DC’s Legends of Tomorrow review: “Bishop’s Gambit”

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow have spent this season searching high and low for Sara Lance (Caity Lotz). This week’s episode, “Bishop’s Gambit,” is the closest they get, and it’s not exactly what we were hoping for.

The fact that this series can keep us on our toes is one of its best qualities. It may not take itself seriously, but it still has a lot of heart and soul. The Legends have become a family and at the center of it is Sara Lance.

That said, Sara has been apart from the Legends this entire season and the intrigue hasn’t fallen off. We’re six episodes in now, but Legends of Tomorrow is keeping things entertaining, heartfelt, and after this week, pretty darn shocking.

This week’s episode continues the journey to find Sara, with Rory (Dominic Purcell) leading the charge. His special bond with Sara has resulted in him behaving unlike himself, which is another beautiful thing about the show: It can take a grumpy, angry character and convincingly give him a redemption arc that puts him on top.

With that thought in mind, let’s discuss the major moments from this week’s episode, “Bishop’s Gambit.”

SPOILERS are ahead!

Bishop’s territory

Bishop (Raffi Barsoumian) is definitely one of the more hilarious villains Legends of Tomorrow has had in a while. He’s absolutely unbearable but I love every single moment he’s on-screen.

Sara finds herself in a strange predicament when she realizes that she can’t actually kill Bishop…because he’s a clone. Apparently, he’s not the same as the Ava clones (according to him), because only one of him exists at a time. It reminds me of the trippy movie The Prestige starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman.

Bishop is clever as he tries to break down Sara as much as he can, telling her no one is coming to save her. Classic villain move, right?

Unbeknownst to her, Rory and Kayla (Aliyah O’Brien) arrive on Bishop’s planet to do just that. But the plan goes south very quick when Mick is captured by the Ava clones, no thanks to Kayla.

Legends of Tomorrow hangs out at Constantine’s

Back in Northumberland, things are a bit chaotic at Constantine’s (Matt Ryan) house. The Legends have made themselves comfortable there, and aren’t exactly the best house guests. Behrad (Shayan Sobhian) is ordering tons of pizza, Ava (Jes Macallan) is trying to bring Gideon back online through the use of cathode-ray tubes, Nate (Nick Zano) is ruining Constantine’s guitar, Spooner (Lisseth Chavez) is setting the house up with alien traps, and Astra (Olivia Swann) is practicing magic.

Constantine no longer has his powers after the animated episode fiasco, so he’s more flustered than usual. He can’t do much about the chaos around the house, so when Zari (Tala Ashe) offers to go out for breakfast, he’s more than willing to get out of there.

Meanwhile, Gideon (Amy Louise Pemberton)  informs Ava about an alien anomaly showing up back in 1956. It’s at a mental institution: shockingly, the patient said her name is Sara Lance. In reality, it’s the alien Amelia Earhart (Jennifer Oleksiuk) that we met at the beginning of the season.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m loving the fact that they’ve included someone like Amelia Earhart in this season. If you know anything about her history, you know that she was an inspiring and ambitious woman. Seeing her as an alien in Legends of Tomorrow is strange, but I’m still loving it.

The Legends bring the alien back to Constantine’s house, much to his disapproval. Behrad and Spooner team up to play “good cop, Behrad cop” to see what information Amelia has about Sara. Once they learn where the alien’s pod is, Ava and Nate go to check it out and bump right into the Waverider. Dang it, Amelia!

Overcome with emotion, Ava triggers Amelia when she barges into the room and demands to know about Sara. Her alien attack mode is activated, and it’s up to Astra to use her magic to get into Amelia’s head to find out what they can.

It turns out that this is the real Amelia Earhart and Bishop just ran experiments on her. It’s a pretty horrible revelation, and what follows is even more gruesome: Ava pushes Astra to continue searching through Amelia’s mind which results in Amelia turning into the true alien being she is. It’s frightening beyond belief, which is a first for Legends of Tomorrow. She’s like a part lizard, part alien hybrid, and quite disgusting.

As the alien gets out of control, Spooner manages to communicate with it, but only pisses it off further.

Gary tries to save the day

Gary (Adam Tsekhman) attempts to save Sara and eventually locates her by swimming through the pipes. Just in case you’ve forgotten, he’s an alien and can take on the form of an octopus (at least I think so). He emerges from the toilet and finally lands in Sara’s room, hoping to help her escape.

She tells him to go get the cell battery instead, but while he tries to do that, he’s captured by the clones thanks to Kayla interfering. Meanwhile, Sara tries to trick Bishop into believing that she is ready to go along with his plans. He takes her handcuffs off and plans a romantic dinner, unaware of her intentions.

Bishop soon learns that Mick has been captured (Kayla realizes it too, eventually) and demands the Ava clones take down the barrier so the toxic air can kill Mick. By the way, it would also kill the Ava clones, but they’re duty-bound to do what he asks.

Mick manages to escape at some point with an oxygen mask while Gary saves one of the Ava clones, urging them to break free like the Ava he knows. After finding Kayla, Mick hands her the mask as they carry out the battery together. It’s during their very difficult walk that Mick reveals why he’s so eager to save Sara: she’s one of a kind and deserves to live, which is a huge compliment coming from Mick.

When they finally get to Kayla’s ship, they find themselves surrounded by attacking aliens who come out at night to hunt their prey. They hide out in a pod, and as expected, start hooking up.

Legends of Tomorrow gives us a plot twist

Spooner is called out by the alien on the Waverider and learns something shocking: Sara is dead, and the alien is responsible.

I didn’t quite believe that this could be true…until the scene switches to Sara having dinner with Bishop. She finds out from him that Mick is on the planet, but is dead by now. She goes all League of Assassins on him and beats him up.

Sara says that she has learned a lot from her scars, but Bishop points out that she doesn’t have any. In fact, she’s not even the real Sara Lance, but rather a clone; the real Sara died from the alien’s poison.

A CLONE!

I did not see that coming, folks.

Legends of Tomorrow comes in clutch with that heartbreaking plot twist, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s a pretty interesting turn of events, and based on next week’s promo, the Legends are not going to let this stand.

Of course, that will mess things up a lot, but they’ll try and do what they can to save their captain. I have a sneaking suspicion the Legends will figure out how to save Sara while somehow keeping the timeline intact. At least I hope so, because if they don’t, my heart may not be able to take it!

Tune in next week to see how this plot twist unfolds!

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