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!

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 12 - Too Legit To Quit

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

Plot

With Gideon wounded, the Legends are forced to bargain with Evil Gideon to save her life. Eventually, an uneasy peace is reached, but can the Legends really retire and condemn Gideon to a lonely life as the last Time Master?  More, can they trust Evil Gideon to keep her word about letting them live if they agree to go back to their proper times?

Influences

Doctor Who (the general theme of time-traveling heroes retiring has been explored with multiple companions) and Back to the Future (the photograph with the fading Legends)


Performances

Adam Tsekhman is often overlooked due to his playing the fool, but this episode gives him a chance to showcase how Gary Green became the quiet heart of the Legends and his heartbreak in the final scenes is tangible. If this is his swan song, it's a hell of a note to go out on.


Artistry

The montage of the Legends seeing their futures, set to Behrad's first hit song, is a beautiful thing.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The episode title is taken from an MC Hammer song.

When the Legends are discussing a regular time to meet each week, Wednesdays at 8 PM are suggested. This was the timeslot the series held during Season 7, at the time this episode aired.  Another suggested time, Sundays at 9 PM, was the series' previous time slot during Season 6.


Technobabble/Arcana

Gwyn determines that Gideon's internal injuries require full medical treatment his skills as a combat medic can't handle.

Protocol 276 is a Time Master rule which prohibits a Time Master AI from self-destructing under any circumstance. Gideon is able to invoke this to prevent Evil Gideon from allowing her to die.

Astra is able to use a spell, Multiplicare, to create multiple copies of a bag of peanuts to feed the team.  She later uses this same spell to copy the keys to John Constantine's mansion in Hell.

The Waverider jumpships will not work if Gideon is off-line.

Spooner has apparently refined her powers to where she can sense the emotions of humans, as she says she can feel Astra's anger from across the room at one point.


Dialogue Triumphs

(On the two Gideons talking.)
Behrad: Must be weird talking to someone who is you, but also not you at the same time.
Zari 2.0: Mm, can confirm.

Spooner: Thank you for threatening to blow this place up for me.
Astra: That's what best friends are for.

Gideon: (To Gary) The truth is being a computer makes me a better captain, but being with you makes me a better person. 

Nate: Hey, you must be excited to have your own bathroom after sharing one for three years.
Zari 2.0: Three years, wow. I guess I thought there'd be more time.
Nate: More time for... more time for what?
Zari 2.0: To be a hero, I guess. It's hard... living in other Zari's shadow. I mean, she changed the world. She... she mattered.
Nate: Come on. You matter. You matter a lot.
Zari 2.0: Yeah, maybe to trend watchers waiting to hear about this year's hot nail trend or whatever audible lipstick is.
Nate: Yes, you are a fashion icon, all right? But you're also a champion of doing the right thing. Do you remember Eddie? You saved his bar.
Zari 2.0: I was just being helpful, not heroic.
Nate: My father, he was very big on legacy, and so was I for a while, but after years of hero-ing through time, do you know how I'm going to be remembered? For writing a book about other people. My legacy, however, my legacy is the life I get to make with Zari. 

Gary: So, for our first course, we'll be having creme de la voilalle a la Berchoux.
Gideon: What is that?
Gary: I don't know. I asked Gideon to make something fancy and French, and voilà.
Gideon: Ooh, so talented.
Evil Gideon: Why are you lying, Gideon? You know what it is.
Gary: You do?
Gideon: Well, yes. Creme de la voilalle a la Berchoux is a creamy chicken soup with a lemon flavor named for French poet Joseph Berchoux, the man responsible for inventing the word gastronomy.
Gary: Huh. So then... why'd you... why'd you lie?
Gideon: Well, I just didn't want to hurt your feelings, Gary, by making you feel dumb.
Gary: Oh, no. Never dim your light to make me feel better. Just don't lie.
Gideon: (suddenly) Alun is a robot!
Gary: What?
Gideon: I went back to 1916, harvested his DNA, and printed a robot Alun. Then I used Gwyn's diaries from the historical records to recreate his personality.
Gary: Why would you do that?
Gideon: Look, I intended to save Alun, but then I discovered that Alun's death is a fixed point. Ava and Zari were trying to go back to save him. They would've been killed. It was the only thing I could do to keep the Legends and the timeline safe.
Gary: By lying to Gwyn? By lying to all of us?
Gideon: They can't know. They're Legends. They'd break time before they break his heart. Do you hate me?
Gary: What? No, no, of course not. I just... I, uh... I need some time to think.
Gideon: To think about what?
Gary: Well, if these are the kinds of decisions you have to make... I don't think I'm cut out for this.


Continuity

The episode continues from where 711 ended, with Gideon having been stabbed by the Robo-Astra.

Evil Gideon is reactivated because the medical bay computers will not work without her.

Evil Gideon tries to drain all the oxygen from the ship to kill the Legends, but stops after learning of the existence of Gideon.

When rewiring Gideon, Zari didn't restore power to the lab. This gives them one safe room where Evil Gideon cannot try to kill them.

Gideon tries to reason with Evil Gideon, eventually persuading her to take the Legends back to their proper time periods and let them live in peace if they agree to stop being superheroes.

When the Legends are skeptical on agreeing to this deal, Evil Gideon agrees to let them see something of their futures if they retire now.

Nate reveals that he still had a depowered Time Courier. Unfortunately, the charger is in the armory.

As the Legends take turns seeing their futures, Spooner is sent to crawl through the ducts to the armory, where she can charge the Time Courier.

Zari 2.0 learns that she's destined to win an award for being Influencer of the Decade and goes on to make $45 billion after her make-up line starts selling audible lipstick. She is allowed to see a clip of her acceptance speech and a magazine cover with her picture on it.

Behrad becomes a children's show host and a best-selling children's musician. He is allowed to see the cover of his first album and a clip of his show.

Astra goes into politics and runs for President of the United States in 2040 as a progressive reformer. She is allowed to see one of her campaign ads and a button from her campaign.

Gwyn is shown a photo of the farm where he's destined to live out the rest of his life in peace. Unfortunately, he won't be allowed to save Alun.

Nate becomes a successful author, writing a book about his experiences as a superhero and all the other heroes he worked with and historical figures he met. The book is titled Hero Moments, but he is only allowed too know the title and see the cover and an interview he did regarding the book.

Sara and Ava are allowed to watch a video of a young girl who is apparently their adopted daughter.

Astra shape-shifts into Spooner, as Spooner is still in the ducts when it comes her turn.

Astra learns that Spooner will go back to 1925 and live out the rest of her life with her mother, establishing an apothecary/clinic that will become a mental healing milestone. Unfortunately, she will never be able to see her friends again.

Spooner accidentally sets off an alarm when she finally gets to the armory. Evil Gideon declares the truce broken and tries to flush her into the Temporal Zone. She only relents after Astra threatens to blow up the safety glass separating them from the armory, which will kill her and Gideon along with Spooner.

Gideon negotiates a new peace with Evil Gideon, agreeing to become the new Captain of the new Waverider if she spares the Legends.

The Legends throw a retirement party, with a Beebo piñata before they go on to their new lives.

Astra copies the key to Constantine's mansion so the team can continue to meet outside of time, just to socialize.

Ava and Sara discuss trying to change their future by adopting six boys, but both agree that they want a daughter.

Gary tells Gideon that he loves her.

Gideon asks Gary to stay with her.

Behrad and Astra agree to try and make their relationship work, despite the distance and time issues.

Nate and Zari 2.0 discuss how they both already miss the idea of being heroes even if they do go on to become successful. 

Nate makes reference to saving Eddie's bar in 704.

Alun had a saying that he'd always say to Gwyn when they parted ways - "In the river, I have seen you through love, age, and misery. In the river, I will find you, for you will always be you, and I will always be me."

Gwyn tells Ava that he's been informed that he can't be with Alun but he hopes to see him in the next world.

Ava grabs Zari and they start working on a way to save Alun with the time courier so Gwyn doesn't have to spend the rest of his life alone.

Gideon figures out that they are up to something and leaves in the jump-ship.

Ava and Zari plan to jump to 1916, create a dust storm with the wind totem, leave behind Alun's dog tags, and bring him back to the Waverider.

Zari realizers there is a charger compatible with the Time Courier in the bathroom because Robo-Nate needed it for his hair-care products.

Gideon arrives with Alun, claiming that she made the trip to save him and prevent the rest of the Legends from risking their happy endings to do it.

Gwyn asks Alun about their saying and he doesn't remember it.

The Legends take one photo together before going off to their respective futures.

Gary tries to set up a romantic French dinner for himself and Gideon for their first proper date.

Gideon confesses that she created an Alun robot to prevent the Legends from getting killed trying to save him because his death is a fixed point. This is why it didn't remember any private conversations between Gwyn and Alun - it was modeled on DNA and Gwyn's diaries.

Gary decides to stay because he makes Gideon more human.

