One hundred. One hundred episodes of Legends’ mishaps and adventures. Of antics, of love and growth. The one constant of Legends is its ability to shake up its own formula so for its 100th episode, what better way to celebrate that journey than by looking back through the eyes of one of its oldest characters.
We begin in a field somewhere in Texas. Gideon, Astra, and Spooner are on their way to New York and it’s a bit of a slow start. Spooner and Gideon don’t want Astra to steal a car so they’re hitchhiking. Or they’re going to try at least. As they’re making their way to the highway, they pass by a farmhouse where Astra smells a freshly baked pie. She wants Gideon to commit grand theft baked good but Spooner lets Gideon know she doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.
Gideon wrestles with the advantages of taking the pie over not disrupting the timeline. The options fry her brain, leaving her passed out. They pull her into a nearby barn. Spooner tries using her powers to read her mind again but gets nothing. Astra does know a spell to go into Gideon’s mind, but to get back out she’ll need Gideon to guide her and in her current state, there’s no telling if that would be possible. Spooner volunteers to go in with her.
Gideon’s mind happens to look a lot like the Waverider, but outside the windows isn’t the familiar green swirl of the temporal zone. A familiar face joins them, explaining those are Gideon’s memories they’re seeing outside of the ‘ship’. Jax is back.
Meanwhile, in Vancouver 2213 a young Bishop is having flashes from the alien fight from the last season finale. His Ava clone wakes him to get ready for the launch of the AVA clones but the flashes happen again. He’s been having them for over a year (i.e. the point in the timeline the Legends returns him to after having his help to fight his evil future self). When he woke up a year ago, he had a hard drive in his lab coat with code from the future. He doesn’t understand what it means yet, but the code is labeled as GIDEON_OS.
In the Waverider, in Gideon’s mind Jax, who is very British sounding in Gideon’s memories, introduces himself and explains they’re in Gideon’s subconscious. A version of him was preserved there because of the close relationship they shared from all his time repairing the ship. Gideon is there as well, unconscious in the medbay.
In her meltdown, most of her memories were erased, with some key memories being preserved but severed from the rest of her mind. In Gideon’s current state, if they tried to leave with her she’d lose her memories with the Legends, like getting a factory reset. At first, Astra is fond of this idea. Getting ‘computer’ Gideon back, but Spooner insists they need ‘their’ Gideon. Accessing her key memories is how they get her back and to do that they’ll need to inception their way deeper into Gideon’s mind.
Jax sends Astra and Spooner to the most recent key memory, the day Spooner ‘joined’ the team just after Sara had been kidnapped by Bishop. Astra and Spooner appear in the medbay, next to an unconscious Spooner. A figment of Gideon appears but she’s unable to remember anything.
In the memory, Ava walks in asking Gideon about Spooner’s state. The rest of the memory comes back to Gideon and as it does, Gideon’s form solidifies. In this memory Ava and Gideon discuss the odds being against Spooner being able to help them find Sara. Ava knows this, but she was willing to take any chance to find Sara. In that moment, Gideon learns that sometimes love defies logic.
Back in the subconscious level of Gideon’s mind, she wakes up, some of her memories restored. If they access Gideon’s key memories, the rest of them will return as well. The next stop on this memory rollercoaster, early season one.
Ray Palmer, Leonard Snart, Carter Hall, and Sara are in the kitchen, having an argument over breakfast. Carter, Leonard and Sara are prickly and quick to fight, while Ray tries to play the peacemaker but he’s still trying to stake his place on the team so he’s reactionary to nicknames that peg him as too soft. Gideon stops the fight by threatening to blow everyone out the airlock. After the boys have dispersed Sara complements Gideon on running a tight ship, but Gideon responds that’s Rips job, to which Sara amusingly remarks that she doesn’t know why someone would choose to captain a team as chaotic as the Legends.
The next memory sends the trio to see someone who is very near and dear to Jax’s heart: Professor Stein. He’s singing on the bridge, excited about his grandson, trying to get others to join him. When Jax and Ray both opt-out of the sing-along, Gideon is the one who jumps in.
