| "Ground Control to Sara Lance" | |||
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| Legends of Tomorrow episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 6 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | Kevin Mock | ||
| Written by |
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| Production code | T13.22551 | ||
| Original air date | May 2, 2021 (2021-05-02) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of episodes | |||
"Ground Control to Sara Lance" is the first episode of thesixth season and eighty-third episode overall of the Americanscience fiction television seriesLegends of Tomorrow, revolving around theeponymous team of superheroes and their time travelling adventures. It is set in theArrowverse, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe. The episode was written by James Eagan and Mark Bruner, and directed byKevin Mock. The episode aired on May 2, 2021, in the United States onThe CW.
The episode starsCaity Lotz andAdam Tsekhman asSara Lance andGarry Green, alongsideTala Ashe,Jes Macallan,Olivia Swann,Amy Pemberton,Lisseth Chavez,Nick Zano,Matt Ryan, andDominic Purcell. Thomas Nicholson makes a guest appearance as English musicianDavid Bowie.
In 1977London,Ava Sharpe realizes thatSara Lance is missing, and learns fromDavid Bowie that she was going to propose but was abducted by aliens. Ava is consoled byNate Heywood and contacts theD.E.O., unaware that it was destroyed.John Constantine returns to his house withZari Tarazi andAstra Logue and fails to find Sara using magic, but discovers a human chrysalis inGary Green's room and Image Inducer glasses that can transform its wearer.Behrad Tarazi learns of a girl who could communicate with aliens namedEsperenza Cruz;Mick Rory kidnaps her. Sara awakens on a spaceship and freesSpartacus, only for him to be eaten by Kayla, the boss of the ship. She discovers one of her captors is Gary, who was sent to Earth to acquire the most quintessential human, but he agrees to help her escape. They knock Kayla (also Gary's fiancée) out of the ship by releasing containment pods into a wormhole leading to Earth's Temporal Zone, but fail to reach the wormhole themselves and fall towards another planet.
Filming of the episode was scheduled to begin on October 5, 2020, inBurnaby, British Columbia.[1] Due to theCOVID-19 test results for the cast and crew it was indefinitely delayed.[2] Development on the episode ultimately began on October 8, 2020,[3] and concluded later in the same month.
The episode was co-written by James Eagan and Mark Bruner. Eagan and Bruner submitted the production draft of the screenplay on August 19, 2019. On September 18, the second draft was completed. The third and fourth drafts of the script were completed on 23 and 27 of the month, respectively. The fifth, sixth, and seventh drafts were each completed three days apart on October 1, 4, and 7, with the seventh version being the final draft.[4] The episode references other pieces of media including the events ofSupergirl's fifth season, with the destruction of the DEO. Additionally Sara defeating the alien by opening the airlock is an reference toAlien.[5]
The cast for the include series regularsCaity Lotz,Tala Ashe,Jes Macallan,Olivia Swann,Amy Pemberton (voice),Nick Zano,Matt Ryan, andDominic Purcell as,Sara Lance,Zari Tarazi,Ava Sharpe,Astra Logue,Gideon,Nate Haywood,John Constatine,Mick Rory.[6] This is the first episode whereAdam Tsekhman and Shayan Sobhian appear as series regulars. Both actors had previously been reoccurring characters. They portrayGarry Green andBehrad Tarazi respectively.[7][8] This is the first appearance ofLisseth Chavez asSpooner Cruz. Chavez joins the main cast as a regular.[9] On the opposite end of this Dominic Purcell announced that he would be leaving the series after this season.[10] This episode guest stars Thomas Nicholson asDavid Bowie[11] andShawn Roberts as Spartacus.[12]
"Ground Control to Sara Lance" was first aired in the United States onThe CW on May 2, 2021. It was watched by 450,000 live viewers with a 0.1/1 share among adults aged 18 to 49. When accounting for seven day DVR viewership the episode gains an additional 440,000 viewers, for a total of 890,000 viewers. The episode finished 5th in its timeslot.[13] The episode was the fourth-highest viewed of the season in terms of live viewers, and when considering DVR viewers, it jumps to first.[a]
The episode was released as a part of theLegends of Tomorrowseason six box set on November 9, 2021,[14] for bothDVD andBlu-ray and is available for digital purchase on various streaming platforms.
"Ground Control to Sara Lance" was met with generally positive reviews from critics. The episode reveal of Gary Green as an alien raised questions from viewers of the show, however most simply accepted it.[15][16] Allison Shoemaker ofThe A.V. Club said while the episode had flaws there was more good than bad, giving it a rating of B. Shoemaker praised the casting choices of the episode saying that Thomas Nicholson "nailed it" with his portrayal ofDavid Bowie, and thatLisseth Chavez was a "natural fit" for the show. However, she felt that Chavez's character,Spooner Cruz, was inconsistent and changed from "scene to scene". Overall Shoemaker felt generally pleased with the episode as a start for the sixth season.[16]
Jesse Schedeen ofIGN rated the episode a 7/10 attributing the success of the episode to the cast and not the plot. Scheeden raised concern with the fact that only two of the original 9 Legends were still on the team,Caity Lotz'sSara Lance andDominic Purcell'sMick Rory, and noted that Purcell would likely be leaving soon.[b] Scheeden felt that this concern would be proven false considering that the show had done a good job integrating new characters, citingMatt Ryan'sJohn Constantine.[17]
Writing forGame Rant, Bruno Savil de Jong gave the episode 3.5 out of 5 stars, and described it as a good beginning to the series' sixth season.[18]
Jim Dandeneau ofDen of Geek said that the episode was a 8/10 episode ofLegends, stating that if it was another show it would be a 9.5/10. Dandeneau called the show "comic book-y", but said that it was disrespectful to comics in a fun way. He felt that the introduction was similar toBronze Age comics in the way where it re-introduces all of the characters. Scheeden's only complaint was the retconning of Gary as an alien.[5]