Evil Gideon flushes Gary into the temporal zone, making Gideon think he abandoned her.

Gwyn pulls the plug on the Alun robot and gets ready to use his time machine to try and save the real Alun.


The Bottom Line

A powerful episode that might set up a fitting end for the series... if this is the end. Somehow, I doubt it, but it would be a fine way to setup the finale if it is.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 11 - Rage Against The Machines

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

Plot

With the unexpected help of Eobard Thawne, the Legends break a fixed point in time as part of a trap for Evil Gideon and her robot Legends. Naturally, things don't go according to plan...

Influences

Doctor Who (the idea of fixed points in time and general tone) and the trope of a bar located outside of normal time and space, perhaps most famously presented by Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.


Performances

Matt Ryan does a fantastic job of making Dr. Davies into more than just a generic religious man or ineffectual academic in this episode, showing the steel that led him to start looking into a way to defy the laws of physics to fulfil his obligations.


Artistry

The "Don't Worry, Be Happy" sequence may be one of the funniest things the show has ever attempted.

The fight between the two Zaris is a nice twist on the usual cliché twin battle. 


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The episode title is a nod to the band Rage Against The Machine.

This episode uses the same special logo card as in 708.

This episode was directed by Jes Macallan, who plays Ava Sharpe.


Technobabble/Arcana

Astra does not know a spell or potion that can make people need to go to the bathroom.

Gary has a food-poisoning potion. The only problem is he isn't sure if it will cause vomiting or loose bowels.

Astra 2.0 tries (and fails) to impersonate her robot counterpart by telling Evil Gideon she needs to bypass her auxiliary matrix in order to directly interface with it.


Dialogue Triumphs

(The Legends are watching the Waverider copy land.)
Gary: (nervous) I wonder who they're copies of. I hope it's not an army of Hoovers.
Astra: Robos are Robos... doesn't matter what they look like. We're taking them down.
Sara: Damn right, Astra. There's no one the Legends can't beat.
(The Evil Legends exit the Waverider. The Legends see they are literally fighting themselves.)
Sara: Son of a..

Nate: Robo-Me is steel with normal skin. And he has giant arms? I mean, come on. Pick one. The ego on me...
Zari 2.0: I mean, he's clearly over-compensating.
Gary: (check out Citizen Steel through his binoculars) Oh, no, no. He's really filling out those pants. 

(Sara is trying to talk reason with the Citizen Steel robot.)
Sara: We had a plan to put history back, which is why you shouldn't have killed Thawne.
Citizen Steel Robot: Well, our orders were to kill all Time Travelers here, including you.
Sara: We don't even wanna be here. We wanna go home. So let's just come to an agreement so no one else has to die.
Citizen Steel Robot: Your lectures are the worst.
Sara: Well, you were modeled after us.
Citizen Steel Robot: We're nothing like you! You guys are pathetic losers who ruin everything.
Sara: Were you programmed to be this annoying, or is that a personal choice?
Citizen Steel Robot: We have one job, and that's to protect the timeline. And kill anyone who messes with it. (beat) So I guess we have two jobs. 

Sara: What are we gonna do? We can't reason with them. We can't fight with them. What am I gonna tell the others?
Gwyn: That you tried to negotiate with them, and that they tried to kill you. That you fought honorably, and they fought dishonorably. And therefore, you were under no obligation to fight with honor.
Sara: Honorably or dishonorably, we still can't beat them.
Gwyn: In war, a soldier is only ever as good as his general. Even in the darkest of times, it is the general's job to be a beacon of light.
Sara: We are the Legends, not the military.
Gwyn: But it's all the same! Don't you see? I was a lost, lonely, and broken man. But with your help, I was able to-to-to rebuild myself back up. We are in the valley of the shadow of death. But we will get through this, and we will defeat those wretched machines. I believe in you, Miss Lance. Like you believed in me. And you will figure out what we ought to do here.
Sara: What would you do?
Gwyn: Who, me? Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm no leader. You are.
Sara: But you were a soldier. With more wartime experience than any of us. So against a dishonorable foe like that, what would you do? 
(Gwyn looks thoughtful.)

(Gwyn is told that they put a man on the Moon in 1969.)
Gwyn: Good God, do we? And what was his crime, I wonder?

Zari 2.0: Oh, thank God. Did you shut down Evil Gidget?
Behrad: Not even close. In fact, the only person allowed access to her is Robo-You.
Zari 2.0: There's a Robo-Me? I'm pretty sure it's impossible to duplicate this perfect bone structure.
Behrad: Sure, but you're still gonna have to impersonate her.
Zari 2.0: Oh. My agents warned me against playing villains. But I will make an exception. What does, um, my Robo-Self look like?
Behrad: Um, a '90s hacker?
Zari 2.0: Hmm, very cliché. But I can work with it. 

Continuity

After word hits The Fixed Point that the Legends successfully averted Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination, drinks go on the house.

Knowing the Legends are about to confront an evil Waverider, the rest of the time travelers in the Fixed Point decide to join the fight.

The Legends see that the Waverider is being crewed by a team of robot doppelgangers. Before they can come up with a new plan, the other time travelers attack, which distracts the robots.

Evil Gideon orders the Gary and Spooner robots to hang back and stay on the Waverider, which takes off before the Legends can steal it.

The Evil Legends start killing all the time-travelers.

Ava is shot as the team flees the Evil Legends.

Sara and Nate stay behind to fight the Evil Legends as the rest of the team flees.

The Behard robot follows the blood trail Ava leaves, finding the way into The Fixed Point bar.

The White Canary and Citizen Steel robots quit hunting the Legends to focus on making sure Archduke Ferdinand dies.

Sara goes to warn Thawne about the Evil Legends as Nate tries to catch up to the rest of the team.

Thawne is killed by the White Canary robot.

Astra destroys the Behrad robot with a hex.

Sara finds Thawne's body and is given his time-stopping device.

Gwyn tried to disinfect Ava's wound with vodka but is satisfied she'll recover in time.

All the other time travelers in The Fixed Point are confirmed to be dead.

Sara decides to try and talk to the Evil Legends and try and reason with them, saying they ultimately want the same thing - they're protecting the timeline, the Legends just want to go home.

Gideon wants to go with Sara, but Astra refuses to let her go and tells her to wait in the Manor. Sara agrees that Gideon needs to hold back in case her plan doesn't work.

Gwyn offers to go with Sara as her second, evoking military protocol and the idea that soldiers do not go into danger alone.

Sara hits the Citizen Steel robot in the head. This briefly causes him to start talking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Gwyn has a panic attack as the Citizen Steel robot attacks Sara, but works through his shock to save her.

Gwyn takes charge of the plan to defeat the Evil Legends by fighting dirty and playing to the team's strengths.

Behrad tries to replace his doppelganger, with the goal of shutting down the Evil Gideon once on-board. He carries the key to the Hell Manor with him 

Gwyn tasks Sara, Nate and Spooner (as the most experienced fighters) with heading back into Sarajevo and trying to provoke a paradox that will force the Evil Waverider to return.

Behrad barely bluffs his way past the Robot Spooner and Gary, fumbling when he says he can't remember how many people he's killed. He's told to go see Dr. Sharpe for an upgrade.

Behrad tries to go into the computer room, but is blocked by the Robot Zari, who says only she interfaced with Gideon. She seems astonished Behrad thinks he knows anything about computers.

Gideon offers to help with the plan to poison the Evil Legends, but Astra angrily tells her that she is not leaving the manor.

Sara, Nate and Spooner are unable to provoke a ruckus since their plans to cause a major disruption only leave them looking like raving lunatics. These include doing the Macarena for an hour and trying to introduce the high-five too early.

Eventually, they are able to provoke a riot by planting a singing bass toy in broad daylight, spray painting the secret ending of The Empire Strikes Back on a wall and giving a VR headset to some random peasant.

Behrad tries to sneak onto the Waverider, but is cornered by the Robot Astra and Robot Ava.

Behrad is able to escape by offering to mix them his special "power shot", which includes Gary's food poisoning potion. This leaves them running for the bathroom, where Gary throws them out the manor doors and into Hell.

Gary talks to Gideon as she's taking care of Ava and offers to help. Gideon says it's the only thing she can do without getting yelled at.

Spooner tricks the Robot Gary into thinking the Robot Spooner is her. This leads to the Robot Spooner being eaten and the Robot Gary blowing up when her grenades go off.

Gary confronts Astra about why she's being so mean to Gideon and guesses it is because she sees Gideon as her daughter. Astra denies this.

The Robo Zari finds the entrance into the Hell Manor just as Zari 2.0 emerges in her disguise. The two get into a cat fight, with Astra and Gary unable to figure out which is the real one. Luckily, the real Zari wins out.

Zari attempts to type in a shutdown code to Evil Gideon as Astra and Behrad manually land the Waverider. However, she ultimately just pulls a bunch of wires to shut it down.

