Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6, Episode 9 - This Is Gus

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

Plot

When the Legends forget Behard's birthday and their next mission takes them to 2023 and the set of his favorite sitcom, Nate and Zari are forced to keep the "surprise" party going, as everyone else tracks the alien. Meanwhile, Rory gets some unexpected news from his daughter Lita, leading Sara and Gary to investigate why he's been acting so strangely.


Influences

This Is Us (title) and various sitcoms and series which change format in the middle of their runs. There are a number of meta-jokes regarding previous seasons of Legends of Tomorrow, with Gus-Gus being a parody of Beebo (as well as Baby Yoda and Gizmo from the Gremlins movies) and a few nods to Alf and Mork and Mindy - two sitcoms based around aliens.

Goofs

The official episode synopsis described the team traveling to 2024. They actually travel to 2023.


Performances

The whole ensemble is on fire, but Shayan Sobhian deserves special distinction for how well he plays the two Behrads and the transition between them.


Artistry

The script for this episode is very smart but also touches upon important ideas of representation without being preachy.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

Lita mentions donating all of the money Mick lett her to "AOC's future presidential run." This is a reference to American Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is commonly known as AOC. At the time the episode aired, AOC was too young to run for President of the United States, but was highly hoped to do so given her fighting attitude and strong progressive beliefs.

When discussing Sara and Ava's engagement, Zari 1.0 refers to them as "Avalance." in a pun on Avalanche. This is a reference to a fan nickname given to the romance between Ava and Sara.


Technobabble/Arcana

Spooner has improved her favorite gun, which she calls her little friend, and it is now powerful enough to knock a pod off of its landing trajectory. 

Astra has a spell that can conjure up a coffee cart.

Gary identifies the baby alien as a Gusarax - a species that bond to their parents during the development phase. They literally become attached to their parents at the hip, as that's where the teat is located. 

The butterfly effect causes Behrad to change more and more as the timeline is changed as Bud Stuy changes more and more from its original concept. At first this manifests with Behrad feeling an urge to slick his hair back and suddenly having a coffee mug for Wharton - the college he told his parents he was going to before joining the Legends. As time goes on, he becomes more and more of a different person before vanishing completely.

Astra knows a spell that lets her summon her keys to her hand.

The Tarazi family ancestors think that Zari 1.0 can safely leave the Totem world, provided Zari 2.0 stays behind in her place. This seems to be confirmed by the end of the episode.

Female Necrians lay their fertilized eggs in the heads of their partners during sex.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Mick opens a time coordior. Lita enters and is visibly pregnant.)
Nate: How long was I in that totem?

Kamran: Well, this animatronic alien is adorable. And the audience ate it up. So if we're ever gonna be more than a cult show we need a gag that's a little less foreign.
Imran: Less foreign? It's a freakin' alien, man.
Kamran: I want broader appeal.
Imran: You want less Muslim.
Kamran: You don't know what religion the alien is.

(Spooner, upon seeing Gus for the first time.)
Spooner: I think I'm going to need a smaller gun.

(Lita is struggling to open a jar after Mick offered to help her.)
Lita: Okay. I am rational enough to accept defeat, hangry enough to accept your help.
Mick: You know, uh, some jars are like old, stubborn bastards. They, uh, eventually open up.
(Mick struggles with the jar a moment and it pops open. He offers it to Lita.)
Mick: Tell me about Niko. 

(After the alien screams and drives off the Legends trying to pick him up, Kamran comes and sees what the noise is.)
Kamran: There you are. (clearing his throat upon seeing the Legends) I'm going to talk to props about leaving things lying around. Somebody could get hurt.
(Kamran walks off with the alien. The Legends have clearly not heard anything he's said.)
Legends: WHAT?!?

(Nate gets cast in Bud Stuy instead of Zari.)
Zari: (sarcastic) Finally, a win for straight, white men.
Behrad: Well, if I was rebooting a show with a flop first season, you'd be my pick. 

Behrad: (To Imran) You can't sell out, man! Growing up, my mom and dad looked at me and saw a future business school graduate. The world saw a weird, Muslim kid they couldn't bother to figure out. But seeing you on TV, Imran, was the first time I saw me. 

Zari: Listen, I know you worked your ass off for this moment. And our hard work is rarely celebrated. So I get how badly you wanna be seen, but... you know this isn't right.
Kamran: Have you ever seen the show? My brother wasn't exactly making television that we could be proud of.
Zari: Well, you know what, he doesn't have to be a torch-bearer for all of us. That expectation is, honestly, unrealistic and, frankly, annoying. Your brother inspired people, not by trying to inspire people, but... just by being himself.

Continuity

As the episode opens, Behrad has just turned 25 years old.

Gideon is capable of playing Mortal Kombat and apparently kicks Behrad's butt at it quite often.

Behrad believes in astrology.

Astra had a bet with Zari that Behrad would be late to the team meeting, arrive wearing the same clothes he had on the day before but would still take the time to make himself breakfast.  This results in Zari having to handle her bathroom-cleaning shifts on the chores rotation. 

Kayla's scanner tracks the latest lost alien to Vancouver in 2023.

Lita calls Mick after the time-jump to 2023. He opens a time corridor for her to come to the ship only to discover that she is pregnant and that she hadn't heard from him in over a year.

The site of the next alien pod landing turns out to be near a studio where a taping of Bud Stuy, a stoner comedy sitcom with a Muslim protagonist, is about to begin.

Bud Stuy was Behrad's favorite show growing up and he becomes convinced the "mission" was just an excuse to get him to the taping as a surprise gift.

Nate and Zari run with this idea and go to the taping, dragging Astra along, leaving Sara and Spooner to deal with the alien.

Imran Saeed is the star and co-creator of Bud Stuy. His brother Kamran is the producer of the show.

Bud Stuy only lasted two seasons but had a cult following.

The episode makes mention of the "Dragon Girl" song Zari recorded as a tween pop star.

