TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Legends of Tomorrow Season 4 Episode 5: Tagumo Attacks!

One of the things I truly love about Legends of Tomorrow is that they somehow take the simplest of concepts and turn it into something truly unique and special. For example, “Tagumo Attacks!” seemed like a typical “big monsters in Japan” kind of things. But in a lovely faint, the monster wasn’t the mythical creature, it was just the byproduct of one.

Turns out, there were more than just magical creatures in the dimension the Legends opened up, magical items were there too, and one of them was a book that helped bring imagination to life. Sure enough, it ended up in the hands of a movie director who was haunted by the bombing of Hiroshima, and he made an octopus called Tagumo to give his fear and pain a form. This simple twist made a whole episode much more valuable in terms of story, for now it wasn’t about fighting a monster, it was about fighting the fear that was inside of us and not letting it control us.

Which led to the hilarious turn of events where Rory and one of this fantasy characters actually helped save the day with an epic warrior on monster battle. I like how they used the “Groundhog Day” episode connection between Zari and Mick to help sell this storyline, and I’m glad they didn’t forget about it.

Speaking of not forgetting, the episode made full use of the return of Nora Darhk, who quite brilliantly was hiding in plain sight in order to escape the Time Bureau and be free of her past. Though minimal in the context of the episode, her interactions with Ray were great, and seeing her turn herself into the Time Bureau at the end was great. But don’t weep, I’m sure we’ll see her again, if for no other reason than to make Ray happy. And hey, Constantine is back, and smoking!

I’ll admit, I was hesitant with the “Nate Family Thanksgiving” and the Gary storyline, but it actually worked in the hilarious way that some families are most certainly like Nate’s there’s no denying that. And seeing Ava out of her comfort zone again was good. Nate’s father being somewhat evil was a nice twist too, and I look forward to seeing what this “Project Hades” is.

The only real downpoint for me is Charlie. I’m really not sold on her yet, and I still don’t get why the team had her take on Maya’s form for this. I mean, what was wrong with Charlie’s original look?

In the end, “Tagumo Attacks” was a very solid episode that played with a lot of storylines and made it work for the better. Oh, and we got to see the birth of Godzilla, that’s always a win.