diff --git a/BRANCH_TODO b/BRANCH_TODO
index fd005a8276..2d50ce1384 100644
--- a/BRANCH_TODO
+++ b/BRANCH_TODO
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Merge TODO list:
 
 Performance optimizations to look into:
  * astgen: pass *GenZir as the first arg, not *Module
+   - point here is to avoid the unnecessary virtual call scope.getGenZir()
  * don't store end index for blocks; rely on last instruction being noreturn
  * look into not storing the field name of field access as a string in zir
    instructions. or, look into introducing interning to string_bytes (local
diff --git a/src/astgen.zig b/src/astgen.zig
index 7245e09b66..bab9bda8ad 100644
--- a/src/astgen.zig
+++ b/src/astgen.zig
@@ -1838,25 +1838,21 @@ fn arrayAccess(
     rl: ResultLoc,
     node: ast.Node.Index,
 ) InnerError!zir.Inst.Ref {
-    if (true) @panic("TODO update for zir-memory-layout");
-    const tree = scope.tree();
+    const gz = scope.getGenZir();
+    const tree = gz.tree();
     const main_tokens = tree.nodes.items(.main_token);
     const node_datas = tree.nodes.items(.data);
-
-    const usize_type = try addZIRInstConst(mod, scope, src, .{
-        .ty = Type.initTag(.type),
-        .val = Value.initTag(.usize_type),
-    });
-    const index_rl: ResultLoc = .{ .ty = usize_type };
     switch (rl) {
-        .ref => return addZirInstTag(mod, scope, src, .elem_ptr, .{
-            .array = try expr(mod, scope, .ref, node_datas[node].lhs),
-            .index = try expr(mod, scope, index_rl, node_datas[node].rhs),
-        }),
-        else => return rvalue(mod, scope, rl, try addZirInstTag(mod, scope, src, .elem_val, .{
-            .array = try expr(mod, scope, .none, node_datas[node].lhs),
-            .index = try expr(mod, scope, index_rl, node_datas[node].rhs),
-        })),
+        .ref => return gz.addBin(
+            .elem_ptr,
+            try expr(mod, scope, .ref, node_datas[node].lhs),
+            try expr(mod, scope, .{ .ty = .usize_type }, node_datas[node].rhs),
+        ),
+        else => return rvalue(mod, scope, rl, try gz.addBin(
+            .elem_val,
+            try expr(mod, scope, .none, node_datas[node].lhs),
+            try expr(mod, scope, .{ .ty = .usize_type }, node_datas[node].rhs),
+        ), node),
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/test/stage2/test.zig b/test/stage2/test.zig
index 4ced83a951..757e03da10 100644
--- a/test/stage2/test.zig
+++ b/test/stage2/test.zig
@@ -917,29 +917,29 @@ pub fn addCases(ctx: *TestContext) !void {
         );
 
         // Array access.
-        //case.addCompareOutput(
-        //    \\export fn _start() noreturn {
-        //    \\    assert("hello"[0] == 'h');
-        //    \\
-        //    \\    exit();
-        //    \\}
-        //    \\
-        //    \\pub fn assert(ok: bool) void {
-        //    \\    if (!ok) unreachable; // assertion failure
-        //    \\}
-        //    \\
-        //    \\fn exit() noreturn {
-        //    \\    asm volatile ("syscall"
-        //    \\        :
-        //    \\        : [number] "{rax}" (231),
-        //    \\          [arg1] "{rdi}" (0)
-        //    \\        : "rcx", "r11", "memory"
-        //    \\    );
-        //    \\    unreachable;
-        //    \\}
-        //,
-        //    "",
-        //);
+        case.addCompareOutput(
+            \\export fn _start() noreturn {
+            \\    assert("hello"[0] == 'h');
+            \\
+            \\    exit();
+            \\}
+            \\
+            \\pub fn assert(ok: bool) void {
+            \\    if (!ok) unreachable; // assertion failure
+            \\}
+            \\
+            \\fn exit() noreturn {
+            \\    asm volatile ("syscall"
+            \\        :
+            \\        : [number] "{rax}" (231),
+            \\          [arg1] "{rdi}" (0)
+            \\        : "rcx", "r11", "memory"
+            \\    );
+            \\    unreachable;
+            \\}
+        ,
+            "",
+        );
 
         // 64bit set stack
         case.addCompareOutput(