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. 

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6, Episode 13 - Silence of the Sonograms

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

Plot

Tensions are heightened on the Waverider, with the Legends on high alert and Bishop's latest clone in their custody. As Ava begins interrogating the super-genius and Gary tries to help Mick through his pregnancy pains, Zari recruits Spooner and Astra to help her figure out what Constantine is trying to hide from her and the team.


Influences

The Silence of the Lambs (title, scenes of Ava trying to get into Bishop's head only to have him get into her mind), the Critical Mass story arc of Hellblazer (demon Constantine) and every sci-fi comedy based around a man being pregnant. (Red Dwarf and Junior come to mind.) 

Performances

Jess Macallan nails the moment in which Ava's mask breaks once Bishop finally gets to her.

Raffi Barsoumian is amazing as Bishop, turning the smarmy hipster scientist into a credible threat, even as we're left wondering how sincere he might be about wanting to join the Legends and find redemption.

In the moment when Zari 2.0 confronts John over his drug use, we see the same steel at the heart of Zari 1.0 and Tala Ashe, who has done such a good job making both versions of the Legend into likeable and distinct yet similar characters is amazing.

Artistry

The sequence of Bishop and Ava dancing to "Perfect Day" is well shot and the music perfect.

The effects work for Mick's pregnancy is top-notch.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This episode was originally planned to be the season finale. 

This is the first episode not to feature Behrad since he joined the team in Season 5.


Technobabble/Arcana

Bishop claims that he lowered the oxytocin levels in all the Ava clone to inhibit their capacity to feel love and process emotions. Ava thinks maybe this is why she is having a hard time planning the wedding.

Bishop suggests a formula made of mushroom and ginger to ease Mick's birthing pains, which is poured into his ear. According to Sara it doesn't taste half-bad to her alien tastebuds. In actuality, the formula is meant to induce labor, which Gary reveals at the end of the episode.

Astra knows a spell that can restore lost memories.

The potion John has been using to increase his magical power is known as a Scarlet Lady in Hell.

Bishop determines that Mick's children are breach babies, which means they have to come out the nose rather than the ear.

Spooner has a custom gun that can shoot through the metal doors of the Waverider.


Dialogue Triumphs

Sara: What are you doing here? How are you even alive? 
Bishop: What a fantastically boring question.

Zari: John's lying to me, again.
Astra: Huh, glad he's feeling like his old self. 

(Ava and Sara are administering Bishop's formula to Mick.)
Ava: I made Bishop think that I needed something from him, and he proved himself to be trustworthy, for now. But believe me, this is just the opening move of our little chess match.
Mick: What does that make me? The pawn?

(The Beast appears before John, wearing his familiar coat and tie.)
Constantine: Oh nice. You're wearing my clothes now, are ya?
The Beast: Well, someone's gotta pick up the mantle and you're in no shape for it, but you don't have to suffer, Johnny.
(A woman's voice echoes around them, whispering "Suffer, Johnny...")
Constantine: (laughs) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another snort of the Scarlet Lady and I'll be right as rain. Is that it? You know, it's not the first time I've gotten clean.
The Beast: And why haven't you dumped it? You'll never be clean, Johnny.
Constantine: (laughing with a more manic edge) You know, you're not even real. You're just a figment in my imagination, some damn junkie hallucination!
The Beast: And without magic, you're just a pathetic ex-smoker in a trench coat who lies to the people he loves.

The Beast: Can you see John? You'll never be rid of me. I am you. 

Ava: Admit it. I'm weird! Why the hell did you have to make me so weird?
Bishop: Look, first off, I didn't make you. Yes, I designed you, but everything you've done in your life, that's your accomplishment, not mine. And you not knowing whether you want a vegan cake or not doesn't matter. (pauses) I'm gonna take that back... vegan cakes are disgusting.

(Astra and Zari have just confirmed John blanked Spooner's memory.)
Astra: Where the hell are you going?
Zari: Oh, I'm just going to break up with my lying dumpster fire of a boyfriend. 

Bishop: Sara, you've got this all wrong. I don't wanna hurt him. I wanna help him.
Sara: And why would I trust you?
Bishop: Because I am you.
Sara: You wish.

Bishop: You know what they say when you fight yourself? You're destined to lose.
Sara: Destiny's so last season.

Constantine: Look, you deserve someone who is bloody fantastic, all right, not some pathetic has-been, honestly.
Zari: I have spent my whole life trying to be somebody for everyone else. When I'm with you, I can just be myself. That is the greatest gift. I love you. Not your magic. You.
(John leans in but Zari gives him a firm look.)
Zari: Hey, I'm not an idiot. You have told me so many lies. I need the truth. The truth.
Constantine: The truth is... I don't know. I don't know who I am without magic... I don't know how the hell I'm gonna get through this. I mean, I want to... but if you still love me after everything that I've put you through then... I wanna do it with you. 

Continuity

The unseen figure from the end of 612 is confirmed to be Bishop.

Bishop says that his current incarnation is the last since his data was corrupted when his lab was blown up and before his upload was complete. 

Bishop tries to talk Sara into letting him join the Legends. She locks him up and gives Spooner orders to shoot him if he does anything to escape.

Bishop notes Ava's engagement ring and that Mick is still alive, noting that Kayla had strong thoughts about him ceasing to exist.

Gideon determines that the new Bishop clone is missing 6% of his original DNA structure.

Ava, devout serial killer podcaster that she is, asks for a chance to profile Bishop. Sara reluctantly agrees but says she and Nate will be listening in to the interview.

Constantine wakes up to find Zari waiting for him. She asks why he has a scar when she stabbed The Beast and demands the truth. John says he thought it was all part of the game. Zari is skeptical but agrees to let him sequester himself until he gets his new powers under control.

Astra agrees to help Zari figure out what John is hiding, but says they should talk to Spooner about the Fountain of Imperium.

Nate and Sara play chess as Ava interviews Bishop.

Ava's particular model of Ava Clone was dubbed Bossy Ava, but Bishop says he wanted to call her Boss Ava.

Bishop claims that he's realized he made a mistake and that he sees Sara and Ava as the closest thing he has to family.

Bishop offers to help Ava plan her wedding.

Bishop also claims that he can help Rory, having recognized the symptoms of a human mating with a Necrian.

Bishop claims to have spent eons trying to meld humans and aliens but never thought of "the old fashioned way."

Spooner has no memory of her time with John and the Fountain of Imperium after the fascists coming into the cave. This leads her to conclude John cast a spell on her.

Astra suggests Spooner let her work a spell to restore her memory before they confront Constantine. Spooner refuses to abandon her guard duty until Ava takes over.

Bishop claims to be a medical doctor and offers to look at Constantine, having overheard something is wrong with him.

The Beast has taken on John's form and is taunting him, claiming to have always been a part of him even before his addiction to the blood potion.

Ava has never been to a wedding before and was known as the party pooper of the Time Bureau.

Ava's favorite flower is a cactus.

Ava's favorite color is gray.

Ava does not like appetizers and doesn't understand why people need to eat before eating a full meal.

Bishop has been reborn over 200 times. That was, at least, where he stopped counting.

The planet where Bishop met Sara is identified as Pliny X19.

Bishop claims to have changed because Sara taught him humility. 

Astra restores Spooner's memories of 610 and how John drank some kind of potion after being found unworthy of the Fountain of Imperium.

