Friday, September 10, 2021

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6, Episode 15 - The Fungus Amongus

 For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.


Plot

With Bishop leading an alien invasion fleet to destroy humanity as part of some crazed plan to force Sara to help him give birth to a new and improved human race, the Legends will have to break all the rules of time travel and common sense to save the world and arrange the perfect last-minute wedding for their co-captains.


Influences

Doctor Who (story involving misfits fighting aliens with the power of love), Swamp Thing (the idea of a guardian alien mushroom is in the spirit of the Green and the Gray), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (John's appearance as an ideal version of himself that might as well be called Constantine the White) and Hellblazer (John being a bastard who betrays his friends to save himself.)


Performances

Despite the rather sudden turn of Mick Rory deciding to become a father and Kayla's 180 on remaining with him, Dominic Purcell completely sells the change in Mick's priorities and gets a fine send-off.

By the same toke, Matt Ryan remains the perfect John Constantine, remaining a likeable bastard despite everything he did in the past few episodes, leaving the series with a grin and a wink and one more mystery for the Legends to deal with in his absence. 


Artistry

The script for this episode manages the neat task of balancing a wedding, an alien invasion and send-offs for two established characters while still giving everyone in the cast at least one neat moment. My favorite may be the silent scene where Astra hugs Spooner after she sends her mother to safety - a powerful moment given how neither woman is all that expressive about their emotions.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This is the last episode of the series to credit Dominic Purcell as a regular cast member, leaving Caity Lotz and Amy Louise Pemberton as the only members of the original cast remaining as the series heads into season 7. It also leaves Astra Logue as the only member of the Legends directly based on a character from the comics. (Sara Lance, while heavily based on Gail Simone's version of Black Canary, is widely considered to be an Original Creation.)

This episode will reportedly be Matt Ryan's final performance as John Constantine in the Arrowverse. This is apparently due to the character being reserved for an upcoming HBO Max Constantine reboot produced by J.K. Abrams, which reportedly feature an as-of-yet-uncast actor of color playing Constantine as a London native. This move has confounded fans, given Warner Bros. announcement that they were no longer limiting themselves to one live-action incarnation of their superhero characters and embracing the multiverse model for their DC Comics productions. Thankfully, Ryan will be joining the cast as an original character and become a series regular in Season 7.

The concept of the Fountain of Imperium being an alien mushroom that acts as a protector of humanity that can bond with humans shares in lot in common with the concept of Swamp Thing and the forces of the Green and Grey, which connect all plant life and fungal life in the universe, respectively. 

The bit where the John mushroom allows him to commune with those who eat him is taken directly from Swamp Thing, who was able to temporarily connect humans to the Green by growing special plants through himself.

John makes reference to a demonic associate making a deal to buy his soul and save his life. While some fans thought this might refer to the Lucifer of Earth-666, that demon never trafficked in souls despite he and Constantine apparently coming to a bargain at some point in the past. It could be a nod to the First of the Fallen (John's nemesis in the Hellblazer comics), the Demon Etrigan (whom John worked with quite often) or the demon Negral (who gave John a demonic blood transfusion and reluctantly worked with John on several occasions.)

John gives Zari 2.0 a key, saying the Legends will figure out what it is for. Some fans have guessed this may be the key to John's house, the key to a different house (like the House of Secrets or House of Mystery) or possibly even the Key to Hell from The Sandman. Presumably this will be explored further in Season 7.


Technobabble/Arcana

Kayla is able to repair Gideon, but notes that her wiring needs to be completely rerouted.

Necrian eggs need to be rotated a quarter turn every 12 minutes under a heat lamp.

In Necrian culture, the mother raises her children alone without the input of the father. 

As the Legends come for the young Bishop, he has having trouble with his first Ava Prime clone, as her neural network keeps overloading.

Zagurons are deathly allergic to mushrooms.

Necrian babies are ravenous when they hatch and then tend to go for the first they see.


Dialogue Triumphs

Sara: Mick, you okay?
Mick: Charred. Nothing new.

Bishop: (on recording) I'm back! Hello, Legends. Did you miss me? By the time you see this recording, I expect John will be dead. The Fountain will also be dead, and my Zaguron friends should be on their way to destroy you. I hope I've got that right. Otherwise possible egg on my face, ooh. And because I can literally think Sara's thoughts, about now is the time that Sara Lance has figured out my plan for us to live together forever after everyone else has died as the new Adam and Eve. Sara, your mind must be racing, realizing that the only one who can save the Fountain is me. And, spoiler alert, I'm not gonna.

Young Bishop: Wow. Whoever made this is a certified genius... an evil genius, but a genius.
Nate: Yes. An evil genius who is not like anyone in this room. 

Behrad: I spoke to John. He is in the mushroom. He wants to talk to us... and we all got to eat him.

