DC’s second weirdest show is already back for its seventh season, and the gang are stranded in Texas, 1925, after the Waverider was blown up by an identical timeship. After Nate impersonates J. Edgar Hoover to retrieve a safe recovered by a local, the real Hoover (Giacomo Baessato) — who was passing by — steps in to find the impostor, whom he believes is a member of the Midland Robbery Gang. What did the Legends do to stop Hoover from finding the remains of their ship? Why, become actual bank robbers of course!
1. The Circus is in Town
The crew initially follow Time Bureau guidelines for being stranded by posing as a circus, an “oddly specific” instruction derived from how it’s easier to get away with being weird if you’re a professional oddity. The roots of superheroes in circus shows are always a cool thing to acknowledge (partly why the show did it before, way back in season 3’s “Freakshow“), and it was a lot of fun to see Sara in her Zatanna-esque ringmaster get up, Zari and Behrad as overly talkative clowns, and Gary pulling a Firestorm-style stunt. (It’s a shame Ava had to tag along with Nate, she really did spend most of the episode looking like a grandma.) I do wonder how they planned to put on the show Gary promised the little girl though; it’s not like Gloria Cruz has a million spare tents or something.
2. Zari and the Magic Key… to Hell
When Hoover comes knocking on Gloria’s door, the Legends initially hide in the spare bedroom, before Zari uses the key Constantine gave her on a closet, and opens a corridor into a pocket dimension resembling his house. Zari wonders if her ex-boyfriend is so conceited that he believed she needed a sanctuary that reminded her of him, which was an amusing way to deflect from the production team needing to keep the sets they’ve built. It’s also very funny that the pocket dimension is located in Hell, the least safe place imaginable for a fortress of solitude — you have to wonder what Z’s parents would think of her deciding to remain there to reflect on her loss, and dining on her brother’s weed gummies while she’s at it.
3. True Crime Fans
While Sara and Ava become a bi Bonnie and Clyde and stage a heist, Nate and Behrad wait outside the bank to exercise some crowd control, and encounter a woman who’s rather enthused about possibly meeting the Midland gang. She’s a lot like our resident true crime podcast lover, Ava, in that sense, and it’s a fun way of bringing it all full circle, especially after the way the genre’s blown up during the pandemic. After looking through the window, she remembers the Midland gang have no women, prompting Behrad to come up with a name: the Legends of Tomorrow. She and Nate reckon it’s too wordy. Behrad comes up with the Bullet Blondes, while I giggle at the show’s limitless ability to make fun of itself.
4. OMG, They Killed J. Edgar Hoover!
After getting the money they need (without hurting anyone, nicely done ladies), Sara, Ava, Nate, Behrad and Gary head to New York to find Dr. Gwyn Davies, an obscure scientist whose work in this era laid the foundation for time travel. However, as they make their getaway, Hoover’s bullets bounces off Nate’s steel skin and into his forehead, killing him. While Hoover was a terrible person (he opposed the Civil Rights movement and so on), his premature death could have all kinds of disastrous consequences, and Ava understandably has a nervous breakdown. Sara reminds her they’ll fix it later, and then they can go back to doing fun things like listening to true crime podcasts, which promptly reminds her wife that there are no other witnesses, and that they should hide the body.
She then asks Gary to take off his glasses and eat Hoover: that’s right, not only do the Legends kill J. Edgar Hoover, they also feed him to their alien friend.
I really do love this audaciously silly show.
5. Astra and Spooner Are Best Fri- Oh Look It’s Gideon!
Continued belowAstra tries to rebuild the Waverider using a spell meant for resurrecting a human, so despite her best efforts, she fails and becomes bedridden from blood loss and exhaustion. After being left behind and recovering, she goes to check on Spooner, who’s trying to bury what’s left of the ship. The two eventually admit they consider each other their best friend, which is adorable: I’m glad these two can keep each other company until the others return. As they continue their conversation, they unintentionally finish the spell Astra was chanting, which resurrects Gideon with a (tastefully shot) flesh-and-blood body. Well then: that’s interesting.
Bonus Thoughts:
– Would you look at that: I spent so much of last season wondering why the gang weren’t using Time Corridors when they would’ve been most helpful, and we finally get an indication of how unreliable they are at the start of the episode.
– As Sara kind of points out when she sends him to the sheriff’s office, Nate is the team’s token white guy now. (Gary technically doesn’t count because he’s an alien.)
– Sara telling Ava there’s more to their team than superpowers and time travel feels like another pointed reminder to certain DC fans who complain it’s not a superhero show anymore, that it doesn’t matter.
– Astra doesn’t know Constantine is still alive, and that he gave Zari the magic key, which bodes well (I’m kidding, it’ll probably frustrate her.)
– Nate and Behrad using the word “indefatigable” is such a fun instance of them adapting to being stranded in the ’20s.
– $93.65 to get from Texas to New York City? That’s not so bad.
See you next time, as Sara and Ava’s unintended honeymoon continues when the Legends experience the need, “The Need for Speed!”