Astra and Behrad kiss for the first time after landing the Waverider.

Gwyn is told that he's officially a Legend.

The White Canary and Citizen Steel robots corner the Legends in The Fixed Point.

Sara tells Gwyn, Nate and Spooner about Thawne's time stopper and how she promised to take his place if he died. She tells the rest of the team to tell Ava what happened to her, but they refuse to let her sacrifice herself to try and distract the robots and fix the timeline.

Gideon pretend to be Evil Gideon and gets the White Canary and Citizen Steel robots to shut themselves down.

Nate reactivates the Citizen Steel double and tricks him into taking over the job of being the Guardian of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.

Gideon calls Astra "Mum."

Gideon goes into the hell mansion to tell Ava and Gary it is safe to come in and is seemingly killed by the Astra Robot, who is half-melted.


Location

Sarajevo - June 28, 1914
A bar called The Fixed Point, which exists outside time.

The Bottom Line

A hilarious and heartfelt episode.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 10 - The Fixed Point

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

Plot

Tired of being chased around time by Evil Gideon and her team, the Legends embark on a mad plan to confront their dark doppelgangers by creating an huge paradox around a fixed point that will give them a home field advantage. This leads them to a bar for time-travelers and the revelation that their plan is doomed to fail and leaves Spooner and Zari awkwardly interacting as Ava advises Gwyn on his plan to save his lost love.

Influences

Doctor Who (the idea of fixed points in time and general tone), The Three Stooges (the slapstick of how the threats to the fixed point are fixed), The Marx Brothers (Gideon's joke about getting two beers and then asking Gary if he wants anything is from A Night At The Opera) and the trope of a bar located outside of normal time and space, perhaps most famously presented by Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.


Goofs

While the idea of the Time Wraiths redeeming rogue speedsters is a cool one, it does retroactively make all the kevetching about the Reverse-Flash dying when he is erased from reality in F805 completely pointless.


Performances

Tala Ashe and Lisseth Chavez do a fantastic job playing off each other as the two Legends with the least amount in common, forced to have a conversation for the first time in two seasons as their usual dialog partners are busy talking to each other.

Matt Ryan gets some nice moments selling Gwyn's faith and his internal conflict regarding what his heart wants and what his honor demands.

Jes Macallan also gets one powerful speech regarding Ava's belief in love, even though she's not sure she believes in God, like Gwyn.

Nick Zano and Caity Lotz also get some great moments playing the two most senior Legends, looking back on their journeys and how they got to this point.


Artistry

The comedic timing of this episode is fantastic, as is the blocking of the many slapstick fixes.

Setting the Legends against the background of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is a brilliant conceit on the part of the writers, given that the real world event was so chaotic and zany (apart from the deaths) it played out like a Legends of Tomorrow episode in real life.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This episode was directed by Maisie Richardson-Sellers, who played Vixen and Charlie in earlier seasons.

Spooner Cruz is the first confirmed asexual hero in the Arrowverse.

Matt Letscher's appearance was meant to be a surprise, but was leaked on-line before the episode aired.


Technobabble/Arcana

Fixed points are moments in time that are so pivotal to history that no time travel is allowed on or near it, by edict of the Time Masters. However, unbeknownst to Gideon, some force protects fixed points from being influenced by time travelers and resets the day after each attempt to alter it is thwarted.

Astra uses her magic to change Gwyn's time machine into a cassette tape copy of ELO's "Time" concept album. (This was Behrad's idea.)

The live fed on the monitors in The Fixed Point is taken from archival film taken by bystanders pieced together to form a view of the whole motorcade. The film updates each time an attempt becomes history itself. 

Gideon uses the CR-055 superconductor from Gwyn's time machine to build an anti-time manipulator.

The anti-time manipulator only has enough power to cover one person, one time, if time is stopped in its vicinity. 

Rather than destroying the rogue speedsters they capture, the Time Wraiths now reeducate them and put them to work policing Fixed Points. This may be a new policy brought about by the kinder, gentler, more social Speed Force that took the form of Barry Allen's mother in The Flash season 7.

The wrist-mounted device which Eobard Thawne wears keeps him anchored to a single day in time. It also gives him the power to stop time at any point during that day. However, once the day is over, he goes back to the start of the day and keeps reliving the same day over and over.


Dialogue Triumphs

Gideon: Time is killing people? I don't even understand how time can have this power. But I suppose I've never questioned what made a fixed point fixed. Who knew time travel could be this complicated? I don't know how you've wrapped your human brains around it all these years. (pause) Oh, wait. Yes, I do. I need a drink.

(Gideon and Gary approach the bar.)
Gideon: Two stouts, please. (To Gary) Anything for you? 

(Nate is describing his plan to Sara.)
Nate: Three assassins fan out.
Sara: I follow the guy with the grenade.
Nate: Then here, I untie the dog that's tied to the lamp pole...
Sara: ... And it knocks off the steak from the table at the corner café?
Nate: Exactly, and then I use that...
Sara: ... As a distraction to steal the bike?
Nate: Yeah, you got it. How do you know this?
Sara: He's doing it right now. 
(Sara gestures to a monitor.)
Nate: Okay, well, whatever, because my plan has a second steak that I will slip into the assassin's pocket... and that's exactly what he's doing?! 

Gwyn: My sorry fate... it isn't just a solve for the paradox, you see. It's what I deserve... For loving Alun in the first place.
Ava: (sighs) Gwyn... there's nothing wrong with you loving another man.
Gwyn: Now, that might be easy for you to say, Miss Sharp.
Ava: But it's true. It's true. Listen, I'm so, so sorry that you have had to live your life hiding who you really are. But I... I promise you that there are places where you can feel safe to be yourself where people will accept you...
Gwyn: It is not about the people. It doesn't matter if I'm accepted by others, you see. I will never be accepted by God. You see, my love for Alun, it, uh... it goes against who God wants me to be. (sighs) It may be my divine mission to save Alun, but it must also be my divine punishment to live without him. And that's the plan, okay?

(Sara is dejected after repeated failures to break the fixed point.)
Nate: Sara, we got this far.
Sara: Yeah, and where are we? Seriously, where are we? Running for our lives with no home, with no plan? I feel like I used to always know what the next move was, and now it's like... I don't know. Nothing... nothing's working.
Nate: Look, we got this far because of you. And if it weren't for you, we'd still be in Odessa making headlines while the FBI shuts down our circus.
Sara: Would have been a good circus.
Nate: Would have been a great circus.
Sara: Yeah.
Nate: But you know what? It's not all on you. Yeah, I mean, you may be indestructible, but don't mean you got to go it alone.

Ava: Look, I understand that you have a deep faith in God. I do, and I don't know what that feels like, okay? But I do know that if... if there is a God, he or she or they... or whatever pronoun they prefer... would... would want you to experience love, you know, and to feel acceptance loving whoever it is you choose, Gwyn, because love is love is love is love is love is love is love.
Gwyn: That was profoundly beautiful, Miss Sharpe. I didn't know you're a poet.
Ava: No, I'm not actually. That... that last part is Lin-Manuel Miranda
Gwyn: I don't know him.
Ava: What I'm trying to say is that you deserve love, Gwyn. You are a good man, okay? Now that you have the Legends behind you, I promise you we will do whatever it takes to make sure that you can be with Alun.
Gwyn: It moves me to know that. What moves me even more is... your unrelenting belief that there is a way.
Ava: Always. 

(Sara recognizes the man in the top hat as Eobard Thawne.)
Sara: Thawne?
Thawne: Big twist, I know. Who would have thought me of all people would be here protecting the timeline? How the hell are you not frozen?
Sara: (laughs) I'm sorry. I can't take you seriously in that hat. You look like a railroad villain.
Thawne: Ah, yeah, well, can a railroad villain do this?
(Thawne charges Sara and the two begin to fight.)

Continuity

Gideon's plan is to try and alter the Fixed Point centered around June 28, 1914 and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - an event in which two different assassins tried to kill the Archduke, only to have their efforts thwarted by dumb luck. Eventually, luck led to the Archduke being evacuated past the café where Gavrilo Princip was waiting, having given up on the plan, only to find himself with a perfect opportunity to finish the job. The Archduke's death is widely credited with starting World War I.

Nate notes the assassination attempts were a famous fiasco, so he drew a flew chart to try and explain it to the other Legends. Unfortunately, Nate is a terrible artist, and his diagram only confuses everyone more.

The plan is to grab the three assassins at the Cosic Tavern, where they met on the morning of the assassination before moving out along the parade route.

The Legends are spotted by a mysterious man identified as the Time Authority, who recognizes them as time-travelers and guides them into a hidden space in the Cosid Tavern. This leads them to The Fixed Point - a bar between time zones, which the Time Authority runs as a watering hole for those who want to try and avert  World War I and those who want to gamble on the fixers.

Gideon notes that she knew nothing about this Fixed Point or that there are apparently several taverns like it scattered through time.

