REVIEW: Legends of Tomorrow, S5E2 – Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me

Legends of Tomorrow changed up the game in plenty of ways with its midseason opener, and “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me” dives in wholeheartedly into the new format.

The episode takes half the team back to the glory days of Golden Age Hollywood, where it’s 1947 and mobster Bugsy Siegel is back from Hell to wreak havoc on these Burbank streets. Between terrorizing his girlfriend Jeanie, blackmailing every powerful man in town, and having the police in his back pocket – there no one but the Legends who can stand up to him. So it’s up to Constantine (Matt Ryan) to pretend to be a private eye, with Sara (Caity Lotz) as his trusty and beleaguered secretary and Ray (Brandon Routh) as the one kind-hearted cop in top. I for one got a kick out of the fast-talking accents and noir vibes, even if the storyline itself was pretty straightforward.

Ava (Jes Macallan) didn’t get as much a kick out of the fact that she was left behind to “QB” along with Mick (Dominic Purcell). Or rather, she didn’t once Mick put the situation into his warped perspective and made her feel like she was less than essential to the mission, which led to a short spiral about her newfound homelessness and lack of purpose. It’s actually a very believable turn for her, now that she has no control over the Time Bureau. Plus, it leads to the most fabulous event of “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me”: a rendition of “That Girl Is Poison” in her mind, complete with backup singers, versus the drunken mess she’s serving up in real life. Never have I, or Sara, loved Ava more.

Of course, Ava performs to distract Busy so that he can be sent back to Hell. Which is where the slightly more emotional side of the Legends story comes out. Constantine remains steadfast in his refusal hurt Astra, and even when he tries to force himself he cannot waver. It’s heartbreaking to see them both still suffering from the consequences of a storyline that precedes both this show and his previous one, but it’s also an impressive bit of continuity.

Outside of the Waverider, Nate (Nick Zano) follows Behrad (Shayan Sobhian) home while in pursuit of the woman in his memories only to discover that Behrad’s sister Zari (Tala Ashe) is that woman. “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me” fires on all cylinders when it comes to that storyline, giving us the first in-depth look at Zari’s family and even allowing Ashe to speak Farsi. On the one hand, it’s a shame that it required a whole new version of Zari to reunite her with her brother and make Legends of Tomorrow visit her family. On the other, it poses an interesting question of how our Zari would feel about this turn of events. Would she trade her hacktivist lifestyle and Waverider adventures in order to keep her family alive and intact? Chances are high that she would.

Either way, Behrad having stolen the family totem has not escaped her notice, and she nearly seduces the truth out of Nate. In order to avoid a kerfuffle with the parentals, the Legends of Tomorrow kidnap her right onto the Waverider! That’ll certainly make for a fun episode next week, even if I personally am still miffed at the lack of Charlie and Nora aboard the ship.

Legends of Tomorrow knows what its niche is, and “Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me” provides it in spades. Best of all, it also paves the way for a season-long arc that’s unlikely to run dry anytime soon.