(John appears before Sara, with white hair and a white trenchcoat.)
Constantine: Hello, Sara.
Sara: Are you...  Are you alive?
Constantine: Not exactly. I'm... present. What I did was unforgivable.
Sara: It's okay because we're creating an antidote for the poison that you gave the Fountain, and we can still stop the Zagurons from coming.
Constantine: That won't be enough. Even if you heal the physical side of the Fountain, the spiritual side will remain ill.
Sara: John, I need your help. I need you and the Fountain to help.
Constantine: The Fountain has a mind of its own. It no longer deems human beings worthy of its protection.
Sara: Damn it, John, you did this! You need to fix this!
Constantine: I cannot separate myself from the Fountain. My life force is the only thing keeping the Fountain and Spooner alive. If I leave, they both perish. I must stay as long as I can and let the remnants of my soul be drained. Mushrooms feed off death, and so I'm gonna feed it. I owe it that much. Sorry it had to be this way. (smiles) Do you remember all those years ago, when I said that stable relationships weren't right for you and me? I was wrong. Loving and being loved, that is the point. I had that. It should have been enough, but I wanted more. Now the whole world, especially Zari, is suffering because of my mistake.

(Sara describes her vision of John to the rest of the team.)
Sara: He told me what this is about. He told me what everything is about. He said..."We are all connected."
Nate: I think I saw that on a bumper sticker once.
Sara: It was really profound in the moment.

(Ava is panicking because she hasn't written her wedding vows yet.)
Ava:
Sara already wrote her vows, Gary. Sara, the person who never plans anything, already did the one thing that every wedding needs.
Gary: It's okay. Here's what's going to happen. You're going to walk down that aisle...
Ava: Mm-hmm.
Gary: To the love of your life. She's gonna say some very beautiful things to you.
Ava: That's not helping.
Gary: No, no, no. And then you... you're gonna look deep into those gorgeous blue eyes - of hers and say what you feel.
Ava: ...I feel sick.
Gary: Don't say that.

Nate: We're gathered here today on what may very well be our last to celebrate the union of these two amazing people. I fondly remember the moment they met. (looks to Ava) She had a gun. (looks to Sara) She had a glare. Destiny was at work. We've all been through a lot since that day, and on that journey, you've challenged each other to be the best versions of yourself possible. This moment, this wedding, this is exactly what the world needs. We're facing insurmountable odds, but even during the darkest of times, when hope seems lost, love. Love is what matters most. 

Sara: Ava, the perfect woman, what could a mess like me ever have to offer someone as special as you? I can't exactly say it was love at first sight, but you did look really good in that pantsuit. But the more that I got to know you, and I got to feel your kindness and your honesty, well, this heart, once so cold and guarded, it just... it just melted. And Ava, it's because of you that I get to know what true love feels like. And so, today, here in front of all of our friends... I want to make these vows to you. I will always be your champion, your lover. I will always be your family, and I will listen to you even when the words are hard to hear, and I will let you in every when I’m afraid. And I will support you. I will fight for you. And above all, Ava Sharpe, I will love you.

Ava: My life before you was a perfect fabrication, and then you came into my world and everything just became a whirlwind. You brought chaos into my tidy, predictable existence, and you pretty much brought me to life. So I vow to you to live this life together. Co-captains forever, baby. I love you so, so, much, Sara Lance.

Sara: All right, anybody without steel skin or regeneration fall back and barricade the house!

(Zari stands in the clearing where John died.)
Zari: I really did love you. I wish that could've been enough.
(Zari turns around to leave when a familiar voice comes from behind her.)
Constantine: What's the hurry, love?
Zari: You... you bastard! What, you've been sneaking around here this whole time?
Constantine: No, no, no, I just got here, honestly, really. You know, after the Fountain healed and could survive without me, it saw the purity of my sacrifice, and it's offered to give me another chance.
Zari: Your purity? Don't lie to me.
Constantine: (chuckling) Okay, all right. I was joking. The Fountain didn't think too highly of me. Even less after I contacted an old associate in Hell. Long story short, the chit to my soul now belongs to a demon once again, and the Fountain is very happy that I'm no longer bound to it.
Zari: Wow. You haven't changed at all, have you?
Constantine: You know, people can change and not change at the same time. I'm still a bastard. I know that. But I guess now I know what I'm missing by being a bastard.
Zari: (sighs) We mucked it up. We mucked it up just like you said we would.
Constantine: (sadly) I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat, love.
Zari: (softly) Me too.
Constantine: Listen, I have to walk a different path now. Away from the Legends. 
(John sighs, looking honestly regretful.)
Constantine: But here, take this.
(John hands her an old key.)
Zari: An old key. What is this for?
Constantine: You'll find out.
(With that, John turns around and vanishes through a portal. Walking alone. As he must.)

