DC’s Legends of Tomorrow – Wet Hot American Bummer

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

Relationships are a lot of work, especially when your job keeps following you home. Sara (Caity Lotz) and Ava (Jess Macallan) attempt to spend some quality time with one another watching horror films when Sara takes notice of a particularly strange one: Swamp Thaaaang. As a devout horror fan, Sara knows that she couldn’t have missed such a treasure. Ava does a quick search about the movie and the pair discover that it’s about an old-time massacre that allegedly occurred at a summer camp just a few decades ago. Gideon (Amy Louise Pemberton) then chimes in via cell phone to alert Sara of another anachronism of the myth-tery variety…the “real-life” events that inspired the production of Swamp Thaaang. Magical creatures wait for no man (or woman). So, Sara jumps up to tackle the problem, much to Ava’s chagrin. Sara solves their quality time problem by inviting Ava along for a trip to Camp Ogawa, Maine.

Nate (Nick Zano) and Gary (Adam Tsekhman) hang back at the Time Bureau, giving Sara the opportunity to meet Charlie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), the shapeshifter wearing Amaya’s face. Zari (Tala Ashe) tries to warn Ava that Charlie only share’s Amaya’s face, not her disposition, but she still learns the hard way. Sara and Zari try to justify keeping Charlie on board and Ava falls for their haphazard explanation before moving on to brief the group on their upcoming stint as camp counselors. John (Matt Ryan) and Ray (Brandon Routh) partner up with Ava and Sara to take Camp Ogawa by storm as the employees. Ray transitions into his role seamlessly, but John has trouble relating to the children and goes into the woods to drink and furnish the grounds with a mystical barrier. Sara also bonds with the children quickly – but Ava, having never been a child, struggles to fulfill the role even more so than John.

Sara and Ava manage to get their charges to sleep and move the front porch. Unfortunately, one of their girls sneaks out the back window to meet her friend in the woods. They plan on getting some smooches in, but the boy is pulled away by a mysterious creature before their lips touch. No one notices the child is missing until the next morning when the boy is identified as one of John and Ray’s kids. When the gang reports the disappearance to the head counselor she dismisses them, which means they’re on their own when it comes to getting the kids to share their plans. If the Legends can figure out when the kids are planning on sneaking away, they can prevent another kidnapping. John hypnotizes the kids and Ava goes full Drill Sergeant on them. The kids are less than helpful in all cases. This is when Sara proposes that she and Ava become children themselves – to infiltrate and perhaps even entice the monster themselves.

Before they can make Sara’s plan happen, a little camper approaches Ava and tells her what’s been happening down by the docks. The Legends convene at the docks when the sun goes down to capture the Lake Beast, but are instead greeted by cackling campers who were simply playing a prank. They take the loss and agree to regroup the following day. By then, though, another camper has gone missing. The campers take to calling Ava the Lake Beast and that’s when Sara proposes her plan to Ava. As someone who only has fake childhood memories, the idea if offensive to Ava and she rushes off in a huff. While Sara tries to reconcile with her girlfriend, Ray and John have their own quarrel in the woods. They argue about Ray’s carelessness with Nora until they stumble upon a gory scene in the woods.

Sara apologizes for Ava for her insensitivity. Ava apologizes for her impulsive reaction. They prove themselves as the Legends’ most stable relationship – just in time too because John and Ray need to share their discovery. The remains are the remnants of a creature’s most recent meal – the Shtriga. With the danger at an all-time high, Ava agrees to become a child as long as Sara goes along with her. They meet in the storage cabin and wait for John’s tonic to turn them into teens. Just as the effects manifest they are discovered by another counselor. He takes them back to group where they begin to integrate with the girls. Ava continues to struggle. They take a break to get away from the girls to figure out what will help them fight off the evil creature. John tells them to acquire cayenne pepper, which gives Sara an idea. The idea will help them get the pepper and will score Ava points with the other campers.

When Ava accomplishes the task and steals ice cream for the girls – she wins them over. The girls tell Ava and Sara about the camper tradition of meeting up in the woods and off they go to find the creature. They follow the path and encounter Paula, the Head Counselor. In the same woods, Ray and John continue to walk around bickering all the while. John’s closed off to Ray’s internal sunshine – to protect him, obviously. But that won’t stop Ray from trying to get a new Time Bro. The bromance will have to wait, unfortunately, after they stumble upon an abandoned cabin and find cages full of children.

Back on the Waverider, Zari’s donut-eating activities are put to a halt when Charlie fakes an injury. When Zari goes to check on her, Charlie takes advantage of the lowered defenses and traps Zari in there. Charlie makes a run for it, but is caught by Mick (Dominic Purcell) before she can off-board the ship. Mick returns her to the cell they provisioned for her, but she’s a tenacious creature and entices him to sit down and drink with her. They bond over their mutual former incarcerations and affinity for anarchy. The conversation turns to Shtriga lore. Shtrigas are often older women, who resemble Paula. Charlie; however, has met a beautiful Shtriga before and he was a man. When Zari enters the room to disrupt their happy hour, Mick lets her go. Her knowledge on the supernatural could be helpful.

Zari reports back on their findings, but she’s too late. Sara and Ava have already beaten poor Paula up. That’s when Chad arrives. He engages Sara and Ava and manages to suck some of Ava’s lifeforce, but they continue to fight him off. Ray and John have their own battles as they are trying to redirect the stolen lifeforces of the children from the creature back into the campers. While Ava and Sara physically fight the demon, his true form is exposed. The uglier he becomes the stronger the children become…but not all of them will make it. The demon is vanquished, but one child hasn’t woken up yet. John refuses to lose another one and performs a spell to give some of his energy to the young boy. The boy wakes up, but John falls to the ground unconscious. Before Ray can figure out how to get John back on the ship and the kids to safety, a young camper comes with his friends. The precocious young boy organizes a rescue – making the equally precocious Ray proud. There are others like him and they’re heroes, too.

Now that the Shtriga has been captured, Ava and Sara have a few minutes left to relish the feeling of truly being young and in love. Ava, who had only manufactured memories, can look back on a time when she was young. And what better way to commemorate this rite of passage than with a first kiss? With only seconds remaining, Sara and Ave share an innocent, loving kiss while they transition back to their adult selves. Memories now made, they Legends return to the ship to find that they’ve made a partner out of Charlie instead of a prisoner. Just one problem remains…John’s health. Since using his energy to save Randall, his state is rapidly declining. Magic pushed him close to death, but can magic save him? Ray thinks so and his quest for an answer will lead the Legends right back to Nora Darhk (Courtney Ford).