Spooner shoots the pod out of its original trajectory, causing it to crash into the studio where Bud Stuy is filming.

The alien is revealed to be a cute, little and adorable creature.

Kamran wants to work the alien into the show, after seeing how much the audience loved the twist of bringing an alien into the story after Imran improvised around the crash and pretended it was part of the episode. Imnran begrudgingly agrees to give it a try.

Lita is still in college in 2023 and is taking classes in intersectionality and feminist activism. It is here that she met her boyfriend Niko.

Lita has become a Vegan and claims she is over Black Sabbath and is now more into Fiona Apple. She also says she's donating all the money Mick gave her to AOC's presidential campaign.

Lita says she and Niko are living together but have no plans to marry, as the institution is too inherently patriarchal. 

Mick starts asking Lita for details about Niko, seemingly as a father would ask a daughter about her boyfriend.

Zari asks about Zari 1.0 and asks what she's doing in the Totem. Nate says mostly she plays poker with her ancestors, but that when they were together she mostly wanted to know about Behrad and how he was doing.

Zari 1.0 remembered Behrad's birthday was coming up.

Behrad poses as the new Personal Assistant on the set of Bud Stuy to get close to the Saeed brothers.

The alien does not like being picked up except by certain people and unleashes a high pitched scream when it is unhappy. It causes intense pain and temporary deafness in others and causes Spooner to develop a nosebleed.

After the team regroups at the Waverider, Behrad emerges from the bathroom cleaned-up, with his hair slicked back, having borrowed Nate's special pomade. 

Gideon reports that a new episode of Bud Stuy titled "First Contact High" has been scripted.

Zari and Nate both audition for the role of a noisy landlord being introduced into Bud Stuy. Nate gets it, despite Zari being a trained actor.

Behrad talks to Imran and argues the show can't be changed because it meant so much to him, being the first time he saw a funny Muslim guy on TV.

Imran decides to quit rather than eliminate the reality of his life he tried to bring out in the show.

Sara returns to the Waverider to find Ava wrapping Behrad's birthday present.

Lita says Mick asked him a lot of questions about where he grew up, his class schedule and his cross-country training, which he is hoping will let him compete in the Olympics.

Sara realizes that Mick wasn't asking these questions to be polite - he was getting information he could use to kill Niko. 

Niko is shown wearing a hat with an HU logo. This is a nod to Hudson University, which Lita decided to go to after touring the campus with Mick in 512.

Behrad changes into a sharp suit.

Astra sems to be attracted to Behrad's new look.

Astra and Zari pose as members of the Puppeteers Union and confront Kamran over whether or not the alien is being brought to life by union members.

According to Kamran, the baby alien is the first alien TV star in history.

Behrad becomes more and more of a corporate shill, talking to Kamran about how to market "Baby Gus-Gus." This disturbs Zari, as he sounds like a male version of her.

Sara, Gary and Lita find Mick hugging Niko.

Mick was planning to kill Niko, but was persuaded it would be bad if a prominent author of post-feminist empowerment literature was known to have killed his daughter's boyfriend.

Mick says he just wanted to make sure his grandson had what he didn't and what he failed to be to Lita - one of two loving parents under one roof.

Mick told Niko about Kayla and how he knew what it was to get caught up in a romantic moment. This is how Sara and Gary find out about Kayla and Mick having sex.

Mick starts crying when Kayla is mentioned.

Behrad completely changes into a business bro, has no idea who the Legends are, and his totem is replaced with a Rolex watch. This results in Zari's totem disappearing as well, since Behrad 1.0 stole the original one.

Gary asks Mick if tentacles were involved in what he and Kayla did. He confirms that she did stick a tentacle into his ear.

Zari tries to talk to Kamran about remaining true to his brother's vision.

Astra chases after Imran and gets him back to the set.

Nate is able to disappear with Baby Gus-Gus, as the alien is now known.

Behrad is restored to normal, with the show restored to its original state.

Behrad's gifts include a photo album Zari put together, a chef's hat and apron, a new recipe book and coupons for free hugs (from Nate.)

Zari 2.0 goes into the totem and shows the pictures of the party to Zari 1.0 and tells her about everything.

Zari 2.0 offers to stay inside the totem and let Zari 1.0 out for a bit, as the Ancestors think as long as one of them stays inside the Totem World, Behrad should be safe.

Gary knocks a beer out of Mick's hand revealing that Kayla laid eggs in his head when they had sex and that he confirmed Mick is pregnant. 


Location

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - 2023
Hudson University - 2023
The Totem World


The Bottom Line

Sweet and funny in equal measure, while making a few pointed stabs at itself and television culture in general. Not the funniest episode of Legends in terms of laugh-out-loud moments, but probably one of the most cleverly written.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6, Episode 6 - Bishop's Gambit

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

Plot

Mick and Kayla prove uneasy allies as they pilot the Waverider in search of Sara, but they will need to depend on each other to survive the wilds of deep space. Meanwhile, as the Legends try to deal with another alien attack in 1956, Sara tries to endear herself to her captor, only to learning something even more disturbing about the mysterious Bishop.


Influences

Max Headroom (visual effects of Gideon on the old TV), Aliens (the fight scenes between Spooner and "Amelia", the general appearance of the Zagurons and the line about Zagurons mostly coming out at night) and the general science-fiction tropes involving the humanity of clones and the questions regarding the ethics of cloning, vis a vis individuality and the soul.

Goofs

It's a minor point, but one wonders, if Bishop can truly copy a person down to their mental impulses, why is he bothering trying to win over Sara Lance instead of making a copy of her and programming the copy to be a little more agreeable, like he did with all the AVAs. (Presumably he's lying about this point?)


Performances

Shayan Sobhian usually doesn't get much to do beyond be the comic relief, but he does get a great moment in this episode with Behrad's reaching out to Spooner about how he copes with the insanity of being a time-traveling hero... beyond his edibles and pizza.

