'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' Season 5 Episode 5 Review: Ava and Zari get the spotlight and their bond wins our hearts
Spoiler alert for 'A Head of Her Time' - Episode 5 from Season 5 of 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow'
When Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz) is away, Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan) comes out to... awkwardly attempt to schedule morale-boosting playtime according to official Time Bureau guidelines. It goes about as well as expected - Ava may be welcomed and trusted by her teammates, but she's never been the life of the party. Marie Antoinnette (Courtney Ford), however, is the the latest Encore to be resurrected, and as the afterlife of the party, she's having the French revolutionaries dance, dance, dance till they're dead. Heads will roll, unless the Legends find a way to stop her.
The past three episodes have each lent themselves to a specific genre - documentary, film noir, slasher horror - but that trend appears to have stopped with this episode. It's presented as a straightfoward 'Legends' episode - well, about as straightforward as 'Legends' ever gets - that splits its time with John Constantine (Matt Ryan) B-plot. The B-plot is one that, for the first time in a while, prioritizes Constantine's story over campiness.
First, the fun. Courney Ford plays both Norah Darhk and Marie Antoinette this episode - the former over video chat - for no real reason other than to have the actress more to do. She's well used - it's a delight to see Ford return to the role of a sympathetic villain who can relish in her evil. In Antoinette's case, her plot is a lot less sinister than some of the other Encores. She stops the French Revolution by simply having everyone party themselves to death. Cutting the cake with a guillotine while a triumphant Antoinette declares "Let them eat cake!' in her best cartoonish French accent is definitely the episode's most memorable moment.
Zari Tarazi (Tala Ashe) and Ava take the episode's spotlight. Now that she's back on the Waverider, the show needs Zari to find a reason to be there. Using her only superpower - that of a social media influencer - she pairs rather well with Ava's insecurities about connecting to people. It's the best of team-ups, as the two bond, learn from each other, and ultimately save the day. The other Legends, through the episode, gorge themselves on cake, fight off ensorcelled French revolutionaries and paparazzi from 2044, and try to contain the flame-gun wielding decapitated body of Antoinette as it roams the ship looking for its head - because this is still very much a Legends episode.
John Constantine, meanwhile, appears to have wandered back onto his old, pre-Legends show. Ignoring Gary Green (Adam Tsekhman), who is quickly lured offscreen anyway, the story of Constantine holding himself accountable for the mistakes of his past is played surprisingly straight. Constantine loves to play the broken hero, but he works best as a character when the audience really sees the ugliness of some of the choices he's made. It's a level of nuance that the show seemed to have abandoned - by design - and it's refreshing to see done again. It manages to play a serious story without getting heavy enough to clash with the general tone of the show. John is cursed with advanced lung cancer just after finding out about this season's MacGuffin - the Loom of Fate - and the question of where his story is going to go next is surprisingly compelling.
The next episode of 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' airs February 25, on the CW.
