This week on Legends of Tomorrow, everybod- oh, I’m getting ahead of myself: Lachesis and Atropos forced Astra to steal the Waverider, stranding the Legends in England. While Astra stalled Lachesis from using the Loom of Fate with a list of demands, Atropos awakened the dead to prevent the gang from reaching a Time Bureau safehouse in London, wasting away their day of immortality — at least Gary was on the ship.
1. Zari and Constantine Get Hangry
The Legends steal a bus, but a zombie attack damages the engine. Constantine says there’s a mechanic nearby, and Zari insists on going there despite being the only member of the group who didn’t take a sip of Dionysus’s immortality juice. They find the place already infested with zombies: since the zombies ignore Constantine because he has no soul, Zari nobly volunteers to distract them while he commandeers a van, but he refuses, suggesting they use an Ancient Egyptian spell to stop her heart while they get across. He carries her unconscious body into the van, but there’s a panic when it appears he can’t resuscitate her: fortunately, she wakes up, and they retrieve the others to drive them to London.
When they get to the safehouse — which is naturally a pub, ala Shaun of the Dead — Zari’s upset to find the time courier stashed there hasn’t been charged, meaning they’re not going to get to the rings in time. Constantine goes to console her in his usual rough manner, saying being gloomy doesn’t suit her. She angrily asks why he should have the monopoly on being cynical, and since opposites attract, the horny and angry (or “hangry”) duo start snogging. I wonder how hangry Nate would be if he saw this (probably just sad to be honest).
2. Gary’s Big Boost of Confidence
Gary becomes a stowaway on the Waverider as he’s there looking after his rabbit Gary Junior II (according to Nate, the poor thing has irritable bowel syndrome). When the Fates deactivate Gideon, Gary suffer an electric shock trying to get her back online, which causes her human avatar to appear as a figment of his imagination. “She” distracts Atropos while he steals the rings, which causes him to behave confidently when he informs her he’s got them (something which makes his subsequent giggle all the more funnier). I must say, I like confident Gary: I know Gideon’s just a figment of his imagination in this episode, and that Junior is actually the one who distracted Atropos, but how about, the Legends give her a mobile android body to go with that avatar, so she and Gary can go on a date? (Yes, this column is officially just me shipping characters now.)
3. Ava Too
Ava’s confidence issues also come under the spotlight: Sara says, because of her blindness, it’s best she take a seat back to her co-captain. However, Ava is, to put it bluntly, just not charismatic, and she knows it. Her clerical nature is put to good use though, while waiting for Zari and Constantine, when trigger-happy soldiers mistake them for evolved zombies (due to Dionysus’s wine rendering them immune to gunfire), and arrest them all.
While in the truck, Ava points out Nate, Charlie and Mick’s skills and abilities, and gets them to concoct a plan — which basically amounts to them banging open the back door, and jumping out of a moving vehicle. (Still, at least there’s no permanent injuries from rolling onto the road this time.) I’m just glad soldiers would never actually shoot someone with an infectious disease — riiiight?
4. Gary and Astra’s 1 on 1
The Fates catch Gary trying to retrieve one of the ship’s time couriers, and demand he hand over their location after he conceals them with a simple obfuscation spell. They strap him to a chair so Astra can torture him. He asks why she’s helping them, and she explains Lachesis showed how what would happen if she resurrected her mother: she would inevitably succumb to an illness (something that feels more striking than when it would’ve been written, now we’re in a pandemic).
Essentially, Astra has arrested development from living in Hell, and doesn’t know how to cope with death and loss. Gary surprises us further by intuiting on this, and asks her to share some happy memories of her mother: after recalling a beautiful day they once spent picking and eating strawberries, Astra realizes it doesn’t matter how much time you have with someone — what matters is how you spend it.
Continued below5. Legends: Infinity War
Sara reveals to Ava why she’s actually preparing to make her her superior: it’s because she knows the zombies will burst through the door, and she’ll die before the courier is charged — however, unlike Doctor Strange in Avengers: Infinity War, she can’t see if she’ll be resurrected or not, which makes sense, because what happens will require a drastic reshaping of reality.
Where did we start? Oh yes, everybody dies! Dionysus’s concoction wears off, and Atropos kills Astra for her betrayal, while the zombies overwhelm our gang, eating Sara alive (ugh). The courier lights up, and Ava tells Charlie to make a run for it, knowing she’ll find a way to outsmart her sisters. (Like Wong’s disarming of Cull Obsidian in Infinity War, we see the closing time corridor can slice apart enemy intruders.) Gary gives Charlie the rings, and Atropos stabs him in the heart, convincing Charlie to surrender — or so she would have her sisters think.
Bonus thoughts:
– Why does Constantine mention the Shadow Stone so prominently at the start? (Me thinks it’ll be helpful later.)
– Love seeing the gang waiting for the bus (a time honored British tradition), while dressed like they’re going to “a pheasant hunt.” There’s an amusing explanation for why it’s on the wrong side of the road, when Sara admits she feels it might confuse Mick to tell him to correct his driving, but that doesn’t explain why the wheel is on the wrong side of the bus.
– I love how differently everyone reacts to zombies: Mick punches one with no regard for whether they might bite him; Constantine gets as annoyed as Homer Simpson when they ignore him; and Zari audibly gags after killing one.
– Sorry to all the freeform jazz fans watching this episode.
– Despite the zombie who looks just like George A. Romero, my favourite film reference this week was still the repurposed Mean Girls line.
Lastly, since it won’t be back until January, and because it’s also an Arrowverse show, our Batwoman recapper Joe is sharing his thoughts on Ruby Rose’s departure here: “This comes as a shock. It’s a shame, it felt like she was becoming more comfortable with the role as season one rolled on. It will be interesting to see how they handle it moving forward, how they address it (if they address it at all.) In any case, I think she did a fine job and I’ll miss her.” I myself think it’s a shame she won’t get to team up with Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl again.
See you all next week for the season’s penultimate episode, “The One Where We’re Trapped on TV” (which, full disclosure, looks like it could be the wildest episode yet).