Astra tells Zari they shouldn't confront him until they figure out what the potion he's taking is.

Sara has a good vinyl music collection.

Bishop suggests "Perfect Day" from Lou Reed's album Transformer as the perfect song for them to dance to at their wedding. He winds up dancing with her with it and suggests they could have a father-daughter dance at the wedding.

Ava has a breakdown after Bishop talks about wishing the could be part of the wedding and leaves her gun behind in his cell.

Gideon confirms that Bishop is 100% human but has yet to identify the other 6% of his new genetic code.

Ava says she believes Bishop is sincere about seeing them as family.

John tells Zari that he loves her as she comes to check on him.

John denies having anything to say when Zari asks him if anything is wrong.

Mick begins to experience contractions every six seconds as he goes into labor - a sensation which feels like eating a handful of hot peppers and then passing large pointy rocks through the head hole, according to Gary's father. In Mick's case, however, the babies will have to come out through his ears.

Delivering Necrian babies can take up to two weeks, according to Gary.

Mick agrees to make Gary the godfather of his 48 children, to his delight.

Zari confronts John regarding the blood potion and forces him to choose between her and it. He chooses her.

After John says he is going to lock himself in his manor until the withdrawal symptoms are over, Zari says she is going to stay with him.

Ava says that she never had a real family and isn't really sure that she knows how to love someone properly, especially after what Bishop told her about trying to breed the ability to love out of the Ava Clones.

Sara assures Ava that she love her.

Ava shows Sara what she had planned for the wedding so far. She selected a lemon buttercream cake topped with maraschino cherries and a tapas bar for the appetizers. Sara says these are just what she wanted, but goes pale when Ava says Bishop did most of the picking.

Gideon determines that the 6% of Bishop's DNA that wasn't his belongs to Sara Lance.

The Bishop clone also had knowledge of Sara's passwords and escapes from his cell using the System Override phrase - Spaniel, Broad Tricycle.

The Bishop clone also has all of Sara's fighting knowledge and is able to knock her out.

Bishop delivers all of Mick's babies, who are healthy, as best as Gary can determine.

Bishop voluntarily surrenders himself to be locked in the brig again, saying he wants a chance to earn the team's trust. Sara is still skeptical.

John affirms that he wants to get clean and Zari says she wants to be with him but he is not out of the woods yet after all the lying he did.

Bishop tries to contact Constantine through the coms, having stolen Rory's implanted communicator while delivering his babies. John removes his own communicator to cut off the signal.

The Beast throws John around and seems to take over his body, calling Bishop and asking what he wants as he starts smoking a cigarette.

The Bottom Line

A solid, yet oddly balanced episode, with equal parts weird science and Gothic horror.

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 3 - The Ex-Factor

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

Plot

The Legends travel to 2045, where, in order to save the Earth from an alien warlord, Zari must enter a popular singing competition. As she and John try to figure out if their casual fling is still casual, Ava and Spooner stage an intervention for Mick, as Sara struggles to find a refuge in a bad place while chasing a familiar face..


Influences

Reality shows with singing competitions (particularly The X Factor and The Masked Singer), The Terminator (sequence from Lord Knoxicrillion's view-point in opening scene), The Hunger Games (Zari's transforming dress design in her first peformance), Thor: Ragnarok (evoked by Nate as what probably happened to Sara in space), Men In Black (Lord Knoxicrillion is revealed to be a tiny alien in an armored suit) and The Mandalorian (design of Lord Knoxicrillion looks a bit like Baby Yoda)

Performances

Tala Ashe rocks her musical numbers. No pun intended.


Artistry

The production design of this entire episode is top-notch. Costumes, Lighting. Design. Everything looks like it came from a futuristic reality show. The best aspect, however, is the music.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

At one point, Behrad asks Lord Knoxicrillion if they can hitch a ride back to his home planet with a Space Cabbie. Space Cabbie was the hero of a reoccurring series in the Silver Age science fiction anthology Mystery From Space, who was indeed a cabbie who flew through space in the 22nd century. The character is probably best known today for being played by Patton Oswalt in several episodes of the animated series Justice League Action.


Technobabble/Arcana

The rules of Da Throne allow for a Golden Buzzer, which automatically takes one contender to the semi-finals if they impress the judge. There is also a Wild Card entry - a secret celebrity performer who is introduced after all the other competitors have performed.

Behrad's living space had a citrine crystal which he was using to manifest abundance. 

Lord Knoxicrillion says that their species use crystals to procreate, though this is a rough translation of something that does not translate directly into English. Despite this, Lord Knoxicrillion's species does not follow a binary gender construct and all of their people carry and bear children.

Lord Knoxicrillion's technology is superior to that of the Waverider and they are able to walk through the force-field of the big without issue and senses it from several miles away when Mick activates the Waverider's weapons in the hopes of catching him off-guard.

Lord Knoxicrillion claims their armor is resistance to thermonuclear weapons.

John knows a spell that can set things on fire. He activates it by saying "Ignis."

Lord Knoxicrillion synthesizes their singing voice from the voices of 500,000 of Earth's greatest vocalists.

Dialogue Triumphs

Nate: I don't know what's more surprising: an alien attacking Zara's ex-boyfriend, or the fact that network TV still exists. 

(Johm, Zari and Behrad walk past a display showing a picture of  DJ S'more Money.)
John: That's your ex? (scoffs)
Zari: Jealous?
John: Oh, of some life-size s'more who judges some soulless singing competition? Real musicians don't compete to win over the masses with mediocre, autotune drivel, love.
Behrad: Spoken like a former punk guitarist. 

Zari (regarding John) Ignore him. He thinks dour people have more depth.

Spooner: Okay, so how exactly is Zari throwing her head in the ring in this circus supposed to put the kibosh on alien invasion?
Ava: Uh, we're kind of a Swiss Army knife operation. Every Legend has a utility. So when you've got a social influencer from the future, you go with it, and you hope that being a triple threat is still a thing. 
Spooner: Looks like you know how to handle your team. (chuckles) Except Rory.
Ava: Yeah, well, he's a special case.
Spooner: Yeah, back home, dealt with guys like him all the time. You give them an inch, they'll take your truck. And your virginity. 

Gary: A planet full of Ava clones?
(Gary looks to the heavens and wails.)
Gary: Noooooooooooo! Why did you taste so good? 

Zari: What the hell was that?
John: You know, I could ask you the same thing, couldn't I?
Zari: What are you talking about? You just embarrassed me in front of the entire world.
John: Oh, that's what you care about, isn't it? Trending, on bloody Chit-Chat
Zari: Cat-Chat!
John: Admit it, come on, you're using this mission to get back on top.
Zari: I can save my home and my business, and let's not pretend like we all haven't been caught up in your personal drama before.
John: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a bastard, but at least I admit it. You'd rather be fake for the cameras than real when it counts.
Zari: This isn't real, Oh, yeah. remember? We're not together. Just the way we both like it.
John: You know, it is really difficult to keep straight what's real anymore. But try this one on for size, all right? I am done!

(The team is celebrating their victory.)
Ava: I never doubted you for an instant.
Spooner: I sure as hell did.
Zari: Well, I couldn't have done it without my team; my fashion guru, Behrad, Nate, on hair, and, of course...
(Zari smiles at John.)
Zari: ... my boyfriend.
(Ava looks stunned as John chuckles a bit.)
John: Now, there's a word to make lesser men wilt. 
(John takes the drink from Zari's hand and then takes her hand. The two walk off somewhere more private.)
Zari: Scared?
John: Terrified.
Zari: Me too. 

