Legends of Tomorrow is BACK! - Recap of 6x01: Ground Control To Sara Lance

May 2, 20216 min read

Okay, okay- I know!

I know a lot of comic book readers don’t watch this show, cause it's nowhere NEAR comic accurate, and I know it’s the underdog of the Arrowverse- but it’s also the best superhero show (yup, I said it), so I’m gonna talk about it!

Yes- It’s back! Legends of Tomorrow is here and, as a Sara Lance lover first and a Legends stan second, I was READY!!! Ready for them to figure out where Sara is, ready to see some ridiculous aliens- but I was not READY for all the FEELINGS we got!

So, without further ado- let's do this! Let's screw up the timeline for the better and talk about this episode!

First of all, Ava was never my favorite (I know Ava stans, sorry) BUT in this episode, she was easily my favorite (other than Sara). She was so great the entire episode and all the character growth she got in season 5 REALLY shows!

.......Yes, even when she's hungover as hell over a toilet

The whole episode she did her best to keep herself together, and overall, she did pretty damn amazingly! Even when she's hungover as hell and doesn’t remember what happened, even when she finds out her girlfriend is missing, and especially when she put together her “plan”- ensuring all the other Legends bailed out of the rescue mission while she and Nate tried to get a hold of the DEO.

YES- the DEO, from Supergirl! CROSSOVER WHEN?!?! Of course, they got out of a crossover once we saw the DEO no longer exists, but hey, I’ll take a fun reference to Alex and Sara’s one night in Crisis on Earth X whenever I can!

well, that was as close as we’ll ever get to a Supergirl/Legends Crossover, huh?

As per Ava’s “plan”, we’ve got John Constantine being a simp for Zari Tarazi, Zari Tarazi being a ho for John, Behrad being high 24/7, Mick grumpy 24/7, Astra being a sexy lone wolf, and Nate still being emo over Zari Tomaz. Did I miss any? Old habits die hard for all our Legends peeps!

We all tease Ava for her ability to plan everything, but she really hit it all on the nose here!

Oh yeah, how could I forget? SARA LANCE HERSELF! THE REASON THIS SHOW EXISTS! Let me tell you when I say I’m so fucking happy Sara is back, I mean I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY SARA LANCE IS BACK!! BISEXUAL QUEEN! God, I’ve missed her so much. Easily the best character of the Arrowverse, argue with a wall.

She’s the best at 2 things: loving those she cares about and surviving. Just. Surviving. She does both this ep- from fighting through the alien spaceship she’s been abducted on, to putting Spartacus in his place (yes, Spartacus himself, remember they travel through history on this show?), to.. Proposing??? That's right folks, Sara was going to PROPOSE to Ava the night she was abducted!! QUE MY SQUEALING!!!!

*in Jes Macallan voice* I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

If I didn’t want them to find Sara enough before, I definitely do now!! Ava needs her future fiance back!!!! AHHHH!! Can we also just take a minute, those of us that know Sara Lance’s journey as a character, to let it set in that Sara Lance- assassin, a woman who only knew tragedy and pain and refused to let anyone in is now at a point where she can GIDDILY share her plan to PROPOSE to her GIRLFRIEND?!?!?! I truly can’t believe it- in the best way possible. She’s gone through SO much and she DESERVES this happiness!

..Anyways, back to the episode, oops. So how are they gonna get her back, right? Well, first of all, it’s important to know who kidnapped her, and as John and Zari, and Astra are trying to figure out how they can help, they discover the culprit..

GARY IS AN ALIEN?????! OF COURSE HE IS! UGH! My hatred for him feels more justified than ever! He’s never been innocent!!! UGH! He may be apologetic, but.. Too late Gary! You did the crime dammit!

Once they figure this out, the team turns to Behrad’s lead- a girl who was supposedly abducted by aliens and had a “chip” or some sort of device put in her head. We find this to be true- after Behrad and Mick get chained up by her and she shoots the Waverider with a gun that looks like it’s out of a Halo game or something??? WHEW! Good for her but bad for us, right?

Mick knocks her out and the team gets her on the ship, while Sara finds Gary on the alien ship she’s on and finds out for herself that he’s an alien.

“Well that's funny because I still feel very abducted, GARY” - Sara Lance and all of US

Sara makes a plan with Gary since he’s somehow STILL loyal even though being a jerk, and she does some fun fight scenes. It’s interesting how they try to make a martial artist fight against aliens with tentacles well, but hey, they made it work-

I volunteer as tribute!!!

Until she gets knocked back into a chamber like the one she was originally trapped in. Gah, can you all give her a break?!?! She’s doing her best, especially without actual superpowers!! What are we gonna do now??

..John Constantine always has the answer, doesn’t he? As I mentioned earlier, the team got Spooner onto the ship and, once she wakes up, they get her to agree to help them make a connection with Sara. John uses his magic, and the alien technology inside Spooner’s head, to make a psychic connection with Sara- but it’s not a stable connection and he needs help. Guess who volunteered herself as tribute? Of course, it HAD to be Ava herself!

For me, this next scene was the scene of the episode. Sara is freezing in the chamber she’s in, feeling lost, out of hope, and then here comes Ava and her voice, connecting with Sara as quickly and effectively as she can. The first thing after she says “Sara? Hey, hey, hey, stay with me- look at me!” is:

“Yes!”

...YES??!?!? Did she just say yes to- she said YES to marrying Sara!! She tells Sara just that- and that Sara HAS to get home so she can marry her. In perfect TV Show/Movie Trope- this gives Sara just the last splash of hope and determination she needs to break out of the chamber she’s trapped in. But how could she break out all of a sudden? It can’t all just be hope? Well, readers, guess what, it isn’t! But if it wasn’t for the hope and determination Ava gave her just then, she would never have thought to pull out the engagement ring, put it on, and use it to carve and punch her way out of the freezing chamber. LET'S GO GAYS WE WON!!!!

God do I love when love wins!!

(Of course, after this psychic connection breaks, John almost dies- but what’s new? He almost dies at least 4 times a season, right? Hang in there John xxx)

Before the episode ends, we find out that Gideon can’t see what technology is in Spooner’s head and that Sara set up the rest of the season when she accidentally released a bunch of aliens on the timeline while fighting that one alien! As Ava says, the only one that could mess up the timeline that bad would be Sara Lance, right?

And, of course, Sara and Gary try to get the alien ship to jump into the wormhole so they can get back to the Legends, but they don’t make it in time- otherwise, this story arc would be done too soon, wouldn’t it?

Overall, this was a fun season opener. I loved the emphasis on Avalance (Sorry, I’m a shipper) but I really wish we could’ve gotten more from the other characters as well. Most of them fell into their usual tropes and.. I want to see more growth from them all this season. I want to see Mick not just being grumpy 24/7; I want to see John explore this love he has for Zari Tarazi! I also really want to see Astra get a chance to have her own badass storyline (outside of her past trauma, am I right?) and see Behrad not only be “the high guy” all the time. There’s more to his personality than weed- can we see it, please? Finally, PLEASE LET NATE BE MORE THAN JUST A SIMP FOR ANY WOMAN THAT SHOWS HIM ROMANTIC ATTENTION OH MY GOD. PLEASE. LITERALLY.

(oh, on that note, almost forgot- GIVE ME ZARI TOMAZ BACK YOU COWARDS! TALA CAN DO BOTH!)

What did y’all think of the episode? Let me know on Twitter! I need more people to fangirl with!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bi gives “Ground Control To Sara Lance”: