will he just crash regardless? If he was alive he’d be a solid group C.
I’d put both Barry and Iris and Oliver and Felicity in Group D.Barry and Iris was explained in episode and Oliver and Felicity was explained in the final episode of Crisis on Earth-X.
As long as Joe is in group A, and gives an impromptu but utterly heart-warming toast, I’m happy.
Absolutely. Joe West must be protected at all costs.
Unfortunately we know that COVID is keeping the wedding guest list down. Not inviting Barry isn’t going to keep the wedding from being attacked so it only seems fair to invite Barry to the wedding.And the alternate universe version of the bride’s dead sister deserves not just to be invited but to be in the wedding party
This season has done really well in crafting bottle episodes and stories that require a limited amount of extras, and this was another good example of that. Seeing Behrad in serious mode is a nice change. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt, going for the “Who’s in the room??” cliffhanger when it’s clearly Bishop. This episode answers a stray fan question from season 4, when Hank Heywood is grilling Ava on the Legends’ expenses and why they’re racking up large food bills if they have a fabricator. Turns out they stock their fridge with real food as well.I’m reminded how much the “Gary is an alien” retcon annoys me, even as I realize that there would be very little for him to do this season if he wasn’t.Someone in the Arrowverse needs to start a new game development studio and produce something that’s not Mortal Kombat/Injustice-related.
I feel like the ending isn’t meant to be a mystery cliffhanger, they were just avoiding having Bishop’s actor in this episode for the same reason Arrowverse shows have been conspicuously missing members of the main cast in any given episode this year.
CW: “Dont have to cut him/her a paycheck for THAT episode.”
If we go along with the idea that this episode was supposed to be a bottle episode to save costs after the bowling episode, then yeah probably. I mean logistically even if COVID prevented the actor from shooting that day, there’s no reason they couldn’t film a pickup while shooting the next episode and put it in, unless it was simply a pay/union thing.
– Thinking about it, this is perfect for John. He does have an addictive personality.
– A quarantine episode when lock downs are springing back up.
– Spooner has a Texas flag in her room. Nice touch.
– Yes, I want to see Black Siren and Ava’s parents at the wedding.
– Zari’s the beast. Zari’s the beast. Please let Zari be the beast.
– Love Caity’s fake French accent.
– Zari is drinking. That’s not like her. I think she really is the beast.
– Behrad is not wanting to play the game, so he’ll have to be the one to stop her.
– Mick now has hair. That’s weird.
– And Sara’s dead again. That also adds another death to Ava’s tally.
– Why don’t they just drain the energy from Kayla’s ship?
– Now let’s see if Kayla is also pregnant…and Spooner’s mom.
– So, uh…Spooner and Astra. Is that going to be a thing now?
– Spooner and Astra are dead. John and Behrad are accusing each other. It’s Zari.
– Gary vs Lefty was funny. I enjoyed it.
– Bishop takes Waverider.
– John’s subconscious was the beast? That’s so cliche. I expected more of you, Legends writers.
– Zari made the connection. That’s good.
– “Space Girl” reprise.
– I’m glad that John wasn’t “taken over” by his darkness in that sink scene. Instead he’s being consumed by his addictions. Very John Constantine.
Spooner and Astra evolving from hating each other to being BFFs is my favorite & most unexpected thing this season. Apparently neither has ever had a real friend before & so it is sort of intense for both of them & also somewhat based on the actresses actually becoming friends on set & the writers noticing this & writing to it
I tried to get a screen shot of Spooner jumping into Astra’s arms last week. Hopefully someone with better skills than I will find it.
That was amazing, with the much taller Astra holding Spooner & her legs dangling above the ground. I will not necessarily rewatch that episode just for that scene. But also, I might
So good I want to cry… You’re the best, kris.
If by best you mean I stole these off of tumblr, then yes, I am the best.
Both are also traumatized from losing their mothers in different ways (to Hell and to aliens) as well as these otherworldly mechanisms affecting them personally, though much more intensely for Astra. So it makes total sense for her and Spooner to be best friends.
I thought this episode was one of the show’s more tense episodes, with the B plot with Kayla, Mick, & Gary possibly even more intense than the A plot in which almost every team member got brutally murdered. It was interesting too as the antagonists in both plots, Constantine and Kayla, are somewhat sympathetic but also somewhat off the rails.
Your recaps are better than the show. I’m in the bag for almost anything genre – superheroes especially. Legends is my least favorite. What I love is your enthusiasm and genuine appreciation of this show. We need more of you spread out over more shows.
My first recommendation for your clone is Titans. Yes, not great overall but did you see the first 3 eps of this new season?
Keep up the good work!!
Bishop, suddenly interrupting a transmission of Wynonna Earp: “Miss Kayla! It ain’t over yet, mama! This season… there’s a game within a game. Do you wanna play?”
