While the team are away saving the 1970s, Zari tries her time hacking program.

And blows up the ship.

And then repeats the hour leading up to that over and over and over…

While the time loop episode is commonplace it’s rarely done well. This, and Discovery‘s ‘Magic To Make A Sane Man Mad’ don’t just do it well, they are the watermark against which this episode needs to be measured from here on out.

They manage that the same way: by focusing on the characters. Tala Ashe is on screen basically constantly throughout this episode and she’s fantastic. Through her growing terror, guilt, and long suffering depression we see not only how Zari grows as a character but how we grow as an audience. Her time spent in the loop gives her an understanding of every team member and it’s all surprisingly heartfelt, poignant stuff. Sara’s reluctance to commit to a new relationship, Ray’s abysmally badly concealed terror at what’s coming, Nate and Amaya’s burgeoning romance and Zari’s own commitment issues to the team are all a big part of the episode. So much so that the McGuffin quickly becomes background noise and works all the better as a result. In fact, this episode does things with this story that have never been done before. Zari holding up Bob Dylan style cue cards with every line of Mick and Ray’s conversation, the ‘fun montage’ and the amazing shorthand that both Ray and Nate use to come up to speed (‘Groundhog day’ ‘Time loop, got it’) is an absolute joy. Likewise the ending which isn’t so much a cheat as it is the episode Kobyashi Maru-ing itself.

But what stays with you is just how sweet this is. Mick’s subplot in particular is massively touching precisely because it’s so completely new for him. The Legends are always fun and when they’re played as the ramshackle band of misfits they are, then an episode will never be less than fun. But here they’re played as people, with secrets and hopes all of their own. And as Zari discovers just what they are, and how wonderful they are, so do we. All of which leads to an end sequence which is honestly and deeply moving at the same time as folding in the most esoteric time travel sex joke I’ve ever seen.

Verdict: A massively smart, massively sweet, funny episode of the oddest TV show the DC universe has ever had. Rarely have a group of awesome nerds been more lovable. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart