Legends of Tomorrow season 5, episode 2 review: Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow followed up its midseason premiere with another wild and wacky adventure, but is the show getting too off-the-wall?

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has struggled to gain any kind of momentum this season what with being held to midseason, its Crisis On Infinite Earths special opener and then a week’s break following its official season premiere two weeks back. But the Arrowverse’s full-throttle adventure series has finally pinned down some roots, as the show has replaced parent show Arrow – which bid us adieu for good last week – on The CW’s schedule, following The Flash.

As for the show itself, well, roots was never really its style. No, for the second episode running (third if you count Crisis), Legends of Tomorrow delivered a predictably unpredictable offering as we took a trip back to Los Angeles in 1947 for a jazzy crime drama steeped in more noir than our private detectives could ask for. And it made for one of the show’s most overall enjoyable episodes in quite some time.

To Hell and back

Upon learning of the encores’ existence, John Constantine thought it time to take a trip to Hell to visit his old friend Astra Logue in the pit. “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me” picked right up from there as the Master of the Dark Arts’ journey down under confirmed that she was indeed behind the returns of these deadly historic figures.  And, given how he was responsible for shaping her into this power-hungry monster sat before him, this prompted him to question who he was and what he was capable of.

This played nicely into the episode’s primary storyline as, through his interactions with ‘Bugsy’s girlfriend Jeanie Hill, he learned it’s impossible to blame someone for wanting power when they had been robbed of it for their whole lives – something that made him realize killing Astra was never the answer because there’s a chance the little girl he inadvertently damned to Hell all those years ago might still be in there.

John’s history with Astra has always been a strong story point just waiting to be explored – something those of us who watched Constantine can attest to – and Legends  has, so far, done a solid job living up to those high expectations we’ve had. This isn’t a storyline that needs handled with humour, it requires thoughtful storytelling in order to convey the life-and-death stakes that a situation with this kind of gravity entails. And from this week’s offering, it’s clear that’s what it’s going to get.

The Golden Age

Legends may have been having a few tonal issues as of late, but you can always rely on it to produce an exceptional period piece when it puts its mind to it, so you can rest assured that “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me” was no exception to that rule.

Set in 1947 Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood – and organized crime – the episode’s aesthetic was nothing short of dazzling. With jazzy nightclubs steeped in clouds of smoke and thicker American accents than any film star of the 1950s could wish for, the Legends found themselves in the midst of a noir spectacle as they tried to apprehend the resurrected Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel.

More from Arrowverse

• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 27 best fighters in the Arrowverse, ranked
• All 8 Black Canary actresses ranked from worst to best
• 11 things nobody wants to admit about the Arrowverse
• The 7 best (and 6 worst) Arrowverse villains

Not only did this allow the show to produce one of its finest episodes in quite some time, it also lent itself nicely to Constantine’s story – as his short-lived encounter with Jeanie Hill allowed him to understand Astra’s motivations, and realize that he needed to figure out a way to save her from herself.

Like Legends‘ best work, it was a deep and meaningful story disguised as something from a completely different genre – allowing it to entertain and engage at the same time.

Z-Nation

This week’s episode also took some time away from its main narrative to introduce us to the timeline’s new variation of Zari Tomaz. A social media star – in the vein of Joe Sugg, Caspar Lee or Saffron Barker – she allowed her 51 million followers glimpses into her life through online vlogs and other videos.

Though the episode did initially run the risk of generalizing social influencers as shallow – which really wouldn’t be fair to do – the writers managed to turn things around by showing us that there was more to Zari than what first met the eye, allowing us to see her for the clever and curious Legend that she once was, as she became curious about Nate and brother Behrad’s lives together.

Tala Ashe did a great job showcasing this new version of the character while also showing us glimpses of the previous one, and the dynamic between her, Behrad, Nate and, now, the rest of the Legends will no doubt remain one of the season’s most intriguing.

Legendary Leftovers

• The new intro titles are sick.
• The visuals of Hell are quite impressive.
• Ava’s fantasy-sequence perfect performance of “Poison” was AH-MAY-ZING. However, the hilarious real-world boozy slur-fest rendition may have been even greater. Outstanding source of humour, Legends.
• Pretty sure Blue Iguana was the set of Veronica Lodge’s La Bonne Nuit from Riverdale.
• Jeanie deserved better, damn it!
• Lately Legends of Tomorrow has run the risk of slipping into parody territory with its excessively in-your-face brand of comedy, but this episode did a much better job of balancing the humor with the drama.
• The show does humor better than any other on TV but it isn’t a comedy – and when you watch an episode without OTT characters like Mona and Gary, you’re reminded why that’s for the best.
• Overall, a major step up from the season premiere and, at the very least, half of the fourth season, “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me” felt like the Legends of old. A return to form for this genuinely fun show, and hopefully one it plans on maintaining going forward.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow returns to The CW next Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 9:00 p.m. ET. Are you enjoying this season so far? Let us know in the comments below!