Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 6 review: Bishop’s Gambit

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow season 6 carried on its strangest season with another memorable close encounter. But was it another hit for the hilarious heroes?

We could start this review by saying something like “Legends of Tomorrow certainly hasn’t been pulling any punches this season” but if we’re being totally honest, that could apply to every season. The Arrowverse‘s most unusual show has found strength in building a team of bizarre characters in a world even more bizarre than them and it has only gotten stranger as it has aged.

Their sixth outing sees them battle aliens throughout time. But this time, repairing the timeline isn’t their only goal. No, this time, they are trying to save their captain Sara Lance – who, as we found out in last week’s episode, is actually being held prisoner by the colorful character who thinks he can remake the human race as human/alien hybrids.

Their latest close encounter, “Bishop’s Gambit” places the core narrative front and center. But what kind of trouble did The CW’s outcasts and misfits find themselves in this week? Here’s everything that went down in Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 6.

Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 6 – Space race

Picking up from last week’s episode, “Bishop’s Gambit” quickly reminds us of Bishop’s plan for the human race and the fact that he cannot die. It’s quite the revelation but one that does leave you wondering why a trained assassin like Sara Lance couldn’t just incapacitate him without killing him, so it’s nice to see that the White Canary does pick up on this herself, battering him in the episode’s final act when she hears that Mick has apparently been killed.

On that note, it feels like this episode is the one that finally makes use of the show’s budget, as Bishop’s decision to bring the planet’s “safety walls” down when he learned that Mick was coming for Sara resulted in a lot of stormy weather outside of his lair. And that didn’t work out too well for the likes of Mick and Kayla (and apparently some of the Ava clones). However, it created a real sense of atmosphere that hadn’t been all that present in a season centered on space up until this point.

As for Mick and Kayla? They arrived on the planet for entirely different purposes, with Mick hoping to save Sara and Kayla wanting to restore her ship. But the planet’s sudden harsh weather conditions gave them a common goal in survival, so they made their way to the latter’s ship and, um, well, made sure that one of the containment cells had some steamy windows.

That hook-up wasn’t entirely unpredictable but it did add some light-heartedness to a pretty serious episode and the tentacle pulling a Titanic on the aforementioned steamed-up window was a work of comic genius.

A new kind of aircraft for a new kind of alien

As all of that was going on in space, the episode’s subplot focused on the Legends’ attempts to track down Sara from Constantine’s house. They did that by travelling to an asylum in the 1950s to speak to a soon-to-be-murderous patient calling herself Sara Lance. As for who the imposter was, well, it was only the Amelia Earhart alien that had stolen the Waverider from Mick and Kayla, of course!

Honestly in any other show you would question the logistics here, but since this is Legends, we’ll roll with it because anything is possible on Legends – a fact that is once again showcased when Astra’s attempts to use magic to slip into Amelia Earhart’s subconscious results in the latter shedding all of her human skin and turning into a full-blown swamp creature that could somehow speak to Spooner because it was all alien.

Ava learning that Sara was apparently dead made for a truly heartbreaking moment and it nicely set up the reveal that Sara had, apparently, died after the alien’s attack a number of episodes ago, only to be restored to life in another body by Bishop.

Wherever the season goes from here, this is definitely an unanticipated turn of events and it will be interesting to see how the Legends – and Sara – cope with the fallout of it.

Legendary Leftovers

• Not sure how I feel about the possibility that Sara Lance actually died. Does that make the current Sara a clone? Or is it all a trick on Bishop’s part? Either way, I know Laurel Lance did not resurrect Sara in that body all those years ago only for it to be killed off and replaced with a new one.
• I don’t love the Legends working out of Constantine’s house. The sheen of it has worn off, especially as they already had the crew get under Astra’s feet in last week’s episode so it felt a little repetitive having them do it to John this week.
• Sara’s hammy acting in order to convince Bishop that she saw things his way was glorious. Caity Lotz nailed it!
• Bishop is such a campy villain. I mean, of course he is, but it’s a lot of fun to watch.
• Mick’s desire to save Sara in spite of his lack of faith in humanity is really touching. Heat Wave has come a long way from the character many thought would be the first Legend to ever be killed off.
• Is nobody going to talk about the fact that the real Amelia Earhart was found, turned into an alien, taken over completely by said alien and apparently died again?
• Ava thinking Sara was dead was genuinely heartbreaking. Jes Macallan really brought the feels.

What did you think of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 6? Let us know in the comments below!