I was a little worried this episode could have turned out like the infamous Deep Space Nine episode “Move Along Home”. Both episodes share the same basic premise, the main characters get sucked into a game against their will and have to play along while they keep getting picked off one by one.But once again the LOT writers have proven that they can make anything work, no matter how silly.And there needs to be an LOT/Doom Patrol crossover at some point. Just imagine Mick and Cliff commiserating about how they’ve both been bad fathers and are now doing their best to make amends. John and Kippling having a magical dick measuring contest. Astra trying to exploit Flex’s reality warping powers for her own gain. Danny and Gideon becoming friends. Ray geeking out over meeting Rita Farr and so on and so on.Yeah I know it will probably never happen between covid, DC thinking it could cause “confusion”, cast members that have or will leave, actors getting new or different versions of their characters to play and all that. But please just let me have this dream because the world needs this to happen.
John and Kippling having a magical dick measuring contest.Especially interesting as Willoughby Kipling was an expy for John Constantine in the original comics and are basically the same character. Also ironic in that by the time Doom Patrol made it to air Constantine was already on Legends, so the series would’ve need a Constantine expy anyway even if he had made it into the original comics.
-Right, Ava and Sara are totally running off to work on wedding planning. -Wait, they were literal about that? And Nyssa isn’t on the D-list? LOL at Ava’s attempt to prevent supervillains from ruining their wedding though.-Thought Gary would be the beast. I was convinced that the killer was Gideon, based partly on the bloodthirsty Gideon stuff we’ve been getting this season and partly on the title. A little bummed they didn’t include Gideon somehow, to be honest.Would have been amazing.-I kind of wish they’d gone full Plague Doctor with the long freaky beak thing for alt-John’s costume, even though/because the Plague Doctor thing terrifies me.-Did she pinch-kill Mick’s babies?!
So it seems pretty certain that Bishop’s back, but the song reprise made me really really really hope that the final villain of the season is David Bowie (‘s in space). You can still make it happen, Legends!
The wedding planning scene would have been a lot funnier if it hadn’t already been confirmed that COVID killed a big Arrowverse reunion. They apparently couldn’t even get Paul Blackthorne back. While I DID like the episode as-is, a part of me wishes this had happened earlier in the season so that the LARP stuff could have gone on longer. Seeing the Legends amusingly accuse each other of being the Beast would have been funnier. I would have especially loved to have seen some scenes of the silent “dead” Legends off in a side room getting into their own antics while waiting for the others to finish.I am also a little surprised that, when Gideon revealed the jump drive’s damage, they didn’t ask Zari to switch back for a second or at least communicate with her to fix it real quick before going over. It’s not as if Flannel!Zari was in immediate danger.
The wedding planning scene would have been a lot funnier if it hadn’t already been confirmed that COVID killed a big Arrowverse reunion. They apparently couldn’t even get Paul Blackthorne back.Where’d you see this? We know from the trailer the wedding ends up a small affair, I’m curious who they reached out to. Paul Blackthorne would’ve been amazing.
I knew Sara was going to be the original killer, but I thought they would’ve mentioned that Sara killed Ava first because she didn’t want to talk about the wedding planning during the game. I still think that’s the read that we’re supposed to get from that, but they didn’t really bring any attention to it.Man, I’m gonna miss Matt Ryan’s Constantine. Would’ve been really dope seeing what he could do in a full-on Hellblazer series, but I’m glad that he’s staying. Hopefully with the new character he gets promoted to main cast member.Seeing the promo for next week’s episode, I’m a bit confused on how the timeline would work with the wedding, considering the scenes from the mid-season trailer too. And a certain thought crossed my mind: Bringing in someone like Bishop as a Legends member would probably be fun, and feels like something they would do.
I got that Sara viewed Ava as a threat and Sara wanted to win
That’s how I took it. Ava really put a big target on herself by announcing how she was working stuff out.
Hopefully with the new character he gets promoted to main cast member.He’s been main cast since season 4. The ‘Special Appearance’ credit is just the way they negotiated him in.
Oh, I get that, it’s just a tiny little OCD part of me that wants him listed as part of the main cast.
I thought that Adam Tsekhman did his best work since the nipple incident in this episode.
Agreed, his wrangling on the floor with Lefty was both horrifying and hysterical.
Just occurred to me that John is British, so perhaps it should be “Cluedo-manji”.
Carry on.
As a Brit, I will approve the usage here given the film is truly brilliant and deserves to be acknowledged. Speaking of which if you’ve not seen the twitter trailer for this ep get right on that –
Holy shit, that’s the best.Kinda wish Legends would do the Superman & Lois thing – and post “extended episodes” on the CW site.
The showrunners said they did a Clue episode because The Big Lebowski episode was so expensive, but “Bored On Board Onboard” did not look cheap.
“Not the love grip!”
I saw that as well, and wonder what about “The Final Frame” made it so expensive. Renting out the bowling alley? There was some good VFX work (particularly the zoom out reveal that the crater in Alaska is one of the holes in the cosmic bowling ball) but nothing that seemed to warrant a bottle episode to make up.
I’ve never seen that Jekyll/Hyde clip, so the scene worked fine for me. I agree with the grade, though. I think my criteria for an “A” grade is when the A, B, & sometimes C plots all dovetail perfectly. This one almost got there in that the B plot incredibly started to parallel the main plot as its own mystery – what with Gary and Mick trying figure out what was going on with Kayla and Lefty.What was Gary’s quote?“No Lefty! Bad!”
I’ve been a fan of the show since it got out of its Casper Crump doldrums, but this season has mostly left me cold and smelling shark-jumping in the offing. I’m not sure what it is: the genre-parody of the week, the one-note Big Bad of Bishop, trying to figure out why Spooner is still in the series, or something else, but it definitely feels to me like the show’s running out of gas.
Sometimes I long for a time when we knew less behind the scenes news about our favorite shows as they happen.
I should mention that if anyone HAS successfully dodged Legends Season 7 news, you may want to skip this comment.
BUT yeah. I think Tala Ashe, Matt Ryan, and Shayan Sobhian are putting in great work on the simultaneous Fancy Zari/Constantine love story, as well as John’s downward spiral.
Sidenote: Allison, your point is well-made that addiction is no moral failing, but I think Legends can be forgiven with John here at least a little bit because John is becoming addicted to literal dark blood magick. It doesn’t work as a 1 to 1 analogue for real life addiction, but it works for John’s choice, in-universe. Sidenote-to-the-sidenote: How long has that flask been going?! Has the vampiress blood dealer been making off-camera visit for John to re-up or what?
Anyway, I feel that the news already being out there that Constantine will not be a part of season 7 (even if Matt Ryan will) undermines the emotional stakes being driven by the fine writing and the work of Ashe, Ryan, and (in this episode) Sobhian. Knowing for certain that Constantine’s days on the show are numbered seems to imply that Zarantine’s are as well. I had the distinct feeling while watching the show that I would have felt Zari’s confession of love for John much more deeply if I didn’t know the behind the scenes news, and that, sadly, hurts the show.
Many have been quick to anticipate John’s exit from the Waverider with each subsequent season. I was never one to think that way, and considered every season with him a win. Knowing for certain that his time has nearly reached its end is casting a damper on the excellence of his final arc. I know that Legends, out of any show, has the capacity to surprise, but I can’t help but be a little bit bummed that they let this info out before the end of the season.
Yeah it’s gonna be a shame when they lose him, he’s always been both a great character for the energy/interactions he brings plus he’s a fun tool in the drawer in terms of the different ways they can solve a problem.Whilst it rather does feel like his days are number I still rather hope he’ll just end up heading off doing his own thing (with the potential to reappear down the road). Given both his stature as a comics character and the attachment many have to the TV character it always feels right that John Constantine is out in the world doing his own thing, even if we’re not seeing those adventures.If that is the case then there is always the possibility that Zari 2 goes with him, with the reintegration of Zari 1 is building up to that… (yeah they’d have to get rid of the reason they can’t be out of totem the same time but it’s this show, if they wanna find a reason they will)
I admittedly go pretty hard for Zari 1.0, but at this point, the show has put so much work into 2.0 that it seems crazy that they would reverse course now unless something truly fundamentally was not working with the character.
As much as I prefer Zari 1.0 as a character, I prefer the 2.0/Constantine relationship over the 1.0/Nate relationship. But that could just be my continued bitterness that the ship I was backing at the time was 1.0 & Charlie, which sadly never bore fruit.
We are in full agreement over wanting to see an open-ended end for Constantine in the Arrowverse. If you ask me, Matt Ryan has given so much to the character over the years now that he should truly be allowed to play the role whenever and however he wants, a la Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Unlike Jackman exiting Wolverine after telling the last story he wanted to tell though, this bears a lot more of the classic stink of DC “clearing the board for the next basket they are putting all their eggs into” with the HBO Max JJ Abrams verse. Which is just a BUMMER. I mean, I hope those shows are good, but Matt Ryan and Legends have carried the torch for John faithfully in popular culture for YEARS and to chuck that all to make room for a new version that is completely theoretical at this point is just bad faith.
I really hope Bishop returning means we also somehow get the real Sara back.
Behrad being condescending to Zari for drinking wine is extremely hypocritical for a dude who spends every waking moment of his life intoxicated.
I thought that was more about Zari being a Muslim since Muslims aren’t allowed to drink wine.