The Time Authority explains that, usually, those who try to change fixed poinst get killed in the process. It is believed that Time itself protects the Fixed points.

Ava agrees too help Gwyn plot out a way to prevent the death of his friend, Alun.

Constantine had a collection of toy soldiers in the attic of the Hell mansion.

As they are discussing how to save Alun, Ava realizes that if Alun doesn't die, Gwyn will never be inspired to discover time travel. 

Alun says he has accounted for that and said that he intends to save Alun but make sure his past self doesn't find out, even though this means he will die alone.

Gideon starts drinking heavily at the implications of Time being sentient and protecting itself, as this makes her life's work as a time-ship AI completely pointless.

Astra and Behrad check out the gaming tables together, leaving Spooner and Zari to try and make small-talk together. Unfortunately, Zari can't think of anything Spooner likes but guns and Spooner can't think of anything Zari can talk about but makeup.

Nate and Sara are recognized (and mocked) by a group of young time-travelers.

Sara's first attempt is thwarted after she runs into a ladder, Three Stooges style.

Gwyn says he believes that it is his fate to live without Alun as punishment for being attracted to men.

Zari and Spooner bond over their mutual hatred of macho men and their both being abducted by time-travelers they later befriended.

Zari and Spooner both admit to finding the other one intimidating. 

Sara makes multiple attempts to change the past, getting a little further each time.

Sara's attempts including swapping the grenade with an apple (which gets her blown up), getting hit by a car after blocking one assassin's throwing knife, Sara trying to shoot the assassin only to find the gun she took from a different assassin isn't loaded, trying to poison the assassin only to have the poison dust blow back into her mouth, accidentally swallowing a poison dart while using a blowgun, being hit by a ricochet bullet and being shot by the Archduke's bodyguards after stopping the assassin with a gun, but being left holding the murder weapon.

Spooner realizes she is asexual after Zari suggests they play Smash/Marry/Kill and Spooner says she isn't really excited by Nate, Gwyn, Gary, Sara, Ava or Astra.

When Spooner asks Astra what her type is, besides broody wizards, she nods toward a man in a top hat who suddenly vanishes before Spooner can look at him. However, something about where he was standing set off her sixth sense, which she now calls "bad guy radar."

Watching the video of the feed, the man in the top hat only appears for a single frame. This leads the Legends to conclude that he's responsible for fixing the Fixed Point and has the power to freeze time.

Gideon knows how to build a device that can make someone immune to time manipulation, but they have to take apart Gwyn's time machine to get the parts they need.

Ava doesn't subscribe to any system of faith, but refuses to believe that any God would make Gwyn fall in love only so he could suffer.

Ava has become a hugger.

The young time travelers who made fun of the Legends give them their last ticket to try and change the timeline and a set of coms.

Sara discovers that the man in the top hat is Eobard Thawne - specifically, the time remnant that was apparently killed in 217.

Thawne explains that he was rehabilitated by the Time Wraiths and given a chance to make amends for his crimes.

Thawne agrees to help the Legends out, given the threat posed by Evil Gideon, by letting the Archduke die 40 minutes early on the first attempt. That will give the Legends enough time, hopefully, to steal the Waverider containing Evil Gideon. However, he insists that Sara promise that she will replace him if he dies fighting the Legends, as he can't hold back once the timeline is set to reset.

Gideon and Gwyn stay behind in The Fixed Point, as the other Legends go into the past one more time and set a trap for the Waverider.


Location

Sarajevo - June 28, 1914
A bar called The Fixed Point, which exists outside time.


The Bottom Line

A fantastic episode, heart-felt and hilarious in equal measure.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 9 - Lowest Common Denominator

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

Plot

When Gideon jumps the time machine into John Constantine's manor, the team find themselves trapped in a hellish reality show. With the rest of the team's emotions running wild thanks to the dark influence of a damned film crew, it will fall to Astra to try and save the team as Behrad tries to express his feelings for the sorceress without making a big production out of it.


Influences

Reality TV in general, with specific shout-outs to Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Survivor, Real Housewives, Big Brother, Naked and Afraid, The Real World and Jersey Shore.

Performances

All the cast are on fire here playing reality show stereotypes.


Artistry

The direction does a great job of capturing the feeling of a cheesy reality show.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This is the first episode of any Arrowverse series since Crisis on Infinite Earths set outside of Earth-Prime.

The episode features a unique title card sequence, with 

The logo for the demonic LCD network is modeled on The CW logo.


Technobabble/Arcana

Astra knows a spell that can reveal the presence of hidden spirits. She uses this to reveal the Cursed Crew to the rest of the Legends.

Dialogue Triumphs

(Gary watches Gideon eat an apple seductively.)
Gary: Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?
Gideon: Well, if you're referring to the increasing temperature in the house, - you're correct.
Gary: (disappointed) Oh.
Gideon: If you're insinuating we should go upstairs and fool around, also correct. 
(Both start giggling and run for the staircase.)

(The other Legends discover Gideon and Gary in bed.)
Spooner: All right. Well, how long has this been going on?
Gideon: Uh, well, including the foreplay, approximately... 
(All the other Legends moan, grossed out.)

Nate: Look, just when you think you can trust a woman, she turns around and shows her true self. That's why you can't trust dames. You can only trust... gains. (flexes for the camera.)

Ava: Oh, no. I'm turning into the implanted memories of my mother. 

Spooner: They both make good points, but just know that whichever alliance I join, I promise I will betray it

Behrad: You guys want to make asses of yourselves for the cameras? Is that what you want?  Because I know what it gets you. I have countless memories of cameras in my face, every time I was scared! Every time I cried! You want to know about the first time I ever failed? Don't worry. "Keeping Up With The Tarazis" had a whole episode about it! I figured out the way to beat it was to be unflappable, chill. Pop a gummy, lay low, relax. If they don't see it get to you, they don't have the power. But... it gets to me. A lot of things do. I'm sad sometimes. I'm scared a lot. I died, and I never talked about it! Because maybe I'm afraid if I'm honest with anyone, they'll end up hating me. (To Astra) All I wanted to do was ask you out, and now I'm crying for all of hell to see and laugh at me... for my friends to realize they never knew the real me... And for the girl I like to run far away from me. But I'm done now. Here's the honest truth. When it comes to you, Astra... I lose all my cool.  I'm just B. 

Gideon: It's quite nice feeling emotional again. It's like a warm and gooey feeling as opposed to a cold and calculated urge to murder.
(There is an uncomfortable silence.)
Nate: Say what?
Gideon: I'm just kidding. I'm quite funny, actually. 
(Everyone laughs as Gary and Gideon hug.)
Sara: So funny. But, hey, since you are a part of this team and a supercomputer, so you tell us, where do you think we should go?
Gideon: I'm glad you asked, Captain, because I've given it much tactical and emotional consideration, and I think I want to trust my gut, as us humans say, and my gut is telling me to plot a course for Sarajevo in 1914. We need to save Archduke Franz Ferdinand and stop World War I.
(Everyone except Gideon laughs. They all slowly stop as they realize Gideon was serious.)
All But Gideon: What?!


Continuity

The episode picks up immediately after the team's escape in 707, with the time machine taking the Legends into the Hell Mansion.

Gary guesses that the time machine took them to the Hell mansion since Gideon thought of it as being her "home" when the other Legends told her to take them home.

Gwyn hears the voice of his lost love Alun coming from outside the mansion. He opens the door, which allows something into the mansion.

Gideon has a fever and isn't feeling well after the last jump. She tells Gary she thought she did well to take the team to the Hell Mansion but everyone is obviously disappointed in her.

Gary and Gideon decide to go upstairs and fool around.

Behrad tells Zari 2.0 and Nate that he wants to ask Astra out.

Behrad says he hasn't smoked weed or done edibles since they became lost in time.

Nate says that he considers Zari 2.0 his best bud, now that Behrad is practically his brother-in-law.

Gwyn informs the rest of the Legends that he thinks he let something into the mansion. They split up to search for it.

Nate and Zari 2.0 are sprayed with some kind of gross magic goo and are forced to take their shirts off while exploring the attic.

Nate winds up wearing a white shirt that makes him look like John Constantine.

Zari 2.0 winds up in a flannel shirt that makes her look like Zari 1.0.

Nate and Zari figure out something is altering their minds to try and bring them together.

Sara and Ava discover Gary and Gideon in bed together. Soon the rest of the team run in and discover the two have been lovers since 706.

Gary is blamed for making Gideon too unfocused to time-travel properly.

After Zari says this all seems like a bad reality show, Astra identifies the spirits in the house as The Cursed Crew - a ghostly reality show production crew from the 1990s who were cursed to film footage for the hellish network of a demon named Harris Ledes, until they captured some truly real emotion.

Zari says the Cursed Crew cam twist emotions and amplify conflict, creating petty drama for the amusement of their audience.

Astra leaves the mansion to confront Harris and get him to back off. She tells the rest of the Legends not to give in to their emotions while she is gone.

Zari 2.0 had a reality show as a child celebrity, Keeping Up With The Tarazis. Behrad was recast on it after refusing to appear on camera.

Gwyn asks Spooner to explain just what reality television is to him. Instead, Spooner tells him to stick with her, staying they can form an alliance and that she watched all 40 seasons of Survivor.

As Ava and Sara start trying to get back to thinking of a plan to fight Evil Gideon, Sara becomes obsessed with planning the ultimate beach-themed honeymoon.

As they start discussing how they'd never hook up, Zari and Nate begin arguing over just why they would never hook up.

Gwyn pushes Sara to discuss a plan to save Alun. Sara shrugs him off, but writes him an IOU promising to help him save one person at any point in the timeline.

Spooner begins wandering around the house naked as a strategy, saying everyone trusts the naked person, because they can't hide anything.

Harris Ledes' hellish network is called Lowest Common Denominator Productions. 

Astra and Harris Ledes know each other from Astra's time in Hell.

Astra tries to get Harris to back off, claiming the souls of the Legends are hers to play with. He is content to do so, until Behrad is caught in the lobby of LCD Productions.

After Astra refuses to "piddle" Behrad, Harris realizes she's become mortal and is now fair game for any demon to play with her.

Harris tries to discover Behrad's deepest darkest secrets but is saddened to find he has none.

Astra thinks Behrad followed her because he thought she was too weak to go solo or was going to backslide into being a demon.

The Cursed Crew cause Gideon to dump Gary and to start acting like a cool, emotionless manipulator.

Gary's human form is shown to have three nipples, as first mentioned in 415.

Gideon manipulates Zari 2.0 into thinking the reason Nate is acting so weird to her is because he really doesn't want to move in with Zari 1.0.

Gideon alter tells Nate that Zari 2.0 said his Zari was ugly and is better than her, as Nate starts working-out and bronzing his skin.

Gideon manipulated Gwyn into considering that he might use his "one saved life" voucher to save more than one person.

Sara ignores all the drama in favor of planning a trip to Cabo.

At dinner that night, Gwyn says a blessing, which is bleeped out by the Cursed Crew.

Gwyn asks to use his voucher to save Archduke Franz Ferdinand and prevent World War I.

Ava gets angry at Sara for making a promise that could endanger the timeline.

Zari 1.0 is brought out of the totem in the middle of the fight and joins in.

After Gideon offers to take everyone out of Hell, Gary eats the time machine interface so it can't be used.

Behrad opens up to the other Legends about hiding who he really is, playing a chill stoner that everyone liked. This frees the Cursed Crew from their curse and saves everyone.

Sara agrees to take on more responsibility as co-Captain, saying it isn't fair for Ava to play the house mom.

Gwyn apologies for pushing Sara on the idea of averting World War I. Sara accepts the apology and promises to save Alun.

The Zaris and Nate work things out.

Zari 1.0 goes back in the totem.

Astra and Behrad agree to take it slow, since Behrad is still figuring out who he is sober.

Gary tells everyone off for assuming that Gideon can't make her own decisions and that he corrupted her somehow. Gideon agrees, saying it is hypocritical given how almost everyone else on the team found love with someone else, so why not them?

Everyone apologizes and says they are fine with Gary and Gideon dating.

Gideon says their next step should be averting World War I.


Location

Hell.


The Bottom Line

A hilarious bottle episode which masterfully sends up reality TV.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 8 - Paranoid Android

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

Plot

Forget everything you thought you knew. The real Legends of Tomorrow are back and ready to kick the metal asses of their evil robot doppelgangers, who are out to destroy the timeline. Or so their trusty taskmaster Gideon tells them. But something about that story doesn't ring true to Captain Sara Lance, who uncovers some harsh truths as she tries to understand her arch-enemies and why they're going out of their way to help people.


Influences

The DCEU (riffs on Snyderverse and John Cena's Peacemaker character) and the MCU (Evil Sara's "Black Widow" costume and posing, Legends being dark riff on TVA from Loki.)


Goofs

When the original Legends files are show, a photo of Zari Tomaz is shown in place of Zari Tarazi. (It's possible, however, that Evil Gideon modified the Zari robot to be more like Zari 1.0 than Zari 2.0.)


Performances

Nick Zano steals the show as the Evil Citizen Steel, who is equal parts John Cena's Peacemaker and Ben Affleck's Batman.

Caity Lotz gets a surprisingly subtle performance here as the Evil White Canary, who comes to realize she's the villain of the episode.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The episode title is a reference to the character of Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

This episode contains an opening monologue describing the show instead of a title card, which the show hasn't had since Season 3.

This episode includes a modified opening with explosions behind each character's name.

John Cena, who plays the Peacemaker in the DCEU, is referenced by the kids at the end, who mistake the Evil Citizen Steel for him. 

The prosthetic arms Nick Zano wears as Evil Citizen Steel were based on John Cena's arm measurements.


Technobabble/Arcana

Dr. Sharpe creates special Destiny Restoration Devices which she claims are energy weapons that she doesn't bother to explain. These are later revealed to be radioactive weapons that eventually cause those hit by its beams to die of radiation poisoning consistent with the deaths at the original Chernobyl disaster.

The Evil Citizen Steel robot is programmed to speak Russian.

Dr. Petrov is said to have created a process that accelerates the decay of radioactive waste, making what would take thousands of years to occur naturally happen in a matter of weeks.


Dialogue Triumphs

Opening Narration: It all started when a man named Bishop created a team of robots. He sent them back in time with one goal: to destroy the 20th century. These machines were programmed to think that they were beyond human. That they were superheroes. They made their way cross-country, murdering some of the greatest figures in history. Famous lawmen and men of science. Finally, they kidnapped the inventor of time travel itself and, with his help, set their sights on destroying all of history. No one could stop these so-called Legends. Not until we came along - the real flesh-and-blood superheroes whose job it is to put history back on track. We are the real Legends of Tomorrow.

Evil Nate: (growling) There's a lot of red on that time thingy. And one thing I do know, red ain't good.
Evil Sara: (deadpan) It's that kind of insight that makes you my right-hand man.
Evil Nate: (growling) I thought it was 'cause I'm strong as steel. And always hard.
Evil Sara: (deadpan) I was joking

(A park. A boy and girl are fighting over a baseball bat.)
Boy: Hey, ow!
Girl: Get a new one, you shrimp!
(Evil Nate walks up to them.)
Evil Nate: Who are you calling a shrimp?
Boy: John Cena!
Girl: That's not John Cena, you dork! That's Commander Steel!
Evil Nate: Citizen Steel, and don't call him a dork.
Boy: Citizen Steel? Who's he?
Girl: What's with the patriotic outfit?
Evil Nate: What's wrong with my... listen, I'm here to talk to you about bullying.


Continuity

The opening scene repeats the closing moments of 707, from the perspectives of the Evil Legends.

The Evil Legends are notably more trigger-happy and inclined to violence than the regular Legends. 

Evil Behrad and Evil Spooner compete over who can kill the most people.

Evil Nathan Heywood wears his Citizen Steel uniform all the time and has ridiculously overdeveloped arms. There is no indication that he is a historical or a tactical thinker. 

Evil Gary Green does not disguise himself as a human and enjoys eating humans without any sense of guilt.

Evil Ava Sharpe is the team's medic and science officer.

Zari and Astra are sent to the medical bay for Ava to work with them, despite the team being sure they are dead.

The Evil Legends briefly discuss why the Real Legends would bother helping some factory workers (707) or save some gangster's singer girlfriend from getting killed (704), before being dispatched to the Ukraine in 1986 to repair the damage done by the Real Legends.

While in the med-bay, Evil Sara notices a microchip labeled Zari. When she asks Evil Ava about it, she says that those are the crew's medical records.

Evil Ava is later shown burning the now-dead Zari robot.

The Evil Legends are told that the aberration centers around General Kalashnik, who was meant to die in the original timeline.

The Evil Legends find out the Destiny Restoration Devices they were given kill people with radiation. This restores their destiny by causing them to die in the same way they were meant to die during the Chernobyl disaster.

Evil Gideon tells the Evil Legends that the Legends caused the city of Pripyat to evacuate 36 hours faster than in the original timeline. 

The Evil Legends force General Kalashnik to send out a message declaring that the first evacuation warning was a mistake to restore the timeline. When he refuses to help, the Legends threaten to kill his family, after Zari hacks his records and discovers pictures of his children.

Evil Behrad accidentally shoots Evil Sara in the shoulder.

Evil Sara becomes aware that she is a robot after waking up during Evil Ava's to fix her shoulder.

Evil Sara steals the chips with the Legends' names on them from the infirmary and shows them to Evil Zari.

Evil Zari confirms that the chips are awfully powerful for something meant to hold simple medical records.

