Legends of Tomorrow S3 Ep.2 ‘Freakshow’ Review
There has always been a line for how absurd Legends can go. They have crossed that line a couple of times in the past, including this episode. Though there are fun moments, there were different tones going on with some characters that oddly didn’t sit right with the series
Spoiler Ahead
The Legends are trying to prove their worth to Rip and the Time Bureau, so they decide to face anachronisms on their own, as a result of fracturing time. Now anachronisms are when people, animals, buildings, etc, are scattered all throughout time. So after a couple of months of vacation, the Legends decide to take an easy mission, set in the late 1800’s where a Sabretooth Tiger is the main attraction to P.T. Barnum’s Circus. Doesn’t seem too difficult, but then again, it’s the Legends so how bad can they screw this up? Very much so.
Although I enjoy the self-aware absurdity of the show and team, I’ve never thought the Legends were very incompetent, until this episode. Yes, they may screw things up, but you still know they are a capable team. So I want to know what the heck was going on here. Ray, Nate, and Jax reminded me of the Three Stooges and that’s not a compliment for it oddly felt out of place from everything else going on. Ray is an adorable idiot, in this episode, he was just an idiot. and Jax was just there because he’s a part of the team. The bit of making Jax and Ray siamese twins was completely ridiculous.
What does feel in place is the return of Amaya. I’m glad they didn’t drag out her return, and contrary to what I said the last review, she really does add more to the team. However, in this particular episode, we get some forced melodrama between her and Nate that doesn’t work,. Right from the beginning, we find out that Nate and Amaya have been living together until Amaya decides to head back to 1942 so she won’t ruin the present timeline, but Nate doesn’t know that. He only knows that she left him with no explanation. So, of course, he’s upset and bitter, who wouldn’t be? But his actions lead to the slapstick comedy for the rest of the episode and the showcasing of P.T. Barnum as the main antagonist for the episode, who’s probably the weakest villain of the week we’ve seen on Legends.
Now, there were some good moments. Although he was an unnecessary antagonist, Billy Zane’s P.T. Barnum was fun as hell to watch. He was chewing the scenery any chance he got and it was a nice reunion with actor Victor Garber (Stein) since both actors were on the Titanic. There was even a funny joke about the Titanic, which certainly made me laugh. The chemistry with Mick and Stein was also nice to see again and Mick being afraid of clowns made for good comedic moments, specifically towards the end when Stein dressed up as a clown.
Agent Sharpe of the Time Bureau, who we were introduced to the last episode, is turning out to be an interesting character and foil for the Legends. The fight scene between here and Sara was entertaining, but I refuse to believe that fight ended in a tie, especially after all the things we’ve seen Sara done in the past. And to be quite honest, I think their relationship will end rather predictable, in the later episodes. On a bright side, we were given a teaser as to who the main villain this season could be. Now, I have no idea who it could be, but the last scene certainly caught my attention
Legends is naturally a comedic action show, so when they mix the genre every once in a while, with a Western or Horror centric episode, it works. Here, it seems they tried to make a slapstick comedy (when comedy is already one of the main ingredients to the series) while keeping the action and melodrama and it simply didn’t work. Ultimately what we got wasn’t good and I can only hope that the next episode is better.
What did you think of the episode? Loved it, liked it, hated it? Let us know!
Episode Three of Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesday, October 24 at 9:00pm EST on the CW.
