Saturday, March 19, 2022

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 13 - Knocked Down, Knocked Up

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

Plot

When Gwyn goes rogue in a desperate bid to save Alun, the other Legends find themselves back in the AI Gideon's crosshairs. As Sara struggles with some unexpected news, the Legends will have to depend upon a new ally in order to save the day and themselves.


Influences

Doctor Who (general idea of working around a fixed point and the rules of Time), the Futurama episode "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch" (alien pregnancy that functions differently than human pregnancy), The Terminator (Spooner's fight with Evil Gideon) and the comics of Booster Gold.


Performances

Donald Faison dazzles in his first appearance as "Mike." It will be a damned shame if this is the final episode of the series, because he would be an ideal Booster Gold for Season 8.

Caity Lotz has a fantastic comic turn here as the increasingly hormonal Sara, particularly as she threatens Gary regarding the impossibility of her being pregnant.


Artistry

The sequence introducing Booster Gold, in which he plays golf through the middle of a time-frozen battle, is hilarious, beautifully shot, has fantastic effects, and perfectly sets up the character.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

At one point Sara asks Ava if she was sure the Legends agreed to meet on Wednesday nights instead of Sundays. This is a reference to the show's timeslots in Season 6 and Season 7, respectively.

Mike, the guardian of the fixed point based around Alun's death, is revealed at the end of the episode to be Booster Gold. Created by Dan Jurgens and first appearing in Booster Gold #1 in February 1986, Booster Gold was born Michael Jon Carter in the 25th century of the DC Universe. A promising college football star, Booster's career was cut short after he was caught fixing a game to get the money needed for his sick mother. He later got a job as a museum security guard and, inspired by a display of artifacts belonging to superheroes from centuries earlier and a working time machine, Michael traveled back in time with the intention of becoming a superhero. He was going to use the alias Goldstar, but, owing to an accident during his grand premiere, he became known as Booster Gold. Despite his mercenary nature, Booster came to grow into the role of hero and, later, became an honest guardian of the time-steam.

The Arrowverse version of Booster Gold is employed as a guardian of Time by the Time Wraiths and was assigned to guard the fixed point around the death of Alun Thomas. He appears to have the same gloryhound and greedy personality of his comic book counterpart, as he quickly turns on the Legends and abandons his post after realizing he's viewed as a joke by his employers.


Technobabble/Arcana

The olfactory senses of a Nercian are strong enough to detect pheromone changes in most species.

Sara's species after being modified by Bishop is identified as half-human/half-Kriblixian.

According to Gary, Kriblixes are natural nesters and all it takes for them to become ready to ovulate is the thought of having children and casual contact with the partner who inspired the feelings of love. Physical gender and species are not consideration in this process, allowing Sara to be impregnated by Ava.

Evil AI Gideon's ultimate robot body has a forcefield that prevents her from being back-stabbed by Astra's magic.

Astra knows a spell with Egyptian words that allows her to teleport herself, Spooner and Gideon into the Waverider armory.

Astra is able to use her magic to protect herself, Spooner and Gideon and rebuild the Waverider properly this time. 


Dialogue Triumphs

Astra: Hey, where's Gideon? Is she okay?
Gary: (bitterly) Which one? The human one, or the computer that tried to murder me?
Ava: Gary, what the hell did you do?!
(Gary looks stunned and uncharacteristically annoyed that Ava thinks this is his fault somehow.)
Zari: I... I think what Av's is trying to say is, "Why?" Why did she want to murder you?
Gary: Probably because I found out she sent Gwyn home with a robot.
(There is a long pause as everyone processes that.)
Sara: (whispered to Ava)
Our news can wait.

(Mike walks around the time machine where Gwyn is standing. He sighs and shakes his head.)
Mike: 
This guy again.
(Mike walks around the other side of the time machine. He sees something and stops in surprise.)
Mike:
What in the actual hell is going on?
(Cut to Mike's POV as he sees Gary, Nate, Zari, Ava and Behrad standing in a line, with their hands up as if in surrender. There is writing on their hands. Most of them have forced smiles, except for Gary, who is wincing as if expecting to be shot at any moment.)
Mike: (reading out-loud) "Dear Fixer, don't kill us. We just want to talk".
(Mike turns around and sees Sara, standing regarding the other Legends. She has only a single hand up, with a single word written on it.)
Mike (reading out-loud)
"Please?"
(Mike seems to think about it and presses a button on the device on his wrist. Time unfreezes around them and the Legends look surprised.)
Sara: You didn't kill us!.
Milke: (chuckling) Well, you said please. 

Mike: All right, Legends. What brings you to my neck of the woods?
Nate: Uh, long story. Younger Gwyn is part of the doomed 38th Welsh Division.
Gary: And today his boyfriend, Alun, is gonna die.
Sara: Which is why Gwyn goes on to invent time travel. So he can come back here and save Alun.
Behrad: But he failed.
Zari: But our Gwyn is gonna succeed!
Gwyn: Yes, by replacing the real Alun with a fake one, you see?
Ava: So the rest of the time loop can go on like it's supposed to. Does that all make sense, Mike?
(Mike just stares at them.)
Mike: Not in the least. 