Caity Lotz does some fantastic silent acting in the final scene, as the horror builds to the realization of just what is under the blanket in Bishop's lab.


Artistry

The horror movie elements of Spooner handling the "Amelia" alien are brilliantly executed.

Trivia Of Tomorrow

The episode's title is take from a classic chess maneuver, as well as a pun on the name of the series' villain. 

Reference is made to the alien that was bonded with Amelia Earhart also claiming to be Mary Pickford and Marion Davies. The former was a famous silent movie actress. The latter was another classic Hollywood actress, who became better known as the mistress of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst than her film work.


Technobabble/Arcana

According to Bishop, in his time, DNA can be mapped and cloned and every data point in the brain can be likewise mapped and cloned, allowing someone to be recreated, body and mind.

An electrostatic barrier on Bishop's planet contains an artificial atmosphere while the whole planet is undergoing terraforming. Most organic creatures cannot survive outside the barrier.

Mick takes a rebreather with him, despite being told the atmosphere on Bishop's planet is safe. This turns out to be a wise idea, given what happens later when the electrostatic barrier is dropped.

Spooner's anti-alien security system includes pumiliotoxin-tipped darts.

Gary's species can compress their bodies through small openings, like an octopus.

John knows a spell that can take the memories from other people but he's only ever worked it on humans.

Bishop modified the pain receptors of his clone body so he feels less pain than a normal human.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Bishop has just walked in on Sara, revealing that he isn't dead.)
Sara: But I just killed you!
Bishop: It's a delicious little mystery for you to turn over in that pretty little head. Isn't it, Sara Lance?
Sara: No, you're dead.
Bishop: You're not the only one who's flirted with death.
Sara: How?!
Bishop: (sing-song) You'll never guess in a billion years!
Sara: You're a clone.
Bishop: (disappointed) Okay, yes. You got it.

(Kayla notices the Waverider taking off.)
Kayla: Hey! I was gonna steal that!

(John and Zari are returning to his house from breakfast.)
John: Oh, nice one, love. You know, I thought I was gonna go batty in this madhouse.
(John looks up in the foyer. There is now a sign which reads "Welcome To Shady Acres Sanitarium." hanging on the balcony steps.)
John: What in the bloody blazes has happened now?!

Spooner: For the record, Captain, this plan is stupid. Look, I say we go right in there and talk to it.
(There's a long pause. Everyone, especially Ava, looks surprised.)
Spooner: Yeah, that's right, turned a new leaf. Maybe I'm not a shoot first, ask questions kinda gal.
Ava: Huh.
Nate: Nice.
Ava: That's great, Spooner. You're working on yourself. I am impressed.
Spooner: Yeah. Why just splat them when you can find out their deepest fears and exploit them?
Astra: Hm, Spooner, now I'm impressed.
Nate: (quietly) That was dark.

Behard: Let me tell you a secret. It's the only way I survive in this job. Don't think about your past, and don't think about your future. You have to live in the now. I know it seems crazy to say in a time machine, but the past and the future don't really exist. There's only right here and right now.

(Astra just lied to Zari to cover up John's lost power.)
John: Nice one. Can't have everyone in this world and below knowing that I'm disarmed.
Astra: Yeah, well, now you really owe me.
(The two sigh together and collapse on the couch.)

Bishop: We're putting our pasts behind us. Fresh start!
Sara: I meant, let's get to know each other, not let's kill each other's friends!

(Spooner growls menacingly at "Amelia." The subtitles read "Let's talk.")

Sara: Now see, this is what you got wrong about me. Every scar on my body is a memory, a lesson that I learned in blood. And it's what makes me who I am. And I don't forget any of it. Now, we've both faced death. We've both died before. The difference is I learned from my scars, and you? You've just forgotten yours.
Bishop: But, Sara, I don't see any scars on you.
(Sarah looks at him and then past him, to what appears to be a dead body on a table behind him. Sara walks over and sees a hand trailing from under the blanket A hand wearing her rings. Sara clasps her own hand in shock as she realizes she doesn't have her jewelry. Reluctantly, Sara approaches the table and pulls back the blanket, finding a corpse that appears to be her corpse)
Bishop: Oh! There are those scars. On the dead body of the real Sara Lance.


Continuity

Bishop is revealed to have survived Sara's effort to kill him in 605 by downloading his mind into a clone body. Unlike the many AVAs, there is only one of Bishop at any given time.

The alien Mick teamed with in 604 is confirmed to be Kayla - Gary's fiancée. 

Kayla drank all the booze on the Waverider and reportedly was drinking from 8 bottles at a time.

Kayla insists on finding her ship before helping Mick to recue Sara.

Behrad orders a dozen pizzas at John's house.

John does not own a modern TV, requiring Ava hook Gideon up to an older television set with a cathode ray tube from 1974.

Spooner set up an anti-alien security system inside John's house and tells him to stay off the black tiles.

Zari took John's tea to make a skincare treatment.

Nate starts playing John's old guitar without asking.

Zari takes John out for a traditional British breakfast to calm his nerves, promising him baked beans, black pudding and bubble and squeak.

Kayla determines her ship needs a new fuel cell.

Kayla's ship was a gift from her mother for her 300th birthday (i.e. rotation).

Mick is captured by the AVA Clone soldiers.

Kayla notices the Waverider being stolen.

Gideon reports an alien-related anomaly at the Endless Meadows Asylum in Hunter, New York, in 1956. A woman was admitted to the hospital who turned out to be an alien, who massacred everyone else. Curiously, she gave the name Sara Lance when she was checked in.

The alien's victims had sting marks and exploded hearts.

Nate, Ava and Spooner go to 1956 to find the alien and get to her before she is scheduled to undergo electro shock treatment.

"Sara Lance" also goes by the names Mary Pickford, Marion Davies and Amelia Earhart.

"Sara Lance" is revealed to be the Amelia Earhart alien who poisoned Sara in 603.

Zari's preferred pizza is gluten-free mushroom.