Sara: Life's crazy, isn't it? Imagine if our first day on the Waverider, we travel to this moment to this house, and we saw me, a captain with a wife and you with 48 kids.
Mick: 49. And a grandbaby on the way.
Sara: I don't think we would have recognized ourselves.
Mick: No. Got to move forward, I guess. To the next job. A new partner.
Sara: Yeah, I had a feeling that was coming. You know you'll always have a home on the Waverider. But I guess you'll be busy taking care of punks.
Mick: Well, I've learned a thing or two about handling punks. Watched you do it for six years.


Continuity

The episode opens with a repeat of the scene from 614 where Mick, Kayla, Sara, Ava and Gary try to save Mick and Kayla's eggs from the bomb Bishop planted on the Waverider.

Mick is revealed to have survived the fireball, only slightly charred, shielding the one egg with his body.

The bomb destroys Gideon's mainframe, taking her off-line.

Bishop steals Kayla's ship.

Behrad returns to discover his couch and living space (which were in the lab) were destroyed by the bomb.

Behrad notes that he has fought addiction and should have seen the signs of it in John.

Zari, Nate and Astra explain how the Fountain of Imperium is an ancient fungal network and that John Constantine accidentally poisoned it by poisoning himself.

All that was left of Constantine after his body decomposed was a single mushroom.

Spooner is also dying, but her mother, Gloria, is using all her tricks as a healer to try and slow the poison.

Mick tells Kayla that he screwed up his daughter Lita's life by not really being there for her when she grew up and he has no intention of abandoning his children again.

Spooner can't be taken to the Med Bay on the Waverider, due to Gideon being off-line.

Ava, Sara and Nate discover a scout ship of what turn out to be Zagurons, who send a signal summoning their race to Earth.

Sara thinks the Zagurons are somehow tied into Bishop's plan.

Behrad plants John's mushroom and claims that he can hear John's voice in the mushroom.

Zari doesn't believe Behrad and says she would have nothing to say to John even if he were telling the truth.

Kayla plans to get off Earth as soon as she can fix Gideon, but offers to let Mick come with her and their eggs.

Bishop left a message for the Legends on Gideon, which plays as she reboots.

Nate and Ava suggest, since Bishop is now 6% Sara and can effectively predict everything she would do, they have to do the exact opposite of what Sara would want to do to beat him. This leads them to travel forward in time and retrieve a younger version of Bishop to make an antidote to the poison that he used on the Fountain of Imperium.

Behrad tells the rest of the team that he sampled the John mushroom and spoke with him and that he wants to talk to the whole team.

Sara refuses to allow this to happen and sends the rest of the team away, before sampling the John mushroom herself after hearing John's voice.

Sara has a vision of John in a bleached-white trenchcoat with his blonde hair now dyed white.

John explains that the spirit of the Fountain of Imperium is ill, along with its body, and that it no longer feels humanity is worthy of its protection. Even if they can create an antidote it still won't help and John is giving up his soul to keep the Fountain and Spooner alive. 

John tells Sara secret of all life is that we are all connected.

Mick refuses to let Kayla flee the Earth, saying he knows there is a part of Kayla that care enough about him to want to stand with him and his friends.

Young Bishop's antidote is able to heal Spooner.

Spooner can no longer hear the thoughts of aliens and can't pick up the presence of the Zagurons.

Spooner confirms what John said about the Fountain not wanting to help them.

Sara asks Ava to marry her today, leading the other Legends to start organizing a last-minute wedding. 

Gary prepares the clothes, Zari does the brides' make-up, Astra conjures up some floral arrangements and Behrad caters and provides the music for the ceremony.

Spooner's mother offers up the tablecloth from her own wedding.

Spooner sends her mother way to protect her from what is coming next.

Ava is having trouble writing her vows and takes Gary's advice to just wing it while looking at Sara and opening up her heart.

Ava asks Gary to walk her down the aisle.

Mick walks Sara down the aisle.

Both Young Bishop and Kayla attend the ceremony, along with the Legends.

Nate officiates the ceremony, having become legally certified to marry people on-line.

Bishop attacks the wedding in Kayla's ship as the Zagurons emerge from their ships.

Sara realizes John's message was meant to tell her that Spooner could use her connection to the Fountain to connect the Legends and switch their powers out during the fight. This leads Sara to give her healing factor to save Behard after he is stung and Ava to acquire Nate's power.

The love the Legends have for each other revitalizes the Fountain, who destroys the Zagurons as they are about to overwhelm the house.

Mick and Kayla's eggs hatch and the babies devour Bishop alive.

Young Bishop swears to change, having seen his eventual fate, but the Legends erase his memory and send him back to where they took him to preserve the timeline.

John sold his soul to a demon to save his life.

Constantine gives Zari an old key and says she'll know what it is for when the time is right.

Mick leaves with Kayla and their kids in her ship.

As the Legends are about to leave, another time-ship appears and blows up the Waverider.


Location

Odessa, Texas, USA - 1925
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - 2212


The Bottom Line

An amusing ending to a good season and a solid send off for Constantine and Heatwave.

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