(Mike explains that he can't allow anyone to mess around with the Fixed Point.)
Gwyn: Now hold on just a second. Now, you are here to protect the events that led to the creation of time travel itself, correct?
Mike: Yeah, man. I'm the best. That's why they put me here.
Gwyn: So answer me this, then. If a time traveler were to come here with the express intention of erasing the very invention of time travel itself from history...
Behrad: (finishing the thought) ...they would disappear before they had the chance!
Gwyn: Precisely.
Behrad: It's a paradox!
Gwyn: (nodding) A paradox.
Mike: (uncertain) So what you're telling me is that this fixed point could actually fix itself?
Ava: Theoretically, yes, because how else would the other time travelers get here?
(Mike bites his lip, looking very uncomfortable.)
Mike:
Excuse me one second.
(Mike turns around and begins talking out-loud to the dead German general. His voice grows louder and his pace faster as he speaks, eventually turning back around to speak to the Legends.)
Mike: That's why nobody ever comes here. I thought it was because, you know, people were scared that they would have to run into me, and nobody wants to come at me. I'm the best, right? But no, it's because no time traveler in their right mind would ever come to this event?!
Gwyn: (quietly) Precisely.
(There is a long pause as the ramifications hit Mike.)
Mike: Those dicks put me here as a joke!

Ava: All right, so all we need to do is get the real Alun, and we're...
(Sara groans. Everyone stops to stare at her, completely frozen in shock.)
Ava:
Uh, babe?
Sara: Huh?
Ava: Are you okay?
(Sara spins around, grinning manically.)

Sara: Yeah, everything's great! I mean, who wouldn't be great, right? Look at us! We're in the middle of World War I! And look, one time ship has been stolen, and the other one has been blown to bits! Oh! Alun! He's about to die, but don't worry, because we have a plan to save him with a robot, and we all know how lucky that we have been with robots! So, yes. I am reveling in joy right now! Goodbye!
(Sara storms off for the abandoned house.)

(Nate, Gary and Gwyn have just walked in on Sara telling Ava she's pregnant with her child.)
Nate:
Shut the front door! Congratulations! How is this even possible?!
Gary: Alien biology. Just go with it.
Gwyn: I hate to interrupt a very joyous and yet very confusing revelation, but I must remind you, there is a battle going on.

Time Cop: That's enough out of you, Buster.
Mike: Hey, it's Booster. I'm Booster Gold, okay? 


Continuity

The episode opens with a flashback to Gary being thrown into the Temporal Zone in 712.

Gary emerges on Earth in an unknown location in the year 30,000 BC.

The Legends continue to meet for a weekly family dinner on Wednesday nights. They first meet one week after they parted ways.

Nate is confirmed to be living in the Air Totem with Zari 1.0 now.

The Legends discover Gwyn's time machine is gone from the foyer of the Hell mansion and find a note he left behind, thanking them for giving him the courage to find his love.

Gwyn travels to 1916 and plans to use the inert Alun robot to fake Alun's death while keeping the timeline intact.

The AI Gideon informs Gideon of an anomaly in 1787 and a time traveler attempting to change the Constitutional Convention. Gideon stops her but lets her off with a warning, as she was attempting to change things so American women always had the right to vote.

One month after they part ways, Sara gives Ava apple juice instead of wine at dinner because of their plans to have a baby and for Ava to carry it to term. Ava says they haven't officially decided to have a baby yet, however.

Nate still has not finished writing his book. 

Spooner says life with her mother is going well. Texas is Texas.

Astra is working in Washington DC, which she says is like Hell but with more humidity and uglier clothes.

Astra says she hasn't heard from Gideon at all in the past month.

By this point, Gideon is in a rut, as most of the rogue time-travelers she deals with seem to be obsessed with rewriting the US Constitution. 

Six weeks after the Legends parted ways, Ava decides she is ready to have a baby and narrows down a list of potential sperm donors to 50 candidates. She tells Sara this after Sara notices she brought a bottle of cider to dinner instead of wine.

Sara cuts herself trying to open the foil on the cider bottle and notices her healing factor doesn't kick in.

In 30,000 BC, Gary has just finished building a door with a keyhole he can use to access the Hell Mansion.

The Legends figure out Gwyn's note to them meant he was going back in time to save the real Alun.

Gary tells the rest of the team that Gideon told him about the Alun robot and that his death was a fixed point before he was abandoned in caveman times.

It is revealed that Gwyn died thanks to a random ricochet bullet while trying to drug Alun's tea so he'd fall asleep and be unable to join the charge where he died.

Zari reveals that she kept a hold of a Time Courier just in case. This means they have a way to time-travel back to 1916 and save Gwyn.

Gary recognizes that Sara is pregnant, due to her heightened hormone levels.

