Where were we before the Winter Olympics? Oh yes, Gideon had been fatally stabbed at the end of the previous Legends of Tomorrow, which forces the crew to bring her evil counterpart back online to save her. That unfortunately left the problem of a murderous A.I. in control of the ship though; Gideon negotiated with her duplicate, and it was agreed the best way to get her to leave the Legends alone was to have them retire. Wait, what?
1. Ghost of Future Yet to Come
One of the greatest time travel stories people don’t often think of as a time travel story is Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Scrooge revisits the past, and gets a glimpse of the future. Here, both Gideons and Gary show the Legends what happens when they retire to entice them to leave: we learn Sara and Ava have a daughter, Behrad basically becomes Raffi, Astra runs for President in 2040, Nate becomes a bestselling author, Zari invents “audible lipstick,” and Gwyn retires to a cozy, large Welsh cottage. It was really smart that their reactions to these possibilities differ drastically, and it was lovely to hear B sing over the montage.
2. I Know Her So Well
Astra disguises herself as Spooner when she’s being shown her future, while Esperanza sneaks into the armory to grab a charger for the team’s busted time courier. It was pretty impressive how well Astra impersonated her friend, calling Gideon “Giddy” aside; she reacted to the notion Spooner would go back to living with her mom in 1925 very much the way she would, by being distressed at the thought of not living in the same era as her friends. (No wonder Astra soon duplicated the keys to the manor dimension for them to hang out together.) Coupled with her and Gideon threatening to sacrifice themselves when Evil Gidget found out Spooner’s ruse, and you’ve got a truly convincing surrogate family.
3. It’s the Thought That Counts
Zari becomes depressed with her future, telling Ava it feels “regressive” when she was a superhero in another life. However, on learning Gwyn will be forced to live alone, without Alun in his future, the two concoct a plan to finally go back and retrieve him before his death in WWI; Zari herself realizes the bathroom has a charger for the hairdryer that will allow them to use the courier. Gideon shows up before they risk their lives for Gwyn though, by revealing she’s already gone back and saved Alun (Tom Forbes); still, if they hadn’t already, Zari proved her quality, and Ava demonstrated she was a true friend.
4. The Last Legends Story
It is well worth noting Legends hasn’t been renewed for season eight yet, so this could very well be the penultimate episode of the series, and it truly felt like the writers attacked this story from the angle of “what if?” this was the finale. The characters have a happy, bittersweet farewell party, and depart by taking a photo together after a series of sentimental farewells and embraces, from Astra telling Gideon she’s proud of her, to Gwyn and Alun’s first kiss, and Gary telling Gideon she makes the world better, and the “food taste better,” which may well be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. If this really was the finale, I think I might have started bawling!
5. The Twist in the Knife
Of course, it isn’t, and there came not one but two devastating twists: first, Gideon was forced to admit to Gary she didn’t rescue Alun, but cloned him, because his death is a fixed point — Computer Gideon’s logic is sadly overwhelming Captain Gideon’s sentiment. Then, Evil Gideon tricked Gary into getting flushed out of the armory, while lying to her superior to fool her into believing he abandoned her: Christ, I knew Computer Gideon wasn’t just going to stay a bitter servant, but man is she evil! Fortunately, they clearly both underestimated Gwyn, who deduced what she really did, and pulls the plug on Robo-Alun — stupid A.I., when will they learn not to mess with scientists?
Bonus Thoughts:
– Jesus had his loaves and fish, and Astra has her peanuts; actually, that is peanuts compared to Jesus’s haul.
Continued below– I’m so proud of Ava for fully overcoming her aversion to changing history.
– Maybe this’ll all be over if Evil Gideon is served some pie and mash? You’re not you when you’re hungry.
See you all next week for the season (and hopefully not series) finale, “Knocked Down, Knocked Up.”
Wait, does that title imply-
