DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Review: Amazing Grace (Season 3 Episode 14)
The focus shifts away from the dastardly Darhks (yay!) to Nate (boo!) with an assist from Elvis, a magic guitar, and some ghosts on Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 Episode 14, “Amazing Grace.”
No, you are not high. That’s actually the plot to this episode.
There is a promising start to this story with a creative set-up for establishing the anachronism the team must fix. This includes Nate’s poofy hair collapsing, Mick’s rat being renamed, “Josh Groban,” and Zari’s video game title morphing into, “Trombone Hero.”
However, the promise quickly devolves into disappointment. This most likely relates to the focus being on Nate and the Nate/Amaya relationship. For me, Nate is a character that seems to work best when paired with other team members.
He and Zari are great in Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 Episode 12, “Here I Go Again.” Plus, his partnership with Mick in Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 Episode 7, “Welcome to the Jungle,” is a high point of that episode.
However, when the character gets sole focus I find his personality grating. He tends to either annoy me or just not interest me. When he is with Amaya, which is almost all the time now, they both send me directly to snoozeville.
So, a main storyline involving both these things is not likely to be my cup of tea.
Legends of Tomorrow is a show with recent plots including demon possession, pirates, god-like children’s toys (Hey, Beebo!), and a telepathic Gorilla. While I can’t pinpoint exactly why, this story involving Elvis, a death totem guitar, and ghosts is just a bridge too far me.
Possibly, it is because the bulk of the episode seems to just be filler before we move forward to the big Darhk/Mallus showdown. Yes, the team finds and attains the death totem but most of the plot about Elvis, his ghost twin brother, and his musically intolerant Uncle means zilch to the overall Mallus arc.
Also, can I just say if the Legends production team is aware they do not have the budget for quality CG effects maybe avoid writing stories requiring them? The CG ghosts are so terrible and the moment they appear their cheesiness distracts from the story.
While it may seem silly to take a show like Legends of Tomorrow too seriously, one of the most significant areas of criticisms for this episode is the way in which it totally glosses over the issues traveling to the 1950s American South with a racially diverse team should present. The likelihood Amaya, Zari, and Wally would be allowed to sit in a white church in 1950s Memphis is pretty much zero.
Nate and Amaya being a couple and then dancing together at the end? In the real world, someone would have ended up in jail or worse.
Nor would Zari and Wally be able to talk a white preacher into changing his worldview and beliefs. Though the rest of sub-plot with Wally learning not to rely on his speed for everything is well done and a nice moment for his character.
Race is certainly not the focus of the storyline, and I don’t think it needs to be, but any show depicting this period is responsible for presenting that aspect of our past with some level of accuracy. Yes, even in an episode featuring Elvis, a magic guitar, and ghosts.
Plus, add in the optics of two white boys running around to save rock-and-roll, a musical style with direct roots in African-American song and culture which receives the barest of acknowledgment here, and the whole thing is beyond irksome.
However, there are a few redeeming qualities to this story! Although, the less said about the ghost guitar zooming around the Waverider the better.
Anyway, Mick says goodbye to a dear friend and Ray presides over a rat funeral!
In a shocking and emotional twist, Mick loses his friend Axl the rat after an accidental poisoning. Perhaps the writers just didn’t see potential for the character anymore? Still, it will be interesting see how Mick deals with the loss in going forward.
Just kidding.
Though I did tear up when Axl’s rat ghost finally disappears. And the dedication for Mick’s rat before the credits is definitely the best part of the episode.
What did you think of this episode of Legends of Tomorrow? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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Legends of Tomorrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Jennifer Ann
Jennifer works in public history and digital marketing. She has a borderline academic interest in how historical time periods and events are presented in popular culture. When she is not over-analyzing story arcs and character growth in her favorite shows, she enjoys lazy weekends avoiding housework and spoiling her dogs.