Behrad and Spooner go to question "Amelia," using good cop/bad cop tactics.

Gary is able to sneak into Sara's cell using the sewer pipes. 

Sara tells Gary to get her a replacement fuel cell for their ship and that she will find her own way out of Bishop's compound.

Spooner doesn't feel any alien thoughts coming from "Amelia" but says that's probably due to her being strung out on Quaaludes.

Kayla spies Gary trying to steal a fuel cell while she's in the middle of doing the same thing. She does nothing as Gary is captured by the AVA soldiers.

"Amelia" says the last thing she remembers is landing her plane by her old house in Rye, New York, at 37 Locust Street.

Ava and Nate go to Rye, New York in 1956 and discovered the Waverider, cloaked and parked.

Sara attempts to play friendly with Bishop, resulting in her getting her hands freed and him inviting her to dinner with him later.

Spooner slips some caffeine pills into the tea Behrad fixed for "Amelia" to speed up her recovery.

An angry Ava disrupts the interview, causing "Amelia" to change into an alien and frenzy. Luckily, Spooner has tranquilizer darts ready.

One of Bishop's AVA Clones dresses in flowery 60s dresses and makes great cannoli.

Bishop is informed of Mick Rory's capture. He orders the atmospheric barrier to be taken down for an hour to kill the rescue team.. 

The AVA soldiers tie Mick to a tree and leave him for dead when they realize the barrier has dropped.

Kayla is revealed to have retrieved the power cell, but begins to hyperventilate as the atmosphere dissipates.

John asks for Astra to work the memory spell instead of him, to cover up that he lost most of his magic power in 605.

Astra determines that "Amelia" is a hybrid being made from the real Amelia Earhart and a Zaguron. She senses what seem like real memories of Amelia being abducted by an alien craft while flying over the Pacific Ocean. There are also memories of being experimented on, changed, escaping, being ostracized, feeling alone and struggling to survive. She also has a flash of Amelia meeting Sara before coming to a firewall she can't cross. 

"Amelia" almost breaks free at that point, roused by memories of breaking free of bondage and hunting.

Spooner reflexively speaks back to "Amelia" in her own language.

According to Spooner, Gideon's synthetic Mezcal tastes like high-grade toilet water.

Behrad doesn't drink Mezcal but does think Gideon makes an amazing blueberry kush.

Behrad copes with the insanity of being a hero by focusing on the here and now.

Mick is able to saw through the ropes and escape.

Gary saves one of the AVAs who was left for dead outside.

The other AVAs seem oddly attracted to Gary.

Nate apparently destroyed John's guitar.

Zari senses that John is lying about something. When she confronts him on this, he lie and says he's just upset about the Legends moving into his space.

When Zari calls John on this, Astra covers for him and says that John let her do the memory spell instead of him because he owed her one and she was tired of playing second fiddle.

Mick stumbles across Kayla and the two share the rebreather to try and get back to the ship carrying the fuel cell together.

Bishop tells Sara about Mick Rory coming to their planet and how he's probably dead by now.

Sara beats the ever-loving snot out of Bishop.

Kayla identifies her species as Necrians. She says that her people have learned to be smart and practical over the years.

Mick shares Kayla's view of humanity being cowards, liars, cheats, frauds and idiots but says that Sara Lance is different, which is why he has to save her.

"Amelia" reaches out to Spooner.

Zagurons typically flee from light and swarm their prey.

Mick and Kayla hide in a pod to escape from the Zagurons. They wind up making out.

Amelia confirms fighting Sara Lance and claims to have killed her.

Ava shoots Amelia when it seems she's about to kill her.

Sara tells Bishop that's defined by her struggles and scars and that isn't something Bishop's science can copy. This leads Bishop to say he doesn't see any scars on Sara.

The episode ends with Sara realizing she's not wearing her rings... but a dead body in Bishop's lab is. This suggests that Sara really did die from the poison back in 605 and had her memories implanted into a clone body.


Location

Northumberland County, UK - 2021
Hunter, New York - 1956
Rye, New York - 1956
Bishop's Private Planet - Time Unknown

The Bottom Line

A bit all over the place with all the subplots coming together. Some parts seemed rushed, such as the sequence of the legends taking over Constantine's house. It is more than made up for by the last five minutes, however, in which Bishop becomes far more than just another spazzy billionaire bad-boy and the body horror elements of the season's storyline are cranked to 11.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6, Episode 4 - Bay of Squids

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

Plot

The good news is Mick's plan to lead the team to Sara does result in their finding an important alien with information that can help them. The bad news is it also throws them into the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis and threatens to start World War III!


Influences

Dr. Strangelove (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb) - comedy about nuclear war and the end of the world.


Performances

Shayan Sobhian is a pretty good guitar player and gives a great rendition of Cat Stevens' "Peace Train."

This is probably Dominic Purcell's strongest episode in a season, as Mick gets some honest conflict and we see the cunning, if not exactly smart, crook he was when the series started.

Artistry

The montage of soldiers preparing for war set to "Peace Train" is a fun bit of ironic composition.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This is the first episode of the series not to feature Caity Lotz.

During the battle to recover the nuclear football, John Kennedy injures his back and has to be helped to a chair. Kennedy suffered from back problems throughout his life - a fact that was largely kept secret until after his death.


Technobabble/Arcana

The nuclear warhead Mick accidentally stole is a Soviet SS-4 medium range ballistic missile. 

The alien turbo-charges the Waverider engine using plutonium. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Nate is walking down the hall and freezes up when he sees Zari. They are both still in their night clothes.)
Nate: Sorry.
Zari: Oh, you're not used to my nighttime makeup. I mean, no makeup. Sorry to ruin the illusion.
Nate: No, you, um... you look just like her.
Zari: Oh. You mean the other Zari.
Nate: Yeah.
Zari: I could change my hair if it would help.
Nate: Help what?
Zari: Whatever's happening down there.
(Nate looks confused for a second and then discretely covers his manhood region with his hand.)
Nate: It's not my fault!
Zari: (smirking) Mm.
Nate: I was sleeping!
Zari: Yeah
Nate: It's natural!
Zari: Whatever you say, Steel.