But as the song fades out, Gideon’s smile fades as well, looking like she’s in pain. Astra and Spooner ask Jax to bring them back, only he can’t. But, now he has an idea of what erased Gideon’s memories — a virus. Or a part of Gideon’s system that’s acting like a virus. A blue filter Gideon appears and traps them. Astra can’t even spend the time getting wasted because during this memory Ray had replaced all of the ship’s alcohol with kombucha.
Gideon gets an idea, leaning on the bits of Legends she’d pick up on over the years. She hotwires the Waverider and flies them through her memories back to her subconscious. Jax joins them again, and now, knowing there’s a virus lurking in Gideon’s memories, he gives them a way to defend themselves. He does warn them it will hide itself in the memories so they’ll need to be on the lookout for anyone acting strange.
The next memory takes them back to the day the OG Legends learned there was only one bathroom on the ship. Naturally, this causes a full-on riot in the team. Spooner is ready to blast the Legends she doesn’t know, but Gideon points out it’s just Carter and Snart being themselves. While the team fights, Rip slips away, beckoning to Gideon. At first, Gideon is excited to see him, until he reveals himself as the virus. Blue Gideon traps our Gideon in the lab.
Meanwhile, in 2213, Bishop has cracked the code on the hard drive that’s a copy of Gideon. She asks for the Legends and that jogs his memories. When the Legends took him, he made a copy of Gideon’s code and then erased that moment from her memory. With his memories back, he swears vengeance on the Legends for using him and he’s going to use Gideon to do it.
Astra and Spooner are still watching the Legends fight when they realize Gideon isn’t there anymore. The memories, which they haven’t been able to interact before suddenly notice their presence and attack. Jax pulls them back into the subconscious just in time.
Gideon begs the virus to let her go so she can help the Legends, but Blue Gideon doesn’t care for the Legends, or how they’ve changed her. She takes her back to the moment Behrad was killed by a Fate. As an AI, in that moment Gideon was sad, but had protocols to process the emotions. Now, a full flesh and blood person reliving that grief of the moment and the grief of being unable to help Zari when she found out overwhelms Gideon.
Blue Gideon shows her Rip’s, Snart’s and Martin’s death. Memories from the alternate timelines where other Legends died. The moments when the Legends were hurt and pain, physically and emotionally. Moments when they had to say goodbye, one way or another.
She shows her all the pain that exists in being human. And she offers a way to make that all go away. If she’s in control she won’t feel any of it and they’ll get rid of the Legends completely. At first, Gideon refuses. She won’t betray the Legends, but Blue Gideon has one more memory to show her. She takes her back to when the Legends were first on the ship. She was fearful of the team being a danger to the timeline, so Rip reprogramed her code so that she’d prioritize the Legends above the safety of the timeline.
In the meantime, Jax discovers the virus is in the subconscious, but they realize that means Gideon has to be there too. Astra and Spooner head out to find her, being confronted by Behrad and Fancy Zari. Spooner and Astra are ready to kick Legend ass. They maybe get their asses kicked a little bit first, but one shot from the laser gun returns them to the Legends we know and love. Next up on the list is Nate and Flannel Zari (who is eating a donut as she gets ready to fight. Yes, this is a very important detail that needs to be mentioned).
The final obstacles in their way are Sara and Ava. In their fight, Astra summons a Beebo doll to trip up Sara (another important detail that needs to be mentioned). They manage to shoot them back to their normal selves and the captains inform them Gideon is in the lab.
All the pain and sadness she’s been shown is almost too much for Gideon and Blue Gideon’s offer of no emotions is looking very tempting. But just as she’s reaching her hand out to make the deal, Astra and Spooner burst in, shooting the Blue Gideon. She’s only a projection so it doesn’t stop her, but it does make her fall back.