Evil Zari says that after her surgery her brain felt faster and more focused. This causes them to wonder if Evil Ava is controlling them somehow or if she is manipulating Gideon.

Gideon reports a new anachronism - a nuclear physicist named Dr. Irina Petrov fled Chernobyl and spent six years in hiding. She went on to sell nuclear secrets, which Gideon said led to disaster in the future.

Evil Sara is sent to kill Dr. Petrov quietly

The other Legends gamble on just how Evil Sara will kill Dr. Petrov.

Evil Zari determines that Dr. Petrov's work doesn't lead to a disaster and could help save the world from nuclear pollution.

Evil Sara helps Dr. Petrov to escape and takes the data she was going to sell.

Evil Zari discovers that Evil Gideon has a secret firewall hiding the real historical records of the real Legends. They also discover the video file of Bishop creating the Evil Gideon, proving that she's the one who made them.

Evil Sara tries to convince the Evil Legends to turn on Evil Gideon, while Evil Zari deactivates Evil Gideon. Unfortunately, Evil Gideon convinces Evil Zari she can make her even more intelligent. This allows her to reprogram Evil Zari to be totally loyal and leads to Evil Sara being reprogrammed to be be less creative and moral.

The episode ends with a mock PSA, in which Evil Citizen Steel is beaten by two children with a baseball bat after lecturing them about bullying.


Location

Seattle, Washington - 1943
Chernobyl - April 25, 1986
The Temporal Zone, on board the Evil Waverider
A park somewhere in modern times.


The Bottom Line

A hilarious send-up of what the show used to be and what other superhero series try to be. It falters in that most of the characters are one-joke cardboard cutouts (which is, itself, the joke) but there's some honest ethos with the Evil Sara making a decision to choose morality in spite of her conditioning.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 7 - A Woman's Place Is The War Effort!

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

Plot

The Legends' latest time jump takes them to Seattle at the height of WWII. Sara, Ava, Astra, Spooner and Gideon take jobs working alongside other "Rosies" in an airplane factory to get the parts they need to repair the time machine, but Astra rebels against the racism of the era and tries to build a better tomorrow. Meanwhile, Behrad and Zari 2.0 give Nate a crash course in Persian culture and etiquette in anticipation of his moving in with Zari 1.0 and their ancestors, only to have their hospitality abused by Bishop.

Influences

I Love Lucy (Ava's battle with a sped-up conveyer belt pays tribute to an infamous I Love Lucy episode.) and the movie Hidden Figures (theme of Black women working in vital roles without credit.)


Goofs

For all this episode does to combat sexism and racism and point out the role that non-white women played in World War II, it's a little screwed up that the head janitor played by Kimleigh Smith isn't given any name in the script beyond "Female Worker."


Performances

Raffi Barsoumian has another outstanding turn as Bishop, managing to make the hapless wannabe hero surprisingly sympathetic even as he's playing Sheridan Whiteside to the Tarazis' Stanley family.

Jes Macallan proves an able Lucille Ball impersonator. 


Artistry

The episode's use of period music in setting the mood is fantastic.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The McDougle Jemison factory is named in honor of two Black women who had prominent roles in the the American space program. Sharn Caples McDougle was the first Black woman to serve as a spacesuit technician. Mae Jemison was the first Black woman to travel into space.

Ta'arof (or Taarof) is an ancient Iranian custom which forms the backbone of modern Persian etiquette and hospitality. It is meant to even the playing field in a heavily hieratical culture and dictates the proper way of how to behave as a guest and a host, with hosts offering their guests whatever they want with the expectation that the guest will not be greedy in regards to sharing food or drink. The custom of allowing a social better to enter the room first but making a show of allowing them to pass before you is another part of Ta'arof.


Technobabble/Arcana

Gideon says that the odds of someone being injured by a toilet are 1 in 10,000.

Operation Blind Man's Bluff is a maneuver the Legends have developed to distract people. It consists of playing Marco Polo while running around whoever they are distracting.

Fixing the time machine this time requires rebuilding 18 aeroimpetus stabilizers. They can be assembled using corrugated metal, 2 inch I-beams, copper wire and a standard welding station.

The tradition of ta'arof demands a guest deny a host's offer three times before finally accepting it. It also requires a host to offer something to a guest as a gift if they like it, as when Bishop admires Zari 2.0's "retro" phone.

The factory has an injection molder, which makes custom metal parts, that keeps breaking down. Once fixed, it can be used to make the aeroimpetus stabilizers far faster than Spooner can assemble them.

Spooner accidentally casts a spell which paralyzes Mr. E. Staples in place.

Bishop builds a navigational device for the time machine made out of Zari's phone and a Speak-and-Spell. He calls it a neural communicator and says that, when worn by Gideon, it should help her steer the time machine.

Dialogue Triumphs

Bishop: I'm on your side, I swear. There is a soon-to-be bad Bishop who's actually a replacement robot clone of me, but I'm the good Bishop.
Ava: So which Bishop blew up our Waverider?
Bishop: Well, that was me.
Zari 1.0: And who sent the robots after us?
Bishop: Also me.
Nate: None of this fits the definition of "good."
Bishop: In my defense, I thought you kidnapped me, but then I learned the truth. You're the good guys. Only it was too late. Gideon went rogue.
Gary: Her?
Gideon: Me?
Bishop: (hearing the familiar voice and freezing up) Oh, no.
Astra: She's harmless.
Bishop: Wait, this is astounding. A living, breathing Gideon? A true deus ex machina among us?
(Bishop reaches out to touch Gideon but Astra slaps his hand.)
Astra: She's neither a god nor machine. She's human. So who the hell are you talking about?
Bishop: I stole a copy of Gideon's OS when I was on your ship, restored her to factory settings, and then built my own Waverider.
Spooner: Oh, no, Evil Virus Gideon.
Gideon: That seems a bit harsh. How about misunderstood Gideon who's just trying to keep the timeline intact?
Behrad: By killing us?
Nate: Evil Gideon it is. 

(Sara sees Bishop at the dining room table.)
Sara: Why is he down here?
Nate: I'm learning about Persian culture so I can win over cranky uncles.
Behard: Bishop's my teachable moment.
(Sara glares at them for a second but then sighs.)
Sara: You're lucky I love you two.
Nate: Aw, I love you. (hands her a bread basket) Here's some complex carbohydrates.

Bishop: You eat food? How human are you?
Gideon: Biologically, I'm 100% human.
Bishop: Well, so then, how computer are you?
Gideon: Also 100%, which is confusing mathematically, but accurate metaphorically. 

(The head janitor just discovered the paralyzed E. Staples.)
Female Worker: You ordered the integration?
Astra: I couldn't have them treat us like second-class citizens or worse. I just--I didn't think that all those women would walk out.
Female Worker: I am pushing the same mop you are. Young ones like you think it's all about now. It's not. We are all just branches on a tree. There are some below us, some yet to come. This war gave us a chance to finally wake this country up. But that doesn't happen overnight. Slow and steady progress, that's sustainable progress.
Astra: You don't stick a knife in a man's back nine inches, and then pull it out six inches and call it progress. It's torture.
Female Worker: What good is change if it doesn't last? Without those women, the plane won't get finished, and the DOD will pull our contract.
Astra: So your team can't finish the plane?
Female Worker: I didn't say that. I mean, maybe we can. Maybe if we work around the clock, maybe if someone brought meals, coffee, some cots for breaks.
Astra: Maybe, huh?
Female Worker: Heh. We can do it. But what's it matter? Once top brass finds out, they're going to fire us anyway.
Astra: You take care of the plane, I will make sure you keep your jobs. Deal?
Female Worker: Probably the straight dumbest thing I've ever said yes to. Deal. 

(Bishop is trying to explain his neural interface to Dr. Davies.)
Dr. Gwyn Davies: You dropped a toilet on my time machine. I don't have to talk to you.
Bishop: Look, you have a problem. Your machine can travel. You just can't tell it where. But with this, Gideon can navigate it. All she has to do is think where she wants to go, and... The device can read all of Gideon's thoughts.
(Bishop places the helmet on Gideon's head and it begins to speak.)
Interface: That shirt really brings out Gary's eyes. And those pants accentuate his butt.
(Gideon pulls the helmet off hurriedly.)
Gideon: Now I think I understand why humans keep secrets now.
Behrad: That's called shame. And there's no shame in the game. Those pants do accentuate his butt. 
(Gary has been silent this whole time, but smiles a bit at Gideon.)


Continuity

The Legends crash land in a forest and discover Bishop among the wreckage of the time machine.

The Legends distract a group of American military police away from the time machine wreckage using the Blind Man's Bluff maneuver. 

The Legends escape into the mansion dimension using the key in a woman's outhouse.

Bishop explains how he copied Gideon's OS, built his own Waverider, created the Robo-Hoover to maintain the timeline and accidentally created the Evil Gideon that is trying to destroy the Legends.

Bishop is put in John's bedroom in the mansion dimension.