Continuity

A humanoid creature in advanced armor walks into a convenience store in Palm Springs, California in 2045. After scanning the inhabitants, it demands to be taken to the leader of Earth before spying a magazine with a picture of DJ S'more Money and the headline "The King Defends His Crown."

The clerk and a kid buying a sugary drink tell the alien about DJ S'more Money and how he used to date Zari 2.0 before she mysteriously disappeared. They also tell him that DJ S'more Money is now hosting a reality singing show in Hollywood.

The public thinks Zari 2.0 is in rehab. 

The alien intends to challenge DJ S'more Money to a duel to the death.

John is a big fan of The Buzzcocks - a British punk group.

Zari had never heard The Buzzcocks before hearing their music while she and John were getting cozy in his house.

Zari asks if John chose the album for any particular reason as the song that's playing is "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)"

Zari has four phones - a personal line, a business line, a phone for all the Persian guys her mother tries to set her up with and one for emergencies.

Behrad brings Zari her emergency phone with a call from her personal assistant Les-Lay, who tells her that DJ S'more Money was just killed by an alien and they need to plan what she's wearing to the funeral.

Les-Lay first appeared in 505.

In the altered future, DJ S'more Money was killed during a live broadcast of Da Throne - a popular reality show that is, according to Behrad, single-handedly keeping network TV alive in 2045.

The alien identifies themself as Lord Knoxicrillion.

Mick has apparently gone so long without showering that John thinks he stinks.

Mick expresses his dissatisfaction with the mission to save Zari's ex-boyfriend and asks why they aren't out in space trying to find Sara.

Ava says space is way too big to search randomly and the only lead they have is the aliens Sara released.

Ava asks Mick to QB the mission and show Spooner the ropes. Mick refuses and says he is taking the day off.

Nate evokes Thor: Ragnarok and says that Sara is probably kicking alien ass wherever she is and they're chanting her name in an arena.

Sara is still poisoned after the attack by the Amelia Earhart alien in 602.

Sara is too weak to fight and tells Gary he'll have to protect her.

When Gary says he doesn't really know how to fight, Sara points out that Kayla was able to easily kill Spartacus without fighting in 601.

Sara tells Gary about how she had to do many things she wasn't comfortable with to survive, making a vague reference to her time with the League of Assassins.

Behrad says that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was President in 2044 and that, for an old guy, he can still get down.

Nate asks if John Cena is the Chief of Staff, but does not get an answer.

Zari draws a crowd, allowing Ava, Nate and Behrad to sneak into the studio where Da Throne is filmed.

Ava, Nate and Behard watch a female singer named Saucey perform a suggestive number which is dismissed by DJ S'more Money.

Saucey apparently slept with DJ S'more Money the night before.

Nate and Behrad are able to stop Lord Knoxicrillion from killing DJ S'more Money. This is presumed to be part of the performance, and DJ S'more Money gives him the Gold Buzzer, taking him directly to the semi-finals. 

Mick has three rules for working with him on a Legends mission. The first is to stay out of his way. The second is not to unpack because the Waverider is a revolving door. The third is to remember that he always drinks while on the job.

Ava lures Lord Knoxicrillion into the Waverider brig by pretending to be a producer escorting him to the green room.

Spooner took over the den which Behrad set up for himself in the corner of the Waverider lab.

Lord Knoxicrillion says that they were abducted from their home planet and crashed in the California desert 18 hours earlier. 

Lord Knoxicrillion says their primary directive is to conquer new planets by challenging their rulers to death duels. Despite this, he is content to honor Earth custom and win the planet by competing on "Da Throne," before summoning his armada to take control of the Earth.

Les-Lay informs Zari that her business is failing because she's been out of the spotlight for too long and she needs to do something bit to save her brand.

John sets DJ S'more Money's helmet on fire after he insults Zari.

Zari tells her followers that she is the Wild Card contestant on the new season of "Da Throne."

Zari is pitted against Neon Thrills - a  twin sister duo with a K-pop theme.

Gary attacks the forces that were surrounding them, which are revealed to be soldiers with lght-mounted head-sets on their armor.

While Gary is fighting the soldiers, Sara sees Ava in the forest, watching her before walking off. Sara follows after her.

Gary realizes, to his horror, that the soldiers he was fighting and eating are Ava clones.

Nate, Behrad and Les-Lay take John off to give him a makeover so that he can appear with Zari on TV to try and win the audience over with a story about their love.

Zari and Behrad's mom shows up to grill Zari on why she is dating a street magician.

Zari tells her mother that things with John aren't serious and it is just a fling. Unbeknownst to her, John is around the corner hearing every word of this.

John complains that after his makeover he looks like Criss Angel.

Zari lies during her interview and says she's been spending the last year traveling around the world visiting historical sites. She says that she met John while at a snowga retreat on a glacier and she first noticed him because of his perfect scorpion pose. She also says John is minor royalty.

John gets fed up with Zari's act and walks out in the middle of the interview.

DJ S'more Money offers Zari a female empowerment anthem that is guaranteed to win her the contest.

The Ava Sara follows tries to lead her into a cave, but Sara knocks her out, having realized she's an Ava Clone.

Lord Knoxicrillion says he is from the planet Arkana.

Lord Knoxicrillion says that he came to Earth after being ambushed by a feared gangster named Kayla, who had what Earth people would term "a face with chicken wings on it."

Rory learned a few of the secret commands Rip Hunter programmed into the Waverider.  One of them, Matador's Last Strike, activates all the weapons.

Lord Knoxicrillion senses the Matador's Last Strike and threatens to destroy the Earth unless the contest continues.

Ava has it out with Mick and says she's sick of his attitude.

Ava says that she misses Sara too but Mick needs to get it together or get off the ship.

Lita has apparently left for college and isn't returning Mick's calls.

Smocking cigarettes is now completely illegal in 2045.

Les-Lay reveals that she intentionally tries to make Zari miserable, as it is better for her brand when she isn't happy. She reveals that she slept with DJ S'more Money  and leaked the photos of the affair on-line because it built up sympathy for Zari.

DJ S'more Money offers Lord Knoxicrillion the same song he gave Zari.

Nate, Behrad and John discover what DJ S'more Money did. 

Behrad knocks DJ S'more Money out and Nate replaces him during the final round.

Zari performs "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" with John playing guitar to accompany her.

Zari wins the competition and Lord Knoxicrillion pledges his fealty to her.

John and Zari officially become boyfriend and girlfriend.

Rory steps on Lord Knoxicrillion and argues that they should be looking for Kayla rather than the aliens Sara released. 

Ava agrees to give that a try after Rory draws a sketch of Kayla based on Lord Knoxicrillion's description.

The episode ends with Sara finding a man who says he's been waiting for a long time for her, while listening to the Space Girl song David Bowie wrote about her.  Though he is not named, this character is Bishop.


Location

Palm Springs, California - 2045
Northumberland County, UK - 2021
Hollywood, California - 2045
An Unknown Planet - Time Unknown


The Bottom Line

Another great episode with a lot of laughs. Great character moments. Great production values. Great songs. The only real weak spot is the fractured scenes with Sara, but hopefully there will be a good pay off next week. 