Gideon believes the memory of Rip reprogramming her is proof she isn’t real, that she shouldn’t be there. Blue Gideon’s grown strong enough that the ship is starting to fall away around them, so they ask Jax to send them into another memory.
Gideon doesn’t think that being human is worth the pain but Astra and Spooner point out that might be the most human thought she’s had and in spite of that, it is worth it. And the memory they’re in kicks off to prove just that.
The Legends are celebrating the holidays. Every holiday and birthday at once because being on a timeship makes those things hard to keep track of. The food is maybe too much, but the love and joy they shared was worth it. They flash to another memory with the book club crew and Gideon spilling gossip about the Legends. And they go to another memory, post one of the times the Legends save the world where they’re celebrating with karaoke.
Asta and Spooner tell Gideon this is what being human is about. Its why they can live in a world with pain and lost. Because there are moments filled with love along the way. Sara starts singing, badly and Gideon joins in her to help her.
When they get out of the memory, Gideon takes the gun from Spooner with a determined look on her face and marches into the bridge. But when Blue Gideon appears, she puts the gun down. This Gideon is a part of her, but it’s just one part. It’s not all of her. Gideon may not have it all figured out, but she’d figured out enough to know that’s just a part of life.
The Legends, old and new, past and present impart their own advice about making it in this crazy world and being on this crazy team. She’s welcomed, properly to the Legends by her captains. And then she wakes up in a barn with Spooner and Astra. Gideon is ready to face the world. And get some pie.
Meanwhile, Bishop resets the version of Gideon he has to her factory settings, making her forget the Legends and returning her main objective to restoring the timeline. And if this Gideon wants to fix the timeline, Bishop just so happens to know a group who have ‘messing up the timeline’ in their motto.
Review
‘Wvrdr_error_100<oest-of-th3-gs.gid30n> not found’ (yes, that is the episode title and yes, it is amazing) is a trip down the wild rollercoaster of a journey this has been, where we get to see the Legends through the eyes of the ‘O-est of the Gs’ as the title says, Gideon. And the other oldest Legend, Caity Lots was the one behind the camera.
I’ve said before that one of the strengths of this show is its ability to shake up its own foundation. One way it does that is by reinventing its story formula every season. The other is with its revolving door of a main cast. But for the 100th, getting to look back with so many of the characters who once called this team home it puts into perspective how far it’s come from being the black sheep of the Arrowverse.
The magic of this episode was getting to see the scenes in between the scenes. Those moments we didn’t see before, because usually, those are the moments that don’t have a place when there’s plot that needs to happen. And there were still some plot-related things happening with the Bishop B-plot, but for the most part, this was an episode dedicated to the relationship between the Legends and Gideon, who’s watched it all.
While my recapping journey for Legends began with season four, I’ve been with this crew since day one, watching through the good and the bad. One hundred episodes of watching Legends of Tomorrow find its rhythm and find, at its heart, this is a story about found family and love and learning no matter how much of a misfit you are this is a place and people for you.
Only Legends Could
- Episode 100 got a special opening that flashed through the openings from previous seasons. The nostalgia got to me a little.
- Gideon never states why the memory of OG team having an almost breakfast brawl is one of her key memories, but I choose to believe it’s because she finds retrospective humor in Sara’s comment about being the captain.
- How has Gideon never sung before now? This show has its own mixtape and we’re only now getting Amy Pemberton singing.
- Ray wasn’t the in the mood for show tunes because he missed Gumball, his baby dominator friend.
- ‘It’s not Gideon’s fault. Not this Gideon. Blue Gideon is a big ole bitch!’
- ‘Is that memory looking at us funny?’
- Could this really be the 100th episode of Legends without Beebo appearing?
- Nora with a witch’s cauldron of candy.
- I miss book club.
- Again, when are we getting a Legends episode that’s a proper musical?
Images courtesy of the CW.
Have strong thoughts about this piece you need to share? Or maybe there’s something else on your mind you’re wanting to talk about with fellow Fandomentals? Head on over to our Community server to join in the conversation!