(Mick is rushing everyone out the door after arriving in Cuba.)
Spooner: Okay, hold up, I thought this was a time machine. Why not bring us back an hour earlier? That way, y'all can change out of your PJ's?
Zari: Oh, girl, we don't ask those questions.

Mick: Cover me.
Zari: With what? I'm wearing slippers.

Behard: Look, Captain. Authoritarian leaders, secret bunkers, nuclear missiles, I'm just not feeling the energy of this mission.
Ava: Too bad, because I need your energy, okay? (looks at Mick) Can't afford any hotheads starting a nuclear war.
Mick: Hey, I'm just trying to help you find your girlfriend.
Ava: You know what you can help me do is get the missile back to the people that we stole it from.
Spooner: Wait, the Russians?
Mick: That defeats the purpose of stealing!
Ava: Our job is to protect history. Remember that next time. 

Nate: This reminds me of the 1942 Princeton game.
General Kilgore: Refresh my memory, son, I was too busy fighting a World War.
Nate: Thank you for your service. It was a tie. A defensive stalemate. Neither team put the ball in the air, and neither got close enough to kick a field goal.
General Kilgore: What a terrible game. Both sides lost.
Nate: But... when we're talking about lobbing nukes at one another, that is the only way both sides win.

(Mick and Spooner are walking through the Cuban camp. Suddenly, Spooner cries out and clutches her head.)
Mick: Headache, huh? That time of the month?
Spooner: Very funny.
Mick: No, I'm being serious. My daughter, she has the same...
(Spooner grunts in pain.)
Spooner: Oh, that's very sweet of you then. But it's not my period. It's the alien. 

Behrad: Guys, thought you might like a little update on El Comandante.
Ava: Wait, you're with Fidel Castro?
Behrad: Yeah, we're super tight, but the problem is, he thinks the alien was sent to kill him.
Ava: Why would he think that?
Behrad: Because it tried to kill him. 

Ava: Okay, sounds like you're up, Rory.
Mick: Thought I was in the doghouse?
Ava: That's when we were trying to finesse the situation. Plans change.
Mick: You want us to kill the alien?
Ava: We don't have a choice, okay? Spooner, I need you to help him track it. We need to deescalate the situation and get history back on track.
Mick: Screw history! You kill the alien, you kill any chance of finding Sara.
Ava: And if we don't kill it, then Castro starts a nuclear war, and Sara doesn't have a home to return to, okay? I do not have time to game this out with you, Rory. We will find another way to find Sara.
Mick: Right. Lot of big brains on this ship. I'll just stick with what I know. You should never have cleaned me up. I'm better off doing what I do best: being a goon, killing people.
Ava: Yes.
(There is a long pause as Ava just stares at Mick.)
Ava: That's exactly what I need.
Mick: Right. Least I know what I'm here for.
(Mick grabs his flamethrower on the way out of the room, clearly pissed off. Spooner follows after him.)

Spooner: You know, it wasn't right for Ava to try to pin this all on you.
Mick: I don't give a rat's ass.
Spooner: You were just trying to find Sara.
Mick: No, I was pretending to be somebody I'm not.
Spooner: So you're just gonna go back to being a dumb drunk? That it?
Mick: Yes. 

Mick: You said your job is to protect history.
Ava: I also said your job wasn't to think for yourself, but had you listened to any of my orders, we'd have absolutely no hope in finding Sara, so I... I guess you got this.
Mick: Stop saying nice things. 

Zari: I hate that I'm a reminder of everything you lost.
Nate: You're not. I mean, I guess at first. But now? Now you just remind me of you. 


Continuity

An alien pod lands in the mountains of Sierra Maestra on October 16, 1962 and is discovered by Cuban soldiers.

Rory sounds the alarm to wake the rest of the Legends.

Nate is stunned by the sight of Zari without make-up as it reminds him of Zari 1.0.

Spooner works-out to hip-hop music.

Behrad has Gideon making edible marijuana candy for him to help him sleep.

Using the sketch he drew in 603, Mick was able (with Gideon's help) to find a photo of the alien in question among some redacted KGB files.

According to Gideon, Vladmir Putin was ousted from power in Russia in 2044.

Mick moves the Waverider to go after the alien, leaving John and Astra behind in the present at John's house.

Mick commandeers a Cuban military vehicle he thinks is holding the alien. In truth, it contains a nuclear warhead.

Nate forgot to set the cloak on the Waverider before leaving, resulting in the ship showing up on photos taken by an American spy plane. This leads them to believe that the Russians have some form of advanced bomber.

Nate wrote his doctoral thesis on John F. Kennedy and his use of diplomacy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Nate and Zari go to Washington DC to find some way to infiltrate the White House and ensure JFK doesn't start a nuclear war.

Spooner is able to find out where the alien is listening in on the Cuban army's radio signals.

Ava takes Behrad with her, posing as a Russian scientist named Yevgania Shostenko who is an expert on aliens, while he dresses as a Cuban soldier.

The Cubans believe that the United States has invaded them with mutant soldiers, leading them to commandeer the truck with the nuclear missile before Mick and Spooner can return it to the Russians.

Zari is presumed to be a secretary and has no issue getting into the Oval Office. Nate pretends to be a former Harvard man, whom JFK pretends to recognize from the class of 1940.

Nate is introduced to the rest of JFK's inner circle - Bobby Kennedy, Rober McNamara and Douglas Dillion - all former Harvard men.

General Kilgore is an Army general who is advising JFK to take the country to DEFCON 3, based on the pictures of the Waverider. Nate dismisses the pictures as obvious fakes.

When General Kilgore questions Nate's credentials, he attempts to win over JFK with a football metaphor involving the 1942 Harvard vs. Princeton match.

Ava discovers the Cubans intend to vivisect the alien, which is sedated.

