This week on Legends of Tomorrow, Nate kept up the ruse that J. Edgar Hoover was still alive by impersonating him on a train bound for New York. While he, Behrad and Gary contended with a plot to kidnap Hoover, Astra and Spooner tried to help Gideon adjust to her new body, and Ava and Zari tried to deduce who blew up the Waverider.
1. The More Things Change…
While aboard the train, Nate — who looks like Hoover to his friends after drinking a potion concocted by Gary — decides to partake in a game of finding a lady’s missing purse, where he’s encouraged by fellow fed Francis Baker to look on Behrad and Gary suspiciously. It was sadly predictable in Behrad’s case, given how racist attitudes to those with Middle Eastern roots persist to this day, but pretty striking with Gary, since his actor, Adam Tsekhman, is white — it’s a reminder bullies will hate whoever they want, and invent excuses for it later.
Soon, a couple more feds board the train to warn “Hoover” about the plot to kidnap him, and detain Igor, a Russian engineer who was targeted along with his family during the Palmer Raids. Nate is encouraged to torture him for information, and there’s a strong sense that the show is commenting on how other series glorify torture as a means of stopping outside terror threats; also, the reveal the two “agents” are actually working for Al Capone reflects how a preoccupation with outsiders blinds us to internal threats (something that is admittedly often by design.)
2. Nate Learns to Accept What He Cannot Change
It’s established early on that Nate’s embarrassed he got Hoover killed, even though he’s a historian, who’s meant to preserve and teach the events of the past. His shame means he really starts to believe Hoover was more important to the flow of history than him, and that he must act out what he would do, even though he knows very well that J. Edgar was a repugnant human being. When Capone’s men arrive to capture him though, Nate realizes there’s nothing more he can do to decontaminate the timeline than to hope they can eventually undo it all, and goes out to inform the mobsters that Hoover is dead. Capone’s spokesman is pretty heartbroken, believing this’ll mean the boss will be angry with him, and Nate empathizes, but reminds him it’s best to be honest, as “you can’t outrun the lie forever.” Nate is probably the wisest Legend now, and he truly deserves a big hug after all he’s been through.
3. Honeymoon Buddies
Newlyweds Sara and Ava use Constantine’s key to get some privacy in the pocket dimension, even though their chosen bedroom is above where Zari is trying to sleep off her weed hangover. When Ava comes downstairs for a break, she encourages Zari to regain her focus by doing some cleaning, and it’s while checking the fridge — which John enchanted to reproduce whiskey — that Z has an epiphany: the question is not how the Waverider was destroyed, but who. I wonder: could this be foreshadowing that the Legends’ future selves destroyed their own ship to prevent their past from becoming a paradox?
4. Oh Shoot, it’s a Terminator!
Another, robotic version of Hoover appears and goes ham on Capone’s men, forcing Sara to smash it a whiskey bottle on its head to stop it from killing them. She unmasks the robot, revealing its Terminator-esque skull, and the gang deduces that someone sent it to preserve the timeline. RoboHoover begins a countdown to self-destruction, and the Legends escape in its car before it does so, leaving the question of who sent it, and whether they’re involved in the Waverider‘s destruction, for another time.
5. Gideon the Little Mermaid
Back at Gloria Cruz’s house, Astra and Spooner are having difficulty communicating with Gideon, who is — ironically for someone who’s generally been a disembodied voice — unable to speak in her new body. Presumably overwhelmed by her new senses, Gideon tries to communicate by carving up apples with her teeth, and then getting herself electrocuted manipulating the house’s fuse box, in an attempt to prove she can understand her friends. Eventually, Spooner discovers she can still use her old powers to read Gideon’s mind, which grants her the ability to speak: she warns the two best friends that if they don’t meet Dr. Gwyn Davies before his time travel experiment in two weeks, the other Legends will die. Damn: this must’ve been as frustrating for her as it was for them.
Continued belowBonus Thoughts:
– Since we are stranded in the 1920s for the time being, we have a new, era appropriate opening credits, mixing black-and-white and sepia imagery, which really brings out the vaudeville charm of the show.
– Now be honest: did you wonder if Hoover’s personality was taking over Nate’s? Given Gary made the potion from Hoover’s hair, it’s entirely possible this was planned but cut for time.
– I can see why this was called “The Need for Speed,” since the pacing was fairly plodding, but what do you expect from an episode set on a train?
– (Snigger) “Allah carte.”
See you all next week for the 100th episode, “wvrdr_error_100
