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Plot
The Legends are reunited, but things have yet to return to normal, as the team is left shell-shocked by the revelation of Sara's secret. This leaves Nate struggling to keep everyone's spirits up as they head to the Old West in search of an alien. Meanwhile, Spooner and Astra are forced to work together despite their drastically different personalities, honing their new powers in the process. Constantine turns to Gary for help with his problems, as Zari takes an unusual interest in Behrad's personal life.
Influences
The Tremors movies (the Haverack appears to be based on the Graboids from that movie) and the singing cowboy movies of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.
Goofs
The flyer advertising a square-dancing contest says the contest is on Friday, April 30. In our reality, April 30 in 1891 was a Thursday.
Performances
Duane Keogh is amusing as the Cowboy Narrator.
Artistry
The effects work on the alien sandworm is impressive.
Trivia Of Tomorrow
The episode title is a pun on the Best Western hotel chain.
This episode was directed by David Ramsey, who played John Diggle on Arrow. Ramsey also has a cameo in the episode, playing legendary lawman Bass Reeves.
As noted in the episode, Bass Reeves was the first Black Deputy Marshall to serve west of the Mississippi River. What the episode does not mention, however, is that Reeves' impressive career (during which he never got shot and captured over 3000 outlaws alive) was believed to be the inspiration for the character of The Lone Ranger.
This is the first Western themed episode of Legends of Tomorrow to not feature a cameo by Jonah Hex.
Technobabble/Arcana
The Legends are now armed with a device, taken from Kayla's ship, which can track all the alien pods across time and space.
Astra is working to master a spell in Latin which sets someone's skin on fire - Tua cutis fiat ignite.
Gary identifies the alien sandworm that has been eating the people of Fist City as a Haverack. The name translates, in the language of its native world, as "rage eater" as they are drawn to the chemicals most species generate when they are angry.
The outer-shell of a Haverack is impenetrable so the only way to stop one is to tame it. The easiest way to do this is with a special whistle, like the one Levi Stapleton acquired from the pod.
According to Gary, Wafters are an alien species that really love cherries.
Gary says there is a map to the Fountain of Imperium that humans couldn't read because they thought it was a map of the heavens but it is actually a map of the Earth.
Dialogue Triumphs
Astra: If you want to talk line dancing lassos, try Spooner.
Spooner: I was raised in Texas - not "Hee Haw".
Singing Cowboy: (singing) Well, other towns they'll get you down
I don't know where to start
There's rifle-play and fights all day
It breaks my cowboy heart
But don't you fear 'cause over here
We offer the reverse
Yes, welcome to Fist City
The gladdest place on Earth!
(Regarding how painfully nice and pure Fist City has become.)
Spooner: Something big must have happened to turn this place from Deadwood to Disneyland.
Behrad: It must be our alien. Or gentrification. (beat) Either way, we should stop it.
(Nate makes the decision to leave Spooner and Astra behind.)
Nate: Yeah, we can't have you two triggering the worm again.
Spooner: Are you benching us?
Astra: Do you even have that authority?
Nate: (uncertain) I don't know. It did feel weird.
Spooner: You know, you're not in hell anymore.
Astra: And you're not in Texas.
Singing Cowboy: (singing) We don't know where she came from
But know that she ain't going back
Cause there ain't no one faces Stapleton's guns
And walks away lookin' intact
If she shoots the worm will eat her
If she don't, she'll fall from his lead
You could do what you can to prove you're a man
Sara: (walking past) Can it, cowboy.
Singing Cowboy: (continuing singing after Sara has left) Godspeed, Sara Lance
Nate: So you're bulletproof now?
Sara: Yeah.
Nate: (offering his hand in a high-five) Welcome to the club.
(The Legends are trying to come up with an escape plan.)
Zari: (sarcastic) Whoa, I have an idea. How about Behrad just flirts it away from his girlfriend.