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5, Episode 9 - Zari, Not Zari

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



Plot

Sara, Constantine and Charlie wind up in British Columbia as they track the next piece of the Loom of Fate. Meanwhile, Zari heads into to a meditative retreat to deal with the odd feelings that she isn't quite herself that have persisted since she came aboard the Waverider, as Ava and Mick go on a trip through time to try and improve Mick's relationship with his daughter and reinsert Mick into the most important moments of her life.


Influences

Supernatural, Greek Mythology (legend of the Fates and their loom), Back To The Future Part 2 (Behrad's explaining the two Zaris with a blackboard of the timeline) and Doctor Who (the scenes of the two Zaris talking are reminiscent of the various versions of The Doctor teaming up.)


Goofs

It's highly unlikely, even for the sake of appearances, that a bag full of real weapons would be left on the set of Supernatural.

Performances

Tala Ashe sparkles as the two Zaris and her final scene with John shows the fire of the first version of the character in the second. Until that point, however, it's almost impossible to believe that both characters are played by the same actress.

Artistry

The fight in which Sara and Atropos duel with John Constantine scrambling around on the forest floor between them looking for spell components is a laugh riot and well blocked.

The scene in which Zari learns Behrad is dead and everyone fades around her, leaving her alone with him, is artfully shot and a beautiful symbolic representation of depression in the face of a loved one's passing.

Trivia Of Tomorrow

This was the first episode to feature a modified version of the original theme teaser. This one lacks Ray Palmer and Nora Darkh (since they left the show in the last episode) but does include Gideon in both her normal "head" mode and her alternate human self from the Sirens of Space-Time reality.

The mask of Tatsu Yamashiro (aka Katana) is in the study on the Waverider.

Technobabble/Arcana

Seeing the true divine form of a god will kill a mortal under normal circumstances, causing them to burn from the inside out.

John works a scrying spell that allows him to track the next Loom piece to Vancouver, using the first Loom piece, a pendant and a globe.

The Coin Maker is revealed to be Lachesis, the Fate responsible for measuring out the length of a person's life.

Lachesis can track John Constantine anywhere in time and space through his soul coin.

Charlie confirms that thanks to John's spell, she is now wholly mortal, despite having regained her shape-shifting powers.

The Fates are able to psychically sense one another's physical presence and can communicate telepathically. This allows Charlie to tell that Atropos is nearby. This sense does not allow for pinpoint precision, however, as Atropos demands to know where Charlie is, indicating she is having to track her through the woods using mundane means.

Behrad theorizes that the future was changed by building Heyworld, which caused a bifurcation of the timeline at that point. In short, there was a historical traffic accident, and the current Zari is the dent in the otherwise functional car.

What Zari describes as a haunting is more properly called a temporal echo. The version of Zari who existed before the Heyworld incident still exists on some level inside the current Zari. 

John casts a spell that requires hemlock, a toadstool and the blood of Atropos. This spell is later revealed to be some kind of ward which protects John from the effects of being stabbed by two god-weapons.

The power of the Loom piece Charlie hid in Vancouver corrupts the land around it. This results in blighted land, people having the life sucked from them and then rising from the dead as zombies. 

Atropos has the power to tell if people are related or connected in some way by looking at them.

Dialogue Triumphs

Charlie: It doesn't have to be a Walk of Shame if you enjoyed it. But if you are walking at all, you didn't enjoy it enough.

Zari: Behrad, I don't know how to play video games! But it's like I'm being haunted by someone who does. Someone who dresses like a teenage boy and makes me do awful things like eat donuts and (shudders) cuddle with Nate!

Ali: (just before Ava takes her and Mick's picture with baby Lita) Wait a minute! Did you break into my house?!

(After Lita rejects Mick's picture album and him once again.)

Ava: I think it's time that you go back in there and do what we should have done from the beginning.

Mick: Go back and kick myself in the-?
Ava: No! (softer) No. Just go tell her you're sorry. 

(Sara looks at one of the dead, desiccated bodies near where the Loom piece was hidden. They are wearing a Supernatural Crew jacket.)

Sara: Oh, it's the crew!
(Sara seems unusually upset about this, for someone who is not used to dealing with dead bodies.)
Sara: Wait, if they're dead, who is shooting Season 15?

Original Zari: Wow. New me came out shockingly self-absorbed.

New Zari: Hey, do carbs count if you eat them in a totem?

Original Zari: No.
(New Zari grabs one of the donuts on the table and daintily bites into it.)

(New Zari asks why the Original Zari doesn't consider her a disappointment.)

New Zari: I mean, you were a superhero who wielded a totem and saved the world. Twice. I'm just a failed Cat-Chat celebrity.
Original Zari: My family's alive. And you... you actually seem like a lot of fun. I'm good with that. 

(Zari demands that John help her save her brother.)
John: We're being hunted by a pair of bloody gods. This situation just got a hell of a lot more dicey.
Zari: I can held dicey! 

(Zari steels herself and fits John with a stare. You can hear the steel in her voice and for one of the few times in his life, John Constantine actually looks afraid as she speaks.)
Zari: I can handle whatever it takes to save my brother. And until you bring him back, I am with you every minute of every damn day. 
(John just nods weakly, not saying a word, stunned silent for once.)

Continuity

The episode opens shortly after the events of 403 and we see Charlie's old bandmates from The Smell.

The Smell have a song called "Assassination Nation."

All of The Smell, and their audience at Covent Garden, were killed by a knife wielding goddess whose true form caused one mortal's head to catch on fire. This is later revealed to be Atropos, the third of the three Fates, and the one responsible for ending lives.

Nate has a plush Beebo and Heyworld posters and banners in his bedroom, along with Scoots McGoots from 506.

Zari reportedly sleepwalked into Nate's bedroom at 2:30 AM. 

When Gideon tried to intervene, Zari hacked her while sleep-walking and somehow added in a Snooze Button function, that left Gidoen inactive for several hours.

Nate's sheets are 200 thread count cotton. Zari has the ability to tell this just by looking at them.

Mick leaves the ship through a Time Corridor to go visit his daughter, taking a teddy bear with him.

Gideon informs Charlie that the timeline was changed so that her old bandmates in The Smell died violently. 

Charlie figures out her sister was responsible based on the details of how The Smell died. 

John takes the jump-ship to go to Vancouver on his own.

Atropos meets with The Coin Maker in Hell, who addresses her as "Sis."

Atropos addresses The Coin Maker as Lachesis in response. Lachesis was the third Fate of Greek mythology.

Sara and Charlie use the Time Corridor to follow John to Vancouver.

Mick returns with the head ripped off the teddy bear he had earlier. This prompts Ava to go help him with his issues.

Ava suggests they can have Mick show up at key points in Lita's life to improve her memories of him. 

Mick spent the first 10 years of Lita's life in prison. Ava agrees to pose as his parole officer to sell the idea he's getting time-off to see his daughter.

The show Supernatural exists in the Arrowverse and Sara is a fan of it.

Sara has permission from Ava to cheat on her with the actor who plays Dean Winchester, if it ever comes up. (i.e. "a hall pass.")

Charlie was not allowed to drink on the job when she was a Fate.

Zari hallucinates a cat on the Waverider, which resembles the cat Pre-Crisis Zari was turned into in 408.

Zari attended the 2044 Grammy's and got excited about the hologram of Tupac Shakur that performed.

Zari retains her old self's talent for playing video games, beating Behrad on the first try at Mortal Kombat.

Zari is somehow able to activate the Air Totem without touching it.