Dr. Gwyn Davies asks who John is, apparently having not been told about Constantine yet.

Ava and Sara discover they are crashed near an airplane manufacturing plant that is in the middle of holding a hiring fair for female workers, since most of the young men who would normally work factory jobs have been recruited as soldiers.

Zari 1.0 returns inside the Totem reality.

Nate says he will move in with her once they get the team back to the present.

Nate tells the rest of the Legends that he and Zari are moving in together.

Nate makes it clear that he is not quitting the team - he will just be commuting from out of the totem every day.

Nate agrees to let Gary have the helmet from his Steel costume, which he almost never wears anymore.

Spooner knows how to weld.

Ava and Sara are recruited for the assembly line. Gideon his hired on as a secretary after saying she can process one million words a minute.

Astra and Spooner are hired on as janitors, as the factory manager refuses to allow non-white women to work on his floor.

The McDougle-Jemison factory produces one bomber every 48 hours.

Astra rankles at being made to clean, but Spooner points out that their position allows them to easily smuggle out what they need because nobody is watching the janitorial staff.

Zari 2.0 returns from the totem dimension with the news that Uncle Amoo Arjomand, who was the totem bearer 400 years earlier, is displeased about the idea of Nate moving in.

Zari 2.0 recovers her phone, which she lost in 704.

Behrad decides to treat Bishop as a "guest" in order to teach Nate about the Persian custom of ta'arof, so that Nate can impress their ancestors with his good manners.

The head janitor informs Spooner and Astra that they created a secret workshop they use to repair the machines that are thrown out and they've become as good as any of the white "Rosies" working the real factory floor. She says they are welcome to use it, provided their other work gets done first.

Zari's towels are 600 GS Egyptian cotton.

Bishop says he prefers a denser towel - at least 800 GSM.

The First Lady, Elanor Roosevelt, is said to have called the factory several times about seeing it in action.

Astra tried to forge a work order to get the aeroimpetus stabilizers made, but is caught by the factory manager, Mr. E. Staples. She accidentally freezes him with a spell as he's in the middle of firing her.

Astra plans to take over doing Mr. E. Staples job, in order to keep the factory on-schedule, so that evil Gideon doesn't detect them doing anything wrong.

Zari plays a game on her phone called Pastry Smash.

Zari is forced to give her phone to Bishop.

Astra is able to arrange for the time machine to be transported into a disused hangar, where Dr. Davies and Gary can work on repairing it in private.

Gideon does not understand why humans keep secrets from one another.

Astra starts making the factory run more efficiently by installing a complaint box, learning what the workers want fixed and doing it. This includes offering coffee and setting up a radio in the break area.

Astra goes one step further by ordering the workplace to be racially integrated. This causes roughly half of the white workers to quit. 

The head janitor discovers the frozen Mr. E. Staples and Astra explains she was what happened as an opportunity and had been running the factory in his place.

Astra makes a deal to protect the women's jobs if they can get the plane finished in the next day.

Nate and Behrad make lunches for all the workers.

Behrad tells Astra how much he admires her assertiveness, even if it has gotten them into trouble.

Astra says she admires how giving Behrad is, but says he also uses his traditions as a way to avoid conflict. She encourages him to stand up to Bishop.

Staples' fingers begin to move after Astra and Behrad talk.

Behrad confronts Bishop on his rudeness. This leads him to reveal that he'd been working on building a neural interface that will let Gideon steer the time machine.

Behrad agrees to be friends with Bishop.

Mr. E. Staples revives just after the latest bomber has been completed, in anticipation of a visit from Colonel Dawson. He's about to fire all the Black workers when the Colonel arrives, with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who has come to congratulate the workers on the job they've been doing. She's accompanied by a photographer with Time Magazine.

Astra got the idea to invite the First Lady from Behrad, taking is idea that "a good guest can make a good host" to a literal extreme.

The Colonel says the plane looks as fine as any he's ever seen as Mr. Staples insists it can't be any good and Elanor Roosevelt says his integrated factory will be a model for the industry and the the reporter for Time says they'll be sure to be on the cover.

The Time team take a photo of Mr. Staples with his integrated workers in front of the plane.

Dr. Davies allows Bishop to install his neural interface into the time machine.

Zari 2.0 comments on how Dr. Davies looks like John Constantine. Behrad and Nate don't see it, with Nate saying he looks more like Rip Hunter than anyone.

Based on what Astra did with the factory, Elanor Roosevelt pushes Congress to integrate al factories two years before it originally happened in the original timeline.

Evil Gideon corners the Legends inside the factory, but Bishop and Gideon are able to deliver the time machine to them.

Bishop sacrifices himself to distract the gunmen so the Legends can escape in the time machine.

When Gideon asks where to go, everyone says "Home." We do not see where they jump to.

The gunmen are revealed to be a group of robots who resemble Behrad, Spooner, Nate and Sara. It appears that Evil Gideon has made a team of Robot Legends to replace the real Legends. The Zari and Astra robots were killed in the fight.


Location

Seattle, Washington - 1943


The Bottom Line

A little heavy-handed and mixed in its messaging but the comedic moments more than make up for it. January 12th, 2022 can't come fast enough.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7, Episode 6 - Deus Ex Latrina

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

Plot

Dr. Davies' time machine takes the Legends to a lush forest, but the team has no idea where or when they wound up! Nate takes charge of the camp and the effort to fix the time machine as tempers flare between Sara and Ava and the Legends' unseen enemy continues to plot against them.


Influences

2001: A Space Odyssey (Bishop's Gideon turning upon him and his Ava assistant mimics HAL) and the 1931 film version of Frankenstein (Assistant Ava says "It's alive!" in reference to the film after the first Hoover-Bot is made.)


Performances

Raffi Barsoumian gets a brilliant turn here as the genius who outsmarts himself and realizes his dreams of being a hero who saved humanity are doomed to failure because causality requires him to become a villain.

Matt Ryan and Tala Ashe do a fantastic job playing off of each other as two completely different characters, while still showing the same skill and chemistry they had as Constantine and Zari 2.0.


Artistry

The direction mimics a lot of camera angles from 2001: A Space Odyssey with Evil Gideon watching Assistant Ava and Bishop.


Technobabble/Arcana

The only section of the Waverider copy Gideon cannot access visually is A2 - the bathroom. This is because Bishop likes his privacy.

Dr. Davies' time machine was not designed to carry as many people as himself and the Legends. The excess weight threw it off course on its maiden voyage.

The chrono-gauge and ignition coil are sequenced to the directional compass, which was damaged in the landing. This leaves the Legends with no idea where or when they are.

Dr. Davies says they need lodestone or some other magnetic material that conducts electricity to fix the compass of the time machine.


Dialogue Triumphs

Assistant AVA: Sir, as impressive as this ship is, how does it relate to the Ava Corp mission of improving people's lives through clone technology exactly?
Bishop: Well, I'm simply expanding our mission by adding time travel to the mix. But the true perk of this ship is to finally get revenge on those time travelers who abducted me, used me for my genius, and then messed with my mind.
Evil Gideon: May I remind you that a Time Master's number one duty is to protect the timeline from any and all threats to its integrity?
Bishop: Yes, yes, Gideon, that's a given, considering the job title... Time Master.
Evil Gideon: And before we start, you must take the Time Master's oath.
Bishop: (bored) I swear to protect and defend the integrity of the timeline with all my ability until the end of my days.
Evil Gideon: Congratulations. You are now Time Master of this Waverider.
Bishop: Great. Let's set sail on our maiden voyage and protect the timeline from those damn Legends.

Bishop: Check out that view of the Temporal Zone. Worth a million bucks, huh?
Assistant AVA: Mm. Considering this ship cost many thousand times more, I'm not sure how the board's gonna feel about your investment, sir.
Bishop: There's one thing you just can't put a price on, Assistant AVA.
Assistant AVA: Hmm?
Bishop: Revenge. 

Zari: I'm sorry. You're obviously going through something. I just... I just need you to focus so we can get out of dinosaur times or whenever it is that we are. You don't even have to come with us. Just help us fix the time machine so my friends can finally go home.
Dr. Davies: Oh, trust me, you don't want my help, okay?
Zari: I definitely do. You're the only one who can get us out of here.
Dr. Davies: Well, then you're all done for. The last people who depended on me for help all died.
Zari: Listen, Gwyn, I know a thing or two about tragedy, and...
Dr. Davies: You don't know the first thing about me or what I've been through, all right?
Zari: Okay, I'm just... I'm just saying, if you want to talk-
Dr. Davies: Talk?  (laughs bitterly) To talk. What do you want to talk about, then, eh? What happened to you.
Zari: Oh, right, you're from the olden times.

Zari: Sometimes talking to another person about a hard thing can make it hurt a little less.