Behrad: Hey, just because she's evil doesn't mean she's not into me, okay?
(The singing cowboy narrator is walking down the halls of the Waverider, playing his guitar.)
Singing Cowboy: (singing) Now the Guy of Steel's off to see his girl
Sure it's weird, but then so is the world
So I leave you now with this takeaway
That there might not be a normal. But that might be okay.
(The singing cowboy smiles to the audience as Ava enters the bridge.)
Ava: (sighs) I told you guys, we can't keep the cowboy narrator!
(Nate and Behrad enter the shot and advance on the cowboy.)
Nate: Sorry. Sorry.
Singing Cowboy: Happy trails, Legends!
(The screen suddenly cuts to black as a noise like a guitar being dropped or smashed is heard.)
Continuity
Sara's favorite foods include double espresso, bacon (not too crispy) and Greek finishing salts.
Zari's smoothie line includes a Passion Dragon Ash flavor that enhances vitality and endurance and a Recovery Dragon Ash for hangovers.
Sara does not like smoothies.
Behrad used the time portal to age a Kobe beef steak 15 years for Mick - something Ava considers an abuse of time travel technology.
Kayla's ship is revealed to be parked at Constantine's house.
Gary denies knowing anything about the Fountain of Imperium, first mentioned in 605, when John asks him about it.
Spooner is having a hard time controlling her powers, now that Gary is living on-board the Waverider and is having to adjust to their being an actual alien living in close-proximity to her.
Spooner senses that Gary is stressed (from lying) by the mention of the Fountain of Imperium.
Ava briefly tells Sara about the events of 605 and how she was turned into a binder and a cartoon.
Sara tells Ava that she is an alien-human-hybrid clone with regeneration powers.
Sara asks Ava not to tell the rest of the team yet, as she wants to d just one mission to get things back to normal.
Gideon detects a pod in Fist City, Oklahoma Territory in the year 1891. Fist City was an outlaw city and home at one time or another to Butch Cassidy, Belle Starr and Wild Bill Hickock.
Spooner tells the rest of the Legends about her powers acting wonky since Gary, Sara and Mick returned. Ava immediately tries to shift all the blame onto Gary to protect Sara's secret, but Spooner says there is something else as all she can sense from Gary is that he's hiding something big and that he really wants to have sex with Ava.
Ava asks Nate to try and keep everyone's spirits up and make this adventure a classic Legends romp.
Behrad went through a cowboy phase as a kid; the result of his father trying to push him into embracing American culture.
Zari notices Behrad flirting with Astra and suggests that she can help him with finding a more stable romantic relationship.
The Legends discover the saloon in First City has a swear jar amd doesn't serve liquor.
A singing cowboy tells the Legends the story of Fist City and how it is "the gladdest place on Earth."
John tells Gary about how he lost his magic and needs the Fountain of Imperium to restore it. This time, Gary says he has heard of it, but that it is a total myth and John should forget about it.
Gambling has been outlawed in Fist City and the card players in the saloon now play Go Fish for fun.
The ten laws of Fist City are No Cussing, No Fighting, No Gambling, No Fornicating, No Alcohol Consumption, No Spitting, No Cheating, No Yelling, No Gunplay and No Disrespecting Others.
Astra notices one of the card players has a lot of gold and starts trying to find out where it came from.
Zari accuses Behrad of only falling for bad girls and says he needs to find someone who will appreciate him for the sweet, sensitive soul he is.
Behrad falls for a saloon girl named Irma Rose, who notes (after Zari accuses her of being a whore) that they don't do that sort of thing in Fist City anymore.
Behrad can play the piano.
Sara keeps ordering milkshakes with extra cherries.
Nate recognizes the name Bass Reeves on one of the local wanted posters, but is confused as Bass Reeves was a famous lawman in the original timeline.
Nate is further confused by the Sheriff of Fist City being identified in the poster as Levi Stapleton, as he was a famous outlaw in the Old West.
