Plot
The Legends have to travel to Mexico City in 1961 to recapture the Kaupe the Time Bureau says Mona let loose. But Mona insists that the real culprits were some mysterious Men In Black, leading Nate and Zari to investigate what Nate's father might really be up to behind the scenes.
Influences
The movies of El Santo and liche libre movies in general, The Shape of Water (Mona's romance with the Kaupe) and The X-Files (Mona makes reference to the show when describing the Men in Black and the government conspiracy involving the magical fugitives.)
Performances
Tala Ashe steals the show with her subtlety this time around. There's a hint that she has something of a crush on Nate and she doesn't really object to pretending to be his girlfriend even if she is trying to focus on the mission. Of course having everyone treat her like she's his girlfriend and making a big deal about it kills the mood.
Artistry
The lucha libre scenes are well blocked.
Trivia Of Tomorrow
The episode title comes from a particular type of wrestling match in lucha libre. In a Lucha de Apuestas, the losing contender is forced to remove their mask publicly and cannot ever wrestle again. In some cases, the match is based around the wrestlers attempting to remove one another's masks during the fight. Others are based purely on technical proficiency and pinning the opponent.
According to John, the historical record was changed and El Lobo's presence ruined the film career of a Lucha Libre wrestler known as El Cura (The Priest), who John says was the greatest luchador in history. El Cura seems to be based upon the real world wrestler called El Santo (aka The Saint), who, like El Cura, was the star of movies, books, cartoons and comic book, known for his clean-living and good-guy image in real life s and is widely considered to be the greatest Luchador of all time.
Ray's Cards To Save The Timeline game is, of course, based on the popular Cards Against Humanity game.
The artwork for Cards To Save The Timeline was made by a fan artist. The original card designs can be seen here.
Ray does an impression of famous wrestling announcer Michael Buffer, who copyrighted his famous catchphrase "Let's get ready to rumble!"
John tells a despondent El Cura that everyone loves a comeback. This could be a clever nod to how Matt Ryan made a comeback as John Constantine on Legends of Tomorrow after Constantine's cancellation.
Technobabble/Arcana
Zari is able to hack the Time Bureau records to locate a specific Time Courier portal opening and determining where it went. This is easier if she has the original Time Courier to work with.
According to John, the portrayal of magic in lucha libre movies is far more accurate than Hollywood fantasy films and supernatural thrillers.
Dialogue Triumphs
Sara: Where is the wolfman?
Mona: (defiant) He's gone! It's too late. You'll never find him, because I don't even know where he went, so grill me all you want! You-
(Mick walks around the corner and shoots a tranquilizer dart into Mona's chest. She freezes up and falls straight backward. Mick looks at the gun, confused, and taps it.)
Mick: What kind of gun is this?
Ray: ... did you just try to "shoot her" shoot her?!
(John orders two beers from the wrestling arena bartender.)
Sara: Hey, we're working! We can't afford any screw-ups on this one. We got to bag this guy, quick.
John: Got to stay Sharpe, you mean?
(Sara gives John a death glare.)
(Ray, Charlie and John are in the parlor. Charlie and John look less than thrilled to be there, as they flip through hands of what appear to be Cards Against Humanity Cards. Ray has his usual expression of cheer and joy.)
Ray: After your recent unfortunate misadventures in time travel, I created a team-building card game to help you learn the dos and don'ts of our prior missions. (Ray holds up a box.) I'm calling it Cards to Save the Timeline! Fun way to learn from your mistakes, right?
Charlie: (looking at her cards) Oh, you've got to be joking. Vandal Savage. That's a real name?John: (flipping through his hand) And here's me, thinking that Damien Darhk's moniker was a touch on the nose.
Ray: (in imitation of Michael Buffer) Let's prepare ourselves to wrestle!
John: (watching the fight) Now, this is what I call a bloody good show.
(A Time Bureau agent dives at John, doing the Wilhelm scream as he misses.)
John: (sighs and throws a towel to the floor) Have a towel, mate.
Continuity
Ava and Sara return to the Time Bureau with the possessed puppet Stein from 407.
Hank informs Ava that Mona freed the Kaupe and it somehow escaped the building. He threatens to fire her if it is not recaptured immediately.
Sara says that she and the Legends will take care of recapturing the Kaupe.
Ava puts Gary in charge of firing Mona and erasing her memory of the Time Bureau.
Mona's parents are at the hospital when she wakes up.
Mona's parents were told she was involved in a hit-and-run accident while on her bike.
Mona's parents are convinced she lives in a fantasy world.
As Gary is trying to erase Mona's memories she struggles, turns his blanker around on him, and erases his memory, taking his jacket, Time Courier and Memory Blanker.
The Kupae followed Mona after she was taken to the hospital..
Mona sends Konane through a random Time Courier portal when the Legends show up.
Zari decides to stay in the present and check out Mona's claims of the video footage showing her freeing the Kaupe being faked.
Gideon detects a news report of a Mexican drug cartel member being mauled by a wild animal in a manner inconsistent with the local predators in 1961.
A poster reveals that the Kaupe is now a luchador wrestling under the name El Lobo.
John Constantine is amazingly well-versed in the lore of Lucha Libre. He describes them as modern-day mortality plays with themes of good vs. evil, the people vs. the man with charismatic characters.
Ray says that El Lobo's career and the mystery of who he was under his mask inspired movies, novels and TV shows.
John Constantine can speak Spanish well enough to order drinks in a bar.