Behrad cannot stand the sight of blood and leaves the operating field to throw up.

Ava is able to delay the surgery by cutting the hose for the anesthetic and knocking out the other medical technicians.

Behrad is mistaken for Che Guevara and, when asked about it, claims to be his cousin Jay Guevara. He is then taken to meet with Fidel Castro.

The Russian Ambassador calls the White House demanding an explanation for the stolen nuclear missile and why the United States is attacking them with a man made of Steel.. JFK has none to offer and says it sounds like the ambassador is drunk and rambling.

General Kilgore shows JFK spy photos of Nate, in his Steel form, fighting Cuban soldiers.

Nate once again tries to dismiss the photos as obvious fakes, but is informed that DARPA had been working on a serum that could turn a soldiers' flesh into metal and had successful secret tests.

General Kilgore believes one of the test subjects of the steel soldier project went rogue and urges JFK to launch a pre-emptive strike on Cuba.

JFK gives the order to go to DEFCON 3.

Castro tells Behrad that he is sick of being a pawn of the Russians but that he now has a nuclear missile that will let him destroy Washington DC on his own.

Behrad shares his edibles with Castro when he asks about the candy.

Spooner's powers seem to be getting stronger. Beyond sensing the presence and emotional state of aliens, she can now almost understand what they are saying.

The alien wakes up as Ava is escaping with it and it almost attacks her. Thankfully, the alien is driven off by Mick and his flamethrower.

Behrad sings Cat Stevens' "Peace Train" to Castro, inspiring the stoned leader to call Washington DC and tell JFK they should live in peace.

The alien almost gets Castro at this point, making him paranoid and spurring him to order they launch the nuclear missile now.

In Washington, the Army has learned that the Cubans now have their own nuclear missile and are preparing to launch it at Washington DC.

JFK gives the order to go to DEFCON 2, but Zari (who is tying up the order) instead gives all of Strategic Air Command a three-day weekend, effective immediately. 

Behrad is forced to flee Castro's bunker after Che Guevara calls and confirms he doesn't have a cousin named Jay.

Ava sends Mick and Spooner to kill the alien before the timeline is disrupted any further.

Spooner senses that the alien is looking for something. She and Mick find it next to the nuclear missile as it is about to launch. 

Mick angrily tells the alien that the rocket is not a spaceship and can't get them off the planet.

Mick tells the alien it can help it get back to its spaceship if it helps him find Sara.

General Kilgore gives JFK the nuclear football and tells him they can use it to get all their nuclear sumbarine captains to fire an all-out strike on the Russians. When JFK wants to call Khrushchev, General Kilgore takes the nuclear football and gets ready to order the strike himself.

Nate reveals his powers and says he didn't go rogue but was working to protect the world from people like General Kilgore.

General Kilgore takes Zari hostage.

JFK leads Nate and his cabinet in a football charge against the army men with General Kilgore.

JFK injures his back during the play.

General Kilgore leaves the White House, firing his gun at the missile, which crushes him as it lands on the White House lawn.  It does, not, however, explode.

It is revealed later that the nuclear missile didn't explode because Mick and the alien removed the plutonium from it.

Mick commanders the Waverider, leaving the rest of the team behind, while he goes into space with the alien to find Sara.

Zari's phones were all on the Waverider when Mick took it.

The rest of the Legends decide they can operate out of John Constantine's house for the time being.

The alien puts on a ring which gives her a human form and allows her to be understood in English.


Location

Sierra Maestra Mountains, Cuba - October 16, 1962
Washington DC, USA - October 16, 1962


The Crisis Factor

Even by the standards of this sow, JFK and the Harvard men in his cabinet playing football with the nuclear football is a bit much.


The Bottom Line

A fun episode that gives Mick and Spooner some much needed character refinement, though it does go a bit too far in its comedic take on nuclear war. Even Stanley Kubrick thought twice about ending it with a pie-fight.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6, Episode 2 - Meat The Legends

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

Plot

With Spooner on board, Ava hopes her special power can help lead them to Sara by tracking the various aliens now scattered across the timeline. This leads the Legends to San Bernardino in the 1950s, where the people are in a feeding frenzy for flesh! Meanwhile, as Zari and Behrad fight over ownership of the Air Totem, Sara finds herself marooned on an alien planet with another captain famous for becoming lost - Amelia Earhart!


Influences

The 1985 horror-comedy The Stuff (alien substance is made into addictive food) and Mothra (the alien is a giant moth monster).

Performances

Shayan Sobhian adds some real pathos to Behrad's character, making his refusal to give up the Air Totem all about him wanting one thing to separate him from his famous, rich, successful sister.

Lisseth Chavez has a much stronger showing here as Spooner Cruz than she did in the first episode. We don't learn much more about Spooner, but her bonding scene with Ava at the end does a lot to humanize her.


Artistry

The direction on this episode is truly tense and the mystery behind Big Bang's secret sauce is effectively paced.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

The episode title is a pun on Episode 502 - Meet The Legends.

The alien moth monster has the same roar as Godzilla in the classic Showa movies.

Bert Beeman refers to two brothers who are trying to steal his secrets as the "Mc...whatevers." This is a nod to the McDonald brothers, who established what is probably the most famous fast-food burger restaurant in the world, McDonald's, in 1948. Their first location was also in San Bernardino, California, although they were already franchising their business in 1955.

By the end of the episode, the Big Bang Burger chain becomes the Big Belly Burger chain. Big Belly Burger is, of course, a familiar eatery in the Arrowverse and one of the biggest fast food franchises in the original DC Comics Universe.


Technobabble/Arcana

Dragon Ash is a line of herbal supplements designed to enhance brain power, sex appeal, and sleep cycle  that Zari markets in the future.

A priblintz is an alien creature that is half-jaguar, half snake.

An apteroc is an alien creature that is also half-jaguar, half-snake, but with different parts than a priblintz. 

