'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 3, Episode 11: 'Here I Go Again'

After a trip to the 70's Zari finds herself stuck in a one hour time loop.  It's very "Groundhog Day", something even the show notes.  The movie is referenced repeatedly and is even later used as a way for Zari to expedite the process of explaining what she's going through.  Amusingly enough, Nate says that it was only a matter of time before they got themselves in this kind of scenario.

Surprisingly enough, the time loop manages to advance the characters on several fronts.  We see Nate and Amaya grapple with the concept of getting back together.  Sara and Ava's ship is also pushed forward.  The scene with Sara on the jump ship talking to Ava was, oddly, one of the episode's highlights.  She hasn't been in this adorable a pairing since Nyssa.  After a string of random hookups, it's nice to see her forming a more serious bond again.  Oh, and Mick is writing a sci-fi romance epic, who knew?

It should come as no surprise that the episode delivers a healthy dose of comedy.  The character interactions are spot on and it makes for a very fun and entertaining episode.

The episode doesn't go too far into wacky territory, though.  It makes the episode's more heartwarming moments feel more genuine and the eventual darker turn that much more potent.

Zari's been an uneven character, but when she hits that breaking point at the episode's climax, you feel it.  I was actually surprised at how heavy it got.  Credit to Ashe as far as performance goes, her weary despair is palpable.

This is somewhat undercut, sadly, by the way the episode resolves the loop.  When Gideon showed up, I figured Zari's simulator was going to play a role, but for some reason, the script made it much more convoluted than it needed to be.  While Zari does start to form stronger bonds with the crew, it does feel like a bit of a cop out.

Still, it's a well paced, well-written, and well acted episode.  It's a fun one and one episode that, while light on the season's myth arc, moves things forward for the Waverider crew.

I also loved the stinger, which showed Rip attempting to recruit Wally West into the coming fight with Mallus.  Even though I knew that Lonsdale was going to join the cast, his appearance here was still a surprise.  I'm quite glad that they kept both his and Darvill's names out of the opening guest stars crawl.  Had they been, that stinger wouldn't have packed the punch that it did.

All in all, this was a fun one.  I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here.

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