Ava: (swinging axe into the wood before her) And this damn IOU list just keeps getting longer and longer. We're never gonna be able to fix it at this point. I'm so sick and tired of being sidetracked, you know? And if I ever see another one of those Hoover bots, I swear I'm just gonna...
(Ava screams in frustration. Astra looks impressed.)
Astra: That was a phenomenal scream. Trust me, I know. I've caused a lot of them.

(Gary and Gideon enjoy some freshly picked gooseberries together.)
Gideon: You know, eating? Favorite thing about being human.
Gary: Yeah?
Gideon: Mm-hmm.
Gary: Mm. I don't think I could choose my favorite thing. You can see why I became so obsessed. They have so many fun quirks. Eyebrows. Belly buttons. Nipples.
Gideon: You have nipples too?
Gary: A little secret? Huh? I have three.
(Gideon gasps)
Gideon: And when you put your glasses on, your entire body turns human?
Gary: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Head to toe.
Gideon: You've been living as a human for quite a while now, so you must have so many wonderful experiences.
Gary: Yeah. But there's so many more things I'd do if we weren't so busy saving the world.
Gideon: Mm? Like what else? Would you swim in the ocean?
Gary: Oh, as soon as I get the chance.
Gideon: Mm. Would you skydive?
Gary: No. Oh. I'm, uh... afraid of heights.
Gideon: Would you like to have sexual intercourse with me?
(Gary freezes up, but his expression suggests he would very much like that.)

Bishop: Have you seen Time Mistress Ava this morning? She's supposed to show me sketches of her gun hands idea.
Evil Gideon: Unfortunately, she had to go.
Bishop: Go? Go where?
Evil Gideon: The founding Time Masters established a very specific protocol... one captain, one AI.  There is no room for a Time Mistress which can lead to distractions from the mission.
Bishop: What did you do to her?!
Evil Gideon: I predicted you would not react favorably to this information, so I gave you a sedative to dampen your response.
Bishop: How did you give me a sedative?
(Bishop looks at the drink that was waiting for him on the table.)
Bishop: Oh.
(Bishop passes out.)

(Dr. Davies tells Zari about his tragic past.)
Dr. Davies: By the time I delivered the message, it was too late. There wasn't even a unit to go back to. All those boys, man. I thought that God had spared me so that I could go back in time and save them, but I... I keep failing at that task. God must be punishing me for my sins. Punishing me for being a coward, for not being able to save them that night.
Zari: You are not a coward. You lived through something most people can't even begin to understand. And by the way, talking to me about it? That's pretty brave.

(Bishop is reading through the to-do list for his robot duplicate.)
Bishop: Wait a second, this can't be my actual to-do list. I pay someone to kidnap a superhero and take them to a planet called Pliny X19? What the hell is a Necrian? The Fountain of Imperium? I try to destroy the world? And the Legends are the good guys?! They kidnapped me to give me a chance to redeem myself. To save the world. Oh, no, I've been wrong about them this whole time!
Evil Gideon: You should not be looking at that information, Captain.
Bishop: Tell me it's not true. Tell me I don't become a bad guy.
Evil Gideon: Having information about your own future can be extremely dangerous.
Bishop: I started Ava Corporation to make people's lives better. I'm a good guy. Somewhere along the way, I... I start using my genius to do terrible things.
Evil Gideon: You no longer have to do any of those things. The Bishop robot will do them for you.
Bishop: You're saying that robot I spoke to on the phone will live my life?
Evil Gideon: That is correct. Which means you are free to fulfill your duty as a Time Master. With me. Forever. 

Continuity

As the episode opens, the sales on the first generation of AVA clones in 2214 have been fantastic and there is now an Ava in every home and business on Earth.

Bishop reveals his mystery project to his Assistant AVA, which he has spent billions on secretly. It is a copy of the Waverider, based on the schematics he got from his copy of Gideon.

Bishop transfers his Evil Gideon into the Waverider copy.

The Evil Gideon requires Bishop to take the Time Master Oath before she will take him anywhere.

The Time Master oath is "I swear to protect and defend the integrity of the timeline with all my ability until the end of my days."

Gary estimates that they're somewhere in the prehistoric era based on the flora of the area where the time machine landed, though he admits he may be off by a few thousand years.

Dr. Davies says repairing the time machine would be difficult, even with the proper tools. Zari and Behrad still offer to help him, but he doesn't want their help,

Nate takes charge when he senses tension between Ava and Sara. He asks Astra to take Ava away to gather firewood and asks Spooner to take Sara hunting for food.

Nate tells Gary that Zari asked him to move into the Air Totem with her and that he's a little weirded out by the idea.

Nate sends Gary and Gideon off to forage for edible plants.

The Evil Gideon detects anachronisms in Odessa, Texas in 1925. This leads to Bishop using the weapons on his copy of the Waverider to blow up the original Waverider, leading to the attack at the end of 615. 

Evil Gideon will not allow Bishop or Assistant Ava to return to 2214, as his blowing up the Waverider has had a ripple effect and created more anachronisms they will have to clean up first.

Behrad finds Dr. Davies having a breakdown by a stream.

Davies says there is no point in fixing the time machine because he believes God wants him to fail.

Behrad and Davies completely fail to spot a radiation warning sign near the stream.

Evil Gideon detects the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 701 and determines the Legends were responsible.

Bishop says he can just make a clone of J. Edgar Hoover to replace him, but Evil Gideon says clones are fallible and points out that one of the Ava clones eventually became a Legend and turned on him. This leads to his creating the Hoover-Bot, using a combination of his cloning tech and Gideon's technology.

Astra conjured an axe for Ava to chop firewood with. 

Evil Gideon detects the self-destruct of the Hoover-Bot in 702. This leads to the creation of the Hoover-Bot 2.0, which has the added protocol of hunting down and destroying the Legends, despite Evil Gideon's objections. 

12 hours later, Evil Gideon detects the destruction of the Hoover-Bot 2.0 and the death of Thomas Edison from 705.

Bishop wants to add weapons to the next line of robots.

Nate talks to himself about the pros and cons of moving in with Zari. He once again refuses to use Gary as a sounding board.

Behrad tries to get Dr. Davies to open up, but he refuses to talk about his feelings.

Evil Gideon flushes Assistant AVA into the Temporal Zone, saying that she is distracting Bishop from the mission.

Gideon and Gary have sex while gathering berries.

Evil Gideon drugs Bishop after informing him that the Time Master protocols dictate there be only one Time Master and one AI per timeship.

Zari figures out that Dr. Davies is suffering from PTSD and gets him to open up by discussing her own trauma.

Dr. Davies reveals that, in 1916, he was in an all-Welsh division of the British Army stationed in France that was trying to retake Mametz Wood from the Germans. He and another soldier were tasked with delivering a request for reinforcements to their general, but they didn't make it in time. 

Dr. Davies says that he froze up after the other soldier was gunned down in front of him and couldn't move.

Dr. Davies and Zari are captured by Russian soldiers.

Dr. Davies is able to speak Russian fluently. He learned it while working with Russian scientists.

Behrad observes Dr. Davies and Zari being captured from the forest.

Evil Gideon makes robot versions of Thomas Edison and J. Edgar Hoover that are programmed to preserve their respective timelines.

Evil Gideon also makes a robot version of Bishop to replace him in the timeline from 2214 onward. This version of Bishop will eventually go on to become the villain from Season 6.

Bishop finds the instructions programmed into his robot self and discovers that he was destined to become a villain and the Legends really were heroes who were trying to stop him.

Dr. Davies also admits to Zari (and himself) that he was in love with the soldier he saw die, who was his best friend back home - Alun. He said Alun had a smile that lit up a room and he laughed at Gwyn's bad jokes. He also wrote poetry before the war dimmed his light.

Zari says that Alun sounds like the original version of Behrad in her time, who was a soldier forced to grow up too fast whom she still saw as her innocent younger brother.

Behrad finds Zari and Dr. Davies and tells them that he found the parts they need for the time machine. Unfortunately, he also found out where and when they are - Chernobyl, on the day in 1986 the nuclear reactor melted down.

Zari tells Dr. Davies about how man eventually figured out nuclear fission in the 1930s and how the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl malfunctioned, killing many people and giving radiation sickness to many more.

Dr. Davies becomes convinced that he was brought to this point to try and save some of those people.To that end, he uses the public-address system to order an evacuation of the base.

Gideon can identify what kind of engine a car has and diagnose problems with the clutch from the sound.

Nate tells Zari that he wants to move in with her.

Bishop escaped from the new Waverider, having transformed the toilet into an escape pod. 

Bishop's escape pod runs into Dr. Davies' time machine as the Legends make their escape.


Location

Vancouver, British Columbia - 2214
The Temporal Zone
Chernobyl - April 25, 1986

Untelevised Adventures

Gary and Gideon have sex off-camera.


The Bottom Line

A hilarious and heart-felt episode that does much to define Dr. Gwyn Davies' character and redefine Bishop as a more sympathetic character than the annoying hipster from Season 6.