The Divination of Hor is a magic ritual that extracts all unwanted influences from a person, allowing you to speak to whatever has taken control of them.

The spellbook containing the Divination of Hor instructions also has a ritual to summon a trickster prawn.


Dialogue Triumphs

(The alien ship AI says something.)
Gary: Oh, boy, that's not good.
Sara: What did Alien Gideon say?
Gary: Uh, it's a little hard to translate exactly, since in my language there are over ways to say "explode from the inside."

Zari: You know, I've been thinking, bro. It is time for us to start sharing the family heirloom.
Behrad: So you can dry your hair faster?
Zari: Ha ha. I helped defeat a god, or whatever that scary blonde lady was. I'm officially a Legend now. All I need is my super power. Here, I made a schedule.
(Zari holds up her phone. Nate and Behrad nervously look around to make sure nobody noticed.)
Behrad: Hey, hey.
Nate: Whoa, whoa.
Behrad: No one is more stoked than me to discover your powers, but the totem chose me.
Zari: No, you literally stole it.
Behrad: Mmm - Debatable.

(Behrad is working the grill in a trance-state.)
Behrad: With this spatula comes a duty to transfer our positive energy into this burger and out to that town. If these are the vibes that you put into their food, they're gonna taste it, and if these are the vibes you bring to the mission, the totem's gonna feel it.
Zari: Oh, I get it. You're just looking for another excuse to keep the totem to yourself. I don't think it cares about my meaningless burger job.
Behrad: Meaningless? The Burger Herder was where I started to find real meaning in life, the first place where people cared about me, not 'cause I was "Dragon Girl's Brother" but because I was Behrad.
Zari: Okay, got it. So you're gonna just keep hogging the totem as payback because you were jealous of me. Super mature.
Behrad: I wasn't jealous. Are you even listening? It just felt good to have something to myself, okay?
Zari: Fine, keep the totem. You know what? Keep the spatula too. I wouldn't want to ruin anything else with my negative energy. 

(John works his ritual to purge the Big Bang Burger employee of alien influences. The young man projectile vomits a pink slime onto the ceiling of the Med Bay, which begins to drip back onto him.)
Spooner: That's some high-grade hooey.
Ava: Wait a second. I think I've seen this stuff before. Is that Big Bang Burger's secret sauce?
Spooner: Wait, don't touch that! And definitely don't eat it.
Ava: Why would I eat it?
Spooner: That's the alien.
Mick: That's the alien?
John: What, you mean they're charging 25 cents extra to eat an alien? (beat) That's kind of a bargain, really.
Spooner: That's why I was hearing it all over town 'cause everyone's got it in them.
John: Like an extra-terrestrial parasite.
Spooner: Driving this town to eat itself alive.
Ava: Okay, okay, so if that parasitic condiment is the alien, fine. Then that means you can talk to it.
Spooner: That's not how it works!
Ava: Will you just try?!
Mick: Sara's one day closer to dead, and your plan is to hunt mayo?

(Behrad, Nate and Zari try to convince Bert Beeman of the dangers of his secret sauce.)
Behrad: Once they eat it, they can't stop craving meat.
Bert Beeman: Son, that's called quality.
Nate: If you keep feeding people this, they're going to die, Bert!
Bert Beeman: Well, people don't eat burgers and fries to live longer. 

Spooner: Okay, so you're saying this lady found a cocoon oozing alien pus and thought, "let's put this on the menu"?
John: Yeah, you might not wanna look at what's in fast food these days.

(The alien has just swooped down and eaten Bert Beeman)
Spooner: (sarcastically) You wanna take it back to the ship? See if maybe I can talk to it?
Ava: Uh, yeah, light it up. 

(Spooner has just told Ava about her mom disappearing after they were abducted by aliens.)
Ava: Maybe she's...
Spooner: I had to stop thinking that way. No, hoping like that for that long, I mean, that can drive you crazy. Instead I... I gave up everything preparing for the moment I'd get to blow one of those things away, you know, but now that I've done it... I thought I'd feel something more. Now instead I just got nothing left.
Ava: I mean, you've got us.
Spooner: You mean...
Ava: If you'll stay.
Spooner: You want me to stay?
Ava: Yeah.
Spooner: I almost killed a furry. In the freezer.
Ava: We need to adjust some of your tactics a little, but...
Spooner: This thing in my head, I don't know how to control it.
Ava: Well, we can help you learn. This isn't the end for either of us, so... 
Spooner: Yeah You're right. It isn't over. There are still more aliens out there.
Ava: Exactly.
Spooner: You can still find your girlfriend.
Ava: Oh, I know we will.
Spooner: And that I just didn't shoot enough of 'em.
Ava: Wha... um, wait, wait, wait, that's...
Spooner: All right, I'm in. We're gonna keep killing aliens until you find Sara and I get some closure.
Ava: Yeah, that's not what...  Actually, that sounds like a perfect plan. 


Continuity

Spooner's connection with aliens allows her to determine if an alien is alive or dead, as she confirms the creature that bounced off the Waverider's windshield is dead.

Gideon detects an anomaly in San Bernardino, California on October 10, 1955. The entire town was killed overnight, but the violence seemed to start at Big Bang Burger - a restaurant owned by a man named Bert Beeman. The incident was dubbed the Massacre on Main Street by later historians.

Behrad tells Spooner that she doesn't seem to have any technology inside her head - at least none that Gideon can detect.

Gary's language has 70 different ways to say "explode from the inside."

Gary says they were heading for the planet Pliny X19 before the ship crashed. Beyond that, he was uncertain what Kayla's plans were.

According to Gary, he and Kayla had been hired by a power-hungry space lord who was gathering up the universe's most dangerous creatures and now they've crashed on his planet.

The unnamed alien world has 3 moons and a pink-purple tint to the sky. It also has an Earth-like atmosphere.

Sara and Gary see a dog on the alien world - one wearing a bandana.

Gary makes reference to having been fooled by cute dogs before. This is a reference to his adopting a Hellhound in 511.

