Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 2 review: Meaty madness reigns supreme

The craziness continues for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow season 6 in its sophomore outing, but does it get to much too handle?

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is back. The most outlandish TV series in the comic book genre – and, indeed, on screens – today, the show returned for its sixth season last week with an episode that can only be described as, well, outlandish. Yes, even for Legends.

With aliens at large in the timeline, one having been among them all along and Sara Lance off on another alien’s planet, it’s clear that whatever logical restraints remained in that writers room well and truly went out the window in last week’s premiere and in another show that might have been a bad thing. With Legends, it’s definitely a good thing… for the most part, at least.

Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 2 – The Mothra of all problems

“Meat: The Legends” revolves around the team working together to find a mysterious alien in San Bernardino. The typical Legends lunacy still works in here but it’s much less effective than its predecessor was. Why? Because the fact that the team’s very first alien-centric mission revolved around a fast-food establishment with a magical alien sauce that can turn people into raving, meat-hungry versions of themselves feels a little… familiar.

Sure, the alien sauce part is new, but the fast-food establishment that reels the protagonist in only for them to find the supernatural threat hidden in the food has become something of a staple of sci-fi programming and rarely does it ever produce one of the respective shows’ better episodes (remember Buffy The Vampire Slayer‘s “Doublemeat Palace“?).

Nonetheless, Legends does make it work for it, mostly because we’ve stopped expecting logic from this show but also because it finds new ways to make the “meat palace” trope work for it. The end result didn’t make me like those kinds of episodes anymore but it did ensure that it was a more enjoyable watch than some of its predecessors.

The alien moth was, well, super extra and it actually felt like a solid antagonist (because why the hell not, right?) – one that the team had to rely on newcomer Spooner to help them overcome.

Speaking of Spooner, it was her and Ava’s dynamic that elevated the OTT episode, with the moth’s arrival providing her with the chance to prove her worth to the team – and, perhaps more importantly, providing Ava with the opportunity to really put her trust in her.

It’s becoming clear that the search for Sara will dominate the first half of the season and that’s some lengthy gravity the Arrowverse shows could use more of (yes, we’re looking at you “Flashpoint”). Though it might get a little frustrating to see Sara and Ava remain apart for so long – or Sara removed from her team for so long – this does provide the show with some interesting opportunities to place the focus on other characters. And we’re already seeing this through Behrad and Zari’s totem dilemma.

As for Sara, I found her and Gary’s thread to be the most interesting of the episode. Maybe that’s just because the pink aesthetic of whatever planet they are on was beautiful to look at or maybe it was the more thrilling tone of the narrative in this arc (or, y’know, the fact that Amelia Earhart has apparently turned into an alien) but it just felt like the real story was here. A stronger focus on that might have elevated the episode further.

Legendary Leftovers

• The alien moth was definitely a tribute to Godzilla and his kaijus. Not only did it look like Mothra, it roared like Godzilla himself.
• Look, I’m all in on the Legends of Tomorrow is a parody party but it does occasionally venture too far into silly territory without reason. The giant moth I can totally buy. Burt running out to stop him with a fly swat like it was little more than an actual fly? Not so much.
• Seeing the original Zari again was a real nice surprise and the fact that Behrad and new Zari now have a totem each will surely continue to liven up the show.
• Sara is wounded after her run-in with Amelia Earhart. Is a transformation looming?
• A winter wedding for Sara and Ava? Yes, please!
• I said it last week but Legends of Tomorrow season 6 really does have the potential to be the show’s most intriguing season yet. It just needs to get the balance between serious and silly, right – something that it did to perfection in its second and third (and, to a lesser extent, its fifth) seasons.

What did you make of the second episode of Legends of Tomorrow season 6? Let us know in the comments below!