DC’s Legends of Tomorrow review, “The Satanist’s Apprentice”

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow goes full Disney animation this week as Astra (Olivia Swann) struggles to find her place in a world filled with humans. Her background is complicated, so simply settling down at home isn’t familiar territory. The fact that it’s Constantine’s (Matt Ryan) home but he’s never around makes things even more lonely. And then there’s that pesky neighbor of his who doesn’t believe Astra (as a Black woman) could ever live in their neighborhood.

“The Satanist’s Apprentice” puts a spotlight on Astra, a character I’ve personally not cared for before, but this episode makes her likable and relatable. We can all understand the struggles of job hunting and getting rejected. Watching Astra navigate this new point in her life without much support feels incredibly real, and hence why this episode of Legends of Tomorrow just might be one of my favorites.

Legends of Tomorrow introduces Aleister Crowley

Doctor Who’s Matt Lucas joins Legends this week as Aleister Crowley, who Astra accidentally stumbles across in the strangest of ways. Constantine hasn’t been around much, so in order to get money, Astra decides she’s going to sell off some of his antiques around the house. The guy has been around for millennia, so some of that stuff has got to be valuable, right?

In typical Legends fashion, Crowley is introduced as a man trapped in a talking painting. In other shows, this would certainly be too weird for comfort, but in a show like Legends, it’s absolutely perfect.

Crowley offers to teach Astra magic, to give her back the edge she is so desperately missing. Being stuck in an old house with nothing to do leaves only a handful of options, so the offer is too enticing not to take.

A bit later in the episode, Astra inevitably puts Constantine into the painting and pulls Crowley out of it and into Constantine’s body. With full control of Constantine’s body, Crowley can do as he pleases, and trick Astra into believing he has good intentions.

At first, the magic lessons go well, with Astra transforming anything and everything into inanimate objects. Shouting out “Permuto” gives Astra all the power she desires, and leads into the sidesplitting second half of the episode.

Legends of Tomorrow meets Disney

Things go full Disney after the rest of the Legends show up at Constantine’s house after being lost for hours trying to find it. No one seems to care much when Astra tells them they have to leave, since Crowley is walking around and will jump at the chance to wreak havoc on anyone.

Astra is a Legend now (sort of), but she hasn’t been embraced as one by everyone yet. That’s obvious when Ava (Jes Macallan), Nate (Nick Zano), Zari (Tala Ashe) and Spooner (Lisseth Chavez) strut into the house; Spooner is the newest member of the bunch and even she is more accepted than Astra is. To protect them from the wrath of Crowley, Astra turns them all into inanimate objects, each of them very fitting. My personal favorite? Zari the influencer being turned into a flip phone and Ava turning into a manual. How fitting is that?!

Anyway, Crowley is quick to betray Astra after she refuses to take the rude neighbor’s soul, even though it could help her become more magically powerful. I loved the series highlighting Astra’s decision not to take the dark path because it means the Legends are rubbing off on her, even if they’re not around much.

Crowley’s betrayal results in Astra being sent into a world of animation where she transforms into a singing princess. She has to use song to get through everything, but ultimately she and Constantine (the one in the painting) figure out a way to take down Crowley and pull themselves back into the world.

The catch is that the entire house is stripped of magic, including John’s powers. But they won, so that’s something, right?

This entire sequence was hands-down one of my favorite moments of Legends of Tomorrow. I loved that we got an Astra-centric episode, one that solidified her place as a Legend. And I don’t think I’ll soon forget Ava (as a binder) shooting papers at Crowley’s head; absolutely genius!

Elsewhere in Legends of Tomorrow

The subplot in “The Satanist’s Apprentice” introduces us to season 6’s big bad villain, Bishop (Raffi Barsoumian). I’m not sure I’m on board with this particular villain, but if anyone can convince us to love him, it’s Legends.

Picking up from this season’s third episode, we learn more about Bishop’s plans to restart humankind by mixing alien DNA with human DNA. We saw the repercussions of that when Sara (Caity Lotz) and Gary (Adam Tsekhman) met alien Amelia Earhart. If that’s where the world is headed, we’re in for a wild ride.

The strange part about Bishop is that he’s actually nice and operates with a “kill them with kindness” attitude. This makes it difficult to hate him and take him down, but Sara is up to the challenge, even if it means dealing with him and a nurse clone of Ava who makes her watch 15 seasons of Wynonna Earp while she recovers.

By the way, I love how self-aware Legends is when Sara talks to Wynonna Earp’s second season as the one where the show figured out what it wants to be. The same could be said for Legends, and I’m so glad they haven’t looked back since!

As always, I have nothing but praise for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. I can’t get enough of the wacky nonsense they serve up every episode. If I have a complaint, it’s that Sara has been away from the group for far too long; it’s due time she reunites with them.

It’s not the Legends without their captain, so I’m hoping that is about to change during next week’s episode, “Bishop’s Gambit.” See you guys then!

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