John recognizes one of the luchadors at the ringside as El Cura, who he claims is an iconic figure in Mexican culture as well as professional wrestling, due to all of the movies he has been in. At this point in time, however, he has not made any movies.
El Cura was one of the classic good-guy luchadors who promoted clean living, church attendance and did not drink.
John notices that he is drinking heavily - a habit El Cura says he picked up after repeated losses to El Lobo.
John claims the magic in the classic lucha libre movies was better researched than anything produced in Hollywood.
The Heywoods have been organizing an annual fundraiser for the American Hemophilia Foundation since George H. W. Bush was President of the United States.
Nate catches Zari sneaking around the Time Bureau offices.
Zari proves that the security footage of Mona was altered and tracks the signal that removed the real footage and replaced it to a certain phone number.
Nate recognizes the phone number as that of his father.
El Cura challenges El Lobo to a Lucha de Apuestas.
The Kaupe saves Mona from being trampled and takes her to the camp he made for himself outside the city.
The Kaupe made a flower crown for Mona.
Zari says that she can recover the original footage of what happened in the Kaupe's cage, but she'll need Hank's phone to do it.
Nate invites Zari to the fundraiser as his plus-one so they can try and get Hank's phone. She agrees to attend with the understanding that they will not pretend to be boyfriend girlfriend because that would be weird. Nate agrees.
Sara, John and Mick track down Mona and the Kaupe and recapture them both.
Zari denies that she is getting ready for a date when Sara finds here getting all dressed up.
Zari tells Sara what she discovered and that she's sure Hank altered the footage from the Kaupe's cell.
Zari says she has no idea if Ava is involved in the cover-up or not, but if she isn't, she's in danger.
Gary somehow returns to the Time Bureau despite having no memory of his name, a loss of vocabulary and no memory of how he lost his nipple in 401.
Ava calls Sara and finds out that she has the Kaupe and Mona. When she demands an explanation, Sara tries to shrug her off saying the line might not be secure and they need to talk in person. Sara hangs up and tells Gideon to mask the Waverider's location when Ava tries to send an extraction team for Mona and the Kaupe.
Ray started a petition to have him declared Interim Captain in Sara's absence. Everyone except Sara signed it, although Mick signed it "Go **** ********, Haircut!"
Sara agrees to let Ray be Interim Captain in her absence, provided there is radio silence and no time travel.
Ray designed a card game he calls Cards To Save The Timeline which he intended to be a teaching tool for new Legends. He tries to use his power as Interim Captain to force John and Charlie to play a game with him.
Some of the cards we see make reference to John Noble, Damien Darhk, Gorilla Grodd and Vandal Savage.
According to Gideon, the sudden disappearance of El Lobo after he failed to face El Cura's challenge, rumors of censorship spread and dozens were killed in the ensuing country-wide protests.
John and Charlie addresses Ray by his punk name, Rayge from 403, in trying to convince him to try and fix the timeline without Sara.
Mona's favorite Rebecca Silver book is the one where Buck crash-lands on Garima's home planet and is forced into mortal combat with Garima's sister. He winds up throwing the fight and escaping with Garima so they can be together. She uses this example to convince the Kaupe to lose the fight to El Cura.
Ava leaves the party in the present, the Time Bureau having just apparently tracked the Kaupe to Mexico City in 1961 and the record now showing that El Lobo did wrestle El Cura there in his final match.
Zari pick-pockets Hank Heywood's phone while posing for a photo with Nate and his parents.
Zari and Nate find the original footage from the Kaupe's cell. They confirm Mona's story and that the Kaupe was being abused by the Men in Black.
Ray, Charlie and John start a fight with the Time Bureau agents, getting the crowd to start cheering them as El Cura starts fighting the agents trying to kill El Lobo.
The match ends with El Cura doing his trademark move, the back-flip from the top of the turnbuckle, in order to save El Lobo from a Time Bureau agent with a gun. He and El Lobo end the match as friends.
Nate tells Hank that he knows about the footage of Mona being faked. When Hank asks if he trusts him or not, Nate says he does trust him but he needs to be in the loop.
Nate tells Zari, who has cloned everything on Hank's phone, to keep digging and see what else he might be hiding.
Hank gets a call from one of the Men In Black and is told that the Legends helped the Kaupe to escape.
Mick tells Mona that Buck and Garima did not have a happy ending - though they loved each other, they were part of two different worlds and they needed to be apart to save those worlds. This is apparently going to be revealed in the next book, which hasn't been released yet.
Sara goes to Ava's office, bringing snickerdoodles as a peace offering.
Ava has a meeting with Hank and says she's probably about to be fired.
Ava dumps Sara after they have an argument about the Time Bureau's role. Ava says she can't be with someone who thinks that protecting magical creatures that shouldn't exist in the modern world is more important than protecting her career. Sara says she can't believe Ava is being so callous about living beings being tortured and justifying letting Hank doing what he is doing in the name of keeping the Time Bureau from being shut down.
Mona opens a portal to Hawaii for the Kaupe, but says she can't go through it because then she'd be running from her problems.
A Man In Black kills the Kaupe.
Mona becomes enraged and transforms into some manner of beast woman and kills the Man In Black.
By the time Mick returns from relieving himself, Mona has changed back to normal.
Location
Time Bureau HQ - 2018
Mexico City - 1961
The Bottom Line
A bit of a weird episode to come back on with an even weirder ending. Still, it's like the show never left and John said it best - "Now, this is what I call a bloody good show."
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