On the season 6 finale of Legends of Tomorrow, the gang were facing the prospect of an alien invasion in Texas, 1925, after Bishop had poisoned the Fountain of Imperium. Despite grabbing Bishop’s younger self to create an antidote, all seemed lost: so, naturally, Sara and Ava decided to get married before it was all over.
1. John Became a Mushroom
I should’ve known this season would end with someone tripping on mushrooms: Behrad and Sara both eat from a mushroom left behind by Constantine’s body, which allows them to commune with him in the mycelial network. John resembles Audrey Hepburn’s angel in Always, appearing in the forest dressed completely in white to tell Sara the Fountain is angry at humanity, but also that “we are all connected.” (“It was really profound in the moment.”) There’s also the more profane parallel of ol’ Johnny Boy becoming Jesus Christ, appearing to Mary Magdalene in a white robe after his resurrection, something underscored by the mushroom telling Sara to “eat me,” as if it were a sentient Communion wafer. Hey, didn’t Sara and Constantine hook up once? This is becoming amusingly sacrilegious…
2. LGBT+ Love Saves the World Again
Sara proposes (no pun intended) that she and Ava tie the knot before the Zagurons’ invasion gets underway, and everyone hoofs it to throw them a low-key but beautiful wedding before they all possibly die. Is it weird, given the stakes — the Zagurons erasing everyone from history — that they don’t use the Waverider to grab as many heroes as they can, and have the wedding afterwards? Sure, I think that would have been a reasonable criticism, if we lived in a world without COVID-19. In any case, it was still a lovely ceremony that emphasized how far many characters have come: Ava and Sara, once enemies, exhanging vows; Mick, a supervillain, now a doting father of 49, who walks Sara down the aisle; and Gary, the weird alien man who has endeared himself enough now that he walks Ava down the aisle.
The ceremony gets interrupted by Bishop, who objects to his “Eve” marrying someone else (I have to say it again: he is such a creep!), and the Zagurons. Spooner’s connection to the Fountain reawakens, and she becomes a conduit allowing the gang to swap powers, enabling all of them to heal themselves with Sara’s regeneration abilities whenever a Zaguron bites them. Ultimately, the Legends huddle together while Kayla fends off the venomous invaders, so Sara and Ava can finish their vows, which moves the Fountain into intervening. Just like Constantine and Des, true love — and LGBT+ love no less — saves the world.
(Are we sure it wasn’t just Spooner unconsciously tapping into its power? Oh who cares.)
3. They’re So Ugly I Love Them
Mick and Kayla’s eggs hatch, and their Necrian babies distract a fawning Bishop, before devouring him whole. What an exit: and my goodness are those babies a delightful mix of horrifying and adorable. They’re little, purple ball-like squids, with huge anime eyes: this must be what they mean when they say that something is only a mother could love. Forget Beebo or Gus-Gus: I want a plush toy of these boys and girls.
4. Goodbye Mick
Speaking of his progeny, Mick officially decides to call time (no pun intended) on his adventures, so he can be there for his new alien kids, the way he wasn’t for Lita when she was growing up. We don’t see him in the final shots of the crew as they head back to the Waverider, presumably choosing to leave with Kayla on her time ship. I would love it if he came back to make it official with her, as well as to introduce us to his grandchild, but given all the weirdness surrounding Dominic Purcell’s exit, I’m not holding out much hope. In any case, Purcell’s been fantastic in this role, giving an effortlessly funny performance in every episode, and I can’t think of a better last scene for him and Sara than them just quietly sharing drinks on a porch.
5. Safe Travels John
John greets Zari in the forest, revealing he returned from the dead through a backdoor deal with an old associate in Hell. With his soul no longer his own again, Constantine decides it’s time he and the Legends parted ways, but tells Zari she’ll always remind him of the normal life he’s missing out on. He also gives her a key, which I would presume is so Astra can inherit his house, but that’s a pretty boring answer, so maybe there is something more going on there — I certainly would’ve liked one more scene between John and Astra at least, since she is his ward. Still, unlike Mick, whose story is pretty much done, the door feels wide open for John’s return, which makes sense: if the HBO Max reboot of Constantine’s show doesn’t pan out, then Matt Ryan could always return in the role. All in all, this is probably the best final scene for a character whose exit was brought about by corporate meddling I could’ve hoped for.
Continued belowBonus Thoughts:
– It’s a shame Ava and Nate had to erase the younger Bishop’s memories to preserve the timeline: surely there’s some way to split his history into co-existing timelines?
– Behrad’s entrance paying homage to Dr. Okun’s demise in Independence Day was hilarious, if confusing (was he stoned on the coach this whole time?)
– I really enjoy the sisterly bond Astra and Spooner have developed: it almost fills the void Nate and Ray’s bromance left after Ray was written off the show. And speaking of Astra: her powers really look like the Scarlet Witch’s red brand of chaos magic now.
– Last time I wondered where the Fountain had been during previous alien invasions: I suppose now it must’ve protected humanity until the dawn of the superheroes, when we could fend for ourselves.
So in the post-credits scene, another version of the Waverider appears and blows up our crew’s ship, stranding them in ’25. Well, good thing we don’t have to wait long, as this pandemic has somehow spawned our longest and shortest breaks between seasons: we’ll be back to discuss season 7’s premiere next month!
