Legends of Tomorrow S3 Ep. 7 ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ Review
Being a show involving time travel, it’s great that we get to mess around with certain genres and have several references to classic movies. We’ve had episodes play homage to Star Wars, E.T., and now Apocalypse Now. Hell, Nate even said it, “We started at Predator but now it’s Apocalypse Now” referring to Mick and his mental state when he meets someone from his past…
Spoilers Ahead
After last weeks episode, we learn that Sara is unconscious and remains in that condition for most of the episode. The team decided that its best move on to another mission while she recovers and they go to Vietnam, 1967, during the war. Amaya, Zari, and Ray pose as journalists investigating and asking the locals questions, while Mick and Nate pose as soldiers where they meet a platoon of soldiers led by Mick’s dad.
Amari, Zari, and Ray discover that Gorilla Grodd has taken over a village and is heralded as a god. Grodd is always a treat to watch, the special effects look well and he’s a fan favorite character, placing him in Vietnam trying to show Humans peace, seems rather sweet and makes him sympathetic, until we find out that he plans to kill the President of the U.S. Grodd later wants to have a world of Gorilla’s by going back in time and halting evolution. Seems fun, but we don’t get that and the threat is resolved rather quickly as it all happens so quick.
Meanwhile, we have one of the best characters on the show get the spotlight, Mick. From when we first met Mick on The Flash, he was this crazy, angry villain who wanted the perfect score and to watch the world burn. Now he’s a Legend and a lot of peoples favorite characters, despite having burned down his own house with his father inside. So when Mick meets his father in Vietnam, he has mixed feelings. He wants to kill him on site when he first meets him, but he starts talking to him, starts realizing that he has a wife and actually wants to start a family of his own. Mick conflicted with this and tries to save his father from himself, by not killing innocents and going off the deep end. It’s a real, genuine moment, and Dominic Purcell shows us why he’s great. It makes sense that the episodes best moments were with one of the best characters.
Then we have Jax and Stein stay on the ship and they’re still trying to figure out how to split up Firestorm. Stein enlists the help of great scientific minds of the past such as Isaac Newton, Galileo, and Marie Curie instead of finding scientists from the future that would most likely know more… but hey, it was funny. Jax goes on his own adventure as he finds out there’s a plot to kill President Johnson, obviously, he succeeds and we see how Jax is a vital member independently, however, I will say it could’ve been handled better. The writing is doing particularly well in preparing for Victor Garber’s (Stein) departure from the show.
Though it doesn’t seem like it, the episode actually moves the plot of the season forward, as we realize that some of these anachronisms they are facing aren’t all random. In the episode Phone Home, Ray’s past is affected; in Return of the Mack we meet Martin Steins great, great Grandfather and this week we meet Mick’s dad. The very last scene we find out that Damien Darhk pulled Grodd out of 1967 all with a ‘thought’, according to him, as he holds a device in his hands that we can only assume is for time traveling. So one can assume Darhk and Mallus are placing Anachronisms on each character’s past with a device that looks a lot like a totem, but who knows.
What did you think of the episode? Let us know! Episode eight of Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesday, November 28 at 9:00pm EST on the CW.