Sara asks Gary to keep her pregnancy a secret until after the mission.

The Legends arrive in 1916 and try to set up shop in an abandoned house near the battlefield. However, Gideon is already there waiting for them.

Gideon thought that Gary had left, but immediately presumes the AI had reasons for getting rid of Gary.

Astra declares that she was wrong about thinking Gideon was really human after all.

Spooner confronts Astra and tells her she can sense that Gideon is feeling conflicted.

Ava gives Astra her Time Courier, which has enough charge for one more trip. She tells her to Gideon and try and win her over.

Gideon confronts the Evil Gideon about her trying to kill Gary and reveals that she is conflicted.

The Evil Gideon reveals that she's made one more robot body, modeled on Gideon, into which they can upload all the memories she wants to get rid of while leaving her a blank slate.

Spooner and Astra take the courier onto the Waverider. Spooner almost immediately sense that Gideon is upset and in pain.

Gary explains that Sara's regeneration powers have been absorbed into her baby and this is why she did not heal earlier.

The Legends ambush Gwyn when he arrives and explain about the Fixed Point. However, they also have a plan to make contact with the Time Wraith agent (i.e. the Fixer) and try and talk to him about their plpn to change things while keeping the Fixed Point fixed.

Spooner and Astra stop Gideon as she's about to her her memory erased. 

Gideon realizes that humans need other humans and that Rip reprogrammed her so that she would learn from humans, not the other way around.

Evil Gideon transfers her mind into the new robot body.

Gideon tries to evoke Protocol 276 to stop Evil Gideon from attacking her. Unfortunately, Evil Gideon no longer sees her as an extension of her and points out that Gideon violated her oath as a Time Master, making her a danger to the timeline.

The Legends make contact with the Fixer by writing a message on their hands in marker and standing in one place with their hands up. The message reads "Dear Fixer. Don't Kill Us. We Just Want To Talk. Please?"

Mike operates out of the base of the German general overseeing the battle, who had a heart-attack that morning and isn't discovered until that evening.

Mike says he is from the future and knows who the Legends of Tomorrow are. 

Mike says all the Legends are famous in his time - even Gary. The only person in their group he doesn't know by sight is Dr. Gwyn Davies. He does, however, recognize Gwyn;s name when he is introduced as the first time traveler. 

Gwyn points out that Alun's death should be the safest fixed point in history since anyone who interfered with it might risk causing time travel to never be invented. This caused Mike to realize that his appointment to that Fixed Point was a joke, not the honor he was told it was.

Spooner tries to destroy the Evil Gideon, but none of the ammo she took from the armor can incapacitate her. Evil Gideon is able to regenerate the damage to her skin, healing her face in seconds.

Gideon uses Spooner's gun to destroy the Waverider's cloaking controls. This causes the Waverider to become visible before a group of soldiers, triggering an anomaly in the timestream.

Having just become an anomaly herself, Evil Gideon takes the Waverider into orbit to self-destruct, thus removing the anomaly.

Astra is able to use her magic to protect herself, Spooner and Gideon and rebuild the Waverider. 

Astra, Gideon and Spooner take the new Waverider back to the Legends. Unfortunately, Mike chooses this moment to freeze time and escapes with the Waverider, leaving the Legends behind in 1916.

Mike also destroys Gwyn's time machine as he's leaving so the Legends can't go after him.

Sara has a nervous breakdown and finally confides in Ava that she is pregnant and has lost her powers.

Nate replaces Sara in her plan, going into No Man's Land to rescue Alun since his steel form should be able to protect them.

Behrad and Zari set up the Alun robot where his body was found in the original timeline.

Gary and Gwyn go after Gwyn's past self to make sure he survives the battle and does what he is supposed to.

Gwyn watches his younger self comforting a fallen comrade as he dies, saying he has no memory of this conversation. This suggests that he didn't freeze up in battle as he recalled.

Nate is caught in a mustard gas attack while trying to reach Alun. This causes him to lose his powers, though he does survive with only minor wounds. Presumably his powers also cured his hemophilia. 

Zari gives Nate the Air Totem, saying he deserves to keep it since he'll be living there now.

Nate disappears into the Air Totem, taking it with him.

Gwyn and Behrad think they can rebuild Gwyn's time machine in six months, but the Waverider appears before they can start planning how to get out of the battlefield.

Mike is on the Waverider. So are a number of uniformed time cops, who arrest the Legends for crimes against the timeline.


Location

An Unknown Forest - 30,000 BC.
Mametz Wood, France - 1916


Untelevised Adventures

Mike makes reference to using the Waverider to save some people and have some adventures. It's possible he did do this before being arrested and used to set a trap for the Legends.


The Bottom Line

A hilarious and heart-felt finale. Hopefully it won't be the end of the show, because it would suck for Legends to finally and perfectly introduce Booster Gold only to be cancelled now. Here's hoping for a Season 8 featuring Zack Braff as Ted Kord or the voice of Skeets!

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