TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Legends of Tomorrow Season 6 Episode 8: Stressed Western

By the teams own admission, Legends of Tomorrow is a very “niche” kind of show that is meant to appeal to all sorts of people via a variety of takes on genres. And while “Stressed Western” was another great example of them putting a twist on things (in this case a Western, which they’ve done a few times before with Jonah Hex), they again tripped over their own feet by focusing on certain characters and not others and doing some WEIRD things overall.

I want to start with the obvious thing here. No, not Gary Green…I’ll get to him… Rather, I’m talking about Diggle. Or in this case, “Bass Reeves”, who I’m guessing is Diggle’s ancestor here. This was the “second stop” on the “Diggle return tour” (Superman & Lois is next after its return in July) and not unlike Batwoman…he didn’t feel necessary.

Worse, unlike in Batwoman, he didn’t serve a true purpose outside of being a “historical figure” that they meet. He barely interacted with the Legends and if you took him out of the episode…nothing would be lost. This is sad because this was David Ramsey (Diggle) directing the episode! So…why not more Dig?

Second, while I was glad that they had Sara reveal to Ava that she was an alien-human-hybrid-clone thing…it kind of needless grew from that in a way that was annoying. It’s a very CW-thing where they amp up the “feelings” of the two partners and put them at each other’s throats needlessly. Was Ava right to worry about the “new Sara”? Absolutely. But the lengths that it went was just… bad in certain ways.

This brings us to Zari and Behrad. Who had the most over-the-top brother/sister fight ever (top their “Meat The Legends” fight over the Totem) over the fact that Behrad…likes “bad girls”? First off, since when? Second, since when does Zari care? Third…no, just…no.

Furthermore, the “Buddy System” (which felt a little meta even for Legends) of Astra and Spooner was oddly done. Their bonding moment was fine in a way but Astra still being “power-hungry” at this point kind of felt like a misstep given the last few episodes with her (including her “musical number” where she learned to trust others). I like how Spooner is getting control of her powers though.

Ok, NOW I’ll get to Gary. Serious, why is he here? He’s even MORE annoying now for some reason for how he tries to cling to Ava, and Sara, and Constantine! At this point, death would be too good for him! I wanted to punch him when Spooner did the “now I sense he wants to jump Ava’s bones” bit I’m like, “let me kill him, PLEASE!!!!” And of COURSE he is the one that John has to go to about the fountain…which is of COURSE on Earth…because where else would it be?

On the plus side, the twist on the Western thing was interesting, if not fully explained well. Turning the “dirtiest town in the Wild West” into a “nice clean establishment” was a fun misdirection, and going “Dune” with the alien was a nice twist as well. Sara’s duel was a fun element as well given her regeneration powers. And Nate being the one to think of a good plan to kill the alien was good…even though he didn’t get to do it.

As with many episodes this season, it’ll be up to you to judge just how good this episode is, but for this reviewer, not even a singing narrator could make it better.