Legends of Tomorrow Review: Stressed Western (Season 6 Episode 8)
Legends of Tomorrow Season 6 Episode 8, “Stressed Western,” after having spent the first half of the season being as structurally different as it has ever been, is an active attempt on the show’s part to reach a place of familiarity and reestablish its status quo.
The series has never really separated sections of itself off like it has this season or, at the very least, never to the extent that it felt as profound as it has the past few episodes. The closest comparison is the disappearance of Rip Hunter back during the second season but Rip is no Sara Lance.
The mission to find Sara after she had been abducted gave the season a definitive mission statement but it also has made it markedly different from a standard Legends of Tomorrow season, if such a thing even exists.
Part of the joy of this show is the way in which this ensemble interacts with each other, despite being disparate characters, and the lack of Sara’s involvement in that has been palpable. That’s the very thing that “Stressed Western” understands in its pivot to the back half of the season: letting the characters bounce off of each other in a delightful fashion.
What follows is a return to two excellent former elements of the show: the Old West and the buddy system. They are both brought about in a wonderful way that feels purely Legends of Tomorrow . It’s earnest with a solid emotional throughline and a good focus on characters but is just off-kilter enough to be weird.
Surprisingly, the character that feels the best served by the end of this is Nate and that’s probably for the best. He’s one of the oldest remaining members of the Waverider now but he’s also the one that the show has done the least with.
A solid point that was brought up by someone we know is that — and this has been true for a while — Nate is the only person on board that doesn’t have a real foundation with anyone else on the show. Sara has Ava and vice-versa; Behrad has Zari 2.0; Constantine has Zari 2.0 and Astra; but all Nate has is Zari classic, who is notably trapped inside of a totem.
Back when Amaya and Ray were on board, Nate was someone that made a lot more sense as a presence than he does now (beyond being the guy that doles out historical tidbits). The show has tried to make him a co-captain of sorts to Sara and Ava but that can really only work so well.
After this episode, it’s still not incredibly clear that the show knows precisely what to do with his character but it at least seems more willing know to admit that Nate is a part of its ensemble that it has dropped the ball on and will hopefully course-correct on in the future.
Another big part of the episode is the inclusion of David Ramsey as a guest star, who is currently on his Arrowverse cameo tour and while Bass Reeves is an appropriate use of him rather than John Diggle, who you would expect him to appear as, it’s too short lived. There’s not enough meat on the bone there to really be too pleased that Ramsey is here.
It’s always a pleasure to see him pop up and his reaction to being referred to as “Dig” is fairly perfect but it ended up feeling a bit underwhelming.
What did you think of this episode of Legends of Tomorrow ? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Legends of Tomorrow airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.