Levi Stapleton happens into the tavern at that moment and tells the Legends to get out of town, politely.
Astra keeps hassling the one card player about his gold until he draws a gun on her. As he does this, an Earthquake starts and Spooner's headache, signaling the approach of an alien, gets worse. Shortly after this, he is eaten by a giant sandworm.
The sandworm vanishes after Levi Stapleton blows into a strange whistle. Again, he encourages the Legends to leave, after telling the townsfolk this is an excellent reminder of why they all need to hold their tempers.
Nate comes up with a plan to steal the whistle from Stapleton during a square dancing contest.
Nate orders Spooner and Astra to stay behind while the rest of the team goes to the contest.
Ava notices that Sara seems to be eating nothing but milkshakes with extra cherries now.
John once again pushes Gary for information on the Fountain of Imperium.
Zari tries to steal the necklace holding the whistle off of Levin Stapleton but is caught.
Sara challenges Stapleton to a duel after spitting on the saloon floor.
Astra leaves the ship looking for gold and Spooner follows after her.
Astra admits she cares less about the gold and more about proving to the townspeople that she can get anything she wants.
Astra tells Spooner about how she had to fight to get every bit of power she ever had and she thinks Spooner has wasted her life building her own personal hell, hiding on her own when she could be using her power to benefit herself.
Spooner tells Astra she wasn't always alone but \she was put into foster care after her mother died. She doesn't go into detail, but it is implied not all of her parents were good people.
Levi Stapleton cheats during the duel and shoots Sara in the back of the head.
Sara heals almost immediately, revealing her new power to the Legends and the town.
Sara shoots the whistle out of Levin Stapleton's hand. He is eaten by the Haverack.
Irma Rose recovers the whistle and drives the Haverack off.
Astra and Spooner find the Haverack's lair and determine that it poops gold.
Astra and Spooner meet Deputy Marshall Bass Reeves, who was also staking out the Haverack's lair.
Reeves determined that the Haverack was what made Fist City into a boom town and that the people were ready to do anything to keep the gold coming.
The Legends are forced to take shelter in the saloon after the townsfolk turn on them, fearful they're going to destroy their goldmine.
Nate tries to start a sing-a-long to keep everyone's spirits up, mentioning Sweet Baby James and the Thong song from the Season 4 and Season 5 finales respectively.
When Nate loses it, he complains that he is the only person on the team who changes the cartridges on the fabricators on the Waverider.
Nate also claims that he asked about getting a chair at the Hall of Justice, but nobody ever got back to him. This is the first time someone has mentioned the table at the Hall of Justice or specifically called the building the Hall of Justice in the modern day since it first appeared in 501. (Winn Schott said the building would later be called the Hall of Justice in S511)
Sara comments upon the resemblance between Bass Reeves and John Diggle, addressing him as Digg in a moment of confusion during the fight with the Haverack.
Spooner and Astra are able to defeat the Haverack, when Spooner uses her power to project her emotions onto an alien for the first time and Astra gets her spell to set the Haverack's skin on fire.
Gary tells John that Aleister Crowley found the map to the Fountain of Imperium.
John goes off on his own to seek out the Fountain, bidding Zari farewell for now.
Ava and Sara come to the conclusion that nothing important has changed in their relationship, despite Sara being in a hybrid alien body.
Behrad borrows Zari's air totem and gives both of them to Nate, so that he can go inside the Totem and spend some time with Zari 1.0.
A sleeping Mick is shown reading one of Rebecca Silver's novels - Celestial Bodies.
The singing cowboy is revealed to have stowed-away on the Waverider and is dropped off somewhere.
Location
Fist City, Oklahoma Territory - April 29-20, 1891.
The Bottom Line
A great episode, all in all, which advances all the subplots well enough and have some good funny bits. Anyone else wondering if the Cowboy Narrator is a 5th Dimensional imp?
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