Atropos blows up the Jump Ship. This also takes out the Waverider Coms, leaving Sara unable to call Ava for backup.

Mick is waiting for Ali when she comes home from the hospital with Lita in 2004, having just assembled a crib for her. The crib came from Victoria England.

Mick reads Lita one of his Rebecca Silver books in 2007.

In 2009, Lita loses her first tooth. This leads Mick to tell her about the Tooth Fairy and him leaving a wad of $100 bills under her pillow.

In 2011, Mick teaches Lita how to play soccer and takes a picture of her with her first trophy.

In 2012, Mick takes Lita out trick-or-treating. He wears his original Heatwave costume. She dresses as Captain Cold.

In 2013, Mick helps Lita with her science project. Suffice it to say her volcano produces an impressive flame that sets off the smoke alarm.

In 2018, Mick was there when Lita went to her first Homecoming dance... holding Lita's date at heat-gun point.

Charlie defends her destroying the loom, saying humanity has done good things with free will, like give women the right to vote and punk rock.

Atropos points out humanity also created nuclear weapons, systematic incarceration, mass genocide and pollution with the same free will.

John holds Atropos at bay while Sara and Charlie escape.

Atropos, disguised as John, joins Sara and Charlie, leaving John for dead, bleeding on the forest floor.

Behrad suggests that Zari can get her head together by taking a "Totem Quest"  and using Lyoga root to journey inside the Air Totem and speak with their ancestors. This was first done in 303.

Mick gives Lita a photo album of all the pictures Ava had been taking. She gives it back to him, pointing out that he's been out of prison since 2015 and there was nothing stopping him from being a more active part of her life during that time.

Lita never actually went to her first Homecoming, having gone inside to get her purse after taking the picture with Mick and her date and finding he had already left.

Mick decides to apologize to Lita and quit trying to find a short cut to make things right.

The area around the second Loom piece is blighted and the Supernatural crew members around it dead.

Zari meets her past self in the Air Totem ancestral realm instead of her ancestors.

Pre-Crisis Zari confirms that she has been in the Totem realm ever since the Heywood incident. She's also unaware of what has been going on in the new timeline.

Post-Crisis Zari tells Pre-Crisis Zari that Behrad became a Legend instead of her and that their parents are alive in the new timeline.

There are no video games in the Totem realm, but Zari does get all the donuts she wants and the carbs don't count.

Sara stares down Atropos as she reveals her divine form. She is somehow able to survive this.

Post-Crisis Zari tells Pre-Crisis Zari that she and Nate aren't together and it would be weird since he's Behrad's best friend in the new timeline.

Atropos goes onto the Waverider after Ava and Nate leave to find the rest of the team.

Atropos kills Behrad, cutting the thread of his lifeline, saying he is not supposed to exist, as he protects Zari.

John is revealed to have worked a spell that kept him from dying after Atropos stabbed him and replaced him.

Everyone returns to the ship just in time to see Behrad die.

Sara goes after Atropos with Genghis Khan's sword and fights her in the Waverider loading bay.

Charlie ultimately recovers the two Loom pieces by cutting off the hand Atropos is wearing the golden rings on, as what is left of Atropos is swept into the Temporal Zone.

New Zari promises to being Behrad into the totem to meet the original Zari at some point in the future.

Zari bullies John into agreeing to help her use the Loom of Fate to save her brother's life.

Location

London, England - 1977 - Three days after Charlie joined The Legends.

Hell 
The woods outside Vancouver, British Columbia - 2020
Central City - 2004

Central City - 2007
Central City - 2009
Central City - 2011
Central City - 2012
Central City - 2013
Central City - 2018
Central City - 2020

The Bottom Line

A solid episode, though the Supernatural jokes don't quite land as hard as they should and there seems little point to using the set. Doubtlessly those clamoring for a Constatnine/Winchester Brothers team-up will be disappointed and we should have at least gotten Castiel to show up long enough to say "Nice coat." to John before John told him to piss off or some such. Still, even by-the-numbers Legends is enjoyable and the scenes with the two Zaris are magic and more than make up for everything else being merely okay.

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5, Episode 3 - Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me

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




Plot

With Astra firmly committed to releasing Encores upon the Earth, Constantine starts seeking an alternative means of fighting the undead. As he, Sara, Ray, Ava and Mick travel to the Golden Age of Hollywood to deal with the return of infamous gangster Benjmain "Bugsy" Siegel, Nate travels with Behrad for a visit home to his parents... and his annoying older sister, Zari.


Influences

Film Noir gangster movies, with a specific shout-out to Chinatown and the music of Bell Bev Devoe


Goofs

If mortal souls in the service of demons are capable of turning anyone they kill or corrupt into a new recruit for their demonic master, why aren't more demons sending armies of serial killers back to Earth? (It isn't a widely known fact or most demons would rather horde the souls they have than risk losing them.)

Mickey Cohen is depicted as a rival of Bugsy Siegel. In the real world, Mickey Cohen was one of Siegel's subordinates and had worked with him on establishing the Flamingo Hotel. (It could be they were rivals in Earth-Prime. There's also a theory that Cohen might have undertaken the hit on behalf of the other mafia families due to Bugsy's skimming off of the properties meant to be managed to the benefit of them all.)

Ava apparently lost her apartment in Washington DC and all her belongings are now in a single duffel-bag. Given how controlling Ava was, it's a little hard to believe she wasn't similarly meticulous regsarding her finances and didn't have money put aside for emergencies and is now, in her words, a vagrant, who has to live on the Waverider.

It's a minor point but where was the real Moore of "Webb & Moore" while all this was going on?


Performances

Tala Ashe slays as the new Zari. She's not a completely different person, showing plenty of the steel and intelligence we associate with the character, but she's different enough in her seemingly vapid persona to her followers and her general demeanor for it to be startling. The low-cut top and mini-skirt she seems to favor would have been all but impossible to imagine on the more Tomboyish Zari from pre-Crisis.

It must be said that Caity Lotz plays the femme fatale quite well and she'd do quite well in an actual Film Noir thriller.

The VIP performance of the episode has to go to Jess Macallan, who gets a chance to show off her singing skills and steals the scene with her dream sequence and the comedic aftermath. Yet she also gets some great pathos conveying Ava's clear discomfort with the loss of control she's feeling as a member of the Legends in the wake of losing her job with the Time Bureau.


Artistry

The sequence in which Ava sings a torch-song version of "Poison" is a perfect blending of light, blocking, setting and costume. You almost forget how impossible it is for a 1940's band and back-up singers to know the song up until the gag

The costuming overall is quite good.


Trivia Of Tomorrow

This was the first episode to feature a new animated title-card sequence showing the core members of the Legends

This also marked the first episode where a new font was used for the credits.

The title of the episode is based on a lyric from the song "Poison" by Bell Bev Devoe, which Ava sings in the episode.

The detective office which Sara, Ray and John investigate belongs to Webb & Moore.  The name Webb could be a nod to actor Jack Webb, who made a career of playing detectives and lawmen in Los Angeles, most famously as Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet.  The name Moore could be a nod to John Constantine creator Alan Moore.

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was one of the gangsters who founded Murder Inc. and held considerable influence in the Jewish Mafia, the National Crime Syndicate and the Ameican Mafia. One of the most famous of the so-called celebrity mobsters, he's been depicted in a number of popular films and television series; most famously in the 1991 film Bugsy, where he was played by Warren Beatty.

Though most of the media portrayals of Bugsy Siegel focus upon his time as a crime-boss, most of his criminal career was spent working as a hitman or hired muscle for other bosses. Known for being handsome and charismatic, he worked as a bootlegger in New York during the Prohibition era. When alcohol was legal in the USA once again, he headed west and began running his own rackets in Hollywood while taking a hand in establishing Las Vegas.

The character of Jeanie Hill seems to be partly based on Virginia Hill; a female gangster and one-time girlfriend of Bugsy Siegel, who never went by the name Jeanie in our world. Once described by Time Magazine as the "queen of the gangster molls," Virginia Hill was an equally legendary figure in the history of the American Mafia, having been romantically connected to many men in the Chicago Mob, for whom she also acted as a courier and a spy.

Virginia Hill eventually settled on Charles Fischetti, a cousin and bodyguard of Al Capone, but was dispatched to New York where she became involved with Joe Adonis in order to spy on the Luciano family. It was here that she met Bugsy Siegel, with the two openly becoming a couple after they both wound up in Hollywood years later.

In our world, Bugsy Siegel was killed on June 20, 1947, at the Beverly Hills home of Virginia Hill. It is believed that Hill was warned about the hit, as she took a sudden trip to Paris four days before Siegel's death.

In the Arrowverse, things play out differently, with Hill being present for Bugsy's murder and it apparently taking place somewhere besides her house, as she makes reference to Bugsy coming by her place later being perfectly fine.

The Arrowverse version of Bugsy Siegel secured his place in Hollywood using blackmail material, often entrapping his victims, make and female, using Jeanie Hill as a honey pot. While there is no record of Siegel operating in this capacity with Virginia Hill, it can't be completely discounted given their pasts, as Siegel did depend heavily on extorting various movie studio bosses and would not have been above using his moll to arrange for incriminating photos to be taken.

One notable difference between Jeanie Hill and Virginia Hill is that Jeanie Hill makes reference to being from Shaker Heights, Ohio and heading to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a mvoie star. Virginia Hill was from Lipscomb, Alabama and played at being a Southern Belle from an old money family when seducing her marks in Chicago and New York before she made her way west.

Virginia Hill also did not die because of  a car bomb in California in 1947. In 1950, she married Austrian professional skier Hans Hauser and spent the rest of her life after 1954 in Europe in order to avoid charges of tax evasion in the United States. She died of an apparent drug overdose in 1966, but some believe she was murdered and it was made to look like an accident for fear of what she knew.

As Sara is trying to lure Bugsy Siegel out to where she and Ray can subdue him, she and Bugsy are attacked by men Bugsy says work for Mickey Cohen; boss of the Cohen crime family and a major player in the Italian American mafia through the 1960s. Curiously, Cohen had worked under Siegel during most of the 1940s and one Mafia legend says he attempted to kill the men he believed were responsible for killing Siegel before being scared off by the arrival of police. It is believed he was honestly avenging Siegel's murder rather than trying to cover the tracks of the hit himself.

Clayton Chitty, who plays Officer Sullivan in this episode, previously played Vigilante on Arrow.

Ray attempts to search Bugsy on his way out of the LAPD precinct office, citing the authority of Police Chief Wiggum. This is a nod to the bumbling police chief from The Simpsons.


Technobabble/Arcana

By the laws of Hell, any human killed or corrupted by a damned soul released upon Earth goes to the demon that owns the chit of the damned soul.

John has a magic spell that allows him to track Encores by detecting magical energy and infernal residue.

Ignis Inerni is the Latin term for hellfire.

John can identify the victim of a hellfire attack by tasting their ashes.

Hellfire cannot be generated by mortal mages - only by an infernal being or an object made by demons.

Bugsy Siegel is revealed to have a pistol infused with hellfire. Siegel also seems to have some degree of telepathic control over the bullets the gun fires, as he is able to wound four gangsters with a single shot as the bullet weaves around to strike them all. The body of a mortal struck by the hellfire bullets disintegrates into a pile of ash and their soul is sent to Hell. A damned soul or demon struck by a hellfire bullet is permanently killed.

As powerful as the hellfire gun is, it does require compatible ammunition from Hell to work. This becomes a factor later when John storms Astra's club later with a limited number of shots.

According to John, only a weapon born of Hell can eliminate the Encores.


Dialogue Triumphs

(John appears in the circle of ash on the Waverider, seemingly only moments after he disappeared. Ava and Sara are still there. John coughs as the two women crowd him.)
Sara: John!
Ava: What happened down there?
(Gasping for breath, John straightens up and steels himself. He then pushes his way between Sara and Ava.)
John: I need a drink.
(As John says the words, Sara mouths them as well and shrugs triumphantly at Ava as if to say, "See? I told you I knew how this would go.")

(Sara. Ray and John go chasing after the female silhouette they saw in the hallway. They find a woman holding a pistol.)
Jeanie Hill: Don't come any closer!
Sara: All right, easy. You can put the gun down. We're here to help.
Jeanie Hill: Where's Webb?!
Ray: Uh, we are the "and Moore" of Webb & Moore. We work with Moore. (correcting himself) Webb.
Jeanie Hill: (looking at John) You must be Moore.
John: (speaking in an American accent) Suuure, that's me. Johnny Moore. Sara is my secretary.
(John points to Sara, who briefly makes a face suggesting there will be hell to pay for this later.)
John: (looking to Ray) And this fella here-
Jeanie Hill: Has got a cop face.
Ray: (not realizing that's an insult) Oh, thank you! (chuckles) Sergeant Palmer at your service. (winks) I'm undercover.
Jeanie Hill: Tell Webb to call me when he's back.
(She turns around as it to leave but stops when John starts speaking.)
John: He's, uh, on holiday vacation, which leaves me handling your case, Miss...?
Jeanie Hill: Hill, Jeanie Hill. I hired your partner to protect me from my boyfriend.
Ray: Oh, well, you're in good hands, ma'am.
Jeanie Hill: Oh, give me a break, Johnny Law! Half the PD is in Bugsy's pocket!
Sara: (recognizing the name) Bugsy as in...
Jeanie Hill: Benjamin Siegel. Doesn't like it when you call him Bugsy. But here's the kicker, He died last week.
John:And now he's back from the dead.
Jeanie Hill: And he's more dangerous than ever.

(Bugsy Siegel approaches Sara after she goes walking past his table.)
Bugsy: I couldn't help but notice you, and I gotta tell you, I like the way you walk.
Sara: I learned to do it all by myself, Mr. Siegel.
Bugsy: Oh, please, Benjamin.
Sara: Hmm, Sara Lance, at your service.
Bugsy: Lance, huh?
Sara: What's the matter, you don't like it?
Bugsy: Well, I don't know yet, just trying it on for size. You know, even if it fits, I'm a little curious about the price tag.
Sara: Well, if you have to ask, it's probably too expensive.
 Bugsy: (chuckles) I take what I want.
Sara: Does that make you a thief, Mr. Siegel?
Bugsy: I am a lot of things, Ms. Lance. And I am especially a thief.
Sara: Well, then let's stop all the tiddlywinks and get straight to the big reveal, shall we? Now, I'm a reporter for a new gossip rag, and I've got some dirt on half the city councilmen and the new archbishop. It's in my car. What do you say we go out back and you can take a peek what's in my trunk?
 Bugsy: I say, you keep talking like that, I just might follow you anywhere.

