Legends of Tomorrow will always be a unique part of the Arrowverse, and many times they love to go and have fun with history and many times it’s awesome and other times…it can be a little much. Such was the case with “Bay Of Squids”.
Because at its core, it honestly had a good base in regards to Mick “cleaning up” and trying to find Sara the “more official way”, and him indeed finding the alien who took Sara. Of course, naturally, things go wrong and the alien ends up in 1962 Cuba just before the Cuban Missile Crisis and all hands are on deck to try and figure out how to capture the alien, stop nuclear war and more.
If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it was, and honestly this was another case of them trying to balance too many plates at once. Last week’s episode may not have been the best, but it was incredibly focused. Here we had Behrad portraying Che Guevara, Nate and Zari trying to stop JFK from going nuclear, Mick trying to figure out what people wanting from him, Spooner’s powers apparently getting stronger (somewhat randomly), and Ava trying to keep it all from falling apart…which of course it does multiple times.
It was honestly kind of hard to figure out who we should’ve been focusing on most, which I don’t like in my shows.
Nate’s adventures with JFK was funny with Nate being a total fanboy, but man did they get campy in a hurry. From the over-the-top general, to the “football game” in the White House, and more, it was a bit much.
Same with Behrad and his “serenading” of Castro. Behrad wasn’t even trying to do an accent and yet Castro fell for it? Castro wasn’t a genius, but he wasn’t an idiot…that’s why he lasted so long despite everyone trying to kill him!
Just as frustrating, despite the cliffhanger last week, we had no indication of where Sara was with our “mystery big bad” and that REALLY stood out because why have that cliffhanger if you’re not going to follow up with it immediately in the next episode?
Don’t get me wrong, there were good things about this episode, including the sheer mass of historical figures they were pulling off rather well or in reference. And the reveal about our squid-alien was funny…even if it meant teasing a love story between Mick and the alien…which…is not unheard…but…eww…
Also, they came WAY too close to hooking up Zari and Nate, which would’ve left many fans erupting given what Zari and Constantine did JUST LAST EPISODE!!
In the end, “Bay Of Squids” wasn’t bad, but it did leave something to be desired on certain fronts. And if next episode’s trailer (in two weeks…) is any indication…it might not be getting better before it gets worse. Sorry Astra.
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
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