Synopsis: OUTLAWS — When Sara (Caity Lotz) receives a distress call from their “befriended” agent at the Time Bureau, she learns that they have been tasked with going to the future to capture a rogue time traveler. Unfortunately, the Legends make things worse by trying to protect an outlaw named Zari (Tala Ashe), to hopefully lure in the time-traveling assassin. Meanwhile, Stein (Victor Garber) tries to diagnose Amaya’s (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) condition, but Nate (Nick Zano) discovers an unusual treatment that Amaya begrudgingly agrees to. Brandon Routh, Dominic Purcell and Franz Drameh also star.

Review: The central character of the third episode, “Zari,” was supposed to be Zari. Unfortunately, Tala Ashe only had what writers James Eagan and Utarnachitt gave her to work within her initial script. As a result, Ashe was largely upstaged by Zari’s Air totem and Tracy Ifeachor as Kuasa, hell-bent on taking it from her.

The writers obviously had a problem. The name Isis has been highjacked, so they compensated by tying Zari to Amaya’s mythology. Amaya’s mythology then became the point, not Zari. This imbalance will likely be addressed in future episodes, but for now, I’m reminded that narrative economy can be a double-edged sword.

As for the expanded mythology, I adored finally having the other totems introduced in the Vixen animated storyline included in the live action. This development does beg questions, though. First, will the Legends be going after the Earth totem? If they require the Fire totem, can they reconstitute its power without resurrecting General Eshu in the process? If not, can Firestorm perform the functions of the Fire totem? If Firestorm must act in place of the Fire totem, will the strain of the intersection of magic and science be what causes Stein to step down? This inquiring mind wants to know, and I’m psyched for the rest of the season.

As for Nate and Amaya, I stand by what I wrote last week. He’ll turn out to be Mari and Kuasa’s grandfather. The whole vision quest subplot smacked of an embarrassing, but uplifting, story that’ll be somehow passed down in the family in a tweaked timeline.

But, enough about all that. The tag for this week’s story was an absolutely wonderful tease for next week’s unapologetic E.T. homage. I truly do love this show.

Director

Mairzee Alma

Writers

James Eagan, Ray Utarnachitt