(Ava sighs as she gets off the comms with Sara, having been told to sit tight and watch the bar.)
Mick: What?
Ava: Hmm? (laughs) You wouldn't understand.
Mick: That you were the boss of a massive government organization, and now you do diddly-squat?
Ava: Wow, take it back, Rory. You just summed up my life perfectly.
(Ava looks depressed at this realization and downs her drink in one shot.)
Ava: (to the bartender) Can I get a double?

(John is sitting in the office of Moore & Webb. Jeanie Hill comes inside. John smiles as he puts on his American accent, clearly relishing playing a private eye, trenchcoat and all.)
John: So you got my message.
Jeanie Hill: Look, if this is about the money your friend gave me, I already spent it.
John: I knew you were on the grift from the moment I laid eyes on ya.
Jeanie Hill: And I never once fell for that Yankee accent of yours.
John: (laughs and goes back to his normal voice)  Well, all right then. Well, now that we've dropped the charades, tell me, what is your angle?
Jeanie Hill: I wanna take Bugsy down. Free this town from his sway. The only way to do that is to destroy his blackmail stash. Webb said he'd found it, but I'm guessing Bugsy killed him for snooping too close.
John: Well, that's bad news for Webb and good news for me, because I know where the stash is.
Jeanie Hill: (smiles wide and steps in closer to John) Well, aren't I the luckiest girl in the world. What do you want in exchange?
John: (inhales deeply) I want Bugsy's gun.
Jeanie Hill: You lookin' to ice Bugsy?
John: No, that bloke's not worth it. I'm aiming at the person who brought him back.
Jeanie Hill:  Then we have a deal. You get your guy, I get my freedom.
John: Now, how exactly are you planning on stealing Bugsy's prized weapon, eh?
Jeanie Hill: When we kiss I'll press my hand against his chest.
(She steps closer and runs her hand along John's chest.)
Jeanie Hill: And then I'll run my hand all the way down his body, and then I'll grab it like this.
(John grunts as Jeanie grabs something that is definitely not a gun. She presses her lips to his and he grabs the back of her head as he spins her around. They sink to the floor as jazz music swells as we hear the sound of furniture crashing.)

(Bugsy Siegel comes into the Blue Iguana to see a drunken Ava singing.)
Bugsy: What is all this? You bring me all the way down here just so I can watch some no-name dame humiliate herself on stage?
Sara: First of all, she is not a no-name. That is my girlfriend. And second, she is not humiliating herself.
Mick: (deadpan) Yes she is.

(Nate is in a sitting room by himself. He is looking at a framed copy of Mini Traders Magazine. The cover story is ZARI TARAZI IS DRAGON GIRL!" and shows a picture of a young Zari taming the dragon at Heyworld. Zari walks in.)
Zari: So embarrassing.
Nate: Dragon girl. Is this when you became famous?
Zari: Yep, first agent when I was 11. He was a real piece of work. Eventually, I took control of everything.
Nate: Can I ask you something?
Zari: Hmm?
Nate: When you first saw me, did you feel like we met before?
Zari: Maybe. I meet a lot of fans.
Nate: No, I mean, we met in another life.
Zari: Oh. Yeah, I totally got that vibe.
(Zari rushes to Nate and kneels on the couch opposite him.) 
Nate: Oh, so it's not all in my head! I feel like I've been living out this Taylor Swift song, but it feels crazy good.
(Zari takes Nate's hand) 
Zari: We're definitely connected somehow, but something feels off. I think the you I remember wasn't a professor.
(Nate hesitates, clearly not wanting to blow his friend's cover.)
Zari: (rolling her eyes) Come on, I know Behrad's been lying to my parents about business school for years. I only wanna make sure that he's been taking really good care of our family's totem. Which he has been, right?
(Nate mutters something indistinct as Zari leans in close. Naturally, it is at this moment that Behard walks in.)
Behard: Yo, dude, we're cutting the cake, and they're asking for the special guest.
Zari: Come on. Chill, B, your friend and I were just talking.
Behard: (guiding Nate out of the room) Sure you were. Let's go.

(Jeanie is holding John at gunpoint, stopping him from burning Bugsy's blackmail stash.)
John: You told me you wanted to destroy that stash so that you and everyone else in the town could be free.
Jeanie Hill: Yeah, but I figured why destroy it when I could just use it for myself? I'm sick and tired of people taking advantage of me. With this briefcase, I'll finally have some real power around here.
John: Look, I understand your anger, but as soon as you touch Bugsy's dirt then you'll have a target on your back just like him. But if you leave now, you can start over, have a new life. Look, you don't have to do this, Jeannie. Just walk away.
Jeanie Hill: Walk away? Do you really expect me to give up this power after being so powerless my whole life?
(John looks at her. He knows what it is to be powerless and he can't say that she's wrong. Though it's clear he's also thinking about another powerless woman lashing out now that she has real power that he was trying to stop for his own selfish reasons.)
John: You know what? You're right. (picks up the briefcase and hands it to her.) Who am I to tell you what to do anyway?
Jeanie Hill:  See? It's working already.

(John looks at the burning car, knowing there is no way Jeanie Hill survived. Ray walks up.)
Ray: They killed her!
John: Forget it, Ray. It's Burbank.

(Sara and Mick have Bugsy in the Waverider brig. John and Ray enter. John is livid. )
John: I should blast you straight to oblivion, you damn bastard. You made Jeanie's life miserable and now she's dead because of you.
Bugsy Siegel: (smirks) I may have corrupted a wannabe starlet. But you? You created a real monster. Astra Logue.
(There's a long moment as John regards Bugsy. He then grins wickedly as he pulls a bottle from his pocket and begins forming a circle on the floor.)
John: You know what? It's funny that you mention her. I was just about to go and see her.
Sara: John, if you're about to do what I think you're gonna do, then you'd better be sure.
(John nods as he steps into the circle. He looks to Mick, who is still holding Bugsy.) 
John: Hand him over, big man.
Mick: (pushes Bugsy into the circle) Go on.
John: Yeah, that's it, big boy. See, you're my ticket to Hell.
(John pistol-whips Bugsy across the forehead with the hellfire pistol. It draws blood. John sticks his fingers in the wound and applies it in two vertical marks under his eyes before sucking his fingers clean and taking a deep breath. Ray looks disgusted.)
John: (chanting) Flesh become my flesh, soul become my soul. Hades, firstborn of Cronus and Rhea, I call upon you. (John looks up to Mick)  Light her up, big man.
(Mick, for once looking disturbed, pulls out his heat gun and ignites the circle. The flames immediately go  blue as John and Bugsy disappear.)

(John enters into Astra club, hellfire gun drawn, pushing the bound Bugsy before him.)
Astra: You just can't stay away, can you?
Bugsy Seigel: Careful, he's still got one bullet left.
Astra: Oh, I appreciate your concern, Benjamin, but I'm not worried about him. We're old friends, aren't we, Johnny? So why don't you tell me what you came all the way down here for?
John: I came all the way down here to tell you....
(John holds the gun on Astra and looks at her.  He lowers the gun.)
John: That I'm not giving up on you. And even if it takes me till the end of my days, I promise you that I will find a way.
Astra: Another meaningless promise made by the great John Constantine. You've gone soft.
(Astra laughs wickedly and Bugsy joins in. John smiles sheepishly for a moment before his bastard grin emerges.)
John: Not that soft. This one's for Jeannie!
(John draws the gun and fires it directly into Siegel's heart. He has just enough time to look stunned before screaming and disappating into a cloud of green fiery smoke. Astra honestly looks surprised.)
John: I'll be seeing you around, love.
(John throws the gun to the ground and walks out.)

Ray: Hey, whatever really happened back there with Astra, I'm sure it wasn't easy.
John: What are you talking about, big man?
Ray Just so you know, if I had taken care of Nora back when we all thought she was evil, we wouldn't be happy and together right now.
John: Oh, I had the chance to pull the trigger, to end all this. (sighs) But I couldn't do it.
(Ray just nods and smiles widely.)
John: What's all your grinning about?
Ray: Just happy there's still good guys out there. Even if one of them is a master of the dark arts.
John: You know, you're wrong about me, Ray. But I will save Astra, and you should know it's just as much for me as it is for her, all right?


Continuity

Astra refuses to bring her souls back to Hell when John asks her to do so nicely. She says the only way she'll ever stop is if John kills her, but points out that's pointless as she'll just wind up in Hell again.

Astra has taken control of Masher and is punishing him for squealing on her to John Constantine.

Nate is now seeing flashes of Zari when he looks at Behrad.

Ray suggests that Astra could be redeemed but John says that her lust for power has overtaken whatever humanity she had left.

With no better plan for containing the Encores, Sara says they'll keep them on the ship until they can figure out a way to send them to Hell permanently or stop Astra from sending them back to Earth.

Behrad asks for shore leave to visit his father on his birthday. Nate agrees to come along and pretend to be one of his business school professors.

Gideon detects a time quake in Los Angeles in 1947 just as Nate and Behrad are leaving.

Sara, John and Ray head into LA to investigate the disturbance. Ava and Mick QB from the ship.

According to Mick, QB means stay on the ship and do nothing.

Behrad and his parents speak Farsi.

In the new timeline, Zari is a social media influencer who became world famous after the incident where she tamed the dragon at Heyworld in 2019. She built that fame into a social media empire

Zari has an entourage that includes one media person and two people to help her with hair and make-ip touch-ups.

Zari has 51 million followers on-line.

Nate recognizes Zari as the woman from the video in 502. She has no idea who he is, however, and he thinks he's a creep based on how he stares at her.

Nate tells Behrad about the video he found in Gideon's memory. Behrad is skeptical, however.

John tracks the Encore to a detective agency belonging to one Webb and Moore. He goes on to impersonate Moore, using the name Johnny Moore, after finding a pile of ashes on the floor he figures was Webb.

John finds a matchbook for the Blue Iguana club on Moore's desk. It has a sequence of numbers written in it, along with the word Elysium.

John is capable of faking a reasonable American accent.

Ray impersonates a plainclothes police detective, saying he is Sgt. Palmer.

Sara, to her annoyance, has to play the role of John's secretary.

Webb was hired by Jeanie Hill to act as a bodyguard and protect her from her boyfriend, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. "Johnny Moore" agrees to take over the job.

Apparently, Bugsy Siegel died a week earlier but came back from the dead. This sets the episode sometime in late June in 1947.

Bugsy Siegel just took over a club called the Blue Iguana on Sunset Boulevard. John finds a matchbox for the Blue Iguana on Webb's desk in his office.

Ray gives Jeanie the money to get out of town. John thinks she's playing him for a sap and is proven right when he finds Jeanie on Bugsy's arm later, though she justifies this saying that she wasn't able to get out of the city since Bugsy has eyes everywhere.

Ava and Mick go into the Blue Iguana undercover as customers, separately Sara and John.

Ray continues to pose as a policeman, but this time in a standard uniform, outside the Blue Iguana.

Jeanie Hill claims she wants to get all the blackmail photos she posed for before she gets out of town to save her reputation and ruin Bugsy.

Sara tries to seduce Bugsy, playing at being a gossip reporter who can help him with getting information on blackmail targets.

Bugsy kills four of Mickey Cohen's men who were sent after him.

Ray arrests Bugsy almost immediately, but a different group of cops take over the scene immediately.

Zari manages a multi-platform, multimillion dollar brand and is about to put out a line of dressy sneakers.

It is immediately clear that Zari and Behard do not get along. Behard sees Zari as annoying in flaunting her success. Zari is jealous of the attention Behard gets as the baby of the family and how her parents don't seem to care about her accomplishments compared to his going to college.

Behard's parents want him to settle down with a nice Persian girl and worry about him being too enveloped in his studies.

Behard's parents have a painting of the Zambesi Air Totem in its original form as a necklace.

Behard's parents think the Air Totem was stolen, being completely ignorant of Behrad taking it to become a superhero in the new reality.

Ray determines that Bugsy really does have the LAPD in his pocket, with the cops bringing him a gourmet lobster dinner and wine and questioning him about the shooting in a nice office rather than the cell block.

Ray befriends a seemingly honest cop named Sullivan.

John contacts Jeanie Hill and convinces her to help him steal Bugsy's gun. The two wind up having sex in the Webb & Moore office.

Ava has turned in the keys to her apartment in Washington DC and sold most of her belongings. Everything she owns now is in a single duffel bag.

Ava is able to clear out the Blue Iguana with her drunken singing.

Zari knows that Behard has been lying about going to business school and suspected that he took the Air Totem.

Based on the information in the matchbook, John determines that Webb hid the blackmail information he stole from Bugsy Seigel in a graveyard. Due to his spending a lot of time in graveyards, he knows that Elysium is a common name for graveyards (after the Elysium Fields of Greek Myth) and from there it was a simple guess to figure out the numbers referred to a grave marker.

Webb hid the blackmail information in a graveyard in Burbank.

Jeanie double-crosses John and plans to run off with the blackmail material. She does, however, keep her word and gives him Busgy's gun, telling him there are five bullets left in it.

Officer Sullivan turns out to be crooked and turns on Ray, after he refuses to go along with the plan he and some other mobbed-up cops have to kill Jeanie Hill and destroy the blackmail material with a car bomb. They also plan to frame Ray for the killing.

Jeanie Hill dies when the car explodes.

John takes Bugsy back to Hell and destroys his soul with the hellfire gun in front of Astra. He then leaves the gun in Hell, telling her that he is not giving up and will find a way to save her.

John lies and tells Sara he lost the gun after being overpowered by Astra's minions.

John later confesses the truth after Ray calls him on it and admits he couldn't kill Astra. He does, however, deny that he's the good man Ray thinks he is and says he's just as concerned with easing his conscience as he is saving Astra's soul.

Mick recorded Ava's singing. Sara bribes him to lose the recording.

Zari recognizes Nate as the superhero in the star-spangled outfit at Heyworld when she was a girl and tamed the dragon. She also recognizes Behrad from a video of the incident.

The episode ends with Behrad sending Zari through a time portal into the Waverider to stop her from telling their parents about what he's been up to (even though she's not sure what he's up to.) and Zari having a breakdown on the deck of the Waverider.


Location

Hell
Los Angeles - 1947
Washington D.C. - 2044.
Burbank - 1947


The Bottom Line

An instant classic, there's not a redundant storyluie or subplot for the first time in a goodly while. Putting John Constantine in the role of a private eye is a brilliant idea, as John was one of the first detective heroes in the now overdone urban fantasy genre and the production team perfectly captured the feeling of 1940s Los Angeles and the film Noir genre.