Good news, Desmond is alive! Bad news! EVERYTHING ELSE!

After the mild stumble of last week this episode drop kicks the Legends into their mid-season break with all the charm of a sugar-addicted kitten who wants to hug your face until it comes off. It works so, so well. And a massive part of that is that the show’s writers have realized that Charlie, John and Z are instantly funny when you place them in a room together. Even when one of them is a cat.

The spine of the episode is the different timelines and, of course, the shows they shamelessly parody. Custodians of the Chronology is flat out hilarious, especially Mick’s look to camera and SOS gives Amy Louise Pemberton actual physical stuff to do! Which is both hugely welcome and hopefully a hint of what’s to come. Gideon’s been on the Waverider four years. She deserves a little time off.

Then there are the puppets. We…We do not speak of the puppets.

Along the way the episode manages to do a ton of truly astonishing things. Mona is brilliant here, smart, switched on, totally okay with being turned into a cat if needed. Adam Tsekhman too is fantastic as very different versions of Gary and the fairy godmother fits in so well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jane Carr show up as a regular before too much longer.  The show doesn’t quite go through its entire guest cast and give them a moment but it gets close. And the acknowledgement of why it’s not part of Elseworlds is legitimately one of my favourite jokes this year.

But the episode belongs to Matt Ryan, Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Tala Ashe. Ashe in particular is great here (‘DO YOU KNOW WHERE THIS TONGUE HAS BEEN?!…*PLACES*’) but all three impress and form a gloriously dysfunctional punk family. Richardson-Sellers has found an entirely different character and one who is clearly enjoying fitting in. Z is, whether she wants to admit it or not, the grownup for the other two and Ryan is Constantine to a T. Flamboyant, tortured, irresponsible and ultimately a far better man than he wants to admit. In other words, a Legend, through and through.

As the episode finishes, John’s battle is now the team’s battle, he’s finally onboard and John’s doomed, hellbound boyfriend is far less hellbound than he first seemed. And far less human…

Verdict: Rough times are ahead for the team but hey when are they not? And at least they still have D&D night. See you in 2019 you magnificent bastards. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart