DC's Legends of Tomorrow S04E10 Review: The Roach of Ma'at

DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Season 4, Episode 10: The Getaway

Man, every time I return to Legends of Tomorrow after a sabbatical, I keep reminded of how utterly ridiculous the series is compared to the other relatively faithful adaptations of superhero comics are... and yet how consistently entertaining the series continue to be. If you told me a couple of years back that there would be a show featuring characters like the Atom, John Constantine and Black Canary but only feature the loosest sense of anything in common with their comic-book counterparts, I probably would've frowned and asked what shit the show writers are smoking.

Of course, now I'm still asking what the show writers are smoking, but in a more endearing way. Again, I stress that if you try to view Legends of Tomorrow as how it was initially conceived -- a gathering of DC comics' B-listers and C-listers and throwing them into "the greatest adventure mankind will never know"... you'll honestly be severely disappointed. But right now Legends of Tomorrow is just such an insane yet entertaining romp that it's just easy to watch, y'know? It's the sort of television you just switch on and watch while you tidy up your room, or play Hearthstone, or just wind down after a heavy day, and that's honestly not a criticism. Not every superhero show can be tense dramas. Would I have preferred legends of Tomorrow to be more faithful to the source material? Abso-fucking-lutely, because I love the source material, but... eh, I dunno, it's been consistently entertaining even in genuinely filler-filling episodes like these that I just don't mind.

Like, the story told in this episode is honesty nothing particularly spectacular -- our heroes end up trying to fix another in a series of bizarre time errors where US President Nixon is apparently telling the truth instead of lying, and somehow, this is a bad thing just because history has to be preserved? I know 100% nothing about who Nixon is and what he did, so, yeah, okay, if you say so. Also, the thing that's causing this is the Roach of Ma'at, who will fly into the mouth of anyone telling a lie and force them to tell the truth.

Some of the contrived drama in this episode is honestly a bit eye-rolling. For instance, I really couldn't give two shits about Sara's latest drama about Ava, but the other side of her suppressed stress -- the burden of leadership and being once more fugitives and everything never seeming to go their way in recent time -- is definitely told earnestly. Mona's issues with her secret werewolf ability and hiding Konane's secret, likewise, is also something that doesn't interest me all that much, but throw in the hilarious situation of a truth-telling bug (and the scene with Constantine, Mick and Ray is pretty fun) and it ends up being, well, pretty hilarious.

Of course, the major drama point in this episode is something that I'm surprised was resolved pretty quickly. After the previous episode established Nate as pretending to work together with his father Hank, this episode ends up showing Nate trying to bond with his father as he and Zari try to hack into Nate's computers or whatever to uncover the nasty government conspiracies, but end up genuinely bonding, leading to an earnest confrontation when Nate stands up for the Legends in front of his father, as well as Hank himself admitting that despite all of the subterfuge, everything he did definitely came from good intentions. All of the Nate/Hank scenes are very well-told, and I'm surprisingly invested in a storyline that perhaps isn't the most well-paced.

Of course, with Hank seemingly becoming the Legends' newest ally, and everything seemingly patched up with regards to the Mona plot, it seems that things are going to finally go our heroes way... until Neron straight-up just murders Hank for trying to back out on their deal, and Nora Darrhk, breaking out of her jail to rescue Hank, ends up being found out in a position that looks as if she's responsible for the murder.

Overall, the plot is honestly not impressive, but something that Legends of Tomorrow has always been consistently able to do -- and the reason it's not been cancelled yet and such a pleasant show to watch even after all this -- is just how well done the actors showcasing the emotions their characters are feeling. It's this earnestness that makes everything that goes on so pleasant to watch.