Legends of Tomorrow season 3, episode 4 review: Phone Home

Reviewing Tuesday’s episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Another one-off Legends of Tomorrow this week, without much in the way of developing the season’s overarching plot, or even digging particularly deep to come up with a threat. But, as frequently happens in the best episodes of this show, “Phone Home” works despite itself by showcasing a group of its always-entertaining ensemble players in a charming, if predictable storyline that’s free of the overwrought and over-serious drama that occasionally weighs the Arrowverse down. And really, if Stranger Things has taught us anything, its that the 1980’s have a special charm that works for people.

Coming on the heels of last week’s stinger, which teased Ray Palmer’s monstrous childhood friend, this Ray-centric episode starts with the Atom trying to get his team to bond (to no avail) with their new team member, Zari. In the middle of a trust fall (which, as between Mick Rory and Ray Palmer, was probably never gonna go smoothly), Ray disappears, and Gideon helpfully indicates that he was killed in 1988. Investigating the death of their teammate, they find that he is hiding two secrets: a hot mom and, more importantly, an anachronism in the form of a baby Dominator, named Gumball, which the team realizes will kill him if they don’t save the day.

After a childhood nostalgia-destroying trip through Ray’s childhood, Zari chases Ray, an action figure-sized adult Ray, and the baby into the woods. After a touching scene where we get Zari’s first moment of non-badass character building as she interacts with Child Ray as a fantasy-inspired queen to his Knight/Wizard (he mixed a few references, but we’ll forgive him because he’s only a kid, right?), both Rays and Zari are captured by a shady government agency, a la E.T. While they make their escape, Sara and the rest of the team face the Dominator’s mother, which the team correctly (there’s something to be said for finding the right joke and sticking to it) calls Mominator, who wraps Sara in a cocoon and reads her mind, placing Ray’s childhood home, his mother, and time itself in danger.

Ultimately, it’s Child Ray’s ingenuity that escapes the government goons, with Zari’s help, setting off the centerpiece of the E.T. references in this episode, the “flying bicycles against the moon” scene. Honestly, you see it coming a mile away, but there’s something about the moment that’s just nice, and doesn’t feel like a cash in on nostalgia, although it undoubtedly is. Both Rays and Zari escape the goons, then meet back up at Ray’s house, where, with Nate and Amaya’s help, the Mominator is stopped from doing more damage. All this culminates in a genuinely affecting scene where Child Ray has to say goodbye to his only friend, Gumball the Dominator, and we see adult Ray get choked up. Not to mention the rest of the Legends. (Nate getting choked up was expected. Watching Sara get a little misty was great

Over in the B-plot, Jax and Mick decide, based on Zari’s razor-sharp personality assessments at the top of the episode, that Professor Stein doesn’t have his heart in the time-travelling game anymore, and through some investigation come to the conclusion that he’s sold them out to the Time Bureau. However, in a move that is somewhat impressively spoiled by the “Previously On…” segment, he’s been sneaking away to see his daughter, who is almost ready to give birth to his first grandchild, and hiding his trips so the team wouldn’t think he was flaking. The trio then resolve to beat the clock and get him there for the birth, which they happily do.

Like I said at the start of this review: this is not a meaty, plot-heavy episode of television. But, to be frank, that generally bodes well for this show. Instead, we got an episode that was generally a nice watch, and did some heavy lifting for character arcs in a way you almost don’t notice. For example, it wasn’t until about 2/3 of the way through the episode that it occurred to me how much this hour had humanized and integrated Zari into the team. It shows you everything you need to know about what drives Ray Palmer without having Brandon Routh delivery a wet-eyed monologue to someone. It sets the stage for Professor Stein’s exit, which was announced months ago.

Above all, it puts the ensemble cast that is generally fun to watch against a backdrop of pleasantly familiar references and tropes. 1980’s bullies? check. Halloween “cool costumes” jokes? Check (although why anyone was impressed with Nate in that helmet is beyond me). A likeable kid who doesn’t fit in? Check and double check, because, as we learn in this episode, that’s very much who Ray Palmer still is. He could have at least told him he winds up dating Felicity Smoak, though. There’s some light at the end of the tunnel, kid.

Most Valuable Legend: Zari

On her second week on Legends, Zari (or Z, as her childhood friends called her) has fast melded into the cast of Legends in a way that feels both believable and really fast. Still painting her as the outsider with a rough exterior (as demonstrated in deadly-fast psychological analysis at the episode’s beginning), she’s a great foil for adult Ray while never coming off like a jerk to the younger Ray. In fact, her “princess” voice was pretty darn sweet. Also, she used her powers in a practical way, which is something that occurs almost not at all this week, as the other most significant power use is adult Ray becoming the size of an action figure to hide, then getting stuffed in a backpack.

Notes from the Waverider

• Seriously, I loved the comedic timing on Zari’s 60-second analysis of the team. The full beat of silence before everyone started to protest really nailed it.
• “Damn, Haircut, you had balls!”
• I want a podcast where Mick Rory discusses Fiddler on the Roof.
• Speaking of Mick Rory, another episode where he sticks to the background but gets some key lines in. His star turn of the night was getting Professor Stein’s newborn grandson a cigar. Never change, Mick.
• Speaking of that baby: his name is Ronnie, and next week seems like they’re writing off Victor Garber’s professor Stein. Any chance we get his grandson from the future as the next part of Firestorm?
• Nothing on the who or what Malus front… I’m honestly not even mad.
• “Why didn’t you tell me you had a hot mom?” “Why would I?” Fair points made on all sides.
• Ray Palmer as a Billy Joel fan makes so much sense I’m shocked its never come up before. But River of Dreams as your number two song to reference? What are you doing, man?
• More on the Joel front: Nate Haywood has solid opinions on deep-cut Billy Joel, and I’m into it.
• Sara Lance’s blind rage at being put in a cocoon by the Mominator is perfection.
• Nate Heywood patting the DeLorean and saying “THIS is a time machine” is the right level of 80’s  reference for this show: stupid and on the nose, but earnest and charming.
• I never caught a name, organization, or other identifier for the government agency that was tracking Gumball. If this never comes up again, it was a waste not to call them either A.R.G.U.S. or, more interestingly, the D.E.O.

Next: 50 greatest super heroes in comic book history

What did you think of this episode of Legends of Tomorrow?