Gary has a playing card deck of strong American women. Amelia Earhart is the Queen of Diamonds.

Zari markets a line of herbal supplements in the future.

Behrad once worked at a fast food joint called Burger Herder, where all the food was organic and free range.

Behrad notes that most of the meat used in 1955 contained ingredients that precluded it from legally being called beef.

Zari asks Behrad about using the Air Totem once in a while. He refuses.

Mick is listening to the radio signals from a nearby cop car. Calls come in regarding a 415 at a butcher (undefined disturbance), a 459A at Sali's Deli (alarm went off) and a 240 in the meat aisle at a nearby grocer (assault).

Spooner is revealed to know police codes.

The police ignore these calls in favor of eating more burgers.

Spooner gets a headache indicating the alien is nearby, but the signal keeps coming from all around her.

Behrad, Zari and Nate get jobs at Big Bang Burger while John, Ava, Spooner and Mick go to investigate the police calls.

Mick steals a cop car.

Nate is put to work as a car-hip while Zari and Behrad cook.

Gary says that his species doesn't have any special powers and is essentially the same as  a human, apart from having more tentacles. His species is also carbon-based.

Gary says his people are savage, killing for sport and eating their own. He also claims they have no concept of oral hygiene. 

Gary also claims that he wasn't so much engaged to Kayla as traded to her before being sent to Earth.

Gary claims that his world has no concept of birthday parties, rose water or friendship.

Gary says he took some creative license with his background so he could fit in, similar to how Charlie hid that she was once Clotho the Muse.

Gary guesses that whoever hired him has a thing for powerful women.

Ava, John and Spooner investigate the butcher shop and find one of the Big Bang Burger employees eating all the meat he can. The decide to take him back to the Waverider MedBay.

Gary says his homeworld has plants that can liquify a person and plants that can sing.

Sara and Gary follow the dog to a hut where they meet a woman who appears to be famous pilot Amelia Earhart.

As silly as it is to be proud of being good at grilling, it still means a lot to Behrad since it was the first thing that allowed him to be more than Zari's younger brother.

Gideon confirms that the Big Bang Burger employee is human, despite his setting off Spooner's alien sense.

John's magic cleansing ritual causes the employee to vomit up a mass quantity of Big Bang Burger Secret Sauce. Spooner determines this is what has been setting off her alien sense.

Spooner says her powers don't really allow her to talk to aliens so much as sense their presence and emotional state.

Zari, Behrad and Nate try to get rid of all the secret sauce at Big Bang Burger but are stopped by the owner, Bert Beeman. He relents, however, after one of his employees who really loves the food acts like a crazed zombie.

Bert reveals that his secret sauce is made by his wife, who won't even tell him what is in it.

Amelia Earthart says she isn't sure how she came to the alien world. The last thing she remembers is flying over the Pacific with her navigator, Fred. The left engine start sputtering, her plane bucked, she hit her head and when she woke up Fred was gone and she was there. At first she thought it was Heaven, but she's not sure where they are beyond the food being good.

Amelia agrees to take a look at the ship to see if she can fix it but asks Gary and Sara to stay and let her fix them dinner first as its been too long since she had company.

To Sara's annoyance, Amelia thinks she and Gary are a couple.

Spooner confirms that she can sense the alien's presence strongly from the Beeman home.

Ava confronts Bert Beeman's wife Rhonda while pretending to be a policeman's wife, new to the neighborhood.

Rhonda claims her secret ingredient is rice vinegar.

As Ava is leaving, she notices pink goo dripping from a vent in the Beemans' kitchen.

John notices a weird bumpy box in the open garage of the Beeman house. He and Spooner investigate it and find one of the alien prison pods.

Spooner discovers that she can read the alien text on the screen of the pod. It says "Giant Air Feeder."

Ava discovers a giant slime-covered cocoon in the attic of the Beeman house, just before being knockd out by Rhonda Beeman.

When Ava wakes up, Rhonda tells her about how Bert's business was failing and their marriage was in trouble until she discovered the slime from the alien cocoon tasted great to humans after it accidentally dripped onto Bert's dinner.

Ava is rescued by Spooner, who knocks out Rhonda.

Zari, Nate and Behrad are able to escape from the horde of meat-hungry customers by serving burgers laced with Zari's Dragon Ash to calm them down.

John guesses that the alien slime's purpose is to fatten up the populace around the creature once it emerges from the cocoon.

Rhonda Beeman is devoured by the alien.

Bert Beeman is also eaten by the alien, before Spooner kills it.

Ava apologizes to Spooner for being so pushy. Spooner accepts the apology and says she's sure she'd feel the same.

Ava tells Spooner that she knows what it is like to have people mess with you and be vigilant about bad things happening again.

Spooner reveals that she and her mother were abducted by aliens and she has no idea what happened to her, but she's given her up for dead.

Spooner agrees to stay with the Legends, as it will give her the chance to kill more aliens. Ava decides to just roll with this.

In the restored timeline, Big Bang Burger is taken over by Sandy Sledge, who renames it Big Belly Burger.

Behrad and Zari agree to share the Air Totem.

Somehow, an exasperated Zari 1.0 is able to clone the totem, giving Zari and Behrard their own individual bracelets. 

Amelia Earthart is revealed to be some kind of alien shape-shifter with a poisonous bite who can run forward in a brief burst of super speed. 

The episode ends with Sara poisoned, Gary panicking, and multiple light beams surrounding them - either flashlights or glowing eyes.

Location

San Bernardino, California - October 10, 1955
An Unknown Planet - Time Unknown


The Bottom Line

Quite possibly the weirdest episode of Legends of Tomorrow ever... and that is saying something! Still, the mystery is well-plotted and the tension well-directed, even though the whole situation is decidedly absurd and milked for how utterly ludicrous the whole thing is, from Behrad's Zen attitude towards grilling to Gary's near supernatural ability to make every bad situation worse just by talking.